New Arrivals

It's October already!  If you are a cartoonist living in or around Seattle, this means it's only a few more weeks until the Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, which happens this year on November 5th.  It catalyzes a lot of cartoonists and zinesters to create new work.  My goal was to have the sample chapter of my graphic novel, Girl On The Road, done by this year's event (WAY more about this next week!  I have astounding good news.) but I also have some long-term projects that happily just happen to be wrapping up right now.

Rock Is Not Dead - Available Now!

Me giving my super model, Cait Willis,
her contributor's copy of Rock Is Not Dead.

A large box of books and CDs arrived at my house last week, containing the finished Rock Is Not Dead project.  It is exciting to hold these in my hands.  When I heard about the anthology almost two years ago, I excitedly built a comic around the Throwing Muses song "Not Too Soon" with fellow cartoonist Mark Campos, and got Seattle's punk-jazz Seattle Music Hall-of-Famer Amy Denio to cover the song for the soundtrack.

Now that it's here, I'm happy to report we are doing a Seattle Rock Is Not Dead release party on Saturday, October 22nd at Fantagraphics.  All of the artists involved will be on hand to hang out and sign books, as well as the fabulous artist who was the model for my main character, Cait Willis.

The event has already received a sweet write-up in Seattle's "City Arts" Magazine.

You can find more details about the anthology and the event on the Facebook event page here.  https://www.facebook.com/events/387618274695843/

You can also order your copy of the book and CD at my Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/NoelFranklinArt

I do a lot of drawing in my
leopard print pajamas.

Can't Say

I've been writing occasionally about working with anthologies.  I love anthologies.  They are like a comprehensive community in book form.  I've been lucky to be included in some really great ones, over my first three years of making comics, and now have a stack of stories created for anthologies and publications that I can compile into a new minicomic.

So, that's what I did.  Here it is.  It's entitled "Can't Say," based on an illustration I created for the Norway-based Outre Press.  It's a zine-style minicomic that includes 6 stories and 2 illustrations that I created for publications from Seattle's alternative weekly newspapers to international anthologies and online journals.

Can't Say is also available at my Etsy shop, and will be at my table at Short Run.

Coyote and Butterfly Woman

Sample page from
Coyote and Butterfly Woman.

I have been working for a year to realize Anne Bean's brilliant story, Coyote and Butterfly Woman,

I spent just over 9 months on creating Coyote and Butterly Woman, though it is only a 12-page story, and drew from over 300 source image files.

And it is finally at the printers!  The narrative is a modern feminist take on a tradition Nez Perce story.  I've never worked harder on a comic.   The writing itself is hard-hitting and dark, with some nuanced humor, and I wanted to do my very best to honor both the origins of the story and Anne's take on it through how I illustrated each panel.

These are arriving on my doorstep this Wednesday, and you can order these at my Etsy shop, as well.  For a mere $5, you can have the best comic I've created to date.

Next Week - Girl On The Road Gets Real

Check back in with me next week.  I have great news on my progress towards making the Girl On The Road graphic novel a reality. 

Girl On The Road posts about comics, publication and community on Tuesdays.

Hey! Ho! Let's Go!

Draft title page for my sample
chapter "Girl On The Road,
I-90 1994"

As part of my grant proposals in support of the graphic novel, I outlined that I would use my blog to document my process as I go.  Well, I've officially dived into the drawing portion of things, and here's where I'm at.

Discipline 

I've been told more than one time that I need to write every day to be a writer, told to draw every day to be a cartoonist, and famously informed by the poet Eileen Myles "You wanna write a book?  Write a book. That's the only way you're gonna write one."  So OK.  There are things I'll finally be applying to accomplish my first graphic novel. 

 

Here's my short list:

Draw A Page A Day

At least draw every day, with the goal of a page a day, six days out of the week.  I'm only on page #4, so my due date for raw art on my sample chapter is going to be the end of May.  Since my first and second days were dedicated to an elaborate front cover image set in a sunflower field and an equally elaborate draft title page (above), I'm hoping I can complete two or more pages of art on some days to make up for the truly challenging visuals.

Schedule Business Hours

On the seventh day, I blog.  I build and update my website.  I finally scan work to my ETSY shop (Check check).  I research outside work and draw commissions.  I'm going to concentrate on scheduling as much of the work as I can for completion on Tuesdays.

Just Say No

Panel detail from page #4. 
The Chicago Picasso!

I said yes to a lot of really interesting projects over the past year - most of which somehow culminated over the span of only a few recent weeks.  I love anthologies.  I love art galleries.  I've thoroughly enjoyed creating work for themed art shows.  AND I'm not going to get any further towards my aims as an artist until I complete a graphic novel.

So I need to apply some pretty strict criteria to what I say "yes" to moving forward.  Basically, unless it's a paid illustration gig or something I have a truly deep personal connection to and can complete in a reasonable amount of time, I'm going to be turning projects down.

I am going to contribute to My Small Diary Issue #19 and, of course, Prince did just pass away, so yes to the Prince-themed art show, dammit.

 Girl On The Road posts about comics, publication and community on Tuesdays.