So reader Beau won the contest, which I was hoping would be a time killer to fill a week I knew I'd miss, but then I went and missed another week. Beau, please email me at contact(at)matthew-bernier.com to claim your price, this beautiful archival-quality poster-sized print of my postcard design for Patton Oswalt, printed on Arches hot-press watercolor paper and signed by me.
I'm assuming there probably isn't a great deal of demand for them since beau was really the only person who felt like making two lists to get one, but if anyone else wants such a poster, they can write me at the same address. They are $25 plus shipping.

A few folks asked how I was doing- I've recovered from my terrible viral resurgence, and I'm back on my feet. Thanks to everyone who asked.

I have entries coming finally (I spent the last week sending out interview questions to various people I'd been procrastinating about writing), but for this week I have a bunch of neat links:

Remember Sean Murphy, the dude I presented at SCAD with? The harsh Onion's comics reviewer liked the first entry of his new comic with Grant Morrison, Joe the Barbarian, and having seen it in stores, I have to say I do, too! Sean's a crazy-talented inker.

The great Jillian Tamaki, talking about aping artistic styles.

Mark Siegel of First Second books isn't just a great editor, he's a great cartoonist! And he's putting his new book out as a webcomic! It's called Sailor Twain and you should read it.

James Gurney talks about the antiquated but still extremely useful comics tool, the proportion wheel.

SCAD student and friend of Comic Tools Blog Falynn draws fucking amazing apocalypse trucks.

And Hope Larson is doing a cool educational experiment:

"If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I'm working on a short comic and posting the process art on Flickr. When it's complete I'll compile the whole thing–script, thumbnails, roughs, inks–into a short comic for print and web. The idea isn't to make a comics how-to, but to show how much work goes into something as basic as a 10-page short story.

It's nerve-wracking to show work to the world when it's vulnerable and new, but that's the whole point. Once I make it through the roughs I'll enlist someone to play editor, make his/her notes public, and address those notes in the final art."

Linky links:


Guy Davis pencils are always good. The coolest part is he hasn't inked these yet. But he'll post them when he does. And so will I. Nick Bertozzi was made to be a teacher, and you can tell because when he's interviewed, just talking how he normally talks he's teaching left and right. Go read this thing.

Jillian Tamaki process shots. This woman throws out more good ideas in a week than I have in a year.

Evidently it's kind of a thing now for people to build their own Cintiq-style monitor tablet. No, really. Links:

Here

Here

And a video of such a creature in action:



I know, right?

SOPHOMORE SVA STUDENTS TAKE NOTE:

From Jillian Tamaki's blog:

In other news, I've picked up a class at SVA this semester, pinch hitting for an instructor on mat leave (congrats, Lauren!). Sophomore Drawing for Cartoonists. There is still room in the class if you are interested. You will have to contact the dept directly.

I know a fair number of SVA students read this blog. So let me tell you this- my choice of sophomore year drawing teacher ended up being the most important choice of my college career. I went with Scott Harrison, known as "the guy who actually fails people." (SVA is known for letting crap students coast as long as they pay tuition) Scott held our work up to professional level critique, and it was almost half a year before any of the students who could stand to stick with it made a piece that was totally acceptable to him. In that half a year my work, and the work of all my classmates who hung in there, made a quantum leap as he encouraged our good tendencies and smashed our bad habits to dust. By holding us to pro standards, our work became pro level, and every single person who hung in with his class got work after graduation.

Jillian is not only a true pro, a deadline hero and a brilliant cartoonist, she's fantastic at explaining process and critiquing what works and what doesn't, as anyone who follows this blog knows from all the times I've linked to her posts. If you possibly can, take her class. It's an opportunity of a lifetime.