The best possible time for comics is bright and early in the morning. Before even God has awakened to the new day. This is both the best time to read comics as well as the best time to make them. In my case especially, it is so very rare that I have done much useful creation after eight PM. I can futz around and I can continue working on something that I began earlier in the day, but it seems harder to begin working on a drawing or a story with a head filled with the events and trials of the mostly-spent day.

Here’s a drawing I drew in ten minutes about an hour ago:

Trying to work out a character who is almost completely plain. Plain, yet distinct, if that makes any sense at all? Still working on it! This one’s based on a girl I used to know. And yeah, she was as plain as an oxygen sandwich.

Animals

I wanted to try to draw a dragon. I piggybacked on Jeff Smith’s idea of a dragon who sort of resembles a dog for this character. I think that this dude is a pretty okay monster! He guards my castle. I take him on walks and feed him tiny princesses.

More cartoonists

I lent my computer to Margo Dabaie last night and she cooked up the following cartoon with ye olde Manga Studio:

It was so cool to watch another cartoonist drive my vehicle better than I could! Well, I’ll keep on practicing!

Hope you dudes and ladydudes have found this entertaining; go out and create some art!

@darrylayo

Still trying to get the hang of this computer stuff. I am posting this with the hopes that the drawing didn’t turn out too small. I’m writing at the edge of the conventional weekend although I won’t be going to my day job this Monday. I’ve got bigger, better plans. They involve doctors.

Let’s talk about comics

This has been an interesting year so far. I’ve returned to being a weekly comic shop customer, I’ve been expanding my palate. This past week, I purchased my first Avengerscomic book ever. Something recently snapped inside of me and you know–alternative comics just aren’t enough for me anymore. I need more variety, more voices. I abandoned mainstream comic books (superheroes) so long ago that reading one now feels like it did the first time I picked one up as a young kid.  I’ve spent the last thirteen (more or less) years of my life raging against the evil comic book machines and now I’ve come full circle.

The most recent alternative comics I’ve been reading were certainly pushing me in a more mainstream/genre direction. Now I feel like the Berlin Wall of my literate life has been torn down and all aspects of my interest are united as one country. On that note, I also purchased a Captain America graphic novel. I might actually have a problem.

I can’t think of why I shut the door on so many comic experiences for so many years. I’ve been chalking it up to youthful pretentiousness. Late high school through college and the first post-college years. If a person’s going to get snooty about art, it’ll usually happen then.

Slowly, but surely, I’ve found myself gravitating toward the types of stories and types of drawing that originally first got me really excited about comic books. I don’t regret dropping superheroes for manga and alternative comics when I was sixteen–back then, the mainstream comics that I was aware of were almost invariably awful. But now that I’ve wandered back, I hope these superbooks will be on their very BEST behavior.

@darrylayo

I’m sitting in the luxurious Cafe Grumpy with my homie John P. talking about comics, croissants, beautiful women and movies. I haven’t been updating my “Lizzie’s Tail” comic and I’m sorry about that. It’s a good little comic that will see its ending at some point. Until then…

Here’s a post about dudes.

I’ve been working on new styles and techniques for making my comics. I’m quite pleased with my progress. I’ve been also experiencing a desire to move into stories that are a bit more intrinsically personal than these comics about monster girls. Not that these comics aren’t personal, mind you, but it’s getting harder to keep working on images and not see myself reflected in the work.

Of course I still love writing stories about women. I’m not going to get all Dave Sim on you guys, don’t worry. Maybe I am just feeling the need to get away from writing about this crazy world in which nearly all the characters are of a single gender. Maybe.

RUN, COWARD!

Over these past few weeks, I’ve been drawing lots of sketches, plotting out plans, planning out plots and looking forward to making some new comics. I’ve been seriously considering putting this website on ice and moving my operations onto my website letsgoayo.com. I have been planning to uninstall ComicPress on that site and revert it to a WordPress blog. Basically, I’d like to just address you nice people directly like this, with pictures dropped in for your optical entertainment. I would like to return to standard scheduled webcomic posting at some later date, but only AFTER completing a project. Sort of like traditional publishing; the work comes out after it’s completed.

And let me restate, I will finish “Lizzie’s Tail” before making these changes.

Good day.

<3

Darryl Ayo Brathwaite.

A few minutes while eating a sandwich from Subway! I think I’m getting better at this thing.

-Darryl Ayo

This was the view from our table. As you can see there’s a big crowd at the show (this was the last third of the day on Saturday), but there is negligible traffic coming our way. Instead of aisles leading straight to the back wall, there is this asteroid belt of high tables dubbed “the reading area” on the official map. While it does give attendees a place to catch their breath a bit, it completely cuts off the walking flow and redirects casual foot traffic away from our corner. I described the arrangement as a “force field” for how effectively it protected us from the threat of making any sales.

On Sunday, the second day of the show, one of my tablemates actually sold no comics at all until about four o’clock. And all three of us sold fewer comics than we did on each of our respective first shows ever. I sold seventeen comics at my first MoCCA back in 2003 (when it was a single-day affair). I didn’t even sell half of that over the course of two days this year. My comics have gotten better and my name has gotten bigger. This is a preposterous scenario.

anyANYway:

Through all of this I had a good time this weekend. I got to meet some internet friends for the first time ever, I got to catch up with and hang out with previously-made friends and I got to slap palms with a bunch of new people. I don’t want to act like this was the Misery of a Thousand Sorrows or anything like that. But we can’t let things like this continue to happen.

-Darryl Ayo Brathwaite.

I just wanted to post a quick note indicating that I’ll be at NYC’s annual indie comix to-do MoCCA at the Armory this weekend. I’ll be tabling with Sara Lindo and Steve Seck - lovely people - at table G14. That’s right by the back wall. Back of the class with the bad kids!

Regarding the recent radio silence: I’ve taken the week off of Little Garden Comics and Lizzie’s Tail to prepare for MoCCA. To satisfy my creative itch, I’ve been tooling around with my copy of Manga Studio Debut. I’m going to try to learn how to color, tone, letter and even DRAW in this program! It’s all very exciting:

Here’s some of my experiments:

I think I’d really like to read a book called “Fun Comics” with a pleasantly-smiling lady depicted on the cover. Would you?

This picture just above was my first Manga Studio sketch once I had gotten the hang of using the “sketch” and “draw” functions. The lady’s uncertainty matches my own!

And finally, it’s a sketch of my favorite superhero, Feral from Rob Liefeld’s X-Force. Obviously, Feral is (c) Marvel Entertainment. The character seems to like pink so I gave her a pink T-shirt.

Okay gang! I really hope to see you at MoCCA this weekend! Table G14, THAT’S WHAT’S UP!

Love,

Darryl Ayo.

Thanks to the miracle of science and the hospitality of Comixology, you can download the Comixology “Comics” application for free and once inside, download House of Twelve #1 for $0.99.

So what’s it like?

In the first issue, you’ll be treated to the first chapter of an ongoing series by Miss Lasko-Gross. I read the chapter this morning and I’m already dying to read the next installment! The second feature in the issue is a self-contained short story by me. Next up is Sam Henderson of Magic Whistle with a zany Robot Duck comic and the final comic in the issue is by K. Thor Jensen which I have not gotten a chance to see yet but anticipate with baited breath.

Future issues will include comics by Jenny Gonzalez, Kate Laquor, Dave McKenna, Fred Noland, Cheese Hasselberger and other great cartoonists.

I really want digital phone comics to succeed and I want my friends and I to be successful. So even if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch, tell a friend about us! Spread the word so that we can keep putting weird drawings into people’s smartphones!

Keep in mind:

-Darryl Ayo.

P.S.: Yes, I realize that it’s April first, but I don’t do that kind of stuff. All genuine information on this blog! Excitement!

Wait, what?

-Darryl.

She means it.

-Darryl Ayo.

Lizzie is reevaluating her approach at this point.

-Darryl Ayo