I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks, but with good reason: I’ve been busy working on print projects for the upcoming Alternative Comics Expo! God willing, I won’t fall off the wagon and start playing video games again, thus eliminating any chance of finishing everything in time.
One major project I’m working on is a story for Matt Leunig’s new anthology The Bridge Project, which teams an artist from San Francisco with an artist from Portland to “create a ‘bridge’ in which [artists from] both [comics communities] can work together,” as Matt puts it on the book’s web site. I’ve been talking to Matt about contributing for a while now but haven’t said anything publicly for fear things wouldn’t work out. And with good reason: my first partner went AWOL and my second partner had to drop out due to time constraints. However, Matt finally teamed me up with the very talented Carolyn Main, noticing a tendency toward inappropriate potty humor in both our work (check out Carolyn’s blog; her willingness to cross the line for the funny puts me to shame!). We’re finishing up the rough draft of our contribution; a sample page can be seen below. Hopefully we’ll have everything done in time for Matt!
All joking aside, I feel very honored to be a part of The Bridge Project. I’m a huge fan of Matt’s psychedelic poster art, and I’m not just saying that because he’s the book’s editor. And besides Carolyn Main’s great work, the book will also feature the graffiti-influenced, grammatically-impaired styling of my friend Noir Amador, plus a couple of celebrities: Shannon Wheeler, creator of the famous “Too Much Coffee Man,” and Graham Annable, one of my favorite cartoonists. So keep checking this space for updates!
[...] In my recent post about The Bridge Project anthology I neglected to mention another cartoonist whose work I admire that is also contributing to the book: Greg Means. Creator of the long-running mini-comic “Clutch McBastard,” Means’s work is a nice mix of the pleasantly mundane (autobiographical details about normal life) and the ridiculously absurd (one of his friends is drawn with a peanut body, a gum drop head and toothpicks for arms, one of which is always holding a doughnut). After encountering his work for the first time back in 2003 or 2004, I drew and mailed him the following comic: [...]
Oh, Greg’s in this too? Score another on the Portland Team! When the Bridge launches, Portland is SOOOO going to win the sack-race.
I love those Hickee boys, Inst Scott C working with Graham?
[...] My mentor, the suddenly-30 Jesse Baggs, has been busting his butt for the last couple of weeks working on what I think is called “The Bridge Project Anthology”. You can see his blog about it here, but a couple days ago he invited me to help with the joint-effort he is doing with miss Carolyn Main. There were a few speaking parts he allowed me to do the lettering for one of which is right here. [...]