Hey guys. It’s been a while.
& I miss you.

I’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on for a whole bunch of months that I should probably get comfy talking with you about because I’m planning on making it into a book sometime, but it occurs to me that I haven’t really been talking to y’all about much of anything at all.
So I’m going to try to work on that for now.

Internets, are we cool?
I know I owe you email, and I have been slacking on that website I was supposed to make for you, and it’s been so long now that you’ve probably forgotten that I draw things.
I’m sorry. Let’s be friends again.
I want to hold your hand and make pretty things for you.
I’ll wear my nicest shoes.
I still have a crush on you, and I’m making you a mixtape that proves it.

Actually, I’m serious. The first 5 of you that want to trade mp3 mixtapes– drop a note and we’ll do it.
You should have some kind of blog or tumblr thing though so I have enough of an idea of what you’re about so that I can actually make you something you’ll like.

Speaking of tumblr things, I finally am getting off my ass and cross posting this to there.
I had it importing the rss feed of this blog before, but I didn’t log in for so long that it actually stopped working!
If you are on the tumblrs and would rather read these things there, you can add me and stuff.

Also, if you guys know of people I should follow on there (particularly people who DRAW STUFF) let me know.

I just spent a week at that thing in the desert, and I’m now back to my life again and just like many other years when I’ve come back from the desert — I’m exhausted and full of wanting for something I can’t name.

Maybe you guys can help me figure that out in the next couple weeks or something.

In the meantime I’ll tell you about Burning Man.

Of course, when packing, I was in the middle of a huge deadline for IDW, so I forgot a lot of useful things I should have packed, like my camera.
In true hipster fashion, though, I managed to bring both of my holgas– with which I mostly shot pinhole panoramas of the temple.
The film will be ready later this week and if anything turned out I’ll show you.

There was one contribution I made this year though that I felt pretty awesome about.
A few weeks ago, my friend Slim was off building the man with the other fearless members of the man build crew, and asking for suggestions on what images suggested Rites of Passage (this year’s burn theme) to us.
As someone who tends to think of time in apartments, I immediately suggested keys– a marker that has come along with most, if not all major changes in my life thusfar.

Out off all the ideas people suggested, my suggestion must have stuck out, because Slim picked mine.
So this year, the man’s “heart” was a key.
Also, he’s particularly clever and made the teeth of the key in the shape of the Trego mountains, which is just extra badass.

Also of note, this year I got my first playa haircut.
It was mohawk day at Barber Ella Camp, and somehow I ended up in line next to fellow MassArt alum, Rich Mackin, who I’d seen around Boston damn near a decade earlier reading letters he wrote to companies at poetry readings. I of course didn’t recognize him, but after 20 minutes of conversation we discovered we have about a billion mutual friends, and then I figured it out. Along with prodding from my friends Arlen and Space Lion, he convinced me that I should get a mohawk.

In the end I only half committed.
I am still at the phase of drastic haircut in which a vacillate wildly between thinking it’s totally badass, or the worst idea I’ve had in life, ever.

I’ll post a not-a-drawing picture of said haircut soon and you can all tell me which of my inner voices was right.

There’s a bunch of really huge stuff that happened at Burning Man that is more important than haircuts, but I’m going to save that for another day.

In the meantime, hugs? mixtapes?
Okay.

Well hey, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a TumbleDryLow post, but here is something worthy of consumption!
My dear friend and bandmate, Miss Kristen Adam, has launched Rococonouveau Design.

She says:

For as long as I can remember I’ve felt a particular connection to things of the past: vintage and period fashions, early 20^th century classic film, vintage erotica & pinup photography, art deco architecture, art nouveau textiles & jewelry, and the gilded splendour of the rococo era. The goal in all my work on this project is to merge the essence of these core inspirations with the modernity of the 21^st century. Thereby preserving the beauty of these bygone styles in a way that is relevant to today’s aesthetics. Hence, the name rococonouveau! 

She makes these super rad little collar accessories that are the perfect thing to dress up an outfit, or lack thereof!
I had the privilege of modeling a bunch of these collars, along with a whole bunch of my sassy ladyfriends.

You should go visit her shop and get one of these. They’re reversible and super well made.

Dear readers, go forth and consume!

A few months back, Katie West came to visit California.

She came and stayed at my house for a night, and the next day we took a bunch of pictures together.
She said some really lovely things about it, and managed to do so in a much more timely manner than I.

I’ve shot with a lot of photographers at this point in my life, and looking at what they capture always surprises me.
In looking at the ways they show me myself, I suddenly realize what about each photographer is different from the others.
Sometimes they have signature color schemes that can cast a mood really easily. Other times, I marvel at their compositional craft.
Sometimes, I see myself transformed into someone else entirely. 

Katie was no different.

When we started shooting she said: “Things to know about shooting with me– I’m very unprofessional, and I laugh a lot.”

When I got the pictures back, I looked at the above photo and felt like it was one of the most honest ones I’ve taken all year.

I’ve got more than an inch of roots, my hairdo is coming undone, my dress is wrinkled…but there I am– hanging out with a naked mannequin and a pile of red instruments. That’s who I am, rumpled dress and all.

For the first time in a while– I was able to look at a photo someone took of me and see not a character or a story they created– but instead, myself looking back.

She was unprofessional. We both laughed a lot.

Last month, I went to Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon.
I made the image above on the plane, using the iPhone applications classictoy, photofactory, diptic, camerabag, and instagram.
All the rest of the photos in this post are by Tim unless otherwise noted.

[photo by Merrick Monroe] 

My dearest comrades & collaborators, John C. Worsley, Myrrh Larsen, and Tim Riot!

These are some of my favorite dudes on the planet. All three of them are responsible for making me make the best art that I possibly can, in ways that are progressive and collaborative. I am so effing grateful that they’re all a part of my life, and that they’re around to inspire and challenge me.

On that note, this year it was more apparent than ever that all of us are sort of becoming a collective.
We are all doing things having to do with music and comics, and I suspect that next year we will have a lot of really awesome music/comics things to show you.

If you’re a person who makes both comics and music– please holler at us! We want to hear from you!

This year, the fest moved to the convention center. The lighting was very futuristic, as you can see.

The table was a nice mix of new and old stuff this year. John and I were still hawking copies of All Over the Map, along with copies of the new split mini he made with Myrrh, The Edge Of The World. John also had another new book out called Never Let Go.

When I arrived in Portland, John and Myrrh were a flurry of activity trying to get their books printed and ready for the show.
I had already decided to not stress myself out trying to make a new mini, but the boys were all making stuff & I suddenly found myself wanting to make stuff too!

I had come prepared with prints of some photos I’d recently shot and shared with Instagram.
It was at this point that I had an idea, and I knew it would continue to nag me until I made it a real thing.

I decided to take a bunch of photos that I’d shot with my phone, as part of my everyday life, and do some really quick drawings of them.
I had a plethora of stuff to choose from, thanks to my addiction to instagram!

Since I had a really limited amount of time to make this, I used in-phone processing applications on my photos to cut down on my drawing time as much as possible.
Afterwards, I exported them, and went to town drawing on them with John’s wacom.

The result was Instabook! a little tiny mini made in less that 24 hours.
I sold out on the first day and had to do a second print run. 

I think that I’m going to do more instagram based books and later compile them into a longer, colored work.
Keep an eye out for more on this soon!

The Art battle and afterparty this year were both held at the Jupiter Hotel, which we had the pleasure of staying at for one night.

I spent the majority of this particular evening a few sheets to the wind– hanging with Molly Crabapple, Erika Moen, and Nubby Twiglet.

I totally love this Red Riding Hood mural they have out front. Red is my homegirl, y’know.

As always I had a super fun time! Looking forward to next year!

p.s. I also did a podcast with Tim and Neil about the fest for Destroy All Podcasts– listen here!

Today and tomorrow, I will be exhibiting at Stumptown Comics Fest alongside my talented comrades, John C. Worsley, Myrrh Larsen, and Tim Riot. We will be rocking out at table F-9, so please stop by and say hi!

I will have copies of All Over the Map, as well as a brand new mini based on my Instagram photos, called Instabook!
If you follow me on Instagram and go to the fest, you can get one for free!

Hope to see you there!