And Then Canada Exploded

Recently I've been stumbling around with the whole "how do I keep this drawing comics thing fun when it is my job?' thing. I know it sounds kind of weird, because drawing comics IS fun, but once the thing that you used to do "for fun" becomes the thing you do for work ... okay, it's not like it STOPS being fun, I LOVE doing it, but it becomes something ... else. I went to school for animation, and have worked in the animation industry for a few years, and all during that time I drew comics for fun. I always thought that drawing would be something hard to keep going with once I started pursing it as a career, but animation is different enough from comics so that wasn't a problem. I have an animation friend in Ontario who I like to meet up with and talk shop whenever I'm back there visiting and he works in animation to pay the bills, and does comics on the side. When I last saw him he was drawing storyboards for an animated show, and having a hard time working on his comics. He said it was difficult to find motivation to work on his comics while he was drawing storyboards because when you storyboard "you use the same part of your brain you use for comics. It's just too similar." I kind of know how he feels now.

I love doing comics, but when I take a few hours off on the weekend, and think about the things I want to do during my off time, and how oh gosh, it'd be nice to draw some comics for fun, the minute I think that some slightly exhausted person inside me shrieks (usually in a British accent, because I have a British interior monologue) "NNNNNNOOOOO you just did that for the past EIGHTY HOUUURRRRSS!" ... and that is why I end up dreamily staring at the TV for several hours on a Saturday without my sketchbook in hand, something Past Me would be horrified at, since previously I would never sit in front of the television without a sketchbook on which to sketch furiously.

Comics are so much fun. But they are also my work. But they're fun... I want to do more of them, but I've been drawing so many pages of them the thought of picking up my pencil and drawing another is a terrible drag, and shouldn't I be doing something fun during my downtime? Something fun like drawing comics?

... it's about this time that I attempt to turn off my British interior monologue, and retreat to watching reruns of Law & Order.

Starling and I are hard at work on Friends With Boys. Obviously she's working harder than I am, as you can see from this picture. Wow, I have totally become one of those people who posts pictures of their cats online. Living the dream!
The photo printouts on the desk are of an old house a co-worker was renting a room in a while back (he's not any more), and I asked if I could come over to take reference pictures. I've become a bit of a reference whore lately ... suddenly I don't want to draw anything without knowing what it actually looks like. I spent hours photographing the place, and sadly most of the photos have disappeared. ARGH. It was such a perfect house, too. I suspect I thought I'd emptied the camera's memory card when actually I hadn't, and up and deleted things. THBBT.
Here's a graveyard that shows up a lot in the story too:

Pretty, huh? Yes, once things were green in Nova Scotia. For about two weeks.

First of all, someone kindly alerted me to this: Lookit! My artwork is on GoogleMaps! How kickass and awesome is that? It was nifty enough to have a mural for a while (it's now replaced by a mural for Darwyn Cooke's Hunter GN), so this is extra gravy.

I'm a bit exhausted at the moment as I just came back from eating my second turkey (all prententions of wannabe vegetarianism goes out the window around Thanksgiving), but I have a million things to do this week, so I have to post this now or not for a while. Now it is, then. I think I've mentioned a couple times that this past summer it was ten years since I started drawing comics, or rather, ten years since I started drawing my old online comic Demonology 101. I'd wanted to do something to celebrate that fact (and to celebrate that hey, after 10 years of doing this comic thing, I'm still doing it, much to my astonishment), but I don't have time to do anything special, so let's settle for the silliness that follows. Basically, while on semi-vacation last week, I redrew some of the early artwork from D101. For a couple reasons: 1) I was bored and 2) I wanted to hold up two identical pieces of artwork and compare them, and feel that my improvement as an artist would speak for itself, and tell me that I was on the right track. That I was supposed to do comics. And keep doing them. I dunno, I just needed to hear it at that particular moment, for whatever reason.

I'll put it all behind a cut because it's a bit image intense.

( Current Artwork vs. 2001 Artwork. Fight! )

Hey, you guys want to see the cover for that comic I drew that's coming out next year?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! OH GOD THE EYES FOLLOW YOU!!!

... well, not really. But they will. In your sleep. Anyway, the fold out full cover thingie for it is really cool, but that has plot and stuff on it, so I should probably hold off on that. But isn't it PRETTY?? Colleen at First Second did all the designing, and she did an awesome job. It was really fantastic to have people on hand to help you through this process, 'cause I sure don't know what I'm doing.
( Here's some (non-spoiler) thumbnails from the cover process )

I went to Word on the Street in Toronto this past weekend, and here's photographic proof: In this picture, one of my many large brothers impresses me by attempting to pay for a book. The Joe Shuster Award people were kind enough to spare me some space at their table, which was very nice, as I'd lost the Cartoonist award just the night before, and wasn't sure if people wanted to associate with me, or would rather chase down people who won. Which I wouldn't blame them for. It was actually kind of funny: I didn't make it to the Shusters last year and won, and this year ... well, it's obvious I just can't show up for any award I want to win. So I'm never showing up for the Oscars ever in the hopes that I'll win one for Most Awesome, or something.

Despite the stench of LOSER hanging above my head, Word on the Street was very fun. It's only the second time I've had a table to sell comics, and it was interesting seeing what sold and what didn't. Zombies Calling sold like crazy (I sold every copy I had of ZC), but Ellsmere barely moved, a complete reversal of what happened at TCAF. The crowd seemed more parents and kids than TCAF, and most of the books I sold went to younger readers, so I was kind of puzzled over ZC's dominance. At one point I started talking to some parents by the Labyrinth (a comic/art book store on Bloor St), and the mother was practially estatic about all the comics her kids were reading. "We need more comics for girls," she shouted, as her daughter pullled out a copy of Jellaby to show me. "More comics for girls, and make sure they're in colour!" Sadly, Ellsmere, not in colour.

I was on a webcomic panel late in the day, which I was super nervous about, but I don't think I screwed up too badly. There was a nice mix of those who made their money online and those who had somehow ended up in traditional publishing (like me). I guess I find the whole web verses print ONLY ONE WILL SURVIVE thing to be really annoying (why can't it be Print And Web, BFFs Forever! Or Print and Web: Hot Traditional on New Model Publishing Action!), so I was glad the panel didn't turn out to be that, and was just cartoonists talking about their craft and how they practice it. Which is how it should be. The panel was Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics), Emily Horne (A Softer World), Kean Soo (Jellaby) and another guy whose name escapes me and for some reason he's not listed in the WOTS program, so oops. Anyway, he did Zuda and other things.

And of course, after WOTS was done with and all the books were packed up, everyone got together to eat delicious foodstuffs and gossip about COMICS! Always my favourite part of the night. It was really great to get to talk a bit with the Toronto comic folk, and see the vibrancy and excitement of the scene there. I'm looking forward to TCAF next year.

Oh yeah, and it was my BIRTHDAY yesterday! I got comics, of course. I got volume 1 of Children of the Sea from my boyfriend and I'm enjoying it very much. It's lovely and relaxed in its storytelling, a luxury that it doesn't seem many North American comics are afforded. I'm slightly jealous and want to do a comic that takes pages for anything to happen. Such things can be frustrating when doled out in small updates, but when contained in a book, the effect is very immersive. It's a beautiful book. I also got Flight of the Conchords season 2, so now I can just go to the Sugarlumps song and play that scene endlessly. (.. my sugarlumps are two of a kind - sweet and white and highly refined ... )

The Saga of Selling My Next Comic
I've been holding off announcing this for various reasons, but now's the time, I think. Drumroll pls. Okay! First Second Books, towering publisher of such luminaries as Gene Yang, Nick Abadzis, and Paul Pope (eventually, I assume) has been suckered into - I mean, will be publishing my next graphic novel. Completely written and drawn by ME. HAHAHAHA. Oh man, cool, huh?

The (hopefully) entertaining odyssey of how I and this particular comic ended up at First Second is a story of rejection, crashing comic book imprints, San Diego Comicon and me in search of food. As all my stories seem to end up, strangely enough. Anyway! Back in 2007 I did a pitch for DC Comics now defunct Minx imprint. I was really thrilled about the whole thing as I thought I'd be perfect for the job. Hey, I'm a girl! And I draw comics! These comics are for girls! I'm PERFECT. Yeah, it didn't happen. I was pretty crushed. I don't know if the book still would have been picked up if the Minx imprint hadn't been cancelled, because I never got an official "sorry, this is not what we're looking for" from the powers that be at Minx. But I do know that if I'd gotten the job and the imprint had still been cancelled, my book would have been shot off into limbo, as I was pitching for the 2009 line. So even though I cried many tears over that lost job, it ended up actually being okay, and I was lucky the book was never bought by them.

Of course, I didn't realize it at the time, and was pretty morose for the beginning of 2008. I was working on The War at Ellsmere and that was a lot of comfort. Well, nobody else in comics liked me, but SLG did, and that was awesome. And then First Second emailed me out of the blue, asking if I'd try out for drawing a script then titled The Fielding Course. I did, and got the job. Yeehaw! Moving up in the world! I didn't get to write & draw my next comic, but I got to draw something and be paid a bit of money. So that was good.

Before I got drawing The Fielding Course I started casting around looking for an agent. I didn't really know much about agents, but one thing I'd learned is that I really hate dealing with the business end of comics, and I thought an agent would help me with that. Fortunately, Bernadette Baker of Baker's Mark came recommended, and I fired off a query to her. I was so sold on the idea of having an agent, when we talked on the phone I honestly couldn't think of a single thing to ask her, although she kindly told me about her selling history, who she represented and etc. I mostly wanted to know if she'd deal with the stressful 'dealing with publishers' end of the thing, as I couldn't stand it. I think the only question I asked was "what is your role as an agent?" while in the midst of of a serious case of flop sweat. Dear god I hate phones.

Anyway! It all happened really fast. I went from Minx also-ran to Cartoonist With Agent, Drawing Book for Major Publisher in about the span of a week. Pretty heady stuff.

Aaaand flashback: Previously, my friend karine and a few other mutual friends had plotted to go to San Diego Comicon. I kept waffling on the whole issue, as I was unemployed and not sure how I'd afford the trip. Luckily everything fell into place and I was able to secure a cheap flight and cheap accommodations thanks to karine. At this point, San Diego was simply a "fun trip." I wanted to see the spectacle of the convention, and thought it would be mostly a 4 day thing of wandering around in Nerdvana, nothing else.

So! Newly signed up with my agent, I told her I was gong to Comicon. She said she was too, and why didn't we take any pitches I had to a few publishers? Heck, why not, I thought. I really couldn't see past The Fielding Course, but the idea of pimping out a new project, and hopefully one I'd get to write as well as draw was pretty appealing. And hey, lo and behold, I had this Minx pitch just sitting there, pretty much ready to go.

The pitch had changed quite a bit by the time San Diego rolled around. Shelly Bond (who headed up the Minx imprint) had been very specific in what she wanted for the Minx imprint (this pitch was rejected, as they were looking for stories more grounded in reality), and I had worked within those specifications. But now that it wasn't a Minx pitch anymore, it had evolved a lot. However, the core characters remained the same, as well as the backdrop of "girl goes to high school after being home-schooled," which isn't based on my life AT ALL even though it happened to me. I gave the pitch to my agent, and she liked it and suggested we take it to a few publishers at San Diego.

So that's how I ended up at a breakfast with head First Second guy Mark Siegel, my agent and her business partner at at hotel in San Diego during Comicon. AND BOY WAS I STARVING. Have I mentioned how hard I found it to find food at the convention? SO HUNGRY. Anyway, BEST DAMN BREAKFAST EVAR, because not only did I get some delicious foodstuffs, but I also got a chance to pitch my story to Mark, and a month after San Diego, my agent called to say that First Second had made an offer on the book.

Bernadette was really awesome throughout the whole thing, helping me through the process and talking with me about various options for the book, and I'm very glad to have had her guidance throughout the whole scary thing. I'm always panicked about screwing up, or offending someone or getting blacklisted, and it was fantastic to have someone to help me with the business end, 'cause I just hate that part of it so ... damn ... much. So thanks to Bernadette, to my friend karine, without whom I wouldn't have been at San Diego, and the PTB at Minx, since I wouldn't have had a pitch ready to go if it wasn't for them.

And now here it is, a YEAR later (ah, the glacial pace of book publishing) and I'm starting to work on Friends With Boys. That's the title, and it's nothing to do with the little comic strips I did years ago. I just liked the title enough to reuse it. It's the first time I've used my own life as a jumping off point for a comic, although I'd like to stress the book is not autobiographical, nor is the main character me. It's about a girl named Maggie, who has three brothers (as I do), who was home-schooled (as I was), and is now entering her first year of public high school (as I did). She also is stalked by a ghost (that has yet to happen to me). She gets mixed up in High School Drama, makes friends with the wrong people, and because the story is written by me, it will contain two things: 1) Zombies. And 2) Someone will, eventually, get punched in the face.

Here's some development artwork:

This was the very first image I drew, what I pitched to Minx.

An early version of Maggie. She was a little gothier in early versions of the story. Now she's nerdier. :D

Two of Maggie's three brothers, Lloyd and Zander (gold star for who can guess that reference? C'moooon!). They fight a lot because they're twins.

Maggie makes friends with these guys at school, Lucy and her slightly mysterious brother, Alistair.

There's a lot of male characters in this book (4 or 5 main male characters, 2 female), and I'm looking forward to writing/drawing them, as I've done a couple of very girl-centric graphic novels and want to do something different.

There will be a lot of mohawks in this book.

This is the most recent, assumedly "final" drawing of Maggie. My art has developed a lot over the past year, and I'm looking forward to seeing a new, all-mine book drawn in this style. Viva Winsor & Newton Series 7 watercolour brushes!

Anyway, whoa, that was a novel I just wrote there. But that's the crazy story. It's funny how things end up, yeah? I was really devastated by the Minx thing because it seemed so perfect, and like the job was meant for me, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. I'm so thrilled First Second is publishing this book, it's been wonderful to work with them. They're pretty damn awesome.

I don't know yet when Friends With Boys will be published. I'm hoping for 2011 (AAAH! So far away!), but I'll keep you posted. Brain Camp is slated for publication in Fall of 2010, even though it's completed now ... ah, book publishing is not made for the impatient. But at least I have this wonderful new project to work on, and I hope you all will read it. I think it's going to be pretty cool. :)

First of all, omigod Ice is updated with 7 new pages!!!! Oh man, don't trust that queen, Hunter. She's scary.

Yeah, that was brutal. But hey, they're done and they're up, and there's a reason why they aren't shaded, but I can't get into that right now, so enjoy them anyway. And wow, that scene is DONE. Hey, I might be able to finish this thing someday after all.

OTHER EXCITING STUFF!
Guess what! I'll be at Toronto's Word on the Street on September 27th. I'll also be at the Joe Shuster Awards on September 26th (because The War at Ellsmere was nominated, yay!), and the Shuster Award people have kindly allowed me to mooch some space off them. So at WOTS I will be at table 230, which I believe is right next to where The Beguiling and Drawn & Quarterly have their tables, so I guess look for the tables with all the awesome comic books. I'll have copies of The War at Ellsmere and Zombies Calling for sale, and if you buy them, I'd be happy to draw a sketch for you as a thank you. Please come say hi!
(Unfortunately because Word on the Street occurs simultaneously throughout Canada, I won't be at Halifax's WOTS.)

ALSO!
My lovely local comic shop Strange Adventures is having some kind of crazy sale next week (I think from the 21st till the 29th), and in order to promote it, they're having Famous Comic People like Darwyn Cooke and Steve McNiven in to sign books. And me. Hahaha. Ahhhh, I dunno how that happened, but whatever. I will be at Strange Adventures on Thursday, September 24th from 5-6pm, signing & drawing in whatever you want me to. I think Steve and Darwyn are in the days before me, so come and visit all of us and buy something from Cal because he is awesome.

My boyfriend and I are in the midst of doing a Great Lost Re-watch before the beginning of Lost season 6, the final season of that great show that once and for all will wrap up every storyline in a neat little package (right, Lost creators, RIGHT???). It's been a lot of fun re-watching the first season and seeing the beginnings and gestations of the show, and how it's evolved over the years. While I believe that the Lost creators and writers did have some idea of where they'd take the show, I don't believe they had EVERYTHING figured out from the very beginning. As in, they probably had the framework of Ancient Good verses Ancient Evil toys with the fate of tiny little humans, but the connections to the dots weren't all figured out, and season 1 does seem to hold to that, as there are little slip ups here and there, things that don't quite pan out the way they probably should ... but I LIKE that.

I like the organic-ness of the storytelling, because when I watch the show, although I get the sense of creators working within an overall story arc, I also see them scrambling a bit and figuring things out, and pushing ideas around that sometimes don't work, but sometimes do. I've been thinking about the organic nature of storytelling, and how you sometimes end up at places you never thought you would, and how that can be exciting but also a bit frustrating when one fails. I loved the X-Files a lot, but man, that show sure punted the ending. It's interesting to compare the X-Files with Lost, and see how some creators can paint themselves into a corner with their evolving storylines, and others can actually, well, pull the bloody thing off. Hopefully. Dear Lost creators, please please please let season 6 be good. At least Lost has been granted a definite end, something the X-Files was not. Alas.

I was thinking about where I first started with storytelling ten years ago (yes, something like ten years! I can't believe it's been TEN YEARS since I started doing comics! Madness), with my dorky comic Demonology 101, and how when I started it I didn't know where I was going with the thing, but then you start working on it and characters become interesting and whole new worlds are opened up. It's fun. It's like finding a house with secret rooms. I like to think that's what the Lost writers were doing too: setting up a world, and oh, look, here's pieces of the world that can be traced back to those other pieces. But maybe the new pieces weren't always meant to be there in the first place.

Anyway, I have re-discovered a few things while re-watching Lost:
1) Jack never changes.
2) Locke's zen in the first season is shocking compared to how he is later on.
and
3) I still effing hate Sawyer and his stooopid face! Rar.

Y'all are free to laugh at my hilarious creative process that involves 3 or 4 lined notebooks, pen scrawls in what possibly could be interpreted as English, and the disapproving glare of my cat. Anyway, it's weird, but it almost works. Is not my handwriting HIDEOUS?

So the title of the comic I finished drawing in June has been changed. Originally it was called The Fielding Course, but now it's Brain Camp. Everyone tossed in a few title suggestions during the process, me included. Since this is a comic about a creepy summer camp and how there may be monsters in the forest, and it's all a metaphor for how puberty is scary as hell, I suggested There's a Monster in my Pants. That title was not chosen. :D

ALSO, I saw the finished colours for the cover, and AHAHAH, scary. RUN IN FEAR BEFORE MY SCARY BOOK, CHILDREN.