Welcome to the first page of Chapter Three! Here we see Jamie returning to the camp and meeting Little Jackie so she can give her the mushrooms that she practically lost her arm over, so she can make a stew from them to give to the twins and all that. Jamie seems a little shaken from her experience in Clooney’s Cavern, so hopefully Little Jackie can provide some of her trademark motherly comfort.
There are still a bunch of things on sale for cheap in the store, because I haven’t had the time or energy to switch everything back to regular prices yet, but that might happen over the weekend so if you’re in the mood for bargains, you can still get them here!
So earlier in the week I showed you how I brainstormed with my friend MK to come up with ideas of what to put on the cover of the Freewheel: Volume One book. Then I showed you the line art of the drawing I made for the cover. Today, I present to you, the final full-color art for the cover of the book, which is going to the printers today!
I am really terrible when it comes to coloring black-and-white art, but luckily I got some tips and tricks from friends that were helpful! What do you think?
Man, those Gang Mills nest kids sure are nosy! They’re all up in Jamie’s grill!
So check it out, I got another piece of fan art from Rachel Dukes of Poseur Ink! It’s going to go in the Freewheel: Volume One book along with all the other fan art I’ve shown you so far. It just went off to the printers on Friday so it shouldn’t be long before I get the hard copies in my hands (which of course, I will immediately take pictures of and show you here).
Be sure and check out the Kickstarter project recently launched by Poseur Ink – Octobriana! As described on their Kickstarter page, Octobriana is “an action-filled fantasy piece that follows the heroine, Octobriana, on her quest to claim her title as the goddess of lust. Set in Soviet Russia, the story reflects Octobriana’s origin in an underground protest zine which stood up for sexual expression. With chapters full of sex, psychics, and Russian mythology, this new incarnation written by indie comics writer Steve Orlando (HOPE: New Orleans anthology, Outlaw Territory), and illustrated by Chaz Truog (Animal Man with Grant Morrison) looks to be a titillating thrill.”
Anyway, here’s the piece Rachel made for me, and I should mention that she made it for me at the last possible second when I was scrambling to fill one remaining blank page in the book. Thanks Rachel!
This is probably one of my favorite pages of Chapter Three, when all the Gang Mills kids describe what they believe the Contessa is like. My favorite one, and the one that always cracks me up, is the kid who says “She’s made of cats!”
So I got an email from my friend Alan Lastufka the other day. He told me that a song on his upcoming album, Erase This, features a song called “Boxcar Blood” which was “semi-inspired by the attitude of Freewheel” and even name-checks Freewheel in a couple of lines! How cool is that? Erase This should be out sometime mid-May-ish from DFTBA Records, a label which he co-owns.
You may or may not know this, but Alan was actually instrumental in the creation of the original incarnation of Freewheel, which first appeared online as a webcomic on the Fall of Autumn website. Fall of Autumn was (maybe still is? I can’t totally tell from the website) a zine distro that I used to send copies of My Brain Hurts to for distro consideration back when MBH was a minicomic. They started selling MBH, and at some point Alan paid me to draw their website banner (which you can still see on their site), which if I remember correctly was actually my first paid illustration job, back in 2006 or so I think.
Alan and I worked together on a few projects, some which panned out, others which didn’t. I did some scratchboard illustrations for a zine project of his which ended up becoming a short film called “Five Stories,” which was shown on IFC (I am credited as “House Conceptual Design” as my illustrations aren’t in the film itself but the house in the film was inspired by the house I drew).
ANYWAY. Eventually he came to me with the suggestion of my doing a webcomic for the Fall of Autumn site. It would be good exposure for me and my work, and I could try my hand at a new story idea I’d been kicking around – a young girl who runs away from home to find her missing brother, and has some kind of train-hopping hobo adventure – which is what became Freewheel.
I was doing Freewheel for Fall of Autumn I think twice a week for a little while, but I was still working on My Brain Hurts and juggling a full-time job at the time, so eventually I had to cut back my updates to once a week, then once every two weeks, until I eventually decided to put it on indefinite hiatus. Part of this decision came from my own inability to give the story the time and attention it deserved, and the other part came from Alan‘s growing interest in YouTube, which I perceived as taking his time and attention away from Fall of Autumn projects, including Freewheel. It was obviously time for me to take a break.
Well, cut to a few years later, and I am now running Freewheel on my own site, giving it all the time and attention it deserves now that I am no longer working on My Brain Hurts or slaving away at a full-time job 40+ hours a week. Alan is a successful YouTube personality, having literally written the book on the subject, and his label DFTBA Records is doing awesomely, having been voted 2009′s Best Online Music Label of the Year by Mashable.
So what I’m getting at is, you should be sure to check out Alan‘s debut album, Erase This, on DFTBA Records this spring, and keep an eye out for the song Boxcar Blood, which was semi-inspired by the attitude of Freewheel. There may even be a special little cross-promotional dealie going on when the album comes out, but you’ll just have to wait and see!
This one is another of my favorite pages with the kids of Gang Mills. My favorite part is the one of their version of the Contessa wearing a bear skin while running with blood trailing behind.
So my friend Jen Vaughn who creates the webcomic Mermaid Hostel (which conveniently updates on Fridays, hint hint) is headed to SXSW pretty soon and she’s trying to raise money for her trip by offering the prospect of a really cool-sounding minicomic detailing the events of the… event! Check out what she has to say about it in her press release:
Cartoonist Jen Vaughn is thrilled to announce her first SXSW InteractiviZINE! From March 12th to March 16th, she will attend the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival in Austin, TX and will “cover” the event multimedia-style in her Interactivitizine! SXSW is chock full of panels, events, and of course parties, related to social media, convergence, video games, start-ups and anything Internet. Upon the conclusion of her visit, Jen will post her drawings, notes, photos and other ephemera from the festival on her website for everyone to share the wealth of information gleaned.
Jen is accepting donations of $5 and up towards her SXSW InteractiviZINE experience via her website (http://www.mermaidhostel.com/sxsw-interactivizine-fundraiser/). Anyone who donates will receive a LIMITED EDITION (PRINT) SXSW InteractiviZINE full of panel notes, comics and other special goodies made especially by Jen Vaughn.
Jen creates a weekly webcomic called Mermaid Hostel and her previous works include Menstruation Station: Menarche Aboard!, and Don’t Hate, Menstruate. She is also an enthusiastic member of the Rare Bits Comics Collective.
I’m a big fan of Jen’s menstruation-related minicomics (mentioned above) and I think she’s going to come up with some really cool stuff for the minicomic/zine thing she’s putting together from her experiences at SXSW.
Yup, another page of the Gang Mills kids talking about the Contessa! My favorite part of this page is the owl holding up the pact. He signed it with his claws!
Starting this Wednesday I’ll be on the road with the Punchbuggy Tour, which is a comics-reading/signing/semi-acoustic-music tour I helped organize with my fellow cartoonist friends, MK Reed and Gabby Schulz (better known as “Ken Dahl”). Dig these fancy stops! Hit up one of our dates if you’re in the neighborhood! We’ll be reading from our comics and performing a song or two on our many quaint acoustic instruments, as well as providing a live acoustic soundtrack to some of the readings! FUN!
PUNCHBUGGY SPRING TOUR DATES – SPRING FORWARD, PUNCH BACK!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection!
Last time we went on tour we met chickens in Detroit!
Another day, another tall tale from the Gang Mills kids! This time, it’s the cautionary tale of Twitchy Pete (he ain’t never been the same)!
If you’re in the New York City area, I have several pages on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art as part of the NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition group show. Supposedly, my pages are right next to Craig Thompson’s and directly beneath Charles Schulz’s! So cool! The show will be up until May 30, 2010!
Starting today I’ll be on the road with the Punchbuggy Tour, which is a comics-reading/signing/semi-acoustic-music tour I helped organize with my fellow cartoonist friends, MK Reed and Gabby Schulz (better known as “Ken Dahl”). Dig these fancy stops! Hit up one of our dates if you’re in the neighborhood! We’ll be reading from our comics and performing a song or two on our many quaint acoustic instruments, as well as providing a live acoustic soundtrack to some of the readings! FUN!
Our first public performance is this Friday in White River Junction, VT! Come see us!
PUNCHBUGGY SPRING TOUR DATES – SPRING FORWARD, PUNCH BACK!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection!
It’s good that Little Jackie is around to help out all those kids. Where would Jamie be without her? Probably short one jacket sleeve, at the very least!
If you’re in the New York City area, I have several pages on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art as part of the NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition group show. Supposedly, my pages are right next to Craig Thompson’s and directly beneath Charles Schulz’s! So cool! The show will be up until May 30, 2010!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection!
I really like this page. It was fun to draw, too! I was looking at a lot of Craig Thompson’s work when I was thumbnailing it. Speaking of which!
If you’re in the New York City area, I have several pages on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art as part of the NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition group show. Supposedly, my pages are right next to Craig Thompson’s and directly beneath Charles Schulz’s! So cool! The show will be up until May 30, 2010!
Tomorrow night I’ll be doing a reading and performance as part of the Punchbuggy Tour with my tourmates/van family MK Reed and Gabby “Ken Dahl” Schulz at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA! Check out the rest of our dates and come see us on tour!
PUNCHBUGGY SPRING TOUR DATES – SPRING FORWARD, PUNCH BACK!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection! I’ll be updating the Punchbuggy blog with photos and stories from the tour, so be sure and check it out!
Today we learn a little bit more about Jamie’s past, about her family, and some hints about what happened to her parents.
If you’re in the New York City area, I have several pages on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art as part of the NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition group show. Supposedly, my pages are right next to Craig Thompson’s and directly beneath Charles Schulz’s! So cool! The show will be up until May 30, 2010!
Tonight I’ll be doing a reading and performance as part of the Punchbuggy Tour with my tourmates/van family MK Reed and Gabby “Ken Dahl” Schulz at Ada Books in Providence, RI! Tomorrow night we’ll be performing at Hub Comics in Somerville, MA! Check out the rest of our dates and come see us on tour!
PUNCHBUGGY SPRING TOUR DATES – SPRING FORWARD, PUNCH BACK!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection!
Today we learn a little bit more about Jamie and her brother and their family and how everything came to be how it was at the beginning of Freewheel.
If you’re in the New York City area, I have several pages on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art as part of the NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition group show. Supposedly, my pages are right next to Craig Thompson’s and directly beneath Charles Schulz’s! So cool! The show will be up until May 30, 2010!
Tonight I’ll be doing a reading and performance as part of the Punchbuggy Tour with my tourmates/van family MK Reed and Gabby “Ken Dahl” Schulz at the Drawn & Quarterly Store in Montreal, Quebec! Check out the rest of our dates and come see us on tour!
PUNCHBUGGY SPRING TOUR DATES – SPRING FORWARD, PUNCH BACK!
Monday, March 29 - Rochester, NY @ Monroe Community College (classroom presentation, students only)
Don’t worry, Freewheel will still be updating automatically while I’m gone! If you want to keep abreast of our tour adventures (we’ll be traveling from March 17 until the 29th) be sure and bookmark the Punchbuggy Tour site or add it to your RSS feed collection!
