Quick follow-up to that last entry. Peter asked how big the sketchbook pages are. They’re 9″ x 12″. Here’s another sketch with today’s page of HABIBI laid behind it. The HABIBI pages are drawn within an 8.75″ x 12.5″ live area, but you can see how detailed they are compared to the sketchbook. Because the

Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson Riding the international success of Blankets, Craig Thompson sets out on a tour across Europe and Morocco, promoting the various European editions of his book and beginning research for his next graphic novel Habibi. Carnet de Voyage is a gorgeous sketchbook diary of Craig's travels as he finds intellectual and spiritual stimulation

Up next is the Canadian portion (and Philadelphia) of DUMPLINS (and D&Q Blankets) book tour! Sunday, October 25th, 3 PM : Librarie D&Q, 211 Bernard Ouest, MONTREAL Monday, October 26th, 7 PM : Librarie D&Q, 211 Bernard Ouest, MONTREAL Wednesday, October 28th, 6 PM : Palmerston Public Library, TORONTO Thursday, October 29th, 3 PM : University

SCHOLASTIC officially announced the August 25th release date for SPACE DUMPLINS, just as I was finishing the inks for the FINAL CHAPTER. I’m not in the clear yet… there’s still book design, and pages upon pages of copyedits/corrections/redraws, but getting close! For Scholastic, this marks the tenth anniversary of their GRAPHIX line, which I’m honored

“Little Nothings” — that’s the title for a book Maurice Sendak was working on when he died- based on Mozart’s first ballet. Today is the anniversary of Maurice’s birth 86 years ago. In the last year of his life, Maurice became an adopted grandfather and we chatted weekly on the phone. I transcribed bits of

Related to the straight-to-sketchbook project mentioned in the last post, I’ll be spending the month of June in France. While there, I’ll also participate in the Amiens BD festival and the Lyon BD festival to compensate for my abbreviated French presence during 2011’s HABIBI book tour. As some may recall, the French edition of HABIBI

Thanks for the reminder about the Cintiq post, Dan. As mentioned back in August 2013, I’ve been experimenting with the Wacom Cintiq as a way to shake up & expand my working methods. The 13″ felt too cramped & claustrophobic, so early this year I upgraded to a 22″ Cintiq on an Ergotron arm –

Just wanted to share some of the incredible work Dave Stewart’s pouring into the SPACE DUMPLINS colors. We decided the palette was getting too muted & subdued, so he’s tweaking the pages just enough to infuse the grimy dinginess of outer space clutter with a burst of cartoony, kid-friendly levity. Previous incarnations on the left

Thank you, Jordi, for your reminders and thanks to all you loyal blog followers for your patience in this two month lapse between posts. Portland has the best summers in the world, so there’s been the typical sunny day distractions of: A) river swimming (drawing buddy Scott), B) white water rafting (flip on the Deschutes), C) a little surfing (Justin loads the boards on

 During my March 5 – May 14, 2004 travel diary CARNET DE VOYAGE, this little bean-bodied critter invaded my sketchbooks as a conscience to counteract my whining & sentimentality. Nine years later, it’s satisfying & familiar to revisit the character in the pages of SPACE DUMPLINS, though I seriously envy how off-the-cuff I used to churn