FEEDING GROUND: Press and Process

MICHAEL here:


I'm in the thick of finishing art on the sixth and final issue of FEEDING GROUND.  Haven't had time for a long process post in a while so I thought I would share links to some in-depth interviews.


After an extremely well-considered review of the first four issues by the guys at The Pullbox, they had us on for a Q&A that breaks down some of the inspiration of the book as well as the steps of our production chain.


Likewise, Chris and I had a fun conversation with horror comic maven Decapitated Dan about FG and horror books in general.  One question we addressed: why do our werewolves kinda look like baboons?  I guess I'm hearing second-hand that some readers weren't so hot on the design.  What about you?


Lastly, we were chosen as the "Sunday Pick" by Kate over at Functional Nerds.


Cool, cool.

MICHAEL HERE: Swifty, Chris, and I had ourselves a table at our first Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival in NYC this past weekend.  It was a spacious and good-spirited event but I didn't have much of a chance to walk around to see what other creators were bringing to the table.  Really cool though to introduce new readers to FEEDING GROUND and to hear back from fans who have been reading along.  Below are a few other personal highlights from the weekend:


THE GATHERING

I had contributed art for a 2-page story in the premiere issue of this GrayHaven Comics anthology and Swifty and I are going to have another one in their upcoming Issue #4.  So, it was a sweet surprise to have been situated as neighbors right next to their table.  Led by Andrew Goletz, the anthology started as a forum for pairing first-time artists and writers from the Jinxworld message boards.  Wrapped with covers and art direction by the talented Aaron Bir, the collection is a fresh voice of dedication and enthusiasm. Writer Doug Hahner was also on hand. He wrote one of my favorite stories in Issue 1 and a nicer guy you never did meet.


THE INK PANTHERS SHOW

I devour podcasts as I work and this is the only one that disrupts my inking with laughter.  Ostensibly a comic podcast, the real attraction for me is the banter between friends Mike Dawson and Alex Robinson.  I was a cartoonist in college along with Mike and his professional work is one of the factors that encouraged me to get back into comics.  They've had me on the show in the past and this weekend I got to sub in for a stricken panelist at a live recording of the show at MoCCA, sharing convention stories with cartoonists Daniel Spottswood and John Kerschbaum and regaling the audience with my tale of destroying Capt. Lou Albano's car.  Also check out Mike's Pro T.I.P.S for more in-depth discussions with creators about the work and glamour of being a cartoonist.


MORE MoCCA BITS


-  I didn't get to see much, but the book LIAR'S KISS by Top Shelf was one attractive number that I planned on picking up.  Others agreed and it was sold out before I could grab it.

- I did get to buy GB Tran's VIETNAMERICA an incredible tome of personal journalism executed in a visual language that feels like memory to me.  Bonus - it came with the special convention cover that is a folded copy of a poster design for the book.

- I met one of my comic icons, Bill Sienkiewicz, and didn't embarrass myself all that much. I first discovered his work as a child with the “Badlands” issue of the "Demon Bear" run of THE NEW MUTANTS sandwiched between two other books in a supermarket 3-pack. It was a disturbing, challenging, find that not only opened my eyes to comics as art but the power of art in general. It continues to affect me and my work to this day. Check out this article on CBR to see images of the run and give yourself an idea on what sort of influence he had on the industry at a particular point in time.

- Swifty and I had dinner with our Editor-in-Chief at Archaia, Stephen Christy.  I am proud to be a part of a company that publishes important, attractive, work that is evolving our concept of what a comic book and comic book company can be in 2011.  Their recent Wonder Con announcements have me stoked as a comic fan, none more so than the care and vision that Stephen is putting into the graphic novel adaptation of Jim Henson's unpublished screenplay A TALE OF SAND.  Stephen is a guy who gets it, delivering quality packaging and promotion always in service of Story.

MOCCA NOMADS

We set up our FG shop at MOCCA this last weekend.  It was fun and went well and the instant comic community who came out to shop was encouraging.  Id say the tops were those few times I really got to talk to people looking for a new book to appreciate. And they walked away with our comic.  It's amazing to see people's eyes light up when they hear the unique selling point of our book and you know they are interested, love it, or perhaps just aren't interested, which is fine... there's something for everyone out there.  Many of the long chats I had were with creators working on their own comic looking for advice to get a publisher to look at their work or looking for a chance to share.  And between those chats was us, waiting, talking amongst ourselves about life, doing some simple selling, getting the comic idea from our minds - out there into the tangible world. 

Sunday morning, I remember seeing a guy walking up the Armory's stairs with boxes strapped to his side, fumbling posters and coffee to set up just before the gates opened and hundreds of people began walking through to shop.  And, it made me appreciate the physical challenge we "mom and pop" creators face at these conventions... "the set up"... waking early in the morning, lugging books and t-shirts and all the other merch, carrying it all miles from here to there, to set up shop shoulder to shoulder among PVC pipe make shift poster holders, hundreds of tables, cluttered ideas and styles. And it all reminded me of those nomadic merchants in 1500's who traveled to distant Asian lands, only to return to Europe to set up a makeshift weekend shop in a crazed dark market.  I'm sure even back then they had mornings like I had on Sunday.  Moments, in mid yawn, waiting for strangers to arrive en-mass... either to buy or rummage through the things we had brought to them from another world. 

By Chris Mangun

2010 _ Blacklight Bites

MICHAEL here:

I posted a deeper (longer) reflection on the year on my art blog Paws as Hands but I wanted to add a few quick hits here for some standout Blacklight moments:

- Seeing our first collaboration, Chris' short FROZEN DARK, published and collected as part of the DON'T LOOK! Anthology. Editor Rick Ritter is a co-worker who was one of those guys who initially poked me to start doing comics again. The final product is a quality, diverse collection that includes a number of other friends, old and new. Plus, I thought that Chris came up with a great title in DON'T LOOK! and Dave Palumbo wrapped it all in one striking cover. Looking forward to more from the LAST MINUTE COMICS crew.



- Traveling to San Diego with Swift for the Convention. From the moment we landed it was an adventure. The streets were thick with fans and our local driver/ friend/ escort yelled at them all the way. From Backstreet Boy bracelets to Wolf Costumes to Gorging on Tapas to Our Chat with Steve Lieber to He-Man Dioramas to Our First Signing and Panel to the After Party with Archaia peeps it was an unforgettable whirlwind not even two days full.


- That a random Facebook post about my cat reconnected me with Nathalia Ruiz Murray, who now could not be a more perfect fit as translator on FEEDING GROUND. She's taken on the role of a diligent writer and linguist who brings so much to the book and ensures more than some rote dictionary translation.


- Being a regular listener of the INK PANTHERS Podcast and then being invited on as a guest. Ostensibly a comic podcast, it's hardly ever about comics and it's more about the banter of the hosts. The funniest thing I listen to every week.


- Our most recent meeting at my home to discuss the beats for FEEDING GROUND #5. It not always easy to collaborate with friends but we've worked hard to be respectful of each other's working style and schedule and tastes. With this meeting I think we hit a groove that was apparent, asking the right questions and field testing solutions to make sure they held water. A perfect end to the teamwork of this year and standard to continue in 2011.

The Art of the Small --- Looking Back on 2010

By Chris Mangun

I work in Pharma Advertising... the fine print industry. One day, one of our best art directors Huy Hygen (who’s name is pronounced We Win and most enjoyable to say)… anyways, we got into a conversation about fonts and how hard it is to choose the right font to go with the right art. Whether recognized or not, Helvetica feels different from Eurostyle, some might say, more minimal or genteel than the latter. Out of the conversation came the notion that, “People spend more time per capita focused on words than images since they must read letters.” Typography opened my eyes to how every shaped letter is its own piece of art and that someone spent years working on this alphabet, maybe a whole 2 weeks on the letter G! Golly-gosh, someone even made a movie about it “Helvetica”… a splendid documentary on fonts if you’re interested.

I mention all this because a lot of my work on Feeding Ground is lettering each issue. Every month, my eye goes to the screen for hours, tweaking little letters, judging font size, considering spacing, etc. In those hours of work, I sometimes would stop and ask myself, how important is lettering? Do people really care if we use CC Gibbons or Spooky Art over Times Roman? And the answer was always the same, yes. When it comes to comics, choosing the right font is cornerstone to setting the right tone or feeling of a visual story.

This year, I learned why balloons have their own “Live” or “safety” area, which is the distance I want to keep the text from edge of the balloon. Being without special effects of TV or sound, I learn that changing a word’s color or outlining it to stretch it, or making it into sound effects can change the way someone feels or even hears a word. The biggest challenge I had in lettering, what made me really focus in on this little art, was working with accents on the translated flip-side of our issues. Español has accents over certain letters, reverse punctuation, and for whatever reason well styled comic fonts are lacking these accents. This means, I had to place individual “tildes” over dozens of ñ’s and accents over many other letters.

Lettering really is the art of the small… that background craft of creating finely fixed symbols, tiny canvases of meaning, well placed amongst bigger meaning. The best at this craft, allow readers to feel something without having to knowingly feel it.

What I know about lettering comics I learned through “DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering” and a lot working with Michael Lapinski who has built up a great awareness to the art of the small and coached me when I needed it. This year, like lettering, had so many small moments. Many were spent working on this fine comic, which taught me about collaboration with friends and looking closely at how beautifully complicated pockets of time can be summed up in a few well designed words.

Reflections on 2010

Swifty here-

Learned so much this past year, and wanted to take a moment to reflect on what this year has taught me. 2010 has been an absolute blur, so I felt a stream of consciousness-style response is most applicable.

Listen to your artist when something isn't working, you really share the same end goals. Read the reviews, sometimes they sting, but this can be the most objective feedback you get. Be true your intentions. You are doing this because you have something to say. Try to tackle something current, but make sure it's personal.

Remember how fortunate you are to be a part of the comics community. I have met many in the industry whose talent is matched by their generosity and intelligence. Read widely, beyond comics. How else is your work not going to be solely referential.

Try to engage the people who are supporting your work as opposed to waiting for an introduction. Ultimately the work should connect you with like-minded people. Talk to people who do not read comics. I've gotten some of my best ideas that way. Be willing to fail, it's the only way you have a chance at success. Remember to love doing the work, at the end of the day, it is the only thing in your control.

THANKFUL

FEEDING GROUND #1 has been shipping across the country these last few weeks and it has finally landed on our home coast. In honor of the book's release and tomorrow's holiday, here is our THANK YOU page text as it appeared in the back of the issue. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

It might not be customary to include "thank yous" in the
first issue of a comic but this was a labor of love almost
two years in the making. It would not have happened if
not for the people below and we'd like to express our
gratitude.

As a group, we benefited greatly from the insight and
experience of Thomas Peyton, the counsel of Suzana
Carlos, and the encouragement and camaraderie of artist
Juan Doe. Great thanks to everyone at Archaia not only
for taking a chance on us, but also offering advice and
support that recognized what we were doing and then
made it stronger.

SWIFTY LANG would like to thank the following people:
I would like to thank my parents, my brother David and
sister Samantha for believing in me. I would like to thank
my Uncle Neal for giving me the GI Joes that kept my
imagination rollin’. I’d like to thank my cousins B.B. and
M.B. for proving that writing can be more than a hobby. I
would like to thank all of my friends in Hollywood, Florida,
NYC, LA and world-wide. I’d like to dedicate this to my girl
Spooky, for listening without judgment, reading every
draft, and putting up with a grown man arguing about
werewolves when he barely had a job.

MICHAEL LAPINSKI would like to thank the following
people: Cartoonists Rick Ritter, Mike Dawson, GB Tran and
the guys of MAMMAL, their art and dedication convinced
me to get back into making comics. Paul Zdanowicz,
horror guru and Lapinski-booster with a keen critical eye.
Klaus Janson, whose professional instruction came just at
the right time to bring structure and rules to what I had
been discovering on the page. Brian Michael Bendis for
providing the Jinxworld message board and its posters for
keeping me company in the solitude of my man cave. To
my parents and family, whose generous affection has
always allowed me to thrive. And, to Lindsay, thanks for
adding sweetness to my life and for riding this wolf with
me to Bayonne and beyond.

CHRISTOPHER MANGUN would like to thank the following
people: His father Rick, who taught him craftsmanship. His
mother Kathie, who taught him how to work with people.
His sister Jenny, who open his eyes to ideas and music at
the right time. His brother Rob, the best entertainer he
knows. His Uncle Tim, for evoking storytelling as an
important part of him. And most of all, his best friend Mel,
who believed in him through unbelievable weekends and
continues to do so with kind support. Also, Pale Ale beer...
Yes, he know that's not a person, but it is a friendly spirit
that sometimes helps grease the pleasant grind of
so-called-life-events.

Finally thanks to YOU, the reader, for giving this a shot and
holding this in your hands. CHEERS!