Mouse Guard Pin Up

I did this Mouse Guard piece a while back and have been meaning to post it for ages. (ages = weeks) David is a good friend and I’d been meaning to do a piece for much longer than this one has been sitting on my desk un-posted. Consider one of the universe’s great wrong’s corrected.

Drawing in the Mouse Guard universe made me realize how different the process can be when the subject is more organic and less, you know, cities, machines, and robots. I do love me some perspective but every now and then it’s nice to break out of that and this was one of those opportunities.

Plus, I’ve had this idea (locust plague) for a while so I was pleased that no one snapped it up during the last round of Legends of the Guard. It’s hardly a fully developed concept but I like the idea of how devastating that could be and how the mice would have to deal with it. I think you can ward off locusts with smoke (maybe that’s bees?) but prairie fire is probably also pretty bad if you are small furry animal, so that’s a lose-lose I guess?

Gunnerkrigg Court Pinup

I recently did a Gunnerkrigg Court piece as a present for my sister on her birthday. We’re both big fans of the comic and seemed like it would be a fun universe to play around in. I was not mistaken.

Tom’s style and character designs seem simple but I’ve always admired how much expression he is able to accomplish with more abstract, expressive forms. The emphasis he places on shape captures motion in a graphic style that I find exciting and interesting to return to.

When I set out to draw the piece I thought I would make something with a heavy emphasis on robots (no surprises there) and a well placed Tic-Toc, but in the end Coyote stole the show and I think it’s because of the same elements that I mentioned above. He dominates because he’s just too much fun to draw.

It helps that he also always gets my favorite writing, but it’s really the fluid combination of shapes and forms that grabs me. I could draw this guy all day.

The Early Days: Blue Grass Pond

My career in comics began by doing single-panel gag-strips, basically ripping off The Far Side. It would be kinder to call it an “homage”.

Toward the end of High School I decided I wanted to move away from single gags so I could tell stories. The result was my first venture into comic strips. At the time Bill Waterson was my idol and I was very taken with the idea of becoming a newspaper cartoonist (which is at times painfully clear while looking through some of this older material).

Blue Grass Pond

The name I settled on for the strip was Blue Grass Pond. I worked on it on and off for almost two years. I confess that I was not really that productive during this time period and, if I had been taking my art as seriously as I pretended to, I would have a lot more of this comic strip then I do now. Nevertheless, I came away from that period in my life with a better understanding of how easily you can get into trouble with a recurring storyline and about seventy comic strips which my Mom still tells me are awesome.

I have collected the entirety of  Blue Grass Pond here for your viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy.