Ok there’s nothing in this post about Blue’s Clues, one of the best children’s shows ever made. But long time readers will know that I’m in my blue period, and that means it’s time for part 3!
But I’ve also got a few updates for you, so here’s what’s in today’s blogsletter:
Alright, let’s get to it!
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I’ll Be At Short Run Again This Year!
Save the date, everyone, ‘cause I got accepted to table at Short Run 2025!
Short Run Comix Festival
FREE admission!
When:
Saturday November 1, 2025
11am - 6pm
Where:
Seattle Design Center in Georgetown, Seattle
Last Fest for the Summer Went Great
PhinneyWood Comic Book Show a couple weekends ago was the last summer fest for me this year. It went great! Even though it was the first time the organizers ever put on the show, it was well run and had good attendance with a healthy amount of interest in buying indie comics.
It was interesting and a little funny seeing the demographics shift with the time of day. Remember, this was a Saturday event that opened it’s doors at 11am (actually guests started filtering through around like 10:30am before the official start, but doors were open because we vendors were getting or already got set up). For the first hour, before noon, it was mostly seniors from the neighborhood, but after noon the crowd shifted to a younger demographic.
Sales started a little slow but by the end of the event, it was in line with other events I’ve tabled at. Thank you everyone for visiting my stand, checking out my work, sharing your excitement, subscribing to this blogsletter, and buying my books!
Blue Period Ink Drawings Part 3
Ok, on to the blue!
Today, I’m sharing three more scenes from Seattle and the surrounding region. The Seattle chapter of Urban Sketchers sometimes hosts outings outside of Seattle, so this quarter some of my drawings are from farther afield.
I feel like I’m now hitting my stride with this brown and blue ink series.
This marks three quarters of my blue period—one more and I’ll move to trying to put on an exhibition. If you’ve got any guides you can share or tips about how to do that, please share! Or thoughts about venues in Seattle that this series would do well and find a good audience in.
The iconic Paramount Theater downtown. I like how the blocky weight of the building contrasts with the curves of the Paramount sign and airiness of the clouds in the sky behind. I resisted pulling out my straight edge despite all those straight lines on the building because I want to develop a looser approach. I already got to take a crisper approach with some of my drawings earlier this year, and now it’s time to push the expressiveness more.
I really like the echoed angles and swoops of the roofs in this piece, sweeping you from the upper right to the left, then sliding your eye back the other way with that lower roof on the left, down to the tree and the people on the grounds below. The avenue between the buildings is open to your eye and invites you in, and then you reach the child pointing up at something, leading you back up the curve of the barn roof again.
Also, I love what water-based media can do for clouds.
Third Place Books is such a good book store and, well, third place. I hadn’t been there in many years, I don’t know how many it’s been that long. Seven? Ten? More? But the Lake Forest Park store, where I did this drawing, is now 25 years old.
Anyway, I feel really good about how this drawing came out! Many dense, repeated forms particularly in ambiguously lit environments like tables in a cafe or restaurant or bookshelves in a bookstore, I find to be difficult subjects. But I also like to keep pushing myself and my abilities, so I opted to take a trawl through the bookstore to try to find a view that inspired me.
And I did find a view that caught my eye! Actually two from the same vantage point, and after doing a quick value sketch of both, I went with this view.
I’m pushing my materials some more, and finding uses for my different pens. I’d refilled a Pentel Pocket Brush with brown ink, and am finding it useful to expand the marks I can make with the waterproof brown ink.
And being patient and drawing in all those books and book covers really paid off in creating that dense feeling of the clerk being bounded by books, like she’s in a cavern of books lit by torchlight. (Don’t light your book cave with torches—too much risk of it all going up in smoke, not recommended.)
