A Diary of a Work in Progress

Two New Cartoons

2011-09-19T13:46:00.003+10:00

Apologies once again for not posting anything in ages. This time, I've got a viable excuse - Clementine, our new daughter.

Despite that, I'm going to make a greater effort to post cartoons that I publish in the Mercury more often.

This was my first autobio cartoon that I got published. If any of you haven't checked out Ali Ferzat's cartoon work, you should. He has a very simple style and his cartoons communicate complex ideas clearly for being in a different language. Very impressive stuff. Also check out the self-portrait he drew from hospital!

This is my best Julia Gillard drawing yet. She's getting coaching from an expert now in order to be seen as a more effective leader. Let's just hope he doesn't have to resort to putting marbles in her mouth.

Some more cartoons from the Mercury

2011-07-18T19:01:00.005+10:00

I've been really slack with posting my cartoons from the Mercury. Each time I do one, it's a bit of a day marathon effort of reading the news, deciding what story to play with, coming up with a joke, coming up with a few back-up jokes, sending off sketches to the newspaper, getting a reply and then actually starting on the inking/colouring. By the time I send the damned thing off, I'm ready to sit in front of the TV and just turn myself off.

"But enough crying, Christopher Downes!" I can hear the hordes of my fans crying out, "Just show us the cartoons!"

Alright, jeez. Keep your knickers on.

The Go Ahead with the Bypass

I don't know if you remember the massive post I did of my first cartoons for the Mercury. One of the cartoons was on the Jordan River Levee where there were ancient Aboriginal artefacts buried beneath the soil; amazingly important for any descendants of Tasmanian Aboriginals. Well on the eve of Reconciliation Week, the construction for a bypass through all of this was given the go-ahead to finish and the protesters had to leave and call it a sad defeat.

This cartoon was my way of trying to find some humanity in this atrocity. (To be honest, I never even realised there was a need for a bypass.)

How To Celebrate a Queen's Birthday

Ash clouds are everywhere these days. And the real shame about it is that we can't play the global warming card on all these volcanoes erupting. They're just the Earth's acne.

During the Queen's Birthday three-day weekend, there were thousands of grounded tourists stuck in Tassie. And there's nothing like celebrating a royal holiday in an airport with a bunch of bored, cranky tourists who were expecting to be home by now!

This was my first attempt at using a watercolour type brush in Photoshop. And I used a paired back palette, too! I'm so proud of myself.

Calling William Shatner and John Lithgow...

While we're on the subject of planes, did you hear the one about the naughty Tiger airline pilot who was caught flying waaaay too close to the ground before landing? He got the entire airline company grounded. The result was a sort of deja-vu here in Tassie; more stranded tourists, but this time for a completely different reason.

I used this story as an opportunity to pay homage to one of the greatest TV shows ever to grace the cathode ray tube.

And to draw a tiger.

Lessons I've learned about making cartoons.

2011-03-25T14:50:00.006+11:00

I think I'll take a moment to delve into two important things that I've learned over the last week about making editorial cartoons.

Lesson 1: Making editorial cartoons is much more personal that I originally thought.

I realise that every cartoonist and/or comic artist out there has their own political viewpoints and styles of humour. It's fantastic and it makes for really exciting reading. I've got my favourites that I like to check and get inspired by. But I've also realised that when I'm making my own cartoons, I've got to be sure that it's going to make me laugh. Or effect me in some way. From the initial idea through to completion, I need to have a personal connection with everything that I make; otherwise it becomes bland and uninteresting. And following a dull idea through to a final product can be torturous for me.

Here's an example from last week: At 3:30am, the night before I had to make this cartoon, my wife Briony had to be rushed to the emergency room. Everything is alright now, both with Briony and the little kidlet. (No need to worry.) But that day, we were both sleep deprived and really worried. I sat with her in her hospital room and tried to work on my cartoon. Japan had just had its first nuclear power plant explosion. At that moment, I felt a sort of connection with them. Not that our problems were anywhere near what they were facing. But I did feel like Queensland, Christchurch, Japan and even the two of us in that hospital room were putting on a brave face in the wake of something unexpected and scary.

All I wanted was for someone, a doctor, a midwife, a nurse, to tell us that everything was gonna be alright. Then I thought that Japan probably needed to hear something very similar; especially from someone else who had recently been through disaster. And that's how this cartoon came about.

Lesson 2: Proofreading isn't just for words.

Gaddafi is an evil bully. That's about as simple as I can put it. I wanted to do a cartoon on him, but never had a good hook until this video went viral in the news about a schoolkid in Sydney unleashing all hell back on a little bully that was picking on him. (I'm not the only one to make this connection, either!)

I was pretty happy with this cartoon and sent it off to the newspaper. About an hour afterwards, I had Briony look at the cartoon and she noticed what looked like a hidden word. It was way too late to call the newspaper and change it.

I assure everyone out there that this was completely unintentional! I remember being taught in my illustration class in college to always check to make sure you haven't left any subliminal messages in the artwork.

But then again, I have a tendency to not pay attention to what I'm drawing.

I'm just glad no one seemed to notice on the day of publication. Really dodged a bullet with that one!

New TMAG EXhibit

2011-02-14T09:35:00.003+11:00

This cartoon is primarily an in-joke for all of us Hobartians. So, I'll try to fill everyone else in.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery will be going through a few expensive renovations during the next few years. This is both good and bad. Good; in that it'll be a nice compliment to the new MONA Museum that is currently outshining everything else on the island. Bad; because that money could help to keep a few full-time jobs that Lara Giddings has decided to cut. (By a few, I mean 2,300.)

I had this idea for the TMAG's famous Muttaburrasaurus skeleton that greets people as they enter through the main entrance that looks like a side entrance. (Maybe renovations are needed.) This cartoon got me thinking about what future exhibits might be in the new TMAG.

David Bartlett in a pickle jar is another small in-joke. The TMAG is also famous for it's slightly disturbing Thylacine embryo in a jar. I had to put our ex-premier in there to let him know that we'll always remember him fondly.

More Cartoons from the Mercury

2011-02-03T08:34:00.002+11:00

2nd February, 2011:
Now, for those of you in North America, the first thing that you need to know for this cartoon is that pepper spray is called 'capsicum spray' in Australia. And there have been instances of policemen misusing it on 13 year olds. Not that this is a rampant problem, mind you. Most of the police force in Hobart are very kind men and women who would never even think of spraying capsicum spray on cartoonists who depict them sitting on a toilet in a nationally distributed newspaper.

3rd Febraury, 2011:
Last night, we were bypassing regular TV to watch the ABCNEWS coverage of Cyclone Yasi. This storm is so big that it is almost two-thirds of the size of the United States! This morning, as I'm typing this, northern Queensland is still suffering the storm.

In other news, I did me some hourly comics yesterday, but had to stop to focus on getting this cartoon finished. I'll get them done and scanned soon. I promise!

My Mercury Cartoons

2011-01-25T17:27:00.008+11:00

Ohhhhhh Buddy,

Where have I been? I'll tell ya where I've been: On the couch, lazing about and playing video games.

I've actually been doing more cartoons for the Hobart Mercury. I just haven't been posting them because of computer troubles. But, that is all behind me now and no longer an excuse. So, here goes a mega post of Christopher Downes cartoons. In full colour, too! I'll even make an attempt to explain the backstory for those of you who don't keep up with the local Tasmanian news. (I'm sure there are a few of you out there.)

9th October, 2010:

There is this building in Hobart called the Marine Board Building. Not much to look at. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to remember it if you ever visited here. It really is the definition of bland architecture. That is, until they built the wind turbines on top of it. Imagine, if you will, an electric mixer with four mixing attachments on it, turned upside down and spinning at full speed and you've got the idea of what the turbines looked like. Now imagine one of those turbines breaking in a high wind. Yes, breaking. It scared everyone and most of the city agreed (despite the engineers of the turbines repeatedly professing their safety measures) that maybe these turbines aren't the best thing in the world. So, it came as a bit of a shock to hear that plans were being drawn up to rebuild the turbines this February.

5th November, 2010:

This was the biggest news for this week. Everybody was watching America and wondering what would happen to it politically. This was my first and only (so far) attempt at drawing Obama. Most of my friends down here didn't get the red and blue bucket joke.

21st Novemeber, 2010:

Ok, this cartoon is one of the tougher ones to explain. First of all, you might remember that Qantas was having trouble with it's engines falling apart in midair. The second part to this joke is about the Big Four; Australia's four major banks. Wayne Swan, the Deputy Prime Minister (kind of like Aussie Vice-President), spent a long time fighting these four banks and telling them to not raise interest rates. But, they went ahead and did it anyway. Political Cartoons at this time were rampant with images of big men in business suits smoking cigars. So, I drew Mr. Swan as a pilot of a plane weighed down by its own engines, each with one of the Big Four bank logos. Kind of a metaphor for Australia itself at that time.

Funny little side story: I showed the line art of this cartoon to a work colleague of mine and he told me it would be much better if I drew Wayne Swan in the cockpit instead of "that chinese guy." Dammit, I've got to work on my caricatures.

22nd November, 2010:

One of the touristy sections of Hobart is the waterfront area. It supposedly has free wifi throughout, but the signals are weak and you've got to do some wandering to actually find a strongish connection. I started playing around with colouring type in this and a few subsequent cartoons. It doesn't exactly work as well as I wanted it to. Also, there seems to be a sailboat in the background that's sinking.

5th December, 2010:

I can't remember the guys name, but he is apparently a brilliant european city planner who was hired to find a way to repurpose Hobart's traffic. One of his ideas was to eliminate parking and traffic from one of Hobart's main attractions: Salamanca Place. Now, cue the public to go all up in arms about this. (I personally LOVE the idea.) Many people were writing in to the Mercury complaining that this change would ruin businesses in the area. Yet, every Saturday, they close off all traffic and parking in that exact area for one of the most successful outdoor markets in Australia. And it's always packed with tourists as well as locals, rain or shine, all throughout the year. Trust me on this one, I work at a store in the area.

19th December, 2010:

There's this road that cuts through the middle of Tasmania called the Midlands Highway. It's pretty much the main highway in the state. In most places, it's only two lanes and if you want to pass the lorry rumbling along in front of you, you have to usually wait for an overtaking lane. That is, unless you value passing it more than you value your own life. There are way too many deaths on this road and there are way too many markers along the way that remind you of that dark fact. So, there has always been a push to widen this well traveled bitumen. Another sight along this road is the wonderful and various selection of Australian roadkill; mostly possums and wallabies. And crows. Big brave waddling crows that aren't afraid of you or the internal combustion engine. They just pick at the latest victim and waddle a few centimetres out of the way when they see you driving by. That explains most of this cartoon. That last panel is about a Professional AFL (Aussie football) team called the Hawthorn Hawks playing a few games a year in Launceston. Something I, personally couldn't care less about.

20th December, 2010
You remember that road in the previous cartoon? Part of it goes through a town called Brighton. For reason's I'm still not sure about, they're building a bypass to go around this town. But there's a wrench in the works. Well, maybe not a wrench exactly, but an area of land filled with Aboriginal Artefacts that hold a great deal of importance to historians, archaeologists and descendants of Tasmanian Aboriginals.

27th December, 2010:

In America, the biggest shopping day is the day after Thanksgiving. In Australia it's Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Not only that, but the Sydney to Hobart race is held at this time as well. This year, the weather was rough as hell and everyone was bracing themselves for a wild journey.

If you step back from the cartoon, you can kind of see that I mirrored the composition in each panel. Kind of.

8th January, 2011:

Some scoundrels broke into the Hobart Dog's Home, a charity organisation and stole some dogs!! How low can a person get?!?! At the same time, the Mercury was also reporting a crackdown on Puppy Farms.

My only regret with this cartoon is that the dog's barking looks a bit awkward in white and confined to the hole in the fence. I should've deleted it all together.

11th January, 2011:
Tasmania's small businesses are suffering and many of them are blaming the internet!!

This was my first try at working with a limited palette. I didn't do too well. I ended up having to lighten up the background images a bit to give it some sense of depth.

15th January, 2011:

I'm sure many of you already know about the floods in Queensland. In fact, almost everywhere in Australia experience some extreme weather. Even parts of Tassie!

Well folks, that's all the cartoons that I've done so far. I've got some other things to scan in that hopefully won't be too far in the future.

Oh, and before I go, I thought I'd show you one last single panel image. Due to be published sometime in July. It's a work in progress...

My First Cartoon in The Hobart Mercury

2010-10-10T09:17:00.003+11:00

Yesterday, I had my very first cartoon published in The Mercury, Tasmania's largest newspaper. Making it was an intense experience, which made me appreciate the end result even more. I thought I'd take you through it.

So obviously, in order to get a cartoon in the paper for a Saturday, you've got to do the work for it the day before. Most of the time, with political cartoons, the joke has to be relevant to current events. So, that means keeping up with the news. I got up early on Friday morning, watched the 7:00 news and then trawled the web for other new and popular stories. One thing to remember is that you want as many people to get your joke as possible. So, you've got to stick to the popular stories more than the ones that you find interesting or joke-worthy.

The next thing that you've got to stay on top of is what other cartoonists around the country have been doing. You DON'T want to repeat a joke that someone else has done.

So, I did this till about noonish. Then I worked up two cartoon ideas and sent them to the editor for approval (they want at least two ideas to choose from):

This one was my first idea. The Australian dollar is the highest it's been in decades. But, it's not gonna last (it always dips back down) This was the biggest news for that day. (Briony and I even frantically tried to think of something to buy from amazon.com, but just couldn't.) Combine this with the ongoing news of Australia getting new and faster broadband, but the rollout of this plan is gonna be achingly slow.

This idea came from a statement Julia Gillard (our Prime Minister) said about not feeling comfortable in The Lodge just yet. She's only been PM for a few weeks and most of that time, she's been out and about traveling around. I had this idea that she was probably not comfortable because of the residual guilt of booting Kevin Rudd out of office. And then I drew Tony Abbott whimpering outside the window. He almost got in, but thank heavens he didn't.

I emailed these cartoons off to the editor. And got a reply to go with the Australian Dollar one. I also felt like that was my strongest one, so I was pretty stoked with that response.

For the next four hours, I worked up this finished cartoon. I felt like my first sketch didn't have enough movement in it. The rollercoaster car looked like it was just sitting, stuck on the top of the rollercoaster. Putting in a bit of movement elevates that sense of urgency. Plus, I wanted other people on the coaster, just for fun.

And then, the next morning, I went down to the corner market to buy some milk and presto, there's the Saturday paper with my first cartoon!

Pages From My Sketchbook

2010-09-12T22:31:00.002+10:00

Just to let everyone out there know, I'm currently working on an autobio comic that I hope to be posting soon(ish). The main problem is that I keep adding pages on to it.

In the meantime, here's some pages from my sketchbook:
This was drawn while Briony was getting a tattoo in Melbourne. I was really enjoying how much detail there was in this guys studio. Lots of stuff to draw. The main problem was that he was such a professional, that he was finished with Briony's tatt waaaayyyy before I was able to get everything drawn.

These next few images are a selection of randomness that I drew in a sketchbook that's making its rounds amongst some of my buddies. I think with this one, I was on a bit of a Tank Girl kick. I dunno. Maybe I just felt like drawing goggles and big oversized gloves.

Hmm. this one? I was listening to a podcast of RadioLab about a talk this guy was giving in front of an audience about the Multiple Worlds Theory. (Cool Fact: The guy who started that theory was the father of the lead singer of the Eels!) The text refers to him describing a doppelganger him that theoretically could reside on a different planet billions of light years away.

More sketches and stuff. Kitties are fun to draw.

I drew this last one while listening to my friend Patrick Alexander's new album: Sound Club Sweet. It's incredible. It sounds like 8-bit videogame lullabies for kitties. Pucca falls asleep in my arms whenever I play it. Go to his site and download the album. It's free. Just ignore that "DONATE" button. Patrick doesn't need to eat. Or live in a safe and warm environment. All that stuff is overrated. He's HARDCORE!!! That's why he makes music. Sure it's sounds all soft and lulling, but underneath it all is the GRIT and SWEAT of an artist who doesn't need $5 to keep making his art. He makes it to drown out the groaning of his undernourished stomach and ...

Oh, just donate some money if you download the album. You'll feel better about things and what else were you gonna spend that money on? Lotto tickets?

Test Run for The Mercury

2010-08-31T11:55:00.004+10:00

OK OK OK. There's a few things that you need to know about this cartoon.

It's a political cartoon about Australian Politics.
It's about a week and a half past its expiration date. It's no longer relevant. The election has already been held and crazily enough, we still don't have any idea who's gonna be our Prime Minister.
It was never actually published. It was a "dummy run" for the Mercury Newspaper here in Hobart. I'm applying to be a once-a-week cartoonist for them and they're putting me through the ringer to see if I can actually come up with a cartoon by the deadline.

I would try to explain what's going on with all of this, but I might bore you. All you really need to know is that the guy pictured is Tony Abbott, who was going on a useless no-sleep-till-election promotion. And workchoices? To be honest, I still don't understand that. Tony Abbott apparently did because he implemented it and then it was revoked as being cruel and unfair. So, at this point, Julia Gillard, the current Prime Minister, has been saying that Abbott would try to bring this back if he were elected.

Now, all that being said, I want to assure all of you that I'll still be making regular comics. I've got one that I'm inking at the moment. I just wanted to show you this because I thought it turned out nice and I wanted to show it off.

Who knew that octopi held the secrets for good comic writing?

2010-08-08T18:38:00.003+10:00

Hey Everyone!

Wow, I just drop off the face of the earth for a few weeks at a time, hey? Rest assured, I'm still working pretty hard at things, I'm just not allowed to publish much of it on the blog due to all sorts of contractual obligations and whatnot.

Well, here's one thing I can publish. I did a two page comic about writing comics for a magazine in New South Wales called Newswrite. It's the publication of the NSW Writer's Centre. For those of you who live in this grand state and are of the literary mind, you should sign yourself up with them. They've got good taste in cartoonists, that's for sure.

One of the things that I wanted to keep in mind while I was writing this comic was that the intended audience would most likely be writers, so I wanted to approach things from a writer's standpoint. That's one reason why I don't go into much of the artistic side of things. That, and I didn't have enough pages to delve any further.

5 hours: A Prehistoric Battle!

2010-06-29T18:33:00.003+10:00

OK everyone, we're gonna take a little trip through time using the magical science of COMICS!! Bet you didn't know that they could do that, did you? Well, they can.

Although it seems like one of the side effects is that it'll change your hair colour.

"What are your talking about, Christopher," I hear the masses of fans yell from the 21st century. But that's not the appropriate question, you should all be asking me, "Who am I talking about?"

Sheika Lugtu, the creator of OMG Cow, a great little journal comic with flashes of colour and brilliance, made this little fight comic for me.

And so, I made a gross-out retribution comic where she shows some pretty unusual skills:

UPDATE: I just found out via her blog that Sheika got hit by a car while crossing the road a few days back. The request has been made for people to make her some guest comics while she gets better. I'm hitting my drawing board. Right Now!

The Cruellest Torture: Miss Nash ATTACKS!

2010-06-21T22:53:00.004+10:00

Right, so I apparently live in a hole.

I've only just found out about an incredible diary cartoonist who goes by the name of Miss April Nash. Her webcomics are not only fun to read, they twist the medium in unexpected and exciting directions. She composes her comics with spontaneity and flair, yet manages to keep the whole damn thing readable. Plus, she's only 21. Yeah, that last bit makes me sick.

How did I hear about her? Well, you might remember a few days back that I invited anyone and everyone to send me a fight comic where YOU beat ME up.

Just a couple days after said challenge was presented, I got this little comic emailed to me:

That's some underhanded, cruel and unusual punishment for old Country Music lovin' me. So, I decided I'd fight back on this one:

Oh retribution is so doggone sweet. If anyone still wants to send me a fight comic where you beat me up, send it to cjdownes AT tassie.net.au

Next up: I go one on one with the prehistoric!

In other news, I've had a great review of my blog on The Weekly Review! by the excellent writer, novelist and podcaster (that I had the pleasure of sitting next to during the Emerging Writers' Festival), Myke Bartlett. Seriously, check out the podcasted stories of Salmon and Dusk. You'll love them!

OK, I've got to go. Pucca's in the hallway going cracker-cat over one of Briony's tampons. And that is some great entertainment my friends!

Sam Spina Kickin' My Arse!

2010-06-14T22:56:00.004+10:00

In case you missed the last post, Andrew Fulton drew a great comic about him beating me up. I then challenged any and all readers to make a comic on a similar theme: Mainly, a brutal thrashing of yours truly.

Sam Spina immediately pitched this excellent round into the fray:

And, I couldn't help myself, I had to make an added ending to this malarkey:

Not my usual style, but fun to draw nevertheless!

I Choose you, Spina-Chu!

Andrew Fulton Kicks My Ass

2010-06-11T22:48:00.006+10:00

OK Everyone, First up, I want to let you all know that I am working on some new stuff, but it's slow goin' at the moment. In the meantime, I've got a little story for you!

A few months ago, I got to meet one of my favourite Australian Comics artists: Andrew Fulton. We met up at Camp Chugnut. Andrew is this very quiet, soft-spoken ping-pong playin' fiend.

During this weekend, I witnessed him burn some butter while trying to make pancakes and thus made a comic about it:

Andrew asked me later if he could buy the original artwork of the comic. I thought about it, but felt kind of guilty about charging him for a comic based on something he did anyway. So, I decided that I'd much rather have some original artwork in return! And not just any comic... I wanted a FIGHT COMIC!

Now, just so you know, Andrew has made some of the greatest and funniest "fight" comics I've ever read. They're like these little two-dimensional ballets. You'll see what I mean when you see what he drew for me.

So, after this agreement, I went back home to Tassie and I don't get anything for like, a MONTH. I started to worry that he forgot, so I drew him a little egging on picture and emailed it to him:

That must have riled up his haunches, cause a few days later, he kicked my ass in that sweet Andrew Fulton style. I call it, "Andrew-Fu".

I love how the last row of panels actually read backwards. See what I mean about ballet?

Oh, and if any of you guys who read this want to do some sort of fan art, draw yourself kicking my butt to kingdom come. I think I feel a theme coming on.

Send it to: cjdownes AT tassie.net.au and I'll post it up on my blog!

Camp Chugnut

2010-03-27T08:36:00.004+11:00

Ahhhhh. What could be better for a cartoonist's creative soul than a weekend away in the bush with 17 other incredibly talented cartoonists?

That's what Camp Chugnut (it was named before its definition was fully realised) was all about. Out near Yarrah Junction in the countryside of Victoria amongst the trees and kookaburrahs, 18 cartoonists gathered for a weekend of drawing comics, reading comics and a kamishibai performed by Bernard Caleo. Brilliant stuff!

Have a look at the official Chugnut Comics Collective Blog to see all the random weirdness that eventuates when comics artists gather and collaborate.

I've even posted a comic or two on the site so that you can have a small idea of what life was like there.

True Blood Comic

2010-03-09T18:23:00.004+11:00

It's either that, or cry more blood.

The Secret Ending to Where The Wild Things Are

2010-02-21T18:34:00.005+11:00

Dear Mr. Sendak,

I am so sorry for this comic. I thought it was funny, so I quickly sketched it out. Please don't visit me tonight in the Night Kitchen.

I want the nightmares to stop.

Sincerely,
-Christopher Downes

My Twitter Twoubles

2010-02-19T16:34:00.003+11:00

Guess what I did a couple of days ago!

I also made a little comic about my first experience on Twitter:

Epilogue to the story: Rebecca wrote again, said that she was joking and that I was doing fine. To those of you who haven't heard of her, check out her website: Kinokofry. It's pretty and it's incredible. Pretty incredible.

Any Opportunity to Draw a Dragon...

2010-02-19T15:50:00.002+11:00

I'm a big fan of Andrew Fulton's comic work. This guy arranges his panels in the strangest, most insane and beautiful ways I've ever seen or imagined. His use of negative space makes him absolutely unique. Plus, his drawing style is effortless. Or at least seems that way to me.

I seethe with envy whenever I read his stuff. I want to copy it and claim it as my own.

A while back, he drew a comic about a wizard and asked for someone to finish it. I jumped at the chance.

He put it up on his site and said some very nice things about me. If you don't know this guys work, you should check it out.

Hourly Comic Day

2010-02-03T13:00:00.002+11:00

click on the picture for my hastily drawn hourlies. Next year, I'm gonna ink mine.

Hourly Comic Fail -plus a few sketches from the farm

2010-02-03T12:32:00.003+11:00

Bugger. It's been a hectic week for us. We've been working and getting ready for a visit up to Briony's mum's farm up on the NW coast of Tassie. Add to that the excitement of an upcoming visit from my brother, Brandon, and his boyfriend, Terry. so, needless to say, I haven't been able to keep focused on much lately.

I tried to do another trial hourly comic, but just didn't have the time to finish it. So, I'm posting what I did finish as well as some sketches I did on the farm. (That's my New Year's Reso - do more life drawing. In ink when possible.)

Hourly Comics Day Training

2010-01-14T22:54:00.012+11:00

February 1st is Hourly Comics Day! For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's the day when comic makers from all over the globe make a small comic for every hour they're awake! Some people like Lucy Knisley are SO excited that they're doing practice runs. I thought that was a pretty good idea, so I did one, too. Just to see how much work is involved. Each panel ended up taking about 5-10 minutes but lord help ye who decided to watch a movie - catching up is tough!

Anyways, I implore you cartoonists out there to try your hand at this. It's a great way of just getting something made. And that, my friends, is worth 5-10 minutes of your time every hour.

Making The Grade

2010-01-12T11:47:00.004+11:00

This is my comic submission for an upcoming publication called Blood and Thunder. It should be out in early March. Knowing the publisher, Leigh Rigozzi, I'm sure it's gonna be a million miles above spectacular. He's an incredible cartoonist and zine maker who's been making and creating for as long as I've known him. He was at the Tasmanian School of Art when I started there 10 years ago. I wish I had gotten to know him better back then, but I was waaaayyyy more interested in spending my time trying to woo a beautiful blonde Tasmanian lass named Briony.

Leigh now lives in Sydney and is part of the team that runs the Rizzeria, a printing workshop that includes a magical RISO printer. Imagine a regular copier that instead of making regular copies, it screenprints. Yes, it's that cool. The very mention of its name to many cartoonists will produce spontaneous drooling and speaking in tongues.

If you're ever in Sydney, find those guys at the Rizzeria and marvel. Just marvel.

Guest Comic by Ben Hutchings

2010-01-05T23:31:00.005+11:00

About a month ago, I was at the Tango 9 (Love and War) and Tango Anthology launch in Melbourne. While I was hangin' and chattin' with the Australian Comics Elite, Ben Hutchings came up to me and told me that he wanted to make a comic for my Diary Of A Work In Progress site. Naturally, I was flattered. Incredibly flattered. But I thought that his kind offer was more likely an alcohol-induced obligation that would probably be forgotten. But, throughout the night Ben was more steady on that promise than he was on his own two legs. He kept repeating to me that he wanted to make a comic for me.

So I had to take his word for it.

And today, I got an email from him with this little gem. It's got Ben's great absurdist sense of humour. (If you ever get a chance to read any of his sold out Lesson Master Comics, you are in for a great treat!)

So, thank you Ben! You're a LEGEND!

PS: There have been a few other great artists sending me some spectacular art. I'll make a post in the next few days to highlight some of my favourites.

On The Other Hand...

2009-12-18T17:55:00.002+11:00

I actually did this comic a couple of months ago for the Emerging Writers Festival Reader. It's a great little publication that's chock full of essays by... emerging writers! (You were thinking I was gonna say porcupines, admit it. No, that's the Porcupine Writer's Festival Reader.)

Acrophobia: or Professional Suicide

2009-12-08T23:56:00.003+11:00

OK, so this is an explanation of sorts for my extended hiatus. I'd love to tell you that I've been working on some incredible secret project, but the truth is that I really just needed a break. Turned out to be a bit longer than what I had intended, though. Sorry about that.

Well, at least I'm not the only guy who was lagging behind. Pranas Naujokaitis was also behind, but not as far behind as I was. He did a great little catch-up comic, too.

National Young Writers Fest

2009-09-29T06:04:00.003+10:00

OK, so it's 5:30am and I'm getting ready to skedaddle on over to Newcastle for the National Young Writers Festival. I'm not sure what to expect, but I do know that there's a zine fair that is the equivalent of SPX in Australia. So, I'm pretty pumped for that! I've even done a redesign of my old zine. This one is 64 pages and has little chapter headings! I'll try to make it available for purchase from etsy or something when I get back.

In the meantime, here's the chapter illustrations:

My Civil War Comic: Part 4 (The Final Installment)

2009-09-16T04:12:00.002+10:00

My Civil War Comic: Part 3

2009-09-15T02:10:00.002+10:00

My Civil War Comic: Part 2

2009-09-13T18:49:00.001+10:00

My Civil War Comic: Part 1

2009-09-11T02:21:00.001+10:00

A Process Post (I expose my secrets)

2009-09-11T01:27:00.010+10:00

This post is actually just as much for me as it is for everyone who reads this.

Mainly, to keep me in line.

Sometimes I get too excited while I'm making my comic pages and I do stupid things. Things like inking some part of the page too early, then smudging my hand in this prematurely inked portion and then watching my whole system start to fall apart before my tired eyes. I am then left with only the option of retreating into the other room and messing about on the internet for an hour or so.

To help prevent this sort of mishap happening again, I have decided to take photos of the (correct) process of making one of my pages.

Disclaimer: This is the way I do it. It works for me. If you've got an easier way, then by all means, do it that way. Just don't come running to me with ink all down your shirt and pen nibs caught in your hair.

Step One: The rough thumbnail. I actually drew this thinking it would never be seen by anyone other than myself and maybe Briony. It's kinda shocking, I know. But, it helps me with the pacing of the story, possible composition ideas and sometimes spotlights some major problems that I hadn't thought of yet. (Like, should there be a baby in the story.) (No, because that's just one more thing to draw and keep track of.)

Step Two: The Blue Pencil. Why a blue pencil you ask? Wellllll, this blue doesn't show up when I scan it in. I use this to block out where I want the different people and things that will be in the scene.

Step Three: The Penciling. This is just refining the sketches that I started with the blue pencil. I normally, for the diary comics, skip this stage. But because I want this to be at least partially historically accurate, I'm including it to avoid any inking tragedies. Like drawing the eye where the nose should be. This happens a LOT if you're not careful.

Step Four: The Lettering. Lettering is something that I feel comfortable with enough to just dive right in without a pre-pencil sketch. I always do my best job when I'm lettering off-the-cuff. I enjoy it more that way, too. It's also important to do this stage before inking the drawing because you can adjust your work balloon to fit the text. If you do it the other way around, you might have to get your text all squashed into a balloon that's just not big enough. (See Little Nemo in Slumberland. Beautiful, exquisite drawings : crammed-up word balloons.)

Step Five: The Colouring Book Stage. I've invented this one for my own poor brain. Inking can be very dull and monotonous sometimes. Doing an outline drawing lets me see the stage that I've created and helps me to take a step back and start to plan the lighting and textures. Otherwise, I tend to get carried away with my lines and suddenly, there's a wood texture on someone's arm.

Step Six: The rest of it all. This is when I scratch out the textures, fill in the shadows, rub out the pencil lines and white out the place where the cat stepped on wet ink. This stage keep repeating like acid reflux. I think it's finished, then I look at it an hour later and realise that I didn't shade a shoe correctly or an eyelash is missing from one of the eyes. Yeah, it's at this point that I decide to stop and move on to the next page.

Thank you everyone, you've been a great audience!

Civil War Preview

2009-09-07T19:15:00.002+10:00

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I've dropped off into a black hole lately. I've had a billion side projects lately that have taken up most of my time and energy. (As well as a whirlwind trip to Tennessee for my Grandmother's funeral.) One of the biggest and most intimidating is a comic for Tango. This year's theme is Love and War. I've decided to tackle a Civil War story that my Grandmother used to tell. I've done lots of research and it's exercising my imagination in ways I never knew it could. This is a preview.

-Chris

The Shape Of Things To Come (My Destiny Comic)

2009-07-15T00:40:00.008+10:00

This little comic took me almost a month to make. I'm sorry for getting so far behind with my posting. (Comic coming soon about all of that.) I decided that this comic was too important to me to have it rushed to be done in five days time.

For those of you who are living in or planning to visit Hobart, you can drop by Pocketspace and pick up one of my little sampler zine comics for $12. Get them while they're hot. 'Cause nobody likes a stale book of comics!

2009-06-25T22:57:00.003+10:00

Hello Readers!
I wanted to let you know that I'm still posting. I'm just running behind due to (1)other projects including a small 36 page zine of randomly selected diary comics for the upcoming Odd&Even Market. (For those of you in Tassie, it'll be at the Long Gallery at the Salamanca Arts Centre on Saturday, 27th June.)

And (2), I've got a 4-5 page comic in the works, but I'm wanting to do some good work on it because it's important to me. So, I want to get it right. That means taking some time on it. After that, I'll be back to posting daily.

Oh, and (3), I got LEGO INDIANA JONES for my birthday and I can't seem to stop playing it.

Don't Shove Things In My Face

2009-06-17T23:04:00.001+10:00

Guilt From Beyond The Grave

2009-06-16T03:57:00.002+10:00

Anybody who doesn't know Norman Lindsay, should check him out. He's one of my favourite Australian artists. He was a real cranky git, too. They've even made a movie about him.

The Way To Spend An Anniversary

2009-06-13T23:04:00.000+10:00

Unrealistic Expectations

2009-06-12T23:31:00.001+10:00

Cruelty To Animals

2009-06-11T23:42:00.001+10:00

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2009-06-10T23:24:00.000+10:00

The Perks Of Plumbing

2009-06-09T23:23:00.003+10:00

Mail From Mexico

2009-06-07T23:49:00.002+10:00

And guess what it was! A fantastic little portrait of Briony and me!

Illustrator's Nightmare

2009-06-06T23:34:00.001+10:00

Chain Reation

2009-06-06T00:26:00.001+10:00

Dark Chocolate Mess

2009-06-04T23:48:00.003+10:00

You know what's really cool? When one of your favourite artists does an amazing piece of art based on a song that you've suggested to him. Make it a Tom Waits song and you've got an angelic chorus (or in this case, demonic?) singing its praises.

I bow humbly at your feet, Pato.

Sour Times

2009-06-04T00:38:00.000+10:00

Fans BEWARE!

2009-06-02T23:20:00.001+10:00

Pucca Retrieves Her Ball From Another Dimension

2009-05-31T23:57:00.001+10:00

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

2009-05-30T23:25:00.001+10:00

She Can Read Me Like A (Comic) Book

2009-05-29T23:09:00.000+10:00

The Clog Solution

2009-05-28T00:10:00.000+10:00

Keeping Pucca Happy

2009-05-25T23:44:00.002+10:00

It Depends On Where We Stand

2009-05-23T23:07:00.000+10:00

Our Shower Drain

2009-05-21T23:25:00.001+10:00

Minimalism

2009-05-21T00:08:00.004+10:00

OK, apologies for this entry being a bit bare. This was exactly how I was feeling on the day after the ABC came to film us.

Rest assured, I'll be going back to the regular drawn comics tomorrow.

It was kind of advantageous that this entry was quick to make because I've been spending all my extra time lately working on a poster for the Sydney City Trash show at the Brisbane Hotel.

Getting Filmed

2009-05-16T23:02:00.001+10:00

Notes For Myself

2009-05-15T23:07:00.001+10:00

Empty Threats

2009-05-14T23:41:00.001+10:00

Counter-Productive Doodling

2009-05-12T23:10:00.001+10:00

The Secret Thoughts Of Men

2009-05-11T23:46:00.003+10:00

Vacuum Cleaner Quest

2009-05-10T23:48:00.001+10:00

Clumsy With The Gamma Mutant Space Friends

2009-05-09T23:33:00.001+10:00

Interpreting Dreams

2009-05-08T22:57:00.002+10:00

Briony's Request

2009-05-07T23:22:00.001+10:00

Oh Chris, What Vexes Thee?

2009-05-04T23:23:00.004+10:00

Reflecting

2009-05-02T23:43:00.000+10:00

Blessed Insomnia

2009-05-01T23:41:00.001+10:00

Bait For The Wolves

2009-04-30T23:38:00.001+10:00

Maybe I Talk A Bit Too Much About Comics

2009-04-30T14:40:00.000+10:00

Fanboy

2009-04-28T00:17:00.002+10:00

For those of you wondering to yourself, "WOW, what a great shirt Chris is wearing. I want a shirt with a cool robot on it, too. Where did he get that?"

Check out Arran McKenna's (azzamckazza to his computer buddies) Redbubble site.

Mowervation

2009-04-26T23:47:00.001+10:00

Putting The Call Of Nature On Hold

2009-04-25T23:19:00.000+10:00

Briony's Special Comic

2009-04-25T23:18:00.000+10:00

The Carrot That Almost Killed Me

2009-04-25T00:14:00.000+10:00

Psychokinetic Shopping

2009-04-23T22:21:00.000+10:00

The Brazil Mystery

2009-04-20T23:46:00.002+10:00

The Epic Battle Between My Brain And Reality

2009-04-20T23:44:00.002+10:00

Creatively Dry

2009-04-19T23:13:00.000+10:00

Hi-Fi PMS

2009-04-17T23:24:00.001+10:00

Feline Annoyance

2009-04-16T23:56:00.001+10:00

Me VS Ben Stephenson

2009-04-16T01:05:00.000+10:00

Wednesday Night Lineup

2009-04-14T23:49:00.001+10:00

Briony Is Mortified That I Did A Comic About This

2009-04-14T23:48:00.000+10:00

Developing Chops

2009-04-14T23:46:00.000+10:00

The Reality Fairy

2009-04-13T23:55:00.000+10:00

Chalk Drawing At Bellerive Boardwalk

2009-04-12T23:30:00.001+10:00

My Symptoms

2009-04-12T23:28:00.000+10:00

Catching A Cold

2009-04-11T23:50:00.000+10:00

The Patricia Piccinini Exhibit

2009-04-10T23:02:00.000+10:00

The Unsalvageable Comic

2009-04-10T22:59:00.001+10:00

Calendar Boy

2009-04-08T00:17:00.003+10:00

Below is Tricky's brilliant portrait of me for the calendar. I swear, it looks just like me!

Short Fuse

2009-04-06T23:35:00.000+10:00

Everyday Stress

2009-04-05T23:17:00.000+10:00

Harry Potter: Parts One And Two

2009-04-04T22:50:00.001+11:00

Chain Gang

2009-04-02T23:35:00.000+11:00

Bling Bling Always Cheers Briony Up

2009-04-01T19:18:00.001+11:00

Dark Thoughts

2009-03-30T23:33:00.000+11:00

My Brain Won't Let Me Sleep

2009-03-29T23:13:00.000+11:00

Day Three and Homecoming

2009-03-28T22:21:00.000+11:00