Ah the politics of pens...

Since winter break I have fallen desperately in love with my fountain pen.

I would like to get some new nibs but I shall always remain faithful to the original.

The problem with fountain pens, however, is the line quality you get when scanning them. This was most evident to me in the latest comic.

If you look (and you don't even have to look carefully), the line edge has this sort of fuzziness to it. This is because nib of the fountain pen presses into the paper instead of rolling on top of it. The edges left on the embossing get picked up by scanners, and as a result the line quality is not quite as crisp as when I was just using Microns.

Just look at the comparison.

Fountain Pen Scan

vs

Micron Pen Scan

Oh well? What's a guy to do?

Reading over some of my favorite graphic novelists I'm always shocked at the lack of detail in the drawings. Comforted too.

More tales from The Great War

I'm a little worried that people will associate this villainous character with Lucius Malfoy.

Of course I only realized the similarity until after I finished doing the comic. That's life.

I had a dream once of making a book out of The Great War, but it seems to me now an impossibility. I say this because in spite of the various comics I've done...there really is no story. I've come to realize that the series is more a practice in dialog than anything else. Good writing is hard, but it good storytelling is perhaps even harder.

As always, The Great War offers a little slice of the big picture...

•••

I had a lovely time with Alex in Alfred!

The Great War

TOLD you I'd do a comic soon.
Things have been great recently.
My work for my thesis has been approved by all fronts.

Now all that's left to do is work out the finishing touches.
Postcards.
Labels.
And of course, additional prints.

My girlfriend Alex has spent her spring break with me in New Paltz, and soon I will be spending mine with her in Alfred. We've had a merry time of things. She says "hi."

Soon an INTERIOR ETCHING PRINT will be available to the public. That means, you can buy one if you like! Yes! You can buy a print from me! Signed and everything!
Woo!

I'm getting into The Great War again. I've come to realize that at the heart of it, The Great War series represents my view of America, more or less. At least politically.

Exciting news, I've developed a new character for the series. Death. You'll see it soon.
Well, in a week or so. That's soon, geographically speaking. That's like a minute.
5 minutes.

Augh!

It's gotten to the point where I'm drawing interiors simply to pass the time.
I have done other work, but looking at this blog it seems like interiors are the only thing I draw.

I think that will change soon. I want to start doing comics for my school newspaper.
I'll start tomorrow!

Graphic novels are novels. Comic strips are poems.
It's hard work, comic strips, it's hard to write a poem.

In both cases you have to limit yourself to the constraints
of purity. You must pick and choose only what works.
Elaboration becomes a luxury and a risk all at once.

I could never do comic strips professionally.
People like Charles Schultz and Gary Larson. No idea how they did it.

•••

The rug on the second floor of this interior is a little distracting. I went a touch too far with it.

BFA Show Dates! Yes!

Well folks, the time has come for me to talk once again of my BFA thesis show, which will officially premiere April 30th. A friday.

My junior year in college I wondered if I had lost my drive. If my sense of discipline had been vanquished by my swelling senioritis...

Now I know that not to be true. I work so hard these days that Mondays utterly astonish me. Because if it were Monday...then that would mean I must have, at some point, experienced some kind of weekend. Right?

Right. No. There are no weekends anymore. There hasn't been any since September of last semester, when I began working on my thesis.

For the longest time I wasn't sure if any of it was going to be rewarding, but upon finding the perfect dresser for my installation, I must admit that each new print feels like a major triumph. Even my shittiest work would look relevant in these drawers. I will probably include at least one print from freshman year, just to go full circle.

Eventually I'll update this post with the image I'll use on my postcard. I plan on having that done soon.

Sooner than later.

You betcha.

Now all that is left is elbow grease and paperwork. No more time for worrying.

It's go time.

Ok one more.

Two new things! A person! And a ROOM within an interior! Can it be? Gadzooks!
I really wished I showed up when you look for "Justin Hubbell" under google.
What is up with that?

A long time ago I got this pop up saying "WANT TO BECOME MORE VISIBLE? GET A GOOGLE PROFILE?"

And basically it was this thing where I would submit a picture and an address and all that jazz. I wasn't too comfortable with that idea so I tried to undo the process. I managed it, but doing so erased me completely from the search.

So now I have to recommend people search "sheeps pond" which is frankly embarrassing because the real name in Cape Cod is "Sheep Pond."

I always called it "Sheep's Pond" as a kid because I didn't know better. And while I could argue that that was what I was going for when I chose my blog name? it would still be kind of dumb of me. Which it was.

Oh well.
Oh well.

New ideas coming soon.

I like drawing interiors a lot. But I think it's time either to apply my love of them to my comics, or move on to some new practice.

I have fantasies of large paper. Making giant interiors.
Wouldn't THAT be fun.
Yes it would.

A mansion! Ooh la la.
But until then, I think it's time for something new to sink my teeth into.

I just LOVE fountain pens!

This interior obviously is kept by an inventor who does not mind clutter in the least.

...I really like toast, and toasters. It's hard not to draw them in everything I do.