David Chelsea's Blog, page 5

24 Hour Comic Day Update

[image error]

Here’s an update on my plans for this coming 24 Hour Comic Day. Once again, I drew this strip in an hour. I’ve reformatted it for the website, but the original is five pages long- last week, I managed six pages in an hour, so I expect to complete my 24 pages in four to five hours. I’m still accepting pledges, but it appears that the email link on this site doesn’t work, so if you want to pledge, message me through Facebook. I haven’t chosen a cause myself, so donate your pledge to a charity of your own choosing. Pledgers will receive a printed zine of the results. I’ll be back to report after the day. Wish me luck!

American Bystander #11

[image error]

American Bystander #12 is almost upon us, which means I really should blog about my contribution to issue #11, which arrived with a plop on my doorstep about a month ago.

David Chelsea is reading: The Last Cruise

by Kate Christensen

My illustration is for a humor piece by Jay Ruttenberg, which takes the form of instructions for the temperamental key to a B&B rental. The piece was an appropriate one for me to take on, since Eve and I are in the process of converting the built-in apartment in our house to a B&B.

Here are my rough ideas, with the editor’s pick:

[image error]

Line art layer:

[image error]

Watercolor layer:

[image error]

Much color-corrected final:

[image error]

This is something of a reunion for Jay Ruttenberg and me. In 2008, I illustrated his essay for the New York Times Modern Love column. That illustration is one of my personal favorites:

[image error]

Read the piece here.

And be sure and stay at our B&B! Available- probably- around the end of the year.

Don’t Miss This lmportant Announcement!

[image error]

David Chelsea is reading: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

I’ve been debating whether I should draw another 24 Hour Comic this October. I’ve decided to leave it in the hands of you readers of my blog, as well as Facebookfriends, Patreon supporters, and my email list. To sign up as a sponsor, email me using the website contact link. I’ll go ahead if I get 5 people willing to pledge a dollar a page, or the equivalent- 50 people pledging a dime a page will work too. You have until October 5th to make up your mind. What’s YOUR favorite cause?

By the way, I reformatted this strip so it would read better vertically. To see the original format, go to my Patreon page. Happy 24 Hour Comic Day!

Stuff I’ve Been Posting On Patreon

[image error]

I haven’t written here for a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I’ve been posting content regularly on my Patreon page, which of course you would know about if you were one of my sponsors. My main effort has been going to instructional perspective videos created in Adobe After Effects. Since the last time I wrote about this project, I’ve posted three more:

Drawing Perspective with David Chelsea: Simple Two-Point Perspective

Drawing Perspective With David Chelsea: Simple Three-Point Perspective

Drawing Perspective with David Chelsea: Three-Point Perspective Axioms

[image error]

David Chelsea is reading: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

New videos drop every second Friday. The latest video is accessible to subscribers at the $4.99 level. After two weeks, it drops to $0.99.

I’ve also been posting loose doodles and pages from old sketchbooks on a more or less daily basis. Here’s a typical recent page, drawn as a loosening-up exercise before starting on a SNOW ANGEL story:

[image error]

Has my style changed much in 43 years? Recently, I posted nearly every page from a 1976 sketchbook, including a couple of whimsical cartoons and a straight portrait of my father:

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

After that, I pulled out a sketchbook from 1987, which included some early efforts in curvilinear perspective and a caricature of Rhythm and Blues pioneer Louis Jordan:

[image error]

[image error]

The videos and sketchbook drawings are accessible only to those with paid subscriptions (which start at $0.99 a month- cheap!), but I also put up free content, mostly comics. I’ve been posting an irregularly appearing series of comics drawn on library call slips for a couple of years. Here is a recent example:

[image error]

On Mondays I post pencil roughs from DUCKLAND, a still-in-the-planning-stages sequel to my 1995 graphic novel WELCOME TO THE ZONE. In this story, former real estate developer, now President of The United States Ronald Duck is stranded in the bohemian neighborhood The Zone, and has some maximally punishing adventures:

[image error]

[image error]

I’ve also been posting a series of comics which appeared in Portland’s underground paper The Scribe during the 1970s. Naturally I include my own character Piggola:

[image error]

I also posted a comic featuring the adorable baby character Beanso Beanslorf, drawn when I was twelve:

[image error]

And a full page comic featuring Joe Cat and his wife Bodice, a sort of funny-animal Blondie & Dagwood:

[image error]

I also posted a bunch of comics drawn by other artists which appeared in the Scribe, including this feminist winner by the otherwise unknown Billie Miracle:

[image error] Menstrual Sponge Comic by Billie Miracle

The most enigmatic of Scribe comics was “Millimonk”, a disjointed series of unsigned and nearly unfathomable full-page stories which ran for a few years. A book collection was eventually published under the name “Aleyunds”, but there the trail goes cold:

[image error]

This doesn’t fit my usual Patreon editorial mission, but I couldn’t resist posting it anyway. Recently, googling myself, ( Oh, come on, we all do it!) I saw that right at the top of the pile was “David Chelsea Boot”. Clicking the link took me to Nordstrom’s website, where I found this item:

[image error]

Naturally, I posted the image on Facebook, where it inspired my sister Anny to write this:

“Hey Hipsters! You, too, can stroll the aisles at Comic-Con or sit in your attic listening to Bob & Ray and sketching celebrities – and look GREAT doing it – in your all-leather Nordstrom(TM) brand David Chelsea Boots! Just like the published cartoonist they’re named for, these stylish kicks have a durable soul and breathable, flexible sides, tapering gracefully into a steel toe that will protect your tender feet from harm. Waterproof to withstand the Portland rain or a muddy berry-picking outing on Sauvie Island! Neighbors will turn their heads when they see YOU rolling your recyclables to the curb in your genuine David Chelsea Boots!”

I think Anny missed her calling as a writer for the J.Peterman Catalogue.

Like what you see? Sign up as a sponsor NOW on my Patreon page!

Want to see more DUCKLAND? start reading FREE here.

Can’t get enough Portland Scribe Comics? FREE Patreon posts start here.

Perspective Videos on YouTube and Patreon: The First One’s Free!

[image error]

If you’ve been following these posts, you know that I’ve been acquiring chops little by little in Adobe After Effects. Well, I now feel adept enough to have launched a series of animated videos about something I was already good at- perspective. The first in my series of step-by-step perspective tutorials dropped on Patreon in May, and as of now, I have posted three of them:

Drawing Perspective With David Chelsea: Simple One-Point Perspective

Drawing Perspective With David Chelsea: Constructing One-Point Perspective Over A Reference Photo

Drawing Perspective with David Chelsea: A Hexagonal Floor In Perspective

David Chelsea is reading: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

[image error]

You will notice that if you try to click on the links, only the first opens easily. That is because I have sequestered them behind a Patreon paywall in hopes I can monetize my perspective expertise. I have two kids in college! My plan is to post a new video every two weeks- first, to subscribers at the $4.99 a mouth level and above, and after two weeks, to anyone pledging more than $0.99 a month. The first one’s free!

It’s also on YouTube!

[image error]

Rather than add verbal instructions, I decided to stick to wordless demonstrations, which I’m hoping will transcend language barriers. I am particularly proud of the second video in the series, which shows how to construct perspective around a reference photo. I own several books of figure reference photos which have been useful to me over the years, but one of my pet peeves about them is that the models are invariably posed against blank white backgrounds, which are no help at all if you want to put your figure into a perspective scene. The Art Pose series at least puts its models on circular turntables, which provide a little in the way of perspective cues. To start with, I guess at the eye level, place the horizon accordingly, then build a square in perspective around the turntable, which I then expand into a tiled floor.

[image error]

Each video follows the same pattern- I begin by drawing a horizon and vanishing points in blue pencil, add further details in red and green, then finish the drawing in ink, and finally erase my pencil work and blow the shavings away (all digitally simulated, but you should have no trouble following along on paper).

[image error]

I’ll be blogging more regularly about further videos as I post them. In the meantime, you can check out some of my other After Effects projects:

ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? The Promo

Round Black Glasses: The Morph

Ben’s Presidents Morph

SNOW ANGEL promo

This Weekend! Origin Stories: Comics & Identity

[image error]

Sorry for the late notice, but I’m in an art show, Origin Stories: Comics & Identity, part of this year’s 56th annual Lake Oswego Festival of The Arts. Appropriately enough for the origins theme, my contribution is five pages from LIFE OF THE PARTY, a 24 Hour Comic I drew about my father. I’m also giving a free talk about 24 Hour Comics generally this Sunday at noon at Lakewood Center of the Arts, 368 S State St, Lake Oswego, OR 97034. It would be so nice to see you there!

David Chelsea is reading: Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous

by Christopher Bonanos

[image error]

From the website:

“Sequence, repetition, visual and verbal symbols are the building blocks of comics, and are the tools artists use to create and present identities to the world around us. Origin Stories: Comics & Identity celebrates comics as a unique form, exceptionally suited to help us tell the stories of our selves.

The 2019 Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts is proud to present the Special Exhibit, Origin Stories: Comics and Identity, an exhibition celebrating the unique formal qualities of comics as a medium, as well as the infinite possibilities of expression the form allows. The exhibit will feature regional and national artists including Alissa Sallah, editor of the image comic Sleepless, along with Ben Passmore, Louisiana artist and author of the comic novel, Your Black Friend. Curator Andréa Gilroy and Assistant Curator Katie Proctor are thrilled to work with The Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts to celebrate this exciting moment in comics’ history by showcasing contemporary comics art in a gallery setting. This exhibition seeks to embrace the here-and-now of comics art, to celebrate the work of known professionals alongside fresh, exciting talent.

[image error]

About the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts:

The Festival is held in the Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego and George Rogers Park. It features multiple art exhibits, music, dance and demonstrations. The Special Exhibit is housed at Lakewood Center. Other art exhibits (Open Show, Artist’s Vision, Art in Oregon, and High School Art Exhibit) are also located at Lakewood Center. Art in the Park, with more than 110 artists, is located at George Rogers Park across the street from Lakewood Center.

There will be hands-on arts activities, demonstrations, educational displays and the popular Happy Hour on the deck at Lakewood on Friday and Saturday afternoons provides an opportunity to meet and talk with friends.

The Special Exhibit Origin Stories: Comics & Identity is supported by a Clackamas County Cultural Coalition Project Grant.”

Origin Stories: Comics & Identity

at Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts

Lakewood Center of the Arts

Lake Oswego

10 am – 9 pm Friday & Saturday June 21 & 22, 2019

10 am – 5 pm Sunday, June 23, 2019

Read a blog post about LIFE OF THE PARTY, the 24 Hour Comic

Just Wrapped Up On Patreon: Snow Angel Origins

[image error]

David Chelsea is reading: I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)

by Chuck Klosterman

It’s been a while since I blogged about the stuff I’ve been posting to my Patreon page, so you may not be aware of the series that recently wrapped up, an Origins comic about my superhero character Snow Angel. Ever wonder where Snow Angel comes from, and where she got her powers? Not even a little bit? Well, this comic gives you the answer- it all began in the crib:

[image error]

Young Angel has a sixth sense for menaces in the world, but lacks superpowers because she lives in the desert southwest where there is no snow.

[image error]

However, that all changes when her family moves to Portland, where of course it snows all the time.

[image error]

A kid Angel is babysitting introduces her to making snow angels, with surprising results:

[image error]

[image error]

I don’t want to give too much away, but Snow Angel does find crime to fight:

[image error]

And she meets her personal Yoda, the Guardian Normal Kid:

[image error]

The Guardian Normal Kid previously appeared in SNOW ANGEL ON STRIKE, the final story in DARK HORSE’s SNOW ANGEL book collection. In that story, he and Snow Angel appeared not to have previously met, but consistency is for small minds.

This story clocks in at 28 pages, which makes it the LONGEST Snow Angel story ever! And you can read it from the very beginning, starting with this link.

Here are a couple of other Snow Angel stories you can read on Patreon:

SNOW ANGEL MEETS LADY GODDESS

SNOW ANGEL GOES TO PLUTO

Read the SNOW ANGEL collection from Dark Horse!

All my comics material on Patreon is free for anyone to view, but you might consider becoming a supporter, just so I can keep my party going. You’ll also have access to plenty of members-only content that I will be blogging about presently.

American Bystander #10: James McMullan and Full Frontal Haiku!

[image error]

The latest issue of American Bystander, number 10, contains a murderer’s row of heavy-hitting cartoonist and writers, including Drew Friedman, M.K. Brown, Ed Subitzky, Charles Barsotti, Rick Geary, et al, and I especially recommend the reminiscence by Jennifer Finney Boylan, who was Managing Editor of the American Bystander’s original prototype issue in 1982, but for me the most significant name is this month’s cover artist, veteran illustrator James McMullan.

David Chelsea is reading: Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America

by Jared Cohen

[image error] 1976 Illustration by James McMullan

McMullan, whose work I first encountered in New York magazine in the early 70s, has worked consistently from the 60s to today. He may be most familiar for his long series of posters for Broadway shows at Lincoln Center, but he has also done magazine illustrations, children books, record covers and animation. Running parallel to his illustration work has been a long career in teaching, principally at New York’s School of Visual Arts (for which he also has done a series of subway posters). I was privileged to take his SVA illustration course– which had a stringent portfolio review – for two years beginning in 1978. Like nearly everyone who passed through that class, I went through a period of slavishly imitating McMullan’s signature watercolor style:

[image error] Blatant McMullan ripoff by David Celsi, 1978

McMullan’s critique method was legendary: he would expound extemporaneously on the history of art, possibly beginning with the Lascaux Caves, continuing up through Attic vases, Renaissance murals, and the Impressionists, before his attention would finally alight on the latest development in this illustrious history, your (if you were lucky) piece from this week. His 1978 book, Revealing Illustrations, in which he turned the lens on his own work, is no collection of greatest hits, but a thoroughly candid dissection of his work process, including a generous selection of preliminary sketches and reference photos, and it set the template for the blog posts on my own illustrations that have appeared in this space over the past several years. I am honored to share periodical space for the first time ever with the man who helped set me on my career path.

[image error]

My own contribution to issue #10 builds on the poem I contributed to issue #9, this simple haiku:

[image error]

Well, I may not be the most appreciative reader of haiku, but I like writing them well enough that I decided to write an entire comic in haiku, getting in some tasty nudity as well:

[image error]

For this piece I went with my reliable technique of coquille board combined with watercolor in Photoshop. Since I have noticed a tendency for my art to darken considerably in print, I made the colors as light as I dared:

[image error]

Think they don’t make magazines like this anymore? Well actually, they do. Or they will, if they can build a subscription base. It’s impossible to sell advertising in it for a million reasons, so AMERICAN BYSTANDER sells subscriptions to pay the writers and artists. Check it out here.

Or, just order an issue. Every little bit helps!

John McWhorter Gives You The Dish On “Ish.”

[image error]

To be a freelance commercial artist can be an isolating experience, and one way I pass the lonely hours is by listening to lots and lots of audio books and podcasts. I listen to a number of podcasts under the SLATE umbrella, and one my favorites is Lexicon Valley, the language podcast hosted by linguist John McWhorter. In one of his programs a few weeks back, John made passing mention of a new word, “ish”, which he defined as a truncated sort-of-adjective, used thus: “Is your car green?” “..ish.” This piqued my interest, and I wrote in to point out that “ish” has a history predating that use.

David Chelsea is reading: Dreyer’s English

by Benjamin Dreyer

[image error] John McWhorter

I first heard it on this old episode of the 1930s and 40s comedy program “Vic and Sade”, which aired on the local public radio in the 1970s. Sade says “ish” twice in quick succession at around 11:34. I’m pretty sure “ish” crops up on other episodes as well, and it made such a strong impression on me that I picked it up as my own expression of incredulity at anything stupid or outrageous, kind of the way many people say “hush!” My children have always found this a pretty hilarious Dad-ism, and to this day I can bring my daughter Rebecca, who is a freshman in college, to hysterical laughter simply by dropping “ish” into conversation.

[image error] The cast of Vic & Sade

My own theory was that this use of “ish” derives from the 1930s-era mock-Yiddish expression “Ische ga bibble?”, which was purported to mean “I should worry?”. A comedian named Merwyn Bogue, who performed with Kay Kyser’s band, took “Ish Kabibble” as his stage name.

[image error] Ish Kabibble

(“Ish” also pops up as the fellow who swishes when he wishes for fish on his dish, in One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, but I’m guessing that is pure coincidence.)

[image error] Definitely the wrong Ish

John wrote back to say that he had his doubts about the “Ish Kabibble” theory, also mentioning that though he is an old-time radio fan, he always found Vic & Sade “tragically dull” (De gustibus. I consider Vic & Sade a classic of deadpan absurdism, cut from the same laconic cloth as Bob & Ray and Stephen Wright.). On the next Lexicon Valley he played a bit of the Vic & Sade clip, inviting listeners to write in with their own theories as to the origin of “ish”. He also gave me a shout-out for having drawn his attention to “ish”, though he oddly called me “Michael Chelsea” (he corrected the goof in a later podcast). Though I recommend you listen to the whole thing, the “ish” segment on John’s podcast comes at about 40:13.

[image error] David Chelsea? Michael Chelsea?

A listener named Michael Feely wrote in with what seems like the most plausible explanation for “ish”, something to do with Scandinavians settling in the Midwest. I won’t spoil it- you can listen to the “ish” explanation on this podcast, starting at about 31:38.

John likes to close his podcasts with a musical selection. I leave you with Ish Kabibble singing the SONG “Isch Ka Bibble” with the Kyser Band.

Modern Love Podcast: Race Wasn’t An Issue To Him, Which Was An Issue To Me | With Lorraine Toussaint

[image error]

This week the Modern Love Podcast revives one of my favorite illustrations from my run on the column, which originally ran in 2006. From the website:

“Kim McLarin writes about race and dating in her piece, ‘Race Wasn’t an Issue To Him, Which Was an Issue To Me.’ It’s read by Lorraine Toussaint. She’s starring now in the shows ‘The Village’ and ‘Into the Badlands,’ and you can also see her in the upcoming films ‘Fast Color’ and ‘Sprinter,’ out later this month.”

David Chelsea is reading: Dreyer’s English

by Benjamin Dreyer

I haven’t seen Lorraine Toussaint in anything for years, but I remember her being great on the original “Law & Order.”

[image error] Lorraine Toussaint

For unknown reasons, the designers at the Modern Love Podcast have severely cropped my original illustration, which is perfectly circular. Appropriately, for an essay about metaphorical color blindness, I based it on the familiar Ishihara Color Blindness Test:

[image error]

[image error]

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the original story here.