January 2010

First off, some quick answers to your questions. Tina, hopefully these are in time for your school project.
1) How would you describe your style of drawing?
Plain ol’ cartooning; but whereas Chris Ware talks about cartooning as typography, I think of it as calligraphy.
I like the panel borders, lettering, brush or pen lines to all read as the author’s handwriting.
2) Why don’t you call “Blankets” a graphic novel but “an illustrated novel”?
No good reason. I think, at the time, I was considering “comic book” or “graphic novel” and found them both lacking.
Since then, the latter has become such a widely accepted term that I’ll likely adjust the heading on the new edition.
3) Would you say that Blankets has started a new form of comics as you included some pages which you wouldn’t find in a
comic book normally like the pages on which there is only one big panel or all the drawings in which you can see just nature?
That technique of letting the eye breathe on full-page images has long been used in manga and bande dessinée. And super hero splash pages!
4) Why did you insert those detailed drawings of nature and why did you insert so many of them?
When I think about it a second longer, it’s definitely a manga-rip-off. The “wandering eye” transitions that Scott McCloud discusses in his books.

Corban, I never actively sought out a publisher. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Upon moving to Portland in 1997,
I got in contact with Brett Warnock who ran a one-person operation called Primal Groove Press, and I helped as a grunt for midnight
photocopy sessions. Contact some publishers to see how they prefer project proposals. There’s editorial advantages to both methods.

Sorry, Allison, but I am looking for writer-artist-in-one cartoonists to work with at the ACA residency.

And finally some visuals! This recent page reminded me of a drawing I did in 2005 for a charity auction for my friends the Decemberists.

The lyrics at right are, of course, copyright Colin Meloy. Random trivia: What Decemberists’ video sneaks in copies of BLANKETS?

Happy New Year, Everyone! HABIBI progress updates coming soon(ish). In the meantime, heads-up that the Atlantic Center for the Arts
Residency program is focusing on GRAPHIC NOVELS in October 2010. Each year they provide interactive work spaces for writers, artists,
choreographers, composers, etc., hosting fancy folks from Robert Rauschenberg to Edward Albee to Saul Williams. This year – Paul Pope,
Svetlana Chmakova, and myself will be acting as “Master Artists” and hand-selecting eight “Associate Artists” (a piece) to work with.

HABIBI should be wrapped up, so I expect to indulge in new projects and have plenty of attention to devote to other artists.
I mention it now, because May 21, 2010 is the deadline for applications. And here’s what I’m asking of applicants:
“Applicants should submit a proposal for a graphic novel: an outline of the narrative, and samples of finished comics pages (from previous work or the current project). But artists will benefit most if they can bring a finished first draft in an edit-able form to the residency. This could be in typed screenplay format, though I favor a hand-drawn thumbnail which includes text AND image, and is drawn legibly so others can read and offer comments. In this form, we can discuss narrative individually or as a group, hone preliminary craft like reference poses, or dive into finished artwork.”
Pictured above:
a self portrait by Paul Pope (an obvious influence on my own work), the ACA studios nestled in a sea of pine, and a pile of BLANKETS thumbnails.

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