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!

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!)

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?

"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.

The end of an era.

After 40+ years, SVA's weekly public figure session is ending. The man whose been running it since before I was even born is stepping down and apparently no one will be taking his place. Thankfully, there's a glut of other options here in NYC so time to branch out and find some new naked people. Until then, here are my final SVA sketches:

Because you [didn't] ask for it...

More crappy morning email doodles!

Almost there...

After two nonstop years, I'm finally easing my foot off the gas pedal. Just finishing up odds and ends and buff 'n' polish on the book while waiting for my editor's comments. Popping into neutral to cross the finish line with my sanity still intact.

Here are some sample spreads, two of which relate to earlier posts for any of you interested in the before 'n' after comparison:





Long overdue was some quality time with my wife in Costa Rica this past week--our first couple's vacation since our honeymoon in 2008. Needless to say, she's been very supportive and phenomenally patient with me working on VIETNAMERICA these past two years. Lost our camera in mid-trip, so all I got to show for it is this doodle:

"Let there be naked people."

Hells yeah: figure drawing's back in session!

C-C-C-COLORS!

Y'know that feeling you get when you're really into whatever you're working on--like feeling totally awesome about it and super productive--and go to bed totally psyched about the work you accomplished that day only to wake up and look at said previous day's work with fresh eyes and realize it sucks? Thankfully, that finally didn't happen to me this morning:



This is the latest round of master palettes for the book's various sections--I think they'll stick to the wall this time. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Chuggin' along...

... and my days are blurring into one endless work session. Spent the last couple weeks hand-lettering the entire book and refining the b/w washes in preparation for coloring:




The theory goes that the better lookin' the tonal stage is, the easier the coloring stage will be. I'm approaching the two year anniversary of signing the contract on this project, so working diligently to give myself a huge reason to celebrate--i.e. finishing the book!