Beginnings in 2023

filling up the year with love and art

I wanted to write this first letter of the year on Monday, my usual “moonday”, but some bad bug going around at the beach I’m currently in got me good and I was completely useless on Monday (and slowly on the mend on Tuesday), and I’m writing now because I really don’t want to wait until next Monday to wave hello and wish for brighter and better things for all of you out there.

Hi. Hello.

I wish you have managed somehow to look around at the end of the year, and admire the view, realize the World is happening right in front of our eyes, and we can either look up and take it in, or look down, stare at some lifeless device and miss it. I fear that these last few pandemic years provided us some solace through screens and devices, connecting us virtually, but now we have become even more addicted to the eternal and fast virtual update of our visual feeds and we struggle to get on with our lives. It has become harder to focus and to pay attention, and so much of the stuff we can discover in the world demands time for us to digest each new experience, each new place, each new person, each new feeling, and we lost the habit of respecting time. If we were lucky, the pandemic years made us respect life, and to take better care of all life, not only our own, but time was a victim of the pandemic, and we’re all running after the time we have lost, but three years in a lazy pandemic turned us into terrible runners.

This is the year we start running again.

There’s just no such thing as too much Otomo

Probably fueled by Ed Piskor’s recent trip to Japan and by what he found there and brought back, the Cartoonist Kayfabe channel did a series of videos talking about several different Katsuhiro Otomo related publications: an extensive interview which may answer a lot of questions everybody always wanted to ask and never had the chance, the GENGA artbook which is almost like an artist edition of Otomo’s work, and the layouts and storyboards art book of the Akira animation. Since I already said earlier on the letter that I have been trying to spend more time on the real world and less time on my devices, I have to admit I haven’t watched any of these videos yet, but I think Katsuhiro Otomo’s work is fundamental to read as a fan, to study as an author and to discuss any chance we get, so I’ll eventually watch all of them.

When I was starting out in comics – when I wanted to, at least, since I was still in high school – and Akira started coming out, it left such a HUGE impression on me and my brother that our drawings that year became completely inspired by Otomo’s highly detailed style: buildings with thousands of windows, and cities with thousands of buildings. We tried to draw some of the other things, but our limited range at fifteen made us give up of the motorcycles and made us miss how much Otomo was a master at body language. Luckly for us, we often revisit Akira, Domu and everything else we can find from Otomo, so we have picked up on all the genius we lost the first time around.

Four and a half years ago, when I opened my first commission list, I did a drawing to see how it would feel to draw different characters I haven’t drawn in any story, and if I thought the final drawing would look good enough (for me, anyway), and I did this image below:

It was maybe the first – and last – time I manage to draw Kaneda’s bike. I remembered this image this week because the first work related email I received was a confirmation that I was invited to the Galaxy Con in Richmond, which will happen from March 24th to March 26th. I’ve have never been to Virginia, I’m curious to see what kind of people I’ll meet there.

Because of this upcoming trip, I will open up a new short commission list next week, and you can already check out all the info about sizes, options and rates at THIS LINK. Commissions open Tuesday January 10th at 2PM EST, and they usually sell out fast (because there aren’t many to start with, but last time they sold out in 10 minutes), so I’m letting you know here first because I like you so much.

The last and the first

The last drawing I did in 2022, next to the first of 2023. I can’t think of a better example of how different I expect this coming year to be in relation to the last. N o more moping. No more waiting around. I’m ready to go, curious about what mysteries await ahead, and what stories I will find along the way.

I expect you all have this fire burning inside of you this year.

I have to get back to coloring a cover, and then, if the rain stops, I’ll walk on the beach by the ocean under the stars.

Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!

Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
January 4th, 2023