Back online and Number One!

My DSL was connected yesterday, so I am back online at home, finally! No more using internet cafes and not being able to upload new art and all that!

I am currently working on getting ready for the launch of "Spark-Tower Wilson's Silent Song" at www.progressions.org! This original graphic novel was designed especially for the web and we will be serializing it over the new few months, updating every Monday. I'll post more about it soon!

Also, we are #1 at today's Webcomics Nation Top Ten! We're #7 on the All-Time Top Ten list and top of the heap for today! We appreciate all the support, keep it up!

Jeff

"Once a Gangster"!

The latest PROGRESSIONS story has been posted today--

"Once a Gangster":

In a shadowy world of winners and sinners, one rampant prankster pits his tricky brain and his witty style against the hard-boiled killers of the underworld!

One of our latest features is Authors' Notes for each issue, written by Stephen Greenwood-Hyde with some notes by me:

The challenging side of this story was that we’d only really flirted with this kind of comedy before, whereas this time we wanted to really get stuck in (so to speak). We used the HK style and references as a crutch to support us through our first major bout of slapstick, and as a result it’s kind of self indulgent on both our parts… but shit, even the big Hong Kong blockbusters have wonky plots, so I don’t really mind. Besides, it was this issue which gave us the confidence to try some new tricks on the next issue…

I've been without DSL in my new apartment for a week now, and they say they're turning it on next Friday. I'm cutting this note short because the keyboard at this internet cafe is crappy!

Jeff

Pop Shop closing

Haring Pop Shop closing

I was walking downtown yesterday when I noticed somebody carrying a brightly-colored bag from the Keith Haring Pop Shop. It reminded me of how much I love Haring's art and how my two Haring shirts (white "radiant baby" and "barking dog" on black, and purple "angel" and "devil" on orange) are some of my favorite T-shirts. I made a mental note to stop in sometime and pick up another one.

Later on I headed back uptown on Lafayette Street and I passed the Pop Shop itself. It had a "For Rent" sign on the wall and a 60% off clearance sale. They're closing it down!

Keith Haring was an innovative artist in the early 1980's and one of his innovations, inspired by his friend Andy Warhol, was to make his art commercial and merchandise it in a variety of ways. The magic of Haring's art isn't in its brushtrokes or how it looks close up--the magic is in the energy and vibrancy of the colors and lines he painted, and the universal characters and emotions his art invokes.

Haring died in 1990 but his Pop Shop in New York has been an institution. When I went in they didn't even have any clothes my size left! Just postcards and stuff for babies. I took a few pictures of the shop and went on home.

Here's the press release from the Haring Foundation about the shop's closing.

Jeff

Logo contest at Smallpress Swapmeet

Joey Manley has decided that Smallpress Swapmeet needs a new logo, so he's holding an open submission! The winner gets linked from every page with a nice banner!

Here are my entries:



And in color:



I haven't hit on the perfect color combination yet but I'd like to have a three-color brand design that could be used as an identifying logo on any graphic shapes.

I may come back to it, but this is my last weekend in my current apartment and there's a whole lotta moving going on :)

Jeff

From Zero to #1!

Thursday's installment of Progressions is up! The Psychobabes: From Zero to None! is about what happens when girl-group The Psychobabes tries to bring their upbeat pop style to the roughest dive in Minerva City.

Also, we've hit #1 on the Webcomics Nation Top Ten! We've been in the Top Ten consistently since we launched but this is our first day at the top!

Jeff

Authors' Notes!

I just got a wallop of stuff in e-mail from Stephen, including the next few pages of script for our next story, "Journey 01", which just blew me away. It's a completely different style of writing and pacing than we've done before, and I am really looking forward to drawing it. Stephen's put a level of craft and precision into this script that is working on a whole new level for us.

I'm going to be doing some designs and layouts during this week before I start the actual drawing. I'm looking for a place to live, since I need to be out of my apartment in about a week. And I want to get moved before I start the drawing on "Journey".

The other great thing he sent was Authors' Notes for Progressions! I've converted them to HTML and got them up on the site now. They give some insight into what was going on behind-the-scenes of each issue.

Next up for me is the "photographs" from #11's Cineculture.

Here's who we have scheduled:

• Fairweather
• Bingo (from The Message)
• Julius Bond (from Johnny Pink)

Jeff

First week!

www.progressions.org has been up over a week now! Since Joey Manley launched Webcomics Nation last Friday, we've posted three stories, cast bios and an Encyclopedia Minerva!

We're well on schedule for the next few months, and today I have finished drawing the Cineculture pinup for Progressions #11. It will be appearing on the website in October but here's a peek.

The final pinup will be in color on the website and in grey tones in the minicomic.

Jeff