01.02.2024
01.01.2024
Skook Words (and Pictures) #51
Hello, hello! You’re looking fabulous, as usual.
This is the last newsletter of 2023 and the last newsletter for a while. You will (huzzah! hooray!) continue to get emails (or see posts). Starting on Monday I will be posting daily. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions so much as I invent yearly projects. This is my project for 2024. As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, I’m working on mastering drawing using Clip Studio Paint and my Wacom tablet. I’m working on the sketches as if I’m doing a daily comic strip – six small sketches from Monday to Saturday with one large sketch on Sunday. I’m restricting myself to a half hour for the smaller sketches and an hour for the larger ones. (With a little wiggle room in these early days as I have to figure out how to do things in CSP that I already knew how to do in Photoshop.)
A new format means it’s time for new website banners. You won’t see these if you only see these newsletters in your email. These will be appearing randomly over at Skookworks.com starting January 1st.
Aside from improving my skill with CSP, I’m experimenting to see if I can increase my audience.
I’ll be simultaneously posting the sketches to my Substack newsletter.
I’ll be posting details of the sketches to my Instagram account that will feed to my Facebook page. (Instagram crops images to 1×1 ratios. The sketches are 2×1 and 2×3. I’m precropping the sketches because Instagram can’t be trusted to make good crops.)
I’ll be posting hi-res downloadable versions of the sketches to supporters of my Ko-Fi account.
Here in the real world I’ll be working on Sunk Cost Elegy, illustrations for a new Oz book and … stuff. And delivering mail. Of course.
I’ll undoubtedly write the occasional essay post but, for the next few months, expect more pictures than words.
Thank you for tuning in so far. Your attention is appreciated.
See you Monday!
Skook Words (and Pictures) #50
Dancing Spirits
by Sarah Byam
A winter Whisp rose from the cobblestones just outside Grandma’s house. As she and little Anders made caramel on the stove with Carnation sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, cardamom and anise, the scented steam puffed up the chimney and over the roof.
The wind led the Whisp up and up, as she drew up the kisses of sweet and spice into her arms.
Together they danced across the world, gathering in scent as they went. The bite of coffee brewing at the Simpsons. The tang of berbere from the Tedesses. The luscious warmth of fresh baked challah bread at the Friedmans. Woodsy rosemary. Sharp lime. Comforting vegetable stew. The earthy embrace of the forest. The salt and sour of the sea. The freshness of rain.
In their wake they carried bits of snow and music, the choir of a clapboard church, the cry of a starling mourning its mate. The horns or a mariachi band, the smoke of burning money, the flavor of chocolate, nutmeg, lemon grass, basil and thyme.
They danced down the click of clocks, the canon of bells, and the flowers of frost draping themselves around the earth like a snow globe.
Then, as the world spun, the first star in the sky followed the sun crossed the ice cold Angel and her sweet suitors. They crackled and melted, dew mixing with with breath, In a slightly sweet sunrise against winter sky.
Changed, combined, stirred and warmed, people felt a little more hopeful, the Angel and her mates gave their gift as they were briefly inhaled around the world.
Merry Merry!
Peace on Earth. Goodwill to All.
Good food and good drink and good sleep at the end of a good day.
Thank you for stopping by. The world is a better place with you in it.
True fact.
Skook Words (and Pictures) #49
Welcome to the next to the next to the last Skook Words newsletter of 2023. Apparently we’re only getting 51 Fridays this year instead of the desired 52. I feel ripped off. To whom do I complain?
These Days …
This is my long week at the Post Office, the one where I work 6 days in a row. Because of the high volumes of parcels the folks on the Overtime Desired List and those of us on the Own Assignment list (we’re willing to work more than 8 hours to finish our route when necessary) are coming in at six AM. We load up our trucks with as many parcels as are available, go deliver them and then come back, sort our route and then deliver everything that’s left.
I actually prefer this set up. Delivering parcels by themselves is easy. All I have to think about is getting the right parcels to the right address as efficiently as possible. Then, when I’m delivering the rest of the parcels and the mail, that goes faster because I don’t have to make extra stops and trips to deliver larger parcels that don’t fit in mailboxes to the customer’s doorsteps. I’d be fine doing this during the rest of year.
Talking to Myself
Scene –
The Cartoonist sits at his desk. He is drawing using his Wacom tablet. To his right, a fat orange cat sits on the desk between the monitor and the printer. The cat doesn’t care about this drawing thing. To his left is a room temperature mug of coffee. The Brand Manager enters. The coffee in his cup is hot and mixed with eggnog. He looks over the Cartoonist’s shoulder at the art on the monitor.
Brand Manager – “That doesn’t look like Sunk Cost Elegy.”
Cartoonist – “It’s not. It’s test art for my 2024 project.”
The Brand Manager groans.
Brand Manager – “You’re shifting gears again? How can I manage your brand if you can’t stay consistent?”
Cartoonist – “Number 1, not my problem. Number 2, it’s going to help get Sunk Cost Elegy, and everything else, done quicker. And less expensively.”
Brand Manager – “Do tell.”
Cartoonist – “You saw the notice from Adobe? That they’re raising the price of the rent for Photoshop?”
Brand Manager – “I remember that, this year, you were going to learn enough Clip Studio Paint that we could stop paying Adobe’s ransom.”
Cartoonist – “I got sidetracked. My fault. But I’ve learned that the best way for me to learn something is to make it a project. Remember 2019? When I did daily half hour sketches and posted them to Skookworks.com?”
Brand Manager – “I remember that some of those sketches took longer than a half hour to finish.”
Cartoonist – “And some of them took less. It evened out.”
Brand Manager – “If you say so.”
Cartoonist – “Yeah. Okay. Stay positive here. Even when I did a sketch in a half an hour I still had to scan it and post it. For my new 2024 project I’m going to do daily half hour sketches directly in CSP. No scanning necessary. I’ll learn the program, post a sketch every day and still have time to work on Sunk Cost Elegy. I did these test images to get a feel for how ambitious I could be in 30 minutes.”
Brand Manager – “Not bad. Did that large one take a half an hour?”
Cartoonist – “That’s my Sunday post. I’m thinking of this like doing a daily comic strip – 6 small images and one large one. I’m giving myself an hour to do the large ones. The small ones will post Monday thru Saturday and the big one will post on Sunday. Since 2024 starts on a Monday it works out perfectly.”
The Brand Manager sips his coffee. He thinks. He smiles.
Brand Manager – “I like it.”
The Cartoonist looks perplexed.
Cartoonist – “You like it? Really?”
Brand Manager – “Oh, yeah! It’s a perfect opportunity to spotlight the Brand!”
The Cartoonist facepalms.
Brand Manager – “Think about it. You’ve got an Instagram account that only gets used when the Mail Carrier decides to post a photo of a sunrise or puppy or something. You’ve got a Ko-Fi account that you’re not posting to. You’ve got a Substack account that has only three subscribers. We can hit all of them!”
The Cartoonist thinks a moment. He drinks some of his coffee.
Cartoonist – “What are you thinking?”
Brand Manager – “I post the same image to Substack and Skookworks every day. Substack has a different audience than Skookworks with different ways of creating subscribers. For Ko-Fi I’ll post a hi-rez version of each image that’s only available to your patrons. Instagram can be set to feed to Facebook. For Instagram … hmm, Instagram wants its images to be square so that means a little more work but I can set up a template that you can plug the images into. Like this – ”
Cartoonist – “Cool. And then what?”
Brand Manager – “You’ve heard me complain that it’s hard to get an audience on the internet because no one can just stumble on your work? This will be a way for people to stumble on your work.”
Cartoonist – “Right. But then what?”
Brand Manager – “We get famous and conquer the world!”
Cartoonist – “Fame and world conquering don’t automatically go together.”
Brand Manager – “Let me worry about that. Don’t you have a lot of drawing to do?”
Merry Merry!
That’s it for this week. I’m looking forward to being very busy until the end of the year. I expect that most of you will be too. I hope that, in your busy-ness, you find some joy and, once in a while, some rest.
Thank you for reading. See you in seven!
Skook Words (and Pictures) #48
It’s Friday! You know it! I know it!
What do we do on Fridays?
I send out this newsletter. You … do whatever you want. Maybe you read it. Maybe you just look at the pictures. You’re a grown up. You do what you want.
Hopefully you’ve had a good week and are looking forward to a pleasant weekend. Thanks for stopping by! (Or opening the email version of this newsletter. Thanks for that too!)
These Days …
Rain. Darkness. Many, many parcels.
I deliver my route. I help deliver part of another route. The crates and hampers and carts filled with parcels that sit on the dock at the station move but others always seem to take their place. I’m guessing things will be like this until after Christmas.
Sometime in the distant past, the Union agreed that, during December, carriers only get paid for regular (time and a half) overtime no matter how many hours they work. The rest of the year we get paid “penalty” overtime (double pay) if we work more than two hours regular overtime. This seems like a bad agreement to me.
Lovecraft Kid
The last project I illustrated for Golden Goblin Press was The Mystery of April Snow by Oscar Rios, the powerhouse behind GGP. April and the Morgan Cousins share the same Riosverse version of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Working with Oscar was great. The Lazy Artist Me often complained to himself about the amount of stuff Oscar wanted in each illustration but I’m happy with the results. If Oscar calls wanting more work, I will happily say “YES!”
Talking to Myself
Scene –
The Studio. Many many books line shelves that have built into two of the walls. A very comfy couch and a big recliner sit in the center. A drawing table and a big desk occupy the space opposite the bookshelf walls. The Brand Manager sits behind the drawing table. He’s typing on a laptop that sits on the drawing table. A fat orange cat sprawls on the rest of the table. The Cartoonist sits behind the big desk and draws using his Wacom tablet. A fluffy black cat sleeps on the computer located under the desk.
The Mail Carrier staggers into the room. He’s left his wet coat and wet hat and wet carrier bag hanging on chairs in the dining room so they can dry overnight. He sits on the couch. He stares vaguely into space. He takes off his shoes. He sighs. He lists to the left. The list becomes a slump. The slump becomes a collapse. His eyes are closed, his body stretched out on the couch. He begins to snore.
The Cartoonist and the Brand Manager look at each other. They shrug.
Cartoonist – “Every year.”
The Brand Manager nods.
Brand Manager – “Every year. It’s a wonder we get anything done.”
And That’s It
And that’s it for this week.
Stay warm. Stay dry. See some friends and give them hugs.
See you in seven!
Skook Words (and Pictures) #47
It’s Newsletter Day! Huzzah!
These Days …
Nothing to see. Move along.
Lovecraft Kids
The Lovecraft Country (Eldritch New England) Holiday Collection Kickstarter was a two part project. There was the main RPG manual and then there was The Children of Lovecraft Country, an anthology of short stories featuring each of the Morgan Family Cousins. I got to do an illustration for each story!
Blood and the Deep Blue Sea (Innsmouth) by Oscar Rios – Alice Sanders has a lot of questions in her life, mostly about the father she never got to meet. These are all questions her family just won’t answer until she’s “older”. But time moves slowly for a thirteen year old girl who’s in a hurry to grow up. Then, one chaotic and bloody afternoon in Innsmouth, everything suddenly changes.
Dreams of Dunwich (Dunwich) by Glynn Owen Barrass – A child of farming stock, Gordon Brewster lives a simple life, though life in Dunwich is often very far from simple. Darkness hangs over the decaying hamlet, something which spreads its insidious tentacles towards every soul in the vicinity… especially the innocent. Gordon has witnessed some of the worst terrors Dunwich has to offer, seen friends kidnapped and lost forever to the vile practice of cannibalism. If only those Dunwich Horrors were truly over. If only the nightmares that plagued him weren’t the harbingers of further doom.
Luck be With You (Arkham) by Brian M. Sammons – Edward Derby is not your average 12-year-old boy. Inquisitive and wise beyond his tender years, he started reading shortly after walking, has mastered Latin, and notices things others don’t (or choose to ignore). When he notices someone scribbling strange symbols across Arkham in places where soon after a mysterious death occurs, his curiosity is piqued. To prevent more such deaths Edward reluctantly takes it upon his slim shoulders the solve this mystery.
George Weedon and The Mystery of Emily Keane (Arkham) by Lee Clark Zumpe – According to authorities, little Emily Keane fell down a well one autumn afternoon, never to be seen again. On the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, George Weedon and a ragtag group of plucky Arkham kids try to find out what really happened to the girl. Their investigation takes them to some of the city’s most feared locales and reveals a centuries-old secret.
Ghosts & Monsters (Kingsport) by Peter Rawlik – Donald Sutton has a secret: his imaginary friend Simon isn’t imaginary at all. Simon is just one of many ghosts that haunting Kingsport that Donald is somehow able to see. When the ghosts of Kingsport begin vanishing from their haunts, Donald discovers them trapped in the most unusual places. When Simon himself vanishes, Donald must work to free him, and accept help from a frightening source, with terrifying consequences.
Witchlights (Dunwich) by Christine Morgan – Down in the woods, down in the hollow, pale and eerie lights appear. Nothing to worry about, Dunwichers say. Nothing to fear… Fireflies… Marsh gas… Foxfire… That’s all. But, if there’s nothing to fear, why do people warn their children to stay away? Why do those who ignore such warnings sometimes go missing? Little Gerdie Pope may only be ten, but she is determined to find out.
Talking to Myself (An Ongoing Dialogue)
Scene –
The Studio. A fat orange cat lays belly up on the carpet. A long-haired black cat sleeps atop the computer. The Salesman sits in front of the computer looking at images.
The Cartoonist enters. He carries a mug filled with a mix of coffee and a brand of eggnog no one wanted to drink by itself. He steps carefully over the orange cat.
Cartoonist – “You’re sitting at my computer. Why are you sitting at my computer?”
Salesman – “I’m doing research.”
Cartoonist – “You’re looking at my illustrations for Sunk Cost Elegy. How is that research?”
Salesman – “I’m trying to figure out how to brand manage this comic.”
Cartoonist – “Brand manage?”
Salesman – “Of course. Everything you produce is part of your brand. I’m trying to figure out if this is on brand or if I’ll need to tweak your brand’s vibe to include it.”
Cartoonist – “Tweak my brand’s vibe?”
Salesman – “Everything is brand management now. Everyone is online. Everyone is a brand whether they plan it or not. The big question is – are you in control of how your brand is perceived?”
Cartoonist – “Wasn’t ‘Branding’ a last decade thing?”
Salesman – “Branding is eternal. I might be a bit behind in the lingo but we can make that part of the Brand.”
The Cartoonist sits on the couch. The fat orange cat stretches and yawns but remains on its back. The Cartoonist sips the stuff in his mug.
Cartoonist – “Okay genius, what’s my brand?”
The Salesman frowns.
Salesman – “Ozthulhu.”
Cartoonist – ” … ?”
Salesman – “That’s better than ‘mostly obscure’. Your most public work has been for Call of Cthulhu RPGs and Land of Oz related things. When you met Brandon Graham he recognized you from you having inked Oz Squad. I know you did more work on Misspent Youths but that was thirty years ago and it was a mess.”
Cartoonist – “It was the best work I could do at the time.”
Salesman – “It was still a mess. And it made so little impact on the comics scene that Wikipedia deleted the entry because it ‘wasn’t culturally relevant’.”
Cartoonist – “I’m over that. Now.”
Salesman – “It’s fine. It’s part of your brand’s story. You’re punk. You’re underground. You’re weird and obscure and not ready for prime time.”
Cartoonist – “I’m pretty sure that’s part of someone else’s brand.”
Salesmen – “I checked. It’s available.”
Cartoonist – “Okay. Whatever. That’s your department. Could you get out of my seat? I’d like to get back to work.
The Cartoonist and the Sales … er … Brand Manager exchange places, each stepping over the fat orange cat in the process. The Cartoonist puts stylus to Wacom tablet and starts work. The Brand Manager stares at the ceiling. He picks up the mug that the Cartoonist left on the floor in front of the couch. He gulps down the remainder of the contents.
Brand Manager – “So, when are you going to be done?”
The Cartoonist doesn’t look at the Brand Manager.
Cartoonist – “It will be done when I’m done.”
Brand Manager – “I get that creation takes time but Brands can’t just disappear. They have to keep producing content for the fans. Pick a release date so your peeps have something to look forward to.”
Cartoonist – “I don’t think I have ‘peeps’. And I’m not going to claim this will get done by any certain date. I’ve made too many pronouncements about too many projects. It will get done when it gets done. The best I can do is work on it.”
Brand Manager – “That was an on brand answer. Very good. What are you doing right now?”
Cartoonist – “I’m editing art.”
Brand Manager – “What do you mean? I thought Sunk Cost Elegy was mostly finished. Don’t you just have to write a new script? Maybe rearrange some pages?”
Cartoonist – “It’s turned into more than that. The original story was mostly a gag with a basic plot. The more I work on it, the more I look at the art, the more I see that can be adjusted.”
The Brand Manager makes an “Oh, god, not again” face.
Brand Manager – “So you’re making more work for yourself? Wasn’t the art good the first time?”
Cartoonist – “It was the best I could do at the time with the material and time I had within restrictions I agreed on. Ten years from now I’ll probably look at this stuff and see ways I could improve on it.”
Brand Manager – ” ‘Always improving!’ Good Brand Strategy. Show me.”
Cartoonist – “Show you what?”
Brand Manager – “Show me a before and after page.”
Cartoonist – “Nothing is done. It’s all a work in progress.”
Brand Manager – “Fine. Show me some befores and in-progresses.”
Cartoonist – “Will you go away if I do?”
Brand Manager – “I will go away if you show me three.”
Cartoonist – “Fine. Three. I’m going to pick at random.
One. Before – 
In Progress –
Two and Three. Before –
Two and Three. In Progress –
Brand Manager – “Hunh. Why …”
Cartoonist – “If you want to have a Brand to manage, you’ll fuck off now.”
Thank you!
That is, thank you for reading and looking at the pictures. May the coming week bring you much joy and few annoyances!
See you in seven!
Skook Words (and Pictures) #46
It’s BLACK FRIDAY!
Shop! Shop! Shop!
I am, at this point, constitutionally required to include a link to my Redbubble Store so you can, as also constitutionally required, buy gifts for all your loved ones. And yourself of course. Because you should be one of your loved ones. So I’m told. Repeatedly. So, if you love yourself, you will buy lots of things (featuring my designs) for yourself.
Or, you could, like me, ignore the marketing hype and remember Black Friday as the day in 1929 when the stock market crashed and stock brokers rained down from the upper windows of brokerages. But that would be both depressing and anticapitalist and unconstitutional. (Also, the big crash started and was bigger the day before, deemed as Black Thursday. But that means checking history before posting and I never do that. Mostly.)
(Also, that was in September. Almost one hundred years ago. Ancient history. This is November. The day after American Thanksgiving. In 2023. When we no longer have to go to a store to shop. We can run up our credit cards via online shopping experiences. Yay!)
These Days …
I’ll be at work today, delivering some mail and a lot of parcels. Some of my workday will be in the dark. Yay.
Lovecraft Kids
Everyone grows up. Even characters in Call of Cthulhu games. If you play one of the Morgan Family Cousins, you’ve got a choice of adulthoods.
You could grow up to live in a high octane pulp milieu –
The above illustration is in the Eldritch New England Holiday collection. For the fun of it I added some colors and mocked it up a comic book cover. That version is the illustration below. As I look at it now I think it would be fun to carry the design further and mock it up as an old pulp magazine cover. But that’s a project for another time.
Alternately you could grow up to live a more sedate life with less wild action and more normal activities. You’ll still deal with the occasional indescribable horror but that’s to be expected. The illustration below was used both in the original Eldritch New England Holiday Collection RPG manual and as the cover for An Eldritch Legacy, a collection of short stories each starring one of the adult cousins.
The physical art for this illustration was done in black and white with ink and markers. The critters that the portal Tillinghast Generator brings to light were done on a separate layer and added in Photoshop. I gave Oscar, the writer of the book, a choice of colors for the extradimensional wild life. 
Oscar went against tradition and, instead of a standard purple, he picked the sickly green. Mark Shireman, the layout artist of the book, made this snazzy GIF of the image. 
Shireman also designed the final cover of the fiction book.
An Eldritch Legacy: The Cousins Come of Age, Edited by Brian M. Sammons & Oscar Rios
Ten years later, we rejoin the six cousins of the Morgan Clan from Dunwich, Arkham, Kingsport and Innsmouth, now in their early twenties. Each continues to face challenges as the malevolent forces of the Cthulhu Mythos surround them and, in some cases, reside within them. We are proud to offer this sequel to Children of Lovecraft Country.
- Dreams and Nightmares by Peter Rawlik—Artist and gallery owner by day, secret paranormal investigator and spirit medium by night, Donald Sutton does his best to make sure these parts of his life are kept separate. After a particularly frightening investigation he decides to take a break and begins spending more and more time in the Dreamlands. However, when taking photographs at a Kingsport Congregational Hospital for their annual Christmas party, he encounters the beautiful and mysterious stranger, Ms. Aspinwall. Not only does she know his secret, but she desperately needs his help with a haunting in the hospital’s Mariner’s Ward. But the winter solstice is a dangerous time for spirit mediums, especially in Kingsport, because the veils between realities become perilously thin.
- Warden of the Dark God by Glynn Owen Barass—The rolling hills of Dunwich have always been a mysterious, sometimes dangerous place. When children go missing, Gordon Brewster is the one who finds them. While still working on his family’s farm, he’s become an expert hunter, tracker, and a member of the Believers, a local collective of arcane practitioners dedicated to defending the people of Dunwich from eldritch threats. However, things come to a head as an ancient evil, slumbering and once locked away in an alien ruin, begins to awaken with a need to sate its endless hunger. Donald teams up with his best friend, Pauly Johnson, and Marie Bishop, leader of the Believers, to put a stop to it.
- Separate Lives by Christine Morgan—After spending her youth struggling with memories of past lifetimes, Gerdie Pope has learned to control her gift to become a world renowned clairvoyant. Now living in Lily Dale, New York, a haven for mystics, psychics, and practitioners of folk magic, her peaceful life is interrupted. First by a challenging client, a young girl with vivid “memories” of another life, one far stranger than any Gerdie has ever lived. Next by an unwanted visit from a relation on her mother’s side of the family, the degenerate side of the Whateley Clan. They want her to return to Dunwich and continue her grandfather’s, the late Wizard Whateley, work.
- A Dark Legacy by Brian M. Sammons—Edward Derby, the youngest associate professor at Miskatonic University, must respond to a sudden personal matter while on his first summer break. After receiving a call from Marblehead, he learns that a house once owned by his long deceased father suffered damage during a recent storm. While the house belongs to Edward, he’s until now refused to explore it, afraid of what he might learn about his enigmatic father. He learns he has a lot in common with his father, a fellow mythos investigator and scholar, as mysterious deaths begin. To resolve this crisis, he must defeat a foe his father never could.
- George Weedon and the Secret of Infinite Horizons by Lee Clark Zumpe—Life is good for George Weedon, starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, some things never change, and dark mysteries somehow keep finding him. This time he’s asked by his team’s owner, “The Chief” Art Rooney, to locate some friends who’ve gone missing while staying in their newly built vacation house in the Allegheny Mountains, a strange sprawling mansion called Infinite Horizons. The designer had a mental breakdown shortly after the building was completed and was committed to an asylum. George sets off with a small team in hopes of solving yet another eldritch mystery.
- Blood and the Turning of the Tide by Oscar Rios—For Alice, a Deep One Hybrid and leader of a band of Innsmouth refugees, things keep getting more complicated. While she established her band successfully in Port Jefferson, New York, keeping them safe is another matter. Her band struggles under the rules she’s placed on them. Some desires, it seems, are just too strong to deny. As she struggles to maintain control an old friend shows up with a dire warning. A federal agent is on their trail, threatening everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve. Alice must bring her people together to face this threat when they’ve never been more divided.
Also – Cats!
The new, updated edition of Cathulhu is available now at drivethrurpg.com.
Both Michael Bukowski and I contributed new color illustrations to the book. He did most of the eldritch horrors. I did more mostly mundane (but still dangerous!) menaces – like little yappy dogs!
And that’s it for this week.
What are you waiting for? Go buy things!
Or don’t.
It’s okay. Giving your cat a lap, taking your dog for a walk or hanging out with friends is better for both you and the environment.
Stay warm. Stay well.
See you in seven!
Skook Words (and Pictures) #45
Fridays come and Fridays go but diamonds are forever. And a girl’s best friend.
A man’s best friend is his dog.
No wonder the sexes don’t get along.
That one sex is from Mars (a freezing desert) and the other is from Venus (a burning hellscape) might also be a problem.
Or maybe some folks just think too much about fitting diverse groups of sentient apes into easily defined boxes so they don’t have to think much any more?
Uh…
Anyway. It’s Friday. This is the Newsletter.
Nonsense abounds!
These Days …
It’s dark when I go to work. It’s dark when I go back home.
Yay.
Lovecraft Kids
The final scenario of in the Eldritch New England Holiday Collection was –
Christmas In Kingsport –
Our six protagonists gather once more in the home of their Great Aunt Nora, for what they expect to be a very boring Christmas Eve. However they are rescued by their beloved older cousin Melba, a carefree flapper and black sheep of the family, who takes them on adventures undreamed of across Kingsport and Beyond the Walls of Sleep. But what begins as a magical holiday adventure soon turns into a nightmare for the cousins, as they are targeted by demons. They must solve a mystery before Christmas morning, to return peace on earth and good will towards certain members of their family.
Talking to Myself (Part the Next)
Scene: The Studio. The Cartoonist sits in front of his computer. To the left of his keyboard is a cup of room temperature coffee. To the right is a fat, orange cat. It’s asleep on a stack of “important” papers.
The Salesman enters. He’s carrying his own cup of coffee. It’s fresh and hot. He sips.
Salesman – “Are you doing anything useful?”
Cartoonist – “I’m thinking.”
Salesman – “So … no?”
The Cartoonist looks at the Salesman. The Cartoonist rolls his eyes.
Cartoonist – “Ha. Ha. What do you want?”
Salesman – “I want you to draw a comic that’s easily marketable but I’ve mostly given up on that ever happening. So, instead, I’d like you to clarify something you said last week.”
Cartoonist – “I don’t remember what I said yesterday. Last week might as well be last century.”
Salesman – ” ‘Punk rock. Zines. Getting the work done and getting it out.’ What did you mean? You didn’t really explain it.”
Cartoonist – “I was trying to articulate the philosophy driving Red Storm Elegy.”
Salesman – “That’s still a terrible title.”
Cartoonist – “Would you prefer Sunk Cost Elegy?”
Salesman – ” …. maybe?”
Cartoonist – “Sunk Cost Elegy it is. Anyway – the philosophy …”
Salesman – “Are you going to want me to write a manifesto? Manifestos are so 20th Century.”
Cartoonist – “No manifesto. Are you planning to listen? If not I can go back to staring at my monitor.”
The Salesmen sips his coffee. He makes the “lips zipped” motion over his mouth.
Cartoonist – “For the last couple of years I’ve been having a hard time doing comics. Which is frustrating because doing comics is pretty much all I’ve really wanted to do since I was a kid. I’ve done a lot of art but it’s primarily been single illustrations because – ”
Salesman – “Because the cats sit on your drawing table and demand your attention?”
Cartoonist – “That’s part of it. When it was just Kemo and Sabé they weren’t on the drawing table as much. After Sabè died, Kemo got on the table more. We got Crunch with the idea that Kemo would pay more attention to him.”
Salesman – “That didn’t work out the way you planned.”
Cartoonist – “No. Crunch and Kemo play but when he’s not playing with Kemo, Crunch likes to be close to me. Like, on my drawing table or my computer or the papers next to my mousepad.”
Salesman – “You could get rid of the cats. Or at least put them in another room when you want to work on art.”
Cartoonist – “Sometimes I have put them in another room but that’s not a solution. We have cats because we like cats. And this isn’t really about the cats. This is about working around distractions. There will always be distractions. So how do I do that?”
Salesman – “I’m assuming you’re going to tell me.”
Cartoonist – “I do all my art digitally. At least, all my comics. I still like working with pencils, paper, ink, markers and paint. I’ll keep doing physical illustrations. Maybe I’ll do enough of them I can start doing art shows. Or something.”
Salesman – “That would be a good thing actually. That I could market.”
Cartoonist – “I will be creating my comics with my Wacom tablet in Clip Studio Paint and, until I master CSP, Photoshop. The big advantage to working this way is instant access. No more having to get out the paper, set out the ink, find the brush or the pen. No more scanning in pencils and converting them to bluelines. No more clean up. I just open the file and start working. In the past I’ve always felt like I needed at least an open half hour or more before it was worth working on art, now I can just take advantage of random five minutes. I don’t have worry about ink drying, either on the page so I don’t screw up an illustration by smearing the ink, or on the brush so I have to wash it.”
Salesman – “Yay. You can work more and faster. Yay. Technology. What does that have to do with punk rock and zines?”
Cartoonist – “It’s … hmmn. I’ve known a lot of creative types who get caught up in making their work perfect. One of them justified it as “bad art is forever” and he didn’t want “bad art” in the world with his name on it. But “bad art” is subjective. Stuff that is considered genius now was panned by critics when it was first produced. Stuff that is considered bad still has fans who love it. I rarely finish anything to perfection. I just get to a point where noodling more will make it worse. The art isn’t perfect; I can see things that could be improved but I don’t know how to improve them without starting from scratch so I call the work done and move on.”
The Salesman sips his coffee. He makes a puzzled face.
Salesman – “It sounds like you’re saying that you’re okay making bad art.”
Cartoonist – “Sort of yes but also no. I’m never going to try to do bad work. I’m saying that I will always make the best art I can and then move on. I will always see ways I could improve but I’m going to leave it up to others to decide on whether it’s bad or good.”
Salesman – “So … punk rock and zines?”
Cartoonist – “Passion and enthusiasm and ephemera. Part of idea behind punk rock was that you didn’t worry about whether you could sing or play your instruments, you just formed a band and played music. Zines were (and are) made by people who just wanted to make a publication. Nowadays there are tools and programs and services that will allow you to make something that looks pretty professional but, back in the day, it was all cutting and pasting and xeroxing for, maybe, a few dozen copies of something.”
Salesman – “You’re not telling me things were better back then?”
Cartoonist – “God no. I’m using punk and DIY creation as a reference. I’m saying that I not let my ignorance stop me. About learning as I go. I’m talking about doing art without concern for perfection or commercial appeal. About finishing a project in order to finish a project.”
Salesman – “The phrase ‘without concern for commercial appeal’ disturbs me. You started this year planning to do Mighty Nizz comics. I get that your flow was interrupted by concern for other people’s health issues and the Billi 99 kickstarter stuff but Nizz is probably the most commercial thing you’re thought of it. It’s simple. I can sell simple. Your other things … they’re a mess. They require explanation. People these days have the attention spans of fruit flies.”
Cartoonist – “My brand is “weird stuff that requires explanation”.
Salesman – “Your brand? Talking about ‘brand’ is my wheelhouse.”
Cartoonist – “So figure out a better way to describe it. Might Nizz is still on the table. So is The Surrilana Depths. And Kaiju Weather. And The Witch Engines. And a bunch of things I’m not going to mention because I already sound too ambitious to myself. Sunk Cost Elegy is the first album.”
Salesman – “First album. That’s what the European cartoonists call their books. I can work with that. Sunk Cost Elegy: a Scifi Samurai Western. By David Lee Ingersoll. Is this going to be a webcomic or a print book?”
Cartoonist – “I’m aiming for print but we’ll see. And it’s more of a Punk Scifi Neon Noir now. And I’m thinking of using a pseudonym. ‘David Lee Ingersoll’ is a mouth full. “Moebius”. “Madonna”. “Prince”. Single name pseudonyms are cool.”
Salesman – “You make the art. Leave the branding to me.”
