Watusi’s back! And so is the East Buntyn Artwalk!

It’s been a long time coming, but I have a new Watusi issue for sale, featuring an ALL-NEW lead story! In “Copied by the Copy Cat”, Watusi crosses paths with an equally chatty animal … and it doesn’t go well! This issue also features a 3-page “Bad Joke Funnies” segment (originally published in 2022’s “cheese” issue of Bob Corby’s Oh, Comics! #30), where Watusi & many of his supporting cast deliver some real clunkers!

This issue has what I think is some of my best writing and some of my best art … unfortunately they’re not in the same story! “Copy Cat” has been in the works for a ridiculously long stretch of time, first appearing in my sketchbooks waaaay back in 2008! I had the beginning, the ending, and the cover idea all in one burst, but the meat of the story took a little while longer (to say the least!) to come together. As my Watusi comics began to favor the long-form stories I’ve gravitated to in his online comics, original stories for this print edition have become less frequent. But this is one that demanded the ability to be read in one sitting; its effect would be negated if it was spread out over a dozen weeks! It was a good little writing challenge for me, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Plus, I’m glad to be moving beyond the three anthology stories I’ve completed so far this year to get one of my own publications completed and in print!

Watusi the Talking Dog #42 is a 16-page black & white digest w/ full-color covers; ask for it at your comic shop of choice, or get a copy by mail via my Square store (or old school mail order; direct order info on my Contact page) for just $3.00 postpaid in the US. Prefer digital? You can find it on my Gumroad store (for $2.00 US), too! You can also find copies at my next festival appearance …

Also a long time coming, the East Buntyn Artwalk is back! Saturday, April 20th marks the post-pandemic return of one of my favorite festivals, and has me excited to get out of the studio and share my new work (plus much of the work I’ve done since the last Artwalk in 2019, including a series of prints of Memphis’ iconic recording studios).

I’ll be setting up my tent at 490 Prescott Street from 10-5 as part of an amazing open-air bazaar of artist pop-ups in the front yards and porches of the inviting and walkable east Memphis neighborhood, located just to the west of Highland. It features a diverse range of artists working in a variety of media, from watercolors and oil paintings, to photography, pottery, woodworking, jewelry … and even comics! This was such a fun show (both as a customer and as an exhibitor) in past years that I hope this year’s event will be able to recapture that spirit. Come on out; it should be a good time! Admission is FREE, and the event is child and pet friendly.

Hope to see you there!

Off on the right foot!

Happy belated new year, all! January has been a weather-driven challenge, to say the least– our prolonged MidSouth deep freeze felt like a Kansas winter … only in a place without the municipal or domestic infrastructure to handle it! This year we got through without burst pipes or power loss, so we fared better than many Memphians, for which I’m thankful.

Climate drama aside, I’ve gotten the new year off to a better start than I have in some time! I completed a six-page story for Bob Corby’s excellent OH, Comics! anthology, and have maintained a sketchbook practice I call a “daily-a-day” meant to get me back into the flow of how I used to produce my weekly webcomic. Largely a writing exercise at this point– and by no means finished comics ready to publish– it is a good first step towards that goal. I’m pleased with the way things are coming together, and planning to move on to the finished art stage this month, working towards the resumption of my webcomic and new print editions, too! I think it bodes well for things to come over the next few months….

Get the full scoop on my upcoming shows (yes, they’re already in the works!) and get a peek at work on my drawing board in my February newsletter!

‘Tis the _other_ season…

… the season when holiday markets move into high gear! As much as I enjoyed my monster-ific October shows (and thanks for those of you who came out to enjoy them), their nature limited the kind of work I brought to show and sell. My November events will give me the chance to show off a fuller range of what I do, so you can expect to see lots of Memphis-centric art at these shows…

Get the full scoop on my November shows and get a peek at work on my drawing board in my November newsletter!

It’s game on!

After a pandemic break, the members of the Mid-South Cartoonists Association are getting the band back together to release the newest issue in our digest comic series, The Good, the Bad, and the Sketchy! The “games and gaming” issue features comics and artwork from Devin Hodges (cover artist), Jim Palmer, Kevin L. Williams, Lin Workman, Eric McMeans, Jason Negen, Katie Jones, an interview with Greg Cravens about his Con Cards project, and even a playable gameboard by me! This issue turned out really good, and has a few surprises in store even for longtime readers!

The Good, the Bad, and the Sketchy #7 is a 28-page black & white and color digest, and is available in the area (soon) at 901 Comics and Comics and Collectibles & by mail (now) via my Square store for $4.00 postpaid in the US.

… but the funnest way to buy a copy will be from my table at this weekend’s Memphis Zine Fest! Crosstown Arts’  annual celebration of zines and zinesters is taking place Sept. 2-3, 10am-2pm on the second level of the Central Atrium at Crosstown Concourse. CA will even have a zine making station going on in the area, so if you’ve ever wanted to make your own zine, this is a great way to give it a try! The Memphis Punk Archive will be setting up a digitizing station upstairs, too! As always, this is a free and all-ages event, so feel free to bring your friends, your kids, and even your grandparents. It’s presented in conjunction with the Record Swap event, so there should be something there for everyone!

Heating up!

I don’t need to go on about how hot it’s been here, because you all no doubt have your own tales of a blistering July (tales that probably outdo mine). Hope you can keep as cool as you can as the summer wears on.

A big thank you to those of you who attended my Artist Trading Card show last month. I had a good time there, met some new art collectors excited by the work I’m making, made some new artist friends, enjoyed a summery cocktail from Crosstown Art Bar, and even gave away a prize to a lucky winner from one of my mystery packs! A good time had by all, and an event I’d happily take part in again (and I’ll encourage you to do the same next time one rolls around…

In a bit of housekeeping news, I closed down my Twitter account after some 8 years. Kinda bittersweet, because while I will miss a lot of the fun interactions I used to have on that site, it hasn’t felt like that place for some time. I really cut back my use of it about 6 months ago, and found I didn’t miss it all that much. If a less agitating space comes my way (Blue Sky invite, anyone?), I might return to social media, but until then I’ll just stick with my blog…

In happier news, and to return to the title of this section, my schedule is heating up a bit, too, with a number of new events coming up over the next couple of months…

Get the full scoop on my upcoming shows and get a peek at work on my drawing board in my August newsletter!

Hot off the Press: You Are What You Eat!

I previewed this project a couple of months ago for readers of my newsletter (what, you’re not on the list? Then subscribe here!), and now my artist trading card set, “You Are What You Eat” is about to be released into the wild!

Inspired by the creative work at the inaugural Artist Trading Cards Memphis event last March, I decided to take a stab at my own body of trading card artwork. I settled on a “food” theme, broad enough to give me lots of room to play while also giving me more structure than “here are a bunch of little drawings”. I’m enjoying the deep dive I’ve taken into this subject, and making as many little drawings as I have has been a good way to explore the theme. I thought my 5×7″ pencil drawings were about as small as I’d ever draw (aside from comic panels, of course), but it’s been a pleasant surprise to make work in this format. Each set comes with an original pencil drawing, an original collage, an original ink drawing (those last two have a printed base, so they’re really more of a handworked print), and a bonus minicomic (which in some cases is more of a paper sculpture), all packed in faux wax pack packaging. Okay, I may have gone a little overboard with this lark of a project, but I’m happy with the result!

I’ll debut the set (including cards at in-person events which will net the lucky winners a larger piece of artwork) on Sunday, July 16th, from 6-9 at Crosstown Art Bar! I’ll be joining the other artists of Artist Trading Cards Memphis, including Mary Jo Karimnia, Alex Paulus, Sara Moseley, Nick Peña, Tad Lauritzen-Wright, and Michelle Fair. Check out the full event description here, and stop by to say “hi” & see for yourself some of what I’ve been up to lately…

Not able to make it to the event? You can also mail order a set from my Square store here!

Let’s go: Memphis Libraries Comic Con!

It’s almost here– the inaugural Memphis Libraries Comic Con! I’ve heard good things about other comic events hosted by libraries, and I’m looking forward to being at a comic show that caters to readers! I’m bringing a selection of my Watusi (and other) digests, minicomics, and my full-size comics. It will be a pretty comic-centric selection of merchandise (no prints or original art), but it gives a pretty good sense of the art I make. The convention should be a good time, with two dozen artists, over a dozen dealers, and panels with featured guests Mike Norton and John Ostrander! Admission is FREE, so there’s no reason not to get a taste of the locally-created comic scene …  and the library is even giving free graphic novels to the first 200 attendees, so be sure to make it one of your Free Comic Book Day stops! Hope to see you there!

Everything old is new again

Happy new year! It’s been a few years since I made one of my “New Year’s resolutions” posts, because these pandemic years have shown me in the clearest manner possible how easily plans can be washed away. As a result, I’ve pretty much stopped trying to make a year’s worth of creative plans at one time … and to go with the flow when what plans I have made get torn asunder.

Like (I imagine) many creative types, it’s felt like I’ve been spinning my wheels over the past few years, making work but not feeling like it’s getting in front of the audience that needs or wants it. With fewer IRL events, I tried more social media promotion, but I rarely come out on the winning side of the algorithm game. And with the TikTok-ification of Instagram, and the impending? inevitable? collapse of Twitter, that whole scene has become less of an environment I want to spend time my time in. So I’ve decided to scale my Twitter and Facebook pages back (for the most part) to just mirror posting from this blog and my webcomic. I’ve deleted those apps from my phone, too, and have felt pretty good about rarely using them. I still check in on a number of artists on Instagram (when not scrolling past the too-frequent Reels unrelated to the accounts I follow) and even post drawings there from time to time … tho not as often as I used to. Which gives me more time draw. Which I call a win-win!

Get the full scoop on the closure of my Patreon account, a sneak peek at my drawings for the next MSCA art show, and more in my February newsletter!

Hot off the press: “Visions of Oz”

As I was putting together “Beyond the Emerald City”, I toyed with the idea of making a proper catalog to document the show. Not sure how well merchandise would go over in that environment, I opted for something a little simpler as a souvenir…

I came up with a quartet of themed minicomics, and they do a pretty good job of capturing some of the flavor of the work in that show, featuring collaged artwork, comic panels, and pencil drawings celebrating the breadth of L. Frank Baum’s characters, as drawn by Oz illustrators W.W. Denslow and John R. Neill (filtered thru my own style, of course).

• Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #23 features some favorite characters associated with the Emerald City.

• Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #24 focuses on Jack Pumpkinhead and The Sawhorse.

• Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #25 spotlights The Scarecrow, his corncob castle, and the patchwork girl Scraps.

• Smeary Soapbox Press-ents #26 completes the tour of Oz with a visit to Nick Chopper’s tin palace.

You can purchase copies of these 8-page minis at my popup shop at Playhouse on the Square, where I’ll be with artist Martha Kelly on Saturday, December 10, 2022, from 10-1:30. Can’t make it? You can also order copies by mail via my Square store (or old school mail order; direct order info on my Contact page) for just $6.00 postpaid in the US.

Beyond the Emerald City!

Long-time Watusi readers will recall that my characters and I spent a great deal of time in the Land of Oz for an extended comic adventure. While I haven’t completed making the revisions to that online comic for its print edition, I do have an opportunity to showcase some of the work from that epic alongside other Oz-inspired artwork this fall at Playhouse on the Square!

Made up of a selection of comic pages from my story, along with other Oz-inspired artwork, my “Beyond the Emerald City” show will be on display from October 14-December 28, 2022, in conjunction with Playhouse’s staging of “The Wizard of Oz”. That fortuitous timing (pointed out to me by someone else, since I had totally missed the opportunity it presented) was just too good to pass up, even if it meant completing work for the show on a tighter schedule than I’d have liked. Pushing deadlines can work when it comes to publishing comics online, but my paintings need time to cure before varnishing! Still, it all came together, and has made for what I think is a really satisfying show.

When I decided to make a comic set in the Land of Oz all those years ago by bringing my talking dog Watusi & his friends into interaction with Oz characters & settings in the public domain, I didn’t realize just how much fun I’d have playing in that sandbox! While I was familiar with the movie, once I read the later books in the series I came to have a real fondness for its wide cast of characters and an appreciation of L. Frank Baum’s world-building skill. Plus, those books are darn fun to read, chock full of wordplay & puns, much of which is still clever and humorous over a century after they were first written! Rereading illustrated editions whenever possible, I especially appreciated the design sensibilities of original Oz artist W.W. Denslow, and found his work to be an inspiration for my own treatment of the characters. Much like Baum’s written descriptions of the cast, they were so well designed visually that there was no need to “update” them! If you ever get a chance to read a color reprint of the original Denslow-illustrated edition, with its whimsical character designs and luscious two-color spot illustrations and full-page plates, you’re in for a treat! The second Oz artist, John R. Neill, had a more refined illustration style that I didn’t connect with as easily as with Denslow’s cartoonier art, but his lanky characters certainly influenced my take on Jack Pumpkinhead…

Admittedly, this show– a fan art love letter to the novels– is more comfort food than a palate-expanding meal … but sometimes mac & cheese is just what one needs, isn’t it? My hope is that viewers will find the work in this show an intriguing first step into (or a happy reminder of) the wide, wondrous world of Oz beyond the Emerald City! Like in my treatment of familiar Oz characters and settings in my own story, I hope this show has enough “Ozzy” touches to bring joy to those already familiar with Baum’s novels and piques the curiosity of those who aren’t … yet!

If you’re in the area, you are invited to join me for an artist reception from 5-7 p.m. on the play’s opening night, November 11th, 2022.

“Tin man on the moon.” Graphite on paper, 10″ x 8″, 2019.

“Jack’s Pumpkinhouse.” Ink drawing w/ digital collage, 10″ x 8″, 2019.

“The Monkey King.” Mixed media on panel, 24″ x 18″, 2022.

“The Thinkers.” Graphite on paper, 8″ x 10″, 2022.

“The Grand Parade”, or ,“Caninemania.” Ink drawing w/ digital collage, 13″ x 7.5″, 2017.

“The Emerald City.” Collage, digitally recolored, 10″ x 8″, 2018.

“Wicked Witch … and Her Hat.” Acrylic on two panels, 12″ x12″ & 18″ x 12″, 2022.

“Just Do It!” Ink drawing, 12.5″ x 7.5″, 2019.

[January 2023 UPDATE: included below is the landing page that ran on this website for the duration of the show.]

“Beyond the Emerald City” is an exhibition of my OZ-themed comics & artwork, on display Oct. 14-Dec. 28, 2022 at Playhouse on the Square, 66 South Cooper St., Memphis.

• Please join me for an artist reception on Nov. 11, 5-7pm!
• I’ll be sharing a popup shop with artist Martha Kelly on Dec. 10, 10am-1:30pm!
• To read “Watusi in Oz”, start here. You can read the newest Watusi comic here.

On stage: “The Wizard of Oz” (Nov. 11 – Dec. 22) – get tickets here.

Other art on exhibit at Playhouse on the Square is by Priscilla Cunningham, Gerecho Delaney, Suzanne Evans, and Martha Kelly.