Stumptown Comics Festival 2013

I'll be at the Stumptown Comics Festival this weekend, April 27th and 28th. I'll be at the booth P09. Swing by if your in the Pacific Northwest area.

The Marra Method: Traditional Comics Techniques for Visual Storytelling | 1. Story is your GOD

An on-going, evolving series collecting my thoughts on the craft of telling stories through comic books. These posts do not document rules; these are the ideas passing through my mind when I'm making comic books.

R. Crumb's depiction of God

1. Story is your God

• Everything serves the story. Your choices, the tone, all decisions, structure, formal aspects, the drawing, all words, page layout, panel composition, every narrative event, everything must serve the story. It rules over everything.

• Art—or in this case, making comic books—must be your religion.

• Deliver the narrative information clearly above all else to serve the story. In the introduction to "Elements of Style" White quotes Strunk. Strunk says the reader is drowning in confusion and it's the writer's responsibility to save them with clarity.

• Anything not needed to advance the narrative should be cut.

Red Bull Music Academy Poster

I found the poster I made for the Red Bull Music Academy plastered on a piece of plywood outside a construction site.

The Motivation Poster

Here's the poster I illustrated for the upcoming documentary The Motivation, directed by Adam Bhala Lough. Badass Digest had a brief write-up about it. The film is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday April 25th.

Black Eye 2: The Anthology of Humor + Despair

The above image is from the video accompanying the Black Eye 2: The Anthology of Humor + Despair Kickstarter campaign. I like it because it might be the only time my name will share a screen with David Lynch. Black Eye 2 has been fully funded. The series is edited by Ryan Standfest. Be on the lookout for it Black Eye 2 when it comes out!

MoCCA 2013

I'll be at the MoCCA Festival this weekend, Saturday April 6th and Sunday the 7th, being held at the 69th Armory, 68 Lexington Ave. in New York City. I'll be at table A26 with a few of my Mammal Magazine Bretheren. All of the TRADITIONAL COMICS catalog—that hasn't yet sold out—will be available with a few extra surprises.