The other day I picked up Matt Madden and Jessica Abel's book Drawing words and writing pictures' which I had been wanting before it came out. I should preface this by saying I am big fan of 'how to' art books, and make a point to read them when I can. The best way to see if you will like the book is to look at the art inside, if it is good then it makes sense that the advice will be also good. Then again I have read my share of bad how to cartoon books as I always find it interesting to read from another artists perspective and you can almost guarantee that there will be one little gem of information in the book that is helpful or in the very least confirms what you are already doing. I really liked Jessica Able’s DIY guide to comics on her website (which is currently down and or in the process of being moved to the www.dw-wp.com website) and I also like the both of the authors art. Sure enough I was not let down by this book! Not only is it very comprehensive in te

Another look at some interesting art pieces on etsy.com.

Also look below to see the little animated version that shows the construction of the comic

Here's a quick scan of my fist attempt at a series of hand drawn stickers. I tried out a few different pens and ink and got some interesting results. These ones are about the size of a playing card. I got the idea to make stickers from looking for ones for my sketchbooks. As I usually have a few going floating around the place i pick up stickers where I can, mostly just junky free ones. With my latest sketchbook I thought I'd look around for a good sticker. I needed it to be mid sized and around $2.00-2.50 after some fruitless looking I found a neat Gamma-Go sticker. But this got me thinking about making my own nifty stickers to give to friends and possibly sell some to other artists or people who use note/sketchbooks. Listed on etsy or you can just email me or leave a comment if you'd like one. More to come...

Good news! I found some sticker paper at a printing store that I can buy by the sheet. I did a little mucking around with some ink and sharpies today. These ones are only little, I'll be doing some larger ones soon.

I thought I'd give some of the new gadgets for blogger a try. First off I've added a simple poll in the side bar requesting feedback on the blog. It would be great to get some feed back to see what ideas people have. If a specific request is not in the poll fell free to leave a comment on this post

Would you like to see a drawing of a Monkey punching a Dinosaur , well today is your lucky day LINK But wait there is more pictures of Monkeys punching Dinosaurs than just mine be sure to check out the archives! The project is thanks to Adam Ford On other fronts I am trying to locate a good sticker paper , preferably gloss. Any recommendations? I did come across this worldlabel.com site that has offered to send some samples so that could be good. Also thanks for the music suggestions the other day they were all very interesting!

keywords: comic workshop winnipeg drawing comix art how to class

I also hid a raccoon in here. I haven't seen one before but they have been around the house at the lake

Lately I've been really getting into Elliott's Smith's music after getting his whole catalogue from a friend a year ago. It took me a little while to fully get into it at first but now I find myself playing it on a constant loop. I go through these stages with music and become obsessed by a certain sound of music or a particular album. Lately I’ve had the urge to hear more of a male musician who also plays piano and or guitar (preferable piano). Not being knowledgeable about music history and or terms especially how it relates to popular music I have no idea of how to go about finding a good example of what I have in mind. For some reason the sound in my mind has a male voice, also I already have an extensive collection of female folk/independent singers so I’m looking to compliment that sound It’s really hard when your totally ignorant of a certain field but interested to know more. You feel like even just by inquiring someone will scoff at your ignorance or laugh at you

Otter VS Wolverine Turns out they're both members of the weasel family! Pictures courtesy of my trusty American mammals golden book (I'm still in love with the Futura typeface from this book) We were fairly bummed out about the job at first but maybe something else will come up

Thought I'd give an update on things here at awcomix studios. I just wanted to say thanks to the readers for coming back and reading every day and making the occasional comment, it really helps sustain the energy needed to keep things going. Feel free to comment any time it doesn't have to be about the comic itself or be praise etc, just anything that comes to mind. Also feel free to link to my blog or a particular comic. Does any one use those dig or stumble upon sites? I'm still using the blue lead pencils and I really find it suits the way I work. Lately they have been looking green which is a little sliding of the hue bar in image adjustments just for something different. I'm just about to start a new sketchbook, luckily I have a few left still of the ones I like from Australia. I've been looking into ordering some of these 'Bare Books' that I used a few years back. The paper's great with the tech pens, I only stopped using them as I preferred spir

I've just added the Mr. Spudjobs T-shirt as seen on the 26th of July strip to redbubble.com