Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Blog, page 11

It's that time of year again... RUN AWAY!

Sitting on this beach for an hour - or maybe longer (?) - the sounds of the ocean start to soothe me and wash the pain and fear out of my brain. I wanted someplace new - and yet familiar - to escape to.



 I've never been here before. In the past, I've run to Ogunquit and walked the Marginal Way until I felt at Peace and could return to the real world.


But the people walking on the Marginal Way were couples. Pairs. Holding hands. Foreign to me. If they even noticed me, we'd nod very slightly and walk on.


On THIS beach, there are a few older couples in beach chairs facing away from the water, towards the fading sun. Everyone else is on their own. Like me. Mostly women, around my age. With dogs.

Walking back and forth through the still warm waves, we smile at each other and laugh at the dogs - romping in the surf. "What a beautiful dog!" and "Ah! He licked my hand!?"


I don't have the greatest social skills, but I am quite sure if I tried to compliment the Marginal Way Ladies on THEIR companions, I'd get a black eye! "What a beautiful man!" and "Ah! He licked my hand!?"
A book by Lisa Scottoline just popped into my thoughts... "Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog." I say - Why wait for number three? 
There is definitely something to it... 
A beautiful golden retriever was dashing up and down the beach chasing a tennis ball. Suddenly, he swerved and headed right for me. He skidded to a halt and dropped the ball right at my feet! He smiled at me (he DID!) until I picked up the juicy thing and threw it down the beach, towards his owner. A little while later, I felt water splashing me and he was back. Grinning. Plop. ThROOOOOOWWWW! Run run run. And repeat...
It's been a really long time since I've had a dog. I'm more of a cat person... but this one - out of the many dogs on the beach - really tugged at my heart. Friendly. Social. Beautiful. Joyful.
Someday - this will be me...

I will live in an unusual, pretty little Victorian cottage (with a tower!) on the cliffs over the ocean. My studio will have a happy cat, a joyful devoted dog, and HUGE windows looking at the sea. We will walk on the beach everyday and visit with our 2 and 4 legged friends and then draw late into the night.

And it will be Good.

Granite State Comicon

The perfect end to my birthday week! Lilah and I drooled over the coolest comic related STUFF and original art and costumes and and and....




Lilah and I were both crazy about the work of Christopher Uminga! 

We had a lot of trouble deciding which prints to get, but Lilah picked a Totorro one and I picked The Addams Family!

Gilded Dragon Designs has been at every comic con Lilah and I have gone too and the designs of the Dragons has gotten more detailed. 

The Kid agonized over which one called to her most. We had to walk away... have lunch... consider the options again... there was some negotiating ("Please! I'll pay you back the difference!?") And the winner was... Maleficent!! (She even has the Crow!)


My favorite booth at the show was - Books By Bella!

 Isabella Storm Falkenburg is a 8 year old comic book artist based out of New Hampshire. Her vibrant and imaginative work explodes off the page with youthful exuberance. Heavily influenced by Japanese culture, American super heroes and a love for animals, Isabella's work is truly unique.
Lilah and I LAUGHED so hard reading these comics over breakfast on Monday morning!! The Star Cats spoof on Star Wars - very funny - but the I'm So Happy I Could Puke!? Ha Ha Ha! Drawings of all kinds of creatures - including toilet bowls - spewing rainbows! Seriously - it's FUNNY!


We were both really inspired to get back to work!

Post-Party Check-in

So THAT worked! We had a great party...

Guests arrived and left in small groups all afternoon and evening so it never got overwhelming for me. I got to talk to almost everyone. It was unseasonably humid, but still a beautiful evening.

 My daughter, Lilah, made carrot cake cupcakes that were SOOO yummy!


Laurie and my new friend Jim organized the food and decorations. 

 

I got lots of lovely birthday gifts!

 


I was able to show off my comics and sketchbooks from Cartoon School.


 As the hour got later and we consumed more cupcakes - we got a little sillier!




Meanwhile, my chalkboard received lots of great new quotes!


And I added the ones sent in by email and in the blog comments.







 There is still some space left, so feel free to give me some more quotes!

And thank you to everyone who helped get me launched on this new adventure, it means so much to me to have your support and encouragement.

And now I... BEGIN AGAIN!

Kickstarter blog... Done!
Masters of Applied Cartooning... Done!
Moved back to New Hampshire... Done!
New Art Studio... Done!

I'm going to show you the behind the scenes of the new studio, in just a second, but just in case you don't read the whole post - I'm inviting you to come see the new (tiny) Studio and help me celebrate my Birthday!
OPEN STUDIOSeptember 15th from 6-8 at 40 Thorndike Street in Concord.

This part of the story starts with me looking for a new Studio space.
(I'm going to try and sell the Wingdoodle building). I found this teeny tiny space at the Concord Community Art Center (Concord, NH) which was being used by a potter. Seriously! That's a pottery wheel in there! The potter was moving to the basement, to a much larger space.


The space looked SO much larger when it was emptied out... (tiny bit of sarcasm). But I loved the idea of having a space - away from my house - to just work on comics and books. And I have always wanted to be part of an arts center.

What to do with a 6 foot by 13 foot art closet?!

I started by painting chalkboard paint - as high as I could reach with the roller - all the way around the room.


There was JUST enough space for the ladder, but it was difficult moving it around to draw the murals. And at the end of each day, I couldn't feel my legs and feet - from balancing weirdly on the skinny steps. I really need to invest in a taller ladder with wide steps!



I drew the murals just above the chalkboards. I would have loved to have painted the walls above them with a warm orangey color (to hide all the cracks) but the walls were just too high!







What to do about the big crack in the wall? Hmmmmm.... ha ha!

And the fire alarm! If I can't remove it, or hide it... then it gets some character.


The window got some blue paint and a new curtain and a screen...

Then I started adding color... and details like tangles ON the letters (see the "B").




 Christa from The Place (upstairs studio) cut a vinyl sign for my door!


I covered one of the old bulletin boards with felt and the other with magnetic paint. And brought some furniture.

 Lights! And flowers on the window...


 Notice the empty chalkboard above? I need some good quotes for it! If you come to the Open Studio - bring QUOTES!

I wrote a big quote over my work table.


And I stuck in some needle-felted creatures...


And this is where I have been drawing my comics for the last few weeks! I'll write another post about the comics next week (when I get internet for real, yeah!)


Oh - and Deb from Sew Sisters (studio next to mine) made me a curtain that I can close when I'm trying to concentrate!

Kickin' it on Kickstarter!

So - that went well! 
The first Kickstarter, for the Quo Vadis - Special Edition - comics went far enough past the goal that I was able to print some extra comics! I picked them up from the printers last week and they look great!! It is very exciting to hold one's OWN PRINTED COMICS in one's hot little hands!

Once I have finished the rest of the issues, I'll start mailing them out.
I have two weeks to finish laying out and drawing the last few comics. I'm getting really... REALLY... nervous!! Not about finishing, but the whole "the End is approaching, graduation... what are you going to do with the rest of your Life...?" That sort of stuff. Although, I did have a really AWESOME interview last week... we'll see what happens, right?
Here are the three covers for the second Kickstarter, BEGin AGAIN:


This one has about a DAY left! So if you want this set of comics - go back the Kickstarter ASAP!
There are mini-comics in each Issue AND a pull out print or paper doll. It's going to be SO COOL!!

Back to work!

BEGin AGAIN Kickstarter

OK - let's DO this!!

We got the first part of the Thesis comics funded, now I just launched the Kickstarter for the second part...


It's pretty cool to start right out of the gate as a "Project We Love" - note the heart! I'm also doing this as part of Kickstarter's March Challenge to do one-week projects with just one reward.

What is that reward?
Not ONE, but THREE comics!

I have 150+ pages of comics so far, and more in the works. The "Issues" will be separated into:

Issue #1 - August 2015 - January 2016 • The Comics Bootcamp Issue
Issue #2 - February 2016 - July 2016 • The ISSUES Issue
Issue #3 - August 2016 - February 2017 • The Thesis Issue

If you'd like a printed set of the Three Issues of BEGin AGAIN, they are yours for $35 (plus shipping).

Each magazine will have a bonus Print and a mini-comic bound-in. So - that's actually like getting SIX comics!?! [Whoa, maybe I should Up the price...]

Since this project intends to parody the layout of a Magazine, there will be Ads (pretend and real) and a Contributors page too. My Kickstarter backers will be listed here too. 
For more details check out the BEGin AGAIN project!
Here are the three covers that I am still working on...

Meanwhile... Back at School...

I'm getting scarily close to graduation and Thesis deadline. Eeeeeek!
On the happy side - I finished one of four comics for that Thesis and just launched a Kickstarter to pay for the printing.

This Kickstarter lasts for just seven days, so go take a look right now! (And Thanks!)

OgunquiTangle 2.5

I now have about two weeks worth of school work to make up - but I was lucky to get a chance to sneak away for four days. OgunquiTangle is labeled as a "retreat" for Certified Zentangle Teachers - but I found it to be even more intense, and with longer hours, than my usual school day.
The wonderful part for me was to be back with the ladies who I consider to be my Tribe! There was so much laughter and chatting and hugging. And Ogunquit, Maine is one of my most favorite places in the world. I really needed to See the Ocean and remember to step back from my Drama.

The days started very early each day with a beautiful sunrise over the water. Our classroom had lots of windows and a view of the ocean.


We had a nice mix of teachers and projects. Here are some pics of my finished pieces...







I'm not putting any details since the teachers all teach these classes in other locales too. But here are some more photos of my students' work from my Fragments class on Friday night. We did eraser carving of 1" Fragment tangles:






And... here's the progression from "normal" folks to... well... the Tangled Ladies...

Quo Vadis Journal (Comic!) Review

The pages are reproduced much larger below and I'll transcribe the comic's text too in case you are visually challenged. ;-)
In July, I had this Genius Idea (i.e.: "what was I thinking?!"). I would force myself to draw a Cartoon-A-Day. By using a planner/journal - if I missed a day - it would be glaringly obvious.

I asked my friend Sandra Strait:

ME: Hey, Sandra, which planner/journal has nice paper for ballpoint?
HER: Well, Sandy, anything with the Clairefontaine paper...

(she reviews art supplies on her blog, Life Imitates Doodles.

She connected me with Karen at Exaclair who then overwhelmed me with choices.

I chose the QUO VADIS NOIR 16-17 Academic Planner. I liked the simple page layouts - and it started in August (as would I!)

It has smooth white paper. Although the entire month of October has wrinkles pressed into the pages. The only other "flaw" is the bottom corner is perforated. Convenient to tear off to mark the current week... but a lumpy pain when drawing.

For ballpoint pen (my favorite) the paper is perfect. There is no show-through with the PaperMate ballpoint pen except for texture from the pressure put on the pen.

Here are some other possible choices:
Sharpie Pen, Sharpie Markers (these bleed through), Staedtler Fineliner, Tombow Brush and Flair felt-tip -- these all have just a tiny shadow showing through, but not too bad.

I like the small size too. (~ 6"x9.5") If I HAVE it with me - I will USE it!

If you'd like to keep up with my comic journaling, follow me on PATREON (patreon.com/SandyBee)

When I started the comics in this planner, my son (the language expert) told me that "QUO VADIS" means "Where are you going?" (Latin). It's what Jesus said to Peter as he took off... so I altered the title page...


Here are a few of the Calendar Comics from this planner/journal...




And once again - follow my comic journaling on PATREON (patreon.com/SandyBee)!


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Behind the Scenes - "Nesting Instinct"

I admit I have an ulterior motive here.

Usually, I would post this kind of behind-the-scenes thing on the Glyphs & Glitches blog. But if you aren't following that blog, or the Comic Blog, I want you to know what you are missing! ;-D

If you'd like to see more like this, and learn about interesting artists that visit my school, then you still have time to back my Indiegogo project. You'll also get pdfs and fun stuff throughout the year. Take a look HERE and share the link with your friends (Thanks!)

Here's a behind-the-scenes for a recent comic page, "Nesting Instinct"...

I start with a rough sketch of the panels (boxes) and what I want to happen in each box, then I begin adding more details (in pencil)...


I used to make the lines with a ruler and also rule out all the lettering guides... but now I just freehand them. Either I am lazy or I LIKE the slightly wonky look.

My favorite part is the inking. For these journal-type comics, I use a PaperMate ballpoint pen (sometimes a BIC Crystal pen). I Trace over the pencil lines, but also add more details and refine (look at the lines on the squirrel's purse). I put in some "shading" and crosshatching with the pen now - I will add more later, after the pencil is erased.


When I erase the pencil lines, some of the ink gets rubbed off too...

... so I go back in with the pen and add the dark areas and shading. Compare the acorns in the panel above, with those in the panel below...

I work in a Moleskine journal that has very thin paper and it is creme colored. The book is lightweight and convenient to carry with me everywhere. But it's a pain for scanning. If I were working on bright white paper with dark black ink and no grays... I would scan it, threshold it, and call it a day!
But I insist on doing things the hard way - and I really like the "sketchy" look of the ballpoint pen and the many grays it creates. That means that I have to eyeball it when I'm adjusting the lights and darks. I want to get rid of any stray pencil marks, but not lose the grays from the pen. Then I have to zoom in and do a lot of careful erasing and adjusting. Lastly, I'll straighten any seriously wonky panel boxes or off kilter text.
Here's the final comic page:

If you'd like to read these comics as they are posted, please back my Indiegogo campaign!
If you are reading this after it has ended, take a look at my Patreon page.