27 April 2010

Out with the old, in with the new...

I'm gradually clearing out stagnant energy that's collected in my workspace over these past two years as I prepare for the next stage of my professional life--whatever that may be. Collected all the drafts of VIETNAMERICA for storage, so here's a snapshot of its birthing steps:



Anyone have suggestions on how to streamline the process for a project this size, please share! While tidying up the home-office, here's some other random old stuff I came across--a self-portrait from 2001:



My brain in 2004:



An under-painting of my [now] sis-in-law from 2003:



"Things to do while in transitional phase": Stroll down Memory Lane = check!

21 April 2010

Tax stress: thank goodness I married a yoga teacher!

Every year around April 15th I'm reminded of how amusing me and my wife's professional pairing is:


Recently, she's been selected as a teacher for July's Wanderlust Festival in Lake Tahoe. In an awesome bit of synchronicity, it's the week after SDCC so the seeds of a momentous West Coast summer road trip are being sowed. Yoga and comics: two great tastes in one!

Along those lines, I just made this tee for her work because, "You can take the man out of the tee graphics biz, but you can't take the tee graphics out of the man." (Anyone interested in buying one? Email me!)


13 April 2010

D-Day!!!



That's "D" for delivery, as in the "book's done and delivered to the publisher."



Shit.



Now what do I do?!



Anyone need a cartoonist/illustrator?

05 April 2010

"Thank You" books.

Two years after signing the contract, VIETNAMERICA is just days away from being delivered to the publisher. I've only begun processing all the emotions related to completing this dream-project but one thing's for sure: it's been the most grueling and rewarding couple years of my life. To everyone whose dropped by for an update since this blog started: thanks for your continued interest.

For those of you who went the extra mile and posted comments up till now, I'm especially appreciative. In fact, so appreciative that I'd like to offer each one of you a free copy of the book when it's available. I'm not talking about a b/w advance-reader-copy that's about to make the preview rounds, but the actual full color hardcover edition coming out later--I'll also cover postage for those of you living across the country and around the world. (Of course, if you'd prefer to get the b/w ARC instead, that can probably be arranged)

In more immediate news, this weekend is the fantastic MoCCA Festival!



Sadly, I'm not exhibiting but do look forward to leisurely visiting every table without the pressure of constantly rushing back to cover my own. I feel very out of the loop after hibernating these past couple years working on VIETNAMERICA so it'll be great to catch up with industry friends.