I’ve been workin hard and hardly working, folks. My freelance work has reflected the global warming disasters this year, with a long drought in the summer and a tremendous flood in the fall. The cover above was…I dunno, maybe the derecho before the hurricane. Definitely inspired by Jack Davis, and particularly his poster art for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I’m not gonna link to it because then you’ll compare that to this and this’ll come up short. But still, I think it turned out pretty well. More to come, folks. More to come!
Hi guys. If you have an iPad or know somebody that does, might I suggest you download the free app called Emanata? It features comics by independent cartoonists like me, and now, including me. You can read a collection of Grown Up Babies on there, and soon the Oak & Linden Compendium featuring shorts by me from O&L and other anthologies. For free! Check it out.
Speaking of free comics by me that you can read, Farmy Acres is back. Meanwhile I’ve been quite busy freelancing in comics and related fields, which has been gratifying and stressifying and fun. More on that as it comes time to post about it. I’m champing at the bit to finish a new imp comic, and also to throw myself back into some longer stories, but first I gotta do the work and make the money.
I’ve also been a-tumblin like crazy. Here’s some of my favorite sketchbook doodles from the past couple of months:
Brave denizens of Bethesda MD, look the fuck out!! I’m comin to wallop ya with comics and freebies! A sticker with every comic! A print if you get 2! A bigger print for 3 or a bonus comic for 4! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! I’ll be at table E3 with Beth Hetland, Josh Kramer and Dakota McFadzean, More info about the Expo?
Speaking of drawing from memory, here’s one of the Boss. I’m finishing up a Springsteen and Me comic for a new anthology by none other than Nomi Kane to debut at SPX. Guys. I have a confession to make. I’ve started posting on tumblr. I’m tumbling. Call me a Middle Adopter. I’ve just seen too many of my toony friends talking for too long about how fun it is to be part of that internet scene. It really seems like an ideal place for people of my disposition. No, I don’t know what that means for this blog. Maybe I’ll keep on posting things here, too, along with my lil diary entries. I’ve been itching for a while to revamp my whole website, but gosh, I don’t know when that will happen. Maybe it won’t! For, like, years! In the meantime, you can find a steady dose of sketchbook pages and doodles over there. My handle, as always, is paddymacjr.
Hi, friends. Wondering what I’m up to other than going to weddings and having fun in NYC? Grabbing any little illustration gig I can put my grubby fingers on, that’s what. I’m sorta mentally preparing myself (for a ton of rejection) to give another swing at scraping by as a freelance artist. As you may recall, this was where a goodly amount of my effort went before I went to Cartoon Land. I’m still conflicted about the notion since doing more drawing for money, and seeking out more of that kinda work, can severely cramp my Making Comics and Being a Cartoonist time. So, I dunno. Maybe I’ll just wind up as a bar back somewhere.
Here’s one last Mars Attacks sketchbook sketch. I might put up some greatest hits from the 200+ cards I drew. You can check out my full color return* cards at my portfolio or even snatch them up on eBay!
Also appearing on this page are early designs and notes for a Drawn-Out Storytelling segment by Andy Christie. This is hands-down one of the best stories I’ve illustrated for the live storytelling+drawing+music show, and also includes some of my best work for them. Also it takes place in the ’70s and has half-naked people all over it. We’ll be reprising it Tuesday, July 24th, at The Tank in Midtown Manhattan. Also performing that night will be my boy Dan McCool accompanying the State’s Kevin Allison with real animation! Here’s some more info.
*Returned by Topps to me so I can get in on some of that collecter scrill.
I mentioned a while ago that I’ve been doing some work for Topps, and if we’re Facebook friends, you’ve seen some of my Mars Attacks sketch cards. What’s a sketch card? It’s a trading card that you get, in a box of otherwise normal cards, but this one has an original drawing done on it directly. It’s like a foil variant, but made by a struggling illustrator. What’s a Mars Attacks? A card series from 1962 with aliens and disintegrations that inspired the Tim Burton spoof from the ’90s. A 50th Anniversary set is coming out this Wednesday, July 11.
After I drew some cards based directly on classic Mars Attacks paintings, I wanted to loosen my Martian up, and to put my own stamp on him. So I drew some from memory. Nothing like drawing from memory to figure out your own personal spin! Here’s another:
Hi friends. I’m back in the Big Shitty and really thrilled about it. Okay, so I still have no real means of paying Brooklyn rent, but it’s just fantastic tooling around on all the new bike lanes and checking out all the places that have popped up in my long three-year absence. Man, and now that Broadway is more of a long pedestrian plaza than a street, it’s so much easier to get around throngs of tourists in Manhattan. I love this active, vibrant place, where Things Are Always Happening!
So even though I doodled this page a while ago, I think it pretty well describes what I’ve been up to this month. Much more taking in than putting out. Reading some foundational feminist novels, looking at some visceral movies, playing a good deal of Zelda, and, oh yeah, moving too. Our house isn’t quite in order yet, but it has an honest-to-goodness studio space. A big one! It’s where I’ll put you up when you come to visit.
