I'm not even joking when I say I think I love every drawing on this page. Put this page on my tombstone.
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Pressing Matters

Jun19
by on 19 June 2018
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One subtle but important thing I’ve learned over the decade I’ve been making comics is that you always need to have a sense of place if you’re telling a story. Artists usually list backgrounds low on their list of things they like to draw because they’re not very fun, they can be difficult (no thanks to the demon called “perspective”), they’re more technical and precise than drawing characters––less room to embellish or else it could look “off” and kill the verisimilitude of the scene.

Without a doubt, backgrounds were the part of drawing that had the steepest learning curve for me. Though, I realized––especially while drawing Long John––that I had absorbed enough knowledge and understood how things worked well enough to be able to draw landscapes and buildings and scenery, in perspective, if I just sat down and focused on nothing else while drawing it. The times when I cheat or don’t give it all of my focus do shine through and I leave them in there because, for the most part, the backgrounds do their job well enough.

Luckily, with indoor scenes––in a cabin basically shaped like a big box––the perspective is rather easy. The harder part is to make that space look lived in, which is a whole other set of problems to solve. Narratively, however, this cabin is a hidden one, one without regular tenants, so it’s meant to be pretty bare aside from maybe the things you would expect to see in a hunter’s cabin at around that time.

Once you’re outside man-made walls, however, things change a lot in terms of the rules of perspective. Sure, the basics hold everything together, but what makes a pathway through a forest different than a city sidewalk? It’s an important question to ask because most instructive perspective books focus on the concrete jungle rather than an actual one.

For me, one resource that really broke perspective open for me is an artist with a series of YouTube videos. The only things I know about the artist is his name is Mark, he has a real utilitarian approach to drawing (he has a mechanic’s or machinist’s mind, so he’s really into breaking things down into core components or shapes or patterns), and he makes a lot of his own tech.

That being said, this video, specifically, was an absolute treasure to find:

Watching this video over and over really helped me play more with perspective rather than just treating it like the math of cartooning. As it turns out, there is some level of play that one can have when drawing place and setting, too.

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The Week – 15 June 2018

Jun15
by on 15 June 2018

It was a big week for Long John, as Chapter 3 started updating (and will continue to do so for the next fifteen weeks or so). Again, the update schedule is every Tuesday and Thursday through to the end of the chapter. However, if that’s too long, don’t forget that Chapter 3 is already available as a book at the store (or as a 3-book bundle––only $20!).

READING:

Royal City, Volume 2 by Jeff Lemire. Source: Image Comics

  • Royal City, Volume 2 by Jeff Lemire

I’ve long been a fan of Canadian comicker, Jeff Lemire, starting with his wonderful post-apocalyptic epic, Sweet Tooth. In a lot of ways, I hold Lemire as a model of a writer-artist. He does what he wants but also has a larger appeal in both his creator-owned and mainstream work because he has a strong sense of character, pacing, and story. He has a very cinematic writing style and, to an extent, visual style, but his writing is so confident and well-paced that you can always tell a Lemire story even if he isn’t drawing it.

Royal City was his first creator-owned ongoing series since Sweet Tooth (which was published by Vertigo Comics, a creator-owned imprint of DC Comics), during which he kind of broke big and, in the interim, wrote acclaimed runs for both Marvel and DC Comics (I’m currently reading through his run on Extraordinary X-Men). Therefore, Royal City‘s announcement, for some, was a big deal.

Admittedly, I don’t read it month to month––a practice I’m seriously reconsidering as of late as piles of read floppies aggregate around my office, doing nothing but gather dust. I “trade wait” for Royal City (that is, I wait until enough issues have been released and buy the trade paperback collection) and it reads very well that way.

A double-page spread from Royal City #1 by Jeff Lemire. Source: Image Comics

The comic is a domestic drama, about a family in which a teenaged son died in the ’90s and the series chronicles how they are still recuperating from the incident––and how it’s still affecting them and their decisions––twenty years later. It’s a subtle drama that could easily be filmed, but does actually take advantage of the comic book medium very well (I won’t spoil how it does, though).

What’s interesting is that it’s clear Lemire is completely willing to take his time as the second volume (collecting about five issues) takes place completely in flashback. It’s fun to read a comicker who is mid-stride in his ability and renown. I can’t wait to see where he takes Royal City or what he does next in his career.

LISTENING:

source: Sony Interactive Entertainment

  • God of War Original Soundtrack by Bear McCreary

Though my tastes in more popular music swing wildly, a constant hum underneath it all has been soundtracks. I think it stems from my baseline love of narrative––when I draw, I draw comics; when listening to albums, I often construct a narrative around the songs, etc. Though there is a straight line from classical music to musical scores, I find myself much more engaged with scores than classical music, and I think it’s mostly due to context.

Though I’ve listened to a lot of classical music, my enjoyment remains superficial. As much as I can appreciate it, I truly gain understanding if I become familiar with the composer and why that music was written. With soundtrack scores, there is an intrinsic context with which I’m more familiar––I get movies and video games more fully than, perhaps, the abstract inspirations behind a lot of classical pieces.

I often buy soundtracks after consuming their parent product. Recently, however, I picked up the score to the new God of War game from Sony long before ever picking up the game. The album became my “grading music” as the spring semester came to a close––during grading bouts I always have either an album or a playlist that becomes my white noise that plays on repeat as I grade.

I picked up God of War based on the credibility of its composer alone. Bear McCreary, or as he’s known among my friends and I, “The drum guy”, has a respectable history in the field of film and television composing, writing the music for Battlestar Galactica (the modern series), The Walking Dead, and Outlander. Loving those series and their scores, I was surprised to see his name attached to this eagerly anticipated video game, so I picked up the score knowing it would probably be good and that I would be buying the game after the semester concluded.

Hey, I know this song! source: Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Which is where things get weird.

I did buy the game, and I love it. But this was the first time I thoroughly consumed a score before consuming the product it was attached to. So, once I got the game and loaded it up, the playthrough became a surreal experience. When I listen to scores, my mind jumps back to the scenes or moments to which the tracks are attached or they become memorable melodies that bolster the movie or game upon my next time with it. But coming into God of War with the soundtrack already in my head, I realized I had created a completely separate context for the music separate from the game.

In a sense, this dissonance takes me out of the game as I play it. When a track comes on, I have that knee-jerk reaction of “I know this song!” before realizing that it’s from the score that I more recently associate with careful readings of papers and the parsing of numerical scores that determine student grades.

It’s ultimately a benign discord, but one jarring enough to plant a note in my brain to never do it again. Next time, just have the patience to wait.

LONG JOHN UPDATE:

Long John’s table at the Toy, Game, and Pop Culture Expo on June 9.

Last weekend, I happily exhibited at the 2nd annual Toy, Game, and Pop Culture Expo in Carmichael, CA. Like with the Sac Indie Expo before it, I’m intrigued by young shows because I like seeing process vivified. I like seeing how things stumble and succeed as they’re getting going––Long John‘s early trials and triumphs are perennially documented right here on this site. More importantly, I enjoy being a part of those baby steps, helping (with hope) however I can.

That being said, I had a great time. The show definitely focused more on the toy angle of its title than anything else or, at least, that’s what most of the attendees seemed to be there for, which is fine. I had a lot of fun conversations with the attendees, talking comics, toys, cartoons, and video games. Luckily, I was tabled directly next to Taurus Comics‘ own Kyrun Silva, and we had a blast hanging out, talking, and drawing. I ended up drawing a sketch of Kyrun’s newest creation, Xob (pronounced “saw”) the Lightning Wielder, a superhero comic rooted in Hmong culture and history. I’ve read the first issue and it is a really fun time.

Sketch of Kyrun Silva’s character, Xob, drawn at the TGPC Expo.

The Toy, Game, and Pop Culture Expo was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see how it grows and changes over the coming years. With luck, I’ll continue to be a part of it.

Until next week, that’s The Week! (But come back on Tuesday for a new Long John page.)

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Long John at the Toy, Game, & Pop Culture Expo 2018

Jun06
by on 6 June 2018

This Saturday, Long John will be a guest at the second annual Toy, Game, and Pop Culture Expo, held in Carmichael. It will be held on Saturday, June 9 from 10am to 4pm. It will be held at the Carmichael Elks Lodge #2103 (5631 Cypress Ave). Admission is $10, Children under 10 are FREE. For being only the second year, the talent that has been lined up to attend is rather impressive!

Special Guests (aside from D. Bethel and Long John) include:

  • Samantha Newark (voice actress, Jem from Jem and the Holograms)
  • Lynne Stewart (Miss Yvonne from Pee Wee’s Playhouse)
  • Angus Oblong (creator of Adult Swim’s The Oblongs animated series)
  • Chris Marrinan (comic book artist for titles under Marvel, DC, and other publishers)
  • Zack Hoffman (voice actor, Zartan from G.I. Joe)
  • Tom Cook (animator)
  • Melody Perkins (actress, Power Rangers)
  • Taurus Comics (Sacramento area independent comic publisher)
  • and more!

I’m quite looking forward to the event and I hope to see you there, as well!

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The Week – 25 May 2018

May25
by on 25 May 2018

The school year is finally done––with final grades locked and submitted––and with its end I can get to work on getting Long John up and going so that you can see Chapter 3, “Making Smoke.” But that doesn’t mean I haven’t done stuff in the meantime, either.

WATCHING:

source: Neon

  • I, Tonya

Growing older is a very strange experience, because it happens in real time. I realize that’s as banal a statement a person can make, but it so accurately explains my response to seeing fictionalized versions of events that happened from when I was alive that are coming out now. Part of youth is to figure out the context in which you’re existing, so you learn about historical events and important people: you learn about World War II and the Beatles; you are told Citizen Kane is the most important movie in the world and are shown pictures of the Civil Rights movement. While absorbing this information, though, the world keeps happening around you––it’s not waiting for you to get caught up. To that end, a lot of the stuff that happened since my birth was given less cultural weight (in my mind) because I thought that all of the important stuff happened before.

I think the first major news story I remember is the Tiananmen Square protests, specifically the man facing down the tanks in the square (apparently referred to as “tank man“). I remember seeing that and thinking, “is this going to be history?” which seems like a line an android would ask as it verges on sentience. After that, I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then the Lorena Bobbit incident, and then, I think, the next major event I remember would be the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. My mother is an avid fan of ice skating and this scandal was of particular interest in our household. But I was still a kid playing video games and slowly learning how to engage with the world; so, while I remember it, I didn’t absorb it.

Like the first season of American Crime Story, subtitled “The People vs. O.J. Simpson” (combined with the the long but outstanding 30 for 30 documentary, O.J.: Made in America), which told me what I already knew but also put it into a context outside of headline reporting––filling in details that actually showed that it was a series of gears and cogs that all fit together––I, Tonya does a fantastic (and often hilarious) job of taking the story back from the sensationalist and sound bite plaque that stuck to popular culture. More importantly, both I, Tonya and American Crime Story are, essentially, historical dramas. Teens of today are watching these the way I watched All the President’s Men or something like that. My childhood is history now and, in terms of actually learning the details and appreciating their depth, I’m glad it is.

source: 20th Century Fox

  • Deadpool 2

I am a fan of the X-Men––a particularly devoted one more for its message than its narrative, at times. And while the Deadpool character comes from the X-family, I never held any fondness for him. His rise to comics stardom occurred while I was away from the medium, and by the time I heard that Deadpool was the hotshot, bad-boy character of Marvel comics, I was shocked by the news. To me, up until that point, he was just a cocky and sarcastic villain. The line from that to self- and meta-aware comedic anti-hero seemed impossible. That being said, his current proliferation in comics (being the hot property, he has more than a few books going at once and shows up as a team member in as many other books, which was Wolverine’s problem in the ’90s) was unappealing and I largely ignored him.

However, I was charmed by his first movie. A lot of the jokes fell flat and the story did kind of drag on multiple viewings, but Ryan Reynolds’ charisma was undeniable and, considering the fact that the version of Deadpool they were adapting was the fourth wall-breaking, pop culture referencing loudmouth, that they were able to actually pull it off in a movie impressed me wholly.

Due to the appeal of the first movie, the producers sweetened the deal for me by announcing that more characters from the comics would be in the sequel, specifically Cable, Domino, and Shatterstar. To be honest, I don’t hold any more value to those characters than I did for Deadpool, but the lot of them (Deadpool included) hit me right in my nostalgia. Part of what got me to see Deadpool was that it was a character from my youth, when I started reading comics in the early ’90s. But the character had changed so much, I went not for the nostalgia hit as much as I heard it was an okay movie. However, with Deadpool 2, simply seeing all of these characters in the trailer had me hooked like a fish on the line. I didn’t even care if it was good, the pure glee of seeing these characters lovingly rendered on screen was enough to get me to buy a ticket.

Luckily, the movie is really good (in its kind of crass, vulgar, and sometimes stupid way). For me, it’s better than the first movie. It doubles down on an emotional story without getting too schmaltzy. Its action (and characters!) are more numerous and well-written. And it’s actually funny––I didn’t notice any jokes falling as flat (or at all) like many did in the first movie. I will admit, though, that as much as I loved the self-aware irreverence of the first movie, that was the part that cut deepest for me in the second. Without spoiling anything, I have to go into my next viewing understanding that this movie cares nothing for my nostalgia and it doesn’t owe anything to me. I treated these characters and stories with an undue amount of gravity and importance in my youth though I see now they were mostly just silly and a bit stupid. But my nostalgia has a hard time letting go. With hope, I can just numb that pang while laughing through further viewings.

LONG JOHN UPDATE:

I got restocked on Volume 1, so it is on for the 3-book bundle (for a mere $20)! If you’ve been waiting on getting the books or thought buying them would be too expensive, worry no more! This is an absolute deal and is the easiest and cleanest way to get all three books into your hands as quickly as possible. I’m actually going to throw some marketing behind this bundle with the hopes that it’ll get out there for even more people to see. Also, if you already have the previous two volumes, Volume 3 is already for sale on the store for $8! Every purchase comes with an original Long John sketch by me as well as the classic Long John bookmark.

One of the most daunting parts of Chapter 3 had to do with choreography. Not in terms of dancing, kind of, but in the violent dance of an action scene. Fight scenes are always tough because you really have to plan them out, which is the same for filmed fight scenes––it’s just with comics there’s less of a chance of someone getting hurt in the process. Chapter 3’s centerpiece is a big gun fight that I’m sure some people have been waiting a long time for. For me, I’m rather proud that it took me 70 pages to get to a gun fight, but when you get there I hope it’s worth the wait.

Hopefully, you’re looking at this and asking, “Wait. Are they literally fighting guns?”

Until next week, that was The Week.

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