| See you in San Diego! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|12:05 am] |
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Comic-Con at the end of July. I'll be appearing daily at the Oni Press table, selling original artwork and doing sketches for $10 and up. Check back here for the schedule - I'll try to post it when I get it. I'll also be drawing sketches at the Cartoon Art Museum sketch-a-thon in exchange for donations to the museum, which is located in San Francisco and is well worth a visit. In a final bit of San Diego news, I'm resigned to losing my third Eisner nomination, this one for The Good Neighbors with Holly Black for Best Publication for Teens/Tweens, to Neil Gaiman for Coraline. I'm not interested in the prestige, but it's a very pretty award that would look rather nice in my living room. Maybe next time.
In case you're wondering what's on the drawing table right now, I'm in the home stretch of Good Neighbors volume two, finishing up the inks and looking forward to moving on to Princess Ugg and other projects.
I have been successfully peer-pressured into joining Facebook. I'm not posting much so far, but it would be fun to connect with more people there, so don't be shy to friend me. |
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| Convention season ramps up! |
[Mar. 31st, 2009|02:33 pm] |
First, thanks so much for all of the reviews, comments and suggestions you posted in response to my last entry. Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten around to revamping my website, but it's among my short-term goals.
I enjoyed nearly all of my January signing tour in France, which included stops in Paris, Tours, Annecy, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, all beautiful cities filled with wonderful people and amazing food. The only part I didn't enjoy was catching a stomach bug and sadly having to cancel an appearance in Grenoble.
I am currently working on the second volume of Good Neighbors, entitled Kith. I think you'll like it; the tension ratchets up, and there's even more fun and more faeries. Next up is Princess Ugg, which I'm very excited about.
I'm sorry a lot of you haven't been able to get hold of the most recent Courtney book, Prince of Nowhere. The good news is that it and its predecessor, Fire-Thief's Tale, have been combined into a single trade about her European vacation with Aloysius. It's called Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday, and it hit the shelves last week.
I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be at two - TWO - conventions this month: Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle this weekend, April 4th & 5th; and FX International Comic & Toy Show in Orlando April 17th through 19th. Look for me at the Oni Press booth. I hope to get a chance to meet some of you there.
Later this summer you'll find me at San Diego ComiCon and of course Dragon*Con, my favorite event of the year, over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. |
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| Random Thoughts |
[Dec. 17th, 2008|06:15 am] |
Hi all. Just thought I'd check in and not leave everything for months again like I did last time. Let's see...
First, I wanted to thank everyone who picked up the new Courtney book. It's a real pleasure to read all the press about it, both good and bad (though there isn't any bad so far) and see people at festivals enjoying it so much. Now I'd like to hear from you folks. please write your reviews here.
Second, now that The Good Neighbors has been out for while, I'm curious as to how people felt about that as well. Did you like the different style? I know it came out a bit dark. Thoughts? Opinions?
Currently I'm working on the next volume of Good Neighbors, and after that, I'm starting work on Princess Ugg. As for my other projects in progress, Courtney will take a hiatus until 2010, when I'll put out the sequel to Portrait of a Warlock. Polly and the Pirates is looking for a new artist. I want to continue drawing the book myself, but I can't do it all. Once we've settled on someone, I'll post samples.
As for my web presence, I haven't had time to hunt up a new webmaster, but if anyone is interested and works cheap (I'm just an indy creator after all) I'd be please to check out your portfolio.
Also, I'm thinking of moving this bulletin board from Livejournal to either Myspace, Facebook, or some other blog site that I can update easily. Does anyone have a preference? Speak your minds, especially those of you who don't have Livejournal.
That's all for now. Hope you folks have a happy holiday season, and if you know a grumpy, angry, or just plain secretive young someone that needs a pick-me-up, remember the Courtney Crumrin makes a good stocking stuffer. |
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| 2008 update. |
[Oct. 10th, 2008|05:57 pm] |
It's been a year. Where to start?
The 64-page Courtney Crumrin and the Fire-Thief's Tale came out last year. It was great to keep Courtney's story going and feature Aloysius more. I explore his character even further in the next Courtney book. I also really got a kick out of working with some of the Old World monsters, looking into the roots of those traditions and giving them my own interpretation. You can find a review of Fire-Thief here. Here are the cover and five pages:( Read more... )
Then I took six months to draw the first of three graphic novels with Holly Black, Good Neighbors: Kin. It's been earning some positive press,* and I'm excited about getting started on the next book, Kith. Holly is easy to work with, and it's fun to put faces on her characters. Here are the front and back covers and an assortment of five pages with no text.( Read more... )
I recently finished the companion volume to Fire-Thief. It's entitled Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere, and it continues Courtney's travels with Aloysius in Eastern Europe. It may sound arrogant, but I consider it my best work, both in storytelling and art, so far in my career. It's more of the emotional rollercoaster you expect from Courtney: sad but funny, thoughtful but with some neat fight scenes. It's due to hit the shelves in November, and I can't wait to find out what fans think of it. Fire-Thief and Prince will eventually be bound into a trade paperback called Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday. Here's the cover and page. ( See the samples... )
For a more in-depth breakdown of my recent work, check out the interview at Sequential Tart and an upcoming interview at Newsarama. Beware some spoilers for the newest Courtney book in the Newsarama piece.
Apart from that I've enjoyed meeting fans at Wondercon, San Diego Comic Con, on a fabulous signing tour in France, and at my personal favorite event of the year, DragonCon. In the next few months, I plan to attend APE and New York Comicon.
My new favorite way to waste time when I should be drawing is playing guitar. I got an acoustic Fender on Craigslist and got started with some tutorials on YouTube. I've been adding to my repertoire of Nick Cave and Magnetic Fields songs, and my girlfriend evens chimes in on backup vocals.
My website is hopelessly out of date, and now a complete mess - my webmistress retired from the biz - and will hopefully be getting a complete overhaul soon. Sorry to let it get so stale. I hope the pages I'm including here will tide you over in the meantime.
For those of you curious about what's going on with Polly, I'm working with Oni Press to find another artist to take over, but I'll continue writing it myself.
Thanks for sticking with me and continuing to buy the books. I hope to have more and even better offerings in the future.
*Please let the record show that this article contains a few typos, and that I know the difference between aesthetic and ascetic.
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| Comic-Con 2007! |
[Jul. 17th, 2007|11:33 pm] |
San Diego's Comic-Con International is nigh! I will have no booth this year, but will appear regularly at the Oni Press booth, plus that of Death Jr.'s publisher, Backbone Entertainment, and Scholastic, to promote my Goosebumps book. My signing schedule is as follows.
Thursday
Oni Press: 1:30 – 2:50
Friday
Oni Press1:30 – 2:50
Saturday
Oni Press: 12:00 – 1:20
Scholastic: 3:00 – 4:00
Sunday
Oni Press:10:30 – 11:50
Check back for more times and additional info. See you there. |
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| APE Tomorrow |
[Apr. 20th, 2007|04:52 pm] |
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Don't forget, folks, APE is tomorrow. I will be there, with new info on the next Courtney Crumrin project. If you're going to be there, please come by and get your books signed, and don't be shy to ask for a sketch. And while you're there, you might stop in and see my friend Karl Christian's panel all about his web series, Byron! See you there. |
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| Cons -n- Stuff |
[Mar. 5th, 2007|02:53 pm] |
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Last weekend was Wondercon. I want to thank everyone who came by the Oni Press booth to say hello. For you local Bay Area residents that missed it, or didn't get by the Oni booth because you didn't know I was there, don't be disappointed. You can come see me next month at APE on the 21st and 22nd, and I'll happily fill you in on the details on my upcoming projects. APE is my favorite convention in the Bay Area, and well worth seeing. Plus, by buddy Karl Christian will be there as a guest of the show with his new Slave Labor book, Byron. You should check it out. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 13th, 2007|10:17 am] |
I know, I know, It's been way too long since I posted. Things have been very busy, what with two tours in France to promote Courtney Crumrin and Polly and the Pirates, plus all kinds of other distractions. Also, my 2007 schedule has been up in the air till now. What with everything, I somehow managed to fall months behind on Death Junior series 2, and I'm totally panicked about it. It's completely my fault. Backbone is screaming for my blood, and rightly so. But I'm in the home stretch now, and it's about time to announce my next few projects.
First of all, I'm going to appear at the New York Comic-Con on the 24th and 25th of February. Sorry for the short notice. If any of you folks are going to be at the convention, please come by and say hello. I'll be making an official announcement there, but here's the unofficial pre-announcement. This year will bring (drumroll, please) a NEW COURTNEY CRUMRIN BOOK!
Yes, it's true, the next chapter in the grand Courtney saga will come out starting in August. This time, it's going to come out a little different. Instead of four individual chapters, the forthcoming installment will appear in two perfect-bound 48 page editions; before being bound together into a single digest at the end of the year. The final collection will be the same charming mini-format as the first three, while the two issues will look more like the Portrait of the Warlock one-shot.
The format change has not been decided for sure, but this is what we're leaning toward. Also, while the schedule hasn't been set in stone yet, you can rely on the first issue making it in time for Comic-con International in San Diego. More info on this will appear here as it develops.
That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for more updates soon.
PS: Check out my new Wikipedia entry. The pic is from the end of my recent trip to France, in the beautiful city of Tours. Do I look as tired as I felt? |
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| Website Update |
[May. 30th, 2006|05:16 pm] |
Yes, folks, as you can probably see, my websight has been updated. Along with the look overhaul, thereare lots of organizational changes, which I think make the site much easier to navigate. It's also up to date technologically. My own HTML skills begin and end with Dreamweaver2. Thank god for my new web mistress, Kat!
My changes will come soon, including a new, updated bio, plus new artwork. Stay tuned. And now, I've got to get back to Polly #6. The new Death Jr. series will definitely debut at Comic-con, but unless I haul ass, the latest Polly will be too late to make it.
Wish me luck! |
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| Free Comic Bood Day |
[Apr. 21st, 2006|11:19 pm] |
First things first. I shall be appearing at Lee's Comics in Mountain View on Saturday, May 6th, to promote Polly and the Pirates and Courtney Crumrin. Get your Naifeh schwag signed and pick up some free comics while you're at it.
News on the Polly front. Thanks to my terrible schedule-keeping skills, Polly's final issue will be delayed till late June. For those of you on the edge of your seats to find out what becomes of Miss Pringle in her first pirate adventure, all I can say is sorry, and hang on. It's coming.
In other news, Death Jr. series 2 will debut its first issue at Comic-con International in San Diego. This one is, if possible, even funnier than the last.
Finally, the site revamp is imminent. tednaifeh.com will be easier to navigate than ever before.
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news. Oh, and sorry I haven't been responding to all the recent posts. I'm desperately trying to get DJ issue one finished. |
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| Lotta Good News, little bit o' Bad News |
[Mar. 29th, 2006|04:55 pm] |
I know it’s been a while since I posted. (Hi, Juan. thanks for the nudge.) I’ve been neck deep in work, play, and the endless search for something that’ll help my slipped disk. But I digress.
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Polly five is in the can, after ridiculous delays due to my trip to France, Wondercon, sickness, and a few other lame excuses. For what it’s worth, the book looks amazing, and reads even better. Finally, action on the high sees. Don’t miss it.
Also on the Polly front, Hollywood has come knocking, and it’s looking good for a possible Polly movie option. Of course, the phrase to remember when working in Holly wood is “don’t hold your breath”, but I have a good feeling. I spoke with a lovely man with a string of excellent, high profile movies under his belt, and he seemed very enthused about the concept. So keep your fingers crossed, folks.
Finally, possibly the best news of all for me, is that I’m in the process of having my website overhauled. It’s been stale for way too long, and I can’t wait to get the new one live. Again, stay tuned.
Alas, on to the bad news. My manga book, Unearthly, may never see a second volume. This is due to the abysmal sales of the first volume, which never seemed to find its audience, despite being beautifully illustrated, and (IMHO) rather well written. I suspect that the concept wasn’t quite snappy enough. I don’t know. In any event, though Seven Seas is taking steps to drum up interest in the series, they’ve called a halt to production for the foreseeable future. We’ll see what, if anything, happens. Needless to say, this was rather frustrating, though I’m not as devastated as I would have been had it been my only project.
On the bright side, I’ve got lots of new projects lined up. Watch this site for more info. Thanks for checking in. |
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| Stranger in a Yummy Land |
[Feb. 8th, 2006|03:50 pm] |
Well, I’m back. I’m exhausted even after 15 hours of sleep, and I weigh at least five pounds more than when I left, which is less than I deserve after all the things I’ve been putting in my body. In Lyon they have a saying, “Tout est bon dans le cochon,” All is good in the pig. I truly took this saying to heart. I’ll skip the gory details; suffice it to say that I consumed foods that would make a strong man tremble, and a sensitive vegetarian scream in horror. One particular delicacy was called “andouillette.” Don’t let the name fool you. This is no petite version of the spicy New Orleans sausage. No, this is what you get when you’ve taken everything away from a pig that Americans might possibly consider food, and stuff great hunks of what’s left into a sausage casing, which is then lovingly roasted and served with a fresh salad. Its odor is disturbingly reminiscent of a good healthy bowel movement, in the same way that strong goat cheese evokes the stinkier portions of a petting zoo. Not for the faint of heart, folks. I think that every culture in the world has one native food that half the population adores and the other half wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. Scotland has Haggis. England, black pudding. Japan, natto. In France, it’s definitely Andouillette. Frogs’ legs and snails don’t even come close.
Other adventurous meals included boudin noir (the French version of black pudding) over baked apples, grenouille, and escargot (frogs’ legs and snails; I couldn’t resist). Escargot is a lovely dish, but the grenouille, though deliciously bathed in garlic and butter, was a little too much work, like fifty or so tiny chicken wings.
Anyway…
It turns out that Angouleme Festival is the largest comics event in the world, double the size of Comic-Con in San Diego. And it’s ALL about comics. No movie previews, no toys, no videogames, just bandes dessinée, manga, and good old-fashioned American comic books. Why, do you ask, do all these tens of thousands of Europeans flock to a small town in the Bordeaux area in the middle of winter? Because in France, the comics creator is KING! KING I TELL YOU! People would wait in the freezing cold from morning till night to get the signature of a favored creator. Some publishers do a lottery, in which you are issued a ticket, and if that number comes up, you are brought before the great creator to bask in his or her presence for a few minutes while they do a little sketch in your book. This is an institution that I enjoy immensely. Maybe it’s only a quick headshot, but it’s an original drawing, and it makes the experience of meeting the creators much more personal. And you get to chat with them while they work.
I wore a badge that read 'Ted Naifeh: Auteur' which I rather liked. I drew about a thousand sketches. The early ones were rough, but as I continued, I refined my skills and my tools and by the end, I think I’d done many that were well worth waiting for. I also learned about a thousand French names, like Fabrice, Marie-Laure, Elodie, Bertrand, Cedric. It was tons of fun.
The final great experience of Angouleme, though highly embarrassing as well, was doing an American creators panel in front of a huge audience of several hundred, along with Eric Shanower, creator of Age of Bronze, and Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy As if you didn’t know). Eric and I, both being published by the French imprint Akileos, had gotten to know each other already, but I hadn’t really met Mike before. He was very nice, and we got to talking about film rights and all that crap just before the event. The panel itself was pretty stiff at first, mainly because we were given these earpieces at the last minute, which translated the questions for us. It was very disorienting to have the live chat cut out and replaced by translations. Eric was overwhelmed, and Mike rendered a bit surly by the whole thing. I found that my best bet was to shut my mind off and go on automatic, but this didn’t make for clever answers. Eventually, though, we all relaxed long enough to make the audience laugh and take some questions. Most of these were aimed at Mike, and, rather annoyingly, were about the Hellboy movie instead of his comic. But despite these few problems, we managed to be reasonably interesting, and it was an amazing experience overall. The thrill of panic while walking out before the huge crowd was worth the entire trip.
After Angouleme I met with Kelly in Paris, and we embarked on a week-long five-city tour. We would get on a train every morning, and arrive by noon in a fabulous new city; Aix En Provence, Montpelier, Lyon, Grenoble, and Annecy. Each city had its own unique flavor. Aix I remembered for its narrow, winding streets, not to mention the infamous andouillette (which Kelly declined to sample, though she re-named it the pig-wad). Montpelier was particularly gorgeous and lush, with palm trees and these gigantic, strange fountains that were simply immense piles of moss. It has a very romantic flavor. Several local artists had done drawings of Courtney, and we all hung out and drank wine after the store closed. I bought something by each of them, along with a few things they recommended. Several gave me their drawings. It was there that I got lots of practice with the whole French cheek kissing thing. In the south, it’s three kisses, not two.
Lyon was bitterly cold, and the rich lunch almost killed me. Between Kelly and I and the two shop owners, we polished off three and a half bottles of wine and a shot each of something called marc, which could have probably caught the restaurant on fire if someone took a flame to it. That was an utterly amazing meal, but the signing itself was pretty tough. Eventually, Kelly dug out our supply of pepto-bismol, which helped. Lyon also has the coolest fountain in the world, a warrior woman driving a chariot with gigantic claw-footed horses. Amazing.
Grenoble was home to Albertine Ralenti, colorist of the French color edition of Polly and the Pirates. She hung out all afternoon at the signing talking with fans, and then agreed to join us for dinner. An utterly lovely person. The shop there was really cool, and they did special limited edition posters.
In Annecy, the small comics shop had gone all out. They made Courtney t-shirts, special limited edition silkscreen prints, and even a wine label. I stayed till nine signing and sketching, and met France’s most devoted Courtney fan, Claudine, who, I’m told, has purchased at least ten copies of the book to give to friends. That you so much, Claudine.
We spent that night in French Alps, where one of the shop’s owners runs a hostel. We awoke to a scene of perfect beauty, and spent the day frolicking in the snow.
There’s just no way to properly thank all the fantastic folks I met for their hospitality and kind attention. But suffice it to say, I feel very, very grateful for all the wonderful experiences, and I hope we will all meet again soon. |
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| Quick Report From the Road |
[Jan. 23rd, 2006|10:28 pm] |
Made my first French appearance today at BNAC or something like that, a sort of Virgin Megastore equivelant. I'm not sure what I expected (crickets, maybe) but I didn't expect a solid two hour line. Wow. The French loves them some comic books. No foolin'. Apparently, it was recently voted into the top twenty best publications of 2005. That's pretty sweet, especially coming from a thriving market like this one. The French produce 3000 graphic albums a year. The best sellers top 3 million copies domestically. Thats more than ten times the top selling American comics. Courtney is the publisher's second biggest title, selling almost as well here as it does in the states. Woo-hoo!
Anyway, I have one more appearance in Paris, and then it's off to Angouleme to rub elboes with the likes of Moebius and Druillet (major early influences, both of them). I'm very excited.
On a personal note, I'm scraping my on my horribly small French vocabulary. Spent my first morning at the Louvre, soaking up classical western art. That Mona Lisa panting is much smaller than I thought it'd be. But they have lots of Delacroix, and some pretty sculptures. Also, the Napoleonic apartment displays were groovy.
One more thing. if you live here in France, and you want to come to one of my appearences, check on the akileos website, at http://www.akileos.com/. I think they might have changed the times and locations recently. Hope to see you soon. |
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| Angoul?me |
[Jan. 17th, 2006|04:58 pm] |
For you fans of the French edition of Courtney Crumrin, I shall be traveling across the Atlantic to attend Angoul?me, the mighty French graphic album festival, at the end of this month. And if you live in France but can't make it to the festival, fear not. I shall also be making appearences all across France over the next three weeks. I'll post my appearence schedule soon. Unfortunately, I have no french beyond "Bonjour" and that sort of thing, but I'll try to learn a few key phrases such as "It is an evil children's book," and "Pass the beaujolais, silvouplait."
And if you're english isn't that great, here's all that again in babelfish-style French.
Pour vous ?vente de l'?dition en fran?ais de Courtney Crumrin, je voyagera ? travers l'Oc?an atlantique pour s'occuper d'Angoul?me, le festival graphique fran?ais puissant d'album, apr?s ce mois. Et si vous ne pouvez pas le faire au festival, crainte pas. Je ferai ?galement des appearences tous ? travers la France au cours des trois semaines suivantes. Je signalerai mon programme d'appearence bient?t. Malheureusement, je n'ai aucun fran?ais au del? d'"Bonjour" et de cette sorte de chose, mais j'essayerai d'apprendre que quelques expressions principales telles que "elle est un livre d'enfants mauvais," et "passez le Beaujolais, silvouplait."
For those of you who, like me, don't speak french, that was most likely hilariously bad. |
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| Yet More Love for Unearthly |
[Jan. 4th, 2006|03:59 pm] |
Aintitcoolnews.com has another extremely positive review of volume 1 of my amerimanga series, Unearthly. This one is even more flattering than the last, and I really appreciate supehero's kind words. Read the review here.
Contrasting this, I recently found my first highly negative review ever, and for the same book. Read it here, and see how fair you think it is. Frankly, it seems to my that my worst crime, in the reviewer's opinion, was not being Japanese.
I know that none of this amounts to real news, since it's just a result of my vanity-googling. Rest assured that more relevant stuff is coming soon, such as 2006 appearances. |
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| Ain't it Cool? |
[Dec. 9th, 2005|08:03 pm] |
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Ain't It Cool News gave Unearthly the best review yet. Somehow I missed it when it came out a week ago. Check it out here. |
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| Polly and DJ, sittin' in a tree... |
[Nov. 17th, 2005|02:37 pm] |
Polly and the Pirates issue 2 is officially out, as is the Death Junior trade collection. Look for them both in all quality comics shops. DJ is also available in the graphic novel sections of Many fine bookstores. I'm told that Image has already burned through the first print run of the DJ trade, and is going back to press. This is a first for me, that a book I worked on has gone back to press the day it came out. I'm pretty stoked. I imagine the awesome Mike Mignola cover didn't hurt.
In other news, it looks like I'll be flying to France to appear at the Angouleme Festival at the end of January, to promote the French edition of Courtney Crumrin. More news on that as it comes.
By the way, Polly and the Pirates is getting universally good reviews so far. Thanks especially to TheFourthRail.com, Millarworld Magazine and AICN. |
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| Unearthly Nominated! |
[Nov. 11th, 2005|01:06 pm] |
The American Library Association has released a list of graphic novels for young adults that they feel are worthy of attention, and Unearthly was on the list. Here's the link. I don't know exactly what this means, other than that the book will undoubtedly be available in libraries throughout the country soon.
Watch this space for more details as they come. And don't be shy to chime in to tell me what you thought of Unearthly. |
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| Back in Action |
[Nov. 1st, 2005|02:58 pm] |
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It looks like my website and email are back up. the site still has a few problems, but I'm thinking of handing it over to a pro web mistress to smooth it out and keep it running. Thanks for your patience and understanding. And if you want to email me, you can now use ted@tednaifeh.com. |
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