David Chelsea's Blog, page 12

24 HOUR COMIC: Getting The Gang Back Together At Rose City

Hey everyone!

For all of you who may be attending the Rose City Comic Con, “24 Hour Comic” is going to have a panel on Saturday featuring many of the great artists in the film, including myself as well as Rebecca Celsi, Paul Guinan, Pete Soloway, Tom Lechner, Opal Zyncren Pence, director Milan Erceg, and moderated by comics writer Anina Bennett! Get all the inside dish on the acclaimed documentary which has screened at major film festivals, as well as the San Diego Comic Con!

Hope to see you there! You can have view the trailer at the official website here.

David Chelsea is watching: Death At A Funeral

starring Chris Rock.

A 24-hour comic is a 24-page comic book written, drawn, and completed in 24 hours. As I have mentioned before, I believe myself to be the World Record Holder in number of 24 Hour Comics completed, seventeen so far. My sixteenth 24 Hour Comics session was in May 2013 at Things From Another World in Portland, which was recorded for posterity by Milan (who in a prior life served as assistant on my book PERSPECTIVE!).

Anina Bennett

 

Opal Pence
Paul Guinan
Tom Lechner

 

Pete Soloway
Rebecca Celsi
Milan Erceg

Rose City Comic Con. Sept 10 & 11, 2016

Oregon Convention Center.

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland, OR 97232

24 HOUR COMIC panel:

Saturday, September 9, 2017

1:30 pm – 2:20 pm

Panel Room 6

Modern Love Podcast: Kyra Sedgwick Reads ‘Our Joy Knows No Bounds, or Lanes’

The Modern Love Podcast has recycled another of my illustrations from the New York Times column. On this week’s podcast, the actress Kyra Sedgwick reads Ellen Graf’s essay “Our Joy Knows No Bounds, or Lanes,” about a love that transcends language and bad driving.

Ms. Graf is a writer and sculptor who lives in upstate New York. Stay tuned after the reading for a catchup with her and reflections from the Modern Love editor Daniel Jones.

Ms. Sedgwick stars in the new ABC series “Ten Days in the Valley” and the film “After Darkness.” If you can’t quite place her, she’s the actress married to Kevin Bacon.

David Chelsea is watching: The City Of Lost Children

starring Ron Perlman

Kyra Sedgwick

I don’t remember much about doing the illustration, which originally appeared in 2007, but I am proud of the perspective on the road texture.

The Last Of The Summer Facebook Posts

Something about the poster art for Brazil has long bothered me, and I was finally able to put my finger on it. The face in the poster does not look like the film’s star, Jonathan Pryce. It looks like… Red Buttons:

David Chelsea is reading: Telegraph Avenue

by Michael Chabon

I only dimly remember this late 1960s cartoon, but I think it’s time we brought it back. My favorite detail is that only a single Presidential aide (who looks a lot like Chuck Colson) knows that President Norcross is a superhero, even though that superhero’s name is “Super President”. And what an outstanding logo!

I watched all of INTO THE WOODS thinking Emily Blunt was Natascha McElhone. l watched the first episode of DESIGNATED SURVIVOR thinking Natascha McElhone was Emily Blunt.

Remember when Democrats were happy to borrow Trump’s catchphrase?

A bit early for the season, but I mentioned the William Joyce picture book SANTA CALLS to Ben and Rebecca in passing last night, and they had no memory of it, even though it used to be in heavy rotation as bedtime reading when they were small. I’ve always liked that Joyce’s Santa is a dandyish type with a vest and monocle, while Mrs. Claus is a totally hot trophy wife.

One reason I never became a fine artist is that I read Tom Wolfe’s The Painted Word at 15, and could never take the gallery scene seriously after that. Before the book appeared in print, a lengthy excerpt appeared as the cover story in Harper’s. The cover of that issue and the book use the same idea, but I think the magazine did it better. I suspect the book cover cartoon is by Tom Wolfe.

l can pinpoint the moment when our idea of what our planet looks like changed forever; it is when pictures like the one on the left began appearing in print. The still on the right is typical of how we imagined the Earth in space before satellite photographs were taken. My question is, did anyone accurately depict the Earth’s swirly, cloud-obscured appearance before then?

The Kin-Der-Kids by Lyonel Feininger, 1906. I would have thought that the use of “out of sight” to mean awesome or incredible dated to the 1960s, but apparently not:

They had zero chemistry:

It’s Been A While Since My Last Batch Of Funny Facebook Posts

David Chelsea is watching: Undeclared, The Complete Series

starring Seth Rogen

Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado premiered in 1884, the same year Grover Cleveland was elected President of the United States. The lead character, Koko, is Lord High Executioner, simultaneously chief judge and headsman for the Town Of Titipu. Cleveland had once been Sheriff of Erie County, and in that capacity had carried out two hangings personally. Coincidence? Money quote: “Our logical Mikado, seeing no moral difference between the dignified judge who condemns a criminal to die, and the industrious mechanic who carries out the sentence, has rolled the two offices into one, and every judge is now his own executioner.”

The Three Ages Of Lightbulbs, San Francisco:

(the LED is only one that’s lit)

Proof that I can do nothing without a deadline: the mural on the bathroom wall that I worked on between freelance jobs for something like three years. When Eve & I moved out of that apartment, it was still unfinished. If someone had hired me to do it, I bet I could have knocked it out in a month or two.

Method All-purpose Naturally Derived Surface Cleaner is ant poison that you can use to clean your countertops.

Salad Goat:

Rebecca drew a mascot for the Tonalli’s Donuts event for 24 HOUR COMIC:

We should be taking this threat WAY more seriously. Statistically, one in four presidential assassins has been an actor:

Found in a box- this suppressed drawing of Rosie O’Donnell and Penny Marshall from the New York Observer:

This face scared the crap out of me when I saw it on The Munsters as a kid. Herman has been picking up transmissions that he thinks are from Mars on his ham radio, which he then discovers are a hoax. Determined not to be fooled again, he insults the next spaceship that sends him a message– only it really is a Martian!

They never give you Woody Guthrie’s exact body count:

See You In San Diego

This coming Saturday, July 22, 2017, I will be making my second comics convention appearance of the year, at the big one, the one that Scott McCloud calls The Gathering Of The Tribe: the San Diego Comics Convention– my first appearance there since 1994! I am going to attend a screening of 24 HOUR COMIC, the documentary film directed by Milan Erceg in which I appear prominently.

David Chelsea is reading: Perspective In Action

by David Chelsea

This feature documentary tells the story of 8 artists confined to a comic book store, each attempting to write, draw, and complete a 24 page comic, in 24 hours.

The screening itself will be not at the main convention center, but at the Marriott Hotel only steps away. Stick around for a Q&A with me, fellow documentary subject Paul Guinan, and director Milan Erceg.

I hope to see you there, particularly if you’re someone I haven’t seen since 1994!

24 HOUR COMIC screening at SDCC

Saturday, July 22nd at 11:05 AM – 12:30 PM

Marriott Grand Ballroom 3 & 4 333 W Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101

PERSPECTIVE IN ACTION: The Critics Rave!

I have been posting a lot lately about 24 HOUR COMIC, the new documentary in which I appear, as well as my recently concluded webcomic ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? However, I have another big project this summer, my latest instructional book PERSPECTIVE IN ACTION, which you can buy from Amazon.com using the link below:

The reviews have been coming in, and this one by David Brooke at the comics site Adventures In Poor Taste is especially complementary. Here is a taste:

I really don’t know how this could be any better unless it came with paper and pencils.

Check out also this review on Little Lady Plays.

And this one from Blogging For Books.

Also, yesterday I spoke about PERSPECTIVE IN ACTION with host S. W. Conser on KB00-FM’s long-running show about comics, Words And Pictures. Also on the program was virtual reality artist Jeremy Rotsztain, and we engaged in a fascinating (to me) discussion about immersive images and spatial representation. If you missed the program,it is archived here.

Meanwhile, in 24 HR Comic Movie news, I will be at the Release Meet & Greet Celebration tomorrow Saturday, July 15 at Wild Things Games 241 Commercial St NE, in Salem, Oregon from 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM. Here is the schedule:

10:30am – 11am – Late bird gets the free doughnut & coffee!

Free donut & coffee (while supplies last)

Meet and greet + autographs with David Chelsea, Jacob Mercy, Pete Soloway

11:30am-5pm – Test your endurance for the big one

5 hr mini 4pg 24 hr contest (iTunes download entrance fee) 1st 2nd 3rd prizes

(judged – winners get on film’s website)

Introduction and tips from David Chelsea

1:30pm – 2:30pm – The nuts & bolts behind “Boilerplate”

Paul Guinan – Exclusive tricks of the trade & the history of “Boilerplate” viral phenomenon, w Q&A

3pm – 4:30pm – Show us your skills & make a cover page

24 hr comic cover 1 winner/prize (judged, winner posted on film’s website) – (iTunes download entrance fee)

5pm – 6:30pm – Dream of making a film and get it distributed with just pocket change?

Filmmaker’s corner – Hear how this low budget doc came to be. See the homemade dolly made for $60 and how it was done.

Hear about the process all the way to distribution. w Q&A

6:30 – 8:30 – Artist and filmmaker hangout

general autographs & meet and greet

Appearances from artists from the film including David Chelsea, 24 hour comic champ and author of “Perspective! For Comic Book Artists”, and many other titles, Paul Guinan, creator of “Boilerplate”, Jacob Mercy and Pete Soloway with PizzaGun Comics, and Rebecca Celsi, the youngest participant in the film, age 13 at the time of shooting. In addition, zine extraordinaire Tom Lechner and other special guests.

Prizes may include, but aren’t limited to, cash prizes, gift certificates and artists works.

** all iTunes downloads get a signed 24 hour comic from an artist

** all iTunes downloads get a copy of the DVD

I know it’s short notice, but if you’re in the Salem area tomorrow, I hope to see you there!

This Week on Patreon: A Curtain Call For ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, And THE CRUMB BUMS Begin!

This week it’s a bumper crop of posts on my Patreon page. Last week I ended the two-year run of ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, my webcomic about 24 Hour Comics. I follow it with a personal shout out to my loyal subscribers in comics form:

David Chelsea is watching: 24 HOUR COMIC: The Documentary

directed by Milan Erceg

By the way, if you missed some or all of the story, you can catch up with the tumblr archive, starting here.

Up next on Patreon, part one of THE CRUMB BUMS, which is a 24 Hour comic drawn on 24 Hour Comic Day in October 2012. I was a guest at the Imagination International event in Eugene, organized by Ken O’Connell of The University Of Oregon. I will be serializing this story in two-page installments over the next 12 weeks.

My main intent was to resurrect the 60’s by doing a comic about a band like the Monkees in the manner of my early idol R. Crumb, but I did include a number of autobiographical elements as well; incidents involving a clogged vacuum cleaner and a stopped-up bathtub come directly from my grubby New York apartment days, and I used dreams written on strips of paper and pulled from a sack as a randomizing and surrealizing element.

Also posted on Patreon this week: six more installments of an early draft of my first graphic novel DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE. The course of love for my early 80s self does not run smooth:

Patreon is a reader-supported site, but all comics content is free. If you like what you see, tell your friends, and $how Your $upport!

One More Day To Preorder 24 HOUR COMIC!

24 HOUR COMIC is turning into the Little Film That Could! It’s on iTunes main page on the pre sales charts… #2 on docs and #30 overall right up there with Snatched and Rough Night! Not bad for a tiny budget doc! Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered!! If you haven’t and you like supporting indie projects you have one more day to preorder. See if we can become #1 doc by this Tuesday when we release!

Meanwhile, the theatrical screenings of the film last week at the Laurelhurst went as well as we could possibly have hoped. There was a near-full house for the screening Thursday evening, and a robust turnout for the matinee on Friday. Thanks to everyone who came out!

David Chelsea is watching: Veep: Season 4

starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus

24 HOUR COMIC onscreen at the Laurelhurst

If you’re in the Portland area, you have one more chance to catch the film on a big screen before it releases online. There will be a show at Vancouver’s historic Kiggins Theater Tuesday night, July 11 at 7:30 PM. I will be in attendance along with director Milan Erceg (side note: I am using Dragon Dictate to write this post; it turned Milan’s name into meanwhile nursing), and many of the participating artists including my daughter Rebecca. Hosted by comics legends Jacob and Arnold Pander!

Kiggins Theater

Gratifyingly, local media has taken something of an interest. Check out this on-the-whole-positive review in the Willamette Week! And if you missed hearing Friday’s interview with me and Milan

at KB00-FM, you can watch it on video here.

Milan and David on KBOO

There will be one more screening that I know of, at San Diego Comics Convention on July 22. I will blog more about that in due course.

24 HOUR COMIC Opens! ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? Ends!

Photo by Atsuko Yamaguchi

Last night was the long-awaited theatrical premiere of 24 HOUR COMIC, the documentary film directed by Milan Erceg, in which I appear along with seven the other artists including my daughter Rebecca, drawing– what else?– 24 hour comics. The premiere at the Laurelhurst Theater in Portland went well; we had a near-full house, the audience laughed in all the right places, and there was a lively question-and-answer session afterward. My fellow participant (and ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? colorist) Jacob Mercy still refuses to watch the film, but showed up for the q and a and seemed to have a pretty good time despite his misgivings. Rebecca (thirteen at the time of filming, seventeen now) was unfortunately barred from attending due to restrictive Oregon Liquor Control Commission rules, but she will be on hand for a matinee showing today at the theater at 4 PM. If you missed the first time, even if you didn’t, I urge you to attend.

24 HOUR COMIC matinee with Q&A

Friday, 4-6 PM,

Laurelhurst Theater

2735 E Burnside St, Portland, OR 97214

l’ll be on KBOO-FM radio today at 11:30 am PDT to talk about the film with Milan and KBOO host S.W. Conser. Listen in Portland at 90.7 FM, or worldwide on the web.

David Chelsea is reading: Absurdistan: A Novel

by Gary Shteyngart

By happy coincidence, yesterday I also posted the final installment of my continuing webcomic about Reality TV, ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? on my Patreon page. This very definitely ties in with the film, because in it I am shown drawing what turned out to be an early draft of the comic. All in all, an eventful day.

Not to spoil too much, but in the final panel our protagonist Mugg shares a couch with the girl of his dreams Mandy, as they watch the premiere of a Reality TV show in which the participants draw (what else) a 24 hour comic!:

Also posted yesterday on Patreon: another six page installment of the mid-1980s early draft of my first graphic novel DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE. In this installment, love does not run smooth for David and his then-girlfriend Minnie. We seem to have a failure to communicate:

One reason I didn’t continue in an autobiographical vein after DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE was that every woman I’ve been involved with since, including my wife, has made me promise not to do a number on her like I did on Minnie. Another is that I decided at some point that drawing myself as a character in autobiographical comics was false to my own experience, which I had not viewed through the eyes of a spectator standing to the side. Accordingly, when I draw comics about my life now, everything is seen as if through my eyes, a limitation which makes it hard to tell a story dramatically. The 24 Hour Comic THE GIRL WITH THE KEYHOLE EYES (later redrawn in color for DARK HORSE PRESENTS) is the longest story I’ve drawn using this method.

I do still draw myself- a lot- but when I appear as the perspective wizard in my instructional books or as the devil in ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, I am more like an actor playing a part than “myself”, even when the character I am playing is named “David Chelsea”:

24 Hour Comic: The Movie Premiere!

The Laurelhurst Theater

I believe I have mentioned this before, but 24 Hour Comic, the documentary in which I appear, along with seven other cartoonists, is about to have its Portland theatrical premiere. In the film, 8 Artists confined to a comic book store partake in Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comic Challenge. Each attempting to write, draw, and complete a 24 page comic in 24 hours. The film is the debut feature from filmmaker Milan Erceg, and features, among others, Paul Guinan, Rachel Nabors, Sera Stanton (now known as Opal Pence), Jacob Mercy, Pete Soloway, and Tom Lechner, and also has some delightful footage of my daughter Rebecca at 13, making her first attempt at a 24. Special guest appearance by comics guru Scott McCloud!

David Chelsea is reading: Fante Bukowski Two

by Noah Van Sciver

Milan Erceg and The Artist Formerly Known As Sera Stanton

There will be two screenings at Portland’s historic Laurelhurst Theater: Thursday, July 6th at 7:00pm, and an all-ages matinee on Friday, July 7th at 4pm. Most of the artists including myself will appear at the first screening, with the exception of Rebecca, who can’t get in thanks to the Laurelhurst’s liquor license. We’re seeing if we can Skype her in.

The film recently got this on-the-whole-positive review from the website Comics Worth Reading.

Meanwhile, on my Patreon page, the Reality TV show on my continuing web comic ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? is building to a thrilling climax. One of two 24 Hour cartoonists are about to be eliminated: either our hero Mugg, or differently-abled middle schooler Sun Luk Chow. Who will live to draw another day?

I have also posted another six installments of the late 80’s weekly strip version of my graphic memoir DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE on Patreon. This episode takes my then-girlfriend Minnie (with pals Vera and Dietrich) on a trip across the USA:

Patreon is a reader-supported site, but all comics content is free. If you like what you see, tell your friends, and $how Your $upport!