I’m honored to have done this year’s Best American Comics cover. The guest editor for this year is Alison Bechdel, the series editors are Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Here are some alternate sketches. They’re done completely on the Cintiq. I don’t really use the Cintiq for final art, but I’ve found it a boon to the sketch/planning phase. The embroidered Penguin covers were also completely “sketched” out on a Cintiq. I like the ability to scale, rotate, crop, etc. It can be hard to make those big decisions on paper sometimes. Plus, I mean, CMD+Z.

This is the first portrait of Obama that I’ve done! Crazy! For New York Magazine, AD Raul Aguila.

I used the White House Flickr stream to find reference photos for this. It’s a good resource because the photos are very high res and are US Government Works, which are not subject to Copyright restrictions (with exceptions). Hence you’re quite free to make derivative works from them. The White House photostream itself is quite amazing… lots of very powerful and humorous images.

I have always been thankful that I did my Foundation year in a Fine Arts environment. (I went to Queen’s University.) To have spent time around fine artists has shaped the way I think about images, make images, and my understanding of Illustration.

One of the exercises made quite an impression on me was one that involved charcoal powder and reductive drawing. Lay down a ground of charcoal powder down (you can make your own powder by rubbing charcoal onto sandpaper) and pick out the light with erasers… kneaded/sharpened with an xacto, etc. This relinquishing of control can be frustrating until you learn to accept the media on its own terms. Because the elements are typically very foreign, it lends itself to a sense of play, which is entirely the point.

I did the aforementioned exercise with my students today. They came up with some entirely unexpected and delightful results; some looked like silkscreen prints, some looked like etchings, some looked like constellations in the sky. Still so many of them seemed skeptical. As if by virtue of NOT spending countless hours slaving away on a picture somehow invalidated the whole thing!

Sadly unused.

I did the Op-Ed that appears in today’s NYTimes. It’s about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Thanks to Alexandra Zsigmond and Aviva Michaelov. It’s definitely one of my better Op-Eds.

Yesterday I tweeted [gosh, that sounds obnoxious, but alas] about how drawing Op-Eds, with their extremely short deadlines, can feel like a real test of one’s drawing abilities. This article came in around 1 and was finished by 6. There’s not a lot of time for experimentation or meandering. Rather, you muster up as much skill as you can and off you go. Here is the sketch:

As a final note, I quite like the new(ish) layout of the Opinion landing page. It showcases the amazing art that is produced for the section.

The End!

In 36 hours I will be in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan eating my German mother-in-law’s lebkuchen. Studio will reopen Dec 30th. Please email me if you need to get in touch.

Here is our crafty tree. We made all the ornaments with Chelsea and Chris. Merry Christmas (or whatever you fancy).

This is the first picture I drew on my NEW CINTIQ! I don’t plan on stopping drawing with actual ink, but I’m more than happy to not have to scan in sketches upon sketches anymore. They’re so much more beautiful with a pencil, true, but no more functional. PLUS, there may be a new graphic novel project on the horizon….

I’m at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival today (Saturday). I’m signing 6-8 at the D&Q table (#42).

But if you see anything at BCGF, go see LYNDA BARRY, who is giving a talk at 1. I saw her this week at the 92 St Y and was thrilled.

I’ve taken up embroidery in a very enthusiastic yet clumsy way. Here this my first completed project! It’s a small quilt with a monster theme. Fun with a LOT of missteps, but I’m learning.

It was pleasant to work in an unfamiliar medium with some real inherent limitations. And, oddly enough, it was kind of nice to produce something that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. STILL! How to get a great photos of embroidered quilts… ?! It’s tough! If you have experience on such matters, let me know.

These are outtakes from a to-be-published editorial job, by the way. I’ve been experimenting with my process… doing a selection of finals to present to clients, versus “sketches” in a more traditional sense of the word. This only works with projects that are extremely straightforward, of course. In this case, what was need was “a cute dog!”.

Sometimes I feel distinctly OVEREDUCATED. I tell students that they should become masters of their chosen medium, and that is true if you’re to be able to survive as a working illustrator. However, as I recently said to Frank, my sincerest wish is to draw like a highly evolved 8-year-old. Drawing from a purer, more instinctual place, not one of virtuosic control.