About face

Yesterday I started doing caricatures at a theme park full time again.

I draw myself a lot at the park. When it’s quiet it’s a nice way to practice and you can really start experimenting with it and try to come up with something new.

Drawing myself is especially interesting to me since I draw autobiographic comics. I feel like more and more my cartoon persona from my comics looks less and less like me as I go for the more iconic and simple to draw shapes that I like making. The truth is, I really enjoy the abstraction… but I think I need to work towards something that’s still abstract but also representational.

I drew this at work yesterday while trying to get used to using the markers again. Generally I have a real problem getting a decent likeness on myself. I do, however, hope this represents what I actually look like (even if that is a junkie).

Oh, and incase anybody was wondering why it was missing; I had to shave my beard off for this job. Stupid dress code.

Love <3

National Pride

These guys made me laugh <3

Goodbyes

This time next week I will be living in Toronto. Craziness.

Lisa and I are going to be going into a long distance relationship after living together for the past three years… so saying goodbye this week has been really hard. It’s a move for the best, to be sure, but still really hard to make.

This one’s for Lisa with so, so, much love

Jason <3

At the Mall

Hey look, it's a new comic! Apologies to those of you who like these silly things... there are more in the works! I promise!

Also, if you're interested in some other silly (albeit, musical) things you should check out these:

Nate Powell(of swallow me whole fame)'s new band Universe have made their album "Passenger" available for free(of pwyc) here. The album itself is quite good, a mix of punky thrashness with a nice Godspeed You! Black Emperor vibe thrown in. I would recommend the tracks "Wendigo" or "Memmory foam".

I have always admired Nate Powell's comic work as well. Tiny Giants was one of those indie comics I picked up when I was first getting into them a couple of years ago and it has always stuck with me as something to aspire to.

Madeline Ava, whom I posted about here, has just released another album, "For all the shy punk kids"(also for free!)

The song "Teeny Tiny" holds a special place in my heart. The first time I heard this song I almost broke down in tears because I struggle so much with the things this song speaks to on a daily basis. Silly, maybe, but holy shit I love it.

Anyways, until next time,

Jason <3

Total cop out

I haven’t been making comics. Well, that’s not entirely true, I haven’t been finishing comics. I’ve got a few half penciled or half inked pages lying around that I don’t think I’m going to bother to finish. I’ve also got a bunch of pages written that I’m not going to draw. Just… yeah, I just don’t want to draw those.

Things have been a little crazy in my life over the last couple of months. I’ve been trying to make big decisions and implement big changes.

Probably the biggest thing that is changing for me is that I’m going to be moving back to Toronto in a couple of weeks. This is great for a lot of reasons. I’m excited to be back around my old artist friends who always motivate me to get better at everything I do, There’s a great community of comicers and zinesters to surround myself with, I am going to be able to turn my room into a super awesome studio And, most importantly, the vegetable roti at Mother India (so good!).

However, as happy as I will be to be back in Toronto I am still going to miss the people I’ve come to know (and love!) here in Ottawa. I will be back for visits, I know, but it’s just not going to be the same. Lisa is also staying in Ottawa so for the time being I’m just going to have to miss the hell out of her.

This decision has been stressful but I’m definitely on the upward swing. I know it will be tough in some respects but, overall, I think it’s going to be really productive for me on both a personal and an artistic level.

I have a handful of projects that I’m excited to finally get to. I’ve been doing some writing in my sketchbook again. I’ve got some things down that I actually want to talk about and get out there.

Expect to see more comics soon.

Jason <3