Ultimately Final

In an earlier post I mentioned how I have been working on putting together another graphic novel book called Home Gerb Companion for self publication from a blank book full of a series of comics I'd drawn long ago. Before I started drawing my Drawing Breath comic, directly portraying my life, I drew a comic where my three characters - Gerb, Longleg, and Wormy - would have a running dialogue about my life from the sidelines, kinda like Mystery Science Theater 3000 style.  

The thing is, I never actually finished the original comic. I got up to the penultimate (second to the last) page...

...And then I paused because I had ambitious plans for the final page! I would make the last page like a pop-up book with the Phoenix, from whom Longleg had gotten the quill pen, unexpectedly flying straight out of the book at the reader in 3-D! The thing is that at the time the internet was relatively new, and it didn't have the wealth of information that it does now, plus I didn't have regular access to it. Not that I didn't have access to other information and instructions. It's just that my life was different back then and I didn't have the same resources or reservoirs of energy to draw on, so the project got set on the back burner where it has languished for almost twenty years. 

Then recently, when the arrow of inspiration hit to publish this volume, I realized that one way or t'other, I had to finish that last page. Not being sure how I would self publish a book with a pop-up component, I went ahead and drew the page, reserving the right to, at some future date, make that page an actual pop-up. Until that time, here is the final page of the Home Gerb Companion graphic novel drawn 18 years, 9 months, and 12 days after the previous page... 

I am really excited to get this work into book form! Stay tuned to my website, Facebook, Instagram, and this blog for updates to when it will be available for purchase. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see what other of my comics I've already published check out my Perching Wolf Studios bookstore on Blurb.

 

Bringing It Home

I don't know if  you've noticed, but I have not been posting a lot here lately, mostly because I haven't actually been drawing as much lately. Time I would normally spend creating new comics has been mostly dedicated to putting together a book of some older comics I drew in a blank book many years ago. These comics are a precursor to my Drawing Breath comics, still being a sort of illustrational journal of my life at the time, but rather than drawing myself in the starring role, it's a bit more Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with my comic characters - Gerb, Longleg the dog, and Wormy the worm - commenting on what's happening in my life from the sidelines. I call it Home Gerb Companion ~ Le Chronique de Comique.

 

So I've been spending many afternoons and evenings flipping through this journal and, with Palama the platypus aiding me by holding open the book, photographing each page in turn then cropping and fine tuning them. This is why on some of the pages you can see distortions of the drawings as if they are curving toward the binding of the book. Sometimes Palama couldn't keep the book entirely flat. 

I am not always the center of what's happening as my characters come to terms with living inside a book...

...But they do celebrate with me my achievements...

...And they console me through my challenges...

Drawing women has never been my strong suit, which Gerb knows and sometimes exploits by hanging out with the Amazons when he doesn't want to be drawn. At the time of the comic, though, I was married to a fellow artist, Bobbi Blackwell aka Mrs. Cartoonist Dude, and I would just have her draw the necessary panels if needed...

She is not the only guest artist. As it turns out, Longleg is also a cartoonist whose work occasionally ends up on the page, as a comic within a comic, which is always fun...

And sometimes Newmar, Bobbi's teddy bear, would get a hold of the book and attempt to draw his own adventures, seeing as they were so much more adventury than my own... 

The fun thing is that, if it were Newmar drawing, I'd pencil it with my left hand and ink it with my right. If it were Longleg drawing, I'd pencil with my right hand and ink it with my left.

So, as production of new comics experiences a bit of a lull, you can rest assured that I am not idle. Soon this new book will be available for purchase, and meanwhile you can check out my other graphic novels and coloring books here on my Blurb Store.