Adventures in the print shop: Printing the book cover.

APE next weekend!

APE is next weekend! If you're in the Bay Area don't miss this. I'm tabling with my buddy Jon Vermilyea and I'll have fresh copies of Nature Nurture, available in 2 color covers:

And only a handful of copies of my other screen printed books:

And a bunch of festival exclusive prints. It's gonna be an awesome weekend! Don't miss out. :)

SPX + new zine!

It's been a while since my last update but I've been busy working on my new fully silkscreened zine and I'll have copies available for SPX this weekend!
Here are some photos of the screen printing I've been doing over the past couple weeks:

 I went in to print shop right when it opened for the school year and it was real nice because nobody was there. 

 Some mushroom prints on the rack.

 Part of my inspiration for determining the palette of the illustrations is the growing popularity of risograph printing. I purposely limited myself to 2 colors for a lot of the book because of it and I'm really happy with the results.

 Bone folding paper. Also, the zine comes in 2 different color covers!

 One of the last steps after stapling, putting it through the guillotine. (the weird looking water bottle is filled with coffee in case anyone is curious....)

Finally, Small Press Expo, here I come! This will be may first time exhibiting at SPX. I've attended previous years and it's loads of fun. I'll be tabling with my friend, the very lovely and incredibly talented Jess Ruliffson, find us at table D12. I also booked a hotel room which will be jam packed with old and new friends. Like every year, SPX will make hanging out in Bethesda a crazy good time like no other. So stoked!!

Waking up in a Tutti Frutti Hat

I have a couple of pieces in a show at Alternative Cafe! The show is called "Waking Up in a Tutti Frutti Hat", curated by my friend/studio mate Aya Kakeda. The show will feature a bunch of illustrators/cartoonists/artists that also make books, along with the artwork on the wall they will also carry books by all the artists!

These are the new prints I made for the show. The print with the rooftop scene is the most detailed screen print I've attempted so far, and it wasn't easy! (printing the line) Even in the humid weather.     

The gallery will have copies of "hot + cold" and "Find my Light" The opening reception will take place Friday, July 13th at 7PM. Check out the Facebook event page. The show will remain on display throughout July and beginning of August.

Here are some process photos from the print shop.

 After printing blue, pink and yellow.

 Preparing 2 colors for gradient effect.

 After printing transparent gradient.

 Test scraps.

 "Follow Me" print.

 Printing line.

"Rooftop" on the racks.

CAKE in Chicago!

I'm heading to Chicago next weekend for CAKE fest! I'll have all my latest books and prints, find me at table #53. It will be my second time visiting Chicago and I'm really excited. I'll be participating in a panel discussion on Saturday about silk screened comics! The panel is called "Low Brow, High Mesh".  We will discuss the screen printing process and talk about how the practice can inform our narrative/art. Be sure to check out all of the panels going on over the weekend, there are so many great ones. CAKE is going to be awesome!!
Also, I am moving into a shared studio work space in Greenpoint this weekend! This way I'll spend a lot less time being holed up in my room. More on that later.

Travelogue #1: Portland!

I had an amazing time in Portland! Here are some photos highlighting the trip:

 I traveled with Aya and Sara and had the best time! We had our first breakfast at Gravy, a favorite of mine since my first Portland trip. The roads were covered in cherry blossoms, it was gorgeous that weekend.

 We got together with Aya's studio mates/friends (Rabid Rabbit crew) and took a trip up the mountains to Timberline lodge, the lodge that appears in "The Shining"! It snows 11 months out of the year and we got to play in the snow and have a snowball fight in April. :)

 We then went to Edgefield where we hung out in front of the Little Red Shed (turns out to be a liquor shed/bar!) After warming back up in front of the fire pit, we got happy hour beer and tots and watched a $3 movie at McMenamins Theater.

To start Stumptown weekend off, we went to another favorite of mine for breakfast- Pine State Biscuits! Saturday started off a little slow at the festival but on Sunday it got a lot busier (to my surprise.) We also spotted the most adorable dog outside a vintage clothing shop right by our hotel! :))))

A trip to Portland isn't without a trip to Voodoo doughnuts! Anyone who knows me knows I'm not really a sweets person but I was curious about the Bacon Maple doughnut (from watching Anthony Bordain devour one on No Reservations) We ended up giving in to Rogue's Bacon Maple Ale to go with the doughnut, it was worth it!

We went to the after party at Pony Club gallery on Sunday night where we were able to catch the Ghost Show before it went down. The next day, I got to hang out with Kinoko! We had delicious vegetarian at Paradox Cafe and she gave me a tour of her school, PNCA. Afterwards I had really yummy warm cocktails at Tea Zone with the incredibly talented Angie Wang. It was the perfect last day before catching my evening flight home before heading to Toronto. Coming up- Travelogue #2: Toronto!

"Ghost Show" at Pony Club

I recently made some new prints for this show! "Ghost Show" at Pony Club Gallery in Portland. It opens April 5th (tomorrow!) so if you're in PDX area, you don't want to miss this. I got to meet some of the Pony Club folks when I visited Portland for the first time last year and they are total sweethearts! I'm heading to PDX again for Stumptown this year (more details about that soon) and I am definitely gonna stop by the gallery once I'm there later this month.

Here are some snapshots of the ghost prints on the rack:

my second time printing gradient!

4 step color process for "Boo"

LA Zine Fest + Comic reading!

I've been busy at the printshop busting out a new book! I'm bringing a few fresh copies to LA Zine Fest this weekend. I'll also have prints and totes, if you're in the LA area be sure to check it out!

Also, I'm reading my comics out loud at Home Room on Saturday night. LA Zine Fest Comix & Zine Reading

new book, "Find my Light"

Whitney Museum's Zine Day event.

Here are a couple of pics from the Whitney Museum's zine day event, organized by Desert Island, which took place a couple Saturdays ago, October 15. It was a kid friendly event so the museum did a cool project where all of the participating artists had a stack of screenprinted individual black and white illustration available (courtesy of the Museum) for attendees to collect for free and staple into their very own coloring book, pretty neat!

photos courtesy of Desert Island

New book for APE "don't follow me"

Here are some quick photos of what I've been caught up with making during the past week.





About to catch my flight to LA shortly, and spending this weekend in SF! I will have advanced copies of "don't follow me" available at APE this weekend (fresh off the racks), along with the debut of "hot+cold". I will also have new prints available at my table, if you're in the Bay Area be sure to stop by!

printing tote bags

Don't get squirted! Or do. Yesterday I went grocery shopping right after I printed and the cashier nearly freaked out because she thought my arm was bleeding but I was just squirted with red...

I still have a hard time printing tote bags but I think they came out ok this time around. It's hard because the paint has to be thick but all I want to do is water it down, but you would run the risk of the image bleeding...

Also, bags take longer to print because I am re-registering each individual bag for every single color, so much work! Here I am registering to print blue, making sure everything is aligned.

Yellow paint with transparencies. This was the easiest separation to print. If all the colors are mixed right it has vibrant results.

Before all the printing begins I iron all the bags, wrinkles in the fabric gets in the way of the paint. I use a blow-dryer to each bag for every layer of color that is printed.

All this paper I use because some way or another I mess up printing the line in-between. Maybe one day I'll get to use one of those carousels, but this will do for now!

CMYK guide for "Forest Fire" print

With my own custom CMYK colors, of course. If magenta was a diluted rocket red, and blacK is instead browN. CRYN? Maybe not as good of an acronym. :)





"Forest Fire" is going on exhibit in an upcoming gallery show, which opens in July in Monterey, CA. Details very soon!