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| Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 | | 8:02 am |
Barry will be at VanCAF this weekend
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Hi! Sorry I’ve been blogging so little lately. I’m just spending long days every day drawing Hereville. And it’s not just the time; it’s also, somehow, mental creative energy being expended. Even when I have a few hours after work, I just don’t seem to have it in me to write new posts.
Anyway, this too will pass.
I’ll be appearing in Vancouver, Canada this weekend, at the Vancouver Comics Arts Fest. It should be a lot of fun, and I think admission is free; so if you’re in Vancouver, please come see me and say hi.
Here’s the page from Hereville 2 I finished yesterday — and it’s a pretty spoiler-free page. I’m pretty happy with how this page looks.
It has two unusual elements for me. First of all, it’s yet another attempt at an Eisner-style collage layout. I wouldn’t say it’s completely successful — certainly not as nice looking as an Eisner page, but that’s a given, isn’t it? — but I think this works better than the Eisner-attempts in book one did. (Which were pages 31 and 32, if you’re wondering and have book 1 handy.)
Secondly, drew panel one with the kind of over-the-top foreshortening that artists like Jim Steranko used to such great effect, which is not something I can recall ever attempting before. I think it came out okay, but I probably won’t be doing this often in the future — it’s so visually oddball looking (to my eyes, at least) that I think it’s bound to distract from storytelling in most contexts.
| | Friday, May 11th, 2012 | | 12:49 am |
Portland Opera’s production of Candide
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. So I had the great pleasure of being invited to see a dress rehearsal of the Portland Opera’s production of Candide. So much fun! The show is hilarious, just a little bit dirty, and incredibly cynical, and the performances were all terrific. I think Candide is one of those operas that even folks who don’t usually like Opera would like, so if you’re in Portland I recommend checking it out.
I didn’t have time to do illustrations as elaborate as I’ve done for past Portland Opera productions, so I did caricatures of four of the characters in the show. I’m pretty pleased with how Pangloss came out.
Also, be sure to check out the #pdxcandide tag on twitter to get links to the drawings by all the other Portland cartoonists who were invited!
| | Friday, April 27th, 2012 | | 3:13 am |
Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend!
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. 
I’ll be at Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon this weekend. If you’re there, please come up and say hi.
I’m planning a very light con schedule this summer, incidentally, since most of my time is going towards drawing the second Hereville book. But in May I’ll be appearing at VANcaf in Vancouver, Canada, and in August I’ll be at GeekGirlCon in Seattle, Washington. | | Monday, April 16th, 2012 | | 5:37 pm |
Hereville Book 2: Cover Art!
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. The cover art to Hereville: How Mirka Met A Meteorite.
And here are the two covers side by side:
I do think we succeeded pretty well at making a cover that was clearly part of the same series as book 1, without being the same cover over again. | | Saturday, April 14th, 2012 | | 1:32 am |
Hereville book 2 – cover sketches
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Warning: The images below contain some spoilers regarding the plot of Hereville book 2. Then again, so does, you know, the actual cover to the book.
So when I started work on the cover to book 2, everyone (“everyone” in this case meaning me, the folks at Abrams (my editor Sheila and book designer Chad Beckerman) and my agent Judy Hasen) were agreed that we wanted a cover that looked enough like book 1′s cover so that it would be obviously in the same series at a glance, but different enough so that no one would mistake it for the first book.
So, things to keep from book 1′s cover: Big round object. Tiny Mirka (or Mirkas). The banner for the title and author lettering. Things to be different: Everything else.
So I thought of every cover idea I could and sent quick sketches of those ideas to Abrams. Pretty much all of those ideas were variations on “meteor shooting through space, Mirka sitting on or being dragged along behind it.” But I also threw in a few not involving a meteor, because I didn’t want to forclose other possibilities, even though I was pretty sure we’d wind up with a meteor.
Then the folks at Abrams discussed it, or perhaps consulted their magic eight balls (a not-unlikely subject of a future Hereville cover), and agreed that they liked a shooting meteorite dragging a panicked Mirka best.
We also sent emails back and forth playing around with several color approaches. I showed them a few possibilities — sky blue, dark blue, red, etc — and although I was secretly hoping for red, I thought they’d choose blue (a more conservative choice), and I could live with that. To my delight, they chose red.
So now knowing the subject of the drawing and the color scheme, I did some more sketches and sent them to Abrams:
I do these sketches not only for Abrams’ sake but for my own — it’s hard for me to feel that I really know what I think about a cover composition unless I first sketch it out.
On Monday I’ll post the final cover art! | | Friday, March 16th, 2012 | | 3:13 am |
Preview panel: Mirka runs up a hill
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Just a completed panel from Hereville book 2 (although it’s still awaiting colors from Jake, of course). I’m happy with how this panel came out. Sometimes things come together well.
| | Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 | | 2:53 am |
First First Interview With Me about Hereville!
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Desirous of Everything has posted their “first first” interview with me. That one’s from a while ago, I think, but it’s nice to see it online. Here’s a sample:
Question: I personally, loved Pig. I love how much expression he portrays before he even speaks. And then when he spoke for the first time, I think I was just as surprised as Mirka was! Can you talk about your process of creating him?
Answer: I knew that I wanted the witch to have a familiar, an animal friend. But it took me an amazingly long time to decide on a pig! I went through so many ideas… a cat, a ferret, a goat. In retrospect, it seems silly, because a pig is so perfect.
Because the pig is Mirka’s antagonist for so much of the story, I knew right away the pig had to be sort of prickly and easily annoyed. More of her personality came out as I sketched and wrote for her.
When it came time to draw the pig, I was so intimidated! It’s hard for me to draw a pig well. What helped me a lot was buying a half-dozen little realistic pig toys that I could hold in my hand and use as models for the character.
Click over to read the whole thing. | | Friday, February 17th, 2012 | | 9:02 am |
First drawing of the troll for Hereville book 2
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. The troll is a very fun character to ink. Especially that huge long curve under his belly; getting that line right, when I can get it right, is loads of fun. (Yes, this is what I find fun).
This shows both the rough sketch of the character on the page, and the completed drawing. (Jake hasn’t colored it yet, obviously).
| | Saturday, February 11th, 2012 | | 11:05 pm |
Book two in progress: A Couple of Fruma Outfits
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Hereville book two is now completely written and laid out (although there are a couple of pages I want to go back and fix), and I’m now at long last drawing actual pages. A bunch of pages are partway drawn, a few pages are complete, and — much to my excitement — the front cover is complete.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the publisher wants me to show you any of that stuff just yet. Definitely not the cover. Maybe I’ll start showing pages next week.
Meanwhile, here’s a couple of outfits that Fruma will wear in book 2:
| | Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 | | 4:14 am |
Hereville 2 Work-In-Progress: Dress Design
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. Mirka wears the same dress for the first 45 pages of the graphic novel (although — spoiler alert! — by page 45 the dress will be torn and filthy). Unlike last time, where I just drew a dress on the first page and then had to repeat it, this time I’m trying to figure out what the dress looks like before I start drawing.
(Click on the image to see it bigger.)
| | Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 | | 8:02 am |
I’m At Comic-Con this week
I’ll be at Comic-Con in San Diego this week, starting with preview night tonight and through the end of Comic-Con on Sunday.
I’m in Artists Alley, table DD-5, a fair amount of the time. I’ll have copies of Hereville and my new short story, How To Make A Man Out Of Tin Foil, with me.
I’ve never been to Comic-Con before — which is to say, I’ve been to the comic book convention that takes place in San Diego before, but as far as I can recall I’ve never been to it since it became, you know, COMIC-CON! I’m completely intimidated by the sheer hugeness of Comic-Con, but also excited.
I’m planning to spend some time going to panels, looking at other cartoonists’ tables and trying to enjoy the con, so I won’t be at my table every minute — but I’m planning to be at my table at least a few hours a day, possibly more. In addition, I’ll be doing a Hereville signing at the Abrams booth Friday and Sunday mornings.
Comic-Con is so huge that you pretty much need a strategy to attend. I’ve decided not to try to attend any of the really BIG events — the Whedon appearance, the Matt Smith appearances, and so on — because it would require too much time spent in line.
Although seeking a chance to talk to the big celebrities can lead to extremely treasure-able memories. Winter McCloud told me a great story about getting called on to ask Kristin Chenowith a question at a panel at a previous Comic-Con. (Chenowith, who is less than five feet tall, commented, “wow, you’re as tiny as I am.”) Winter (who is not shy, and who is, like me, a big fan of musicals) asked Chenowith if she’d sing just for a few moments. The crowd erupted in applause at Winter’s request, and Winter was rewarded with this performance:
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | | 7:21 pm |
Which cover design do you like best?
These are possible covers for a short self-published comic I might have with me at Comic-Con. Please let me know which design you like best.
Thanks!
UPDATE: And a fifth option (variation on the first option):
UPDATE AGAIN: Option number six (variant on #4)
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Friday, June 24th, 2011 | | 5:02 am |
Mini-interview of Barry from TCAF
I’ve been quiet lately because I’m in Canada. I’ll post a bit about this trip once I’m home, but meanwhile here’s a short interview from last month’s trip to Canada, when I attended the Toronto Comics Arts Fest. Thanks to Good Comics for Kids for making this video!
The graphic novels I recommend in this video are:
* I Kill Giants, by Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Nimura
* Smile, by Raina Telgemeier
* Locas, by Jaime Hernandez
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Saturday, June 18th, 2011 | | 12:59 am |
| | Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 | | 2:50 pm |
Librarians and Teachers — Please vote in the Eisner Awards
 Teachers and Librarians, I have a favor to ask. The favor is, please vote in the Eisner Awards.
Voting for the Eisner Awards is going on right now (voting ends Monday). The Eisner Awards, in case you don’t know, are the single most important award for comic books. Any librarian or educator who has ever worked with graphic novels in their profession is eligible to vote.
For the teen and kid categories, it’s vitally important that more librarians and educators participate, even if they vote for something other than Hereville. :-) The “best publication for kids” category is at the bottom of page 1 (it’s item #6), and the “best publication for teens” category is at the top of page 2 (it’s item #7). If a graphic novel you think is deserving came out in 2010 and isn’t listed, it’s fine to write it in, too.
(You’re not required to vote in every category — it’s fine to vote in only one or two.)
Hereville is nominated in the “Best Publication for Teens” category (page 2 of the ballot, or item #7). If you’re a Hereville fan, I hope you’ll consider voting for Hereville.
Finally, if you’re willing to spread the word to any librarians or educators you know who you think might vote, I’d really appreciate it. :-) You can register to vote in the Eisners here.
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Thursday, May 5th, 2011 | | 3:35 am |
This weekend: Toronto Comics Arts Fest!
I’m on my way to Toronto, where I will visit a couple of schools (yay!), hang out with some relatives, and attend the Toronto Comics Arts Fest. If you’re going to be in Toronto, please come by and say hi — the Fest, located in the Toronto Reference Library, is free to the public.
The National Post sent out a survey to all the cartoonists attending TCAF who haven’t attended before. Here’s their questions and my answers:
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Who are you? Why are you here?
I’m Barry Deutsch, a cartoonist from Portland, Oregon, USA (one of several Portlanders attending this year). I’m here to introduce people to my first graphic novel, Hereville, a fantasy adventure about a troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl.
Why have you never been to TCAF before? What’s wrong with you!
If you folks would hold TCAF in Portland, I’d attend every year! That’s not asking too much, now is it?
What kind of stories have you heard about TCAF?
No lie: I’ve heard it’s the best-run comic book convention on the continent.
Do you attend many comic festivals and conventions? Why are they so important?
They’re not important! Important stuff involves getting work done and paying bills and dressing in brown and very probably sitting in a room where the only sound is pens scraping across tedious government forms. Comic book festivals are for fun.
If you’re not from Toronto, what do you know about the city? If you are from Toronto, what should out-of-town guests do in their free time?
I regularly listen to Stuart McLean’s “Vinyl Cafe” while I draw. So I’m looking forward to meeting the cute and folksy types that I believe comprise 100% of Canada’s population.
What part of TCAF are you most excited about?
I’m excited that TCAF is held in a public library and is free for the public to attend. Hopefully this means that some folks who aren’t comic book fanatics like I am, but who might nonetheless enjoy reading a good graphic novel, will come see the show.
There’s a lot to see and I don’t have a lot of time, so why should I come to your table on Saturday or Sunday?
When I go to conventions, people always tell me that I have the best pitch they’ve seen at the entire show. Seriously, people often hear my pitch, and then return later dragging their friends so their friends can hear the pitch too. Even if you don’t like my comic at all, you’ll enjoy hearing my pitch.
(My publisher would appreciate it if I just casually mentioned here that a School Library Journal reviewer called Hereville “the best kid’s graphic novel of 2010, bar none” Hereville is nominated for an Eisner Award, a Nebula Award, and is the first comic book ever to win the Sydney Taylor Book Award. So if you want to read a funny, exciting, and extremely unique comic that both kids and adults will enjoy, that’s another reason to stop by my table.)
The festival is kicking-off with a panel discussion featuring Chester Brown, Seth, Adrian Tomine, and Chris Ware. I have to ask: who’s your favourite and why?
It’s impossible to say who’s the best cartoonist of that lot; they’re each beyond incredible. But of those four, I get the most enjoyment out of Seth’s comics. Seth’s work contains the precise mix of playful whimsy and mind-numbing depression that most appeals to me.
If you could spend a day with another artist attending this year’s TCAF, who would it be and why?
Aaarrgh! Too hard. It’s 2:49am and my brain can’t process a question this difficult.
What’s your most anticipated comic of the year?
The advance word on Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol is incredible, and I can’t wait to read it. But the graphic novel I’m most looking forward to is Dicebox, by Jenn Lee, a 350-page graphic novel collecting her webcomic of the same name. Lee is one of very few cartoonists creating intelligent, grown-up science fiction comics, and her drawing is exquisite. Plus I love that Dicebox isn’t about some starship Captain or galactic rebels; it’s about ordinary blue-collar workers trying to get along in the universe.
This summer we’ll see Captain America, Thor, and the Green Lantern on the big screen. What comic should next make the leap to film? Who should direct it?
Chris Ware’s “Jimmy Corrigan” should become a big-budget blockbuster directed by Chris Columbus of “Home Alone” fame. It can’t miss!
What will have to happen this weekend for you to consider TCAF a success?
I’d like to sell a bunch of books, have some great conversations with fans and other cartoonists, meet the girl and or boy of my dreams, have a passionate yet tragic and ultimately doomed love affair, invent a time travel machine and have tea with Oscar Wilde, reconnect with my estranged best friend from the sixth grade, fight a duel with my mortal enemy Skelator, each of us are armed only with broken umbrellas from bad takes of “Singin’ In The Rain,” win six billion dollars and use it to buy the rights to more seasons of “Firefly,” and eat a really delicious sandwich.
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Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 | | 12:37 pm |
Stumptown report, and audio of a panel discussion
Stumptown went great! I sold all 60 copies of Hereville I had with me, chatted with many readers and cartoonists, and just generally had a swell time.
From The Beat, here’s a photo of me at my booth at Stumptown.
Thanks to Jen Vaughn, who took that photo and is also an excellent cartoonist with a series of comics about menstruation.
I also had the good fortune to be on a panel about world-building, moderated by Evan Dahm; the other panelists were Carla Speed McNeil, Jenn Manley Lee, Kel McDonald, and Larry Marder. So that was pretty awesome.
Happily, Evan made an audio recording of the panel, which you can listen to here.
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. | | Thursday, April 14th, 2011 | | 2:53 pm |
| | Sunday, April 10th, 2011 | | 11:36 pm |
| | Thursday, April 7th, 2011 | | 8:14 pm |
2011 Eisner Nominations – No big deal.
The 2011 Eisner nominations are out… This is no big deal. I can take it or leave it. I mean, it’s only the comic book industry’s biggest award, and Will Eisner is only one of my favorite artists EVER, and I DID take Eisner’s class at SVA, but it’s not like I care or any–
What’s that?
Hereville made the nom list, you say?
Oh.
Well.
No biggie.
Er, pardon me just a moment.
As I was saying, nothing to get excited about.
Originally published at hereville.com. Please leave any comments there. |
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