| This just in: Stuff About Me |
[May. 5th, 2008|07:47 pm] |
A few quick announcements that I should have posted last week, but I'm so busy rushing around these days that I haven't even had time.
I was mentioned on The Comics Reporter summary of Stumptown! You can read the article, or just the bit they wrote about me: "Vancouver's Jonathon Dalton probably had the closest thing to a buzz book, a full-color work in an accordion-style format that other cartoonists kept promoting." See? Told you I was practically the buzz book.
I was also on Inkstuds Radio for the second time last week. This time the show wasn't all about me, though, I was on the air with Jeff Ellis and it was all about our Vancouver-based comics collective, Cloudscape. I haven't even had time to listen to it yet. Hope I sound okay.
Fingers crossed, I hope to return to a more regular blogging (and comicking) schedule soon. |
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| Sleeper hit? |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|09:02 pm] |
Oh where to start? How about "best convention ever?" So much has happened in the last two days. I want to tell you everything, but I'll just try and hit the highlights so as not to lose you before my big news. Rest assured, it's worth it.
The crew from Cloudscape (our Vancouver comics collective) drove down to Portland in two cars. In attendance were ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) japanese_cowboy, spikecomix, mothos, and Severine. Many wacky hijinks took place. The convention was great- lots of truly amazing comics, lots of people I knew of or had met on the internet, and so on.
Stumptown is a really great convention. I've decided to continue my embargo on name-dropping because I don't want to sound stuck-up or like a drooling fan-boy or leave people off of my list. Suffice it to say I met artists I admired, found out in some cases that the feelings are reciprocal, and walked away with stronger friendships, new people to keep in touch with, and lots of awesome books. I said once before that conventions are if nothing else a great way to get a sense of how you truly fit into the industry. I fit a lot better now than I did two Stumptowns ago (the only other time I've gone). I'm still a minor player, but ain't nothing wrong with that. I'm a player.
But now for the big news. For this I'll have to name drop, but I think he'd be okay with this so here goes.
Scott McCloud was two or three tables down from me at the convention. After waiting for a while I chose my moment and went over to show him a copy of Lords of Death and Life. I'd met him once before at a book signing in Vancouver last year so though he didn't recognize me on sight he did know who I was. I hoped that, since my book was somewhat inspired by Understanding Comics, he might think it was kind of neat. More than that, he thought it was brilliant. He flipped though it, lavishing compliments on it, making comparisons to the web version of the comic which he has obviously read, and then turned to the growing queue at his table, stretched out the accordion fold and said, "Look, everybody! If you're going to do a comic based on Pre-Columbian picture books, this is how you do it!" He then proceeded to spend the next day and a half showing off my book to everybody who came to his table and pointing out where my table was.
Needless to say, I sold out of the fifteen copies I'd managed to cobble together before the convention. I sold my second last copy to a girl with Mayan ancestry and my demonstration copy to a friend of hers. People talk about how indy conventions often have a "sleeper hit" that by the end of the convention everyone is talking about. I... I think I may have been that sleeper hit.
Oh there's more I could tell you. There was the little girl (about four years old?) who thought the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Connie Sakura I had at my table was the coolest thing ever and kept trying to have conversations with her ("why is she so bored???" said she) There was the wallet my friends and I managed to return to its rightful owner after she left it on a streetcar seat, there were the suprising number of people who thought they'd probably heard about Fablewood... I can't even tell you the best thing that happened at the convention (What? Better than Scott McCloud's shout-out?!?) but chickens that aren't hatched, you know. Stay tuned!
P.S. If you're reading this and you already know my secret better-than-shout-out news, Shhhhhhh!! ;-) |
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| Really, my life is more boring than it sounds. |
[Jan. 26th, 2008|11:14 pm] |
Eight Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Me
ttallan did one of these a week ago and I meant to continue the meme but didn't get around to it until now.
1.) I have two bachelors' degrees. One in fine arts, one in education. Plus a year studying illustration. Altogether I've spent eight years in post-secondary programs. I could have been a doctor by now.
2.) My first webcomic was online, albeit briefly, in 1998. I was drawing a fairly nerdy comic making fun of Star Wars and Star Trek for the university newspaper and thought "hey, I could put this on the internet!" I put a few strips up but then got bored. The site has long since vanished. The comic was called "Star Glek."
3.) I've been in a rather large earthquake. It was 1999 and I was living in Taiwan. At the epicentre the quake was at six point something on the Richter scale. I wasn't at the epicentre, but buildings shook, bottles broke, walls had cracks in them, and the week's worth of constant aftershocks left my nerves pretty frazzled. I had to keep a glass of water sitting nearby on a table or shelf at all times so that when I felt the earth move I could look and see if the room was actually shaking or whether it was just me. Have you ever heard the sound of the world vibrating? I have.
4.) The Xiuhcoatl character from Lords of Death and Life has gone through many changes and re-writes. He originally began as a character my brother and I made up when we were playing with Lego as kids. He was a blue energy Mayan superhero living in space!
5.) I'm working on a brand new online comic with a friend- we're both writing it and he's going to draw it (because really, I have too many comics to draw already). It is a slice-of-life comic about teaching English overseas.
6.) My current user pic was drawn by a six-year-old.
7.) When I draw comics I often stick the page to the fridge with magnets so I can draw standing up. It makes me feel like a "real" artist.
8.) I met Scott McCloud at a signing for his latest book last summer. When I told him my name he knew who I was! |
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| Update? What's that? |
[Jan. 21st, 2008|05:28 pm] |
Yeah, yeah. It's a day late. It's been a busy week comics-wise. There was an Illustrated Journeys meeting on Friday, as well as the Inkstuds gallery opening, Vancouver Comics Jam on Saturday, and Heritage Hall comic con on Sunday (I shared a table with the completely awesome spikecomix). Radio shows, gallery exhibitions (plural- the Vancouver Art Gallery has something in the works too), comics jams, comics collectives, publishers, small press shows... what's up with this city? You'd think Vancouver was turning into a comics mecca or something.
It's totally awesome.
Oh, right. Lords of Death and life. Here's this week's page. Chances are next week's update won't happen on schedule either. I've also decided to add an extra page to the comic. It means prolonging finishing this thing but I think the story needs it. I have a bad habit of short-changing my endings. Endings are very important and I want this one to suck as little as possible.
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| I'm on the radio! |
[Dec. 21st, 2007|11:15 am] |
Hey, guess what! I was on the radio yesterday!
I got interviewed by the guys from Inkstuds, Vancouver's own indie comics radio show. Listen as I single-handedly destroy their indie street cred by tricking them into discussing manga, Star Trek, and J.R.R. Tolkien! Taiwanese politics also seems to come up a lot!
You can listen to the podcast here! |
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| More than one way... |
[Oct. 27th, 2007|08:19 pm] |
When I was studying illustration at Sheridan, a professor basically told me that the only way I would get into comics was if someone else left the industry feet first. If I was still trying to get into Marvel I'm sure he'd be right. But then again...
Just in case you haven't heard, the book I'm in is in the November issue of Previews and will be coming to a comic shop near you in January.
FABLEWOOD GN VOL 01
NOV07 3306 (Page 208.Page 16 in the order form Catalog.)
Softcover, 144 Page Full-Color
$19.95
FABLEWOOD compiles the talents of up-and-comers like Ryan Ottley (Invincible, Superman/Batman Annual #1), Manny Trembley (Panda Xpress, Sam Noir: Samurai Detective), Joe Infunari (Oni Talent Search, Borrowed Time), J.P. Ahonen and Sarah Mensinga (Flight 4) with talented newcomers like Chris Studabaker (Howard E. Day Prize Nominee), Kevin Crossley (Event Horizon), Axel Machain (Metal Hurlant), Joe Suitor (Popgun Anthology) and more.
Our longest FABLEWOOD story “Under the Midnight Sun” was nominated for the prestigious Howard E. Day Award. Comic legend Dave Sim (Cerebus) stated that "through a balance of pencil and ink on the interior pages and Christopher Studabaker's evocative, austere and expressionistic dialogue and narration, it's a very successful experiment."
http://www.ape-entertainment.com
I'm the "and more." But yeah, I'm in Previews. Now we just have to make sure shops stock the book! |
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| It's official- I'm in print!!!!!!!!!!! |
[Aug. 19th, 2007|01:05 pm] |
The Cloud-Leapers of Blue Pine Mountain
Fablewood will be a top-of-the-line print anthology featuring fantasy-themed stories from some very cool up and coming comickers. Check out the website for more info and some sample pages. Oh, and um... it seems that I'm in the book too. The Cloud-Leapers of Blue Pine Mountain will be my first professionally published comic and I'm absolutely thrilled to be sharing space in a book with the likes of Sarah Mensinga, JP Ahonen, El Cooper, and JJ Naas! I'll tell you more as things develop (I only just found out Sarah Mensinga was on the list!) For now you'll have to see what you can figure out from the panel above.
I know I posted earlier about how I thought my comic was so hot and it deserved to be in print so much, blah blah blah, but really the more I find out about the people in Fablewood, the more I've come to realize that I'm lucky to be in at all. But hey, Cloud-Leapers has a home now and I can't think of anywhere I'd rather have it live. Except maybe your bookshelf.
Oh, Lords of Death and Life updated today too. But forget about Mol and his impending danger with a knife-wielding lunatic. Cloud-Leapers is where it's at. Best comic I ever did. :-D |
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| Radio Salaam Shalom |
[Feb. 10th, 2007|08:04 pm] |
How unbelievably cool is this! I just got an email from a guy I knew in Taiwan (Kyle Hannan, originally from Zimbabwe). He's just been made the station director of a very cool radio station in Bristol, England called Radio Salaam Shalom. Check out the news interview on Youtube! That's him about ten seconds in- the bald guy waving his arms about like a fool. I haven't seen him since he was a lowly kindergarten teacher in Miaoli (...waving his arms about in front of kids). |
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ecstatic