August

I mentioned before that there would perhaps be a delay in the release of and August strip. And there likely will be a delay. I have recently returned from a nearly month-long honeymoon (proceeded initially, as these things often are, by a rather lovely wedding) and am a bit behind. If the strip is not added by this friday, I will hopefully have it up by next week. My apologies to all.

Metro Pulse Q&A

So yesterday I received a set of questions from the Metro Pulse for the July 9th all comics and puzzles issue. It was your standard short "get to know you" type of questions, and I tried to answer them to the best of my abilities. Anyways, I don't know if there'll be any editing to fit on the page, but I don't think that there should be too much as I did try to keep things fairly succinct.

See my answers after the jump----->

So, who are you? (keep it brief)

At my most basic, I am an artist. A painter by training and inclination, I also dabble on the web, with video, and with comics. I’d like to say that I am a musician, but that would be an utter lie.

The pen-and-ink style you use is reminiscent of artists you might see in
Drawn & Quarterly or Fantagraphics comic books are there any comic artists that are particularly important to you?

Early on I was a big fan of the big superhero comics, particularly Jim Lee and his work on X-Men. But this kind of work draws much more inspiration from Robert Crumb and Keith Knight. I’m also a big fan of Aaron McGruder’s work.

Would you say your comics are autobiographical, or rather based on characters you see around you?

The comic can be autobiographical. Some of the story lines have been taken from things that have happened directly to me. But some of them are observations of things that I see around me. I try to stay attuned to what’s happening as almost anything can be mined for a line or story.

Your main character (is it you?) is sporting the long-beard look that's so
popular these days. Why do young men today want to look like
turn-of-the-century Appalachian coal miners?

The main character is not me, but a stand in for me. Perhaps that’s the same thing. While I have been known to sport a beard, I don’t have the same flowing locks from my head. I’ve often wondered why so many folks sport that look, and I have been at a loss to explain it. Maybe it’s an attempt to capture a macho/manly aura. I’m much too sensitive and artistic to be considered macho, so maybe sporting a beard is a substitute for that? Probably we all just want to look cool.

When composing these, are you trying to evoke stories or moods?

These are about moods. I don’t fret too much about coherent story lines or development of character. I think they are about guttural emotions and reactions to a strange, complex, and often misunderstood world. But they’re not about pointing out specifics or about finding solutions to any of that.

Do you ever worry whether readers will "understand" them?

I never worry that anyone will or will not understand them. In fact, I go into the entire enterprise assuming no one will understand them. I think that they have merit based on their sense of emotionality. The mood they set coupled with the drawing makes them interesting even if one doesn’t understand what is happening. I believe that there are some people that will get them, and those that don’t can rest assured that there is a madness to my method.

News

Very exciting developments here at Quiet Adventure HQ. I have been chosen as one of the artists to participate in a soon to come all comics issue of the Metro Pulse. I will also be interviewed (as I am sure all the other artists will be) so there may be some words in there by me. Apart from the words in the comic of course. So keep an eye out in late July early August.

Also I have finished the July panel, and will be posting it up on July First Friday.

There may be a delay for an August strip as I will be spending July getting married and honeymooning. I will keep you up to date on that as I get more information.

Posting Schedule

You may have noticed that I've posted about four finished panels thus far. That is a bit more than I had expected when I started this site. The major reason is that I was completing product, if you will, in order to submit comics for an upcoming issue of the Metro Pulse. Having done that I think that I will begin to post on a more set schedule, and one that allows me more time. So I've decided to post new material on a monthly basis on the first Friday of the month. This will in a way keep me on Knoxville's art schedule and give my self a deadline. So keep your eyes posted here for future posts.

New Images

I have been working very hard of late on the comic as I am hoping to have a few panels featured in the Metro Pulse. For those that don't know the Metro Pulse is Knoxville's local weekly alternative paper. It was once independently owned, but in the last couple of years it has been gobbled up by the Scripps company. Many of us here in Knoxville were a bit worried, but in general I haven't seen too many strange corporate goings on in the publication.

Barring a continued digression into recent east Tennessee publishing happenings, I am very excited at the possibility of having my work in the paper. Obviously having your work published and shown to an audience of over 100,000 is always exciting, but as the issue in question will be a dedicated comics issue, it also allows people that are interested in comics to see it. Hopefully people will like what they see.

Read More...

So I am including 4 panels. Two I have already posted but I cleaned them up and have made the look of the comic a bit more coherent. This is still very much a work in progress, but I do believe these panels are completely finished.

Click on image for a larger picture.