I’ve been checking out books, music, magazines and more from the Orem Public Library almost weekly for the last 18 years. The library’s enormous collection has had a tremendous impact on me and my work, and I still look forward to each visit to check out more books, or to attend a concert or a…
What is 24-Hour Comics Day? 24-Hour Comics Day is an event held around the world which challenges writers and artists to create a full 24-page comic in 24 consecutive hours. Thousands of artists take the 24-Hour Comics Day Challenge every year! How can I participate? Find a venue near you who is hosting a 24-Hour…
Halloween is just over three weeks away! Celebrate by coloring this drawing of Vermillion, the nasty witch from my graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale. To print: simply click on the image to view it at full-size, and then print it out for your family, party, or class. Be sure to print out last week’s Halloween…
DRAWN INTERVIEW: TOP SHELF KID’S CLUB AUTHOR JESS SMART SMILEY Drawn Words blew our minds back in May with their fully-illustrated interview with comics creator Jeffrey Brown, and now they’re at it again, only they’ve significantly lowered their standards by interviewing me. In all honesty, I’m completely floored by the amount of thought and effort…
SLUG Magazine’s Contributing Editor, Ricky Vigil, gave me a call early last week to talk about my soon-to-be-released graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, out this month from Top Shelf Productions. Ricky and I talked about the joy of reading and making comics, my one goal for 2010, as well as making the jump from…
One of my biggest influences in drawing, comics and storytelling is a creative force known as Doug TenNapel. Doug has created video games, animated tv shows, and graphic novels, not to mention one of the world’s most beloved characters: Earthworm Jim. I’ve been following Doug’s work for 16 years now, and own all of his…
I came across this video of Herge drawing TinTin, and thought it might be fun to put together a compilation of cartoonists drawing their characters on film. While I couldn’t find any videos of Bill Watterson drawing Calvin and Hobbes, or Gary Larson drawing The Far Side, I was able to find some other gems. Charles Schulz drawing…
John Hogan of the Graphic Novel Reporter got in touch with me to talk about my upcoming graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale (October 2012, Top Shelf Productions). Here’s a snippet of our conversation: “Congratulations on your first graphic novel! What’s the story behind it? Thank you! Upside Down has been a lot of fun to make, and…
My first graphic novel, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale (October 2012, Top Shelf Productions), was recently nominated for an Arty Award from the Salt Lake City Weekly, and I just found out that my book won for the Best Graphic Novel/Zine! Hooray! Thank you to everyone that voted and got involved. Keep watching this blog and…
Upside Down: A Vampire Tale comes out next month — just in time for Halloween! Pre-orders ship later this month, but in the meantime…meet Vermillion: Vermillion is the last witch on Earth, which makes her extra nasty! Armed with a spell book written by Madame Rose, Vermillion is determined to get revenge on vampires everywhere and…