Gerb's Quarterly No 11

So, funny story...

Many year ago, in the days before the internet, I had the idea of creating a short, quarterly mini-comic starring Gerb, my at-the-time, relatively new character, along with the two mainstays from my childhood, a dog named "Long Leg" and an earth worm named "Wormy" (Did I mention I've been drawing them since childhood?). Following through in the predigital times, printing off physical copies at Kinkos and distributing them to the masses, proved too much for me, as did producing them in the required timely fashion (Maybe instead of "Quarterly" I should call it a "Wheneverly"). 

One way or another, I do occasionally continue the storyline, and thus I present to you the 11th issue of Gerb's Quarterly. You can click on the GQ label below to read the previous issue, as well as to find the link to the first 9 issues that I have compiled into a graphic novel on Blurb.com. 

And, as always, thank you for reading!

 

Dismem-Boar-Ment page 26(A)

In the course of drawing this particular series, I realized the need for a slight adjustment. The most recent pair of pages I’d drawn were designed to be seen opposite each other for the full effect…

…However, with the numbering of the pages, these two would be on the back side of each other. The obvious solution - That I required an additional page to occur someplace earlier in the series to assure that these two fell into their preferred places - was… um… obvious. And I knew exactly what I could add, and where. 

I had a number of pages detailing interactions I’d had on my vision quest with Herne the Hunter, at one point with Herne declaring I to be his son…

…Fast forward to a recent exploration into my genealogy, where I uncovered a family bloodline on my father’s side with the surname of Herne. Exploring a little deeper, I discovered that my 8th Great Grandfather, Richard Herne, following in the footsteps of his Great Grandfather, Sir John, had been the High Sheriff of London in Elizabethan times, and had in fact overseen the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. 

So this designation, as the Son of Herne, is a literal one, and would explain the resonance I have felt for the ‘Wild Men of the Forest’ - be they Tarzan, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, or Robin Hood - who have always been my greatest heroes. And it makes me wonder of that liminal space between history and myth - Might I be descended from the original Herne the Hunter, whomever and whenever he may have been? I don’t know, but for now - How cool is this?!

To read the Herne chapter, please click on the ‘Herne’ label below. To read the entire comic thus far, please click on the ‘Dismemboarment’ label below. And to remain up to date with my latest comics, please click the ‘Follow’ button on the sidebar. 

And as always, thank you so much for reading! <3

Turkeys on Parade

 So, back during the pandemic I took a spiritual business class with the renowned psychic/medium Lisa Williams, and it was suggested I make a video of myself drawing my comics. 

And so I did an experimental video, where I penciled in a comic page from a thumbnail drawing I'd made earlier about an experience I'd had on a vision quest years before. Here's that video...

I'd always intended to do a follow up video, inking in the same page, but never got around to  it, and the unfinished page lingered in my folder for a few more years. Then around Thanksgiving time this year it occurred to me that this would be a perfect time to finish inking this page about Turkey medicine. I started to ink it, but that felt really weird for some reason, and I realized I needed to follow through with that second video. Here's the second one...

It's strange that in both cases the video stopped unexpectedly after an hour because of an alarm or something going off on my phone. 

Anyway, I think the comic itself is pretty self-explanatory. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for reading! 

Tower Moment

I wasn't sure I was ever going to finish this comic. In the middle of creating it, a wind storm knocked power out for days, leaving me unable to work on it in the evenings in the dwindling light of winter. Plus it is slightly more complex than most of my comics in that there were several portions of the page with separate shading techniques - The Tower card to look vaguely etched or woodcut, and the 'Natalie Wood' panel to look like a black and white movie.

On top of that was working through and sorting out my heartbroken feelings around the elections along with the guidance of hope I was receiving from my spirit guides, in order to organize them into words and illustrations that made sense and conveyed how I felt. 

*Phew!*

My hope is that by conveying my feelings and experiences will resonate with others and help them to sort out their own feelings, or in the very least know that they are not alone. 

I also feel like I cheated a bit on this page. I do usually go over my page on my laptop to edit out smudges, splotches, and ghost pencil lines that wouldn't quite erase all the way, but I pride myself on creating my comics the pencil and ink way (the brick and mortar of cartoonists) and try not to alter my drawings in any significant way electronically. 

Enter my long-time antagonist, white ink. Through all the years I've been drawing my comics, I have yet to find a brand of pens whose white ink maintained its opacity and clarity when drawn on top of a space totally darkened by black ink. On this particular page the stars are completely electronically applied. I eased my conscience by the fact that I was basically just poking my drawing with white electronic dots instead from a white pen, and not actually drawing anything. 

Anyway, thank you again for reading, and please follow my blog to remain updated on my latest comics! 

Dismem-Boar-Ment page 29 & 30

Just like the rest of my life, I have a number of things actively in progress when it comes to my comic projects. Though I have had no lack of material for chronicling my daily life and current challenges, I'm trying to make sure I'm not letting other series languish for too long. And so, here are the next two pages from my "Dismem-boar-ment" series concerning my experiences from a vision quest a few years ago. 

For obvious reasons, I drew these two pages together.

 

Below is how the two pages would appear together, if I can work out how to make sure they're positioned side by side. I may have to add another page somewhere along the way to make it happen, but the resulting effect is definitely worth the effort.

And then, just to bring it all full circle, I wanted to see what it actually looked like together as one image, and with color...

To read the rest of this series thus far, please click on the "Dismem-boar-ment" label below. To read just this particular chapter, please click on the "Birdman" label below. To remain up to date with my latest comics, please follow my blog, and thank you so much for reading!💖

Happy Birthday Tanya Tucker

I remember exactly when I received the original insight mentioned below. I was on my way to the Seattle Folklife festival for the very first time, something on my "Too Married To Do" list, but swirling along with my excitement was a whole mixture of guilt, sadness, and self doubt. It was then that this scene from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves popped into my mind, and I realized that if my ex and I were both going to be miserable, I may just as well have stayed. If I weren't enjoying myself and celebrating my new found freedom, then I was doing her a disservice and making her suffer for nothing. 

I also find it an interesting synchronicity that I "just happen" to be posting this on the anniversary of our divorce being finalized. I specifically wanted it to be a day that I could remember, as well as have something else to celebrate besides breaking someone's heart. So...   

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANYA TUCKER!!

Thank you for reading! Please follow my blog to stay updated with my latest comics, and if you enjoy my work, please visit my online store on Blurb.com where I have a number of my graphic novels and coloring books for sale. <3

Cutting A-Cord-ingly

My life is in the midst of major, major changes, and as such comes the important priority of keeping myself energetically clean and pure, in large part by releasing the cords and ties to anything that has not and does not actively support my path and who it is that I am in the process of becoming.

And one of the beautiful parts of this path is when your guides step in unexpectedly and give you an entirely new method of doing things that you've been doing for years, such as cutting cords.