Only then you’ll see the world all brand new

I haven’t been posting here too much.  It’s a combination of having lots of work (a good thing), and the weather being great in Portland.  You have to go outside when that happens; it could change back at any minute!

I drew at a little cafe downtown yesterday.  Ice coffee, filtered sunlight…heaven!
So what have I been up to?  Lots!
There was the Stumptown Comics Fest, which was GREAT this year.  Fest director Kaebel Hashitani knows what he’s doing and his team was on it.  The guests were phenomenal.  I spent about as much time away from my table as at it–there was so much I wanted to see!
 
Brett Warnock gave me this copy of Jess Fink’s new book.  I LOVED it.  Whatever materials she’s using (pencils and a wash?) really work.  It’s so pretty and warm.
 
I have a gallery show this month at Sequential Art Gallery, and I did a First Thursday event for the opening of that.  I was on Geek in the City with Merrick Monroe to promote it.
^(That has to be the happiest face of mine anyone has ever caught on camera. I love it.)
On May 6 I had a signing at Powell’s for Husbands!!!  I got to meet Brad Bell, Jane Espenson, and Tania del Rio.  We did a panel and Q&A with my studio mates Ron Chan and Ben Dewey as well.  It was cool having so much of the creative team in one place.  The crowd was great and we filled that Pearl Room space!  
It felt full-circle for me because I found out about Periscope Studio at a Powell’s author reading in the exact same place where Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker were speakers.  I was a 19-year-old, making comics but badly wanting some IRL comics friends.  Finding out about the studio changed everything for me.
I’m working away on It Girl issue #12.  Mike Norton, Chynna Clugston, and I each get 8 pages–I think it’s a really nice device for bringing the whole creative team together in the finale issue.  I got my comp copies for #10 yesterday and I am SO happy with them.  The issue drops May 15; be sure to pick it up!
 
I’ve been running for exercise.  I’m finally finding the nice pockets for that in my neighborhood.
And I’m still a klutz.  At least I have an outlet.
 Lastly, I’ll leave you with some new doodles.  Until next time!

What’s your name no one’s gonna ask you

I’ve been doing a lot of life drawing around town lately. I love it!!  Truth is so much stranger than fiction; I would never think to invent the characters I see on the street.  It’s a great reminder about variety/diversity in everything from proportions to how people walk and stand to their mannerisms to clothing and hair styles.  Here’s a big ol’ post of the drawings I’ve done in the last month:

I can feel my feet on the ground

I’m back from Oahu and it was GREAT!  I had this image in my head that Oahu was one giant city, and why would you travel all the way to Hawai’i to just be in another city?, but it was actually the best island experience I’ve had yet.  There are parks and hikes and tons of nature within walking distance from Honolulu, and some parts of the island look completely untouched.
Here are my travel sketches.  I would clean them up if I had more free time, but I’ve got to hit the ground running today on actual work-work.  Even if some of these are less-than-legible, I hope you enjoy!

I looooove the way that the island looks from the water.  The clouds passing over the mountains cast shadows that seem black in contrast to the bright light shining everywhere else.  It made this great layering effect on the mountains, depending on whether the shadows were on the peaks closest to you or further away.

Autobio travel comics:
In hindsight, these sound a little…boastful?  That’s not my intention; I just want to remember what we did.  It was an extraordinary trip and it looks like an embarrassment of riches when it’s all listed off in one place.

We notice every tiny little detail

I’ve been hording sketches since September, waiting until I had time to color them.  If it’s been 2 months and that hasn’t happened yet, it’s probably time to just post them.

 I overworked my right hand in August and September, and tried a lot of things to heal it.  I messed around drawing with my left hand, and this is actually the best thing I drew.  I want to print it out and put it somewhere I can always see it, so I don’t forget that I don’t really have a back-up drawing hand.

 
 
 
 
 

^Almost all of these are from my SPX/D.C. trip.  Traveling is so great for my sketches.

 

There are more, but I have to get back to work…I need to pick it up on a couple of my projects.  More later!  I’m going to Oahu next week (!!!) and hope to come back with some good stuff.

I love Paris in the rain

Sketches from life drawing last night (NSFW):

30 seconds:
30 seconds – 2 minutes:
 
 2-5 minutes:
5 minutes:
5-10 minutes:
10 minutes:
20 minutes:

I’m currently listening to:

The future’s not ours to see

I’ve been sketching a lot this summer; I’m pleased with myself for continuing to find the time to fill pages in my sketchbooks. My sketchbooks are a place I can really cut loose, and I see improvement in my comic work after periods where I’ve been sketching a lot.
Here are some sketchbook pages I just scanned in:

If they die I’ll still remember you

Jeez, where have I been?  Well, I’m still hard at work on the WPR consciousness comic (Meet Your Mind) and another unannounced project, I attended a wedding and a concert this weekend, and I cohosted a house warming party last week.  I’m trying to wrap up a lot of things before September 14, because I’m going to Washington D.C. for SPX and to visit my friend Mary, and I would LOVE to go with a clear conscience!

Pink Martini at the Oregon Zoo!  This is the second time I’ve gone to see them at the zoo with my friend Kayla.  We love it!

I just came home from my last French class of the summer course.  My mom and I have been studying for a year and a half, and are on track to finish all of the 200-level courses offered at our school before our France trip next year.

Two good
French + Pink Martini = the song I listened to pretty much nonstop this weekend

Some recent sketches:

 I don’t mean to be a tease with the pixelation–it’s just around sketches that give away a project I’m working on, and some sketches that are just dumb/bad.

I traced over these guys digitally from that last sketch.  I really like these kinds of digital coloring styles (more, more, more, more, more) and I’m inspired to experiment a bit, although it’s been a bit painful to compare myself to what I’m trying to imitate.  C’est la vie!

Where is my mind?

I am working on an education comic project for Wisconsin Public Radio right now.  Check out their Kickstarter, won’t you?  They have been wonderful to work with and I would really like to see them reach their fundraising goal.  I love the $1000 reward–sending 200 copies of the comic to a school of your choice!  Fantastic!

Here are a bunch of sketches from August:

(Brady and Cheeks from Husbands)

The Olympics rule my life right now.

I’ll never reach my destination if I never try

Periscope went to the Oregon Zoo on a life drawing trip Wednesday. I LOOOOVE our zoo life drawing trips! It’s great practice, plus all of the usual fun you get at the zoo. Cute kids, cool animals, friends, walking around outside, and drawing. The best things. You can see my sketches from our 2011 trip here.

This year I wasn’t thrilled with my drawings–a lot of these felt like steps backwards–but there were a couple I was really happy with.  We might be going again next month, and if we do I plan to spend a longer period of time with fewer animals, so I can actually nail down their constructions.

You’ll see the world like a bird

Sketch dump! :D I’ll be coloring some of these and posting them to my Tumblr, so be sure to visit.
I looooove gender-swapped fan art, but it really bugs me when people essentially just apply costume ornaments from a dude-character to a chick in a swimsuit.   That kind of fan art is about as true to the character as this is true to Santa:
“If Thor’s beefy for a man, he should be frickin’ beefy for a woman,” said Tally to no one.

That’s a little comic from my ALA Anaheim trip last weekend.  By the way, that was a good time.  I bought signed copies of Smile from Raina Telgemeier and July Diary from Gabrielle Bell, was surprised to sell out of books at my Image signing, met tons of awesome people, and even got to go to Disneyland.  I would definitely go to ALA again, and am considering the Seattle conference this winter.
People in L.A. show a lot of skin!  I had a bit of culture shock.  I feel really self-conscious when I wear a tank top.  Nonetheless it was nice being in that warm, predictable climate for a while.
Something weird happened on Monday.  I’d spent all weekend doing the convention and hadn’t had a chance to sketch for fun in daaaaays.  My family made a last stop before the airport in Huntington Beach, and I told them I wanted to just sit on an inconspicuous bench and draw people for a while.  5 minutes later, a nice woman asked me if I did caricatures!  I said sure and drew her, her husband, and her son for about 15 minutes.  She offered to pay me but we settled on her buying me ice cream xD  It was bizarre but also really nice to think that I might be able to survive if I was stranded somewhere with just my sketchbook and pencil.

And on with the DC fan art…. :D
 
My mental image of Catwoman comes from…
A) Darwyn Cooke,
 B) Adam Hughes
 C) Batman the Animated Series

 
Copyright © Natalie Nourigat
Top