Author Archives: Kevin Cortez

We’re Doing a Magazine

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Hey gang.

We’ve been steadily doing nothing for in these last couple of months of 2013. It’s been irking me tremendously. We’re in a constant rut between lack-of-motivation and time issues and it’s been effecting this project to the point I can no longer evidently hide it and I’m slightly embarrassed.

After talking with Estevan, we decided to take a shot at creating a magazine and releasing it…whenever. Most likely monthly, but promises are hard to keep when you’re lazy.

This magazine will be simply titled “Drawn Words,” and it will feature multiple comic artists and illustrators, as well as indie-comic reviews, interviews, and other tidbits. Possibly more outside of the comic realm come next issue.

We’re really excited to be presenting this magazine that will be debuting this weekend. We’ve worked hard on it these past two weeks.

We are having a call for submissions to comic book artists, illustrators, and writers. We will be taking submissions for doodles (rough sketches, preferably uncolored) for a section in our magazine, reviews (not limited to comics, but limited to things with high artistic merit), short comics (3-panel or 3-pages, it’s all good here), and editorials/features. Anything anyone would like to submit to us, even a simple drawing, can be sent to me at kevin (at) drawnwords (dot) com. This magazine will strive for a long while if we can have more people in on this project.

We’re trying to showcase the greater underground of comics and illustration. We’re releasing our first issue soon. It’ll be small, but there will be more to come in the second edition.

- Kevin

Comic Review: “Everything Takes Forever,” by Victor Kerlow

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Victor Kerlow Everything Takes Forever

Victor Kerlow, a Manhattan-based illustrator whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times,MTV, and many other popular publications and networks, has recently released his Everything Takes Forever comic collection via small publisher favorite, Koyama Press.

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Everything Takes Forever is a collection of surreal and humorous comics, all short and illusive. Some of these comics are amusing, while some are translated as a bit more thoughtful; the entire book bleeds of absurdity and surrealism, with Kerlow using his signature ink-and-wash style of illustration to maintain comfort with the reader. That’s something I can definitely admire in Kerlow’s art style and writing after reading this book — while certain setups and comics seem a bit unreal and strange, the art style fits it perfectly, giving the reader a feeling of comfort rather than alienating them from the author’s motives and expression. Not many illustrators can do that, especially with this distinct art method.

And Kerlow’s technique certainly needs to be that pinpoint with comfort when presenting such trippy ideas, such as a human being bearing a taco head that coincidentally orders tacos at a restaurant, and a man who has shrunk in size and is extremely unhappy with his new physical feature due to the fact he can no longer eat sandwiches. The short, “The F Word, Starring Taco Head,” really helped grasp this feeling of ease, as I found myself relating to a man who was punching his taco shelled head away and shouting obscenities over a 12 paneled page. Characters in this compilation can relate with the reader, showing thoughts of normal everyday behavior, yet placing them in odd worlds and situations.

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Teetering between realistic ideas and bizarre worlds, Everything Takes Forever seems to revolve a lot around dreams and the act of dreaming. Characters throughout the book constantly flow in and out of a dreamworld, to a point it’s unknown if they are in fact sleeping or not, specifically in the stories “Big Mouth,” “Little Guy,” and “Weird Things, Downstairs.” Hand-in-hand with Kerlow’s illustrations, these strange tales present absurd situational humor and charming displays of nudity and vulgarity.

Everything Takes Forever is the greg display of balance between absurdity and humor without going too far. Here, we see Kerlow with an extremely comfortable style and display of art and satire, not once going too far or over the top with any surreal idea given. While the art isn’t exactly remarkable, it’s charming and useful enough to get its insane message across. Koyama has published another solid release — we could definitely use more comics like these.

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Comic Review: “The Golem of Gabirol” by Olga Volozova

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Published by: Sparkplug Comics
Retail: $7 at Spark Plug’s official online shop

The Golem of Gabirol by Olga Volozova is an unique case of storytelling, revolving around poet and scholar, Solomon Ibn Gabirol. The comic details bits and pieces of Gabirol’s life journey while introducing elements of magic, golems, and extreme surrealism. Themes presented in the book include Adam and Eve, Arabic and Hebrew lore, and several ideas conveyed in Kabbalistic context. In very short: this comic is about as spiritual as it gets.

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Using nonsymmetrical and dreamy art, the beautiful part about The Golem of Gabirol is its ability to provide such a dense piece of work within 32-pages. Demanding the reader’s full-on attention with its dreamlike narrative, The Golem of Gabirol fluidly displays the spiritual life lessons of Gabirol, as well as presenting multiple perceptional outcomes to the reader with each study. Comic readers will indeed find new perceptions of the story upon looking through the comic book again, which is something most comics lack in general.

Volozova told this tale using all possible ways she could with the comic book medium, creating a dreamy blank and white atmosphere to play in, and curving words and letters around each page for the average untrained eye to get lost in. While most would deem this comic as “weird,” and dismiss its direction of storytelling and ink usage, it’s truly a magnificent, charming tale, that mature readers will definitely enjoy.

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Comic Review: “š! #12, Future 2.0″

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I’m going to be honest when I say I haven’t heard of kuš! until last month, however, after reading through š! #12, Future 2.0, I’m seriously smacking myself for being so behind schedule as I’m seeking their older anthologies. kuš! (pronounced ‘koosh’) komiksi (comics in Latvian) is a comics anthology based in Latvia that specializes in publishing preferably Latvian comic artists, but also shares page space to others from North America and all over Europe.

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This collection carries a very diverse lineup of artists, with an even more diverse sense of style and emotion revolving around one common theme: the future. And while there are many different styles and comic artists, the book does a great job of standing up as a whole to revolve around that sole theme. This is a damn hard task to do, especially when you’ve got so many illustrators from North American and Europe chiming in at once.

Featured in this edition of š! are: Michael DeForge (Canada, cover illustrator), Anja Wicki (Switzerland), Charles Forsman(USA), Chris Kuzma (Canada), Dace Sietiņa (Latvia),  Dustin Harbin (USA), Ernests Kļaviņš (Latvia), Ginette Lapalme (Canada), Irkus M. Zeberio (Basque Country), Jane Mai (USA),Jesse Jacobs (Canada), John Martz (Canada), Jon Boam (UK), Julie Delporte (France),König Lü.Q. (Switzerland), Kuba Woynarowski (Poland), Léo Quievreux (France), Luke Ramsey (Canada), Maciej Sieńczyk (Poland), Mārtiņš Zutis (Latvia), Melissa Mendes (USA),Michael Comeau (Canada), Michael DeForge (Canada),Nicolas Zouliamis (Belgium),Oskars Pavlovskis (Latvia), Patrick Kyle (Canada), Paul Paetzel (Germany), Ryan Cecil Smith (USA), Steve Wilson (Canada) and Tiina Lehikoinen (Finland), and also featuring special co-editor:Annie Koyama (Canada).

This collection is 180 pages worth of 29 artists you’ve maybe heard of and many more you might have not. This is fine, and the collection does a beautiful way of presenting itself, though some of these shorts are a bit too short. The effect may seem a little pretentious, however none of these comics come off as being better or smarter than their audience. They’re more inviting. With comics that end abruptly, most endings are left usually ambiguous, but it’s a great thing for those wanting alternative or independent work from their comics. The diversity in the collection is especially needed for this reason, since there’s something for absolutely anyone to pick up and enjoy.

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None of the comics stray far off from the subject of the future, either. Efforts by Michael Deforge (Leather Space Friend), Chris Kuzma (Life Drawing), and Luke Ramsey (Letting Go of What the Future Holds) are showcases of a charming art style that succeeds in giving readers a fun puzzle of thought for the future. Oskars Pavlovskis (Curious) and Melissa Mendes (Animals) provided stunning artwork for such a pocket-sized comic collection. I’ve also found a slew of other artists through this collection I’m going to be following.

Honestly, that brings up the best part of this package aside from its sleek look and awesome roster of illustrators: the bang you get for your buck. This anthology is only $13. That’s a bargain considering the amount of folks promoted in š! #12, Future 2.0. After reading the anthology, one will have indeed found a new favorite illustrator. kuš! chooses to showcase the best and provide a consistent and concise raw quality in comics that I feel most smaller publishers can’t quite grasp. That’s a beautiful feat for comics in general.

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Comic Review: “Sunday in the Park with Boys” by Jane Mai

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Koyama threw a drastically different comic book at me recently, titled Sunday in the Park with Boys.

Author Jane Mai created an intimate diary used to describe depression, leaving the reader in an odd, yet compelled position.

While it’s not directly stated in the comic book itself, Jane Mai illustrates a life of depression, self loathing, and misunderstanding. It’s a pretty harsh read, and it could possibly be difficult to relate to since Mai is a bit (purposely) vague when displaying her emotions, but it’s a terrific display of pacing from the artist that works well for the reader. Sunday in the Park with Boys conveys feelings that are hard to pinpoint when you’re under deep depression, but it never feels like it’s forcing you into pitying the author in any way. I believe Mai just wants you to understand.

Throughout the comic book, Jane illustrates centipede like creatures that cover certain panels and areas on pages that sort of symbolize depression that is illustrated as almost literally “eating” at her. Every couple of pages, a new idea is introduced about the character and her state of being, represented with personal opinions and thoughts by the character. It can be a bit uneasy to read the author mentally beating down on herself so hard, but by the very last page, you do have a sense of understanding on how self-loathing has indeed been eating at Mai.

Though the tone may be serious and gloomy, it does an incredible job of representing what many feel every single day with total unhappiness. Mai’s black and white illustrations do a great job accompanying the vibe of the story. The dialogue, while a bit hard to digest at times, also holds strong in Sunday in the Park with Boys, leaving behind an impressive memoir and solid read, especially for the comic book medium.

Comic Review: “High Score: A Microcomic Anthology on Videogame History”

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High Score: A Microcomic Anthology on Videogame History is a collection of charming short comics published by 2D Cloud, featuring works from artists Hanna Blumenreich, Peter Wartman, Eric Schuster, Saman Bemel-Benrud, and Toby Jones. The comic was originally a reward given out to those who pledged to Rusel DeMaria’s Kickstarter for the third edition of High Score: An Illustrated History of Electronic Game, but 2D Cloud has allowed for this wonderful mini-comic to be purchased online via their shop.

I’ve never seen a more delightful collection of comics compiled in such a small amount of space before. Through 24 pages, this mini-comic presents five different artists with exceptionally different styles, retelling a piece of video game’s past. Hanna Blumenreich tells a tale of being a young female gamer, with the help of radical coloring done by Raighne Hogan, the microcomic’s editor and designer. Peter Wartman recalls his first playing of a Metal of Honor game. The most vibrant and interesting story comes from artists Eric Schuster and Saman Bemel-Benrud, who illustrate the history of one of the worst video games of all time: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 game console. Toby Jones gives a great laugh with his gamer jokes, with the final pages of the anthology end with impression images by Raighne Hogan’s nostalgic gaming art.

The actual book measures 4″ x 5″, so it’s pretty tiny, bearing 24 small pages. I’m new to this microcomic scene, but it was a surprise to see such a fantastic short print released in such a tiny package. It definitely works though. High Score: A Microcomic Anthology on Videogame History is an entertaining read, and at $4, it’s a fresh addition for any comic collection.


50 Great Games, #3: The Neverhood

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I’m happy to present entry number three in our 50 Great Games series, featuring art AND words from our recently interviewed and multi-talented amaze-man, Jess Smart Smiley!

My dad has introduced me to some pretty cool games. I piloted ships in X-Wing and Tie Fighter, I cried out of pure frustration over Archon Ultra, and I even went through a short Duke Nuke ‘Emphase. The game I remember most, though, and the game that still fascinates me 16 years later is a cult classic called The Neverhood.

The Neverhood is a clickable adventure game, way back from the days of CD ROMS. While the game was released by DreamWorks Studios, it is the brainchild of artist Doug TenNapel. There are so many aspects unique to the game and so much to love about The Neverhood that it’s difficult to find a starting point. We’ll start with clay, because that’s what the game is made out of. 2 tons of it, if I remember right. Everything in the game is made out of clay: the characters, the buildings, the televisions and trees. Everything is stylized in a colorful, funky cartoon vision and was nothing like I had ever seen before.

You play as Klaymen, who wakes up not knowing where he is or what to do. Immediately there are puzzles and games inside The Neverhood (also made of clay) that unlock doors and elevators, bridges and cities. The puzzles aren’t your typical move-a-tile-here-then-move-another-tile-there breed, either. These puzzles include things like spitting water into tubes and feeding monsters in the correct order. One of the puzzles involves navigating a car that runs on the sides of cliffs. Some puzzles don’t even appear to be puzzles, but a collection of symbols, or a series of doors. There are rarely any straightforward instructions on how to play, and the longest-running puzzle of all is learning how the world of The Neverhood works — its nature. Even the music is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Terry Scott Taylor has put together one of the most unique game soundtracks in existence and it’s filled with a dabble of splurting horns, bubbling dixieland scatting, and musical coughs accompanied by acoustic guitar. It’s something you just have to experience, so check out the title screen already and see what I’m talking about.

I loved The Neverhood because it was just as much fun to play as it was to wonder how such a thing was even made. Fortunately for players like myself, there were not only animated sequences that were unlocked throughout the game, but there was also a “making of” video included in the bonus content. In the video, we get to see TenNapel and the Neverhood crew at work, building sets, animating characters, and slathering everything with clay.

This game has been such a big influence on my art, and on me as an individual. It has given me permission to make pictures that I was never taught about in school, and the game has helped me to trust my instinct as a creator. I owe a lot to Doug TenNapel, and for me it all started with The Neverhood.

Words and illustration by Jess Smart Smiley

Orlando Comic Expo 2012: Success

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Drawn Words recently attended 2012′s Orlando Comic Expo on September 23. Loads of fun. There’s nothing like going to a small comic book convention the weekend of your payday and spending a third of your check on old smelly comics and mint-in-box toys you’ll never open and fully enjoy. Not that I need enjoyment from toys at 21-years-old by playing with them or anything, but toys are toys. Either way, I purchased a bunch of comics and toys this that have lasted me a while’s worth of entertainment.

This con’s guests included Bob Camp, Christian Slade, Ron Wilson, Ben Templesmith, Tim Townsend, Richard LeParmentier, Richard Livingston, and Nalini Krishan. Honestly, four of these guests I’ve heard of prior, so saying hi and passing out business cards about Drawn Words was an opportunity to network and learn a little bit about these folks.

A huge deal for both Estevan and I (Estevan came out later in the day) was meeting Bob Camp, co-creator, writer, storyboard artist, director, producer, and voice actor of The Ren & Stimpy Show. The Ren & Stimpy Show is the absolutely pinnacle of 90′s animation, also being one of the biggest influences in my life as far as creative endeavors go, and a huge childhood memory of mine. This made fart and pee pee and poo poo jokes okay. This showed Nick that kids loved seeing boogers being flicked at each other. It also proved that adults could have fun watching cartoons too, putting them in a trance of weirdness and mature humor at points. That blend is something several cartoons today are now trying to capture. Hell, Estevan and attempted that feel with our cartoon pitch to Nick earlier this year. So just saying hi to Bob Camp today really made my fucking day. We talked for about 15 minutes and I realized how much of a cool guy he is. Camp is a very passionate man about his projects and characters.

Sitting right next to Camp’s booth was Christian Slade, author of Top Shelf Comix’ Korgi series. This was an odd meeting, as I had no idea that a Top Shelf published author would be attending such a small comic Expo in Orlando. I haven’t met any comic authors I’ve actually thoroughly enjoyed or been heavily following before, but I do follow Top Shelf a LOT, so I immediately recognized Slade’s cover for Korgi when I saw it. I introduced myself, we talked about stuff, and I found out he actually lives less than 15 minutes from me.

Like, what? Really? I’m over here in Orlando complaining that Orlando isn’t into the type of comic culture I’m into and this man sits within a 15 minute drive of my house, producing his buns off on a comic book title I’ve actually heard of and am impressed by. That was surreal!

Both Camp and Slade are incredibly nice folks, and Estevan and I are happy we met them. Their panel really opened my eyes to a lot of things dealing with cartooning and animation in general. Most of all, they took cartooning, comics, animation, and film in a serious way, which is something I enjoy hearing from other people. I love seeing passionate people talk about their art mediums, why they chose it, and why they still with it. Even through the technology advances in the years, they’re still sticking to pen and paper. That’s something special. The roots will never die. Not if there are faithful folks like them still existing to wield those tools.

Estevan met up later in the day and I suggested he enter in the artist throwdown competition. The contest involved all artists drawing around the same theme, which was “Wolverine drinking a beer.” The winner would be announced at 4 PM. Estevan started drawing at 3:35 PM while we were at Arby’s entered in around 3:5something PM, and won second prize! The drawing was kept by staff to post on their official website, but here’s a closer look at it.

I also bought a ton of comics. Some trades of 100 Bullets and Dark Tower, Guardians of the Galaxy, and check this rad old shit out!

Interview: Top Shelf Kid’s Club Author, Jess Smart Smiley

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Hey gang. I’m pretty excited to present to you an interview Estevan and I worked on about Jess Smart Smiley, whose first book, Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, released early this month of October. Also, consider this article an entry for the Halloween month. Estevan had fun creating a comic to accompany the interview I did with Jess, so we both hope you enjoy reading this piece as a whole. Big thanks to Jess Smart Smiley for doing this with us!

DW: Let’s kick this off with an easy and annoying one. What is Upside Down: A Vampire Tale all about?

JSS: It’s about 144 pages. Get it? (Insert rim shot here) Okay, seriously — Upside Down: A Vampire Tale is about a friendly boy vampire named Harold. Harold isn’t the neck-biting kind of vampire, but a chocolate-chomping, syrup-sipping, candy cane-crunching vampire. In fact, he loves candy so much that he ends up losing his teeth and running away in shame. He meets up with Vermillion, the last witch on earth, and she just happens to hate vampires. There are also bats and a mad scientist that keep the book rushing toward the exciting ending!

DW: Your style of illustrating is colorful, simple, and extremely charming, so it naturally fits with the style of the children’s comic you’re readying to publish on Top Shelf Comix this October. Were there any kind of tweaks you had to make in your style or illustrating for readying up for this project, or did you always have a children’s story planned in your head to publish all along?

JSS: Thank you! I’m always looking for new and better ways to draw things and add to my visual vocabulary. When I decided to work on Upside Down I had a three-color palette in mind that I wanted to try out. I asked myself, “What if the entire book was colored in black, white, and halloween green?” It made me look at my drawings a little differently, knowing that placing one green object next to another green object wouldn’t be as striking as placing green next to black, or black next to white would be. Each panel and page was like a little puzzle, figuring out the best way to place colors. It helped me see that comics are as much about design as they are about the drawings.

I also kept the drawings simple and playful because they seemed to fit the overall tone of the story, which is dark, but really playful. If I had drawn everything photo-realistically, it just wouldn’t have the same impact. Imagine Scott Pilgrim drawn in the style of Watchmen, or Batman drawn like Spongebob Squarepants. Bob are valid forms of drawing – but it just wouldn’t be appropriate.

DW: What is the best part about using comic books as your outlet, especially with children in mind?

JSS: Comics are a great way to tell stories, while still leaving room for the imagination to fill in what happens between panels and pages. I love the immediacy of comics – how readily a message can be communicated in a panel, and still leave plenty of room for subplots and foreshadowing.

DW: What was your personal planning process for Upside Down: A Vampire Tale? Did you have the story planned out already or did you work another way around tackling it?

My one goal for the year I made Upside Down: A Vampire Tale was to finish the book completely, as best I could, and to send it out to my dream publisher, Top Shelf Productions. I had never made a comic longer than 20 or 30 pages before, so I knew that I had to break down the book into manageable pieces in order to finish it.

In a nutshell: it all started with a drawing of a vampire in my sketchbook. I wasn’t looking to make a book or do anything with vampires – I just thought it would be funny to draw one that lost his teeth. I started coming up with more ideas and picking the ones I liked best, and connecting them in ways that built a rough story arc. I wrote out all the main action for the book, and used that as a reference for writing and drawing the rough draft for Upside Down: A Vampire Tale. Once I had worked out the action, dialog, story and composition of each panel on each page, I moved on to the final. It was one of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever taken on, but after the drawing the first page in ink with a brush, I got into the flow and drew, drew, drew. I scheduled a few hours each day to draw the book, and I drew every single day, until I had finished drawing the last page. I scanned everything into the computer and spent some time coloring everything in black, white and halloween green, and then looked over the book several times before sending it to Top Shelf, to make sure everything looked right.

DW: It’s noted that this is book one in the series for Upside Down. Do you already have all the future books planned out, or are you still unsure of when to end it all?

JSS: Ah! You noticed that this is book one. Ten points for the Drawn Words crew! Yes – when I was talking with Top Shelf about Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, they asked if I had more stories within the Upside World that I wanted to make. I’m not sure how much I can share about the book, so let’s just say that Upside Down: A Vampire Tale is just the beginning for Harold and his friends. (Suspenseful music!)

DW: The Tattoo Club is such an incredibly cool idea, and I’m very glad people are still keeping the spirit of temporary tattoos alive. I love the idea of different artists contributing to creating new temp tats. How did the idea first come about?

JSS: Right on! I really like Tattoo Club, too. Earlier in the year I was making some temporary tattoos for my Comics Grab Bag (collection of short comics), and illustrator Julia Green made the comment that she had always wanted to make her own temporary tattoos. I thought it was a shame that such a thing didn’t exist, and I immediately started thinking about other incredible illustrators who would undoubtedly make phenomenal drawings that could be used as temporary tattoos. Julia and I launched the project on Kickstarter, in the hopes of getting the needed funds to make it happen, but we didn’t reach our funding goal. I think a lot of people really dig the novelty of the idea, as well as how collectible the tattoos could be. We’ll see if we’re able to revive the project in the months to come.

DW: I’ve seen some talk about you seeing UFOs/aliens via your Twitter and other interviews. What’s with all the sightings?

JSS: At the risk of sounding like a complete weirdo: aliens are real. I’ve had a series of interesting experiences with them and I can verify that they are real, they are green, and they fully intend to take over our planet. Even in my own encounters I had never seen a UFO — until recently, and it was the strangest thing. I was in a parking lot, talking with my friend, and this object came out of the night sky and into the light of a street lamp. It must have been 30 or forty feet above us and it looked like a paragliding chute, but without any lights and without a passenger. It moved just slowly enough that we could see what it looked like, and then it slipped back into the night, straight on course to its unknown destination. Bizarre.

DW: Is there anything for fans to look forward to in the future of Jess Smart Smiley?

JSS: Not really. I’m ready to pursue a career in electrical engineering. Just kidding — I’m working on my first children’s book right now (to be published next year), and am developing a brand-new comics series that I’m just aching to share.

You can check out my blog to get some behind-the-panels looks at the making of Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, as well as my thoughts on other creative processes. There’s also a facebook group for Upside Down, where I’ll be posting downloads and goodies for fans of the book. Thanks!