Tight Pencils

Kevin talks with Matt Cummings and Lauren Jordan about working lifestyles and freelancing. There's a lot of good cat-noise in this one.

Matt's website

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Support Matt on Patreon

Lauren's website

Follow Lauren on Twitter

Lauren's new show - Amuse Bouche Podcast

Lauren's Shop

The Small Press Expo

This episode is sponsored by Basecamp, and the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Follow Tight Pencils on twitter @tight_pencils

Follow Kevin on twitter @knittedsweater

Kevin interviews Jessi Zabarsky about her artistic influences including plant-life and creating ecosystems surrounding characters. Jessi’s comics focus on small stories that may seem inconsequential to the grand scheme of the world, but have a distinct emotional significance to the characters involved.

Witchlight is Jessi Zabarsky’s lushly illustrated shoujo-adventure comic that introduces Lelek the witch as she blows through town one day, kidnapping the peasant girl Sanja. The unlikely pair grow more entangled as they travel together, looking for the missing half of Lelek’s soul – the source of her true magical abilities. Both women are seeking to learn, in their own ways, how to be whole again. – Czap Books

Jessi’s Tumblr

Donate to the Czap Books Kickstarter

Balderdash by Victoria Grace Elliot

This episode is sponsored by Cards Against Humanity and the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Sage Coffey joins Kevin to talk about finding a place in comics. In this episode, Sage and Kevin discuss what it's like to read and write comics from a very personal place. Sage is a fantastic cartoonist whose recent diary comics portray nervousness and daily life with remarkable sincerity.

Sage is the co-editor of the upcoming Sweaty Palms anthology, a collection of comics about coping with extreme anxiety.

Show notes:

Sweaty Palms!

Sage's website

Follow Sage on Twitter

Dirty Diamonds

Zinetendo

Sweaty Palms Co-Editor Liz Enright

Bosc Pears

This episode is sponsored by Jackbox Games

Tight Pencils is a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Follow Kevin on Twitter @knittedsweater

Follow the show on Twitter @tight_pencils

Jon Marchione makes comics and prints with a bold graphic style. Influenced heavily by a rural upbringing, many of his images contain simple and clean scenes of nature. Jon sat down with me to talk about where he draws influence and guidance, and how single-image illustration drove him to pursue different avenues of art

In this episode Jon and Kevin talk small-batches, comics as art objects, and how collecting brings us closer to our friends

Jon's website : http://jonmarchione.com/

Follow the show on twitter @tight_pencils

Follow Kevin on twitter @knittedsweater

This episode is sponsored by Cards Against Humanity

Tight Pencils is a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Tara Helfer and Caitlin Rose Boyle talk about their experience creating and developing Buck and Lou and the Night Crew, for Nickelodeon's 2014 Animated Shorts Program.

We discuss what it was like to pitch a concept for a short, and how their friendship resulted in a natural road towards collaborating.

Caitlin also shares a bit about Jonesy (written by Sam Humphries, colored by Mickey Quinn), the comic she is currently illustrating for Boom!.

Additionally, we talk about tools, art school, NeoPets, roleplaying games, and the cinematic tragedy of Jurassic Park 4.

Caitlin's Website

Tara's Website

Watch Buck and Lou!

Additional Notes:

Garfield: Cool Cat

NeoPets, Vampire: The Masquerade, Dungeon World

Bohnanza

Jurassic World is bad. Don't watch it.

Jonesy - now an ongoing series

This episode is sponsored by Iron Galaxy and brought to you by the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Matt Soria is a web designer and developer, creative professional, and former co-host of this very podcast! Matt and I started Tight Pencils as an excuse to hang out more, while also exploring the creative process of or favorite friends and artists.

In January, Matt got super busy and had to leave the show for a bit, however he's back for a sort of State of the Union conversation about maintaining friendship when you have both work and passion projects.

Coincidentally, there was a gap in episode numbers right between the last episode Matt was present for (Episode Twenty-Two, with Laura Knetzger) and the first one he missed (Episode Twenty-Four, with Onsmith).

This is Not Episode Twenty-Three, with Matt Soria: A fun, warm episode to record and I hope you enjoy it.

Show Notes:

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum

Matt's Dad

CAKE THIS WEEKEND!

Matt's Twitter

CodePen

Kevin's new book Handbook is a graphic memoir about how struggling with disordered eating effects his daily life.

This episode is brought to you by Jackbox Games and the Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Designer and Illustrator Sean Dove joins Kevin to talk about his new book Brobots, out now from Oni Press.

We talk about Sean’s personal history with illustration and our mutual excitement over Kaiju movies

order Brobots: http://andthankyouforflying.com/brobotsbook/

Sean’s website: http://andthankyouforflying.com/

Four Star Studios: http://fourstarstudios.com/

This episode is sponsored by The Second City and The Chicago Podcast Cooperative

Marnie Galloway joined me to talk about her new book, In The Sounds and Seas, debuting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. We discussed the origin of the story that became her three-part collected work, as well as how it feels to create myth from personal experience. This conversation took an interesting turn towards exploring the feeling that as an artist one needs to always be producing new work, and whether or not that can be damaging to one’s physical and mental stability.

Marnie’s site: http://monkeyropepress.com/

pre-order In the Sounds and Seas on Amazon

Zelda Galewsky is a multimedia illustrator, and current student at Columbia College Chicago. Zelda has a distinctive style and personal discipline that sets her work apart from that of many current young illustrators. Zelda is ALSO one of the editors of the LINEWORK Anthology of Comics and Illustration, a publication that will be releasing it’s sixth annual issue next month. This episode’s conversation centers around pursuing a variety of materials and style in one’s artistic process, which Zelda excels at.

Zelda’s website: http://www.zeldagal.com/

LINEWORK Anthology: http://lineworkanthology.tumblr.com/

Danielle Chenette is an amazing illustrator whose work carries an incredible sense of weight. Her paintings, drawings, comics, and illustrations utilize color and mark making to warp perspective in a remarkable way.

Danielle and Kevin discuss the differences between the LA and Chicago comics community, how environmental factors effect your productivity as an artist, and navigating life as a freelance artist.

Danielle’s Work: http://daniellechenette.tumblr.com/

Believed Behavior http://believedbehavior.com/

Chicago Zine Fest http://chicagozinefest.org/

This episode is sponsored by Cards Against Humanity & The Chicago Podcast Cooperative