Just a quick note to say that COMICS TOOLS BLOG interviewed me – along with Erika Moen, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and Hope Larson –
about brush techniques. Worth checking out if you’re curious about process. Or compare notes with my previous TOOL TALK posting.
For the record, with today’s page of HABIBI, I’m back on the Raphael 8404s!
Seems like it was an amazing year to be at the Angoulême festival in France. A huge exhibition of presidents
Dupuy & Berberian’s work … plus Blutch won the Grand Prix! Three of the most inspiring/influential cartoonists in the universe.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t in attendance this year. Nipping the travel after my indulgent Hawaii escape to stay focused &
productive on Habibi. Here’s a photo of me vandalizing a page of Charles Berberian’s pencils in his Paris studio, 2005.
Revisit this posting to read more about my “euro influences”. And here’s some peeks on the newest chapter of HABIBI.
Thanks as always for your outpouring of encouragement. Very motivating to return from vacation to so many comments!
As Kurt mentioned, there are still four more chapters to go, but the book is two/thirds finished, and now I’ve the energy to dive back into it.
In Oahu, I visited my French friends Laëtitia & Frédéric & their kids Samuel, Koupaïa & Alanis. You may remember them from CARNET DE VOYAGE.
Alanis is a new edition. And they’re currently living in the the non-continental United States.
Of all the activities I engaged in – surfing at Threes in Waikiki, bodyboarding at Makapu’u, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, kayaking in Kaneohe Bay,
my favorite was a North Shore shark cage.
Fortunately, Frédéric had along an underwater camera to document these beautiful & haunting Galapagos Sharks.
After seven months, chapter five of HABIBI is finished. It’s 125 pages long (the entirety of Good-bye, Chunky Rice)
and brings the total page count up to 405 pages. The original art is filed away in portfolio sleeves. Here’s the stack thus far.
And here’s a glimpse inside each one of those portfolios.
I look foolishly smug in that self-timer photo, but really it’s just fatigue. The end of 2008 was frantic – working and
completing pages on both Christmas and New Year’s Day. Now I’m going to take a week off and visit friends in Oahu.
Happy New Year, Fans & Friends. Your comments, as always, are savored!