Awesome people i met at SFZinefest pt.1

Elenore Toczynski (http://ghostlytoast.blogspot.com/) (above pic ©E. Toczynski)
"Brain Crease" #1 an eerie and evocative story about a boy who is abducted to make dreams. tense linework, character design quoting Vasquez or Dirge. I want to read more! I was especially compelled by the subject matter and all the paintings of hallways. In addition to this, Elenore was extremely sweet and funny and pretty and generally fun to be around. Interesting to see this darker, more contemplative side of her personality. I guess Brain Crease #2 just came out: i must aquire that.

Dylan Williams of Sparkplug (http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/)
"Reporter" #6 two 1950's newspaper reporters argue with people at a work party. Strong graphic presence, convoluted and sometimes insightful debate, interesting almost-noir vibe. Remember how you go to parties, and someone says something dumb, but when you try to correct them you sound also dumb and they don't listen? This story will be extremely satisfying to people who experience that a lot.




Joey Alison Sayers (http://www.jsayers.com) (above pic ©J. Sayers)
"Just So You Know" #1 a sweet and funny account of the author's gender transition. I like reading about gender shifts, in part because i don't feel strongly part of any gender, and in part because i do feel strongly between things, chimeric, and metamorphosis is really appealing to me. Joey Sayers' style features cute simple drawings, full of hope and grace. Joey shared a table with Elenore, and together they were a beautiful and hilarious tableparty.
-this just in- Joey Sayers has an awesome and hilarious strip called "Thingpart." You want to read it for days. It is here: http://www.jsayers.com/thingpart/thingpart.html

Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant and Synchromatic Inks

So, my local art store stopped carrying Windsor Newton colored inks.

At first i felt betrayed, bewildered, other bewords, but it turned out to be a blessing. What they carry now is Dr. Ph. Martin's, which are bizzare and great. The first color i tried was "tobacco brown," a wheezy warm yellowish brown, and it was magnificently expressive worked wet-into-wet. Dark and warm when applied thick, it dilutes to yellow with very little water. Great fingering and variety of stroke on medium-absorbent paper. Another unexpected effect: "tobacco brown" is a blend of two pigments, a yellow and a purple, and the yellow (as might be expected, given the properties of earth colors and chemical colors) is way more soluble than the purple. This means that after you lay down a tone, you can flood the area with water or scrub it with a wet brush and lift away the yellow pigment, making the area shift warm. A little of this can be seen in the head of the hammer, above. I super wish you could see some of these drawings in person, 'cause it's crazy. A single ink can yield a temperature range that causes me to freak out with glee.

If a single ink can look like two inks, what can several inks do? I bought "van dyke brown" (a super warm brown, slightly pinker than burnt sienna) and "ultramarine blue" (a warm blue standby) and mixed the three in a bunch of proportions. Completely blown away by the range of colors possible; the range of base colors were not that surprising, given that i'm basically mixing red, yellow, and blue, but the pigment shifts that happened when water was added at various times were mad, calling blue out of magenta, yellow out of teal, pink and chartreuse out of indigo, like a tasteful earthtone rainbow. It's like a drawing rollercoaster! I want Dr. Ph. Martin to adopt me and take me to live in Martin Manor. You guys have got to try this.