Craig Thompson's Blog, page 6

nerd club

Finally finished inking the first chapter of SPACE DUMPLINS (57 pages). I’m way behind on my personal deadlines (primarily due to the health of my drawing hand), but colorist Dave Stewart has been knocking out gorgeous colors at a breakneck pace. Here’s a peek.

kim thompson

Comics industry luminary Kim Thompson will be dearly missed. Though we aren’t related, I referred to him affectionately as “Uncle Thompson.” He nurtured the comics scene into the thriving community it is today, translated and published crucial European artists, and encouraged young talent.  He was one of the very first professionals to discover and acknowledge my work. Here’s a postcard he sent me on March 5, 1997.

 

brazil jam

Brazilian buddies Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, and Murilo Martins are visiting Portland for ICAF (International Comics Art Forum).

If this post isn’t too late, check out the twins’ SPOTLIGHT TALK at 70 NW Couch Street (Portland) TONIGHT at 7:30.

What do cartoonists do when we drink coffee and nerd out? We discuss craft & reminisce on the masters of the medium.

This morning, we picked four cartooning heroes who passed away recently, and copied panels as a tribute. Below left,

Fabio pencilled a CARMINE INFANTINO panel that Murilo inked. To the right, Murilo pencilled some MOEBIUS panels that Fabio inked.

Then I pencilled a TOPPI page that Gabriel inked. Right, Gabriel pencilled a SENDAK page that I inked.

Here’s my inks on Gabriel’s pencils of a Maurice Sendak image from WE ARE ALL IN THE DUMPS WITH JACK AND GUY.

It’s been a year, and I still think of Maurice daily.

mange ta viande!

BOINGBOING recently posted my interview with Blutch – an inspiring & influential cartoonist to myself and many others. The first of his books to be published in English – SO LONG, SILVER SCREEN – is debuting this month from Picturebox! Below is the the only photo I could find of Blutch and myself – at Angoulême festival in January 2005. And there’s a smattering of Blutch’s prolific bibliography.
 


While working on Blankets, I poured so devotedly over Blutch’s pages that it emerged as unconscious swipes in my own work. Here’s just one sample where I mimicked him without even realizing – a common affliction in young, impressionable cartoonists.

 
And here’s a couple of portraits of Blutch from CARNET DE VOYAGE. That 2004 visit to Toulouse, France is referenced often in the Boingboing interview. Treat yourself to Blutch’s new book finally in the US!
 

laser boob army & scrambled seaweed

Springtime instigates spring cleaning of the art studio. Here’s a couple of goodies unearthed in the process. Above is a batch of unused illustrations created for a stage presentation at the 2005 ICON Illustration Conference. The general talking point of each illo is: a) preconceptions of comics, b) the obliviousness and/or coping mechanisms of arteests, c) SCOTT McCLOUD as a cult leader of sorts for my generation of cartoonists, d) the reality that most cartoonists pay the bills via illustration gigs, e) the debate over the label “graphic novel”.

Below is another except from the 70 foot scroll I created in fourth grade (1985 or 1986) when I was approximately the same age as Violet in the upcoming SPACE DUMPLINS. Wish I could scan this entire epic for you… in the meantime, there’s a little more on it here.

 

zach & mo & krejg.

 During my March 5 – May 14, 2004 travel diary CARNET DE VOYAGE, this little bean-bodied critter invaded my sketchbooks as a conscience to counteract my whining & sentimentality. Nine years later, it’s satisfying & familiar to revisit the character in the pages of SPACE DUMPLINS, though I seriously envy how off-the-cuff I used to churn out the pages. The critter has a name now – Zacchaeus – after a favorite wee little tax-collector from the Bible.


 

There’s a new presence in my work studio that shares the same energy as Zacchaeus - frisky & distracting & never tolerating the whining - a kitty, name of Maurice (no Biblical reference). Here she is surveying new and old appearances of Zacchaeus. To the right, she protects the drafting table from her throne of crumpled jackets.

 

In other news:  A)  I’m participating in an exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco with an amazing cast of illustrators. I SEE WHAT YOU SAY opens March 23rd.

And B) the latest foreign edition of HABIBI to debut is from my Serbian publisher Komiko. I wanted to mention it, if for no other reason because I like seeing my name spelled “Krejg”.

 

collaboration & color

Happy New Year, Everyone! My apologies for neglecting to post in January. Mostly I was bummed out to not be back on the drawing wagon as predicted. All of December and January were spent in recovery, including occupational therapy. But I’m reminded that there were similar months of recuperation after BLANKETS tour in 2004 (see CARNET DE VOYAGE).

I was waiting for happy news before posting, and it arrived with February as I’m finally drawing again & starting fresh with a new opening sequence for the book (scrapping most of the pages inked in November).
The happier news is that the incredible Dave Stewart is on board to color SPACE DUMPLINS, infusing the drawings with vibrant atmosphere & volume. Dave and I’ve known each other since 1997 when I worked as a graphic designer at Dark Horse Comics and he was an in-house colorist. He’s best known now for his work on Mike Mignola’s HELLBOY and BRPD (and for winning seven Eisner awards!).

After so many years of working solo, I’m excited to share this element of collaboration with an extremely talented friend.  See below for a peek at the magic Stewart brings to a single panel of the new book.

space dumplins

My upcoming all-ages book has been officially announced. It’s titled SPACE DUMPLINS and will be published by Scholastic. I want it to work like a Pixar film — fun & appealing to the youngsters, while simultaneously fulfilling to you, my faithful readers.

 

The bad news is that I haven’t drawn any new pages since the last blog-posting, because of a hand injury. Prohibited from drawing, I’ve been obsessively combing over the thumbnail draft, thus further applying the Pixar model of endless rewrites.  My New Year’s plan is to take off the splint and leap back on the drawing wagon. And the book will keep me busy through all of 2013. Aiming for a 2014 release.



Finally, if you’re looking for last-last-minute holiday gifts, there’s still a limited amount of oversized HABIBI screenprints available at CRACK PRESS.  Season’s greetings, Blog-friends! Thanks for checking in throughout the year (despite my infrequent posts). And thanks for making it to any of the HABIBI tour events!

flood fund update

Thanks for your patience with the confusion and delay around the art auction to raise funds for flood relief in the Philippines. The fund raiser is finally active on eBay and bids close in a week. Here’s the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blankets-by-Craig-Thompson-Original-Cover-Art-/281018003578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416dfa707a

 

 

back to the drawing table

Thanks for the reminder, Jordi. It’s been five weeks since my return, and I’ve finally started drawing the NEXT BOOK. Twelve pages are finished, but I’m still reclaiming the discipline & drawing muscles required to make final pages. It’s still a bit soon to reveal the details of the project, but I will say my focus is on the all-ages book. While brainstorming/writing (earlier in the year), I gave equal attention to three ideas, but the time-consuming demands of drawing have nudged the other two books to the backburner. Here’s some preliminary sketches of the new book’s hero – VIOLET.

In other news, here’s a link to the BLANKETS MARRIAGE PROPOSAL of Becca & Mike mentioned at the end of last month’s post.

A sweet moment and a great honor as an author to find one’s book connecting so deeply to readers’ lives. Best wishes to Becca & Mike!