The Sum of David

Pittsburgh’s City Paper has recognized WearPittsburgh’s “Whiff of Mediocrity” shirt as the Best Novelty T-shirt:

Best novelty T-shirt
WearPittsburgh.com’s “Whiff of Mediocrity”
Wearpittsburgh.com
Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost-right word was “the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” The task of plucking precisely the right term from the lexicon to describe something becomes more complex the more commonplace the thing is. So it would seem with the Pirates. Everyone’s familiar with the follies of our local batsmen — who are now on history’s backdoor step with a near record-setting string of losing seasons. But how best can we promote the nonsensical pleasure derived from undesirable notoriety? Local online clothing retailer WearPittsburgh answered the challenge in May with a line of shirts that will be hard to top: “Pittsburgh Baseball: the occasional fleeting whiff of mediocrity.” The shirt was designed by Pittsburgh graphic designer Rachel Arnold Sager (thesumofdavid.com), based on an idea by Chad Hermann, author of the defunct blog Teacher. Wordsmith. Madman.

Show your support — for WearPittsburgh and the Pirates — here!

I headed to Bethesda, MD last weekend to check out this year’s Small Press Expo (SPX). It was my first one, but it’s been around since 1997. The obvious focus of the show was comics and graphic novels (and that blurry line  line between the difference of the two being a subject of debate), but there were also illustrators, inkers, writers, publishers, etc there as well.

I attended three panels. One on comic criticism, which I’ll spare you my opinion on (I left halfway through). The second was on publishing comics for YA and children. While my manuscripts are prose, as opposed to graphic, the panel was nonetheless interesting and full of a valuable insight. The third was on Herge, a popular French comic artist that did a lot of work in the years surrounding WWII. It was during this third session that I discovered I am not sophisticated. Seriously, there is only so much you can say about how he pioneered the line.

There was contraband Diet Pepsi/Rum at the afterparty Saturday Night ($6 beer?!, you’re out of your mind!), a bodacious breakfast at Silver Diner, and a general good time with some friends I don’t see nearly enough.

The atmosphere of SPX was, for the most part, open and accepting, and there was a wide range of work in show — which is comforting to those of us aspiring to do anything in the art/story vein. There are rumors that Joe and Josh might get a table next year (and that there will be beards), in which case I would totally love to commandeer some real estate on that half table. Of course, that means I’ll have to execute the sketches I’ve got hidden in my sketchbook…

What the experience did, first and foremost, was spark the creative engine and get those gears turning. We bought tons of good stuff, which I’m sure I’ll review here once I’ve been able to devour it all. All and all - it was a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

If you have any interest in the medium of graphic storytelling, this is one piece that should be at the top of your To Read/Own list.

Originally self-published by Jeff Smith from 1991 to 2004, Bone is hailed as the longest running independently-published comic by a single author. Originally, there were 55 issues, released sporadically. These days you can purchase it as a complete volume that clocks in at a spectacular 1,332 pages. And every page is a work of art.

When the three Bones - Phoney Bone, Smily Bone and Fone Bone - are run out of their hometown, they find themselves far from home and separated from one another in The Valley. We primarily follow everyman Fone Bone as he’s taken in by tough Gran’ma Ben and her (cute) grand-daughter Thorn for the winter. But as Spring blossoms, so does trouble: Thorn is having strange dreams, frightening Rat Creatures have begun to invade the valley, and a dragon has been spotted in the woods. They discover the mythic Lord of the Locusts seeks someone to release him from his ancient prison so he can destroy the world, a role he thinks can be filled by either Thorn or Bone’s cousin, Phoney. The barriers between the real world and the dream world begin to break down, and the discovery of Thorn’s mysterious lineage puts them in even more danger than before.

Smith weaves a tale that effectively combines fantasy elements like dragons, monsters, other worlds, and fate with lighter, comedic fare. The art reflects this juxtaposition as well - most of the characters are human, while the three Bones are more simply rendered, with big cartoon-y features and little clothes. Many of the human characters are still exaggerated, however, and I think that’s where Smith is at his strongest. Gran’ma Ben in particular is wonderfully expressive, despite having only lines for eyes and speaking primarily through her chin. His creature designs are straight-forward but fantastic, whether it’s a dragon, Rat Creature, or the cute baby animals. Emotion is poignant and subtle when it needs to be; action is always clear, expressive and exciting.

Rarely does one truly find an author that is just as gifted at art as he/she is at storytelling. In every work of fiction it’s the story that is key, and sometimes graphic novels can get caught up in the “how” rather than the “what” when the author/illustrator are the same person. In Bone, they work well hand in hand.

I really can’t recommend it highly enough. I’ve read it twice, and I had just as much fun this time as the first time. I’m sure I’ll pick it up again in the future.

Bone is also being re-released in color, with the talents of Steve Hamaker adding some umph to Jeff Smith’s expert inking.

A new WearPittsburgh design was released last week. Behold:

Now, now, it’s not as horribly cruel as you think. “Cat on a stick” is the affectionate term used for a particular outdoor vendor that serves grilled kabobs to late night patrons on the South Side. Don’t believe me? Think I’m a horrible person for even participating in such a barbaric design? The owner of Cambod-Ican refers to his product using the exact same terminology. (link courtesy the fabulous PittGirl over at The Burgh Blog)

No cats were harmed in the creation of this design.

I don’t know where the suggestion came from (I suspect it was hatched by Joe and Jesse) but a few of us met at AIR on Tuesday night for a crash course in screen printing.

Per Joe’s suggestion, Josh and I stopped at Kinko’s to print my design on a transparency (only 81 cents!) and we were off. I also hear that you can print a transparency at AIR, but I since I had zero idea what I was in for, I figured I could at least sort of appear prepared.

The building is huge, and we camped out on the 3rd floor. Joe showed us the ropes, which I will poorly replicate here:

1. Put your transparency on the giant table with bulbs under it. Put magic screen on top of transparency. Cover screen with giant black thing, then top all with weights.
2. Click timer to 4 minutes. The bulbs come on with all the power of the sun, so scram so you don’t go blind.
3. After light clicks off, spray the heck out of the screen. Exposing the magic screen to light hardens where ever your design isn’t, so when you spray the screen your design pops out. Rinse until bubbles are gone, spray with air, then chat while it dries in front of a fan.
4. Lay screen in workspace, tape any holes and possibly the edges.
5. Scoop that delicious ink on to the screen. AIR actually has some you can use, which is nice. I’ve been told it’s mostly gray, which is cool, but I was lucky enough to stumble onto some lime green, yippee.
6. After putting your material under the screen, pull the fancy squeegee toward you and push your ink through your design.
7. Lift screen. Squeal like preteen.

Here’s the original file in Illustrator. I had about a minute to throw this baby together and burn it to CD before I was going to miss my bus. It was just a thought bubble and skull at first, but I had like 15 seconds where I was just fiddling my thumbs — hence the horns and fang- mandible-things.

…and here’s the final art on my hat. I’m not exactly sure what it is that I’m thinking about, but rest assured it is sufficiently eeeevil. I did a shirt, too, which I figure will be appropriate to wear when I have a tummy ache.

The facility, AIR, was really great, too. According their website:

AIR is an artist-run organization that integrates the production of fine art printwork with innovative educational programs that explore the creative process. AIR provides print and imaging services to professional artists and educators. Our goal is to maintain an active and vital imaging laboratory that supports artists and facilitates creative activity.

And, via my personal endorsement: it’s righteous.

The staff was polite and helpful, and the three hours of fun we had only cost $5 since you pay by the screen. It’s open to the public from 7pm to 12am on Tuesdays. Plus, there were past projects hung all over the wall, which was really inspiring. Next week: two colors!

Christmas music before Thanksgiving makes my blood boil. Just because I understand the commercial benefit of extending the shopping season doesn’t mean I support it. I love all the celebrations that will take place over the next couple months, but I’m still pouting that the world seems to have skipped over my favorite one: Thanksgiving. That’s why I spent part of this weekend painting a festive winter scene on a store window, instead of something that was Holiday specific.

Me, Josh, Jesse, Mosley and Allair (nice to meet you!) headed out to Fox’s Pizza in Aspinwall on Saturday. The whole thing felt like college again, what with the five of us piling into a car, roaming the mall for supplies, bailing out to gorge on awesome pizza and then: paint!

Josh, me, Jesse, Mr. Baconpants, Allair

Look how organized we look. It’s like we know what we’re doing.

The finished Winter Wonderland!
The pole might look off-center, but it’s the angle, promise. And probably your imagination.

The crew, clock-wise from left: me, Josh, Jesse, Mosley and Allair

If you’ve never tried it, Fox’s Pizza is awesome – it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had. JD owns the one in Aspinwall, and is a super nice guy that I know through Creative Treehouse.

Did I mention the pizza is awesome?

I think we can chalk Saturday’s show up as a success. I saw a lot of familiar faces and met some new ones… My bee costume was fun, even if I didn’t get to use all the pieces I wanted to and my wings gave me a horizontal dimension that I’m not accustomed to: I kept hitting people with them. Working the door ended up being nice, too, because I got to see all as they filtered in and the hallway serves as an almost safe haven for people that want to talk while the bands are playing.

My “rotting zombie” pumpkin won a prize in the pumpkin gallery (the “zombie” part being intentional, at least - yum!) and I sold two of my four pieces of artwork. I did the three of them specifically for the show:

The digital color is unfortunately over-simplified and flat. I had intended on shading them, but (of course) ran out of time. Regardless, they were fun to do and I intend on watercoloring the originals eventually since I put them on fancy paper. The cowboy is my personal favorite.

I took Friday off of my real job to spend the day writing. I’ve stored up some vacation days, and need to use them before the end of the year… not to mention I’d like to take advantage of the productive energy created by NaNoWriMo!