David Chelsea's Blog, page 2

In My Dreams, You Win

My very talented nephew Ivan Pyzow recently recorded and released a new song which includes cover art by me. I’ll let Ivan tell it:

Today, my song “In My Dreams, You Win” comes out on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, everything). I’ve attached the lyrics below. I sent out a demo of this song to this mailing list in March and I’m so happy to share a studio version now. And it features cover art by my lovely uncle, David Chelsea (also attached below). I’m really grateful to everyone that helped develop this song – Jake, Danjuma, Matty, Chris, Gus, Sam, Brok, and Anna.

Let me know what you think of the song! And if you like it, please send it to someone who would like it

Bye!
Ivan

Ivan

I’m driving east to move back to a memory I know
But they’ve all got wrinkles in their eyes from wincing fast and blinking slow

They’ve all got little raisins on their fingers and their toes
From wading in the shower
Letting time wash them by

From the nozzle, to the head
The neck, the shoulder, to the sigh

She lived on the 30th floor
Heard me from above
Said “I remember a smile like yours
Please come up”

So I started climbing
A few months in I hit my stride
Kept my head up
A few months more I stepped inside

She said,
“My bread won’t bake
My clothes won’t fold
My plants have died
I haven’t slept in years
But there’s one last thing we can try”

Your fingers running, searching for a spot she says that you can’t find
Between her eyes and ears a tender spot that tingles down her spine

A little button on her temple
What she needs to close her mind
Find it
Push it
“Turn me off and tuck me in”

She said, “It’s hard out there for you
But in my dreams, babe, you win”

The art I provided for Ivan’s song is a repurposing of a New York Times Modern Love illustration from the mid-2000s. I don’t remember which particular essay it was for:

Since Ivan needed a square format, I widened the image using the miracle of Photoshop’s new generative fill tool:

As mentioned before, “In My Dreams, You Win” is out on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, everything). Check it out!

PERSPECTIVE! In Railroad Heritage

 

I’d like to alert my loyal readership to a recent reprint of my work in a specialty magazine: Railroad Heritage

This is the magazine of the Center For Railroad Photography In Art, which comes out twice a year. A page from my instructional book Perspective! appears in an article which takes up half of the magazine, a very comprehensive survey of the subject train tracks meeting at the vanishing point on the horizon by historian Gregory P. Ames, which includes an extensive cache of photos and illustrations using the train track vanishing point motif along with dozens of descriptions of the effect from literature, journalism and private letters.  I am honored to be included in this article.

You can order a copy of the magazine here https://railphoto-art.org

David At Artist Alley Comics Fest 2023

Testing, testing. It’s been quite a while since I’ve put up a blog post, but I have news. This August 5, I am attending my first comics convention since pre-Covid days. I quote from the website for Artists Alley Comics Fest:

Like a great many unique and innovative comic creators, Artist Alley Comics Fest (AACF) was founded and made its home in Portland, Oregon and debuted on Sunday, August 2nd, in 2015, at The Spritely Bean, the late indie comics café. AACF gave the opportunity and visibility to independent comic artists who have traditionally been overlooked or shut out by events that are motivated to give platform to established voices.

The festival is a minimally curated event, without assessment of aesthetic or narrative quality. Judgements for acceptance as an exhibitor are based on an artist’s ownership of their work, a prohibition of hate speech and advocation of violence, and a minimum approximation to the definition of “comics artwork.”

Our goal is to showcase the talents of independently creative voices in comics by giving the public a place to interact with comic creators. While publishers and distributors are welcome to apply for exhibition space, those who are willing to be represented by comic creators are likely to receive greater consideration.

Come out and support many talented independent comic creators selling their creative and amazing work! This is a free general admission event!

Leodis V. McDaniel High SchoolAlthough I may not exactly meet the definition of an artist who has traditionally been overlooked or shut out by events that are motivated to give platform to established voices, given how long I have been away from comics conventions and convention-like events, it may be time for me to reestablish my voice.In addition to copies of some of my published books, including two 24 Hour Comics collections published by Dark Horse, I will be bringing zine copies of my most recent 24 hour Comic Nudity I Have Witnessed:

Previous blog post about Nudity I Have Witnessed

Honestly, I have no idea how this event will go. However, admission is free, so I’m hoping people who have saved 50 bucks or so on admission tickets will be in the mood to spend some money on comics!

Date & Time

Sat Aug 05 2023 at 11:00 am to 05:00 pm

Location

Leodis V. McDaniel High School, 2735 Northeast 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR

RIP, Nancy Swartz

I had a dream last night that I lost my website, and then couldn’t remember what I might need one for. I think this is a sign that I ought to blog more often, although it’s possibly a sign that I shouldn’t blog at all anymore.

Here’s a bit of unfinished business. My onetime roommate and longtime friend Nancy Swartz died last August at age 60. Eve and I had not heard from Nancy for several years, but this obituary from the funeral home helps fill in the blanks:

“Nancy Amy Swartz, 60, passed away on August 14th in Los Angeles, CA, after a long battle with chronic health issues. Nancy was born in Scranton on February 13, 1962 and was the youngest daughter of the late J. Milton and Arline Swartz. She is survived by two sisters, Anne Gillman and husband Brad of Atlanta, GA; Marjorie Swartz and husband Richard Robinson of Sacramento, CA; two brothers, Ken Swartz and wife Jill of Miami Beach, FL; Jim Swartz and wife Orna of Millis, Massachusetts. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews, and grand nieces and nephews all of whom she adored and loved spending time with.

Nancy graduated from Scranton Central High in 1980. She was the seventh and last member of the family to graduate from Central, where she was loved and respected by her friends and classmates. During her time at Central she was very active in the Drama program. Nancy then went on to attend University of Rochester and Barnard College where she graduated. After college Nancy worked in the entertainment industry. She initially did some acting in summer stock theater, and subsequently began a career as a producer working on numerous shows including Good Morning America, Court TV, MTV, and several reality TV shows. She also spent time working with Michael Moore on his documentaries.

Nancy loved all aspects of the entertainment industry and was an encyclopedia of knowledge on all types of movies. With her charm and intellect, she could light a room. And, she often had a funny story to tell. Nancy was always thrilled to celebrate the many accomplishments and life events of her nieces and nephews and will be missed by the entire family.

A graveside funeral service will be held Friday at 11 a.m. in the Dalton Jewish Cemetery by Rabbi Dovid Saks.

There is no local shiva.

Memorial contributions may be made to the donor’s favorite charity.”

Here is a 3D shot of Nancy in a bathtub, circa 1990:

Nancy showed up frequently in my sketchbooks and also as a sometime character in comics. A nameless character based on her was one of the many women who appear in my 24 Hour Comic The Girl With The Keyhole Eyes, which I later reworked in color for Dark Horse Presents:

I also based a character in my reality TV fantasy comic Are You Being Watched? on Nancy. She had been a production assistant and producer on reality TV, and as she described her duties largely consisted of plying the contestants with alcohol to loosen their inhibitions and “ramp up the sexual tension”. I actually ran a contest on my Patreon to name her character, and as part of that included this self–description:

”Hi, I’m a playwright and performance artist who has mostly appeared on alternative stages in Brooklyn and the East Village, and I won the oveted Performance Art Yammy Award for my one-woman show Triumph Of The Shrill. Hey, but a girl’s gotta eat, so I’m helping out on this new show, which they tell me will do for comic books what SKIN WARS did for body painting. I do a little bit here and there on the production, but my big job is pushing the drinks cart around, and making sure none of the contestants go thirsty. The producers tell me that keeping all the contestants buzzed really helps ramp up the sexual tension, and that makes for great television!

Just between you and me, I’m being paid under the table, and I’m not sure I want to use my real name on this project anyway. Can you help me come up with a good alias? Post suggestions as comments below, and when we have enough of them, we’ll vote on a winner!”

The response to this contest was not overwhelming, so I believe the character went unnamed in the final comic. Here we see her in action:

When Nancy died, I had just started a series of celebrity obituary End Strips, and so far had done Anne Heche and Mikhail Gorbachev. When I heard that Nancy had died, I decided to expand it to include the not so famous. I happened to have several nice photographs of Nancy in my files, including a shot of her at Coney Island with my son Ben:

Bon Voyage, dear friend.

Bicentennial Dreams In American Bystander

The digital version has been out for a while, but it never seems real for me until I get my three contributor’s copies of the American Bystander’s latest issue in the mail. This one has a 70s theme, and contains a comic based on my bicentennial dream diary.

My 1976 era dreams are as random as the ones I have today, and the cast includes a strange assortment of 1970s celebrities, among them Bob Newhart, Goldie Hawn, Rudolph Nureyev, the cast of the Mel Brooks opus Silent Movie, and Paul Revere And The Raiders:

Buy your copy here!:

Unfortunately, this 70s-themed issue of the Bystander represents something of a missed opportunity for me. I drew a series of anagrams riffing on the name of Spiro Agnew, who was Nixon’s first Vice President, way back in 2016. At the time I was expecting they would run in the magazine, but after initially saying yes, Bystander editor Michael Gerber backpedaled, saying that he was already running enough “hoary” material. Fair enough- Spiro Agnew hasn’t really been a name to conjure with since about 1973, and I filed it away. I SHOULD have remembered Agnew when Gerber put out a call for 1970s-themed pieces for this most recent issue, but it entirely slipped my mind. No matter, if the Bystander puts out any 70s-themed issues in the years to come, I’ll be ready.

I just drew a new set of Agnew anagrams, my first in six years, for my Patreon page. Check them out here!

Nudity I Have Witnessed

I completed the final panel of the final page of my most recent 24 Hour Comic at ten in the morning of Sunday, October 2nd, only four hours behind schedule (according to rules laid down by 24 Hour Comic inventor Scott McCloud, this is an acceptable variant- some projects just take longer, and this one involved a prodigious amount of shading). My final count was 23 pages and a cover image- which I consider a page on its own, but your mileage may vary. As promised, the story is titled Nudity I Have Witnessed, and it is a memoir of my years drawing the figure at Hipbone Studio and elsewhere.

Here is the terrifying blank page I faced on Saturday morning:

My ritual is to drink my first coffee after a week of abstinence at the one third mark, after completing page eight. Here is the (oddly orange) ceremonial cup:

And here are some pages in progress:

The story is a memoir of my years drawing from the figure at various studios in Portland and New York.  It includes my time drawing cadavers at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, where I encountered this guy:

It was around the same time I first met Jeff Burke, a very
cut model whose articulation rivaled that of a cadaver:

 

I encountered Jeff and his wife Sharon again years later in Portland, where they had started the Hipbone Drawing studio.

The comic goes into my working method of smearing graphite dust on the paper to create a midtone, and sparing out highlights with a kneaded eraser, and it also recounts my history with the camera lucida:

Camera Lucida

 

As in previous years, the comic was done as a benefit, with sponsors pledging a given amount for each page I complete. The sponsors had a choice of benefitting either Hipbone Studio, which is is trying to put itself on a sound financial footing in the face of rent increases, COVID and the retirement of Jeff Burke, and Democratic candidates (as my email continually  reminds me: “Our majority is on the line!”). Word reaches me that the comic has raised $469 for Hipbone, and an unknown amount for Democrats.

Thanks to all my sponsors: Davis Teselle, John Teply, Robert Ross, Ingrid Slezak, Wallace Gibson, Rick Wilson, John Steinkamp & Steve Hohenbohen, Jeff Seats, Donald Erceg, Lisa Guggenheim & Rob Daitch, and Geoff Seaman.

It’s not too late to get in on the action! Just get in touch with me through the email link on the website and inform me of your contribution. This is strictly on the honor system, since payments do not need to pass through my hands, and basically ANY sum can be a multiple of 24 if you allow for fractional cents. Sponsors receive a handsomely home-printed copy of the comic- and this is the ONLY way to see it, since I have no plans at this time to share it online.

 

24 Hour Comic 2022, Take 2!

My first call for 24 Hour Comic sponsors a week ago attracted no response, so I have crafted this shorter one tailored for Hipbone Studio regulars:

In case you can’t read the text, here it is in pixels:

Hi, I’m David Chelsea. I’m planning to draw my latest 24 Hour Comic this year on Saturday, October 1, as a benefit for Hipbone Studio.

To draw a 24 Hour Comic, the artist stays awake for an entire day, drawing one page an hour, until the following morning.

I’m looking for sponsors to pledge a certain amount- anywhere from one dollar on up, for each page I complete within that period. If I can raise pledges amounting to at least $300, I will go ahead.

My plan is to draw a story about my experiences drawing from the figure at Hipbone and elsewhere, titled Nudity I Have Witnessed.

When I finish, just write a check to Hipbone LLC for the appropriate amount. Sponsors receive either a printed zine of my completed comic or a digital copy, whichever they prefer.

Please email me at the address below for details:

davidchelsea@comcast.net

Patrons who don’t live near Hipbone Studio or who don’t have any particular interest in it should know that you are welcome to pledge to the usual election year suspects: the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or your favorite local candidate. As my email constantly reminds me: Our Majority Is On The Line!!!

24 Hour Comic 2022!

This blog has been mostly silent for the past little while, but I decided to post a solicitation for my upcoming 24 hour comic, which I intend to draw on the first Saturday in October. You can read all about it below:

My reference for this strip was one of the 20 minute video modeling sessions posted by Croquis Café. I did the thing I often do with shorter poses, tracing a more refined version of the pose on the back of the paper. You may notice that the bottom half of this strip is a mirror image of the top.

Details, details. One thing I forgot to include in the text of the comic is that contributors at whatever level get a printed copy of my finished comic in zine form, or a digital copy if that is what you prefer. Sign up to be a contributor by using the email link, or by messaging me on Patreon, Facebook, or Instagram.

Hipbone Studio website

Figure In Perspective, Etc.

I haven’t been doing much commissioned work recently, but I’ve been plugging away nonetheless, posting comics, videos, and sketchbook pages to my Patreon on a regular basis. On any given week I might post a book report comic drawn on a library call slip, like this one about Sarah Polley’s memoir:

Or new pages of the dream comic I’ve been working on since early in 2020:

I had kind of tapered off on new Snow Angel stories, but I did draw a new one for the holidays last winter:

I have been diligent about keeping up my two week schedule of perspective instruction videos, and lately I’ve been moving that project into a new phase, a series showing how to draw human figures in perspective. What started me on this was dissatisfaction with existing reference books for the human figure. There are a number of competing versions of these, usually consisting of nude models in typical art poses, often photographed from a variety of angles:

Typical figure reference photo

What bothers me is the very minimal or even utterly blank backgrounds to these photographs. The artist has very detailed reference for drawing the figure, but no guidance at all for how to convincingly place that figure into an environment drawn in accurate perspective. I want to provide that guidance.

My second perspective book included a disc of CG perspective grids intended as guides for artists. My aim is to make these even more useful by including realistic human figures within the scene. What sparked my beginning the project in earnest was a Christmas gift from my daughter Rebecca: Nomad, a sculpting app that works on the iPad. Since then I’ve been creating human figures using many of those poses from books as reference.

It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’m pleased with my progress. Because I am not limited by the physical limits of photographing a live model, I can create views from a wider choice of angles, even removing the floor to obtain views from directly underneath.

As a demonstration, I’ve been posting Random Haiku comics drawn over hard copies on Patreon:

In addition, I’m posting regular speed demo videos showing me at work drawing each comic:

I have just now begun another video series, running the footage from my drawing demonstration at actual speed, with commentary from me and one or more fellow artists. My first guests were graphic novelist Joshua Kemble and two of his cartoonist friends, but I plan to invite others on soon:

I’m not sure how far I’m going to take this project, but the Random Haiku comics have been getting a good response so far from my friends on Facebook. The core of this project are the reference grids and video demonstrations, which I hope will be used by working professionals as well as novices. The figure renderings and perspective videos are behind a paywall, but the comics I’ve drawn over renderings are posted free:

Perspective Grid Comics: Random Haiku (Flagpole Sitter)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Juggler)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Grapefruit)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Kitty Paralysis)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Beer)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Shopping)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Bender)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Monopoly)
Perspective Grid Comic: Random Haiku (Diver)

Other comics series on Patreon:

A Snow Angel Holiday
Dream Stuff
Call Slips

If you’re feeling flush, sign up as a supporter and see all the stuff that’s behind a paywall, including sketchbook pages, work in progress, and all the most recent perspective videos!

I Pick The Best Books To Make You A Better Artist

I was recently approached by Sheperd.com to compile a list of books to recommend. What is Shepherd? Here’s what their website says on the subject: “Shepherd is like wandering around your favorite bookstore but reimagined for the online world… along with little notes from authors pointing out their favorite books.”

The recommendations on the website are all over the map. Some recent ones are: “The best young adult shifter romance books” “The best science fiction books in aesthetic universes” “The best historical fiction books about the Tudors” and “The best Christian romance with spiritual and romantic passion”. Since the Shepherd people had chosen me because of the popularity of my perspective instructional books, I decided that my list would be “The best books to make you a better artist.”

My list is: Revealing Illustrations: The Art of James McMullan by James McMullan, A Closer Look: The Art Techniques of Patrick Woodroffe by Patrick Woodroffe, The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin, The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher by Bruno Ernst, and Architectural Graphics by Francis D. K. Ching. Check out my page on the site to find out why!

While you’re there, you can follow a link to purchase any of the books I recommend, as well as my own Perspective! for Comic Book Artists .

Shepherd.com homepage