Category Archives: News

Americus News!

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Again, sorry I haven’t been posting here at all this month. MK and I have been really swamped getting our secret SPX project together and then we’ve been doing lots of odds and ends getting ready for Americus‘ release next Tuesday. With everything that’s going on, I’m just going to post some news tidbits:

• First, a recap from last post. Americus was picked for an ABC New Voices and then there was a review in Publisher’s Weekly.

• We were also nominated [along with many other great First Second Books] for the 2012 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens.

• There was also a review in the Kirkus Reviews. It’s the first one that I’ve found from a major publication or review source that has been negative. The summary of the review is basically ‘The heart of the book is in the right place, but the writing and art are lacking’. At least our hearts are in the right place! I’ll take that over a lot of other negative things any day.

• There’s a lot going on at Powell’s next week to celebrate the release of Americus! And it’s all going down on Thursday the 1st. Be there!

All right. I think that’s it for now! Don’t forget to buy Americus next week!

 

I’m working, I swear!

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So I know that things have been a little quiet lately, but I swear I’m working. It’s just for a secret project that MK and I are getting together for SPX, and I don’t want to spoil any of it. That, and we’ve been filling out a shit-ton of promo stuff for the Americus release.

I did have to do some work this week for the Pacific Northwest Inlander out of Spokane, which I can share. It was for an article about how people can write bad reviews on Yelp anonymously to bring a restaurant’s score down. You can read the article here.

Also some exciting news regarding Americus:

First off, we got news last week that Americus was chosen as one of the 2011 ABC New Voice titles. Here’s the little blurb we got:

“The ABC New Voices titles are chosen by a dedicated committee of independent booksellers around the country (chaired by Cathy Berner in Houston). Only twenty titles are chosen every year – ten middle grade and ten young adult – written by outstanding first time authors.”

And one of the first major reviews for book is out at Publisher’s Weekly. Check it out!

Okay, now back to working on secret stuff…

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This is like a week too late, but this was the illustration I was working on to celebrate getting to see Neko Case at the Edgefield last week with Jen, MK, and Greg.

I haven’t really worked on anything finished in a couple of weeks, and I feel really rusty, so I’m not completely stoked for this illustration. I’m a little bummed because I’ve been wanting to do this image for a long time and now that I finally have, it isn’t exactly how I wanted it to turn out.

I’m hoping to get out of the funk this week by being super productive. I think I’m just at a weird crossroads where I don’t know what I want to do with my art life right now. I feel like I need to change things up a bit and rethink how I do things. Hopefully the projects that I have on my plate this summer will help with that.

In non-existential crisis news: I got the light table working! It was as simple as finding the right light bulbs! They are discontinuing the kind of light bulbs it needs next year, so I will eventually have to rewire the whole thing and change the ballasts, but for now it’s good to go. Well, besides that I still need to get the glass and frost it, which is on my agenda for later in the week.

Anyhow, here a picture it all of it’s lit up glory!

New art digs

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All right, just a heads up – this post will basically be repeated at Save Apathea tomorrow. If you follow both sites, I apologize for the reruns. I’ve just been too busy getting settled to sit down and work on anything the last week or so. I’m going to try to get some drawing done tomorrow before it gets too hot, so I will hopefully have a new gag posted then.

Anyhow, just thought I’d share some images of my new studio now that I have things pretty much in place:

So I’ve had this old, massive wooden drafting/light-table forever. In my old place, I basically just used it as a table to keep crap on and do some silkscreening. I decided that I’m going to try to fix it up and use it full-time as my drafting table. I still need to get some new parts – mainly new glass and the lightbulbs – which is why there’s just a big hunk of wood on there right now. It’s also pretty high up, so I think I’m going to give standing and drawing a try. My old studiomate Meg Hunt has been doing it for a couple of months, and it seems to be going well for her. Who knows, I might end up having to get a new stool or chair or something next week.

Here’s a better picture of my the table and my new drawing workspace:

I’ll post some more pictures once I get the light-table working!

Also, if you live in Portland, don’t forget to swing by Floating World Comics  on Thursday for the Papercutter art exhibit and issue #16 release party! Come celebrate Greg Means, his comics anthology Papercutter, and his general all-around awesomeness!

Hard copies!

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In case you didn’t see them up on Colleen’s flickr [where this image is from] or on Save Apathea this last week, the AR copies of Americus have arrived!

Notice the hardcover! It looks so awesome!

Unfortunately, I live on the West coast and my copies have to be mailed, which no matter how quickly they get here it will be FAR TOO LONG.

And in other related Americus news, we had a nice little write up on io9.com, which basically increased our readership by like 200%.

I’m in the movies!

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…Well, not really.

The LA Times presented Powell’s Books the Book Innovator Award in 2010. Someone sent me this video the newspaper did for the award, which is kind of boring, but they do a pan & scan of the illustration I did for the map of the store! The awesome part is that the scanning swings by 1.] Jen & I, 2.] Petey & Alice, 3.] the dude with a penis shaped head, and 4.] Jason. Totally rad!

Good thing they gave Powell’s that award last year, because this year they had to lay off 30 people because they couldn’t innovate or adopt to the new landscape of ebooks. Zing!

[Seriously. I kid… Kind of…]

In Business [Cards That Is]

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So drawing production has been down the last couple of weeks. Part of that is laziness, part of that is having an existential crisis. I’ve been working on other odds and ends, but don’t really have a whole lot to share because it’s conceptual stuff or it’s boring stuff like rewriting my CV and applying for teaching work.

Anyhow, something I’ve been meaning to do lately is get some stuff together for a self-promotion push. On the top of that list were making a business card and then making a promo postcard. Today and I say down and busted out the former! Yay!

Of course, part of thinking about this self-promotion stuff is asking yourself hard questions like ‘What kind of art do I want to be doing? Where does my work fit?’ etc, etc. I’m still trying to figure that out.

My studio mate and amazing illustrator, Meg Hunt, reminded me that you can’t worry too much about that stuff – you just need to do the work and you can sort that stuff out later.

Anyhow, I have a lot more to write about the matter, but I have gotta’ head out.

In other news:

• Blah Blah Blah! – I totally caved and joined Twitter. Still don’t know how to use the thing, but maybe I’ll sit down soon and figure it out. Anyhow, if you want to follow me I’m @oneofthejohns. [Didn’t see that coming, did you?]

• WSD art auction results – The auction wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, but I just sent the art & the cash monies to the WSd this week, so I kind of consider it ending right around now. Anyhow, the total result I was able to muster up was $245, which ended up being about $350 worth for the school to spend at Powell’s.

But that’s not all! The Columbian, the local newspaper in Vancouver, WA where the Washington school for the deaf  is located, ran a small article on the auction, and a local woman donated $500 for the library in memory of her sister.

So all in all, we were able to raise $850 for the school. All for graphic novels! Yay!

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone that donated art and that bid on art. I know that with times being the way they are, and with all the other things people could be donatig their time and money towards, it really means a lot.

• Speaking of Auctions… – I totally spaced and didn’t mention this earlier, but Meg is had been running and auction to benefit Japan. I’m sure a lot of you already know, but for those that don’t, you check out details at the blog she set up. Half the auctions are over, but there’s still lots more to come. Be there!

News/Art Dump April 26th

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I had a pretty busy week last week, so I didn’t really get to post at all, but I thought I would sort of do a dump of some things that I’ve been meaning to post about.

First off, a couple of weeks ago, was the Stumptown Comics Fest, at which I did a lecture on Pacing & Rhythm in Comics. I was pretty nervous and kicking myself for not picking an easier topic the day before while I got the presentation together. The reason I was kicking myself was because I kept wishing I picked a topic a little less abstract, and a little easier to make concrete. Anyhow, I really have a passion for the subject, and in the end, I think that helped me get it done.

I was pretty nervous until I hopped up on stage, when my teacher instincts took over. Anyhow, the lecture went really well – it was standing room only, people seemed engaged, and there were questions asked. Good times.

Since I’m looking to get back into teaching, I was thinking of making a section on the website for resources for educator and librarians for teaching comics. I’ll probably record and post a version of the lecture up there. I’ll keep you updated.

Also, here’s an illustration I did for the WW last week. You can read the article here.

Also, the initial pitch for the Searchers got turned down. It got me pretty bummed out for a little but, but I’m not discouraged. I still feel like I have something there that should be fun to read, fun for me to draw, and very personal. I think it does mean that I’m probably gonna slow down the production on it for a bit to work on some other things at the moment.

Oh, and one more thing: THERE IS ONE LAST DAY TO BID ON ARTWORK FOR THE AUCTION FOR THE WSD! There are still lots of good pieces that don’t have any bids on them. Go bid on some of those pieces right now!

Pacing & Rhythm lecture at Stumptown!

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Hey! Are you going to be at the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend? Are you looking for something to do between 1:00 and 2:00 on Saturday? If so, swing by room A104 and keep me company during my lecture on pacing & rhythm in comics.

Here’s the little blurb:

Pacing and Rhythm in Comics — The flow and pace of your story is just as important as the drawings or dialogue. Join local cartoonist Jonathan Hill as he talks about pacing and rhythm in comics. Using examples from his upcoming book with writer MK Reed (Americus, published by First Second), and examples from various other cartoonists, Jonathan will be discussing ways to think about pacing and rhythm using it as another tool to enhance your storytelling.

Hope to see you there!