Puberty

 

Again more sketchbook stuff from #86.

 

From sketchbook #86

 

Dinnertime

Dinner scene from my upcoming book. Or rahter, an 'afterstudy' of it. Not so happy with the quasi-cubist approach. It should have been more radical. I will try again later.

 

Sketchbook #87

New sketchbook. Number 87. Front, back covers. Really rough treatment with white paint.

 

Diskomodo

My good friend Daniele Murtas sent me a copy of his hilarious underground comic Diskomodo with a dedication featuring  a couple of my characters. I got a real kick out of that! Some time ago, I had borrowed his 'son' for an illustration for Murv/Murf magazine after a documentary by Werner Herzog, The White Diamond. Diskomodo is a grumpy techno DJ in Berlin of Komodo descent, always getting into trouble for his bad attitude. Highly recommended. You can order a copy by reaching out to https://www.instagram.com/nervomurtas/ 
 

Spontinaity or clarity?

A new version of a page that I posted about a week ago or so. I suppose I am sacrificing spontinaity for clarity, as is so often the case when you are drawing comics (sigh). A single drawing-page does not require it so much, but the other pages of this chapter have about six or seven panels, and do need a great degree of clarity and cleanly alligned shapes. By the way, the character on the left is a nod to Tardi for his magnificent illustrations to Céline's Le Voyage au bout de la Nuit. Just so you know.

 

I wish I could be active on social media again…

I wish I could be active on social media, but I find them annoying. Anyway, here are two zines I made some times ago for you to enjoy.

I did those with Maud Newton (Nerf Antagonistes) and Meles (Ronronzine). They are both printed using a risograph.
 

Friterie

 

Collab with Gwen Stok

A sampling of the joined drawings Gwen Stok and me did a few years ago. They are pretty big, 50x65cm, which was a bit of challenge to me personally, as i usually confine myself to little panels on comic pages. All black ink on paper, no digital trickery.
 

Sketchbook #86

 The obligatory new sketchbook cover post. This number 86.

Pazuzus at the beach

 Sketchbook time again. With Puzaza, Kazuzu, Dagon and Oannes.

Same funeral, but with more guests

I was happy with the older version at the bottom, but the storyline demanded for extra characters.

 

Hanze Art

For the Summer, a number of drawing by me will be on display at the railway station of Deventer, situated in the east of The Netherlands. Many thanks to my friend Marcel Herms and Petrichor editors for inviting me to join this very cool project commemorating the city's historical past and its part in the Hansa union (a distant predecessor to the EU, one could say)
 

Pile - Dripping Album Release Tour Poster

Havent posted in a while, been rather busy trying to secure a good day job (well night job, I'll get into that in a moment), mostly secretly filling out ink books in preparation for what might be some fun opportunities to sell art at my local venue, its tedious preparing work and figuring out time to sell anything here in the states, especially if you live in a state like Florida. The heat is horrible, the air smells like rotten water, sewage, trash collecting in small gaps between trees and behind tents that are home to the countless homeless who gather here is Saint Augustine. They are attracted the the never ending spring/summer and the only thing that washes them away is the occasional hurricane. 

This town is a slight tourist trap, lots of Spanish history, its one of the oldest cities in Florida. I happen to live in a apartment complex that was built on what was one of the oldest golf courses in the United States. in the early 2000's it was sold to be turned into housing, however at some point between the 50's and the 90s the land was contaminated, something in the soil and made it impossible for them to build. Its been that way up to now. The resort on the golf course is now the apartment complex I live in. Its not bad, pretty open space, enough room for me to take advantage of my work when I have the time. It is however expensive due to said tourism and I'm forced to work day jobs to compensate for my inconsistent show poster work.

As I mentioned before I'm currently training physically to become a body removal technician, specifically on call for a night shift since it pays more. It would leave me more time at home, waiting on the clock to retrieve the recently deceased in our humble rotting town. The elderly gather here to spend their retirement, so business seems to be always booming. They say the only thing you gotta get used to is the smell. How exciting. 

---

With that update out of the way, lets discuss some art. Pile had recently released a new album, a old client who I loved working with very much. The band focused on a spicy mix of rock / alternative indie / punk and noise with bits and pieces of frantic post hardcore sprinkled on top of what was always a melody focused collection of musical oddities. One could pick apart sounds from old Modest Mouse, Shellac, Built to Spill, Pavement, Mclusky and then some. The new album All Fiction took advantage of Rick Maguire's time solo touring, he had been experimenting with new sounds as a attempt to recreate what a full band would sound like by his own means. What was normally a traditional instrumental band, now ventures into a mix of digital keys, organic effects and vast sound dynamics comforted by what was already a refined tradition grounded by the bands extended catalogue of incredible ballads. My personal favorite is Loops, almost giving vibes similar to a combination of Sonic Youth and Blonde Redhead soundscapes. 

The poster I'm showing is from Pile's Dripping Album Release Tour, its something special as I stepped outside my comfort zone and did something more of a callback to the album artwork of the previous release, Magic Isn't Real. 

Anyways, I'll try getting on to post more new stuff. Thanks for reading, hope you all are enjoying the end of your weekend. -Barnacle Brain.

The Maybe Machine

'The Maybe Machine'. From my sketchbook. I may not use this for a future book, but I am thinking of the amount of random chance a believable story can endure and build some meta humour around that.

 

Same place, another time

Revisiting an old page from my book Pola (2019) for a future story. The backbground was inspired by a famous photo by André Kertesz.

 

The Moon

From sketchbook #85. I don't know if i will find a way of using this idea of the moon having the exact same continents as the Earth has. It's good enough, but welding together these Fortean ideas into a structure of a workable story takes a LOT of brainwork. You can't have the madness without the method...

 

There They Are