Portland Monthly — Best of the City

Here are two more pieces from this spring's 'Best of the City' article in Portland Monthly. Every few years, Pomo runs one of these showcases on Portland's food, shopping, family activities, etc., so it was a definite treat to collaborate with them and show off the city I love.

I did six illustrations for them in that issue, and these (Food and Shopping) were two of my favorites. The pieces all started from a notion of transforming everyday Portland moments into fantastical dreamscapes, ala Little Nemo in Slumberland. It was a lot of silly fun, and I enjoyed the chance to help formulate the overall concept.

This Shopping piece was particularly fun, because I got to pick all these bits and bobs that say 'Portland' to me. If anyone disagrees, well, nyeh. It's all about the squids and sock monkeys. One of my also-ran layouts for this piece had the woman dressed as a pirate lady (as people do here in our fair city, year-round, for their own reasons) but wearing regular sneakers— when LO, behind a shoe-store window, she sees the perfect pair of pirate wench boots. Yeah. Too far out... Perhaps TOO Portland for its own good. It was a fun doodle though. I'll have to see if it's still around somewhere.

Stumptown 2012

It's been real, Spring Convention Season. You tried to take me away from my wife and child nearly every weekend for the last two months. You mostly succeeded. I leave you now, more machine than man. Twisted and evil. But in a good way!

Photo credit: Lindsey Ellis

Stumptown capped it all off, and it was a good ending note. Visits from wife and baby, a Dear Creature reading at Comics Underground with Dylan Meconis, meeting Michael Allred and listening to his family band, The Gear...I was even honored to pick up a couple Stumptown awards for Best New Talent (Dear Creature and Green River Killer), and Best Artist (Green River Killer). And they're the cutest awards. Just look!

Monsters are always the answer, and I'm glad the Stumptown committee knows that.

I put a ton of stuff out on my table, books-wise, and it hit me that it's all come out pretty much in the last six months. Dear Creature, Green River Killer, House of Night, Dark Horse Presents (The Creep).  It was kind of surprising to see it all in one place— and there's more to come this weekend, for Free Comic Book Day! If I tweeted more, people would know that they should be sick of me by now. As it is, my lack of consistent tweeting is all that keeps me in people's good graces.

Big thanks to everyone involved in this crazy Spring Convention Season. It was great, but I'm all out of words now.

Nite nite.