the Revolution will be Televised

We spend too much time on screens. Go out, read a book, ride your bike, watch the birds sing.

I dedicated the weekend to work on some artwork for the upcoming show of my musician friend. After the other weekend at the beach where I stopped to think about ideas for the pieces, I exchanged some messages with him and we talked a little about the nostalgic element of the lyrics and the sound of the songs, and how the first videoclips the band released also echoed a little bit of an eighties aesthetic. One of the images on the band’s Instagram had an old TV with my friend on the screen, and that’s when I thought the TVs, stacked on top on one another, could be a good starting point. The screens could have many different options, from bright lights, colorful combinations, different depictions of the band itself, or the band’s logo, and this flickering screens would give a dynamic feel to an otherwise static image that could work really well as the backdrop of a concert.

It was my musician friend’s birthday on Saturday, and I messaged him the picture of my iPad as I worked on the TVs. He was on a soundstage, also working on a sunny Saturday, recording the band’s third videoclip. He responded really enthusiastically, which pushed me forward to start working on the next part of the idea: a drawing of the band.

One year

Aside from spending Saturday morning watching my niece first sport’s competition (a friendly match against another school’s team), and playing beach volleyball on Sunday morning with my regular volleyball crew, the rest of the weekend was focused on working on the band drawings (a also spent some lovely time cooking with my girlfriend), so the writing of this letter fell on the Monday morning, just before sending it out. As I write this, I’m listening to this video remembering Ed Piskor on the first anniversary of his death. As I hear Jim Mahfood talk about when he met Ed, I realize I was at the same San Diego Comic Con Ed was one year, hanging at Trickster, but we never actually met in person. Our communication was only online, bonding over our mutual love for the craft of comics, and by having so many of the same references of becoming (or dreaming of becoming) a comic book artist in the 90s.

The comic’s scene has changed a lot in this first year. The void created by his passing hasn’t been filled. The blow on the comic’s community was heavy, and I feel like there was a purity to loving comics which has been permanently tarnished.

Like Mahfood said on the video, “loosing the (Cartoonist’s Kayfabe) show was a huge arm of the tree of Indie Comics that got cut off”. By making more comics, and loving the medium, we’re constantly watering that tree, but that arm, that branch, did not grow back.

Be safe. Be kind. Be curious, free subscribers. If you’re struggling, remember you’re not alone, and reach help if needed.

Now, a little bit more for my small (but hopefully growing) paid audience: