Summertime...

Ways to beat the heatwave:



1 lemon, squeezed
ice
maple syrup to taste (and none of that fake stuff; I'm looking at you Mrs. Butterworth)
2 slices of lemon, for prettifying

Instant cool off, although I can't promise that you won't break a sweat squeezing the lemon.

But seriously, this is how hot it was last week:


Sorry about all those butts.

In other news, I have finished all my pencils for the book I'm working on!


Yay! I actually performed the happy dance afterwards.

Egads.

Ugh. Has it really been a month since I last posted? Oops. Well, I don't even have anything that spectacular to show...just a lack-luster photo of my shared work space. Joe and I both share our computer and drawing table; we have a back-up laptop and small table for when our respective tasks overlap. Here's what it looks like with my stuff at the drawing table (click for bigness):


Again, not all that interesting. I might also add that I am currently drawing my final pages on 9" x 12" Vellum Bristol (which is VERY soggy at the moment due to three weeks of CONSTANT HUMIDITY).

I'm still drawing little auto-bio comics whenever I can...here's some oldies about work (and work-related mis-speak):




Yay! Scallops! (yes, those little black dots are it's eyes)

And last, but not least:


Ok, so I guess I had a few things to share. I know I've said it before, but I am going to make an effort to post once a week, even if it's just a wee comic. Now, BACK TO WORK FOR ME!!!!

-m

STUMPTOWN 2009

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's a glorious 1:05 AM and Joe and I are leaving for Portland, OR in...OMG LIKE 3 HOURS!!!! That's right; we're hopping a 6:05 AM flight out of Boston. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty exited about a 4 AM cab ride. Woopee. Sorry about the lack of posts and comment responses; I'm hoping to get back on that wagon once we return to the East Coast next Tuesday. Joe, Liz and I will be sharing a table at Stumptown Comics Fest this Saturday and Sunday, so if you're in the Portland area, stop by and say hi! Here's a glimpse of all my wares:


Ah, Portland. I can hardly wait to eat a donut covered in bacon. And wear shorts!!! AHHHG SHORTS I LOVE YOU SO! GET READY TO BE BLINDED BY THE SUPREME WHITENESS OF MY WINTER LEGS (my legs have not seen the light of day in 7 MONTHS people!).

OK. Time for me to stay up and wait for the cab.

p.s. I might actually try and blog from Portland...we're toting the computer this time around!

23 Things I've done...

...over the past 3 months:


And here's what Number 17 looked like in real life:


I'm a total LOLrus!!

I don't think I'll ever get in the paper for anything comics-related...that's ok though. Not many people can say they made the front page of the Metro section as a GIANT YELLOW WALRUS USING A SEWING MACHINE!!
-m

YARRRRRGH!!!!

That's right. Joe and I are coming...to New York City for the New York Comic Con. Yes, I will be selling stuff. No, I will not be in costume. Please come visit our tiny little half a table (B9) in Artist's Alley if you're in town. If I know you well enough, I might give you a cookie.

Hey, I also started an ETSY!!!

mariswicks.etsy.com

But it is in vacation mode until I get back from NYC (Monday).

In addition, I am an ass. I am sorry I haven't posted. Please believe me that I have been drawing lots and lots of comics!! I have! It's true. I even did hourly comics a few days ago; I'll post when I get back.

Cheers!
m

Beets, bad memory and cutlery.

OK get ready for it: big honkin' post. First up, I've rekindled an old flame: BEETS. Joe won't eat them because he thinks they taste like "curdled blood", but I (a long with Liz) think that they are divine! Here's the meal they co-starred in last week:
After the beets had cooked, I pressed them into my sketchbook before I peeled them. This is what happened:
Then, for the next three days:

So when I made made my epic SPX post, I neglected to mention that I WON A NERDLINGER!!!!
Specifically, it is the Nerdlinger for "Most Random Informative Facts About Invertebrates & Best All-Around Drawing Session Chatter". I drank it, and it was awesome. Thank you Nerdlinger Committee!
Oh, yeah. This also happened: MK - Joe apologizes through his KICKED IN FACE. heh heh

Now about that cutlery (featuring Lucy, Nelly, Joe and me):
Let me backtrack and mention that last weekend, Joe and I went to upstate New York to do many things:

-visit his family
-peep some foliage
-go to book event/presentation about French Milk by Lucy Knisley
-rock out in carbie (hmmm...mystery songs...)

We accomplished all these things and more (the fork! the fork!). Joe and I took a new way to get to his folks house and we passed that fork. It immediately reminded me of that part in the Muppet Movie...The fork is actually 100 times bigger than a for-reals fork (or, at least that's what it said on the plaque).

Lucy's book event was awesome; I bought French Milk, as well as The War of the Worlds (with illustrations by Edward Gorey). French Milk made me yearn for some travel...Joe and I had planned to go to Europe after school, but it's five years later and it's still on the back burner. Well, better on the back burner than behind the stove I guess.

On Sunday, we got hang out with Lucy and meet her friend Nelly, and pillage the Rhinebeck farmer's market of all it's tasties (apple, tamalés and pumpkins, oh my), and drink coffee, and eat amazing chocolates (um, dark chocolate lavender sea salt carmels anyone? OMG PLZ YES!!!!), and maybe draw a little jam comic, hmmm:
Good times. I had only met Lucy twice (at the past two MoCCAs); it was great to hang with her and Nelly (who is now officially part of the "Maris and Joe Carpool Hall of Fame"!!). Joe and I like making new friends! (OK, I sound like I'm FOUR).

I think that's it...sorry about another LONG post.

-m

When you wish upon a blog...

If only I could post through telepathy. Then this blog would be updated daily, if not hourly. Instead I choose to binge and purge my entries. (see below)

But really, I've been working on a better schedule for myself (and seeking much wisdom from Mr. Alec Longstreth). Trying to manage my time between comics, invertebrates and feeding my face shouldn't be that hard, but I end each day wishing that there were AT LEAST 5 more hours to go before bedtime (29-hour day, anyone? it'd be good times, I promise you). In addition to my inability to make a schedule, autumn has always been a time of transition for me. Transitions = fatigue, unrest, inability to do things (like make schedules):


I find myself going in several different directions with projects I'm excited about, but this often results in huge amounts of spent energy, and little to show for lots of work. So I prioritize, but sometimes making a list of all the things to do and which things need to be done first can be AGONIZING. With that said, I'm doing lots of work...it's just not seeing the light of day on ye ol' blog (yet). OK ENOUGH OF MY RAMBLING.

SPX was good this year. I had some new stuff:


This comic debuted at MoCCA, but I originally drew it as an online installment for Ballyhoo Stories. (Click on "COPING" under "Online Comics"; be warned: there are swears and good old cartoon violence!)

Then, this past July, Mr. Joe, Ms. Liz, Mr. Tim and I did a journal comic everyday for the month of July and then packed them into a mini-comic dubbed "Four Squares":


Here's the first page:

We then drew ourselves in crayon (not in the book):


It ended up being 64 pages - whew! Joe has it for sale on his Etsy...I should have an Etsy site up soon (but, you know, IT'S ON MY LIST OF THINGS TO DO!!!)

I drew a few comics while down in the DC area for SPX:
On the road...


What better way to eat a Happy Meal than to the sweet, sweet cacophony that was the vice presidential debate?


SPX generally consists of eating, and selling stuff, and buying stuff, but mostly eating stuff:


And then just when you thought I was dead, I return from the grave to EAT YOUR FACE!!!


One could understand why I looked like this at the end of the weekend:


I also saw the exhibit "Jim Henson's Fantastic World" at the Smithsonian International Gallery. Though I was sleep depraved after 9 hours in the car, it was well worth it. Having grown up addicted to PBS (and some might claim that I still am...thanks a lot, NOVA), I was a huge fan of Sesame Street (uh, I watched it through junior high and high school). My mom was gracious enough to tape things like "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" off of TV (so I could watch it until the VHS tape snapped), so like many of my generation, I grew up with all sorts of Jim Henson influences. But I digress; this is a traveling exhibit, so if it comes near you, GO SEE IT!!!

OK, so SPX was good. Saw lots of peeps; I wish everyone lived closer; it'd be great to be around so many amazing artists and just hang out and draw more often. Oh, speaking of drawing, this was one of the jam comics from SPX:


So I, Joe, Kaz, and Liz did the first four panels, but then I sent my sketchbook around, so I'm not sure exactly who did what after that...here's some of the folks (I think) who drew on this: Robyn Chapman, Laura Park, Nate Doyle, Austin English...If you drew a panel, let me know. If you didn't draw a panel, and I put your name, I'm sorry.

So after SPX, Joe and I returned to a pretty messy house and decided to clean for, let's see, I don't know...FOUR DAYS. That sucked, but now the apartment is absolutely SPARKLING (well, I might not go that far, but it's relatively clean). Not that this has anything to do with cleaning, but on an end note, here are some whales (and perhaps a few dolphins thrown into the mix):



Oh, and I haven't forgot about these two...



p.s. I proofread as best that I could, but some of this post is poorly written...apologies!

-m

Who is awful at keeping a blog?

I AM!!!

First things first:
I entered my drawing into the "Vampirella Revamp" Contest over at Project: Rooftop. Runner-up, baby!!! I am sooo innocent!! No cleavage here:

After reading the judges' comments, I decided to play around and go back to the original Vampirella color scheme (black hair, red outfit):

A big congrats to everyone! I hearted some of the more non-traditional entries, and I totally heart the Grand Prize entry; I would so read that comic in a heart beat (both the bat-one and the "speed racer" one)! And thanks to Project: Rooftop for giving me reasons to procrastinate!! I do have to give a shout-out to Liz's entry, only because I would most definitely consume "Vampirella-O's" if they were a breakfast option.

Second things second: Comics. I've been keeping up with the teeny comics, drawing them whenever I get a chance. Here are a few ones from July/August (ugh, I'm such a poopy-head!):
I"m such a jerk...

Yes, I still have a hard time living in the city.

And yes, that is really what my ovaries and uterus look like; grumpy face and all.

I apologize for the potty-mouth ahead of time, but I swear this is what my pinky finger said:

Har-har:

Thirdly, I would like to point out that winter is coming:
(from left to right: me, my sis, and my cousin Nick - taken in New Hartford, NY winter 2005 or 2006?)

I am a staunch supporter of the summer and all of its hotness, so the tone of my postings may take a turn for the grumpy once the temperature dips below 30 degrees. But let's not be hasty! Fall is upon us, and there will be much eating of the apples and drinking of the cider!!

Almost done...I, along with some New England cronies, will be attending the Small Press Expo next weekend in good ol' Bethesda, MD. I will have the usual: mini-comics, stuffed super heroes and my game face (watch out - I bare teeth!). If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say howdy. I'll be with Mr. Joe, as well as Mr. Tim and Ms. Prince. I will attempt to post some previews of what I'll have this year during this coming week.

Ok. That's it for now.

-m

Summer, summer, summer-time...

I wish I was at the beach today...To be fair, the beach in the background was photographed two years ago up in Maine at Pemaquid Beach. Not that I haven't been to the beach this summer though. I am proud to say that I have swum in both the ocean and freshwater, as well as camped a whopping 3 times! And yes, there will be much more swimming and much more camping. Long live the summer!

Portland was...

AWESOME!! We (Joe-Liz-Dave-etc.) had a wonderful time on the opposite coast. The main reason for our trek out to Oregon was the previously-mentioned Stumptown Comics Fest. It was my (and Joe's) first time as exhibitors, and we would definitely return for next year's Fest. We had visited Portland a year and a half ago with intentions of investigating its live-ability, and these past two trips have been a blast. Portland is proving to be a future semi-permanent destination. The food, the people, the trees, the doughnuts...

On the topic of confections, we finally had a chance to purchase tasties from Voodoo Doughnuts. I had heard a lot of hype about this place and how good their doughnuts were, but I remained skeptical...up until my first bite of heaven, that is. Behold, the doughnut of my dreams:



That's right. A cake doughnut with vanilla frosting delicately powered with Tang drink mix and garnished with miniature marshmellows. OH. MAI. GAWD. They also make doughnuts with maple frosting and two strips of bacon on top, which would be reason enough to visit Portland a third time.

But back to Stumptown. I debuted a new mini dubbed "Coping with Death" where Death and I proceed to beat the living snot out of eachother Mortal Kombat-style. I won't say anymore. As per usual, I bought a TON of comics. Joe shows restraint in this department, whereas I make up for his restraint...and then some. Yesterday was the first day I had since we got back to really sink my eye-teeth into the pile of issues, minis and books. Needless to say, I'm pretty full right now. And...back to Stumptown (again). Here's me being a doofus:


Yes, I am making the "silent coyote" hand signs...Here's Joe, Liz and me combining our powers to become one mighty doofus:



Ah, collective power of silly. Most of this silliness can be blamed on lack of sleep and increase of caffeination. This is the formula every time I travel. There's just so much to do, and so little time to do it in (we were only there for three days, since I don't count the two days it takes to fly out). I use this simple remedy to get the most out of my trips, that is until I get a cold or fall asleep somewhere unfortunate (i.e. on the subway while going to work...). Yet, I still appear to be a fully armed and operational human battle station.

Some of our evening activities included: playing arcade games whilst drinking, eating reeeeaaaallly spicy thai food, singing karaoke, walking (a lot), eating reeeeaaaallly tasty bread pudding, and watching cartoons back at the hotel (thank you, Cartoon Network). Oh, and frequenting photo booths...Can you spot the Maris?



Once we got back from Portland, I worked my bumkins off. I didn't really get to recover from our travels until yesterday (I slept until 1:30, which is a rarity for the ol' Maris), hence the delay in blog postage. Speaking of which, I hope to be back on track and posting a lot more in the days to come. I promise (how many times have I typed that...hee hee). But seriously, I've been drawing up a storm, I just need to take the time to post the darn stuff.

OK. This is hands-down the longest post I've ever made, so sorry about my rambling. The last thing I wanted to add about my glorious three days in Portland, Oregon is that is was great meeting new friends, hanging with long time friends, and getting to know better the friends we only see at comics-y shin digs. If my eyelids weren't so heavy, I'd will myself to list some names and link, link, link away, but it'll have to wait for the next post... All righty, I'm becoming semi-incoherent at this point...time for bed!

-m