WorkSnapz #03
A look, en media res as it were, at me inking the latest installment of The Rack.
That’s a Pentel Brush Pen, by the way. It’s got some Kanji on the cap. I forget its exact model name or number, but it rules the school.
WorkSnapz #02
Here’s a little peek at the pretty-much-all-rote-memorization-except-the-typing lettering process. And yes, eagle eyed The Rack fans will recognize that last word balloon, which is the template I use for literally every piece of dialogue ever uttered in the strip’s storied history, from the very first installment.
Check out the strip with Kevin’s real words right here!
WorkSnapz #01
Introducing an all new feature of this website, an ongoing photoblog of work on whatever it is I happen to be working on. In this instance, the latest installment of The Rack.
The Story So Far
That right there, to your left, was pretty much every day living with a MacBookPro, out of warrantee, with only one working fan. Even surfing on the damn thing caused it to crash every few minutes, so just try and imagine what it was like to letter, spot blacks, hell just scan in three strips a week. Reviews were written in Google Docs with fingers crossed, music was played via the trusty offboard iPod and headphones. A SoleusAir fan ran full blast next to thing 24/7, cooling the laptop that itself sat on two Stephen King paperbacks on each side to keep the bottom somewhat ventilated. And then add in summer on a third floor apartment.
Boy, it was the god damned worst.
But now I’m sitting in front of a fantastic 20″ iMac (and yes, you damn well know I’ll be getting AppleCare this time), and I’m typing this and my iTunes is playing and Mail is open and last.fm is running (oh hai!) and everything is as smooth as goddamned silk.
So, hopefully, with such little constant pressure, I’ll actually be able to get back to the little things, since it won’t take every ounce of energy I have to keep from shooting a laptop in the throat. Today I brought back Your Panel Of The Week, and in the coming days I’ll be posting my CBR reviews again, revisiting some of the Great Pages In Comics History, and taking regular peeks behind the scenes of everyone’s favorite comic strip, The Rack. And hopefully a lot more besides. (After all, I am supposed to be reading plenty of Infinite Jest and watching plenty of LOST this summer, right?)
Here’s hoping.
(Editors Note: I desperately wanted to feature the New X-Men panel of Xorn healing Cyclops, where he says, famously (to me anyway): “Sometimes you just don’t know how bad you feel until the feeling’s gone… I figured I was just run down.” Sadly, it’s tucked in the hardcover on the most unscannable fold of all time. Turpin up there was a backup, but does a fine job.)
I’m Going To Be At MOCCA This Year
Not even just at MOCCA, but like totally taking this thing over. Kevin Church, Mike Rosenzweig, and I will be at TABLE #205 at the MOCCA Art Festival in New York City this weekend, June 6 & 7, from 11 AM to 6 PM both days at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. (Directions and everything else can be found right here.)
So if you’re anywhere New York City this weekend, seriously do not miss this. Not only will we have all sorts of cool swag, fashionable buttons, sketches from me, and pop culture referencing lobby cards. We’ll also be debuting the very first collection of my stunning webcomic The Rack:
Tons of details about the book can be found here.
We’ll also be selling a beautiful and limited edition print commemorating the show:
And last but certainly not least, LOST and Our Little Losties fans rejoice, because I’ve finally printed out some gorgeous looking prints of this:
![\](http://benjaminbirdie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/lostprint.jpg "\")
So, in all seriousness, be there this weekend. I look forward to seeing all of you!
Our Little Losties UPDATE
Yes, I know. It’s been nearly a week since I teased the world with such a totally awesome first page to Our Little Losties’ newest adventure. Well, that Season Premiere really kind of threw a wrench into the story I had laid out, so I’m going to wait until the “First Act” of the season (I hear tell around the sixth or seventh episode?) to finish the story off properly. But fret not. Tune in tomorrow for a super awesome new incarnation for our favorite wayward kids, guaranteed to thrill you for the next, what, fourteen weeks?
See you then!
The Totally Awesome Secret About Today’s The Rack
Today signals the arrival of an all new, Holidayical installment for The Rack, yes. But if you just read it, there’s one totally awesome thing about it you might have missed.
That little bit of the banner looks TOTALLY like Dave Sim lettered it in the 1980′s. Or whenever the second half of Church & State was going down. Can’t you just see it bursting out of the mouth of a Fleagle Brother?
Can’t you?
Happy Holidays.
Baby’s First Commission: Hawkman
So, the idea behind this one started as like a hip Hawkman who was a Thanagarian grad student, flying around with a Thanagarian iPod that stored like 800 terrabytes worth of pretty much every piece of Earth music ever recorded.
But as I started to think more about it, he evolved into more of a kind of anti-war art activist, with a bit of Jet Set Radio thrown in for good measure. He stole some Thanagarian army equipment and now, on a war torn Thanagar inhabited both by Thanagarins and Rannians, he subverts the Thanagarian Supremecists slowly taking over the planet’s government, wall by wall.
Click image for a larger version.
Actually, You Would Probably Like Me A Lot When I’m Angry
So, today’s Rack.
Before starting it, I watched the latest episode of America’s Best Dance Crew 2. Not only is the awesomeness of about half the dance crews on the show pretty much unparalleled, but the judges’ table is actually a really solid source of constructive criticism and guidance for your every day creative life.
One refrain across this (very young) season, is the idea that this is the second season, that the bar was raised by the winners of the last season, and that to impress the judges, one has to unequivocally ”bring it”. It sounds abstract, but it really boils down to just refusing to rest on your laurels, to rip your shit like there’s nothing else you ever wanted to do besides pop and lock and then pop.
And so, with those exhortations fresh in my mind, I sat down at my desk to draw this strip. Now, we’ve all seen the very uneven results of my courtship with brush-based inking lately. But last night (this morning?), I don’t know if it was the ABDC2 in my head or the fierce anger and frustration that led to the creation of this strip (which you’ve already read about underneath today’s strip), or (more likely) a combination of both; whatever it was infused my drawing hand with an almost unshakable steadiness, it beat back the demons of Only Two Hours Sleep, and erased any ill effects from a Medium iced coffee.
Working to a soundtrack made up completely of Girl Talk jernts, I (let’s be frank) DEMOLISHED this strip. A lot of it had to do with a very concerted amount of pencilling, a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was paying tribute to one of my favorite artists and favorite comics in the final panel, a lot of it had to do with the fact that I knew I was making a statement with this comic and that the art had to stand up to the scrutiny (“Tt! Whatever, brah. Learn to draw first and then tell me what I’m supposed to or not supposed to pay attention to.”), a lot of it had to do with this consistent reminder in my head that I wouldn’t be able to put off drawing Kevin Analog #1 for much longer and that time was running out for me to get good at this.
Whatever it was, it worked.
Who knows if it will be enough to carry me through everything else from here on out, if the next time I sit down to draw I’ll be able to land such an imaginative and well choreographed routine. But no matter what, this strip is here. I did it once, at least. When it really counted.
As old Shakey Legs Bartlett famously said, “What’s next.”
Shame Breeds Hope
So, yeah. There were some missteps in today’s The Rack. I took, let’s say, a less than ideal approach to inking with a brush. I imagined the lines of my heroes being rendered in broad swoops of the arm, landing in perfect swaths of the pitchest blacks.
Then, our man Kevin clued me in to this little pouch of YouTube gold, an inking demo by Chad Cole. I was legitimately surprised, heartened if you will, by seeing such a careful and meticulous approach. I realized the frenzied and breathless jabs of brushery I engaged in last night were deeply flawed.
And so, in a haze of mourning (seriously, this Tim Russert thing is hitting me damned hard), with a new approach in my heart, and the buzz of a mood-lightening and pitch perfect new episode of The Venture Brothers all rattling around, I inked this sketch of a random Kevin Analog thug. Obviously, there’s a lot of backstory and cleverness I’m not yet at liberty to divulge, but enjoy this sketch, inked by brush, as a kind of penance for poor decision making.
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Benjamin Birdie
Suddenly kind of aged, Benjamin lives in Queens with his cat. His Master's Degree in Creative Writing has helped him immensely with his primary responsibilities of drawing things.
He can be reached at benjaminbirdie (at) gmail (dot) com.
And do feel free to follow him on Twitter.
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His Comics
Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, this charming comic strip by myself and Kevin Church receives a sparkling new installment. A Comic Strip About A Comic Shop.