Original Art Sundays No. 374: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, Interlude conclusion

 Back from Autoptic! That was quite a success in my book. I talked to many old friends, made some new ones and had decent sales. I'm already deep into prep for the new semester, but I still had time to work on some pages from the book.

I posted the concluding page of the Cemetery Interlude before, but I have a better scan of it, so am re-posting it, along with another single page interlude.

I've previously posted thoughts on the graveyard to college page. 

Thoughts on the new page: deliberately light to no backgrounds. This is a moment between Mother and me. In that moment, everything else slipped away. 

Tools used on this page:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square
• Inking tools: Tight Spot correction brush, Holbein white gouache
  
• Markers: Copic 0.25, 0.3, 0.8, 1.0, Faber Castell brush, LePen brush, Copic Brush and Micron small brush
  
• And of course, Photoshop

 

The next three or four pages will conclude this chapter. I need to confer with family on a couple points as we approach the end.

Original Art Sundays (Tuesday) no. 372: Final Tranny Towers collection cover

 Another piece related to Autoptic '24.

As I've mentioned here in the past, I had some reservations about collecting my old Tranny Towers strips, largely because I thought the title might give offense. My Comic History students last semester encouraged me to give it a go.

I have collected all the strips, with a few extras, and am offering them publicly for the first time this coming Saturday. This is not the "Omnibus" collection. For that, I need to collect related works from other publications and create some new work to finalize the storyline. But it is all the strips, plus a few cool extras.

In reviewing the material, I was reminded of those times, and of how much I really had to say. While my craft was still maturing, my creativity was ablaze in these strips! My awareness of trans issues of the time was evident in these strips. It was a great time, and I hope that comes across in the work.

Some time ago, I did a new cover, based on the concept of "getting the band back together." I finished adding color to it, and here we go!

I hope this wraparound cover makes you as happy as it does me. Hope to see you Saturday!

Original Art Sundays no. 370: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands: Interlude, last page

 And now for the conclusion of the graveyard interlude.

So I made it home after a mostly homeless summer, and started another chapter. How I came to the homeless status is part of the Dad story, coming after the Mother story. College was completely unexpected, a new adventure. 

While working on this, I'm prepping several projects for print and sale at Autoptic in August. Quite excited about this!

Story notes: there were other people there when I walked in the door, notably Grandma and a cousin I'm particularly fond of- almost a sister, really. But in the interest of narrative flow, I streamlined it a bit. Again, no overt trans content this week, though that remains the overarching theme of the book.

Along those lines, I'm only including one page of my junior college years. That's next week, a moment of timidity. 

Art notes: used gouache for the whiteout where necessary. Graphite stick for gray values.The scan is- what's the technical term? - oh, yeah. Crap. A lot of the subtle graphite textures are washing out.  I will rescan on better equipment ASAP. Restore gray values and pump the background tones. The lines are very light. This page is all graphite and markers.I worked from photo reference on panels 1 and 3, and took poses from the graphic novel Left Turns by Joshua Ross on panels 5 and 6. If you haven't read that book, do yourself a favor. It's a great study of quiet intimacy and introspection. 

I really like the embrace in panel 3. Overall, I'm pleased with this page. Decent flow, tight storytelling for such a simple yet eloquent moment.

Tools used on this page:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Tight Spot correction brush, Holbein white gouache
  
• Markers: Copic 0.25, 0.3, 0.8, 1.0, Faber Castell brush, LePen brush, Copic Brush and Micron small brush
  
• And of course, Photoshop

Next: a moment of cowardice watching TV.

Original Art Sundays No. 379: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, Interlude, page 3

 Posting a page from the story of Mother on Mother's Day, of course.

When we left our hapless trio, they (we) were sleeping in a cemetery.

Now it's morning.

Again, trying to emulate Bode in some aspects of layout- use of borders and isolation of text, mostly. Much as I like his stuff, my style really isn't much like his.

Story notes: not much to tell. This is pretty much the way it happened. I wouldn't see John and Stu again for about 3 years. No overt trans content in this interlude. I am amused, however, at how shocked people seem to be today by hitchhiking. I don't think I'd do it now unless there was no choice, but back then it was a default method of travel. Either it was harmless or we were oblivious to the risk. Either way, I came through unscathed. There was a running gag between hitchhikers that the fastest way to get a ride was to have a sign that read HOME TO MOTHER.

Process, layout and technique: the challenge is keeping the reader cued with minimal elements. I deliberately avoided overcrowding this page. I pushed the textures on the bush in Panel 3, but I'm not sure if it reads fully. The text block between panels 3 and 4 was originally an open field of white, but in a moment of brilliance, I reversed it in PS. Gives the page a little more weight and helps the text stand out.

The other challenge in this kind of layout is border manipulation. I tried to go with the two principles of Bode borders (say that three times real fast): isolate text and image, and make panel elements part of the border. I like the sparseness of this page, and I think I hit the balance and included not just enough information, but the right information.

We have one more page of this interlude, and then back to the regular Mother story. 

I'm toying with the idea of doing a short print run of the Curt story as a stand alone publication. I have applied to table at a local indy con, and it could be interesting to see if anyone wants it. 

Materials: I did get a couple new brushes recently, but they're not used on this page. Pretty much the same tools as last time, so I will forego the equipment list for now.

Next: I get home.

Original Art Sundays no. 378: Sharp Invitiations: Esther's Hands: Interlude, page 2

 The next page of our interlude, in which the meaning of the title becomes apparent.

Continuing to work in Vaughn Bodé mode. The primary factors are the isolation of text and image, and the use of panel elements as parts of the borders. I wanted to keep the lettering loose but legible. To get the deep night effect, I toyed with a deep graphite over the inks, but finally decided on a deep wash, going for a misty effect.

The first panel went through several images. The problem was that it was too static. I mean, a bunch of people eating. I finally decided to concentrate on the emotions, to try to convey the sense of being fed after a long trip. This is the third or fourth time I've included a cemetery in a story. The challenge is that, despite usually strong upkeep, they are often desolate looking places. There's also a variety to tombstones and monuments that the casual observer overlooks. The 1987 Concrete story Now is Now is an excellent example of a well-drawn cemetery narrative. Leave it to the great Paul Chadwick! As regards the cemetery in THIS story, I'm pretty happy with the final result, but as I often do, I might tweak it before going to press. I looked up the actual cemetery, but it's visually boring, so I worked with memory and my renewed artistic license.

Including the rest of this interlude, there's less than 10 pages less to the Mother story. Then comes Daddy's Song, approximately the same length, 15 - 20 pages. I'm incorporating some smaller but significant story elements into these two chapters, so the book doesn't drag. I hope they're not offended, but several significant people in my life are mentioned only in passing, in the interest of advancing the narrative.

The final chapter is currently planned for 20 pages.

Foregoing tool list again this week. Suffice to say, nothing not frequently used before except a 1/4" Windsor Newton flat brush used for washes. I've had that brush forever- no idea where I got it! It's very floppy and works quite playfully.

Next: morning in the graveyard.

Original Art Sundays No. 377: Sharp Invitiations: Esther's Hands, Interlude, page 1

 Hi again!

This is a short interlude. I almost left this out, but my girlfriend said it was an engaging story. On review, I decided it belonged in The Book.

As always, notes on content and process follow.

Read on.

The title alludes to the focus of this little story, planned to run four pages. While it doesn't deal with trans stuff directly, it says a lot about Mother and shows something of where I was at just after high school: aimless, drifting. The three of us- John, Stu and me. Sigh. There's a book in that too, but some stories deserve privacy.

I wince a bit at drawing myself pre-transition. It's sometimes necessary for the story, but... brr. I was downright scrawny in my post high school years, and I've tried to show that here,

Stylistically, I'm paying loose homage to my man Vaughn Bodé in this story. This is a tremendous opportunity to play with borders like he did. I love the use of ground elements -foreground, midground and background - to define panel borders. It works better in color, but it's an effective tool here too.

I'm just going to get the key moments of my relationship with Mother, especially those related to trans stuff, down, then reorder the story.

Foregoing equipment list on this one.

Next: arrival and an unwelcome turn of events.

Original Art Sundays No. 376: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 14

Well, we're back! It's been hectic, but I have a couple new pages to post. I've had this done for a couple weeks, but there's finally time to post!

First, the next page of Esther's Hands.

Story notes: for most of this chapter, the story is random memories of Mother, mostly related to trans stuff, since that's the main focus of the book. Some other material finds its way in. I suspect I will reorder these pages before going to press. As for the memories, don't we all remember people by random events? Some little thing happens that reminds one of something, which reminds us of...

This moment was quite stirring for me. It was one of those times when you realize that you can always learn from your Mother. I was in my mid 40s and was sure I knew everything.

Craft notes: Kept this one simple. The constant challenge of keeping dialogue heavy pages visually interesting applies here. The personal issue is that the living room looks quite sparse in contrast to its true cluttered/chaotic status. A conscious choice to edit reality for the sake of the narrative. I like the way Mother is drawn in panel 3. Just a few well place lines show so much age. I opted for fabric textures and graphite on clothing to give the page weight. 

Not doing an equipment list on this one. Pretty standard, much like previous lists. Page turned out pretty clean, so minimal Photoshop was used, mostly levels and curves to get the light/dark balance down.

Next: a strange interlude.

Original Art Sundays No. 375: Surrealist Cowgirls Sheet Music Cover!

As my first Kickstarter continues (ten days left!), I'm working on new classes and plotting on the *BIG* graphic memoir, while I expand writing on a rekindled older project.

One of the items in the Surrealist Cowgirls book is sheet music for a ditty I composed as their theme.

Here's the B & W version of the sheet music cover.

I will add color to this and use it as the back cover for the book.

Lots of stuff here I like. Of course, my beloved Cowgirls. Maggie in a skirt, which we've never seen before. Homage to the vintage sheet music covers I adore so. I had some fun rendering the envirnonment, which I think is successful. The balloon sailing across the moon is a small homage to a neglected film, OZ the Great and Powerful, evoking my passion for all things Oz.

No need for an equipment list on this one. It's pretty much the same as last week's.

I plan to get the coloring done mid-week and will post it then. Expect something completely new in the next Original Art Sundays!

Original Art Sundays no. 374: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 14

Back with the next page of my graphic memoir.

Trans stuff comes and goes in this chapter. Mother had accepted me as her daughter, even if I didn't always behave as she might have liked. But what about her?

 This was a tricky page from a narrative standpoint. Static storyline, just one or two old ladies sitting around in a cluttered house. I broke out some new Copic markers that I rather like, and used some Faber Castell gray markers on some of the values, along with the pencils.

Drawing clutter is tricky. How does one render chaos in a believable way? I worked from memory and the scant photo reference I had on hand. The solution is to include some plausible objects that are out of context. The image in Panel 5 is a reasonably accurate approximation of the house. In a page or two, I'll be drawing part of the kitchen. That will be a challenge!

The idea of Mother fading away as her life became more - let's say sequestered by choice and design - was the impetus for panels two, four and six. It's very close to my original vision for this page. I have to remind myself of my aphorism for my students. You never get 100% of your vision into the work, but sometimes you close in on it.

Tools used on this page:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Dr.Martin's Black Magic ink, nib and holder, Princeton Deerfoot 1/4" mini detailer brush (can't get enough of this brush!), Kingart 8 Gold Synthetic
  
• Markers: Copic 0.25, 0.3, 0.8, 1.0, Faber Castell gray brush, Copic Brush and Micron small brush
  
• And of course, Photoshop

Next: Mother puts up with me. Not always an easy feat!
 

Kickstarter Follow-up 2: Surrealist Cowgirls, Kevyn Lenagh cover colored!

 HI all!

Took a couple minutes to add color to the alternative cover for my current Kickstarter.

I might play with the text a bit more. I like the Western feel of it, but I'm not sure it reads.  But overall, I'm very happy with this. I've had few other artists draw my beloved Cowgirls, and Kevyn's work charms me! Also, this is the first time I've colored Domino Chance!

Kickstarter follow-up: Kevyn Lenagh Cover!

 Quick follow up to yesterday's post.

The campaign started slow, but is picking up steam. One of the rewards is an alternative cover by Kevyn Lenagh. I just got the art a couple days ago and did some quick typography. 

The astute viewer will note the presence of Kevyn's iconic character Domino Chance!

It's in black and white right now, but I'm adding color. But hey, I really like the B & W!

Original Art Sundays No 373: More Inktober

 Well, now that the hectic semester is done and my first Kickstarter goes live soon, I can devote more time to posting art.

FYI, the Kickstarter is a Surrealist Cowgirls 80 Page Giant! 

Here are a few more Inktober pieces from this year.

 Another one for the guitar book- good old Judy Jetson! Done on a backing board. Combination of ink and marker. Fast, loose and fun (the art, not Judy).

My stab at doing The Spirit. Always fond of this character. Eisner's work on this helped shaped my perception of everyday stories being told in comics. Almost all freehand, lots of ink and brush and just a bit of marker.

Oh, I like this one! This is Marie Severin, based on a painting by Johnny Craig. The painting ran in the book Marie Severin- the Mirthful Mistress of Comics. I think Marie's work was sometimes stronger than her brother John's work, and that's saying a lot!

Another one for the guitar book. This was based on a drawing on the inside cover of a Harry Chapin album. Harry's albums often had eloquent illustrations of the lyrics. I could have pushed this farther, but I was happy with where it stopped. Did a quick underdrawing and just went with it, correcting as I went. Lots of Micron markers on this one.

Took a couple stabs at this one. Obvious shot from The Prisoner, a perennial favorite series. It's tricky because of star Patrick McGoohan's almost complete lack of eyebrows! Marker for the mechanical lines only. The rest was nib and brush. The astute observer will note more drybrush at the base of the image.

Thomas Sondegard, artistic director of the MN Orchestra. I haven't gone very much this season, and I do miss it. This was a copy from a promo mailing. I took a couple minor design liberties. This is almost all brush work.

Original Art Sundays No. 371: Inktober '23, Day One

 This promises to be a very hectic week: midterms, two concerts and a visit from my sweetheart. Yeah, I know, first world problems. Be that as it may, I did want to get art posted, whether I had time for a new page today or not. As Inktober has begun, here's Day One!

This was inspired by a panel from the Phil Jiminez chapter of Wonder Woman: Historia. Rather than to try to bring my modest skills to the pinnacle of Phil's work, I made a couple modifications to make it my own.

The core concept, poses and basic layout are all Phil's, of course. Somewhere along the way, I garnished a small stack of Canson colored papers. I noticed by sepia inks, which got quite a workout during Inktober last year, and inspiration struck. I've been fascinated by the notion of white color pencil highlights on color stock, so that came into play as well. Not sure if the clouds are working, but they were a whim, and I'm fine with them as such.

Last two years, I made it through the whole month of Inktober. I hope to make it 3:3 this year. As with past years, I don't give two figs about the suggested prompts. I just want to try to stretch myself as an artist, as an inker, and see where it takes me. 

Tools:

• Canson textured paper
• 4B lead and holder
• Rubber eraser
• 2 shades of sepia ink
• Pen nib and holder
• Connoisseur Series  7 Kolinksy brush # 0
• White colored pencil

Next: More Inktober, the next page of Sharp Invitations, or possibly both!

Original Art Sundays No. 370: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 12

 Another quick episode this week.

 

 Another quick gag strip. I like doing these for previously mentioned reasons. They break narrative tension, they inject a little joy into the story, and they're quick and fun to draw. In this case, it's a throwaway moment that implies a lot more. It alludes to the "pink cloud", the freedom to be yourself after having been closeted way too long. In this case, that reflects in exploring, ahem, intimate possibilities. In this case, it also touches on Mother's more reserved nature. It wasn't so much an inhibition as -well, we just don't talk about such things. 

The art is quick and loose. The star here, if there is one, is the facial expression. The eagerness in the first panel, the dreamy look in the second, surprise in the third, and sarcasm in the last. As the strip goes, Mother's expression gets subtly and progressively annoyed.

The background is nonexistent. If the reader looks back at similar pages from earlier in the narrative, this is consistent. Yes, cartoony work (whatever that nebulous terms means) can have more developed backgrounds, as in the case of the classic Sugar & Spike. But that's not what we're after here.

My only concern with this and similar pages is that it might be too much of a tonal jump. But after heavy dramatic moments, I'm ready to take a breath, and I hope my readers share the sentiment.

Simple tools this time:

• Printer paper
• T-Square, triangle, straightedge
• 3B lead and lead holder
• Tech pens: ,6, .8, 1.0
• Ballpoint pen
• Magic rub eraser

Scott McCloud was right. The only tools you need to make comics are a piece of paper and a pen.

Next: Mother is there for The Big Day.

Original Art Sundays No. 369: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 11

 Once more, here we go! Some delays due to personal issues, now mostly resolved.

When we left, our heroine (me) was on a phone call to Mother, talking about coming out.

Read on.

Sigh.

The text of the letter was a challenge. I don't have the original letter any more, but it resonated with me. I tried to simulate Mother's handwriting, which was illegible to anyone but family. I will include the text in a supplement in the finished book, but here it is.

"Grandma put in a good garden this year- Should be a lot of green beans- and of course wild pie plant for when you come up-

I've been thinking a lot about you - what you're doing seems right- but be careful- sometimes the relief of making a big decision can be confused with it being the right decision

Just something to think about-

Read the most fascinating book about Ghengis Khan"

Mother didn't use periods. Everything was dashes. I debated typesetting this, but reproducing her handwriting seemed more - well, proper. 

In narrative and in design terms, this page advances the story well, but the content is static. I toyed with a couple ideas for the first panel. I wanted to convey that we were still in the same phone call without using the same visual devices. I reused the poses from the previous page and just changed the positions and expressions slightly.  I thought the split and reverse of heavy blacks worked well. And I liked the wavy line!

Panel two: I wanted an emotional moment without a close up. Too many close ups lately! The 3/4 shot of me and Mother embracing shows emotion, and shows me out of "boy cosplay" in front of family for the first time. The action lines give it a little weight. Panel 3, the letter, was a strategic narrative choice. It brought the page to a satisfying conclusion, and said something about Mother's thought processes.

Tools used on this page:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Dr.Martin's Black Magic ink, nib and holder, Princeton Deerfoot 1/4" mini detailer brush (can't get enough of this brush!), Kingart 8 Gold Synthetic
  
• Markers: Micron 0.25, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, and Copic 0.25, Copic Brush and Micron small brush
  
• And of course, Photoshop

 Next: Mother gets irritated.

Original Art Sundays No. 368: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p.10

 Time for the next page!

When we left, our heroine (me) was about to have The Talk with Mother.

Read on...

Well, isn't that the way we all hope it goes? Genuine unconditional acceptance.

To unpack (so to speak) the contents of this page: Coming out to family is one of the scariest things a trans person can do. Though I waited to (ostensible) adulthood and was at no risk of being expelled from my home, as happens to many of us, there's always the risk of losing family. I was lucky. I managed to hold onto much of my family. 

It's always a bit disturbing to draw my old self - "cosplaying male," as someone dear to me says. At this point, I'm beginning to transition, so it's not as unnerving. But it's part of the story and it needs to be told, so that's that.

These moments are so spartan that backgrounds disappear. I considered doing loose pencil backgrounds to give a sense of space, but elected to go sparse instead. This must be the 20th time I've drawn people on the phone, and the hands always give me fits! The thing to remember is that the hand is planar. The bulk of the palm is a big wedge. When you're holding something phone-ish, that plane follows that shape. I got a little carried away with inks on the last panel. That depth shadow on the cheek doesn't read quite right, but I can live with it. Might add it to the list- go back and change later. There were some artifact castes in the image capture- again with the gray tones from the paper! I chose to leave them in on that last panel.

The large black area in panel one is another approach to the challenge of drawing a phone call. I want to imply distance without overusing the old saw of the dividing phone cord- same problem as last week. This solution is new to me. While it gives the panel, and the page, good weight, I don't think it's a visual device I'll be using often. I do like what I've come to call the "Terry Moore arc"- an arc over two panels with a solid area or a texture. He has fallen away from it as a default device, but he used it reguarly in early Strangers in Paradise issues.

I chose to leave in some of the pencil lines. I like the rougher textures sometimes.

I enjoyed scumbling with a bit of dry brush on the hair. I find that technique shows up more and more in my work. I continually sense a potential breakthrough in my work. I'm most happy with my work when it's most flowing and fluid. If I could just have a breakthrough moment! Closer, closer...

Tool list:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Dr.Martin's Black Magic ink, nib and holder, Princeton Deerfoot 1/4" mini detailer brush (love this brush!), Escoda Kolinsky no. 4 brush, Alpine Series 7 Onyx .000
  
• Markers: Micron 0.25, 0.5, 0.8, and Copic 0.25, Copic Brush and Micron small brush
  
• And of course, Photoshop

Next: support and a caution.
 

Original Art Sundays No. 367: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 9

 Here we go with the next page.

When we left our adventure, our heroine (me) had just been introduced to- indoctrinated in?- Tolkein.

Read on.

Lots to unpack on this seemingly simple page. In the first panel, there's a quiet family moment. The younger brother reading the comic, a youthful me with a Beatles haircut reading a teen magazine, sporting the disaffected demeanor of a 14 year old. It felt light, so I added textures to the couch and a holding line to define the corner of the room. One of my Beta readers pointed out that the line also establishes division between me and the rest of the visible family.

The second panel went through several revisions. I had settled on a tight close up of Mother's eyes while she read, but I went with a profile shot of her instead. The scope of a stack of books and a random texture for a background got the message across more clearly. The randomness of the stack foreshadows later events in Mother's life. In a caption, I was able to allude to the passing of years with just a few words. This is an old comic artist's trick. How do you draw an army of 10,000 advancing soldiers? You draw two generals talking. One of them points off panel and says, "Look, here comes an army of 10,000 advancing soldiers!" Of course, if you're Al Williamson or Wally Wood, you just draw the furshlugginer army, to quote Harvey Kurtzman (yay, early MAD!). Yeah, I know it's a Yiddish word that he appropriated and that's not quite the right meaning. I'm okay with that. Hey, if it's good enough for Harvey....

The skipped years will show up in the next chapter, the one on my Father.

The final panel is subdivided. I was looking for a better way to convey an old school phone call. I like the visual device of a phone cord as a panel divider, but I've used it so many times, going back to the Tranny Towers strips (I haven't forgotten about my mad scheme to get those ancient scrolls back into print. Soon, my pretties....).  The device of isolating each speaker within a larger panel seemed to serve. I toyed with the idea of adding weight through a background texture in the white space between the circles, but it proved distracting in tissue overlays, so I again concluded that less is more. Another possibility considered and rejected: dropping the holding border. I also thought about doing a little arrow text box to call out the early 80s perm I briefly sported, but it seemed distracting and redundant. The perm also foreshadows my first tentative steps to being more publicly femme.Technical considerations: the shape and position of word balloons was embarrassingly bad. I was able to move things around in Photoshop with relative ease.

All told, a simple quiet page that advances the story. 

Tool list:

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, Canson Bristol board
  
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, tech pencil and 4B lead
  
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Dr.Martin's Black Magic ink, nib and holder, Princeton Deerfoot 1/4" mini detailer brush (love this brush!), Escoda Kolinsky no. 4 brush, Richeson Kolinsky  no. 2 brush
• Markers: Micron 0.25, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and Copic 0.25
• And of course, Photoshop

Next page: come out, come out....
 

Original Art Sundays no. 366: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 8

 This one took a bit of doing. More about that in a minute.

For now, let's resume our story. Mother had just gotten some books, freshly published in the US(o so she thought) . In an unusual move, she offered to pay us to read them, and I took her up on the offer.

The astute Tolkien scholar will be aware that Mother was wrong. The first US publication was in 1954-56, with paprback volumes first appearing in 1965 from Ace Books. Editor Donald Wollheim contended that the works were public domain and printed them without approval. Due to fan pressure, this edition was withdrawn and Tolkien was paid a nominal royalty. The Ballantine paperbacks, the edition Mother got us, appeared in 1966, making the NY Times bestseller list. So Mother's claim was true, sort of, to the best of her knowledge.

I'll talk about my reaction to these books on the next page. These stories intertwine, and focus becomes crucial. I have to keep this chapter of the story about my relationship with Mother, and how it effected my life as a trans woman.

On the mechanics of this page: I had one of those "see the page in my mind" moments. When I started looking closely at the mental image, I realized it was pulled from Hildebrandt illustrations, the first Lord of the Rings movie, and this image by Rowena Morrill.

Sigh. I do love Alfred Bester.

I resolved to push the contrast by working with Coquille paper. This is a texture I love, and during my undergrad, I began a sequel to The Devil and Daniel Webster using this medium (another incomplete work!). I realized my plot was much like William Messner-Loebs' neglected work Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin, so I moved on. But it was time to go back to Coquille, or as it's now marketed, stipple board.

I worked up numerous preliminary sketches, diligently laid out the page, redrew the hand holding the brush and the kid in the corner reading to take advantage of the board's texure, and dove in, working to capture the urgency of the encounter with the Balrog. The result was not without problems.

It works in part. Gandalf's pose is successful. I love the Balog's head, but the proportions of the rest of the critter- yeesh! Also, I dropped his bat wings off somewhere along the way. The bridge and the cavern work, but do not have the impact I hoped for.

What to do?

I mused on other possibilities. Different interpretation of the beast? Different angle? I liked the big dramatic moment aspect of this, but it just wasn't working. It was great fun to draw, but the end result just didn't have it. I had to accept that there was no saving this, at least not within my self-imposed deadline.

I resolved to keep the parts I liked and move on from the rest. 

Around the same time, Mother used to read the work of self-proclaimed psychic Edgar Cayce (but really, aren't all psychics self-proclaimed?). Late in her life, I asked her why, since it was so far afield from her beliefs. She got one of her classic introspective expressions and said, "well, I look at a lot of ideas, keep what's of value, and discard the rest." That's a good philosophy for resolving art and storytelling problems. I also realized that since so many skilled artists have tackled this material over the decades, I was setting myself up by trying to match or exceed them, and resolved to just compete with myself- never easy! I went back to my 64 page outline and looked at the rough for this page. It served as an effective model, a viable alternative. Again using stipple board, I did the primary illustration for the more successful page that leads this post. I composited it with border elements from the less successful Balrog page, and achieved a satisfying result. I could have gone another version, but again, deadlines. 

I wanted to give a sense of both the reader's involvement with Lord of the Rings and the thrill of the work itself. 

I greatly enjoyed working the China marker and scumbling brushes. This page (pages) took much longer than usual, but I was having such fun! I like working in loose flowing lines and textures. The pages and images that satisfy me the most tend to use these. I seldom do battle scenes. I want to be better at them, so I should do more!

Materials list is extensive on these pages.

• Papers: tracing paper, various sketchbooks, 32 pound stipple paper
• Pencils: Lyra 2B graphite stick, 4B lead and holder, 2B Ticonderoga classic, China marker
• Erasers: kneadable, vinyl eraser, Click eraser
• Hand Tools: 6" and 14" straightedge, triangle, T-square, French curves
• Inking tools: Dr.Martin's Black Magic ink, nib and holder, Princeton Deerfoot 1/4" mini detailer brush, Escoda Kolinsky no. 4 brush, Richeson Kolinsky  no. 2 brush, red ballpoint pen
• Markers: Micron 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and Copic 0.25
• And of course, Photoshop

Next: book club and a parting of sorts.

 

Original Art Sundays No. 365: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 7

 Once more into the adventure!

When we left our hapless/intrepid family, the kids (us) were coming into their own, slowly. Mother had begun taking painting classes on night a week.

One night, she had news.

Continuing the brush stroke motif from last page. This motif will carry on for one more page.

Story and art notes intertwine on this page.

The astute observer will note that the hand has moved down the page a bit, but the left panel border is still defined by the implied brush stroke. In the original art, I had the hand a bit higher on the page, but it was too close to the location on the previous page to imply motion. Minimal corrections on this page, primarily eliminating the local color of the paper in Photoshop. I sometimes have luck with the Threshold command in this process, but with the bit of wash on the last panel, that wasn't an option today. Threshold has an almost bitmap effect, making everything rather stark and dropping gray values.

I am reusing the rather static panel with everyone sitting around the dining table as an establishing image for the page, with some minor changes in pose and slight aging of the kids. Perhaps the aging is too subtle, but my Beatles haircut was on point for my age of 14. I don't know if there will be a page in the book for this or not, but I was originally forbidden to listen to The Beatles. Once they got a Saturday morning cartoon show, it was somehow okay.

 

I learned to draw The Beatles in this style by copying a TV Guide article on the cartoon series!

There may or may not be a chapter on music at some point. It's such a huge part of my life, but I do want to keep this book focused on the main theme (and under 500 pages!). I have to focus on the three things this book is about: growing up relatively poor, trans identity and domestic abuse.

The art in the last panel is slightly more complex than my usual work. This is a lead-in to the next page. 

Tool list, just because it's been a while:

• Sketchbooks
• Canson Bristol Board
• Lead holder with 4B leads, 4B pencil, graphite stick
• Plastic eraser, Click Eraser
• Whiteout pen
• Dr. Martin's Black Star Matte ink (full concentrate and wash)
• Pen nibs and holders
• Brushes:  Grumbacher no. 2 flat, Escoda no.4 Kolinsky, Princeton 1/4" mini detailer
• X-Acto #11 blade, cutting matte
• Photoshop

Next: the books being read.
 

 

Original Art Sundays no. 364: Sharp Invitations: Esther's Hands, p. 6

 On to the next page of our story. I rather like this one.

When we left our family, Esther was starting to pull her life back together while she raised five children alone.

Now that the framework is solidly in place, we can get to the meat of Mother's story. 

Story notes: As Mother started to come into her own, so did the kids. We were finding our own voices, developing interests. Like many kids of the mid-late 60s, we bonded over TV. My sisters and I developed a fascination with The Monkees. I stuck with them more fervently than my sisters did. We often took the books, art and music that surrounded us for granted. That was soon to change. More on that on next week's page.

Art notes: The visual device of the brush stroke defining the left border of the panel will be repeated over the next two pages. I worked up a decent sketch of a hand doing a brush stroke, scaled it and printed a few copies. It will serve as a unifying narrative device. The first panel is from photo reference, with some liberties in perspective, intended to show that our lives were full but a bit off-kilter. For the middle panel, I tried 6 different layouts - Mother running out of the room, Mother looking back as she leaves, the closeup of a child's eye with Mother leaving in the eye, and so on. I finally resolved that even though this is her chapter, she doesn't need to appear in the panel at all. In fact, this page is unusual in that there are no face shots of anyone! This is almost like leaving myself out of a page. I've noted before that most graphic memoirs show the creator/subject on every page. Alison Bechdel broke this rule in her two most recent memoirs, but not in her first, Fun Home. I don't know if it's as much a rule as just the way things work out. At any rate, it's refreshing to shake up reader expectations as well as my own.

The astute viewer will note that the furniture and room layout are slightly different than previously represented. This is both artistic license and an acknowledgment that time has passed. 

For several years after Mother passed, I made small books reproducing her art and writing for the family. For the last panel, I scoured one of those books, and found a work that was period specific and had a good range of gray values. Rather than incorporating a photo of the actual painting, I opted to do a wash rendering of it. 

I'm happiest with my work when I let it flow. A solid layout is a tool, a means to an end, not an end in itself, to paraphrase Robert Fripp. I've been revising the master book, as mentioned last week. In noticing what works best, the most successful pages are those where I just explore visual ideas to advance the story. As an artist, I seem to be escaping the confines of my own expectations, whatever that means!

Finally, I re-titled this chapter from the outline. It's not about hands the same way songs like Bill Withers'  Grandma's Hands (which I love even though he sings flat) are about hands. It's not about specific things the hands are doing. I am spotlighting hands throughout this chapter. Their appearance and actions reinforce different parts of the story and character. I hope that's clear. I'm not sure how else to articulate it.

Next: the brush stroke continues.