Sunday Morning Zipatone

Little Gray Dot.

So, Maia recently sent me this scan of one of her most recent drawings -- as you can see, Maia very much has her own style, quite distinctive from either her mom Marlene's (whose most recent painting & art exhibition opens in Keene, NH on April 13th) or her pop-a-rooni's (mine).

We're hoping to bring her work and mine together for a modest four-page comic story later this spring -- wish us luck.

Little Gray Dot.

Followup on yesterday's post, concerning the launch in Philadelphia last night of Cursed: The Head Trauma Remix live event (for more info, check the links on yesterday's post):

an evening email from Lance Weiler:

"Tonight was AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do the VO [voice over], it was a hit."

Cool.

Little Gray Dot.

Hey, one and all, the weeks of work have been successful! The last week in April brings the White River Indie Films festival (WRIF), and the program went off to the printers this week, jam-packed with info (writeups courtesy of yours truly and novelist/actor John Griesemer) and all you need to know to join us.

The WRIF site is now up and running, with downloadable schedule, tickets info, etc., check it out!

More on this as we get further into April -- but suffice to say, if you want to schedule a visit to White River Junction when you'll get to visit CCS, see & hear yours truly speak (I'm presenting two events: the April 22 Green Mountain Cinema history-of-VT-filmmaking talk, and the Friday, April 27 VT & NH filmmakers panel), and see some fantastic films, the last week in April is the time to do it!

Little Gray Dot.

This just in, from delightful Dwight L. MacPherson, down south in Tennessee:

"I am so happy to see that you are drawing again! Your work for Accent UK's Zombies looks absolutely phenomenal!

I have a story which will appear in their upcoming Robots anthology, which is how I became aware of your involvement with the publisher. I hope this is the beginning of the next 'Bissette wave,' because I want to sign up for the duration!"

Garsh, thanks, Dwight, and I look forward to seeing your work in Robots. Though my retirement from the US comicbook industry stands (and will stand), I am at last drawing again -- as noted repeatedly on this blog, thanks to my now-adult children (Dan and Maia) and everyone at the Center for Cartoon Studies -- and efforts like Dan's and my comic in Lance Weiler's indy gem Head Trauma, the minicomic the CCS seniors and I concocted for the Halloween 2006 Heretic DVD release of Lance and co-director Stefan Avalos's The Last Broadcast, and the upcoming Accent UK Zombies anthology are indeed the first wave of much new work.

I've got a book agent, and working toward the best I can muster in this new phase of life and my creative life. Keep your eyes on this blog, it'll all be posted here -- and wish me luck.

Little Gray Dot.

It's been a while since I posted fresh links to the Center for Cartoon Studies student blogs and websites, and I'm gonna make up bigtime for that this morning.

For instance,

architect/artist/cartoonist (and CCSer, natch) Alex Joon Kim just launched his new blog, posting his art, insights, and oh so much more.

Alex says, "There isn't much up yet but it'll fill up soon enough. I promise to keep it as un-obnoxious as possible." Heck, what's the fun in that?

Little Gray Dot.

OK, let's get down to it -- Over the next two or three days, I'll post every CCS student site, blog and link I have access to. Check 'em all out! There's some terrific work here, and lots of inside info on life at CCS, for those discerning viewers. Now, I try to tantalize with a glimpse of what you'll see -- but the snapshots of art from the sites/blogs are just what grab my eye.

For instance, back when I was first posting the CCS student links,

David Giarratana's site was accompanied by a selection of his art not to his liking, so I'm remedying that here and now. The image here is one David prefers you to see.

The rest of the links this morning I'll post sans art, if only because I'm running out of time (and posted most of their art with previous links) --

Little Gray Dot.

So let's get this going, shall we? Seniors first. Josie Whitmore has traveled and lived and drawn and worked in some pretty stunning parts of the globe, and that's all reflected in her drawings and writing -- who she is, what she does.

Here's Josie Whitmore's online heaven, awaiting your visit!

Little Gray Dot.

Andrew Arnold awaits you here --

-- though I should add we're all missing Andrew, as he's living and working (at DC Comics!) in New York City. Andrew pops up at CCS in person as time permits, and is working through his senior year with aplomb; still, we miss ya, Andrew!

Little Gray Dot.

As previously noted (weeks, months ago), seniors

Colleen Frakes and Jon-Mikel Gates share a marvelous website/blog realm, and there's a lot to see there.

Check it out, pronto, Tonto! They've both been doing some simply stunning work this year, and some of it (but not all) is on their blog for you to savor.

Little Gray Dot.

Mucho art (and CCS students's first published graphic novel work) is showcased at

Xeric-award winner Alexis Frederick-Frost's site, well worth an immediate visit and round of exploration.

Alexis has already carved out a singular niche with his comics work to date, and that's just the tip of the metaphoric iceberg -- watch this cat. He's going places!

Little Gray Dot.

You want more than art? Check out

Sam Gaskin's multi-media potpourri of music, comics, photos, comics, and -- so much more!

Sam's cooking this year like never before on an amazing, breakthrough batch of pages I can't wait to tell you about here -- when Sam's damned good and ready for me to do so. Say the word, Sam!

Little Gray Dot.

A showcase to individual and communal efforts is posted

at Adam Staffaroni's "I Know Joe Kimpel" site, where you can link to Adam's work (including his ongoing comic strip, moving into its second year) and a one-stop shop site for CCS mini-comics by Adam and his fellow CCS students. What are you waiting for?

If you check out only one CCS site this morning, make this the one.

Little Gray Dot.

For those of you seeking truly organic art and comics,

you can't go wrong with Ross Wood Studlar's selection of all-nutritious, all-organic art and comics.

I can't say more, really, without showing my stripes -- y'see, I'm working with Ross this semester as his thesis advisor and mentor, so I'm doting on the fellow and his work.

'Nuff said on CCS links for today, but to wrap up this morning's post --

Little Gray Dot.

As any cartoonist knows, you get enough little gray dots, you get a pattern.

We used to call it 'zipatone' -- those sheets of dot patterns on self-adhesive sheets that created gradations of tone for easy reproduction in the old 20th Century print technologies -- that, in varying densities of arrangement and design, formed shades of gray, from the lightest gray to near-black.

You get enough little gray dots, you get deeper and deeper gradations of gray.

You pack enough little gray dots together, you get black.

It's getting mighty dark.

Have a great Sunday, one and all...