Upon the Earnest of Journaling and a Subtle Promotion of Library Paraphernalia

I was watching a Morning News Talk Show and Laurence Fishburne was a guest talking about how he was going through his old journals during his self quarantine. Personally I have kept journals off and on and like Fishburne stated during his interview when he was reading some of his old entries, you realize how crazy some of your thoughts were. 

I have returned to journaling recently, wanting to keep a record of the trials and tribulations I have had to endure during the pandemic. Everyday I make an entry, even if it is just a couple of sentences to keep back into the habit. I want to be able to go back in a couple of years and reflect on this period of history, and it is history, to remember just what transpired and see what hopes and what disappointments I faced and how I coped.

Journaling has a rich history. In fact journals of prominent figures have been essential in constructing periods of history. The journals of folk in wagon trains that moved westward kept detailed experiences of pioneers showing us that the authors were far from the illiterate characters depicted in films but were in fact lettered men and women. That books and newspapers were the mainstream media, much as film and television are to us today.  So it is only expected that people were well read during that period of time. 

Many contemporary authors journal, such as Neil Gaiman who even keeps one journal online, well it is actually a blog, but he calls it a journal. Authors use journals not only to reflect and record their life but also to jot down ideas, conversations and incidents that later show up in their stories. 

Journaling and creativity go hand in hand. Also it is great therapy. I don't think you can get any more masculine than Ernest Hemmingway who wrote "Write clear and hard about what hurts." 

And of course we have the diary of a young lady that brought to light the horrors of being Jewish in Nazi Germany, Anne Frank, "I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn."

Journaling is not only of form of self care, it is also a way to confront our shortcomings, celebrate our successes but also get in touch with our humanity.  We are all stories waiting to be read or not to be read but by our own selves if only to remind us that we do have a voice. 

So keeping with the long tradition of journaling I designed some journal covers, mostly in a whimsical way. Note: All images are under copyright.

More journal designs are available on my Redbubble site in the Library Collection.

I have also included journals for cat lovers to keep a record of their feline's machinations.

The Library Collection also offers posters of Literary Characters, Lovecraftian Themes and bookplates such as below. These are vinyl stickers that can be used as bookplates inside the cover of your book as well as stickers you can apply to most surfaces. 

 The Library Collection is something that I took a lot of pride in creating items for the library because of my fondness for books. I hope that you enjoy these offerings and in the future I will create more. 

Digital versus Traditional Isn't a Debate, It's a Preference

There seems to be a debate over traditional artwork versus digital artwork. Before I continue I should say this, I really don't consider myself an "Artiste" per say, but rather an artisan or craftsman. Art is all inclusive and I believe anyone can be an artist. Art is about personal vision and creativity. So in a sense I all of us are artists in our own way. When it comes to illustrating, comic making, story telling etc. I consider that a craft, a somewhat mad craft, but a craft.

Brian Bolland

Like all crafts, a craftsman has to has his tools, that what this blog post is about.

David Petersen

Speaking from my stand point alone, digital versus traditional isn't even a debate, it is simply a matter of preference. There are many high profile artists in comics that have made a seamless transition to digital, such as Brian Bolland who did Alan Moore's "Killing Joke". At first I was skeptical about using the new digital inking programs out there, but Bolland ended that skepticism. Even Tod McFarline of "Spawn" has gone digital. But, there are just as many still doing it traditionally, such as DC's Jim Lee and David Petersen of "Mouse Guard". I am not referring to digital coloring, only inking and penciling. I will talk about coloring later.

As far as I what feel personally, I am good with because I am not on a crusade to save traditional nor am I on a mission to convert others to digital. I am a hybrid, in a sense. I wouldn't have a following if it weren't for the internet or for digital. The internet is an artist's boon, especially for unknowns or garage artists like myself.

I say I am hybrid because when it comes to drawing and inking, my preference is, and hasn't changed and most likely won't, traditional. It's a matter of style I suppose. If I was someone who used bolder lines, less line work and less crosshatching, then I would probably go digital but then I wouldn't have an original. Though artists make a lot of money from their prints, the originals, well, they are one of a kind and more sought after by collectors. This isn't going to change.

But really for me it is a matter of control. I love the tactile feel of a pen against paper, the tension of knowing that if I make a mistake, well, the correction part is going to take effort. I should tell you that I seldom if ever use white out. I have in one case and pretty much regretted it. But ink is more correctable than people think. All you need is a stead hand and a exacto knife. Gently removing a layer of paper, so thinly, you get to feel like a surgeon removing a tumor. There are also electric erasers, but I prefer a knife. Also this is where digital comes in. Digital can correct most any mistakes you do on traditional drawing and inking.

Also since I use anything from a .003 to .005 pen when rendering and build up tone after tone with lines, well, that would take a good chunk of memory from any inking program currently. Plus it wouldn't be as fun...if I am not having fun...well...

Ezekiel Crowe Traditional Ink

Now coloring, I am digital all the way. Less mess, correct on the fly, change hues, saturation etc. But let me explain why...because I am not nearly skilled in painting as I am in inking. I don't have the confidence in color as I do in black and white and I kind of actually prefer black and white inks...always have. Color is it's own science. In fact when I see a traditionally painted piece, I am pretty much in awe at the skill required. This isn't to say great digital paintings don't require the same amount of skill, color is color, you have to master it, but seeing an original painting is always an experience for me personally.

The same goes for lettering. Todd Klein is a legend in the industry. You can pick up almost any Vertigo title and see his name. Even when digital lettering was hitting the industry, Klein for the most part still hand lettered a lot of the "Sandman" issues by Neil Gaiman. He has also taken his lettering and turned them into fonts that he uses. Klein is not out of work and still very much in demand and his digital fonts are copywritten. That inspired me to take some of my own lettering and turn it into a font that I use in INK and will more than likely do more. If I hand lettered INK, I would go insane.

Todd Klein

Example of Todd Klein's work

In the end, traditional art does not need saving, it's not gone, it hasn't died and it isn't a dinosaur. It's simply a matter of choice. Digital should not only be a welcome addition, it should also be an additional tool or if one chooses the primary tool. I find that people that want to convert others to either side is usually like an alcoholic who is afraid of drinking alone because he fears he might be an alcoholic. Instead, just marry it, and like any relationship, it takes two, sometimes takes compromise and in the end it is all about what works best for you. Just do it!

Font I created for Ink

Artist of the Month for June: Derik Hefner

This month I had the pleasure to interview Derik Hefner. Soon as I saw some of his work I knew I had encountered a kindred spirit. I am grateful he gave me this opportunity to answer some questions about his inspirations, his projects and being involved locally with the Artistic Community.



Looking at your work, especially the graphic novel you are working on, you obviously are a fan of the medium. What comic book artists inspired you and what writers fired your imagination?


The first artist I could recognize by style alone was John Byrne. I was 6 when the first issue of his Superman series came out. I was slightly confused at the time as to how it could be Superman’s first issue, but Byrne’s art was so distinct, his characters had mass and substance and form, and his backgrounds were full of gritty detail. And Terry Austin’s inks brought out all of that perfectly. Classic X-Men was coming out then too, so Byrne had a big presence in my early formative years, right when I was really getting sucked into comics in a big way. Other influences span the gamut: Will Eisner, Möebius, Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Bachalo, Frank Miller, Paul Pope, Becky Cloonan, Sean Gordon Murphy, Gabriel Bá, Fabio Moon, Jamie Hewlett, Jordi Bernét, Mike Allred... I could go on and on with the artists I’ve picked up this or that from. Every artist’s style is a sort of Frankenstein’s Monster in that way. But looking at my work now, I can see that Byrne is the standard from which I’ve deviated. All the weirder influences just dress up and distort that Byrne skeleton, which is baked in.

John Byrne

As for writers, in comics, Chris Claremont was a huge influence. Over his decades-spanning X-Men run, he put you inside the heads of such a large cast, bouncing back and forth between thought bubbles and third-person narration in a way that you rarely see anymore. He provided an interesting lens through which to view the world. A community of people who would otherwise be loners, misunderstood and reviled by the world in spite of (or because of?) the fact that their cause is right and just. And taking the brunt of all that negative energy and giving back something positive instead. That resonates as loudly now as it did then.

Other writing influences, both within comics and elsewhere, is another long list (and I know I’m going to leave a lot out someone that I’ll regret not mentioning later), but immediately springing to mind are Grant Morrison, Brian K. Vaughan, James Robinson, Alan Moore, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Rick Remender, Jason Aaron. Early Vertigo comics are a high point of what comics can be, and I revisit those often. Outside of comics my reading interests are varied, but with fiction I tend to gravitate towards magic realism. Which is probably a testament to the comics influence, since when you think about it, virtually all comics could be considered magic realism. Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Etgar Keret, Haruki Murakami. I’ve been singing the praises of China Miéville for several years now. Jim Thompson, a fellow Okie, is another favorite. Hunting down his books has been an ongoing project.

Derik Hefner

When I see your work I am reminded of Farel Dalrymple and Troy Nixey who worked on Mike Mignola's Jenny Finn. Also your panel layouts and camera angles look very professional. Do you do story boards before committing to a layout?

Jenny Finn

That’s very flattering! I wouldn’t point to either of them as direct influences, but it’s always interesting to hear what others see that I don’t. Someone recently compared my work to that of Brendan McCarthy, whose name I was more familiar with than his work. That led to me checking out his collaborations with writer Peter Milligan, and damned if I didn’t see it. If I was on the outside looking in, I’d think he was one of my biggest direct influences, yet I’d had almost no exposure to his work (outside of his covers, which were mostly painted). It’s a great experience, coming across kindred artists like that, arriving at the same place from different routes. It’s like when you make a new friend that you feel like you’ve known forever, but through art without any personal contact. It’s a form of connection that would be unavailable if not for art. Let me make clear, I’m not putting myself on McCarthy’s level, but it does feel like we inhabit the same creative world, and I’ve been greatly inspired by his work. Sounds like I need to do a deep dive into Dalrymple and Nixey now!

Brendan McCarthy

Regarding panel layouts and angles, my prime directive as a visual storyteller is to lead the eye through the page as naturally as possible. Time is conveyed through space on a comic page, so an awkwardly placed panel or word balloon can create a hiccup that takes the reader out of the story momentarily. If you look at film, every shot occupies a space of exactly the same shape and dimensions. So leading the eye through the story involves considerations like having the focal point of a shot— the area of the screen you’re looking at— be the same focal point when you cut to the next shot. And then characters can move around within each shot, or the camera can pan around, and the eye is led around through time and movement. 

With comics, you’ve got to create the illusion of time on a static canvas, through the use of space. You have to figure out how to break up into panels and find the best way to lead the eye through them. Film is very informative in composing the shots in the panels themselves, but getting those moments to work together to tell a story, that’s what defines comics. I work all this out at the layout stage, which would be the equivalent of storyboarding, I suppose. There are a lot of considerations that go into making a compelling page composition, both in form and function. Ways of guiding the eye. Subliminal, of course— you don’t want to be thinking about that while reading, that would defeat the whole purpose. There are many choices that have to be made on the way to delivering a story that are never seen by the reader except in their final, aggregate form. I try to make most of these choices in the layout stage, do most of the cerebral work there. It makes the rest of the process go much more smoothly. The hand can be more loose and playful while the brain is doing the heavy lifting, so once I’m at the inking stage my mind can rest or wander while my hand does its real work. This balances out my process, as it allows for more confidence in each of the stages. Confidence is essential in the creative process, so being conscious of it, cultivating it, and keeping an open channel for it running through from beginning to end is a good practice. That confidence— or lack thereof— always shows in the final product. That’s the energy captured in a piece, and ultimately, the transmission of conscious energy from one mind to another is the reason we have art.

Derik Hefner

Looking at your current project, there's a lot of esoteric themes, I imagine you have quite a library for reference. What kind of books do you have?

Grey Magick deals with themes relating to different belief systems. The human condition, the nature of consciousness and the mental structures we’ve built to harness and organize it. As well as the things that dwell outside those walls, the chaotic unconscious elements. I’ve had firsthand experience with a variety of belief sets... I was a devoted Christian in my early adult life, and I’m far from that now, but along the path I’ve taken deep dives into different strains of mysticism, examined some of the different magick systems, and have had personal experience with a few different types of cults. Grey Magick is my way of making sense of all this disparate pieces, by encapsulating the different views into characters and letting them interact through narrative. It’s a more interesting way to talk about it than a single point-of-view essay, and because some of the views expressed by a character might be a view I once held but have since discarded, I can at least give a fair voice to those views since I know what it feels like to hold them, and how they affect the rest of one’s thought processes. Some points of view discussed may not appear in a very favorable light, but I can at least be fair.

Grey Magik: Derik Hefner

Regarding things outside my own experience, I want to be fair to those too, so I’m a research junkie. Most of that happens on the internet— it’s a lot easier to gain access to things like ancient manuscripts and grimoires in digital form— so I generally have about 30 open tabs for quick reference. But I will always prefer physical books when possible, especially subjects of long-term interest. Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Israel Regardie, Grant Morrison; books on psychology, philosophy, anthropology, mythology, neurobiology. Books on the craft of writing, and a handful on the Enneagram, which I’m deeply fascinated by. I suppose the common denominator is the study of consciousness. 

And I’ve got lots of comics, graphic novels, and art books on hand for visual inspiration. Always.

What books are you currently reading?

I don’t have the same kind of time available for reading these days, so it’s a slower process, but right now I’m reading Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces (again) and Helen Palmer’s Enneagram, which I’ll follow up with Taking with the Left Hand by William Patrick Patterson, which is in part a reaction against Palmer and the Western approach to the Enneagram. It’s all about getting as many different perspectives as possible.

What music do you listen to while you are drawing?

I tend to do most of my writing and rough layouts in silence. As a musician it’s easy to get distracted by music, and it’s better to keep my entire mind on output mode in that stage since that’s where more of the decision making and mental work is done. Once I move to inks and color, that’s when I let in the music. Usually instrumental, but really anything I can get lost in. Lately I’ve been exploring a cluster of really moving instrumental bands like Meniscus, Totorro, Russian Circles, and Toe. Tool is always a great go-to for making art. Fear Inoculum got flak from some fans for not being aggressive enough, but listen to it on headphones while making art. You’ll get it.

Derik Hefner

I notice you sell Tees as well, do you judge the market and target it or do you create and just hope for the best?

When I do my own shirts (as opposed to commissioned designs), it’s usually pretty organic. I like to make prints of most of my illustrations, but there are some that just feel like they need to be on a shirt. The most recent line of shirts I’ve done are based on a horror icons series I did for Inktober 2019. My friend Steven Jones, a musician and a screenprinter, approached me about turning some of them into shirts, and it all fell into place. Steven is a master, his screens are so faithful to the original drawings down to details I never thought would translate. It’s been a great collaboration, and we’re about to do a new one this week, which I’m very excited about.

Derik Hefner

I also notice that you are pretty active in the artistic community with pages on Facebook, personally I find it important to inspire and feed others creatively. Is this something that you hope to continue and are you finding personal growth as an artist from these endeavors?

Absolutely! A strong artist community is something I was missing for a long time. I feel like we have that in Inkslingers, in ways I never could have expected when I booked that first show of 6 artists. I have been tremendously inspired by the artists there, and have made many dear friends through it. I’ve also recently started teaching a week-long comics art workshop in high schools. I just started in spring of 2019, and the pandemic cancelled this year’s classes so I’ve really only begun that journey and it’s already one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.

What would you tell someone that is just starting out, that's trying to create their own comic or artwork for that matter?

As a cartoonist or comics artist, your focus should be on storytelling above all else. Even if you are not the writer on a project or have no desire to write, you are a visual storyteller. To do that effectively, there is a lot of craft to be learned. But it’s all in service of story. Whatever your role in the process, learn about all the aspects of making comics. Writing, penciling, inking, coloring, lettering. Familiarity with the entire machine will enable you to be better at your part of it, whatever that is. It will help the entire team move more efficiently toward that greater goal of telling the story. 

Coming back to community, find every avenue you can to connect with other artists, no matter how far along you are on your path.

Most importantly: if you want to make comics... make comics. You don’t need permission from anyone to do that. But if you still feel like you do, there... I just gave it to you.

Inkslingers

MAKE COMICS.

What tools do you use primary when doing your work, especially your graphic novel. I take it that you are traditionally inking. I also like the way you use your palette, it seems to accentuate the inking, kind of old school...was that intentional?

I’ve actually been all digital for the past couple years. It took a while for digital tools to be on par with traditional tools, both in result and the feel of the tools, but the Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro changed the game. And since any comic or print you hold in your hand has to be digitized on its way to becoming a comic or print, it only makes sense. It cuts down on supply costs, and eliminates time-consuming steps like scanning and stitching together pieces of multiple scans. But aside from those kinds of steps, it’s been an aid in my growth as an artist. I can take greater risks with my inking, and be more bold than I would with a traditional brush, since clean-up is considerably easier. With traditional inking tools, there’s a little more inhibition, knowing that whatever you put down is permanent, unless you want to break out the white opaque paint and spend 20 minutes fixing it. No more accidental ink spills that make you have to start all over. Working with digital layers is life-changing when you come from traditional media.

It’s also helped me be more experimental with color. The interplay between the color and line art you mentioned is a result of that experimentation. I’ve adopted a pretty minimalistic coloring style, incorporating the color of the page into the highlights, which helps tie the palette together. This keeps the line art from getting lost. Just a little color will do a lot. For Grey Magick, I like to contrast a muted, neutral/earthtone palette with accents of bright, day-glo colors. It would be easy to fall into a cliché, starkly depressive palette for a witch punk book, but most things can be made more interesting by sprinkling in a dash of their opposite.

Below a couple of pages from Grey Magik

Derik Hefner: Grey Magik

Derik Herner: Grey Magik

Derik Hefner

Derik Hefner

Some of Derik's Famous Monster renditions:
Really enjoy the use of colors on both of these.

Derik Hefner

Too see more of Derik's work and projects check out Head Space.

If you like what I do and want to support it I have new Tees available on Teepublic

Or if you wish, you can support INK at Patreon.

On Creative Detachment and Artist of the Month Returning

If you are anything like me, the current crisis has put us all into a fog that we seem to amble through, keeping our hands on whatever railings we can find less we stumble. It has even affected me creatively in some degrees, in other ways it also caused a lot of self-reflection.

Whatever the circumstances or fate that lies before us, I found I needed to tap into my creative energy again, if just to stay sane due to the steady barrage of noise coming from the media, protests and talking heads. A creative form of detachment so to speak.

I fully expected sales to tank during this time, a lot of us do not know where our next dollar is coming from and what dollars we do get goes to essentials. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have sold five shirts on Amazon.  Especially since Amazon is limited what they sell due to the crisis to what they consider essential. Most of my line of shirts, except for three, have been put on hold until things become stable. Fortunately I created a backup via Redbubble, which offers more than just Tees, but journals, masks, prints and more. Though I have only made one sale via Redbubble, I still have hopes for it. I have noticed that due to the crisis it is taking Redbubble longer to ship and being based in Australia I am sure that this is a factor as well.

I will be continuing to focus on the Redbubble shop. If you are interested in journals, and you have a dark sense of humor, visit the Things for the Library Collection that offers everything from journals for your cats to bookplates.  If you are interested in mask that you can either wear over your current medical mask or a simple face covering, these are the masks I have worked up. Now these masks are not medical grade masks, for the most part they are cosmetic. Alone they are like wearing a bandanna over your face, you can wear them over medical grade masks, which I would advise strongly.

221B Baker Street Mask for Sherlock Holmes fans.

221B Baker Street Mask for Sherlock Holmes fans.

Miskatonic University Mask for Lovecraftians.

Miskatonic University Mask for Lovecraftians.

Machinations Mask

Machinations Mask

The Hamsa Mechanica Mask

The Hamsa Mechanica Mask

Note: The Hamsa is an ancient ward against evil and the evil eye.

INK is still coming along and I am now inking Page 8. So begins the backstory of Agatha and Matilda. Also another important note, The Artist of the Month feature will return next month.

In the meantime, I am hoping everyone stays safe, makes sane choices and cultivates some creative detachment during this time.

Artist for the Month of February

Kelly Kyv lives in Greece and was gracious enough to let me interview her for the month of February. When I first saw her work it struck a chord in me. I knew she was someone I wanted to interview and was on my list, I was grateful she responded.

Her drawings and sketches dance between shadow and light and are unapologetic. It is if she continues to nurture her inner child through her creativity. Her sketchbooks are like her journal, conveying emotions, personal and yet innocent in their own way and with just the right amount of weird.

I remember when I first saw your work, I thought, she has the weird that I like. Though I felt that there was a Timothy Burton influence, it also reminded me of some 19th Century book illustrators. I also felt you also had some influences that seemed familiar to me, but your unique style made it hard for me to pinpoint. What artists and styles influenced you the most? What books and  films inspired you the most?

I enjoy his work, but my influences came from a much earlier time than Timothy Burton’s work. What I do have in common with him is that I too was inspired by Vincent Price, especially his voice! But instead of Timothy Burton, I’d say Charles Schulz more so. I grew up I the early 70’s and would watch all the classical Disney movies and any cartoon of that time. 

And your guess was correct, anything of Victorian nature.  This is why I admire your art Ezekiel, and the way you have mastered ‘ 19th century’ in your art .  I  just want to thank you for inviting me to be interviewed by you. 

So yes, the Victorian illustrations in all the classical nursery rhymes. And as for reading books I have a weird relationship with them, I love everything about them, smell, feel looking at the photos. Everything except I find it very difficult to finish one. 

All these things, enchanting were inspiring to me. School also played a big role. For me, there was nothing enchanting or interesting, but rather cramped, forced and confusing. I noticed everyone else seemed to be understand everything just fine and all I could understand was the language of art. Fortunately, to my relief, I did have sufficient art classes throughout all the years. 

Sorry my list is long, but I often mention a teen’s art work that I saw because it was an ‘aha moment’. It could have been a copy from an album cover or something but at that age of 9, but after seeing it, I realized you can be a rebel through art. And lastly I must add that , my brother gave me Jack Hamm’s “ How to Draw Cartoons" for my 13th birthday and I needed nothing more in life after that. (how one angle of a line can give an expression on a face)

I still have it after 30 odd years. 

I notice you do a lot of your work in sketchbooks. I am thinking that it maybe for multiple reasons. I know that sketchbook paper is a lot more friendlier to mediums like ink and pencil, but I suspect you always have a sketchbook with you or near you. I also suspect you are a notorious doodler. Am I right? 

Yes, I especially had to doodle in school. (it calmed and secured me). This way, I don’t have to wait for anything, I don’t have to be able to afford anything or to find time either. Anything that I have at the moment is good enough. 

Excerpts from her sketchbook

Excerpts from her sketchbook

One thing I enjoyed looking at most where your sketch journals, it's like looking into the mind of (and this is in no way an insult) a creative schizophrenic and I actually dig that. In fact, in a sense envy it. People who keep sketch journals are to me at least, those that have to draw. It's like an extension of who they are. It's obsessive in a highly creative way. How many sketch journals do you have? 

I do have many. I’m such a hoarder with my art and do find it difficult to part with them. 

One thing I like about your style is that though it may seem frenzied, it actually accentuates the areas that you focus on the most, like the eyes or expression of the characters you draw. That is what drew me to your work at first, the impact of the expressions on your character's faces or the soulfulness of their eyes. I suspect you are highly observant and that you have a high sense of empathy. That sketching and drawing is how you channel it. What strikes me most is your dark twist in humor, it's like, "yeah I know things can be scary and dark, but I can also play here." It is as if you take situations or memories that could overwhelm some and stand them on their head. Am I on the right path here? 

By nature I tend to over observe human behavior. This is why I shy away from people as well  and when it gets overwhelming , I just have to let it spill out,  onto the paper and just let the unconscious do whatever it wants .. I guess that’s why the art may get darker or absurd. It’s not me being dark, it’s the dark I saw and I’m trying to communicate this information in a more positive form. I need the absurd, it makes me giggle, smile or laugh. They are such a great way to express affection towards yourself and others. And no one can deny that they have not seen the dark and light side of life.

Where do you want to go with your art? Have you ever thought of illustrating a story of your own creation, or are your illustrations, one continuing story?

For the last five years I've been putting aside enough pieces that would fit into a Halloween booklet. I’m not certain if it’ll ever it’ll manifest but  I’ll continue my daily doodles, journals regardless.

You can see more of Kelly Kyv's work on her Facebook Page

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