I will greet you in the front lobby of University Hall between 10AM-1PM. Later, I participate in my first panel on writer/artist collaborations. 4-5PM, I think. Should be fun! I am looking forward to all the great new stuff this year, I can't wait to get inspired! I only have one thing at MICE this year, which is a page in Leann Leake's zine, Hot Tea, Cold Water, #3. I also have a few framed comic book pages in the exhibit. Follow the link to see a list of exhibitors, then come to Porter Square tomorrow and secure some copies of their awesome work! It's free, it's fun, and you'll be supporting local writers & artists in your community too!
MICE, The Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo
September 24, 2011 10am - 6pm
1815 Mass Ave., Cambridge MA (Porter Square)
Illustration by Jerel Dye
Finally...or almost! Chapter 5 of Dave Kender's graphic novel, The Ragbox will be out soon, and there will be more on that at this year's MICE. I really took my time illustrating this chapter, since I've been pretty busy this last year, but I did enjoy every minute of the process. 
This is the last page for now. What meets Captain Scarlet and the crew at this eerie place? Stay tuned, cross your fingers and find out!
This is page three, and when I drew this one I learned the following about myself: 1) Drawing blood & gore is not as disturbing as I had thought it would be, but actually a lot of fun. Probably because it's really just ink... 2) I kind of like drawing men, when they're as handsome as Dandy Long Legs (according to Troy's script he is very dandy, and I modeled his appearance on a romantic portrait of one of my favorite English poets, John Donne).
Below: Inspired by a relatively new picture book about Audrey Hepburn, Just Being Audrey, written by Margaret Cardillo and illustrated by Massachusetts-based artist Julia Denos. I found the book at the Curious George store in Harvard Square (which we will miss very much now that it is closing!), and wanted to buy it for my kids. Unfortunately, my boys did not share my enthusiasm on Audrey Hepburn; they took one look at the pictures and decided that the lack of monster trucks, dragons and epic battles did not interest them. So I ended up buying the book for myself, just so I could look at all the gorgeous illustrations. Well, it was so worth it!
Next: More random pages from my sketchbook. I must admit I prefer to draw women rather than men. 
Recently, I had the opportunity to do an illustration for the Boston alternative newspaper, Spare Change. With this assignment, I really got the feel of what it is like to do creative work under a very tight deadline, and I must admit that such pressure tends to work well with me. I spent about an hour and a half sketching Marc Goldfinger, part-time vendor and writer for Spare Change, during his interview with freelance writer, Micah Stahl. It was a nice, warm day in Cambridge's Central Square, and time flew by as I filled my sketchbook pages with observations. I love to draw people in person, rather than from photographs, and especially while they are not paying attention to me, but focused on a conversation with someone else. This situation draws out a person's personality that I then try to capture in my drawing. I also like to bring the surroundings into the portrait, in this case the area outside the 1369 Coffeehouse. To me it seemed like a nice, busy place that I could have spent the whole day in, had I not had to rush home and take care of kids and their school pick-ups, park playdates and karate lessons (yesterday, however, a Spare Change vendor complained that I had made Central Square look 'too nice,' since in his opinion it was the worst #%*!! neighborhood in town! :-)
Here is a cover and a preview/promo page for the upcoming comic, Open Fire! It is not a new project for the writer, Troy Minkowsky, but it's a new one for me. In fact I don't think I have ever drawn a comic about pirates, zombies and other fantasy figures before (except mermaids). I definitely have not drawn a comic that features a sock puppet, that one is a first! I really enjoy doing the artwork for this story, though. The characters are interesting, and there are at least three female characters in the story, which appeals to me. I also enjoy drawing seascapes, sea creatures and all that good stuff, and it's always fun to do something that is entirely new to me. I hope this won't be the last you hear of this story! There will be more to follow...
This the first page of a 3-page story that I submitted to an upcoming anthology on education. The anthology should be published in time for a conference on comics and education (for more info check out this website: http://necac.net/46/)
In 2010, I started a new project, to illustrate chapter 5 of Dave Kender's graphic novel, The Ragbox. This is a really fun assignment that I love working on, but I also hope to finish up quite soon (it always feels good to complete assignments!). 
This is a pen & ink drawing I made the other day, inspired by one of my photos from Copenhagen last fall. Tivoli is an old amusement park smack in the middle of the city, a beautiful and magical place or a kitchy tourist trap, depending on your outlook. I tend to go for the first description myself, although the quiet (yes, a quiet amusement park in the middle of a city!) atmosphere with its million little lights, brightly colored flowers and fairy-tale feel is an illusion. It is definitely a place for daydreamers, which I've tried to capture in this picture.
Eric Boeker planned and arranged the Boston Comics Roundtable presence at Bazaar Bizarre this year.
Things at our table: Independent work by Dan Mazur, Aya Rothwell and various contributors to the Left-Overs of the Living Dead, put together by Jay Kennedy.
Cheesecake pen & ink drawing w/ pink frame
Getting ready for the release party: hanging up the original drawings from the stories in Inbound 5
Atomic Bean Coffee Shop
Above is my Hellbound-poster, which you'll hopefully see around Boston, but in red, and with lots of information on it, like this: http://riverbirdstudios.blogspot.com/2010/10/hellbound-is-near.html Hellbound is both an event (Halloween -style party in Harvard Square, but with comics, sketch duels and lots of fun) and the name of a Boston Comics Roundtable anthology, dedicatet to New England horror stories. I submitted a story, Lady in Black, which you can read about here:
