Things I've Seen

I was out of town for about five days; I've also been hit with writers' block, hard. As we all wait with bated breath for the next blog post, here is a sketch-quality comic I made recently. Thanks for your patience.

Click the image for a full view.

Catcher, Perks, Teen Literature & Hipsters

Everyone knows by now that J.D. Salinger died not too long ago. The only book that anyone's ever read by him is The Catcher in the Rye. I read it, but not when I was supposed to - I was never assigned it in high school or anything. I read it when I was maybe 18 or so, without being prompted by a teacher. Maybe that's why I didn't like it that much.

If you've never read it, you can read it here - if you're the type that can read whole books online, I suppose. Interesting about books with a very distinct style, like this one - when I first looked at that site and read the first page, I was even more turned off than I was when I first read the book. But after a few pages I felt myself being hooked. I suppose that's what makes a good writer? 

click to enlarge.

I saw the above comic on Andrew Lorenzi's comic blog. I'm not sure if I "get" what he's trying to say, comparing Robin and Holden in this way. I wonder what it was like growing up as a kid in the city during the golden age of comic books, and feeling like you connected with them, maybe because you didn't have television or movies so accessible. 

Makes me wonder, as someone who found comics later in life - did kids growing up reading Batman connect with Batman, or did they connect with Robin? Why did all of those old comic book superheroes have kid sidekicks? Reminds me of Kavalier & Clay and how Clay was accused of corrupting kids' minds with the "homosexual" subtext of his comic book creations.

I remember not really liking Catcher until the end, and I think that's because I knew right away that Phoebe was my favorite character. I think she, unlike Holden, isn't a phony. I haven't read the book in a while, so I don't remember why I liked her so much. But I remembered thinking, man if Phoebe was my age she'd be the kind of girl I'd want to date. Apparently she's a big deal, I didn't remember thinking about it much before.

"Casual Reading"

I'm going to change the flavor of this blog. It will no longer be a journal; I'm going to use an actual journal for that. I was inspired by (of all blogs) hipster runoff; it's going to be nothing like that but will be similar in the sense that it's going to be cultural commentary. This will hopefully increase my blogging output as well: a music, art, and written word commentary/critique each week, hopefully. We'll start with this comic (click to enlarge):

When I first read this comic (visit the secret knots, this artist is AMAZING) I figured that the two were strangers, and that it was an absurd tale about someone who began reading over a stranger's shoulder on the subway and got so enthralled with the story that he couldn't stop when it was time for her to get off the train.

But when Lisa read it, she assumed that they were in a relationship, and that the book was a metaphor - that they were "on the same page," so to speak, and that when the book ended, the relationship ended. The ending of the comic makes a lot more sense in this context.

"Sleep Alone"

I made this last night. I borrowed a couple books about drawing and figure drawing from the library the other day and I really want to spend a lot more of my free time practicing drawing.

Click to enlarge.

"My first ever comic!"

OK! Wow! I'm nervous. I mean, really, nobody is going to read this anyway, but... Well, this is the first comic I've ever really done. Like, scripted it, drew it, inked it, scanned it, a little post-processing, and now it's here online.

And it's not great, but that's kind of the point, I guess? Like, going through the archives of some of the webcomics I read daily now, it's crazy how much they've changed, how much better they've gotten. I'm just glad that I've begun, that that's out of the way, that I can start getting better (I have a long way to go) at drawing comics.

I drew this comic on a 9x12 piece of sketchbook paper, with a mechanical pencil, and I inked it with a fine-tipped sharpie. Haha. For the word bubbles and some clean-up I used photoshop.

So, with all that being said, the comic makes a lot more sense if you (well, I guess, it makes no sense at all unless you) read webcomics. I reference inkdick, DAR, Penny-Arcade, Questionable Content, Pictures for Sad Children, and Octopus Pie in this comic, so if you aren't familiar with them you might not "get" it. Anyways, here you go:

Original Version (click to enlarge):

This one has my original word bubbles in place and I didn't do the greatest job of trying to edit out stray pencil marks that wouldn't erase.

Second Version (click to enlarge):

This one I entered the word bubbles in with photoshop because I wasn't really satisfied with my handwriting (especially toward the end). And I did a little bit better with editing pencil marks. And there's a tiny bit of color.

I still have to decide whether I'd like to put word bubbles in digitally (not this crazy hybrid I tried here that doesn't work) or just be more careful with my handwriting. Anyways, please enjoy and leave a comment! Good or bad, tips, tricks, which of the two versions you like better, etc. Thanks a lot.

I live at 4221 NE 77th AVE, PORTLAND, OR

So I chose to live with Larry. Except, Larry doesn't live there, he owns and rents the place but lives elsewhere. So I live with some other dudes. Weird, middle-aged dudes. Most of them are really mellow and keep to themselves, so that's cool. But Sal is really friendly and we talked a little bit. He seems like a really wise man. He moved here from Libya 32 years ago and I think has a lot of experience and wisdom. We'll see. Everyone in Portland is weird, and that is awesome. I love weird people. I think that might not have been expressed enough in my last post. I love how everyone is themself here. There aren't seventeen layers of pretension like most of the people I met in LA. People don't really seem to care about what you think of them... it's great.

We went to a couchsurfing meetup this afternoon and I brought some fruit I had just purchased at a roadside stand (it was a potluck). But then I left it all there! I wanted to bring home at least a little. And I made a friend! So that's cool.

Did I mention that we saw The Hangover the other night? It was hilarious. I recommend seeing it. Not the funniest movie ever, and I surely have critiques. But quite good.

Bat for Lashes is playing at this little club on Thursday. And Greg Laswell is playing next week. I think BFL is sold out, though. Tickets are going for $100 on craiglist? They were originally $10. Hopefully I can buy some at the door, I don't know.

Also, this is a strange, convoluted post, but I like today's Cat and Girl (click to enlarge):


That is all.