How the West Was Drawn!

Jul22
by on 22 July 2022
Talking about making comics at the Sacramento History Museum on Saturday, 7/23, 2-4pm!

It’s no secret that history of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains looms heavily over Long John. Even though the story and characters are completely fictional, a lot of the ideas for the story and its characters were inspired from the history I read about this region.

With that in mind, it’s an incredible honor to be a part of an event that mixes comics and history. As part of the 5-week comic-creation workshop called, “How the West was Won,” held by the Sacramento History Museum and hosted by my old friend and former comic co-creator, Eben Burgoon, they’re bringing me in precisely because Long John is a nexus point for comics and history. We’ll be talking about character creation and how to design and flesh out characters so that they’ll flesh out and even guide your stories. There will be some talking, some drawing, and a lot of fun going on for those few hours.

With that in mind, the details for the event are as follows:

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Interview with Sacramento State (with Video!)

Jul15
by on 15 July 2022

At the end of the school year, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the student newspaper at CSU Sacramento, the university where I teach.

Last month, I was contacted by a journalist employed by Sac State (the official nickname of the university) interested in making a story about me as a comicker and a teacher for the official Sac State newsfeed. After a phone interview and gathering at my home office, the article is finally live!

It was a really fun experience with a lot of really good conversation that resulted in this really fun and thoughtful article with a companion video interview as well! I would like to take a moment to thank the journalists––Jennifer Morita and Rob Neep––for making the experience really comfortable. I also can’t express enough thanks for the incredibly kind words from my friends Kyrun Silva and Eben Burgoon that are featured in the article.

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D. Bethel Draws… People on the Streets

Jul08
by on 8 July 2022

Here’s a new video showing the use of the iPad to create digital pencils for another page added to the beginning of the upcoming Chapter 5! In the commentary, I talk about the fun (and sometimes frustration) that comes with drawing background characters (including some behind the scenes easter eggs!). Also included (at the end) are the final inks AND the final colors for the page, as a special sneak peek! Enjoy!

Here’s a look at the inks for the finished page:

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