David Chelsea's Blog, page 30

Piggola Goes Motoring on Patreon

It is the second Thursday of the month, and if you have been following my Patreon page, then you know that’s when I post a comic from the archives. This month’s comic is PIGGOLA GOES MOTORING, part two, a previously unpublished story from one of my sketchbooks, drawn in 1974, when I was fifteen. (Since this comic is on the long side, I broke it into two parts; I posted the first part last month.)

David Chelsea is reading:

Becoming Richard Pryor

by Scott Saul

Piggola was created by my school friend Timothy Hill (now a singer-songwriter) when I was in eighth grade. A group of us young kid cartoonists used to draw stories featuring Piggola in the art room at the Metropolitan Learning Center, each drawing a frame in turn. We were heavily influenced by Early 70s underground comics, so Piggola resembles Wonder Warthog, but without superpowers. Eventually my friends tired of the character, and I wound up drawing Piggola stories myself for a few years.

As the title implies, this is a road trip story. It begins with Piggola leading a mellow countercultural existence in a geodesic dome treehouse with a hippie wife and pig-nosed daughter, but he soon ditches that to go hitchhiking wherever, man.

A lot of my early stuff embarrasses me now, but I’ve always liked this story. I don’t want to spoil too much, but adventure awaits on the open road:

I particularly like the mellow 70s lyrics to the songs playing on the “soundtrack” (pretty well-drawn car, too):

You can read part two of this story here.

and here is part one.

No pressure, but if you like what you see, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter, so that I can continue to bring you comics on a regular basis.

Go Patreon!

I have important news, everyone! I am beginning a new project which I hope will make a huge difference in my life, if not in the world. I am launching a Patreon page to support my work in comics. Actually, I launched the page month ago, but I wanted to make sure that everything worked to my satisfaction before making a general announcement.

What is a Patreon? Well, it’s like a Kickstarter Campaign, but instead of making one big contribution to fund one big project, you make a series of little contributions to keep me drawing comics on a monthly basis. Really, it’s like a tip jar for the cartoonist, and like a tip jar, you can give as much or as little as you like.

This video shot by my awesomely talented friend Milan Erceg lays out the details. You can watch it on the home page, or on YouTube:

David Chelsea is reading:

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud.

Although my intention is to make this Patreon page an ongoing project, my immediate aim is to  provide a way for my patient and much beloved fans to support work on two of my upcoming books.

The first book is a full length collection of stories featuring Snow Angel, an all-ages superhero character. Snow Angel is an ordinary little girl who becomes a crime-fighting angel when she makes an angel in the snow, battling scourges like bicycle theft, jaywalking, and littering. The first story was drawn as a 24 Hour comic in 2007, and since then Snow Angel has appeared in DARK HORSE PRESENTS and her own one-shot comic book. I am now at work on stories for the collection, which is set to appear in early 2016.

The second project is ARE YOU BEING WATCHED, a graphic novel about Reality TV featuring Mugg, who appeared in both my books about perspective. This story began as two 24 Hour comics, drawn in 2013, and I will be posting pages from the expanded version as I complete them.

My plan is to post at least eight pages of new comics a month, and an equivalent amount of new-to-you stuff from my archives, some of it already published, and some of it never-before-seen stuff from my sketchbooks. All of this will be free for anyone to look at.

Now, why should you pay to see stuff that I have already said is free? Well, you have the satisfaction of being a Patron of The Arts, as well as the virtuous feeling that you are helping to subsidize the comics habit of some very, very impoverished fans who can’t afford even the smallest contribution. Also, I have numerous rewards for the people who help me out, including copies of my books, personalized envelopes and postcards, access to roughs and character sketches that nonpatrons don’t get to see, a monthly hangout in which I read your letters and do drawing demonstrations in real time, and much more.

Sign up for snail mail!

Also, as more and more people sign up, and contributions rise to various levels, this will enable me to meet some specific goals which in turn will inspire me to do more to make more and better content. My immediate goal is raise funds to hire a colorist, so that I can post new installments of SNOW ANGEL and ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? in full, glorious color.

My tentative schedule is to post new comics on the first Thursday of every month, comics from the archives on the second Thursday, material from my Secret Stash on the third Thursday, and to do a video hang out on the last Thursday of each month. Since I launched  a month ago, there is already material online which you can see, including two stories featuring Angel/Snow Angel. In the first, she goes to play games at a friend’s house, but finds herself subject to frequent interruptions:

In the second story, Angel goes on a car trip with her family,  but finds herself subject to–  wouldn’t you guess it– frequent interruptions!:

The comic from my archives is the first part of another story about a car trip, featuring my character Piggola, from 1974:

The first Secret Stash collection is a group of flyers from I drew in the 1970s, including many for Portland’s Storefront Theater, as well as some NSFW envelopes I drew for penpals over the years.  Membership has its privileges;  The Secret Stash is viewable only by Patreon subscribers at the $4.99 level and up:

(BTW, I skipped the video hangout last month, but I will be sure to do one this month.)

That’s about it. I will be adding material on a regular basis, and posting notifications on this blog. You can check out my home page here. You can also check out the Patreon pages of other eminent cartoonists, such as Keith Knight, Lucy Bellwood, and Erika Moen. And if you like what you see, please $how your $upport!

RIP, Leonard Nimoy:

Caricature from The New York Observer, year unknown

David Chelsea is watching:

Constantine’s Sword

with James Carroll

Also, belated RIP to Maggie Estep. I couldn’t find this caricature when she died a year ago, but it turned up just now, when I was looking for Leonard Nimoy:

There’s No Wrong Way To Color Snow Angel

Here are some random frames from a copy of SNOW ANGEL’S COMICS CONVENTION COLORING BOOK that I left open for people to color at my table at Wizard World Portland:

David Chelsea is listening to:

Funny Girl: A Novel

by Nick Hornby

I had a fine time this year at Wizard World, thanks for asking. I chatted with a lot of fans, and a lot more future fans, I did very a fun panel on independent Comics with Shannon Wheeler, Dean Haspiel, and moderator Danny Fingeroth, and while I came in with low expectations for sales, I actually did about as well as I usually had at the late lamented Stumptown, possibly thanks to the free Voodoo Doughnuts I was giving away with each purchase.

Me at my Artist’s Alley table

Titans Of Independent Comics panel

What is a comics convention without cosplay? Here are a few of the best ones I saw.

I’m not sure what my next convention appearance will be, but I have heard very good things about Olympia, Washington.

Hasta La Vista, Kitzhaber:

Caricature for the Portland Tribune, 2001

David Chelsea is listening to: The Cuckoo’s Calling

by Robert Galbraith

Coming In 2016: SLEEPLESS AND OTHER STORIES: DAVID CHELSEA’S 24-HOUR COMICS, VOL. 2

Big news for fans of my 24 hour comics (in case you don’t already know, I am the World Record Holder in meeting the challenge devised by Scott McCloud, to produce an entire 24 page comic book in a single day– I have done 16 of these one-day epics so far). Plans are in the works for a second collection, titled SLEEPLESS AND OTHER STORIES: DAVID CHELSEA’S 24-HOUR COMICS, VOL. 2, to be published next year by Dark Horse (the first Dark Horse collection, EVERYBODY GETS IT WRONG! AND OTHER STORIES: DAVID CHELSEA’S 24-HOUR COMICS, VOL. 1, came out in 2013).

David Chelsea is reading: It Never Happened Again: Two Stories

by Sam Alden

Like the first, this book collects six 24 page stories, each drawn in a single session lasting around 24 hours (Six Days In The Making– Just Like Creation!). In chronological order, the stories are:

1. SNOW ANGEL: the original 24 hour comic version. I later reworked this story about a little girl who becomes a crime-fighting angel when she makes an angel in snow, and added color to it for the version which ran in Dark Horse Presents, which later became its own one-shot comic book. I am now at work on a book-length collection of stories about this character.

2. SLEEPLESS: A story told entirely through the eyes of a character who can’t sleep. Comics reviewer Henry Chamberlain called it “the best 24 hour comic I’ve ever read” (I don’t know how many of my OTHER 24 hour comics he has read).

3. ID: A woman has her identity stolen by a mysterious tormentor. Featuring an all-animal cast, until I changed my mind halfway through the story and made them all humans.

4. NOW OPEN THE BOX: A married couple receive a mysterious package, which they must hide from their young son. Drawn entirely on isometric grid paper.

5. THE GIRL WITH THE KEYHOLE EYES: Drawn as a benefit for, and as something of an homage to ZAP cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, this series of reminiscences about various women I’ve known (mostly NOT old girlfriends), mixes real stories with outright fabrications, all centered on the eponymous “girl”, who is variously described as an old roommate, a character in a video game, a cartoonist colleague, my grandmother, and a Courtney Love look-like. It ends with a real groaner of a pun. This story was also eventually redrawn for Dark Horse Presents.

6. I LIKE TO RIFF: This comic is something of a victory lap, both for myself and for any reader who has made through all the previous 24 hour comics. I constructed the story by putting the names of the eleven previous comics in a sack and drawing one out at random every two hours. See if you can spot all of them!

Publication is planned for February 2016. I will definitely be blogging more about this book and the stories in it as that date approaches.

Do you have my first 24 hour comic collection, EVERYBODY GETS IT WRONG! AND OTHER STORIES? Buy it now!

Use this link and I get a payment from Amazon Associates!

Coming To Wizard World: Clash of the Titans 2!

I had a grand time at the Titans Of Independent Comics panel at Wizard World last year, and I am delighted that panel host Danny Fingeroth has invited me back for a repeat performance:

David Chelsea is listening to

The Casual Vacancy (Unabridged)

by J. K. Rowling

Friday Jan 23:

4:30-5:15

TITANS OF INDEPENDENT COMICS WITH BILLY DOGMA’S DEAN HASPIEL, TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN’S SHANNON WHEELER AND DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE’S DAVID CHELSEA (C120)

The model of comics creators tethered to one or two major publishers, working on adventures of corporately-owned characters is no longer the only game in town. Many of the top talents in comics work either exclusively on their own material, while others work both sides of the street, alternating independent work with mainstream assignments done in their own distinctive styles. Here, speaking about how they have forged their own paths, are some of the most distinctive creators in comics today: Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma; American Splendor), Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man; Villain House) and David Chelsea (David Chelsea in Love; Everybody Gets It Wrong!). The panel is moderated by Danny Fingeroth (Rough Guide to Graphic Novels; Studs Terkel’s Working).

Dean Haspiel

Shannon Wheeler

Danny Fingeroth

Danny expects to add a fourth, possibly ovaried, panelist by the time of the show; keep watching this space for announcements!

Portland Comic Con 2015

Wizard World Convention

January 23-24-25, 2015

FRI-SAT-SUN

Oregon Convention Center

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Portland, OR 97232

Show Hours:

Friday, January 23, 2015 – 3pm – 8pm

Saturday, January 24, 2015 – 10am – 7pm

Sunday, January 25, 2015 – 11am – 5pm

Still Coming In January: Snow Angel’s Comics Convention Coloring Book

I recently posted about this minicomic, which I will premiere this month at Wizard World Portland. Here’s the cover:

Not to give too much away, but this story involves Snow Angel (in her everyday guise of a little girl named Angel) and her brother Aidan bringing a Snow Angel comic book to their local comics convention. I am indebted to the very gifted Jacob Mercy for drawing the cover of this comic-within-a-comic:

Feel free to add color to this image! And see you on January 23-25!

Dream A Little Dream Of God

Let’s ring in the New Year with a musical video selection from my son Ben, a musical mashup of the Beach Boys song God Only Knows with Mama Cass Elliot’s version of Dream A Little Dream Of Me. Ben has a musical intelligence that can find common ground in two familiar songs that seem worlds apart, and I don’t think I’ll ever hear these two the same way again. Ben has taken time out of his busy schedule of preparing college application to create this video to go with his remix; I particularly like the montage of lead singer Carl Wilson growing grizzled with the years (Mama Cass did not get to grow grizzled, alas- she died only six years after recording Dream A Little Dream Of Me).

Coming In January: Snow Angel Goes To Wizard World

I will be making my first comics convention appearance of 2015, and my second annual appearance at Wizard World Portland this January 23-25. I had a fine time at Wizard World last year, and this year I’m bringing something special for the fans– a new minicomic featuring Snow Angel, in which, fittingly enough, she and her brother Aidan go to a comics convention. (In the panel below, Snow Angel is in her off-duty guise of a little girl named Angel. Her brother Aidan is in costume as Snow Angel, however, for complicated reasons. Not to worry; the real Snow Angel shows up eventually.)

Eventually I intend to add color to this story, and include it in a projected book collection of Snow Angel stories, but for now I am bringing a black and white version which I am titling SNOW ANGEL’S COMICS CONVENTION COLORING BOOK!

There is a controversy swirling through Facebook, if nowhere else, about the role of “cosplayers”, those people who like to attend comics conventions dressed as their favorite comic characters. Comics writer J. Michael Straczynski wrote a widely circulated screed against cosplay, which was followed by equally impassioned defenses. Straczynski and his allies criticize cosplayers for taking up too much space at conventions, crowding the aisles, and making it difficult for exhibitors like himself to sell, for not spending money themselves, and for being generally ignorant of the history of the medium they celebrate. The argument echoes the familiar wrangle over gentrification, with cosplayers cast as the yuppies who walk obliviously past the shoe repair shop that has been in their neighborhood since 1949. For their part, cosplayer defenders accuse the critics of being geek dinosaurs who resent their all-male paradise being invaded by (mostly) Girls Who Just Wanna Have Fun. For myself, I have noticed that my own sales have been lower at cosplay-heavy conventions like Wizard World and Emerald City than they were at the late, lamented Stumptown, but I tend to blame higher ticket prices for tapping attendees out. SNOW ANGEL aims to be nothing more than pure escapism, but I couldn’t resist taking a tiny poke at the issue (I thank Terri Nelson of Periscope Studios for the observation that cosplayers don’t carry wallets.):

Apart from the new Snow Angel story, I will be bringing both of the books in my PERSPECTIVE! series, as well as the recent collection published by Dark Horse, EVERYBODY GETS IT WRONG! (AND OTHER STORIES): DAVID CHELSEA’S 24 HOUR COMICS VOLUME 1, and sundry other goodies. Angel and Aidan quickly discover that they do better selling snacks than comic books, and I intend to follow suit- I’ll be offering a free Voodoo Doughnut with purchase!

Portland Comic Con 2015

Wizard World Convention

January 23-24-25, 2015

FRI-SAT-SUN

Oregon Convention Center

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Portland, OR 97232

Show Hours:

Friday, January 23, 2015 – 3pm – 8pm

Saturday, January 24, 2015 – 10am – 7pm

Sunday, January 25, 2015 – 11am – 5pm