T. Motley, cartooniologist

Fiction Krishna

2012-01-21T22:16:00.008-05:00

Someday I'll get around to lettering this better and touching up the art 'n stuff, but here's a five strip miniseries I ran in The Brooklyn Rail last year. It's crawling with little nods to forgotten cartoon characters (and some famous ones). How many can you name?

Future Classes and Former Students

2012-01-18T13:36:00.006-05:00

These Images show some of the fun projects students work on in my Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists course at SVA: composing comics from a live model, creating actions from classic model sheets, and designing characters in various styles.

The class starts next week and still needs a few people in order to run, so please think it over and tell your friends!

Speaking of friends, more of my former Cartooning Basics and Inking Comics students are publishing copious strips on the web:

A. K. Summers' "Pregnant Butch"

J. Jeng's "Medley U."

Mindy Steffan's "Aer Head"

Sara Sarmiento's "Coffee Bean Chronicles"

Matt Lubchansky's "The Adam"

Max West's "Sunnyville Stories"

Nikos Michalakis' "Dr. Techniko"

and a sizable gang of SVA graduates formed a studio,

789 Studio

If I forgot anybody, shoot me a message and I'll add your plug!

The 99% as Ants, the 1% as Grasshoppers

2012-01-11T20:59:00.001-05:00

This is a strip I put in The Brooklyn Rail last summer. You may wanna open it in a new window or something to read it.

Mere Anarchy

2011-12-30T23:35:00.004-05:00

Here's one to ring (wring?) in the new year.

I'm pleased enough with this piece that I'm hoping to make a color version and post it again.

Happy 2012!

Raunchy Limerick Favorites

2011-12-25T15:34:00.005-05:00

When my strips run in The Brooklyn Rail they look nice in the actual paper, but on their website they're too small to read. So here's the current one. Maybe this will let you view it big enough.

Merry Christmas, world.

The Golden Ass

2011-10-19T16:23:00.013-04:00

t last, my new book is about to come out from David R. Godine, available Oct 31, according to Amazon.

The Golden Ass is a classic story from ancient Rome whose influence can be seen throughout the subsequent history of western literature in books as diverse as Don Quijote, Pinocchio, and The Midsummer Night's Dream. This adaptation, by classicist/children's author, M. D. Usher, is aimed at children ages 9 and up.

I festooned it with full page illustrations, decorated initials, and graphic dingbats, and packed the images with little gags and visual allusions. Quoth the publisher, "Motley's lively, thoroughly contemporary drawings capture the boisterous, see-sawing plot, while wittily quoting any number of graphic predecessors. Here is illustration at its best, at once illuminating and expanding a text while bringing it squarely into a new century."

It's a beautifully printed book, and fun to read and look at. Pick it up and/or check it out, if you please.

My Fall Courses at SVA

2011-09-02T16:59:00.008-04:00

Cartoon character style treatments (c) by Vernon Williams

This Tuesday evening, September 6, I'll be presenting slideshows for my upcoming Continuing Ed classes, Cartooning Basics and Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists, at the School of Visual Art's Illustration and Cartooning information session.

Life drawings, comic figure studies, and comic page (c) by Barrett Holloway

In Cartooning Basics, we survey all the topics one has to address to produce a comic story-- from concepts and designs to writing and visual storytelling, composition, figure drawing, inking, lettering, printing, and publishing-- culminating in the creation by each student of a printed minicomic. It's a whirlwind of information but intensely fun work.

Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists similarly surveys a list of problems one has to address to successfully draw comic book figures. Topics here include figure structure, foreshortening, feature wrapping, action, staging, body language, clothing and drapery, character design, style treatments, ink rendering, and more! Classes alternate between life drawing from the model and figure construction from imagination, in an effort to coordinate the two experiences. More intense hard fun. Come check it out.

Chibi Brando (c) by John Soister

Ballet Sketches

2011-08-16T18:18:00.013-04:00

This past spring and summer, my daughter, Molly Palmer, performed in a ballet, Circus Polka, in workshop performances for the School of American Ballet.

Circus Polka was originally choreographed by George Balanchine for elephants at the Ringling Brothers Circus, to music composed for the occasion by Igor Stravinsky. Jerome Robbins later choreographed the present version for little girls, which became part of the SAB repertory.

Molly performed the dance at SAB´s spring showcase in June and then again at their summer residency in Saratoga Springs, New York. During my turns escorting her to rehearsals, I managed a few sketches of the dancers and their families, which I made into a souvenir booklet to share with the kids and instructors. They all seemed pretty pleased with it.

These students and their teachers work unbelievably hard and the result was truly amazing. Backing them up are whole families bending over backwards to make it all happen. They have my gratitude and respect.

Convention Sketches

2011-06-15T14:34:00.007-04:00

For me, the highlight of last month's Big Apple Comic Con was that on Saturday I was seated next to the table of a lovely model named Marissa Jade. On Sunday, I had to content myself sketching the crowd.

Mot's Comics and Cartooning Students are Rocking the Indie Comics World

2011-05-31T11:47:00.006-04:00

These artists were already brilliant, but I'm pretty sure I taught them each something.
Follow the links to see Brooklyn stories, dysfunctional crime fighters, comics as poetry, sexy suicide girls (& other cool drawings), cocktail bar reviews, stupid inventions, drinkers and inkers, Tapir Tooth, ... and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

There's still time to enroll in my summer courses, Cartooning Basics and Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists. Tell your friends!

Convention Appearance This Weekend.

2011-05-18T12:31:00.003-04:00

If you're in Manhattan this weekend, May 21-22, 2011, come see me at the Big Apple Comic Con, lest I feel lonely.

I'm out teaching on Saturday morning, but plan to be at my convention table by 2 pm Saturday and staying 'til they close at seven, and all day Sunday (10 to 5).

I'll have some misc, comics and artwork for sale. Mostly I plan on sitting and making sketches of goofy monsters and/or sexy girls until somebody decides to talk to me. Do swing by and say hello.

Penn Plaza Pavilion, 401 7 Ave @ 33rd St. Table #1008.

Dr. Sketchy's Sketches

2011-05-16T13:47:00.002-04:00

I've been uploading my drawings from Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School along with other life drawings to my Deviant Art site, then submitting them to Dr. Sketchy's Tumblr blog and reblogging them to my own Tumblr site. Confused? No less than me. Next, I guess I'll announce this post on Facebook. Oy!

Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists

2011-05-08T14:13:00.006-04:00

This summer, in addition to my long running Thursday night Cartooning Basics course, I'm debuting a new continuing education course at the School of Visual Arts titled Figure Drawing for Graphic Novelists, Wednesdays, 6:00 t0 9:30, June 8 through August 10.

We'll alternate between life drawing from models and figure construction from imagination, to refine techniques for staging expressive figure drawings in the comic book context. Beyond the usual figure study issues like proportions and muscle groups, we'll be exploring some concepts that might sound esoteric but are actually important for comic artists to grasp: tactility, congruence of forces, shape integrity, joint breaks, feature wrapping, and more. We'll try out some different drawing styles and get characters moving through comic story situations.

I'll present a slide show about it tomorrow night (May 9, 2011, 6:30-8:30 pm) at SVA's Cartooning and Illustration Information Session.

This will be enlightening and fun. Come sign up. Tell your friends. Thanks a bunch!

Demons on the Subway

2011-04-17T16:41:00.010-04:00

Okay, maybe I've been hallucinating, but this time I don't think so. Has anyone else been spotting these characters on the trains late at night? If you sight one, please send me a cell phone photo so I can feel vindicated.

Best American Comics "Notables"

2011-04-04T23:45:00.003-04:00

I see that the Made Out of Mac comic was plugged on the Drawing Words and Writing Pictures blog. Please have a look.

Doodle Diary

2011-03-10T22:07:00.013-05:00

What's with all the birds, doctor? How come none of them are flying?

Illustrations for an Online Zine

2011-02-10T15:29:00.005-05:00

I just had a couple illustrations posted in an online zine called the Mad Hatter's Review. They're in the fiction section, illustrating stories by Edmond Caldwell. Have a look. You can click on the pictures to view them larger.
Here's one they didn't end up using, for whatever reason:

What Would Caniff Do?

2011-01-15T17:43:00.005-05:00

One of the assignments I give in my Inking Comics class is to finish these unfinished Male Call strips by Milton Caniff. It's a fun exercise in the strategy of organizing black, white, and gray. Below are some solutions by students Daniel Pucca, Adam Markiewicz, and Earl Barrett-Holloway.

Class starts next week, January 25, 2011. Come get inky with us!

Sketches and Notes from the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival

2011-01-07T18:04:00.008-05:00

12/4/2010:

The Art of Editing-- Sammy Harkham, Bill Kartalopoulos, Francoise Mouly.

Taking Inventory: The Story of Things-- James McShane, Jungyeon Roh, Renee French, Leanne Shapton.

When Comic Books Were New-- Evan Dorkin, Paul Pope, Dan Nadel. Also Anders Nilsen, Q & A.

How Nancy Is-- Johnny Ryan, Bill Griffith, Mark Newgarden, Bill Kartalopoulos.

Chaos and Pattern-- Mark Alan Stamaty, Jordan Crane, Keith Jones, Brian Chippendale.

Classes, News

2011-01-05T13:59:00.004-05:00

This Tuesday, I'll be presenting slide shows about my upcoming classes, Cartooning Basics and Inking Comics, at the SVA Cartooning and Illustration Information Session.

Come hear me rant about line sensitivity, composition-driven distortion, temporal cubism, and other crackpot ideas. 6:30-8:30 pm, Tues. Jan. 11, 209 East 23rd Street, room 311, 3rd floor. Free!

In other news, my dear friend Jason Little was kind enough to drop my name on the Comic Book Resources site (scroll way, way down). Asked about overlooked cartoonists, Jason sez, "T. Motley immigrated from Boulder to New York a few years ago, and brought his brilliant formal playground 'Tragic Strip' to The Brooklyn Rail. It’s worth subscribing to this paper for Tom’s comics alone. Read more at tmotley.com." Actually, I came from Denver, but Boulder's close enough. Thanks bro!

Classes Future and Students Past

2010-12-26T15:15:00.008-05:00

This amazing "Noodling Worksheet" is by the amazing Daniel Pucca,
rendered over a line drawing by yours truly.

This spring, I'll once again teach the Inking Comics course, alongside my regularly scheduled Cartooning Basics class at SVA, making this a good time to follow up on this earlier post. An impressive number of former students are making me proud and making their excellent work available online.

A group of inking students, notably Daniel Pucca (above), Van Hong, and Ken Frederick, continue their studies on the Drinking and Inking blog.

Ken Frederick is also active in Pronto comics, along with Earl Barrett-Holloway and Dominic Sparano.

Zachary Snyder's web comic Stupid Inventor, was a finalist in The Washington Post's America's Next Great Cartoonist contest. Zachary also has a YouTube channel, Stupid Inventions.

Meanwhile, Bill Roundy has a strip running in The Brooklyn Paper, Bar Scrawl, that combines cartooning with bar hopping. How fun is that?

Mark Weisner, aka Max West, has a blog and website of his Sunnyville Stories.

Adam Markiewicz' "The Insomniac" blog features must-see comics and sexy pin-up girls.

A personal favorite: Alexander Rothman makes poetic broadsheet comics on his Versequential blog and participates in Tapir Tooth along with Andrea Tsurumi.

Have I forgotten anybody? Send me a link!

Another Recent Strip

2010-12-22T20:39:00.006-05:00

This one is a rare attempt at ink wash, which I think turned out okay.

Upcoming Appearance-- UVM

2010-10-28T13:28:00.005-04:00

I'm slated to show work from my forthcoming book, The Golden Ass (being published by David R Godine), at the University of Vermont this Monday. If you know anyone around Burlington, tell them to come see!

And while I'm up there, I'll be speaking to a couple of graphic novel classes. I feel honored.

Made Out of "Mac"

2010-10-19T13:13:00.006-04:00

I'm stoked to hear a reading of new poems by Harry Mathews at 192 Books tonight. In honor of that, here are my newest installments in the "Made Out of 'Mac' " series of Oulipo cartoons (I'm not sure whether they qualify as Oubapo).

I've already posted others in the series, including two Mathews's Algorithm examples here and here.

The first collection can still be purchased here. This collection, by the way, was listed among the "Noteable Comics of 2009" in the latest edition of Best American Comics.

NYCC sketches

2010-10-16T14:03:00.006-04:00

The bigger the New York Comic Con gets, the less it seems to offer a minicomic fan like me. I was grateful for the small amount of quality programming I found in the time I spent there:

J. J. Sedelmaier hosted this panel on political cartooning, featuring Mike Lester, Ann Telnaes, and Steve Brodner. The level of draftsmanship of these artists really blew me away.

This panel on indie comics, "Indie Cred," was moderated by Chris Radke and featured cartoonists Alex Robinson, Jason Little, Julia Wertz, and Mike Dawson.

Don Oriolo and Craig Yoe discussed new collections of Felix the Cat comics and Dick Briefer's Frankenstein.

And here's an academic author from Brazil, Fabio Luiz Carneiro Mourilhe Silva, discussing comic adaptations of the stories of Poe.

Panel Discussions

2010-10-07T08:45:00.016-04:00

Comics and Form. Ben Katchor, Jillian Tamaki, Karen Green, and Robert Berry. Brooklyn Book Festival, 9/12/2010.

I've fallen way behind on posting my sketches from panel discussions. With the New York Comic Con coming up this weekend, I may get swamped with more. So here, newest to oldest, are my latest...

At the Brooklyn Book Festival last September, I was listening to a very fine panel on The International Graphic Novel with Jessica Abel, Matt Madden, Josh Neufeld, and Nick Abadzis, when it started to rain on my sketch paper. Then I got a text from my wife that my daughter, Molly, was helping Chris Raschka read a book at the kids' tent, so I dashed over there and ended up sketching Raschka. Later was the Comics and Form panel pictured above.

Jessica Abel, Matt Madden, Josh Neufeld, Nick Abadzis. Brooklyn Book Festival, 9/12/2010.

Chris Raschka, 9/12/2010

Last December, 12/5/09, the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival in Williamsburg hosted this panel called Flatlands: Comics on the Picture Plane featuring Mark Newgarden, David Sandlin, Lisa Hanawalt, and Ron Rege Jr, and moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos, followed by a live comics drawing session with Robert Sikoryak, Frank Santoro, and Gabrielle Bell.

At King Con, Brooklyn, 11/7/09, I sat in on this panel, Europe to Brooklyn, moderated by Thomas Baehr, and featuring Vasilis Lolos, Simon Fraser, and Amir Moye.

Before that, there was the Robert Crumb interview conducted by Francoise Mouly at the Union Square Barnes and Noble on October 23, 2009. I showed up ten minutes early to get a good seat. Sheesh. I guess my head's stuck in the 1980s. I can't get it through my head that comics are respected now.

Back on September 28, 2009, I made it to the New York Anime Festival, and attended this interview and slide show with fashion designers from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. Included in this picture are designers Miho Satoh and Masumi Kanoh, moderator Jessica Kam (in plaid), and Viz Media president Seichi Horoguchi. Special thanks to Andrea Tsurumi for helping me with these attributions.

And on September 12, 2009, Andrei Molotiu moderated a panel at the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art on Abstract Comics. Left to right we see Alexey Sokolin, Henrik Rehr, Richard Hahn, Janusz Jaworski, Patrick McDonnell, Anders Pearson, Derik Badman, Andrei Molotiu, and MoCCA Director, Karl Erickson.

And way back on August 12, 2009, was this panel called Lines On Paper: Drawing for Comics at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos and featuring Austin English, Lisa Hanawalt, and Dash Shaw.

Whew. Now I'm ready to go sketch some more.

Doodle Diary

2010-10-03T22:39:00.014-04:00

I haven't posted doodles in a while. Here are some fairly recent ones.

"What pen do you use?"

2010-09-27T12:17:00.006-04:00

Honey Manko at Dr. Sketchy's NYC

Almost every day, a stranger stops me while I'm sketching to ask about the pen I'm using. Here it is.

The Pentel Pocket Brush Pen is an extremely sensitive drawing tool, refillable, portable, and seems like it'll last forever. It's my favorite toy these days. I don't go anywhere without it.

Pentel is also rolling out a line of fine line india ink pens to compete with Microns, only these take a beating and don't dry out. Check 'em out.

Cay Izumi vs. Kaiju Big Battel

2010-09-22T23:36:00.002-04:00

I just uploaded a number of new life drawings to my Deviant Art page. Have a look!
Also, check out more art from Dr. Sketchy's.

Another Recent Strip

2010-09-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

Secrets of Unprofessional Cartooning

2010-09-04T22:18:00.003-04:00

Like most cartoonists, I suppose I can be touchy about giving away trade secrets. But since I'm doing a lot of teaching, its important that I set a good example. So here you have it, the "keys to the kingdom."

Cliff's Notes Illustrated

2010-08-01T12:46:00.011-04:00

Here's this series of pages I did back in the mid 1980s. The idea was to take ponderous works of literature and modernize and miniaturize them. So the great white whale became the Big Bee, the crown of England became a coin, and the hordes of Greece became a little league team. And I tried here and there to explicate the meanings of the works, as found in the Cliff's Notes.

The first four ran in a zine called nada. The fifth one didn't see print until they were collected in Acme Comics #10 in 1994. That anthology can still be purchased from The Squid Works.

The artwork is a bit naive and punkish, but I think it succeeds on its own terms. Click on these images and they should finally appear big enough to comfortably read.

Cliff Notes Faust

Mo Bee

The Complete Works of Shakespeare

Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" cycle of operas

The Iliad and The Odyssey

Thank you for your time.

Harvey Pekar, Rest In Peace

2010-07-13T11:05:00.001-04:00

Recent Tragic Strips

2010-06-28T13:52:00.002-04:00

Upcoming Classes

2010-06-02T16:24:00.001-04:00

I'm teaching kids this month and next on Saturday mornings at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Tell some kids.

Also, my SVA Cartooning Basics class starts in just over a week. It's almost full.

Update: the SVA class filled with a waiting list, but the kid's class didn't enroll after all. Drat. Another time, perhaps...

Yep, That Was Me

2010-03-31T23:23:00.008-04:00

Photo by Cheese Hasselberger

The posters have mostly come down now, but for a couple of months this year, I was honored to be one of six SVA Continuing Education instructors featured in their Spring ad campaign. My picture appeared in subway trains all over the city and in a full page ad in the Village Voice.

Photo by Elinor Carucci

The subways also had these closeup shots of my hand doodling.

Photo by Elinor Carucci

Was that ever cool.

Photo by Elinor Carucci

Click here to see the whole campaign.

Comic Attack's Artist of the Month

2010-03-15T10:55:00.003-04:00

I spilled my guts a bit in this interview on Comic Attack dot net. Read it if you dare.

Comics Drawn Into the Void

2010-02-10T20:56:00.005-05:00

Another bit of attention for work I did decades ago:
I feel very proud and lucky to have been included in Michael Dowers' new anthology, Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s. My contribution is slight, let's admit, but the book itself is amazing.

Tom Spurgeon posted a very good review on The Comics Reporter, which says,
"If the clash of ideas in the design of Newave! make the book fizz, it's the mix of melancholy (so many comics drawn into the void!) and triumph (and yet here they are!) that Dowers teases from the subject matter that makes consuming it a satisfying experience."

Spurgeon astutely singles out my friend and fellow Hector, Harry Lyrico, and his classic minicomic, "White Boy Goes to Hell," for praise. One of these days, I'll post some of Harry's Hector work for all to enjoy.

Unsung Characters of Comicdom

2010-01-30T23:59:00.002-05:00

A comic I made in the 1980s, Steel Pulse Pro-Wrestling Adventures, is featured in this week's column Unsung Characters of Comicdom which runs on the website, Comic Attack.net.

Writer Josh Jones gives a rollicking synopsis. Sometimes I forget how fun it was to write that thing. I was a beginner and my artwork was full of crazy weird mistakes. Even so, Jones says the artwork is "refreshingly expressive" and adds, "Modern mainstream publishers just don’t produce comics this awesome." Thanks, Josh!

Ink Improvisation

2010-01-12T14:47:00.012-05:00

"Hector Goes to Medical School," 2001.

I've been teaching some courses on comic book inking and having the students practice what I'm calling "ink immersion"-- not in the sense of baptism, which might be fun, but in the sense of working directly with ink, sans penciling. I figure this is a good occasion to continue this thread I started awhile back about individual comic panels regarded as illustrations.

"Secret Rites of Hector," 1993. I'm pretty sure this is the first strip I improvised. I generated a stack of of these figures to get something wiggy enough. The text is adapted from a masonic handbook my friend found in a dumpster.

I find the traditional way of drawing comics-- inking on top of pencil plans-- to be frustrating. Usually, when I erase my pencils, the ink lines are way more anemic than I imagined. By the time I adjust the weights, they lose much of their character. One solution, tracing onto clean paper on a light table, presents its own problems. Often I lose track of subtleties in the penciling that weren't visible through the paper.

This panel from True Fiction #1, 2000, is made from two versions collaged together.

So sometimes I try this method of looking at my thumbnail designs just as I would look at a sketch subject, and improvising the illustrations directly in ink. If I'm warmed up and having a good day, I find it permits a degree of spontaneity and invention that the pencil-tracing approach tends to squelch.

from "The Stutterer's Alfalfabet," 2001. Can you spot my hidden signature?

You might think this would speed up my process, and sometimes it can. But more often, as I'm sure it is with most jazz musicians, I end up doing several "takes" before I get something I can use.

from "The Twilight of the Bums," circa 1999. These character designs eluded me until I resolved to put away my pencils and doodle them into being.

Nowadays, depending on the project, I might do tight penciling, light penciling, or no penciling. A small percent of my comics are ink improv. Many examples are scattered on this blog and my website. Can you tell which ones they are?

Another Recent Strip

2010-01-03T22:09:00.001-05:00

Hare Krsmas, Everybody!

2009-12-23T21:23:00.002-05:00

And a happy new year!

Always Proud of my Students

2009-12-12T22:46:00.008-05:00

Comic by Dane LaChiusa

Here's a new thread I'll be happy to update now and then. I keep learning about former students who're posting their comics online. I'd like to start sharing the links.

I'll begin with Dane LaChiusa, whose Inking Comics project illustrates this post. Check out:
www.whenithinkaboutyouiquotemyself.blogspot.com

On Auratic Outmoded's Weblog, Meredith Leich has some kind words about the Inking Comics class, along with her final project.

Jeff Kocan actually did some blog posts about his experience with my Cartooning Basics class:
www.cigarettesandcoffee.com/posts/category/making-a-comic

Janet Do shows the steps she took to complete her minicomic project on her Milktoasty blog.

I put in an appearance as a cartoon rat in Mark Weisner's comics on his Deviant Art site.

For me, part of the fun of these blogs is in watching the artists develop their technique. Franzine begins with Fran's first class drawing and takes off quickly from there.

I like Chris Varley's Cheeks and Shug blog because you can see the verbal humor he did before he took my class and the slapstick he's been pursuing since.

Earl Barrett-Holloway began his blog after he completed my inking class, but we can watch him study digital coloring here, continued here.

Student Brian Einersen has made headlines with his class minicomic, Lady Saga.

Not least but last, here's this blast-from-the-past podcast. It turns out that the very first time I attempted to teach anything to anyone, one of the kids in the room was none other than Charlito, now the host of Indie Spinner Rack. Here, if you scroll past the obligatory Denver blizzard coverage, you can hear him in conversation with Stan Yan. Stan's another of my earliest students who's become a top flight cartoonist and now a busy instructor. And so the baton advances. They keep talking about me and getting interrupted. Grrrr.

More Tragic Strips

2009-12-04T15:10:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple of single panel Tragic Strips that ran in the Rail last Spring and Summer. They're kind of the same joke.
I redrew the subway one completely from the version that saw print. I like this one better, though I still might add wash to it.

The Umpteen Umbilici of Ulro

2009-12-01T16:16:00.005-05:00

Last week I finally made it up to the Morgan Library Museum to see their amazing collection of William Blake prints. It made me wanna post these old unpublished jam pages where I was goofing on a similarity I think I perceive between the prophecies of Blake and the cosmic comics of Jack Kirby.

It's from this comic jam my friends and I have been passing around for years and years. The comic is called Giant Size Man Thing, the story is called "Even an Android Can Cry," and it's about a character named Rod Packer, Public Dick.

Here are pages 16 thru 18. Click to enlarge, of course.

While I'm at it, here are a couple of my other pages. Page 8 makes fun of my favorite superhero dialog cliche. If anyone's to find funny, my timing will have to be perfect.

Page 25 is really just marking time. I like it because I was under the spell of Alex Toth when I composed the panels. I hope to do more like that sometime.

Maybe I'll publish the whole thing someday, to the relief of those who've contributed, if no one else.

another recent Tragic Strip

2009-11-23T14:12:00.001-05:00

This ran in The Brooklyn Rail in October.

Celebrity Sighting

2009-11-04T22:34:00.002-05:00

I was riding to my comic inking class yesterday when I noticed the actor, Patrick Stewart, a couple rows over on the F train. I managed to do this sketch. He didn't seem too happy about that. He kept lowering the brim on his cap.

Tragic Strips: Made Out of "Mac"

2009-10-30T17:45:00.010-04:00

I've fallen seriously behind on my plan of posting recent Tragic Strips.

Last summer, I did four more permutations in the Made Out of "Mac" series: 2 Mathews's Algorithms, a panorama, and a larded acrostic (the original strip runs vertically down the middle).

I published a collection of the strips so far, which includes a number of guests and jam strips. It can be purchased from the Squid Works.

Doodle Diary

2009-10-16T13:24:00.009-04:00

Awhile back, my friend Isaac Cates took one of my doodles and colored it, which inspired me to try dabbing some color onto these.

The approach to the drawings follow a method I teach under the name "DareDoodle Number Three."

Maybe I should do a post explaining the DareDoodles someday.

What with Halloween looming, I guess I had costumes on my mind.

I imagined these as costumed figures in some sort of post- or neo-constructivist theatrical performance.

Happy Halloween, everybody.

Rest in Peace, Raymond Federman

2009-10-07T10:55:00.007-04:00

One of my favorite writers passed away yesterday.
I'm very happy he let me illustrate one of his books in his lifetime.

Middle-Aged Rage?

2009-08-01T16:13:00.047-04:00

I've been meaning to pull together this post highlighting some of the reviews of The One Marvelous Thing :
(Click on the pictures for a close-up view)

The biggest was a substantial review in the L. A. Times, where Susan Salter Reynolds called Rikki's story collection a "manifesto of middle-aged rage" and said of my drawings, "They erode the text, and maybe that was the intention. We are so used to drawings enhancing prose that it wouldn't surprise me if Ducornet and illustrator T. Motley had cooked up something different." In fact, that's what we did.

She goes on to say some fairly nice things, like: "Ducornet appeals to her readers' feral natures; their covetous side (she is a master collector of glittering objects -- corsets, linens, gold and dumplings -- which are sprinkled generously throughout her prose) and their lascivious, voyeuristic tendencies. You feel naughty reading Ducornet, you hide the book. Gonna have to face it -- you're addicted to lit."

Charles E. May, professor emeritus of literature at California State University, Long Beach, wrote in the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinal, "Ducornet has still got it" and called my illustrations "sometimes whimsical, sometimes grotesque."

"If you go to Literature-map.com and type in Rikki Ducornet's name, you can watch the names of Barthelme, Borges, Barth, Coover, Lovecraft, Calvino and Angela Carter fan out around her. We should be glad that although those who know only the 'normal' may frown in disapproval, there are still writers like Ducornet who have their number. For which we cannot resist singing a chorus of the Steely Dan song inspired by her, 'Rikki, Don't Lose that Number.' "

In The Seattle Times, Robert Allen Papinchak called my drawings "devilishly haunting" though he warned "Some may find the graphic imagery of the illustrations disturbing." He said the texts are "a wholly original series of phantasmagorical tales" and "an irresistible sequence of bizarre, quirky and zany stories."

Jacob Lee, in the Brick Weekly of Richmond Va., wrote, "The more erudite among us might recognize Ducornet for her half-mocking pastiches of post-modernist style, but what you probably didn’t know is that she’s a wonderful short story writer, creating modern fables that read like Calvino re-translated for our strange, modern years. This small collection showcases some of her best stuff, and is wonderfully illustrated throughout by the incomparable T. Motley. Good stuff."

The Midwest Book Review gave the book five out of five stars, said my work is "charming," and said the author " ranges from humor to joy to love to suicidal depression."

Publisher's Weekly mentioned my "inky, scruffy black-and-white sketches" and said of the writing, "these stories spotlight Ducornet's linguistic pyrotechnics and will delight readers who, like Ducornet, can find the beauty in the irreverent and absurd".

Leslie Patterson in the Library Journal called Rikki's writing "wildly unconventional" and "boldly inventive" but dissed my work as "more juvenile than witty," which stung at first, until I remembered the various penises and blow jobs I put in there. What's a librarian expected to think?

I came across an enthusiast review on a website called Library Thing, where a member going by kmaziarz said "The book is boldly illustrated with pen-and-ink style cartoons and sketches whose hidden details, snarled curving lines, and snide humor somewhat recall the “underground comix” style and perfectly complement the stories." and called the stories " Surreal, vivid, and often strangely lovely."

Jeff VanderMeer at Omnivoracious.com wrote: "Ducornet can lay rightful claim to being one of North America's preeminent surrealists. She is sui generis in her particular combination of passion and precision, the strange muscular delicacy with which she approaches her writing. In her latest collection, that sensibility is supplemented in true eccentric fashion by the illustrations of T. Motley (who may well be a pseudonym for Ducornet, since she is also an artist)."

Hmmm. Am I a pseudonym for Rikki Ducornet? A tantalizing thought. Is it too late to make that my ambition?

One cool development has been that the book is beginning to be taught in colleges. The thought that people are being required to look at my pictures and graded on whether they did so gives me a perverse thrill. One professor, Catherine Kasper of The University of Texas at San Antonio, has provided some of the students' feedback:

"By far this is the coolest book I'll have assigned to read this semester."

"This book is fantastic, one of the most enjoyable reads of my college career. Ducornet's prose is subtle in the way it tells the story, leaving just enough for the reader to imagine and make me completely jealous."

"I love love love these stories. The use of illustrations informs the text with manic comic psychedelic energy!"

So there you have it. You know you want it. Here's one of the ways to get it.

Doodle Diary

2009-07-12T17:33:00.005-04:00

Sequential Doodles

Subway Sketch

2009-06-24T17:46:00.001-04:00

Doodle Diary

2009-06-22T21:21:00.001-04:00

Lest I forget...

2009-06-17T16:50:00.005-04:00

The May issue of Nickelodeon Magazine, may it rest in peace, included this little cartoon of mine:

I think the June issue's on the stands now, but if you stumble across the May one, check this out on page 25. Nifty, eh?

Panel Discussions

2009-06-14T23:07:00.028-04:00

I had a very nice time at MoCCA the weekend before last-- saw great work, made new friends, and sold some books. My tablemate, Isaac Cates, wrote a nice piece about it on his blog, as have many others.

It was frustrating, though, that as an exhibitor I didn't have time to visit every table and I didn't manage to check out any of the cool programming. I'm a guy who really enjoys these panel discussions. Next year, I think I'll just buy a ticket and check out MoCCA from the other side of the table.

Meanwhile, I'd like to post the remainder of my sketches from the New York Comic Con last April and the year before. Apart from the welcome presence of top graphic novel publishers, the comics on the main floor at NYCC are mostly too commercial, too lowbrow, or too garish for my taste (I've already posted a comic strip about that). So I spend most of my time downstairs with the programming, where the real action is. Click on the images to enlarge them. Please help me with the attributions if you see that I didn't get somebody's name or spelled it wrong.

My favorite panel was this one titled "Graphic Novels and Academic Acceptance," which might've been the governing theme of much of the programming this year. I could feel big changes brewing from the year before, as more and more educators are getting involved in the field.
Here we see Greg Urquhart, a Comics Editor at Alexander Street Press; Bill Savage, a Senior Lecturer in the English Department at Northwestern University; comic artist Jonathan Hickman; Gene Kannenberg Jr, Director of http://www.facebook.com/l/;ComicsResearch.org; Kent Worcester, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College; cartoonists Dean Haspiel & Peter Kuper, and moderator Karen Green of Columbia University.

A close second favorite was this impromptu panel that erupted when a scheduled panel on comics in the classroom was suddenly cancelled. Some teachers in the audience discovered that the mikes were still working and took to the stage to guide a lively conversation where everyone in the room swapped ideas and resources. This enthusiasm for comic books as teaching tools would've been unthinkable even a decade ago. Assuming you can struggle with my handwriting, a glance at my notes will give you taste of what today's educators are passionate about. Here we see a school administrator named Pat (?), a schoolteacher named Lou (?), and Sebastian Mondrone of Teachingmatters.org.

This panel titled "Comics and New Media" focused on the forthcoming, eagerly anticipated graphic novel, "A.D.--After the Deluge" and featured artist Josh Neufeld, Smith Magazine editor Jeff Newelt, literary agent Kate Lee, and Pantheon editor Lisa Weinert.

Here's a fine panel titled "Inkers on Inking" moderated by Andy Schmidt and featuring Bob Almond, Zander Cannon, Mark McKenna, and Nelson DeCastro.

And here we have "Editors on Editing," with Lindsay Kraemer of the Comic Artists Guild, host Buddy Scalera, and comics editors Scott Alley, Glenn Hurdling, Nick Lowe, Mike Martz, and Rob Levin.

"Comics for Kids" featured Franco, Jeff Parker, Jan Jones, Art Baltazar, Chris Giarusso, Chris Eliopolis, and moderator T. J. May.

From 2008, "Using Computers to Draw Comics" with Frazer Irving, Dan Goldman, Lincy Chan, and Hector Casanova,...

"Comic Writers on Writing"with Danny Fingeroth, J.M DeMatteis, Tom DeFalco, Denny O'Neill, Jimmy Palmiotti, Colleen Doran, and Justin (?),...

"Comic Artists on Drawing" with Peter Sanderson, Colleen Doran, Walt Simonson, Dean Haspiel, Jim Lee, and a pretty girl in the audience,...

and "The Art of Storytelling" with Mark Guggenheim, Klaus Jansen, and Andy Schmidt.

Doodle Diary

2009-05-18T22:59:00.003-04:00

More quasi-vegetation doodles, though these are more abstracted than that last batch.

Doodle Diary

2009-05-12T13:11:00.008-04:00

Doodles to greet the Spring.
Appropriately enough, these got rained on before I could scan them.

Doodle Diary

2009-05-06T19:49:00.001-04:00

Our New York dream.

Oulipo in New York

2009-04-07T17:21:00.006-04:00

Writers from the Oulipo were in New York last week conducting readings, book signings, panels, and workshops. I managed to attend three of the events:
A reading at The New School on April 1st introduced by Honor Moore and Jean-Jacques Poucel, featuring Anne F. Garreta, Herve LeTellier, Marcel Benabou, Jacques Roubaud, Daniel Levin Becker, and Ian Monk;

an April 3rd panel on "Translating Georges Perec" at NYU's Maison Francaise with Ian Monk and David Bellos, moderated by Emmanuelle Ertel;

and an April 3rd reading at Pierogi Gallery hosted by The Brooklyn Rail, featuring Monk, Garreta, Roubaud, Benabou, and LeTellier, and hosted by Donald Breckenridge.
Please click on the images to really see them.

Doodle Diary

2009-04-06T22:12:00.002-04:00

Doodle Diary

2009-04-05T14:31:00.000-04:00

Spring fever's setting in.

Readings at the KGB Bar

2009-04-02T12:56:00.008-04:00

The KGB Bar in the east village hosts lots of great literary readings.

Above are sketches from a reading in February 2008 of authors published by Starcherone Books: Zachary Mason, Aimee Parkison, Joshua Cohen, Joshua Harmon, Sara Greenslit, Douglas Manson, and Ted Pelton. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Below are sketches from a Brooklyn Rail reading last October featuring Donald Breckenridge, Lance Olsen, and Yuriy Tarnawsky.

Doodle Diary

2009-03-31T12:21:00.002-04:00

I'm game. Deal me in.

Art in Brooklyn

2009-03-29T12:39:00.002-04:00

This week's installment of the Art In Brooklyn blog features a few images from The One Marvelous Thing. Now, isn't that special?

Comics Luminaries

2009-03-23T16:14:00.003-04:00

Here are fairly recent sketches of Scott McCloud at Brooklyn Public Library and Chris Ware, Francoise Mouly, and Marjane Satrapi at NYU.

My Favorite Theme

2009-03-20T14:32:00.005-04:00

People being sad.

Doodle Diary

2009-03-16T22:45:00.001-04:00

Lookin' goood.

New Aline Strips

2009-03-14T18:43:00.003-04:00

I added some new Aline the Alien strips to the Kidjutsu website. Check 'em out and lemme know what you think!

Comic powered by Kidjutsu

Doodle Diary

2009-03-13T15:12:00.001-04:00

You know how this feels.

Another Recent Strip

2009-03-11T13:54:00.001-04:00

Doodle Diary

2009-03-08T11:48:00.001-04:00

What does this one mean, Doctor?

Doodle Diary

2009-03-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

Girls with short legs.

Another Recent Strip

2009-02-28T22:12:00.004-05:00

This one appeared in The Brooklyn Rail over the holiday on their back page instead of its usual slot in the fiction section. I guess that's kind of an honor.

Aline the Alien

2009-02-25T11:46:00.008-05:00

I've begun uploading my Aline the Alien comics to Kidjutsu, a new website for children. Come have a look. There are a number of good comics there. Register to vote on them and help shape the future content!

Comic powered by Kidjutsu

Doodle Diary

2009-02-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

Doodle Diary

2009-02-18T11:56:00.002-05:00

Doodle Diary

2009-02-13T16:12:00.002-05:00

Lump's best friend.

Last Year's New York Comic Con

2009-02-02T17:08:00.006-05:00

The New York Comic Con is coming up this weekend. I look forward to attending some of the classes and panels they're offering. I may as well post a few more of the sketches I made last year, in anticipation of having a new batch soon.

This is from the panel, "Arf Arf," hosted by Craig Yoe and featuring Al Jaffee, Glenn Head, and David Cowles.

And here we see Jessica Abel and Matt Madden presenting their book, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures.

Here are Mark Evanier and J. J. Sedelmaier discussing "The State of Animation."

And here's the 2008 grouping of "The Legends Behind the Comic Books." Presented by Michael Uslan, we see Murphy Anderson, Jerry Robinson, Irwin Hasen, Ramona Fradon, Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee, Joe Simon, and John Romita. Dick Ayers was there, too, but from where I sat he was hidden by the podium.

I still have a few more of these sketches that I might post sometime soon.

Another Recent Strip

2009-01-11T15:06:00.001-05:00

doodle diary

2008-12-29T15:04:00.003-05:00

I filled a stack of cocktail napkins, and ended up with this one image that I kind of like.

More Tragic Strips

2008-12-17T11:25:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple more strips from The Brooklyn Rail, united by the theme of women falling off of cliffs. The second is a constrained piece. It's made of the end rhymes from Browning's famous sonnet.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Why I Keep At It

2008-12-15T16:59:00.007-05:00

Trying to connect with publishers, reviewers, and the various other comics experts can be frustrating, to say the least. But the reception my work has gotten from actual people has been often positive and sometimes enthusiastic. The other day, I received this email from a stranger:

Hi,
I just wanted to send you a quick note of thanks for this comic:

I have had a copy of it pinned up in my office for as many years as I can remember and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. It has been up there for so long that I don't even remember where I first ran across it.

I just wanted to let you know that the genius of that little strip is still out there and being appreciated now.

Thank you.
Cheers,
Marc

When I thanked him and asked permission to quote him here, he added that he'd posted the strip to his Twitter account and got this reaction from a friend:

"Wow - that comic strip was profound | deep | sad | moving | realistic - thanks for sharing."

So that felt good. That'll sustain me for awhile ( in lieu of food money). I confess I tend to think of that one as the best strip I've ever done.

Doodle Diary

2008-12-15T16:37:00.001-05:00

A couple unsavory characters.

Comics and the Literary Establishment

2008-12-15T16:18:00.003-05:00

Here's the last of the Post Bang sketches I made. This panel featured comics historians and critics. L to R we see moderator Kent Worcester, Jeet Heer, David Hadju, Hillary Chute, and Douglas Wolk.

Subway Sketch

2008-11-26T23:03:00.004-05:00

I ended up giving this sketch to the mom. She just sent me this scan of it.
The subway makes my line bumpy. When the train stops, I have to stop drawing.

As of Yesterday...

2008-11-26T11:05:00.002-05:00

Good People Who Make Good Comics for Kids

2008-11-16T16:18:00.011-05:00

Here are a few convention sketches of artists and publishers who focus on young readers. The con program books aren't always thorough and I don't take the best notes. If anyone who sees this can help me get the attributions right, please respond.

This first sketch is from the Post Bang conference, June 2008. The panel was called "Comics and Kid's Lit." L to R are Raw Jr. publisher Francoise Mouly, historian Leonard Marcus, cartoonists Sara Varon and Mo Willems, and teacher/librarian Lisa von Drasek.

This second sketch is from a panel on Toon Books at the New York Comic Con. We see Francoise Mouly again, artist Frank Cammuso, Dean Haspiel (sitting in the audience), a librarian named Michelle (?), illustrator Geoffrey Hayes, and writer Jay Lynch.

Here's where I really need help. I arrived late to this panel and wasn't able to catch the names of the first three gentlemen in this picture. Assuming I achieved a likeness, does anyone recognize these fellows? The last two are David Saylor of Scholastic and Chris Staros of Top Shelf.

And here's a super quick impression of some creators from Nickelodeon Magazine: Dave Roman, R. Sikoryak, and Chris Duffy.

Comic Con Diary

2008-11-02T19:59:00.003-05:00

This one was legible enough when it ran in The Brooklyn Rail, but I've since made some small corrections to it. That's my excuse for reposting it here.

Marvelous?

2008-11-02T15:08:00.007-05:00

I see that my new book, Rikki Ducornet's The One Marvelous Thing, is now available at Amazon.

I always wonder what people will make of my drawings. Are they "inky, scruffy" (Publisher's Weekly), "insidious, witty" (Harry Mathews), "gritty, fantastical" (Dalkey Archive) or what? You decide.

I should offer an incentive. If you order a copy, send your mailing address to mot@tmotley.com and I'll send you an index card covered with original doodles. They make pretty good bookmarks.

Doodle Diary

2008-10-24T18:22:00.001-04:00

My Cubofuturist dream girl.

Some Recent Strips

2008-10-21T10:59:00.005-04:00

When my Tragic Strips appear in The Brooklyn Rail, they print them nice and big. But the versions on their web site are kind of too small to read. So I'll start reposting them here at a generous size. Click on these for a good look at the drawings.

These three are from an oubapo-esque series I'm developing called "Made Out of Mac."

Doodle Diary

2008-10-04T19:33:00.000-04:00

Tahm fer a showdown!

The Word/Image Problem

2008-09-30T12:50:00.007-04:00

Since moving to New York, one of my favorite cartooning related events was on a very rainy March 8th at Parsons School for Design, where Ben Katchor organized a symposium called "Rodolphe Topffer and theWord/Image Problem."

Katchor gathered a stellar group of artists and academics to present slides and discussions on visual narrative throughout history. The guest of honor was David Kunzle, biographer of Rodolphe Topffer, considered by many to be the inventor of the comic strip.
(I'm thinking of composing a post that addresses that question. Stay tuned).

For me, the highlight of the day was that I met my lifelong hero, Peter Blegvad. Years before he took up comic strips, Blegvad's songs and their accompanying notes and illustrations shaped my thinking about comics in crucial, fundamental ways. Please excuse my sloppy sketch of the man-- he performed songs accompanying slides of his artwork and I had to put down my pen to marvel at the effect.

Reading down the sketches, we find Steven Guarnaccia, Chair of Parsons' Illustration Department, giving the introduction; Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese Literature, speaking on Indo-Chinese picture recitations; biographer Aimee Brown Price on the unofficial cartoons of painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes; Blegvad; Princeton University's Anne-Marie Bouche on Dialogues of Text andImage in Medieval Art; cartoonist Ben Katchor on Graven Images in the Yiddish Press; Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman in the audience; James Miller and Noah Isenberg of The New School for Social Research in conversation On the Perils of Academic Specialization; David Kunzle on Topffer as Professional Dilettante; and Patricia Mainardi, Professor of Art History at Brooklyn College, delivering a very inspiring presentation on forgotten proto-comic approaches in nineteenth-century book illustration.

Scoff if you wish, but this is my idea of a good time.
(You'll want to click on these three pages to really see them)

Doodle Diary

2008-09-23T12:45:00.001-04:00

What're you lookin' at?

Cartooning Today

2008-09-22T21:37:00.005-04:00

"Cartooning Today" was, I'm pretty sure, the name of this outdoor panel last week at the Brooklyn Book Festival. From left to right we see Kyle Baker, Mo Willems, a statue of Henry Ward Beecher, and moderator Brian Heater. One could read the whole interview here.

Brillig

2008-09-17T13:46:00.007-04:00

My new book with Rikki Ducornet should be out soon from Dalkey Archive Press. Here are some of the preliminary, concept sketches for one of the comic stories at the back of the book. Click to enlarge, of course.

Ben Marcus and William Gass

2008-09-17T13:46:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple of sketches from readings at the Brooklyn Public Library sponsored by The Brooklyn Rail.

Doodle Diary

2008-09-09T15:04:00.000-04:00

Izzy Challenge #5

2008-09-07T22:02:00.008-04:00

I contributed to a panel in J.B. Winter's newest Izzy Challenge. My MoCCA tablemate, Isaac
Cates and I were amused to see our contributions side by side, through an accident of alphabetization.

Read Isaac's post about it, then read Winter's.

Winter does cool jam comics. You should check this one out.