PRE-BOOKED TICKETS

"How 'do folks. Are you collecting pre-booked tickets or..."

Oh, the joy of the concierge .. but I dont work no more. heh. well for a lil bit anyhow. Just driving on empty. What savings be for yo!

Anyway... just finished colouring this page  (number 24) about ten minutes ago... figured I'd put it up on the ol' blog. I dunno, might run this first chapter to 26 pages... the story's also gonna have a few lil background strips like this...

A mix o' styles and approaches in an attempt to give a rounded sense of place, if not of story.

Man, just stumbled across the blog of this great Argentinean comics artist PABLO HOLMBERG... He has a really cool looking book, published by Drawn & Quarterly...HERE'S the preview 

So.. thats about it for the moment... meanwhile take a listen to Mr Lennon's acoustic - "LOOK AT ME"

A Promised Update

So, as promised in the morning time... here's a wee update on the ol' comics front...

The page above is from the project I'm a working on with me amigo Finnish Chris... hit page 22 today.. and tho' I'm a lagging way behind me initial schedule t'is going well and stuff... boy oh boy, I've learnt a hell o' a lot about comics during the process of the drawing..

And the page below is friday's page from the main piece I'm drawing at the moment... the plan is t' serialise it in Nervous in a Cape (starting at issue 7) and possibly online... either a chapter at a time, or a few pages a week... hmmn... I like the idea of taking a few months and doing the chapter thing, because then you can edit it before putting it out... but then having to put stuff up regularly, forces one to work... and sometimes I do need forcing, as I have a tendancy to procrastinate etc... anyhow... so t'is coming... 

Abe's also working on a few other shorts... and of course theres the exciting micro publishing joint... just a matter of collecting  other folks works and sending off t' printers...maybe gonna be a late feb thing... 

I Just spent a few hours rejigging one o' my songs that a fella I know (and one of the hippest cat's in ol' london town) asked to use for summut or other, ho hmmm... re working an old recording was challenging but fun...Oh... you didn't know? Abe does really bad faux naive, antifolk music. really. two albums t' check out if you want a laugh HERE

Anyhow... for those who want t' hear something genuinely special here's Robbie Basho - "Blue Crystal Fire"

Also... forgot t' link a few weeks back when I mentioned how much I love Ander's Nilsen's comics... here's a pretty great one from his blog .

Peace out and stuff. um.

Sunday Morning Doodle, Edith Wharton

Allo folks, just another wee sunday morning draw... Edith Wharton, I read Ethan Frome a few years back and enjoyed it.... but it was the collection of her new york short stories that really grabbed me. I Think it was published by the new york review... anyhow, some great stuffs there for sure! While I'm kinda pleased with the drawing... It looks nothing like Wharton at all! heh.

Im'na post an update on the comics and stuff later on, but for now...

Yumi Sakagawa draws lovely ethereal, melancholic and sparse comics... check out some of the tales she does for the Rumpus HERE

And her tumblr HERE

Until later... dig some Skip James - "Crow Jane"

How'do & nostalgia

How'do folks... Here's todays page, also the first I've done this week... been awful busy getting stuff together, rather then creating new draws...

Yesterday I spent about 10 hours going thru boxes and bags, kept under the stairs, boxes full of sketchbooks and papers, all my remaining childhood toys, and a great many memories... In the end I wound up taking about 12 bags full of paperstuffs t' the recycling bins on the side of the park behind my house... the last two bags were filled to bursting with what constituted my degree.... all assessments and  dissertation, essays, research, lecture notes, scribblin's and timetables etc... 

I felt a sense of relief. 

All these things we only look at when we throw away, briefly stirring a huge weight of emotion for the past... oh sweet nostalgia! It struck me hard when I came across a term timetable (I think t'was from my second year) upon which was a scribbled caricature of the head of the course, drawn as she spoke, and a scrawled dialogue I had with a gal' named Zeynep, who was sitting beside me.

But.... I didn't forget these things... and memory can be triggered in so many more ways then a piece o' paper that connects me directly to that moment. Photographs do the same, an immediate line from the present to a moment... but it seems t' me that meandering reminisces that come unexpectedly might count for so much more.

Gah, caught me wafflin' away....Im reading Norwegian Wood right now. which might explain somewhat, or not. Anyhow thats enough for now... heres some links for ye...

Dig the next chapeter's of Joseph Remnant & Noah Von Scivers tales HERE

I think this might well be my favorite episode of This American Life, 24 Hours spent recording peoples lives and tales at the Golden Apple in Chicago. Well worth a listen... catch it HERE

And I I'll leave you with Nico - "THESE DAY'S"

Also urgent update!!! the Ink Panther's are back on the air!!!

these two are truly the guys to listen to while inking!

GO LISTEN NOW!!!

Sunday morning doodle- John Fante

Coloured digitally, drawn slightly smaller then you see before you.

Not all that sure about what Im'na do with all these portraits of authors, guess I'll put em in a zine once I have a few more, maybe just a petite 12 page thing...

Anyway... I know I mention it fairly regularly... But i can't recommend the webcomic Forming enough! It truly is one of the greatest and most ambitious comics out there... Buy the first volume from NOBROW because its a beautiful book, lovingly put together, and mr moynihan deserves t' be paid for all his hard work! But also read the story as it progresses HERE

And t' leave ye.. heres the grand Calvin Johnson... give it time and listen t' the end, T'is a great piece!- "I'M DOWN"

A Tale Cowboy Love

Makes me wonder if I need to re-think my image? Am I just the guy who draws Lov'n Cowboys? And also... who search's innocently for "cowboy love"? Dang...

anyhow... Loving Noah Van Sciver's drawings et al, I thought he'd just got lazy or something, as he hadn't posted on the ol word-press for a few months... but nope, he just jumped over t' tumblr... He's pretty prolific and the guy makes very funny COMICS

Anyhow, I'll post something or other tomorrow, just wanted t' share the tale of cowboy love...

lets out with some Beat Happening yo! - "youth"

Concrete Blonde

Great scott! Just realising I havent posted in a good few days... and after alla me promising too!

So heres page 13, one half of a double page spread (are pages 12 and 13 too early in to use the double page?!) heh. so... yup, tis all going well... just a bit of annoyance with the ol' scanner, meaning I'm not getting quite the same quality o' scan for each of the pages, but thats just summut to work through... doesnt matter tooo much, just gonna be a case of rescanning all the pages at the same time... ho humm.

Anyhow,  not got too much news this week, caught Django Unchained on monday, and yup... I liked it... not quite as strong as Inglourious Basterds, but a fun Southern (Western) to be taken at face value (as in, a Tarantinoesque face value). I agree with folks that t'was a wee predictable, but then revenge westerns pretty much always are... And if a film belongs to as obvious a genre as a western... well, how many surprises does one really expect. Blah de blah...Anyhow Christopher Waltz pretty much makes the film!

Oh boy oh boy, I love the cartoonist Jason's works... you should too... After a few years of digging his work Abe finally got round t' searching out his web presence... HERE

 But for now, I'll take my leave... heres a shot o' pure 80's tat... but dang great if one happens t' be in the right mood... Concrete Blonde - "I Want You"

Scribblin's and updatings

Right, so as promised... Heres a petite update... 

I just put the finishing touches to page nine (which you see here), still enjoying the drawing process et al, still a'working hard at it... I dunno, something just seemed to click this week, in my drawings and attitude toward work... I just jumped headfirst into it all on sunday, and seven days later Im actually kinda pleased with the output... 

Three pages done fo my collaboration with me amigo Chris, nine pages on the story above, I fleshed out the plan for Nervous in a Cape Issue 7, scribbled two portraits of me favorite authors, and as ever continued with my daily drawn diary. Phew. 

A gosh darn productive week if I say so myself... maybe this whole "taking it seriously" thing's starting t' pay off... heh... All in all I'm on a wee high, though that might be on account o having just bought me tickets t' visit tho ol U.S.A in April! whoop!

Dylan Horrocks is a pretty awesome cartoonist, and the interviews I've heard him give on various podcasts seem t' affirm him as a pretty hip cat... he speaks eloquently and openly about comics etc, blah de blah... instead of listening t abe waffle, just go check out his serialized introspection on the writers introspection The Magic Pen 

Oh boy, Abe was so lucky to get t' see Mulata Astatke in November, for free no less...courtesy of everybody's favorite double bassist, and a lovely fellow indeed... Anyhow, for now Im'na leave you with "TEZETA"

peace out yo!

Sunday Morning Doodle, Soseki

Allo, just another wee sunday morning drawing o' one of abe's favorite authors... hmm just something Im'na try for a few weeks.  (just so's you know, twas drawn a bit smaller then the image you see before ye)

This time t'is Natsume Soseki... If you dig the writing of Fitzgerald or Murakami then rest assured Soseki is the writer for you... I started with the collection of his serialized story "I am a cat", a brilliant study of middle aged, middle class intellectual life in a19th/early 20th century Japanese household, from the perspective of a wonderfully entitled and ego-centric cat...

My favorite work of his is the coming of age tale 'Sanshiro' which I read at just the right time  (I was around 21, which as I recall was the same age as the protagonist) and It left a lasting impression... All of Soseki's novels have an undercurrent of the vaugue melancholic nature of a reserved existence, but Sanshiro is also full of comedy and catches the romantic aspirations of young men perfectly. I Identified. heh..

Sanshiro sits alongside 'This side of paradise' (Fitzgerald's first novel), and 'Ask the dust' (by John Fante) as Abes favorite coming of age tales. And I do like a good coming of age tale.

anyhow... nuff waffling for now... I ll post later with an update on how the comic redraw's a comin'.

let's out with some Leonard Cohen yo!  "so long marianne"

Keepin' drawin, keepin postin!

Another page, again words t' be added later (tho' they have been jotted down at least!)

Just finished page four, and I'm pretty happy with the way t'is looking, hope to get another page and a half down tonight... Now that I'm blogging regularly not so much t' say (not that there was ever much, eh,) 

Anyhow

Really been digging CHULAHOMA, the Black Keys album o' the Junior Kimbrough songbook this week... really great "Blue Rock"!

Joseph Lambert is an Incredible Cartoonist, Read so many great things about his book "Annie Sullivan & The trials of Helen Keller" but havnt seen it in any o' the comic shops on this side of t' pond Boo! Gonna have t' buy online if it doesnt appear soon! In the meantime, HERE'S some o his comics online... Particularly liking 'the double'. it's a keeper!