Tally Marks: Eurotrip sketchbooks!

Great news: MonkeyBrain Comics is publishing a series of digital comics collecting my Europe sketches from the past year!!  We tested it out with my Amsterdam Sketchbook, and your response was so good we’re releasing 6 more comics with a similar format, covering my travels in NYC, France, Switzerland, England, Spain, and Italy.

Issue #1 is out TODAY; click here to check it out!  This issue includes 25 sketchbook pages plus a full-color comic and a page laying out the materials I use when I draw.

New York meet-ups and how to draw spot blacks

I'm back in America!  My year-long French visa expires in August and I decided to come home a little early to spend more time with my youngest brother while he is home from university.  Now I'm back in Portland, Oregon, registering for health insurance and reactivating my phone plan and all of that fun stuff. (Plus actually fun stuff like seeing friends and family, eating Mexican food again, and spending time in nature)  I got a bunch of commercial jobs right off the bat, which is awesome for my finances, but means I'm getting back to stuff like the blog more slowly than I'd like.

What does that mean for the comic?  I'll retroactively make comics about European places/things I wanted to throughout the year but didn't have time for.  Stay tuned!  I also want to make comics about stuff you can do in Portland, because people I met in Europe didn't seem to know what you would visit Portland for.  It's a fun place,  I swear!!

Last week, I passed through New York on my way from Paris to Portland.  I arranged a couple of meet-ups in Brooklyn and Manhattan, posted about them ahead of time on this blog and on Tumblr, and a bunch of people turned up!  It was really fun!  I want to do more of that in the future when I travel.  I met some really nice, cool people and talented artists.  I loved putting actual faces to Tumblr usernames. :)

From left to right: Molly, me, Sandra, Molly, Christine, Ryan, Shannon, and Eric
(not pictured: Randeep)

We talked a lot of shop at the meet-ups, and someone asked about comics recommendations for inspiration/instruction on how to spot blacks well.  I asked for time to think about it, and came home to look through my comics for what I think are the best uses of solid blacks.  Take a look at what I came up with!

1) L'astragal by Anne-Caroline Pandolfo and Jerkel Risbjerg
I bought this book BECAUSE the use of spot blacks was so stunning.

2) Underground by Jeff Parker, Steve Lieber, and Ron Chan
Most of the story takes place underground, with headlamps casting strong black shadows everywhere.  INCREDIBLE for learning where to put that black and how to keep your storytelling crisp.

3) Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen
All solid black and white shapes, heavy shadows, and abstract spot blacks.  Mmm.

4) Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh

5) Wolves (or anything) by Becky Cloonan

6) Slow News Day by Andi Watson

7) Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks

8) anything by Joelle Jones

9) Mercury and Gray Horses by Hope Larson

 10) Paul au parc by Michel Rabagliati

 11) PENG! by Corey Lewis

 12) Hemlock by Josceline Fenton (read it online!)

13) Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama

14) Roy's Boys by Ron Chan and Sean Kelley (read it online!)

15) Angelic Layer and Tsubasa by CLAMP

16) Blankets (or anything) by Craig Thompson

Annecy Film Festival

I had the immense pleasure of attending the Annecy Film Festival last month.  Le boyfriend was an invited guest, and I was lucky enough to tag along with a guest badge and my hotel costs covered.

The festival runs for 6 days and it's too immense to see everything, let alone blog about each aspect with the attention it deserves, so I'm just going to run through a few of my personal highlights from my first (and hopefully not last!) time at this amazing festival.  I linked to everything I could find online.  I really hope you get a chance to see all of these films!

My absolute favorites were almost all from the Shorts in Competition category:
The Dam Keeper - Do not miss this short film.  Everything about it is delightful and touching and tasteful.  It will give you ALL the feels.  Bonus: it's quite possibly the most beautiful digital animation I've ever seen; the lighting and textures give it the feel of Pixar's digital concept art.
Hasta Santiago - I got a little teary in this one.  Really nice traveler's story
Tempête sur anorak - what my French friends would call "hysterical".  They don't mean it as a compliment, but I do.  This film is fun and crazy.

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 2 "Time"
Savages "Marshal Dear"
Timber - Cute animation and a horrifying story.  It walks that perfect line between comedy and sheer horror that has you bursting into shock-laughter.
Le Bien Chasser "Derrick et la Grosse Peche"
Les Kassos - This series shows beloved fictional characters revealing their major issues at the desk of a social worker
La Buche de Noel
La Faillite
Man on the Chair
La Petite Casserole d'Anatole
Cheatin' - the new Bill Plympton feature film
Moulton og meg
Grace Under Water
Histoires de bus
Rainy Days
Le Sens du toucher - Romantic!
The Missing Scarf

There were also a number of commercial shorts that I really liked.  Even if they were advertisements, and maybe more mainstream / derivative than the short films in competition, they often had REALLY high production values (no doubt from those sweet, sweet commercial budgets), plus more straightforward/logical stories.
The Lanskies "48 Hours"
Alber Elbaz Puts on a Show for Lancome!
La Guillotine
Sour "Life Is Music"
Doc Meets Dorf "Title Sequence"
Peau "Instant T"
Biomasse
The Paper Kites "Young"
China, IL "Get Your Ass Back to School!"
Aldebert "Les Amoureux"
Phantom Limb - I actually saw this aaaafter the festival online, but it's great!  And I'm amazed that it was animated in Photoshop....it REALLY makes me want to try making my own short film.
Poom "Big Bang"

I got to see the The Tale of Princess Kaguya with members of Studio Ghibli, including Takahata, in attendance just two rows in front of us (!!!).  I heard a lot of disappointment from people after the movie, but the more I think about it the more I like it.  I think the original tale is very strange, and has some weird messages, and Ghibli made a great adaptation given that material.  It's funny how I knew the story, but I couldn't help hoping for a happy ending.  It's like walking into Romeo and Juliet; you can't help but hope somehow, this time, things are going to work out differently, and the ending is always painful!
I loved the way that the "penciled" art style lent itself to certain scenes and moods.  And I LOVED the character of Kaguya.  It was incredible watching such an in-depth coming-of-age story for a young woman.  I particularly liked her battle against her female mentor, the scene after her menarche, and her complex relationship with societal norms and her own impulses.  She developed a lot of different kinds of strength throughout her life, and I really liked the way that she was able to use formality/customs to her advantage and outwit her suitors.

I also got to see The Wind Rises, which I'd been putting off because I wanted everything to be just right when I watched what might be my last new Miyazaki movie.  I was afraid to watch it in France, because there would be a Japanese language track and French subtitles, and I didn't want to miss anything.  That turned out to be fine!  Between my rusty Japanese, my intermediate French, and the movie's clear storytelling, it wasn't confusing.  I also knew I would have MAJOR FEELS, and wasn't sure I wanted to watch the movie in public.  That...turned out to be accurate.  I was sobbing at the end, and went back to the hotel to clean my mascara off of my chin before the next screening.  Guh, so good but SO SAD.

There are movies projected on the giant lawn next to Lake Annecy each night, and whether or not you have a pass for the festival you can go and have a great time.  We watched Paranorman (dubbed in French lololol) with little picnic snacks and loved it.  Bonus: there was a dry summer thunderstorm at the same time there was thunder and lightning in the movie!

One movie we missed that I want to make sure to see in the future is Boy and the World.  I heard nothing but good things and I love the artwork I've seen from it.

Send a postcard to a student via Atlantic Impact

Hello, readers!

A lot of you have written me asking if you can send me post (thank you!).  I wanted to ask you a favor: since I am moving around a lot, could you send a postcard to Atlantic Impact instead?  They are based in Detroit Michigan, and they distribute postcards to students in low-achieving schools to expose them to new places and ideas and help broaden their horizons.  You don't have to be in Tuscany or Tokyo to send a postcard--your home city/state might be novel to one of their students, and receiving a piece of personal mail from you could mean a lot to that young person.
I just sent off an envelope with postcards I've been collecting from France and Spain.  It was fun writing factoids on the back and describing what I found the most interesting about each place.  I plan to continue sending them from the US when I return this summer.  I hope you will consider writing to Atlantic Impact, too!