Someone left a piece of charcoal lying around so I started using that here and there.

This guy was not drawing. He was eating a cookie.

Had a lot of fun. I’m going to go back a lot more this year…

My friend, Elaine, is organizing this design fair this weekend. I’ll be there with books, prints, and framed prints and silkscreens.

Here’s where it is in Montreal (Google Street View).

Here’s their blog which shows off a lot of the awesome designers who are going to be there. Looks like a lot of fun.

Nothing like a tech conference to get people to sit still for you.

As usual, Chris and Peter and an army of volunteers put on a spectacularly organized show. It was really great meeting so many Ojingogo-readers and drawing in people’s books. Also, great catching up wtih Aaron Costain, John Martz, Zack Worton, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, Jay Stephens and so many other amazing artists.

Ojingogo Won an Award

This is the Pigskin Peters Award – which I won at the Doug Wright Awards ceremony on Saturday. The award is beautiful – designed Seth himself – Brad Mackay has a longer description of the award on his blog. The hat hangs on a little peg on the plaque.

Photo by Peggy Burns from D&Q. More on her Flickr feed…

Chester Brown presented the award and said some ridiculously nice things. At one point I think I heard him say I was a “rock, solid cartoonist” and then everything went blurry…

First printing of Ojingogo is sold out… Second on the way.

I signed the last copy of the first print run of Ojingogo at the festival.

I’m going to make a few corrections to the pages from the first edition and send them out this week to the publisher. The second printing should be along in June.

Swedish Edition

I am also working to get updated cover design out for the Swedish edition of the book which will be published by Ordbilder Media and launched September 24 at the Goteborg Book Fair in Sweden.

A short dogwalk comic.

I went with Cameron to Dr Sketchy (burlesque life drawing) in Montreal this weekend. Here are a couple watercolors.

Working only in red, black and white ink. Forces me to think about contrast and composition a lot more. Another reason why restrictions are good – they simplify for the creator and the viewer. And now when I walk down the street all I see are the different contrasts, patterns and striations in the houses and the trees.

Suddenly feels like the only thing that matters in illustration now is clarity, code and purpose. And then as if on cue, Jillian gets back to the basics today with an article about tonal studies, saying:

It’s one of those exercises, much like colour theory studies, that seem kind of stupid at the time but, as you get a little older and a little wiser, you eventually see the value in.

Also, I’ve been taken by the beautiful patterns in the handmade Indian book, The Nightlife of Trees.