First Book Charity Event

A couple weeks ago I attended my first fancy-schmancy event as a representative of Abrams! (They're the publisher of my upcoming book) It was a charity event for First Book, which is an amazing organization that provides new books to children in need. Abrams works with them to contribute books, so I was happy to be introduced to the cause.

It was held at the legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel...


Galley copies of MY BOOK were out on all the tables for guests to take home. My book?! Surreal!

Abrams Spring Catalog

Lookie! The Abrams Spring 2011 catalog! (I'ts online here.)

And look who's on page 26-27! In a TWO PAGE SPREAD!

Every year I make little personalized name-place-holders for my family for Thanksgiving dinner, and here are the ones I made this year! (there are words in the leaves) My parents Patty & Maurice, and brother Brian are up here in New York sharing the holiday with me and my 'new family members' Kurt and Diana.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

"Bored to Death" comic con extra

Back in May I was an extra for the HBO show Bored to Death, where they set up a fake comic con at Brooklyn Lyceum. (Yup, where King Con was last weekend!) The episode "Super Ray is Mortal" finally aired, so you can see me in the background! (Click to see larger)




And here is a pic of me and my comic-tablemate Maja Szychowska with our friend Dean Haspiel, who is the basis of Zach Galifianakis' character! He also does all the comic art for the show and recently got a creative emmy for his work on the opening credits.


The crew got Bored to Death wine. And yes, it tastes good!


More pics from the set (including me with Zach) and our viewing party are on Facebook.

King Con All Girl Panel

Here are some photos from King Con (Brooklyn's comic con) at Brooklyn Lyceum last weekend!


I made my comic panel debut an all female panel called "Hips, Lips, & Pencil Tips: The Sexual Female as Feminist Focal Point." We discussed topics such as how sexuality plays into our work, why comics serve as a suitable medium to express these topics, our experience as women in the comics industry, etc. We represented a good variety of backgrounds and aesthetics, so I think that fostered an especially colorful discussion!

It was moderated by erotica writer Rachel Kramer Bussel...

The panel included comics artist & writer Jennifer Hayden...

Comic artist & booth babe Paige Pumphrey...

Comic book writer & editor Valerie D'Orazio...

And yours truly...



One of the directors Regan Jaye Fishman spoke to BUST MAGAZINE about our panel! Read the article here.

And our panel got a shout-out in TIME OUT NYC.

Blue Ridge Art Show

Sorry it took me so long to post these photos from my ART SHOW at Blue Ridge Community College! (Technical difficulties...) The show is still up for another couple weeks if you'd like to catch it, but otherwise here are the pictures!

I hung illustrations that inspired scenes in my graphic novel "Page by Paige" as well as pages from the book showing how those drawings were adapted. They gave me a lot of wall space and I was quite determined to fill it. (Click to see larger)












I also gave a couple ARTIST TALKS to the students and faculty, discussing how my experiences have influenced my process and how my little art-therapeutic-sketchbooks evolved into a graphic novel. Everyone was incredibly lovely and seemed to forgive me for my rambling tangents!

My Comic Con Debut

This past weekend I made my premiere at NEW YORK COMIC CON!

Abrams rush-printed a bunch of galleys (a pre-publication version) of "Page by Paige" which I signed and gave out to visitors at the Abrams ComicArts Table.

Firstly, I was simply ecstatic to see the book in printed form. To hold it, flip through it...I couldn't believe I made an actual book. A REAL BOOK. I've been wanting this for years, so it took a moment to sink in...


Then I couldn't believe the positive feedback from people! It was so very encouraging. Here's a picture of me with my art director Chad Beckerman and my editor Maggie Lehrman...


The title is actually misspelled on the title page (oopsie!) so as I signed each copy I corrected it with a grin. Yup, this is definitely MY book.


And THEN to top it off I'm mentioned (with a photo!) in a Publishers Weekly article about kids comics at NYCC. I can tell this is the beginning of what is sure to be an interesting journey...

Rocktown Weekly Cover Story

I'M THE COVER STORY THIS WEEK IN ROCKTOWN WEEKLY!

You can read the article "A Real Page-Turner" here. (My character in my graphic novel is named Paige Turner)


This newspaper is based out of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where (in case you didn't know) I attended James Madison University. I also held an art show there at the Artful Dodger back in 2006 while I was living on the other side of the mountain in Charlottesville.

The article is in anticipation of my UPCOMING ART SHOW at Blue Ridge Community College! (October 1st - Nov 15th) More details to come.

Currently Listening: Silverchair...Diaroma

Book. Is. Done.

In case I forgot to mention this fact earlier...."PAGE BY PAIGE" IS DONE! Hooray!

Now all that's left is the oh-so-essential-cover and some copy-editing. In the meantime, I'm working on some NEW fun project ideas which I'm very excited about. Scheme, scheme, scheme.

Here are some of the finished pages with the lettering done! (click to see larger) I picked these three pages totally at random...





Currently Listening: Kele...The Boxer

Comic Creationizm

COMIC CREATIONIZM

I helped host this fun comic-themed event at HiChristina! along with my friend Matt Mikas, where all the attendees collaborated to create a single comic book in one evening! We worked together to come up with characters, props, and themes...and in the end ended up with a very dada-ist 13 page comic! (One page was on my back) You can see more pics on Flickr.

Featured in "Mishaps and Adventures"

My art director at Abrams Books, Chad Beckerman, just featured me in his kick-ass publishing blog "Mishaps and Adventures: Dedicated to the process and exploration of children's and young adult book design." Please check it out and comment if you feel so inclined...it features NEW drawings from "Page by Paige!"

You can see it here.



Currently eating: lemon Italian ice.

One month to go...

ONE MORE MONTH...and then I'll be finished* with my graphic novel!

(*fingers crossed)

Right now I'm wrapping up the digital shading part of the process, and finally I'll tackle the lettering. Here are a few random unfinished pages to show you how things are coming along in Paige's little world. (click to enlarge)







Currently Listening: Band of Horses...Infinite Arms

First Teaser Panels

Here are some more teaser panels from my graphic novel! I've basically finished inking all the pages so now I'm going through the whole thing and polishing them so I can scan/digitally shade/letter. (Anyone want to be my intern?) Click to see larger.




And finally, here's a picture of me inking a page while waiting to see the cast of Doctor Who at the Apple store a couple weeks ago. This is as nerdy as it gets!


Currently Listening: Seu Jorge...The Life Aquatic Soundtrack