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.

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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

Sneaky peek

Over the past few days I was at work a lot. My workdays tend to be fairly long, especially due to my commute, which leaves me in transit for a good 4 hours out of every day. On top of errands that need to be ran and job hunting I’ve found myself with not much time on my hands for me time. I find that I really suffocate in this lifestyle.

The point being that I wrote a comic about it between doing caricatures at work. I’m trying to approach this one in a completely different way than I have approached all of my previous work so I’m pretty stoked to see how it turns out. Unless, of course, it’s awful.

In any case, I’ll have it for sale at Canzine

In other news, I've really been liking this album from a nice band I just discovered by the name of Tinyfolk. I Especially relate to the song "Lonely". Good stuff, just follow the link to download it.

Jason <3

Workin'on it

Hello, all

Apologies if I have been ignoring you for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been busy with work and life and have had trouble finding the time to sit down and try to get anything more than some sketches down on break or on the bus.

The good thing about doing whatever sketching I can, though, is that I’ve got a bunch of ideas floating around in my head of things I want to do ranging from a fictional slice of life story about growing up in rural Ontario to a post apocalyptic adventure story about deformed mutant humans living in the ghetto.

I’ve been thinking of finishing a couple of old comics that I’ve left sitting for a long time, too. I like the ideas in some of em’ and it might be fun to give them another shot after so much time.

Point is: I’m working on it.

Jason <3

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

Buildings 3

Part three in a four part series