Broken, but not lost

slowly on the mend.

I have been busy.

As Bá and I keep slowly working on our new story, I have all sorts of different things to do (or try to) to keep me inspired whenever Bá isn’t here (either on Umbrella business or on daddy duties). I try to keep up with new comics coming out, so I have to keep up with the news, go to the comic book store, and then I have to read the books I eventually take home. I also have a bunch of commissions to do before the Raleigh trip, and even if I previously said that I would be sharing here the process of those commissions, from the initial sketch to the pencil and then the inking, when each new piece came and went, I ended up just focusing on doing a good job on the page, trying to come up with interesting compositions, a good enough balance of black and white, and a energetic and expressive brush stroke. These letters, for the past weeks, has been left alone.

As many other artists can confirm, our work demands a lot from our bodies. Sitting down for long hours isn’t good for our backs, specially (as often is the case) if you don’t pay attention to your posture when you’re at the drawing board or in front of your computer. Also, drawing for long periods of time without proper pauses can also cause injuries to your hand, to your fingers, to your wrists. If you’re a working artist, taking care of your body is as important as taking care of your mind, and I try to keep in shape and fight all my bad habits. I swim twice a week. I play volleyball with a group of friends once a week (and eventually I also play some beach volleyball on weekends). I ride my bicycle at least once a week, sometimes more, going from park to park, from the studio to wherever I can go and to keep my blood pumping and my mind focusing on finding directions (during the pandemic, I felt lost more than I’d like, and riding my bike helped me keep my sanity and remind me that if I keep pedaling, I’ll get to the other side). I have even started going to the gym to try to grow some muscles in these skinny arms.

Maybe I was trying too hard.

And maybe the universe made a point to remind me of it.

Last week, I almost broke my (drawing) left hand in a near bike accident. The palm of my hand hurts, my thumb is swollen and in pain, but nothing is broken. Nothing is lost. I have a very light grip of both the pencil and the brush, so I can keep working as long as I don’t have to erase anything (erasing really hurts). In the last months, I had gone back to penciling on paper instead of digital pencils (which I then would print and ink traditionally), but I think that, while my hand is this hurt, I’ll have to draw on the iPad again just so I can erase it without applying any pressure.

Umbrella bits

There’s obvious a nice feeling that comes with every new Umbrella Academy maquette that is made, and the Séance one is no exception. You can see on the image how it looks side by side with the big Spaceboy one, and the print (a brand new drawing by Bá) and pin (based on a scene from the comic) that come along with the figure are just the cherry on the cake.

Did I already write about the Séance figure? I feel like I have.

Is it only me having this feeling of déjà vu?

—

The third season of Umbrella Academy starts this week. Get ready.

Cover band

I did some variant covers in the past months, and I have another one to do in the next two weeks.

•This was a dream come true: doing a Shaolin Cowboy variant cover for one of the most incredible artists I know, Geof Darrow.

•Shock Shop is a horror anthology, flip comic style: two stories, starting from each cover.

•

The cover I still have to do also leans on the horror, but I want to inject a little bit of humor in it. My first instinct was thinking “what would Mike Mignola do?”, because Mike is just great at cover composition (and maybe because I have done so many Hellboy-themed commissions this past month).

•

That’s it. That’s what I managed to write, just to break the silence of more than a month without letters. Now I have to put some ice on my hand.

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

Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
June 20th, 2022