Make it count, 2024
Impressions, sketches and ink stain memories
Look at the sun, and the clouds that dance past the colorful summer sky. Put your feet on the calm ocean water and let the small waves that make it to the shore gently wash over your ankles. Feel yourself slowly sink on the sand. Listen to the waves, and the birds, and the tress that move to the tune the wind plays for them in the mountain that grows from the rocks on the cliff nearby.
Let it all in, and get ready for another year.
Back home a week later, it’s time to try and catch up (at least a little bit) with all that’s happened during this week I’ve been off the grid. A big and warm cup of coffee is my companion as I go over news, emails, newsletters and images posted on social media. I tell my girlfriend I haven’t drawn anything yet this year, one week in, and I feel that my year hasn’t started properly yet because of it, and that I’m still trying to enjoy the different rhythm of just being on a break, with time to only read books (I finished one, and read the latest Shaolin Cowboy hardcover), take the nephews and nieces on bike rides and play board games if the rain decides to show up to cool down the summer weather a bit.
Finally, a Moon Girl pops up on my Moleskine to kick off another year of sketches, of crazy ideas and lots of pages.
Brush it off
The Kayfabes did a really nice shoot interview with Mike Allred. One of the interesting moments for me was when Ed Piskor recalled receiving inking advices from Allred when he was starting out, not only because that led the conversation to the tools people use and the choices behind using them, but also because I had a similar experience with Mike when I started going to San Diego Comic Con in the late 90s. Bá and I were mostly walking around with sample pages in those early days, trying to catch as many panels from our favorite creators as we could and standing in line for portfolio reviews. What our work had that reflected our excitement of being there, it lacked in technique. Before the internet, most of us had to guess what tools to use and how to use them, and we learned a lot when we crossed paths with other artists. It was only when I stopped at Mike Allred’s table in San Diego (probably mesmerized by Red Rocket 7) and said I also wanted to ink with a brush that he kindly showed me that his Winsor & Newton series 7 was thick, and that after you carefully dipped the tip on the inking pot, you rolled the tip on a piece of paper to get the very thin tip ready for the fine lines while leaving the “belly” of the tip rounder and fatter. It also prevented having the split tip, as Mike talked about on this recent video interview.
Over the years, Bá and I ran into the Allreds several times in San Diego, or around Portland, and we even did a pinup for one of the Madman collections.
On Instagram, Mike posted a picture of the Japanese brush pen that he mentioned on the shoot interview that he uses nowadays, and it’s the same one I use (on notebook drawings and at conventions, at least). When I met Frederik Peeters in Napoli, he told me he inked all his stories with that pen (he was starting Aâma at that point), and it was nice to find other options to add to my toolbox. Maybe one day I’ll also be comfortable enough to do pages with brush pens (the Diary pages I did during the pandemic were done with these pens and watercolor washes over it).
More time
I had a meeting with my editor this week that got rescheduled for next week. “More time to get more work done by then”, I thought.
Let’s get to it.
Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!
Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
January 8th, 2024