Zest Books Internship, Day #19: A little bit of editing, a little bit of Facebook-ing, a little bit of photoshopping, and a little bit of mailing.
Saturday, April 6th
Hanging out with family today. Went to see Oz: The Great and Powerful, which was pretty bad except for the opening credits and the Danny Elfman soundtrack.
Finished working on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.
Wednesday, April 10th
Zest Books Internship, Day #20: Worked mostly on mailing today… I think I put together over 60 packages. Wrote a blog post for the Zest Books official blog about upcoming titles Little Fish and Super Pop! with an accompanying illustration — can’t wait to see this go up online!
Thursday, April 11th
Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for the Cannes/London trip.
Made an account with Storenvy and am beginning to set up my own online store.
Went with Wes to an event at San Francisco Film Society. Talked with some of Wes’s former employers and met a filmmaker named Joey who will also be at Cannes.
Friday, April 12th
Zest Books Internship, Day #21: Worked on some cover designs for an upcoming Zest Books title. Everyone really seems to like what I’ve done!
Invited to be an illustrator for an upcoming collaborative project with a small publisher. More details to come!
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Worked on setting up the online store.
Saturday, April 13th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Went to North Beach to eat really tasty Italian food. ( ´◔‿ゝ◔`)
Sunday, April 14th
Date with Wes! Went to see The Place Beyond the Pines, which was interesting. Ate Vietnamese food afterwards. (・∀・)
Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for my Cannes/London trip.
Thinking of investing in a professionally printed preview zine of The Poet and the Flea to sell online and at expos. Looking into various local printers!
Zest Books Internship, Day #23: Sat in on staff meeting. Created a blog post for Earth Day. Worked on WordPress, editing some content.
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Saturday, April 20th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Helped mom prepare for the art show next weekend.
Did some research on local printers.
Sunday, April 21st
Elias’s 1st birthday party! Bit of a strange day… Wes and I went to Gabe’s house to celebrate his son’s first birthday. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to see Gabe since he had to take his father to the hospital for a broken leg. Later, Wes and I went to The Ice Cream Bar since it was so hot outside and we needed to cool off. Then, we ended up eating at Sunflower Vietnamese for dinner and later had dessert with my folks and Nikki the shiba inu.
Zest Books Internship, Day #24: Put together some interview questions for Dan. Worked on some button designs in Photoshop.
HOLY MOLY MACARONI! I just received the most amazing e-mail. (A secret for now…)
♪(┌・。・)┌
Thursday, April 25th
Working on Blake Society talk!
Friday, April 26th
Wow, received another awesome piece of news. Can’t really say anything yet, but everything is really coming together it seems!!
Zest Books Internship, Day #25: LAST DAY! Finished button designs and ordered them online. The office ladies took us out for lunch, which was very sweet.
Spring Cleaning: Wanted to clean up my room and get rid of a lot of junk before leaving for Cannes/London trip! Now that most of the junk is gone, it should be easier to pack.
Monday, April 29th
Feeling under the weather today.
Tuesday, April 30th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Helped mom with some photos I took of her work for various purposes.
Wednesday, May 1st
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Even put together some important snail mail today!
Finally got my hair cut! Now I feel like I’m almost ready for my trip. (◕‿◕✿)
Correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
Friday, May 3rd
Ran around EVERYWHERE today to finish up errands for the Cannes/London trip. Utterly exhausted!
Jotted some more ideas down for a future screenplay.
Saturday, May 4th
Today’s motto: 七転び八起き= Nanakorobi yaoki. Fall seven times and stand up eight.
Family Bonding Day! This is the last weekend before I leave for Cannes/London, so spent time with the folks. Ate lunch at a great Puerto Rican restaurant. Finally got to see Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Century at the de Young.
Sunday, May 5th
Date with Wes! Went to see Iron Man 3, which really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Ate tasty Japanese dinner at Sanraku. Hopefully will see Wes one more time before I leave!
Monday, May 6th
New suitcase arrived in the mail.
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Continued correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Tuesday, May 7th
Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Working on Blake Society talk!
Wednesday, May 8th
Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
Working on Blake Society talk!
Jotted down some more ideas for a future screenplay.
Dinner with Wes!
Thursday, May 9th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
Packing for trip!!
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Friday, May 10th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
PACKING!!!
Saturday, May 11th
Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
Flight leaves San Francisco at 7:05 p.m. Will arrive in Nice, France at 6:10 p.m.
Etcetera
The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-30 completed, and 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
First Zine: 8 pages of illustrated work completed. Zine production pending.
Prepared for tomorrow — the first day of my new internship!!!
Wednesday, January 30th
Zest Books Internship, Day #1: Wonderful first day! Having an easy time getting into the flow of everything. Staff is extremely friendly and excited to get to know them better. Get awesome sneak peaks of upcoming titles. Friday, will be working on Tumblr and possibly doing some image research — can’t wait!
Thursday, January 31st
Not ready to announce anything yet, but amazing news (from January 20th) continuing to develop!
Received e-mail from follower Hannah Meiklejohn (bellusmundus.wordpress.com) asking if she could write an article for a magazine about The Poet and the Flea, yay! Excited to learn more details about the article and magazine. (^-^)
Zest Books Internship, Day #2: Worked on historical-themed image research for most of the day, which was mostly a lot of fun! Started working on Zest’s Tumblr (zestbooks.tumblr.com). Ate lunch in nearby park, which is very pleasant and relaxing and will definitely be repeated.
Saturday, February 2nd
Happy Groundhog Day!!
Filled out the rest of Cannes paperwork and made a checklist for what to bring (I’m Going To Cannes!!!).
Went to see Warm Bodies with Wes! Not the most brilliant movie, but adorable and a lot of fun. (︶ω︶)
For those of you watching the new Netflix series House of Cards, I highly recommend watching the original BBC version starring the brilliant Ian Richardson also available on Netflix.
Ran into a neighbor on the bus to work today, and she’d like to hire me to help her with her WordPress. We’ll see what happens… (^-^)
Zest Books Internship, Day #3: Worked on creating prom tips for Zest’s Tumblr as well as a mailing project. Getting to know everyone in the office better — everyone’s super easy to talk to. Took home a copy of Zoo Station to read.
Wow, I adore this new FX show The Americans! Amazing character development and really scary/exciting. Can’t wait for the next episode.
Zest Books Internship, Day #4: Continuing work on Tumblr! Sat at Ann’s desk today — she happens to have a David Bowie paper doll (with multiple outfits) taped to her computer, which brings me endless joy. Got to know fellow intern Olivia a bit better. Extremely excited to proofread/edit the back cover blurb for an upcoming book. Also got to share my opinion on some cover art!
Today’s constant companion: David Bowie!
Saturday, February 9th
Went to see Lewis Black with Wes and the folks! Stomach hurts from laughing so much!
Sunday, February 10th
Finally got to talk with my good friend from high school Tina! Talked on the phone for over 2 hours! (^-^;;)
Worked on TOP SECRET project.
Monday, February 11th
Went downtown today to pick up some more supplies from Britex for The Flea plush toy.
Did a little shopping in preparation for Cannes. A lot more shopping to do in the next few months.
Finished writing responses to Hannah’s questions. Just have to edit a bit and then send them to her.
Worked on TOP SECRET project.
Wednesday, February 13th
Zest Books Internship, Day #5: More historical-themed image research and Tumblr. Asked to do some brainstorming for book ideas. Ended up walking all the way home today since the bus skipped a lot.
A few days ago, e-mailed the Tate Gallery about information on their William Blake collection. Today, received response with good news. Will talk about this more in upcoming post.
Received e-mail from Hannah! She sent a draft of the article, and it looks really wonderful so far. Just have to answer a couple follow-up questions. \(^-^)/
Zest Books Internship, Day #6: More historical-themed image research and Tumblr. Also, talked about a potential book idea I came up with, and some of the staff seems interested! Next week, will be attending the Teen Advisory Board on Wednesday and a staff meeting on Thursday. Very excited!
Saturday, February 16th
Ordered a beautiful dress to wear at Cannes. I needed a maxi dress for pool parties, etc. and couldn’t find the right one in stores. So I browsed Etsy and found the talented Nicole Lebreux! Not only does Nicole have really fun designs, but also she was extremely helpful in answering my questions. So go ahead and check out her shop!
Went to see a simulcast of the new Met production of Verdi’s Rigoletto. The opera is usually set in the 16th century, but this production cleverly reimagines the story in 1960s Las Vegas. Wonderfully creative and engaging production with incredible singers! Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-zXLKd76fk.
Sunday, February 17th
Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
Date night with Wes!
Etcetera
The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-24, 27-30 completed, and 25-26, 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
First Zine: about 6-8 pages of illustrated work in progress.
Some of you have probably noticed me occasionally mentioning a project called The First Reich. This is a graphic novel collaboration I’ve been working on for a number of months with the very talented Shannon Brady. She wrote the incredibly compelling script/storyboard for The First Reich, carefully plotting out each panel to the best of her artistic ability — stick figures though they may be. It’s my job to transform her wonderful draft into a finished illustrated work.
The First Reichis more or less a biographical account of the Jewish-Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, and deals thoughtfully with a number of subjects including the history of psychology, World War II, Nazism, Communism, McCarthyism, and beyond.
Currently, The First Reich‘s website (thefirstreich.wordpress.com) is bare bones, but you can hop over there and read a fascinating and eloquent statement by Shannon about this project. At the moment, I’m working on the first 10 pages of the graphic novel and hope to post them online sometime in the coming months. Below are details from the progress I’ve made so far.
It’s really a pleasure and honor to work on this project. It’s an absolute joy collaborating with Shannon. And it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on my own Jewish heritage and family history.
Any questions or comments are gladly welcomed!
Preliminary Character Designs: Wilhelm Reich
Preliminary Character Design: Shannon
“The First Reich” Cover Detail
Detail from Page 2
Detail from Page 3
Detail from Page 4
Detail from Page 4
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Everyone seems really enthusiastic about The Flea plush toy, so I thought I’d tackle this project sooner than later! Below details the progress I’ve made so far…
Tuesday, January 15th: I began drawing a rough outline for what will eventually become a plush toy of The Ghost of a Flea à la my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea. I’m still playing around with various ideas — size, fabric, etc. Ideally, I’d like the finished product to be simultaneously adorable and menacing. (^-^;;)
Friday, January 25th: Worked on a second outline, this time on a larger scale and with slightly more exaggerated features. When the time comes, everything will have to be hand-stiched since I currently don’t own a sewing machine. My mom has a lot of experience with sewing, so she’s going to help me out.
Monday, January 28th: After finalizing my travel arrangements for Cannes/London with an agent, my mom and I stopped by Britex Fabrics and picked up fabric and other supplies (stuffing, needles, thread, etc.). It might take a bit of experimenting to figure out the best materials, but I’m looking forward to it! Stay tuned for more details!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
As some of you may know, I was originally planning a trip to the UK for February 2013. Circumstances have changed a countless number of times and I thought I wouldn’t be able to go at all. But, thanks to The American Pavilion Cannes Film Program, I think I’ll be able to make my dream of seeing some of William Blake’s work in person come true (among other dreams of screenwriting, filmmaking, etc.). I’ll be in France for about two weeks, and I hope to tack on a few days in London during my journey back to the States!!!
I’m currently in the process of figuring out my travel arrangements. There are so many different routes to Nice, France, it’s difficult to decide the best way to go. Possibly, I could stop over in New York or Amsterdam or even Paris. I’m hoping my dad (Mr. Globetrotting Lawyer himself) will be able to find me the best deal. Or perhaps I’ll try a travel agent.
The wonderful Naomi Billingsley at The Blake Society sent me a fabulous e-mail detailing all the best ways to see Blake’s work and historical sites in person. She suggested that I make a list of what I want to see, so I’ll be making a number of lists on my blog in an attempt to figure out how to schedule everything into two or three days.
The Tatepossesses an impressive collection of Blake’s works, but I believe many pieces just returned from Madrid and are not currently on display. I’m hoping that by May this will change. My #1 dream is to see The Ghost of a Flea in person — so I guess I’ll try contacting the Tate and ask them for more information. Naomi pointed out that there are a number of “view by appointment” Blake works at the Tate’s Print Room and that I could make an appointment to see them. I’ll have to browse their online catalogue.
The British Museum has some Blake works in their Print Room as well and they are accessible without an appointment.
According to Naomi, The Victoria and Albert Museumhas four of Blake’s “fresco” paintings on permanent display and a collection of Blake’s watercolors in their Print Room, accessible without an appointment.
Naomi also recommended a really amazing page on the Tate’s website detailing Blake historical sites (http://www2.tate.org.uk/williamblake/lambeth/london_intro.html). All these sites seem like they’re in a pretty concentrated area, so I think I’ll be able to see a lot of them!!
From here, I’d like to further explore the museum websites/online resources and figure out how much I can see and what I want to see the most in the few days I’m in London!
***
Updates
January 28th
Today, finalized my travel arrangements! On the way from San Francisco to Nice, will be stopping over in Frankfurt. And on the way to London, will be stopping over in Belgium. Will be staying in London for three full days, staying at a decent hotel not far from all the museums and Blake historic sites. Can’t believe this is really happening!!!
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Raine Szramski is the awesome (and, not to mention, super nice) artist/illustrator of Pre-Raphernalia as well as another amazing series called Heaven & the Dead City, which can be either read online here or purchased here.
Pre-Raphernalia centers around the Victorian avant-garde artists known as The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including the likes of John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. These artists were quite eccentric, even by today’s standards, and lived oftentimes rowdy and scandalous lives.
What’s so wonderful about Pre-Raphernalia is that Raine takes the true historical events/relationships/facts and depicts them to the full extent of their eccentricity. When reading, I often find myself laughing out loud! Furthermore, she takes the time to write a full historically-accurate explanation of each comic, thoroughly detailing the backgrounds of each individual involved.
I highly recommend Pre-Raphernalia for anyone who wants to learn a little bit of history while having a fun time doing so.
Below are a number of my favorite images/pages from Pre-Raphernalia.
The following images belong to Raine Szramski.
For more Pre-Raphernalia and Raine Szramski, please check out the following websites…
Yesterday (December 3rd), I decided to try messaging a fellow webcomic creator that I strongly admire: Shelby Lynn Criswell, writer and illustrator of Awkward Shelby.
And, boy, am I glad I did! She’s not only super talented, but also super sweet! She even checked out The Flea and is now a fan! So I wanted to do everything in my power to promote her comic and share her work with all of you.
Awkward Shelbyis a series of autobiographical strips detailing the awkward moments of Shelby’s life. Shelby is a self-procliamed “androgynous weirdo,” but I think her awkwardness is very universal (or at least I personally relate to many of her plights). Her drawing style is very whimsical and full of movement and life.
Also, she’s working on a more serious graphic novel called This is Your Life, which looks very very very promising!
Below are a number of my favorite strips from Awkward Shelby.
The following images belong to Shelby Lynn Criswell.
For more Awkward Shelby, please check out the following websites…
Date with Wes! We ran all over the city today. Activities included calendar shopping (“Aw, look at the corgis!”), eating very tasty meals, and going to see the film Hitchcock (while not brilliant, was thoroughly enjoyable).
Take a look at the super cute calendar I bought. You can get it here!
Disclaimer: I do not own this image!!
Sunday, December 2nd
Did some more research on fellowships and jobs and sent out some more applications.
Monday, December 3rd
My sister Sydney’s birthday is today! So check out her amazing costume designs: sydneygallas.com.
The Poet and the Flea: 52 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-24, 27-30 completed, and 25-26, 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
To Do:
December 8: The East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest
“The First Reich”: Behind the Scenes (Part 1)
Related Post: “The Poet and the Flea”: Behind the Scenes (Part 1)
***
Some of you have probably noticed me occasionally mentioning a project called The First Reich. This is a graphic novel collaboration I’ve been working on for a number of months with the very talented Shannon Brady. She wrote the incredibly compelling script/storyboard for The First Reich, carefully plotting out each panel to the best of her artistic ability — stick figures though they may be. It’s my job to transform her wonderful draft into a finished illustrated work.
The First Reich is more or less a biographical account of the Jewish-Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, and deals thoughtfully with a number of subjects including the history of psychology, World War II, Nazism, Communism, McCarthyism, and beyond.
Currently, The First Reich‘s website (thefirstreich.wordpress.com) is bare bones, but you can hop over there and read a fascinating and eloquent statement by Shannon about this project. At the moment, I’m working on the first 10 pages of the graphic novel and hope to post them online sometime in the coming months. Below are details from the progress I’ve made so far.
It’s really a pleasure and honor to work on this project. It’s an absolute joy collaborating with Shannon. And it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on my own Jewish heritage and family history.
Any questions or comments are gladly welcomed!
Preliminary Character Designs: Wilhelm Reich
Preliminary Character Design: Shannon
“The First Reich” Cover Detail
Detail from Page 2
Detail from Page 3
Detail from Page 4
Detail from Page 4
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
***
Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas
12 comments | tags: Ability, Account, Announcement, Artist, Artistic, Artwork, Austria, Austrian, Bare, Beyond, Biographical, biography, Blog, Bones, Carefully, Character, Character Designs, Collaborate, Collaboration, Comic, Comic book, Comments, Communism, Communist, Compelling, Cover, Detail, Details, Doodle, Draft, Drawings, Eloquent, Ethnic, Ethnically, Europe, Eva Reich, Family History, Fascinating, Finished, Freud, Germany, Graphic Novel, Heritage, Historical, History, Honor, Illustrated, Illustration, Illustrator, Immigrant, Immigrated, Incredibly, Jew, Jewish, Jewish Heritage, Jewish-Austrian, Job, Joy, McCarthy, McCarthyism, Months, Nazi, Nazism, Notice, Number, Online, Pages, Panel, Pleasure, Plotting, Post, Preliminary, Progress, Project, Psychoanalyst, Psychology, Questions, Script, Shannon Brady, Sigmund Freud, Statement, Stick Figures, Subjects, The First Reich, The Poet and the Flea, Thoughtful, Thoughtfully, Transform, Web Comic, Webcomic, Website, Welcomed, Wilhelm Reich, William Blake, Wonderful, Work, Work in Progress, World War II, Writer, Written, Wrote | posted in Graphic Novel, Illustration/Design, The First Reich