Minneapolis Indie Xpo!

Minneapolis Indie Xpo is happening on August 21st at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis! Come and see me IRL, and see some neat comics!

So this upcoming Saturday is Minneapolis Indie Xpo (MIX). I've got table space, and I'll be selling some mini-comics, a board game, and possibly a music CD. And a slew of prints. It's going to be pretty awesome.

The following is a selection of what I'll be selling. I do plan on adding some prints to the collection, and if I'm lucky, a quick mini or two. So enjoy this preview:



Remember when I had a series of LEGO Mans on this blog? These three minis are collections of these, plus a special non-internet one. Has a full colour cover.


Childhood trauma and drama set against used video game retail.


The silly little comic about solving your problems.


The Burrowed: a story told in pieces of how a monster causes a war in a small rural town.



Back Pages: the journey of self-promotion in a cold and heartless world; collection of my comics I used to advertise my website though a local weekly newspaper.



A linoleum-block printed comic of the reviving effects of art after personal turmoil. Each cover features a unique paper as its cover.



Some old comics from my college days. Not the highest of caliber of my comic work, but hey, someone might be interested. Basically a back-up...



I'm selling an actual board game that I constructed and designed. It's called Hush Fund, and it's like playing Monopoly with nothing but Chance Cards. I've only got ten copies... I'll have a sign-up sheet if anyone's interested, and I've run out...


A shot of what I've got so far...

Whew! That's a lot! So come to MIX! It'll be a hoot!

TTYL!

Minneapolis Indie Expo

I'm going to be a part of this! It's going to be awesome. Click on the above graphic, and check out the website! See when it's going on, where it's going on, and who's going on in it!



I've been preparing some comics, prints, and even a board game for this event, and last night, I went to the 24-Hour Kinko's on the corner (sort of) of Snelling and Grand Avenues. Here's what I learned:

1) You CAN make a very decent photocopier print on Jack Richardson brand newsprint, as long as it's cut to the appropriate dimensions.

2) Said newsprint can also be photocopy printed double-sided, with very little (if any) bleed.

3) One photocopy costs 10 cents. But for some weird reason, Kinko's/FedEx decided to add sales tax, so on photocopy is actually 11 cents. I find this perplexing and very strange that they'd insist on that extra cent...

4) Kinko's does not provide dark markers. They offer every other office supply under the sun, but if you need a Sharpie, better hope the staff has one of their own that they'd let you borrow! (Thanks to cute lady at Kinko's)



This week's City Pages comic. I'm not sure if I'm going to re-up for another year, but it has been fun.
OHOHOHOH! One of the comics I'm doing for MIX is going to include all of the City Pages comics. "But Steve! You provide them for free on your website! Why should I drop a dollar or two and buy a printed copy?" Because there's going to be an exclusive bit of content, that's why!

TTYL!

Maxon Screen-Tone Pattern Demo!

Filmed a few days ago at Wet Paint, here's the fruit of that labor! Enjoy!

TTYL!

A slew of black and white

© Steve Robbins, 2010

We're selling screen tones at Wet Paint. I've been playing around with these things, and there's going to be something interesting connecting me and these screen tones next week. It's obsolete technology, since it's pretty easy to use Photoshop, but that's sort of the point. It's raw, real, and retro.



This one is also using screen tones. For these two pieces, I've used CB349, CB333, CB322, and CB305. It's been fun trying these out. Also? A political message that can be used ANYtime politicians try to convince us they're up for bipartisanship!




This weeks and last weeks City Pages back-pages comics.



I cannot believe I forgot to post this on this blog! I did this comic for AZIA, a neat Asian-fusion restaurant with a wide-range of saké and sushi. It's on the back cover of the program for The Brave New Workshop, an improv theatre. Senator Al Franken cut a lot of teeth there before he wrote for Saturday Night Live!

TTYL!

Eat, Die, and Live!

Last week's City Pages comic- the last of the Doctor Abner comics... for now...

(for the astute, there was a little bit of animation in this post. Originally. But I've taken it down because I'm making a post that'll be more on point.)

TTYL!

Painting two more

This week's back-page comic ad for my website in the Twin City's own City Pages. Keep your eyes peeled!





I've been painting a lot more than I've ever had since high school. Actual painting, not digital painting. So there are some new ones that I've started tonight/yesterday. The top one is an eventual self-portrait of sorts, and the bottom one is inspired by an Isaac Asimov short-story, "The Last Question." There's a third canvas ready to go, but I'll wait a few before I start on that one, too.



I finished the Gorilla painting tonight. I've decided to title it: "iGorilla."



I don't know who made this image, but I get a real kick out of it. So whomever did this, salut!

TTYL!

City Pages and Gorilla Painting

This week's City Pages back-page comic... Snowmen behaving badly...



The Gorilla painting is coming to an end I think. I'm pleased how he's looking so far.



I don't think I posted this; it's a video for Foot In The Door (see previous post), and I appear about 1:26 minutes into it. Enjoy!

TTYL!

Block Prints and Foot in Mouth (I mean In The Door!)

This week's comic in the back page of City Pages, the Twin Cities most popular alt-weekly. Fun stuff!



My friend Heather asked me to teach her how to lino-block print, so I brought over my cutter and some linoleum, and we spent the evening working on art. This was one of the two prints I made.



I of course, have been using this Essdee Baren kit. It's pretty neat. Heather used the Speedball kit. Traditional and reliable, but doesn't include the neat baren with it!



The purpose was for her to make her valentine's day cards, so following suite, I made one of my own.



Minneapolis Institute of Art is putting on their once-every-ten-(10)-years show, called Foot In The Door. It was created to show off Minnesota Artists, and allow many to put on their resumes that they've had exhibition experience at a major metropolitan art museum. You read that first sentence right, it only happens every 10 years.



I didn't have time to take a proper scan or better photo, but this is my submission. Seeing as there's about 4500+ pieces going up this show, I figure giving you an idea of what it looks like will be helpful.

TTYL!

City Pages and AZIA

Remember last year when I advertised my website on the back page of City Pages, the Twin Cities alternative weekly newspaper? Well, I had to stop for economic reasons, but now, I've decided to continue. Hopefully it'll be helpful!
(This one here ties in nicely to LOST-Cram '10!)(Speaking of which, check out my friend Heather's blog for some great DHARMA cakes she made for a LOST party I hosted for the February 2nd premiere.



A bit of freelance came my way in a very serendipitous way, and eventually I'll post it here (I'm waiting for it to have been printed before posting). In the meantime, here's Thom Pham, the owner and chef at AZIA, a terrific pan-Asian cuisine restaurant in Minneapolis. I'm pleased how this looks!



I'm still working on the Linendoll's Beer portfolio piece. Until then, here's another bit to tempt you with!

TTYL!

The Great Lost Cram of 2010

So I've finally decided to get into ABC's Lost. I'm sick and tired of not getting the references and not being able to talk about it with friends and colleagues. But thanks to my friend Heather, I've got about 2 weeks to watch all five seasons before the February 2nd Season Six Premiere. Wish me luck!



After a few weeks of hemming and hawing, I've started to finish some Simpsons comic book pages to send to Bongo Comics Group. Just a few samples to show off character design procedure, colour, storytelling, and line-quality. Here, playing on the internet joke of Milhouse as a meme/Milhouse is never a meme is a meme/baloney, Milhouse breaks the fourth wall and reads about how he's the butt of an internet non-joke.

TTYL!

Website update, Video Game Concept, and Flash

I've updated my website (http://www.comicartiststeve.com/) it is a lot more cleaner and organized- go check it out!



I've decided to show off the cast list for a graphic adventure concept I've been developing for a while (or at least a a partial view of the cast!).



I show this off to announce that I've gotten my hands on a copy of Adobe CS4, which includes Flash. I've got some ideas of what I want to use it for, the above game concept included, but now I need to learn how to use it!



Not long ago, I finished reading The Belgariad and The Melorean series by David Eddings. Great books. My dad read them to me when I was a wee lad, and I've read them as an adult. If I have kids, I'll read these to them.
Anyway, I've thought about what a comic-book treatment would be of these books, and jotted some sketches down. I'm pleased with how Beldin came out (the one on the bottom of the left).

NEXT UPDATE:
"Ad Boy," a book of advertising mascots, came out recently, and I'm going to write a review. Keep your eyes peeled!

TTYL!

I missed a few updates, so here's the last two week's worth from City Pages. Are they working? Not sure, but it's fun to see the ads printed.
Speaking on City Pages, Last night was their Best of the Twin Cities party. Delicious food, free drinks, good music, and discovering that I'm pretty good at seven card stud poker. I don't have the info immediately at hand, but the restaurants presenting there were amazing. A blue-cheese slider? Mmm...


I finished the Hudson book not too long ago. I can't post pics of the final pages, so here's part of the rough-draft. Final looks much different, but kind of gives an idea...

I wrote down a list of what I need to do for a plethora of projects- better start now, eh?

TTYL!

Junkyard Empire cover

This is Citypages ad, week 2. The printing for this one was not top notch, so here it is all clean-like.

I've been deep in designing the cover for JE's ep cover. The difficulties has been wrangling opinion from 5 bandmates, plus their management. Don't get me wrong, they've been extremely helpful, and the project's been fun. But making sure all of them get the progress samples, on top of day jobs (and my part-time at J's) has been like olympic gymnastics.


(wrangling the typography)

So far, the process is almost done for the cover itself. As soon as that's done, I can go about designing the inside, cause by that point, the element style and colour are locked in.

Thursday is Mini-Comic-Con at MCAD. It'll be nice to see what the current crop is up to, and catch up with some alumni, professors, etc. I'm thinking of making a batch of Grover's Mom in book form to sell there.


(currently on my website: www.comicartiststeve.com!)

Friday I'm going to be at Macy's in downtown Minneapolis, for Macy's World Food and Artist Marketplace. I'll be giving demonstrations on mini-comics and comics in general. Should be pretty fun! On April 10 & 17, 11:30am - 1pm.