Adventures in reading

Yesterday morning I trooped down to the local school for to instill a love of reading in the young folk as part of Read Across America. First I ate pastries in the library with other volunteers, then we all went to the cafeteria to watch the principal talk and the kids sing a song about Dr. Seuss (whose birthday is today), take the “Reader’s Oath”, and enact a theatrical performance of Green Eggs and Ham. There was also a special visit by large-headed superhero Word Girl.

After that everyone went back to their classrooms. I read part of The Pirates’ Mixed-Up Voyage by Margaret Mahy to a class of 3rd-graders, then answered some questions about being a cartoonist & whatnot. I left them with a picture of Garfield and a chihuahua reading on a horse under the watchful eye of Old Man Winter (the elements were all suggestions from the kids).

Overall it was fun! It was a bit of a trip to visit my old elementary school as an adult. The school library has a nice comics section now. I also saw an Alfred Hitchcock collection of stories for young folk, and I wish I’d thought to photograph the bizarre endpapers..

A Boy and His Gum 1

A Boy and His Gum page 1

Transcript

Oh my gosh, what now?!

Where was I?

Man, I slid right into Slump-town as last year came to a close. No good! But I’m starting to dig myself out. I now have scheduled drawing time with Brattleboro Comix Lab founder Daniel Kornguth twice a week, which should help a lot. I drew a whole page last week! (see above) Aiming for two this week. I still need to post my 24-hour comic in the Shop, and in March I intend to release the Spring-themed Square Dance #5. Comics ahoy!

Pro Tips For Tabling At Comics Conventions 3

Pro Tips for Tabling at Comics Conventions page 3

Transcript

Update 2011-02-21: I just noticed I left out a word in the “networking” panel – he’s supposed to be saying the person’s comics are “overrated“, not “over”! I’ll fix it for the print version, at least.

Pro Tips For Tabling At Comics Conventions 2

Pro Tips for Tabling at Comics Conventions page 2

Transcript

Pro Tips For Tabling At Comics Conventions 1

Pro Tips for tabling at Comics Conventions page 1

Transcript

Sam and the Prophecy of the Allrus p.24

Sam and the Prophecy of the Allrus page 24

The End!

I’ve printed up 30 copies of Sam and the Prophecy of the Allrus, half of which I’m giving to comrades from the Montpelier 24 Hour Comics Day event, and the rest of which I’m selling. I’ll post a purchase link soon.

I’m back, & I have a “tumblr”

It seems like something in me rebels against getting my act together, since any progress I make in that direction seems to be followed by a slump. Witness! the month of November: in which I drew 2.25 pages of comics and failed to even keep up scanning already-drawn comics to post (all on a foundation of going to be way too late). Shameful! But it seems like the larger trend is still toward improvement, so I guess it’s just a cycle I’ll live with until I can figure a way out of it.

While I was busy not getting much done, I got myself yet another internet presence over at Tumblr. It’s fancier than Twitter but less so than a full-featured blog – the interface is easy & fun enough to use that it makes me want to find a use for it! For now I’m sending my site feed there and posting interesting bits I find on the internet (plus of course reading stuff).

Comic updates start again Monday!