An Abstract Horse

What else can I say? All apologies!

The best sample ever

I've spent a ton of time today trying to find out how to get the rights to a song. It's from the thirties... you'd think it would be fair game by now. But no, copyright law is convoluted and ridiculously obstructive.

There are a ton of people that copyright shouldn't last so long, that fair game should be extended, some even saying that after its first outing, it should be up for grabs.

But you know what? I'm glad copyright exists in this way. It forces you to be creative, to not regurgitate something you heard... it forces you outside of the material and into your imagination, working against your memories.

Of course, if you really want something, you pay for it.

And the above video is the best example of copyright money used effectively.

MC Solaar's Noveau Western. Best sample ever used in a song. With translation! Learn French at lightning speed!

They Sleep on a Bed of Comics!

WIRED Magazine has a new feature up called "Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees." It is very bi-coastally biased (biased-coastal?) but being in New York, you get the trifecta of Jim Hanley's, MidTown and Forbidden Planet... as well as Gary Panter's daughter in Brooklyn's Cosmic Comics (who is hilarious! Who knew?!). Since San Francisco is weirdly devoid of good comic book stores (Berkeley wins in that catagory... sorry, bro) except for Al's Comics (Al rocks, FYI!) they end up in San Diego and San Jose.

It was pretty funny, a little repetitive, but ultimately really sweet and reaffirming. Oh, and the winner? Gary Beuchler! Him and his girl have matching pajama bottoms and SLEEP ON A BED OF COMICS!


Whoa!

PS, on the right side is a link to an interview with Alan Moore about his new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book... which I'm so excited about because this is the one with the 60s league in it! Yay!


http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2009/02/comic_store_employees0227


picture copyright bryan derballa/Wired.com

Don't Think Twice (It's Alright)

I've finally let go of my acrylic ink. It was so sticky, clogging everything and ruining brushes. It caused me more heartache than a little black bottle should... but if I could sing that Dylan tune, I would. That ink and I had some beautiful times together. It just kind of wasted my precious time.

But don't think twice - it's alright.

WAKE THE FUCK UP

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Language Of Violence


Fifteen years and you still don't get it?

Hercules and Love Affair

Felix the Cat vs Killing Joke - Invocation of the April Maze

There is probably something profound and deeply insightful we could read into this pairing. Archetypal totems and multiplicity, religious transposition from the pagan rights of spring to the apocalyptic desire to picnic or the trickster as magician and the gods of the weather as symbols of fate and the law of nature as absolute.

OR we can just enjoy this weirdly synchronous mash-up of one of the earliest industrial rock bands with one of the earliest animated films.

Hooray for primitivism!

Invisible Empire 2 (at long long last!)

Invisible Empire 2 is being printed as we speak! It will be available at the end of March! I'm so excited!!!

Rejected Font

I'm trying to design a font, which I've never (consciously) done before. It is for a tale relating to mythology, so I was going to use the Greek alphabet and sort of bastardize it into Roman characters. It didn't work at all... so I'm using the Etruscan alphabet.

That's where our letters originated, so I guess it makes more sense. Any way, I thought I'd share a sentence I wrote out in the rejected alphabet. You can see why I rejected it... it's a chore to read. I want it to be obscure looking, yet completely legible.

Nobody had a "G" in ancient times. It's a G thing...

And yes, I'm becoming a font dork.

messy witness

teaser

click on it to make it bigger

Say Hello to My Little Friend!

40/40 Vision Lecture: Neurology and the Passion for Art

Theseus Gets A Face

I'm doing a lot of research for a two-page comic... you know the one! Any way, I finalized the design of Perseus, who is one of the main characters. Now I just have to do some character sheets and more research into what the heck the ancient Greeks wore on their heads!

I'm trying to make him plucky, yet nervous... brave yet not fully sure of himself. The usual hero stuff!

Perseus Gets A Head

What kind of shampoo does Medusa use?

Eye-Shattering NEWS!!!

LOOK FOR THIS FRIGHTENING FELLOW ON THE FORTHCOMING FLOPPY!

Firstly, INVISIBLE EMPIRE #2, the third installment in my series of sequential doodlings and musings, is zipping its way to the printers via Pony Express! I am so excited and nervous... but I think my art has improved a lot thanks to my new job and billions of hours of playing slave to the nib and brush.


SECONDLY... I won something!!! A lottery, to be precise. No, you can't hit me up for a new Mustang, ya chuckle-head! It's the Indie Spinner Rack Awesome 2; AWESOMER!!! lottery! So I'm going to get two glorious pages in the hallowed halls of indie comic artistry. I am even more excited than my book being done and 10 times as nervous!!! Holy balls!

Last, but by NO means least... Tomorrow I'm going to the final day of comic-con for the SOLE PURPOSE of meeting this exceptional artist! Lily Renee Phillips is one of my FAVORITE artists!!! This is a ONCE IN A LIFETIME CHANCE. You don't need a pass to attend the panels! If you want to come, we can coordinate. I am so excited!!! Here's the skinny:


Lily Renee Phillips Spotlight


Lily Renee Phillips was one of the pioneer women cartoonists in the Golden Age of Comics, working primarily for Fiction House publishers. Fleeing Nazi Germany to America as a child, she went on to draw covers and such features as The Lost World, Senorita Rio, and Werewolf Hunters for Planet Comics, Rangers Comics, and Fight Comics. With her then-husband Eric Peters, she also drew covers and interior stories for a number of Abbott & Costello Comics. Phillips talks about her amazing life and career with Heidi MacDonald (The Beat).


Sunday from 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM


So that's all the news for now! Oh, and just to give you a taste of Phillips' art, in case you haven't seen it... ENJOY!!! ;

Still Broken

Well, the picture uploader still isn't working. I don't know what to do... I guess keep waiting it out!

I'll be at New York Comic Con, and specifically at the Indie Spinner Rack booth from 5 to 7 today. Come say "Hello!" before you say "Goodbye!"


And thank you, Matt B for helping me scan my comic book and showing me how to properly erase. Check out comictools!!!