I’ve mentioned many times that artists inspire the way I look at writing as much as other writers. One of my favorite art blogs is Muddy Colors, where I’ll stop what I’m doing in the morning to read whatever Greg Ruth writes about and shares. Maybe there’s something in a name, because another favorite contributor […]
Nous Sommes Charlie
Je suis Charlie! (I am Charlie!) I’ve seen it written a lot today. I don’t follow the news. When something happens in the world, I usually see mention of it on Twitter. This morning, it was this tweet from Chuck Wendig that made me think, “Hmm…I should probably see what’s up with this…” Religion and […]
The 2014 John Picacio Calendar
John Picacio’s art speaks for itself. A two-time winner of the Hugo, with enough Chesleys and other awards that I like to imagine he steps on them in the same manner I used to step on Dungeons and Dragons dice scattered about my bedroom floor. Vistit him and it’s like, “Oh, hey…sorry about that: Hugos […]
The Best Thing Ever!!!
I often hear people say things like, “They don’t make music like they used to…” “Television was better when I was younger…” “Old movies had a class about them modern movies can never have…” I understand the pull of nostalgia, but…I think a big part of people’s feelings for “The Best Things” back then was […]
Chris Ware’s Building Stories (Part One)
I finally picked up Chris Ware’s Building Stories. I first became aware of Ware when he was doing stuff for the Daily Texan at the University of Texas in Austin. Not that I went there, but some of the stuff he did was published in some Texas indie comics in the early 90s. His little […]
Doing Your Own Thing
The first time I saw a Chris Ware comic strip was in the early 90s, in a comic book anthology called JAB (Adhesive Press). It was a series of strips about a little guy who looked like a potato. To this day, if I drag the comic book out, those strips still hold up. They’re […]
Email Newsletters the John Picacio Way
A confession: I’m terrible about building my email newsletter mailing list. The small handful of people who have signed up are loyal and cherished, but I have always felt strange about hitting people up to see if they’d like my occasional messages and information. It tends to be a seasonal thing instead of monthly, as […]
Time to Get Back to Work
John Picacio won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist this year. It was his eighth consecutive year nominated and his first win. On his blog, John wrote about a whirlwind weekend that had him winning a Chesley Award while at DragonCon one day, and the Hugo at Worldcon in Chicago the next. It was […]
Chris Ware Interview
I think the first Chris Ware comic work I saw was in Jab Comics Anthology (not to be confused with the adult comic), in the early 90s. (His little potato guy strips.) Some time after that, it was Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth and all that followed. Ware is one of those cartoonists […]
The End(ing)
Graphic novels are one of my favorite things in the world. Words combined with pictures — and all that happens in between the panels — is an amazing thing. Some days I’m not sure there’s a more perfect medium. Fairly recently, I reviewed Craig Thompson’s Habibi, which — to me — is the perfect graphic […]
The Color of Writing
I’ve mentioned before that I like learning things about writing from artists. If you think about the line work (the actual drawing) Quentin Blake talks about in the video above as plot and the color as prose, there’s something to be learned here.
Learning about Writing from Artists
Moonshine : Artists after dark from alexis wanneroy on Vimeo. I’ve mentioned several times on The Juggling Writer that I learn a lot from artists. (My favorite book about creativity is still Chuck Jones’s Chuck Amuck.) If you write and take nothing away from this six and a half minute mini documentary, I’m not sure […]
Shameless Plug
I’ve been told by some people–including readers of The Juggling Writer–that I should let people know what I’m doing and have out there a little more often. So…while I typically don’t say, “Hey, this is what I have out there to buy, listen to, or sign up for,” today I’m saying, “Hey, this is what […]