VIEWOTRON

woody

2012-01-27T11:20:00.001-08:00

another false start

2012-01-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure where I thought this was going. I think it was going to be a chicken v road story along the lines of an old warner brothers cartoon.

Thick Masterson Concept Art

2012-01-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine asked me if I would be up for adapting Thick Masterson into a web series for a reputable website. The answer was, of course, yes. I finished this yesterday. I'll let you know if anything happens with it. Wish us luck.

An few old pages

2012-01-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pages from a story that never made it all the way to completion. Now that I look at these, I'm not sure why I ever abandoned it. If folks out there want to see more of my stories-that-didn't-quite-happen let me know. I've got a whole huge box of stuff I could post up.

A drawing of a pug... behold!

2012-01-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Ro-Cor Cover #2

2012-01-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

Roger Corman Comics

2012-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to be in an anthology called Ro-Cor comics. The premise is that each participant creates 10 image-evoking titles, the other folks in the anthology vote on the best three titles, those titles get passed to another artist to make covers of, the best of those covers gets passed to a third artist to make into a mini comic. Does that makes sense? No? Just wait until you see the collection. Here is my first finished cover.

FLYER

2011-02-16T09:46:00.001-08:00

I made this flyer for the Chicago Zine Fest. I like it.

Branding

2011-01-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

2011-01-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

2011-01-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

I published a new collection of one panel gag comics a while back, when the blog was on hiatus. This cartoon is from that collection. It's called Boobs. If you would like one, you can buy one online at the Microcosm store.

I've been thinking about putting together a collection of these... a larger, less mini-comicy collection. If anyone out there is a publisher and might be interested in putting it out, please let me know. Or if you really like my one panel comics and know a publisher, you should pester them on my behalf. I would be in your debt.

Darth Knight

2011-01-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up and decided to draw Darth Vader. I felt like a little kid.

2011-01-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

2010-12-30T22:13:00.000-08:00

Business Card

2010-12-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is a business card that I designed for my friend Charles Drennen. If you need a good lawyer and you live in Chicago, I you should give him a call. He has a soft southern voice, so it's sort of like Andy Griffith is helping you with your DUI.

If you are interested in a business card for yourself, let me know. It's cheap!

My Dark Secret Part 1

2010-12-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

I have a dark confession. I often find comics difficult to read. Depending on how they are drawn, written and lettered they can be confusing or mind numbing. Many comics are so dominated by text that the images become decorative. Some are so image-centric that you have to re-wire your brain just to read them. In the last two years I've probably only read about a dozen comics that pulled me in and held me tight. Here are the ones I can remember off of the top of my head:

1)P.S. Comics by Minty Lewis
2)Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
3)David Boring by Dan Clowes
4)All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly
5)Nancy and Sluggo Summer Camp Special by John Stanley
6)The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars by F.C. Ware
7)Dogs and Water by Anders Nilson
8)I Killed Adolf Hitler, The Last Musketeer and Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason
9)Terminator: Secondary Objectives by James Robinson, Paul Gulacy and Karl Kesel
10)The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier
11) Batman Legends of the Dark Knight: Prey by Doug Moulch and Paul Gulacy
12)A few dog-eared Disney Comics and Stories by Carl Barks
13)I Want You by Lisa Hanawalt
14)Several minis by Joseph Lambert

I'm sure that after I post this I will remember some I have forgotten. This isn't to say that these are the only good comics that I have read lately, but these are the only ones that took me out of myself for a few minutes or hours. There are a lot of comics that I love to look at, that use the page brilliantly, that are technically excellent; but that doesn't mean that I can actually read them. I have dozens of books on my shelves that I plan to read. Maybe I will get better at reading comics, or maybe they get better at telling me a story after the first few pages, or maybe someday we will meet each other half way... but for now they might as well be written in a foreign language.

I think that often comic book readers confuse excellence and readability. Take The Dark Knight Returns for example. TDKR is readable. Every page is a perfect juxtaposition of text and image. Neither ever stands on its own. The drawings, taken without the text, are basic, clunky, having neither Frank Millers bold clarity nor Klaus Janson's immersive atmospherics. The images are almost like the images in a play-- you need the context of the story to fill in the gaps, to tell you where you are. Which, in the case of that particular comic, is a good thing. When Bruce Wayne is sitting in a chair with the silhouette of a window behind him, we don't know when or where we are--we don't even know who the man sitting in the chair is unless we read the text. But the text doesn't give us nearly enough to ignore the image. That co-dependence makes for good reading. It insures that you don't skip to the next panel without drawing all of the information out of the one you are reading. It is, in short, good cartooning. But that doesn't make The Dark Knight Returns a good story. It is disjointed, it follows almost no linear plot. You need to care about the concept of Batman and Robin in order to care about the comic. If you don't you're lost from the beginning. Or at least confused. Who cares if someone named Harvey Dent had reconstructive surgery if you don't know who he was? (That, by the way, is a plot line that goes nowhere.) So if it isn't a solid story, why do non-comics publications inevitably put The Dark Knight Returns near the top of their "best graphic novels ever published" lists? Because, even if the reader can't understand it, at least they can read it. And you can't say that about most comics.

I look for readability in comics more than anything else. I think that is why I have been draw to the classic comic reprints. Seth just can't match Carl Barks when it comes to pure storytelling, or maybe he can (I did get caught up in Wimbledon Greene) but he just doesn't want to entertain anyone. I hope that is not the case. It would be a selfish use of his great artistic talent. But I digress... This is all meant as an introduction to one of the best, most well drawn, well written, and page-for-page engaging comics being published today. BEHOLD!

Here are cartoonists and writers using comics to do what they do best--making people laugh. This comic is quite a bit different than the TV show. It is less self aware, it doesn't feature story-stopping celebrity cameos, and the stories are mercifully short. I should note that I am not a huge Simpsons fan, but I am a huge Simpson's Comics fan. Let me explain how this came to be...

Two summers ago, I became addicted to buying cheap comics on Ebay. The focus of my obsession become old Dell comics (Tarzan, Disney Comics and Stories, Little Lulu, Nancy). I would often read these sixty year old comics and laugh so hard that I hurt myself.

As the summer went on, I started to wonder where all the humor comics went. I'm not talking Johnny Ryan and Corinne Mucha. I mean real old-fashioned situation comedy humor. Fictional characters that I care about endangering themselves, physically, socially and emotionally for my entertainment. Short stories filled with physical and verbal humor. It is such a basic idea that I was genuinely shocked that I couldn't think a single comic that fit that description. Early issues of Eightball came close, but that isn't being published anymore. The backup stories in Sammy Harkham's Crickets made me laugh but it also isn't being published anymore.

I was at my comic shop having given up all hope when I saw a shelf of kids comics. I was drawn in by the obvious similarity between the covers of Simpsons Comics and old Dell comics. Compare...

Note the simplicity of both images. Neither of them are interested in catching your eye... they assume you're already looking (respect for the viewer), and they want to tell you a simple story in one image. It is a lot harder than you would think. I began to read...

MODOK (commission)

2010-12-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

Background Paintings

2010-12-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

commissioned work.

2010-12-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

LA film screening Tonight!

2010-09-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

If you live in LA and want to see a film I made... It is screening at 5pm tonight.

Directors Guild of America

7920 Sunset Boulevard

Los Angeles, California

The film's cinematographer, Stephanie Dufford, will be receiving an award for her work on the film from the International Cinematographer's Guild. Go and clap for her.

Here is more Infoz....

2010-07-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

I have a cute little drawing in a pin up collection called "Seduction of the Innocent" edited by Lance Hansen.

You can buy it here: http://kettledrummerbooks.com/shop.html

6/12/10

2010-06-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

6/5/10

2010-06-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

playing with color

2010-04-28T10:13:00.001-07:00

Original Art for Sale

2010-02-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

Once and a while, friends and fans ask to buy my original art, and until now I have been reticent. I've been waiting until I had access to a high-quality large format scanner, so that I wouldn't be sending the work off into oblivion. Well, I finally have access to to the scanner of my dreams... so here is my ETSY store.

Buying a page supports the continued artistic existence of yours truly. Thanks.

update

2010-01-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

So... I won't be sending anyone Christmas comics. The story that I was working on got a little... involved. I'm turning into something else, to be unveiled later. I'm sorry to anyone that this disappoints. I promise there will be more holiday comics in the future.

Oh wow

2009-12-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

It turns out that Return Me to the Sea made the "notable comics" list in the back of the Best American Comics 2009, which is part of "Best American" series. I don't know how long the book has been out, but I just now found out about it, so I'm acting like it just happened. My friends Corinne Mucha and Jeff Zwirek were also selected, for Shithole and Burning Building Stories, respectively. Its just a tiny note in the back of a thick book, but it's the most recognition that I've had this far, and it means a lot to me. To infinity and beyond.

old timey ha-has

2009-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

bummed buddist

2009-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

aquaman to the rescue

2009-09-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

2009-09-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

2009-08-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

New Blog

2009-08-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've started a new blog. I'll still be posting on this one.

whaling wall (redux)

2009-08-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

2009-07-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

2009-07-08T09:13:00.001-07:00

thick masterson

2009-06-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling fine

2009-06-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

the opposite of LOL cats

2009-06-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I broke in a my new sketchbook with some drawings of Snowy in his natural enviroment.

koolosaurus

2009-06-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

MOCCA

2009-06-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'll be at MOCCA this weekend, debuting a new mini called These Yams Are Delicious (new to those of you who didn't get a version of it for Christmas). I'm sharing a table with Corinne Mucha and a half dozen other cartoonists, but I don't know which table it is yet, or I would post the number here. If you're there, and see a socially awkward guy with super-thick glasses, that's probably me. Come up and say hi.

thick masterson

2009-05-30T07:33:00.001-07:00

Hip love

2009-05-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Bon-Tok

2009-05-14T08:37:00.001-07:00

untitled

2009-05-12T20:09:00.001-07:00

Geek Love

2009-05-04T16:17:00.001-07:00

This is an illustration I did for Seduction of the Innocent, a forthcoming collection of drawings of cute girls reading comics, edited by Lance Hansen. I never draw with markers or color with wash, so this was sort of a test-balloon drawing for me.

picasso

2009-04-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Bon-Tok

2009-04-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

ranger stanley

2009-04-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

FUN RUN

2009-03-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

2008-08-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

This manifesto, an incomplete manifesto for growth came to my attention via someone else's blog. I like manifestos, even when they are full of hot air. This one has some good stuff in it. Click here to be enlightened.

Process and religion

2008-07-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge fan of Alec Longstreth. I find his pacing too leaden, and his art too timid. I never understood why so many self published comics kids kiss the ground that he walks on. Until yesterday. Corinne lent me a couple issues of his self published zine, Phase 7. The issues in question (010 and 011) are a history of Mr. Longstreth's involvement w/ comics. He goes from childhood to whatever age he is now (early 30's, I suspect) in claustrophobic detail, outlining how he came to be the artist he is today. He worships Dave Sim for his monastic productivity. He reads Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics like a bible. He holds Bone up as and the greatest comic ever drawn (To me that is like someone saying that Jurassic Park is the greatest book ever written -- he could have chosen worse, but Bone, really?!?). He cites Blankets as a modern classic. In short, his heroes make needlessly thick books. This brings us to the interesting part of his 100-page meditation on comics. Mr. Longstreth sets out on an almost spiritual journey to find out how a cartoonist hones him-or-herself into a comics making machine. How you go from the kid at the kitchen table drawing two-page ninja turtle comics to a 32-year-old man in Portland obsessing about your high-school girlfriend for 4 years (or 500 pages, whichever comes first). I encourage every self-published cartoonist to pick up these zines, because we all need to adopt some version of his work schedule, which he calls the schedule. A rigid ten-hour work day broken up into three sections that has a planned lunch hour at noon, and a built in errand/hangout with friends time from 5-8 so that he can have some semblance of a social life. For him it isn't about what you get done in a day (like Dave Sim's page-a-day system) but just how much time you put in. I know that Corinne has a adopted an 8-hour version of this that's working very well for her. I have yet to adopt any such system. I really appreciated Longstreth sharing his knowledge with the rest of us. I wish more cartoonists would do likewise.

If anyone has a handle on the the schedules/work habits of other cartoonists or writers, please send me a link or the name of a book. I'll post them here.

the pen is mightier

2008-07-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I do all of these one panel comics in my sketchbook, hence the pesky shadow along the edge.

color!

2008-07-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

The American West

2008-07-22T16:13:00.001-07:00

I just returned from a trip with my father from Madison to Portland. We drove out, droped off a car to a friend, and took the train back. I kept a little sketchbook, tiny, 30 pages, stapled, light vellum. It was part of a "learn to draw manga" set. The other part was a piece of paper that said the key to manga is big expressive eyes. That was it. I shit you not. Here are some drawings from my trip. Note the big expressive eyes.

poop is done

2008-07-02T10:48:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody. I have issues of Poop printed up and would like to get them to you. If you want one, just write me or send 2 bucks and a stamp to...

Sam Sharpe
1345 W. Greenleaf ave.
Apt #1 south
Chicago, IL 60626

P.S. My internet isn't working right now (I am currently at the library), so I apologise in advance for a slower than usual response if you email me.

and then one day...

2008-06-18T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today I got a few emails out of the blue asking for copies of "Return Me to the Sea" and I didn't understand why until I saw this...

work in progress

2008-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

I've been banging my head against a wall for the last couple of weeks working on a single page of my always forthcoming comic. It's a backup story and I want it to look distinctly different from the main section of the comic, so I've been trying to learn how to draw in a style that isn't naturally my own. Its involved a lot of studying other cartoonists. I arrived on this. It's obviously heavily influenced by Tom Gauld. Tell me what you think. And be honest.

Review: The Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

2008-06-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button. I've just begun to read it, so this is not a review in the traditional sense. I just want to comment on a couple of Shaw's innovations.

I've been told that it is nearly impossible to translate manga into english because the breadth and depth of onomatopoeia in Japanese has no equivalent in western languages. For example, Japanese has many "sounds" to represent different types of silence, which cartooinsts use to texture scenes. These are often dropped in translation because we lack the exact words to describe the idea that the cartoonist was conveying. Reading Dash Shaw is the closest I can come to understanding manga without becoming fluent in Japanese. Shaw understands that comics are not film storyboards or illustrations to a text; that they are text themselves. He uses his drawings like words and, conversely, uses words as details in his drawings. When a character steps out of a shower I see the words "steam, steam, steam, foggy" and I know exactly what that sensation is, better than any drawing could convey. By writing out those describers he adds time to the image. I read the image longer because of the text. It's an intelligent way around the problem of a reader seeing, but not really reading a comic with few words.

Bottomless Belly Button is over seven hundred pages long, and it feels like an epic American novel in your hands. It also, unlike many recent attempts at "the great American graphic novel" (here I am thinking of Blankets, Bone, Jimmy Corrigan), reads like a novel. It is legible and engrossing without spoon feeding the story to the audience or fluffing up empty ideas with pretty drawings. Shaw's clumsy but effective cartooning reads not like "artwork" but like ideas set down in concrete lines. Like words beyond the capacity of words. Like comics.

I'm starting to draw from life again

2008-05-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

mom's house

2008-04-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

shaving

2008-04-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

click on the image to read it at a reasonable size.

STRIP

2008-04-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

young chris ware

2008-04-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

click on the image to read it. It's funny 'cuz I drew Chris Ware happy.

Mr. T sees a typo

2008-04-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

some thoughts about magnifico, PART 1

2008-03-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks we are going to send the files and negative for the fantastic magnifico to Germany to be have 35mm prints struck. I thought this would be an appropriate time to write a little about the experience of making a it. For those who don't know Magnifico is a WWI aviation comedy about an American ace named the Fantastic Magnifico. I won't say anything about the plot, but the the stills captured for this post should give you a pretty clear idea of what kind of film it is. The production involved live-action location shooting, live-action filming on constructed sets, and nearly a months worth of stop-motion animation. Some of it involving 18 foot cardboard airplanes.

The production and pre-production took four-and-a-half months. I moved to Chicago on Jan 4th. Sara Greenewalt, one of the film's production designers moved into the same apartment on the 7th. The apartment was bare except two chairs and a worktable. The day after Sara arrived, we plastered the walls with photocopies of biplanes, started making drawings of how the planes could look, and began building the first paper models. Neither of us had ever done anything remotely like that before, so every step involved trial and error. What makes the best paper mache? What makes a better wing support, balsa wood or drinking straws? How big should the tank model be? From that very first day, we were working 1o hour days (much longer towards the end), and could afford no days off. As Sara and I designed the planes we talked about every detail of the film, from the the angle of the planes' wings to the style of the extras' clothing. We discussed the color of every object in every scene, and how that contributed or distracted from the story. We struggled over how to depict a world war one trench or an American town circa 1911 without spending any money. Sara is also a RISD alum, and, like a lot of kids I went to school with, she gives pointed criticism. When my ideas became lazy or extravagant she would usually call me out. Our discussions forced me to think about the film from different angles. By the end of pre-production, many of my original intentions were changed. I wanted to make a film about the aburdity of mechanized warfare. It started out as a light comedy and ended up being a miniature version of Apocalypse Now.

Now I have to backtrack a little. Without Stephanie Dufford there could be no Magnifico. Stephanie Dufford was the film's cinematographer. We went to RISD together, but she transferred to Columbia College after her second year there. She was finishing up her degree at Columbia when she asked to collaborate on a film for a 35mm cinematography class. I am a terrible photographer, but love writing and directing, so it seemed like a good fit. I visited her in Chicago, and pitched her a few under-cooked ideas that neither of us were too excited about, and just as I was about to catch a bus to the airport I remembered a short script I had written that I really liked, but had nearly forgotten about. She laughed out loud at the pitch, and told me we had to make it. I was skeptical that it could be done, but she was unflinching. Without her enthusiasm, I would never have had the gall to attempt it. In retrospect, Stephanie might not have completely understood the enormity of the project we were undertaking.

one panel fun

2008-03-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

one panel fun

2008-03-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Process

2008-03-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

The Seed Collectors Daughter

2008-03-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

David Goodrich and I are finishing the last couple pages of The Seed Collector's Daughter, which we will print up as a mini comic before SPX in October. Here are a couple of panels. The pencils are his, the story and inks are mine.

one panel fun

2008-03-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yet another comic that might not make its way into Poop #1. Sometimes a joke is too obvious, even for me. This one reminds me of one of the lamer cartoons that you would find in the New Yorker.

cat, cat

2008-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

I filled my sketchbook today. This is from the last couple pages.

2008-03-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

From my sketchbook.

rejected

2008-03-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

This probably wont be in Poop #1. No one finds it funny but me.

Magnifico

2008-02-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

Magnifico is almost ready to be printed. I can't believe that a year has gone by. I miss the smell of the warehouse. It smelled like stress, beer and paint fumes.

2008-02-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

rapunzel

Anna and the Machine

2008-02-21T11:10:00.001-08:00

A couple of drawings from my sketchbook. Both are of Anna of the Nexus. David Goodrich penciled the drawing of Anna in the red and white dress.

Anna of the Nexus

2008-02-21T10:55:00.000-08:00