Primazonia

Half way through the pencils

2012-01-03T20:21:00.000-08:00

I wanted to reach the halfway mark by New Years, but I made it three days late--just like the rent. Primahood: the Second Album is now halfway penciled!

Not a great photo, I know. My phone is not hi-tech. Not at all. The top sheet is actually the opening page to the book--which is planned to be another 28pp.
Right now, the plan is to premiere the book at CAKE (http://www.cakechicago.com/) in June--so here's hoping my application is accepted and i get a table! Why so long from now? Well, it's that annoying thing called prioritizing paid work. Oh, and parenting. Onwards!

On fisticuffs, per Primahood and review.

2011-12-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

Do I want my daughter to believe that violence is the best resolution to her problems? No. And yet all around her are representations of heroes who win by battle. I can expose her to no media at home and she'll come home from school naming all the disney princesses and bakugon and pokemon and ninjas. I want her to learn communication and empathy as a starting place for resolution. Non-violent communication.
And then there's the other side that knows that the world can be a dangerous place for a female. The number one cause of death for women worldwide is violence by men. One in six women in this country are raped. Violence against women is adventure and comedy and a girl was gang raped at a local high school and boys who watched were texting their friends to join. So, no, I don't want to sweet the fierce out of her. I want her to feel capable of acting physically and capable of defending herself.
She really is very sweet-natured. And a good communicator for a 6 yr old. But, her moon is in Scorpio, so watch out for her tail. And the powerful muscles with which she whips it.
I hope she will be her own hero. If she needs one.
For now, she plays "cute kitten."

Primahood's first review

2011-11-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

Overall, I am very happy with Primahood's first review:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/11/15/review-time-with-primahood/

The reviewer, Greg Burgas, admits that he doesn't "get" it, but it made him think--which, to me, is half the point! And I am entirely amused that he tries to review the art and writing separately; as, the images are writing as much, or more so than, the words. That's the whole joy of an iconographic medium. That said, the Primazons have a whole lot more going on than being funny-headed naked folk "who live in their own society." I'm quoting here b/c doesn't living in a society imply "more going on?" I never wanted to be explicit with the Zons; ambiguity (done well) is much more evocative. Another question, Is showing the same thing as advocating? I think of it more as documentation. And would he have had the same reaction to the scenes of my daughter's ferocity if it can been the depiction of a son? Still, he says a lot of nice things about the art and he finds me to be "a very interesting creator," so I take it all very positively. Pretty good coming from someone in mainstream comics media. Clearly, he's not my audience, but he took time with the book and gave it a solid review. And now I have PRESS. OOh yeah!

New pencils

2011-10-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

Primahood: the Second Album is slowly underway. Thanks to my daughter having an overnight at a friend's, I got to stay up late and work on these and was even able to sleep in and wake up well-rested!

The progress is too slow with other projects on the table and some paid work coming in, as well, plus Halloween (happy happy!), but it sure feels good to have caressed the baby and made progress :)

random sketches of the wiggler

2011-10-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

stage 2 (today)

stage 1 (a few days ago)

A couple sketches of my 6 yr old's wiggly front tooth. Do you remember poking and prodding at them, those loose teeth?

I have started to pencil some new MamaPants vignettes. The work is slow to progress with two other projects demanding my attention while I'm also trying to become more involved in my daughter's school, generally parent, and work on a random freelance gig--not to mention attend to all the busy business necessary to pursue for the very first book of Primahood! You may have noticed i didn't mention the heaping piles of housework that are becoming momentous in the midst of all these actions vying for my energy and time. I've come to the conclusion that I am crazy. But ambitious. And perhaps a little incoherent, as I am very tired. I wish I had my daughter's energy. She completes a 13 pp graphic poetry book while I hack away at the dirty dish pile.

APE post-mortem

2011-10-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

So...APE. At one point I texted my partner: "I miss Zine Fest." The very first APE I went to was back when it was in San Jose. The first APE I participated in was when it was at Fort Mason--it was cold and dank, but filled with DIY energy and celebration of comix. That energy has moved to Zine Fest.
APE is now HUGE, packed without feeling particularly well-organized. It has more of a comic-con vibe and an occasionally cutthroat tone that was exasperated by my rotten location and small space. Rotten location? A friend came looking for me TWICE and couldn't find me. Partly that's a lesson for me. I came away with some hard learning: that I need to shell out for a larger space, even if money is a scary stress right now (with no regular or predictable income); I need to request to be next to people whose work is a good companion to my own and who will be good neighbors for the long days. I also came away with the reflection that this is just the beginning for this book, that the marketing and process of getting exposure have only just begun.

On the other hand, I continue to be inspired! There are wonderful people in comics.

Me with Keith Knight
Now you can see how short I really am...or how tall Keith is!

The friendships and support systems made and reinvigorated at Zine Fest continue to blossom. My work, while not glossy and illustrative, continues to be my own and stand on its own--she just needs to find her friends and lovers, and, as you know, that is never a straight shot.

So, the positives: connecting with awesome, talented, intelligent, and funny people. There is some terrific work out there. I did not get to photograph it all (only remembering to take the camera with me on one quick tour) and I missed a few people at their tables. I was tabling solo, so had no one watching shop while I wandered.

Jesse Eisenhower (missing: Veronica Graham)

I really liked this print work by Veronica Graham and Jesse Eisenhower--
together, they are MostAncient.com

More personal highlights: Trading (and a couple purchases) for some excellent reading material. The gift of a really great little painting by Lark Pien (happy smiley joy)! ...After recovering from the after-show burn out, I hold a reinvigorated sense of what I'm doing and where I'm going (at least creatively) and a little more clarity as to the difficult business road ahead.

Primahood is in the house!

2011-09-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

A box of Primahoods!

If you are in the Bay Area, or plan to come to APE--the Alternative Press Expo-- this weekend, Oct. 1-2, 11am-7pm (6 on Sunday), I will be at table 284B with books in hand (or on table, as the case may be)!

A big thank you to Gabby Gamboa who drove me to pick up the boxes from the printer today! She got the very first copy.

Ranil at InkWorks (www.inkworkspress.org) was highly attentive to this print job at every step of the process. Not only are they a worker-owned cooperative and union shop that is committed to sustainability with green printing and forest-friendly papers, they did a really wonderful job!

Wow, I'm holding a copy right now... Yay!

They are full-color and self-published. I wish the cover price could be lower, but, again: full-color and self-published. And available NOW! You can get them direct from me or through the webpage: www.primazonia.com/primahood. I am working on getting them distributed, as well.

More fun stuff:

The Cover!

2011-08-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

I do believe, in lieu of unexpected and poignant critique that I am done with the cover of Primahood #1! And, aside from cleaning up the files for press, Primahood #1 herself is complete!

It was inked with black and colored india ink. For the color here and in the Primazon drawings I use Bombay waterproof india ink. Love that stuff and hope they keep making it.
Then I brought in the overhead color in Adobe Photoshop and set the type in Adobe Indesign (except the "Primahood" & "1", which were inked).

Someone a long time ago said I really needed to work on my lettering. Well, after years of publication production and design, I decided to bypass the process and set the lettering digitally.

Color decisions

2011-08-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

With a small nudge from my fellow artist and partner, I have started to test the color composition of some of my drawings by scribbling over the pencils in Photoshop. Here's a rough:

The figures and the tree in the background are actually drawn w/ color pencil, the rest is roughed in Photoshop.

Happy couch play

2011-07-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

This one was a warm up for a larger drawing, but turned out really nice. The image makes me smile:

dose of doodle

2011-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

sketched this today while watching Kiki's Delivery Service with my sick baby girl ("I'm not a baby!"), thinking about how i'm going to use color in the MamaPants stories.

p.11 Primahood

2011-07-15T01:25:00.000-07:00

It's late and I'm losing coherence, but I wanted to post this anyway.

Primhood cover...

2011-06-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey ho! The cover to Primahood #1 is inked! Colors to come.

random drawing from vacation

2011-06-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

The wood(s) were so rich in color and light. I drank with my eyes as I didn't get much opportunity to paint or draw. But I did try to capture this really cool piece of bark I found: wonderfully striated with rich golden and purple layers and interesting squiggly shapes. Only approached capturing it, but it was too cool not to try:

Primahood is in the works!

2011-05-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the pencil rough for the cover. I've got most of the pages penciled and I'm feeling good about this one! It will be done by the Fall--hoping to make Zine Fest, will definitely make APE--that is, if I can get a spot (they are currently sold out).

constructive procrastination

2011-03-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

procraftination!
I SHOULD be working on Primazon stuff; so, instead, I have some kind of comic story forming.
Preview of some roughs:

recent(ish) sketch

2011-03-14T12:40:00.001-07:00

Rad Dad 19 is out

2011-02-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Rad Dad 19 is out! Inside, there's a number of interesting thought-provoking essays--and the issue is speckled with Primazons, including the cover! It looks fab! And I'm proud and excited to be a part of it. Check your local zine store, Microcosm Publishing, or purchase the zine direct from Rad Dad, Tomas Moniz: raddadzine.blogspot.com.

a page of recent study sketches

2011-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Pic of Stand-up 1

2010-12-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

This is fairly little, by the way: about postcard sized. I've designed it, too, where it can be packaged flat with assembly instructions. That way I can mail them! If you want one, give me a shout. I'm selling them for $5. Or, even better, come by the East Bay Alternative Press Festival this weekend at 2050 Center St, Berkeley between Shattuck and Milvia Streets! There will be lots of great work there by a whole assortment of creators.

Primazonia in the Bay Area

2010-12-04T10:04:00.000-08:00

Primazonia is out and about in the Bay Area over the next week. Today, Sat. (and last night), I will have merchandise at the SF Center for the Book. My friend, Studio And, offered to share his table (thank you, again, JB!) and while I cannot make it to be there in person, some of the Primazons will--and check out JB's stuff: he does great visual stuff with language. I have a new stand-up I'm very pleased with, and there is the finished version of the box-book, return of the paper dolls, postcards, and Mycelium, fragmants 1 & 2.

And next Sat., the 11th of Dec., 10am-4pm at the Berkeley Community Center, I am getting to participate in the inaugural East Bay Alternative Press Expo--organized by the awesome Tomas Moniz, Rad Dad zine. I will be there, sharing a table with the unbelievably awesome work of Mars-1, and others! It looks to be a pretty awesome expo, so come check it out and support it, if you are in the area.

Tomas is using my drawings to illustrate this coming issue of Rad Dad, and i have an essay in there about being an artist while being a mother. Um, the one below. I'm pretty excited to see how the book will come together! It's being printed by Microcosm Publishing, so it should look really nice.

Then, that night, from 7-9 is an opening at the Lab, for their annual Postcard (box) Show. The stand-up paper dolls and postcards will be there. And a lot of buzzed hipsters, and myself, and my fam.

I hope to post pictures of the stand-up later.

Great Reads, 2010

2010-11-26T19:31:00.000-08:00

Hey, this is simply a list of books that I can remember that I really liked and read in 2010. They are mostly Library finds--I like to cruise the "new" shelves and see what calls to me--so they may not actually be newly out in 2010...
In no particular order:
Dancing with Butterflies, by Reyna Grande
Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (great drawing on the cover)
The Link, by Colin Tudge
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, by Linda Gordon (still chewing on this as relates to my own path as artist and mother)
Small Kingdoms, by Anastasia Hobbet
Soulless, by Gail Carriger (silly fun)
Drinking at the Movies, by Julia Wertz
Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey
Filter House, by Nisi Shawl
Dar Comic, by Erika Moen
In War Times, by Kathleen Ann Goonan (one of the best and truest science fiction I've read in a long time)

At Zine Fest 2010

2010-11-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

Artist Mama

2010-10-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

I think that it was last year that Tomas Moniz suggested I write something on being an artist parent. For those of you unfamiliar, Tomas writes and edits a terrific zine called Rad Dad (raddadzine.blogspot.com). Well, typical of the subject, it took me a year to actually write anything (thinking about it off and on over that time). I spoke with Tomas, again, at this year's Zine Fest (back in Sept.) and he still seemed interested, so I finally wrote something. It will hopefully make it into his zine, but in the meantime, here it is:

I have to admit, in these early years of my daughter’s life (she just turned 5), I’ve had a lot less time for my work--I’m a lot less productive. I bemoaned this for quite some time, looking at the lives of free-floating others with envy and a sense of loss. I look (back) to other artists, I found the ones able to devote their full lives to their work were usually childless, had a wife (or a nanny, if rich) to raise their young, or were absent and/or crazy. Where are the artists who are adoringly raising their offspring even while pursuing their inner drives and visions? Is it even possible? A while back I read somewhere that collectors don’t like to collect/invest in artists who are (also) mothers. That pissed me off--why should an artist’s work be less valued because she is a mother? It screams of sexism.

Flash to the morning of the first day of Zine Fest this past year. Zine Fest is the primary way I’ve been getting my work out these last few years. This year I was coming with new and different work and I was anxious to reveal it to others and to receive feedback. I was rushing to get my self and my stuff out the door and to the Fest on time; I came out of the bathroom to find my daughter with cream cheese smeared all over her hands and a good part of her face--she had obviously been busy while I showered and my partner slept (my partner, too, is spread thin: currently a student, he is frequently up until all-hours in order to make progress on his projects). I would have to help her get cleaned up before I left. I am sorry and admit, there was yelling involved. She was playing, that’s what kids do, but I was trying to get (my work) out the door--our needs were, at that moment, in conflict. How to be an artist mama and not a struggling mama-struggling artist?

The need to take advantage of narrower windows of time has lead me to adjust my media use. I’m currently working more with colored pencils more than with the brush and inks I’d been using previously because there is no set up or clean up time involved. I miss the feel of brush and ink on paper, however, and do pull them out once in a while (only to have to later chisel the hardened abandoned ink out of the pallet). I actually really like the combinations of pencil and ink I’ve produced and assume that this means my work is growing, or at least changing--I can only hope in a way that is engaging to viewer/readers. I often wish I were one of those people who can regularly get by with very little sleep.

And then, there’s the need for money. Art and commerce have a confused and confusing relationship for me. I believe I have a purpose in what I do, that it is something that I must do. That art is a gift and responsibility. But I also need a roof, I need to eat and to care for my family. My work has never sold well, much better as books than as drawings. I have been told by many that it is beautiful, interesting, scary, but it will never be the kind of work that will decorate. Nonetheless, I found my voice in the world of the Primazons--the worlds I create--and pleasure in the craft. Primazons and Primazonia are a people and world through which I explore, express, and find my query into the complicated and even contradictory qualities that I perceive as making up human (female) animal relationships, the spasmodic expressions of nature and nurture, dominance, play, destruction and connectivity. I am driven, too, by the feeling that if we do not address the ape-animal that is a part of who we are, we will not be able to heal many of the destructive and unhealthful forms of human relationships and cultural relationships. I strive to make drawn narratives that are not yet determined moments, accessed through tension and beauty to draw the viewer/reader into complicity with Primazonia. I also love to draw and can be good at it (unless it’s one of those days when I am not so good). In this work I find pleasure and challenge, a place for examination, observation, meditation, and a place for query. Time that should go to this work gets diverted to paying gigs.

    It’s a struggle. For time, for focus, and for energy--the relentlessness of even the most basic of home maintenance, healthy food, and child care on top of paid work. But retaining a hold on the value of my art, or my art practice and play is worth it. I think of my grandmothers’ generation of bright, intelligent women, dampened, bound, unhappy--and how they passed their unhappiness on. I can forget to find space for myself--and this is when I lose my balance. But when I do find that space, there is more of me to bring back to my family. After spending time on my work, I am more grounded and able to be present with my child and my partner. My mood is better--I feel whole, accomplished, and not torn and distracted by conflicting needs and desires, freeing my spirit to feel playful. Because that is also what art is: play--and we all need proper playtime to free our minds, bodies and spirits, to keep our minds elastic, creative, crafty, and, ultimately, joyful.
    i have received benefits, too, in the union of artist and mama. I’ve gotten to directly observe my own little Primazon daughter and her cohort, adding to the Primazonia narrative(s), expanding the universe, yet remaining true to my query. I get to share the joys of making things, of color and line, pattern, book-making and character-making with my daughter; and I have even been inspired by things she’s doing in her own amazing work (she is astoundingly prolific). So, my work has grown; it’s just a matter of the amount of time I actually have to actually produce anything. My daughter has grown too. Last night, she had her very first sleepover at a friends. Not only did I get to sleep in until 10 a.m. (unheard of!), I got to have a morning cuddle and muss the sheets with my partner, and here I am with a moment to write this. She’s busier with school; in the last six months I’ve been able to produce nearly 50 pages of storyboards and three larger three-color drawings (a big change over previous years).
    I am trying to have a different attitude these days, trying to integrate these selves: artist, mother, worker. To be an artist mama, who is good at designing books and visual communication--and tries to find people who will pay her to do it. And let’s not forget being a partner and lover, friend, and dreamer. To be whole. I believe that my work has value and I keep making it, even at my slowed pace, with the determination of blind faith. I know that for those who connect with what I create, the work/the product has value, too.

--Tyler Cohen
October 2010

The Lab--Auction Fundraiser...

2010-03-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

Coming away from the Lab's auction show/fundraiser (in which I had a drawing--the one I posted 11/13/09: First Steps), I really think that the future for my art is in books not galleries. Sure, my work is interesting to look at, there's a lot going on, but it will not decoratively decorate most walls. I think people can enjoy it more safely held between covers, a form that can be put away. Which kind of annoys me, but is reality. I get it; I understand. However, what I like about galleries, is the conversational aspect of the space in which the art is viewed. Books are individual. And while the one-on-one lends itself to intimacy, I like the public intimacy of a gallery for my work--it's a different energetic. There's the viewed act of looking, the shared act of looking, the looking, and the (potential) dialogue. But, let's face it: a gallery is a business, and no matter how interesting and oddly beautiful the work, if it doesn't sell, the gallery is not going to be interested in investing in showing that work. Sigh. It's an imperfect world. And I'm still trying to find my place in it, doing what I do, that I must do.

A look at the rough

2010-02-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

I mentioned experimenting... So here's a view of a color rough of what I'm calling either a room book or a box book. I took the images as video, realizing that what I'm enjoying about this form (besides the experimental fun) is that the viewer is engaged differently than when flipping one page to next, or placing the moments next to each other comics-style. And, more importantly, the drawn moments engage differently with each other, so that, they not only interact narratively, they interact spatially. Does this form, then, make them move into the fourth dimension of time? Note: the internal, back drawing is actually done (see it in the previous post). It's most of the front images that need to be inked--here, I roughed the color with brush marker over printout of the the pencils.

The latest

2010-01-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

More pencil drawing. Something actually finished! Original size is about 10" x 13", colored pencil. This will be part of a larger project, but in the meantime, here it is. It feels good to have finished a drawing. I actually got some unanticipated time to myself yesterday and today and Voila! And considering that yesterday I started out feeling really rusty--and with pencils fer who-ever's sake, not even brush and inks!--I like the way it turned out. Felt pretty pathetic to be rusty with pencils, but considering my available time to work is scattered and currently being stolen by such lame efforts as job applications and kindergarden visits... well, just gotta work when ever...

I'm starting a class on storyboarding which should help to grease these limbs and push me in ways that I both need and can't anticipate. Interestingly, the class will demand a lot of writing. And, as I face the prospect of writing a 1500 word story, I realize, I'm not a writer. Oh, I can write my mind, I can write essays, excellent descriptions, and even, occasionally, poetry, but I'm not a verbal story writer. I write with images. I have particularly chosen the non-finite language of image--I like the way images provoke, indicate, even illuminate, but don't define. The Primazons, in particular, I feel, need to be wordless. If I start giving them word balloons, the narrative immediately becomes limited, narrowed, reduced--and so does the dialectic between the images, social depictions, and the reading of those images and moments by the viewer. And then there's linearity v. nonlinearity. The class necessitates, at least initially a certain degree of linear, or, at least, sequential image making/visualization. Whereas, with the 'zons I've made use of non-linear, associative "storytelling"--and have been exploring this even more extensively recently (I'm not ready to exhibit these explorations, but stay tuned). So, like I said, the class is gonna push me and I'm curious how it will affect my personal work...no way to know...(looking around to find the source of distant evil laughter...)

Did I mention...

2010-01-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

The Lab show was a success. The paper dolls are currently available at Park Life: 220 Clement St., San Francisco. Park Life is an awesome gallery/store. The exhibits are interesting, contemporary and aligned with the aesthetic of the owners who also provide a terrific array of art and design books, stylish t-shirts, and cool designey home gear (I sound like an ad ;). Jamie, one of the owners, accepted the dolls for the increased merchandise season (Dec.) and actually sold a bunch. That's pretty exciting to me considering the level of the other products they sell. I've decided to pursue this notion of "product" further. (actually, I guess I already have been...) Not sure where it will take me. But considering I was laid off nearly a year ago and still no sign of employment (despite the number of resumes sent out, listings responded to, etc.) or even freelance coming my way, now is certainly the time. Of course TIME--that's the issue. Which leads me to the subject I've been meaning to write on for a while now and will hopefully get to soon: thoughts on being a parent and an artist, and how to negotiate these disparate draws and pulls.

The Lab Post Card Show

2009-11-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Look for the Primazon paper dolls and postcard sets at the Lab's Postcard Show Dec.4-5. Opening reception Friday, Dec. 4, 6-9.
There should be lots of fun, small, affordable, and creative STUFF, so I hope y'all get a chance to check it out.

New drawing, new approach

2009-11-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

This is my first successful merging of ink and pencil and I'm very pleased with the result. This is a slightly new direction for me--also, in terms of adding some environment and context. There's some clipping b/c the drawing is a little bigger than my scanner.

An experiment

2009-10-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

I tried doing one of the drawings with three colors of pencil instead of ink. Not sure I've gotten what I'm doing here. I've been thinking to explore mixing ink and pencil in one drawing. I know that this isn't "it" but more that it's on the way to something. I've got all these drawings to create in color and more to add to grow the full color book out of the Primer 1 ashcan, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be experimenting along the way. The book will take a long time no matter what (with the small divots of time I'm able to conjure and squeeze), who knows what form it will take by the end. But it will be beautiful and quietly disturbing (I hope).

Starting fresh

2009-08-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am fresh after Zine Fest 2009, pleased with the show, with the feedback and general response to the Primazons. The paper dolls received a number of chuckles and I hope that they bring fun, silliness, and just a taste of danger to those who purchased them (and I hope the playful bring patience to the long task of cutting out all the detailed accessories and clothes).
Doc Op took the following picture and was nice enough to let me use it:

Cheers!