Testing

Broken

Stop. Now.

I certainly hope any pretense of quality in these drawings is gone. I drew this standing in a crowded subway leaning against a pole constantly being jostled by other commuters. There were a lot of "oops" moments.

Drawing famous people

The biggest thing missing from this strip is the fifty bazillion screaming girls. They were from some new Degrassi show. The hell if I know who they are.

Trondhiem

Won't

Seriously guys, I've been working on a real comic. longer than anything I've done yet (though, really, not that long at all). I just hope it's a good read when it's done. I'll probably post another sneak peak soon enough.

Jason <3

Wild ball

My good friend Ed invited me out to do characters at this swanky fundraiser for the Toronto wildlife centre. It was probably the best environment I’ve ever done caricatures in because everyone was in such a good mood. The open bar didn’t hurt either.

I would love to do more of these events in the future!

Bastards!

Eventually, after complaining loud enough to the right people things got sorted out. Thanks, bastards!

Turtle kickin'

I'm famous around these parts for my turtle kick.

Aller-geez

I get real cranky this time of the year

Total shit

Loathing

Pb & J from HELL

Seriously guys, peanut butter shouldn’t have anything other than peanuts in them.

You guys should check out Jamie Oliver’s Teach every child about food Ted talk. It’s a passionate and smart talk on how backwards our food systems have become. Did you know that our children’s life spans are predicted to be 10 years less than our own because of food related illness? Interesting stuff!

Zombie lesbian stripper cops

Zombie lesbian stripper cops

Follow through

Loverbutt

Shoes!

Last week I developed some pretty bitchin' blisters that were full of blood on the bottom of my feet. You see, both of my (old) shoes have holes in the bottom of them and when I walk I touch the ground which is (apparently) not good for my feet. The last time I bought a pair of shoes was at least two years ago.

I was also able to pick up Roger Langridge's Fred the Clown book(for a buck!). It's something I've considered buying new because I love these comics so much. They have great recurring themes, lots of comics experimentation, and Fred is just such a lovable doofus. Anyways, the comisc are all online for free so you should go check them out!

Buildings 2 - take 2

The second buildings piece was really bothering me because it really didn't mesh with the others. I'm muuuuch happier with this than I was with this.

Orientation

Job hunt Pt. 2

Buildings 4

Part four in a four part series

I'm going to be making a little print set out of these illustrations that I'm going to be selling at Canzine and online after that. I feel like with this one I was finally starting to get the feeling that I wanted to get out of these when I started which is a good feeling. That said, I really don't like the second Buildings illustration(it's just out of sync with the others and a little ugly) and might do another between now and Canzine.

I didn't intend for it to take me this long to get four done but i'm pretty happy with it, overall.

Jason <3

Job Hunt

Hey guys, if you like these comics you should really check out Dharbins diary comics. His new book(called simply "Diary comics") only six bucks for 48 pages chock full of comics and they're some of the best diary style comics I've read. You could also just check out his website and see all of his other fancy schmancy comics he's got posted there.

Seriously guys! He's one of my favorite people in comics!

Mistakes

I'm having fun doing these little comics. I'm really quite surprised at the response to them because they are such disposable little throw away comics to me.

I guess the point of them is to get those little moments of life that I think would be good comics... but would never take the time to do properly. Mostly these moments would end up as notes in my sketchbook that I never end up looking at again.

I'll probably get bored of it soon enough, but I'm really enjoying this little creative outlet.

Jason <3

New place

Shakey-shake

Mutie

Last weekend I sat down and read a bunch of X-Men comics from the Essential X men volume 1 collection. It was pretty nostalgic for me even though these comics were way before my time as a kid(I mostly read X-Men comics from the 90's, these were from the 70's) but I was surprised by how incredibly boring they were.

Perhaps, as I have grown older I have simply lost my appreciation for mindless action and super heroics. Or, perhaps, they were just particularly boring comics. I don't know.

Public washrooms

Lonely

I am an old man

Short on ideas

Inspiration: Far Arden, Taxpayers

I picked up Far Arden a while ago because I was so enamored by the book itself. It’s a decent thickness (382 pages!) at an appealing size(5" x 6 1/2" ) with a really nicely designed hard cover. It even has those cool maps on the inside covers that you would see in old adventure books. After oogling over it for a couple of months I eventually picked it up... but for some reason didn't bother to read it until this past weekend and I must say It’s one of the best adventure stories I have read in a long, long time.

The story follows Army Shanks, a “crusty old sea dog and legendary brawler of the high arctic seas” on a journey to find the mythical island of Far Arden hidden in the arctic north. Throughout his journey we watch Army go through just about anything everything you could ever want to see in an adventure story including polar bear fighting, orphan child sidekicks, old flames and absurd villainous plots. Throughout the story various conventions of the adventure genre are used in original and humorous ways keeping the story interesting while still paying tribute to the stories that came before it.

I think the thing that really makes this book truly great though is its sincerity. While the book really doesn't take itself seriously in most ways (I personally love how it uses sound effects to say things like "face kick" or "break through" as if the drawings weren't obvious enough as well as how crazy stretched out characters get during some of the fight scenes) the characters are played completely straight and believable. I was surprised to find that such seemingly throw away characters had a real depth to them. Despite the humorous overtones of the book there are some really touching moments that could only be made possible by having such well rounded characters. I'm not explaining this well. Point is, the writing is damn good.

In short, it's fun, hilarious and oddly touching. I can't recommend it highly enough. You can read the whole thing for free online here or you can go out and get an actual copy of the book since it's so damn pretty.

---

In other news I've really been digging this whole free music revolution that seems to be going on lately. There is some seriously awesome stuff floating around on the web so in the spirit of sharing I'm going to keep posting some of this free music that I stumble across.

And so, today I bring you The Taxpayers. I just discovered them this past week and they have quickly become just about my favorite thing to put on. A weird mix of punk with folk country and jazz creating a really unique sound. Pretty lo-fi and definitely abrasive at times I feel they are best summed up by their bio at Quote Unquote records: Out of Portland come a band that is equally poppy as they are noisy, explosive as they are muted, fun as they are fucking serious. A Rhythm in the Cages sounds like a party on fire. Everyone's about to die, but at least we're all laughin' about it. Or at least kinda. Recommended if you're into anything.

Albums

- A Rythem In The Cages

- Exhilarating News

a couple of tracks I particularly like are Everybody Does A Little cocksucking, Montana, There Is Trouble and Sudanese lips.

I'll have some comics and stuff soon, I promise. Again. Really though. Soon!

Jason <3