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