Brief Update

★ Don’t forget to check out my graphic novel, The Poet and the Flea!

A new page every Wednesday!

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Here is a brief update on my current creative projects and endeavors…!

Tuesday, April 2nd

1. The Liebster Award: 4th Nomination!
2. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
3. Worked on Elias & the City of Cats.
4. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Wednesday, April 3rd

1. The Liebster Award: 5th Nomination!
2. Zest Books Internship, Day #18: Worked on image research and editing.

Thursday, April 4th

1. Comics I Admire: “A Space Boy Dream”
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Friday, April 5th

• 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.

Sunday, April 7th

• Did a bunch of scanning today.

Monday, April 8th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Worked on first zine.
3. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Tuesday, April 9th

1. Keeping an Eye on Expos.
2. Updated the “Links” page — check out Lewis Manalo’s webcomic MetaMorphosis!
   
3. Submissions, submissions, submissions…!
4. 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

1. Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for the Cannes/London trip.
2. Worked on first zine.
3. Made an account with Storenvy and am beginning to set up my own online store.
4. 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

1. 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!
2. Invited to be an illustrator for an upcoming collaborative project with a small publisher. More details to come!
3. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
4. Worked on setting up the online store.

Saturday, April 13th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. 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. (・∀・)

Movie Theater on Van Ness!

Bun Mee on Fillmore!

Monday, April 15th

1. Feeling under the weather today.
   
2. Working on Blake Society talk!
3. Worked on Elias & the City of Cats.

Tuesday, April 16th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for my Cannes/London trip.
3. 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!
4. Still trying to figure out London.
5. Received through e-mail a sneak peak of what The American Pavilion at Cannes will look like (see below).

Disclaimer: I do not own this image!!

Wednesday, April 17th

• Zest Books Internship, Day #22: Worked on marketing/promotion for 47 Things You Can Do For the Environment.

Exiled to the boss’s office!

Thursday, April 18th

1. Interview today on Treasure Island. 
2. Registered for SF Zine Fest!

Treasure Island is a strange place…

Yep, very strange…

Friday, April 19th

1. Zest Books Internship, Day #23: Sat in on staff meeting. Created a blog post for Earth Day. Worked on WordPress, editing some content.
2. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Saturday, April 20th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Helped mom prepare for the art show next weekend.
3. 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.

View from Gabe’s backyard.

The Ice Cream Bar… again!

Monday, April 22nd

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Ran some errands for Cannes/London trip.
3. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Tuesday, April 23rd

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Cannes/London 2013: Pre-Travel Planning.
3. Cannes/London Trip Hiatus!
4. Working on Blake Society talk!
5. Jotted some ideas down for a future screenplay.

Wednesday, April 24th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Zest Books Internship, Day #24: Put together some interview questions for Dan. Worked on some button designs in Photoshop.
3. HOLY MOLY MACARONI! I just received the most amazing e-mail. (A secret for now…)

♪(┌・。・)┌

Thursday, April 25th

1. Working on Blake Society talk!

Friday, April 26th

1. Wow, received another awesome piece of news. Can’t really say anything yet, but everything is really coming together it seems!!
2. 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.

Saturday, April 27th

1. (´∩｀。) Watched the first 2 hours of Sundance’s original series Rectify — words cannot describe how incredibly emotional this show is.
2. “On Paper” at Gallerie Citi!

Sunday, April 28th

1. 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

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Helped mom with some photos I took of her work for various purposes.

Wednesday, May 1st

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Even put together some important snail mail today!
3. Ran some errands for Cannes/London trip.

Thursday, May 2nd

1. Reblogged portrait of me by Matthew Curry. 
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Finally got my hair cut! Now I feel like I’m almost ready for my trip. (◕‿◕✿)
4. Correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.

Friday, May 3rd

1. Ran around EVERYWHERE today to finish up errands for the Cannes/London trip. Utterly exhausted!
2. Jotted some more ideas down for a future screenplay.
   

Saturday, May 4th

1. Today’s motto: 七転び八起き= Nanakorobi yaoki. Fall seven times and stand up eight.
   
2. 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

1. New suitcase arrived in the mail.
2. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
3. Continued correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
4. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
   

Tuesday, May 7th

1. Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
2. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
3. Working on Blake Society talk!

Wednesday, May 8th

1. Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
4. Working on Blake Society talk!
5. Jotted down some more ideas for a future screenplay.
6. Dinner with Wes!

Thursday, May 9th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
3. Packing for trip!!
4. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Friday, May 10th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
3. PACKING!!!

Saturday, May 11th

1. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
2. 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.

To Do:

• Continue to work on The First Reich.
• Finish setting up online store.
• Continue adding blog content to The First Reich.
• Complete script for The Poet and the Flea.

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Package from The Blake Society, 2013

Related Posts: Package from The Blake Society and G. E. Gallas Invited to Speak to The Blake Society!

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Photos of The Blake Society’s Calendar of Events for 2013!

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Package from The Blake Society

Related Posts: Correspondence with The Blake Society and G. E. Gallas Invited to Speak to The Blake Society!

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At the beginning of March, the chair of the Blake Society Tim Heath confirmed my invitation to speak to the society as well as asked that I put together a title, description, and bio for this year’s programme of events.

To give me a better idea of what to write, Tim offered to send me a copy of last year’s brochure. And, late last week, this beautiful printed booklet arrived (see photos below)!

I can’t wait to see how this year’s programme will turn out!

P.S. I only just realized that Philip Pullman is the president of the Blake Society. What!? I mean, it makes complete and total sense, but I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that fact.

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Experience of the EBABZ Fest

On December 8th, I attended the EBABZ (East Bay Alternative Book & Zine) Fest in Berkeley.

I found out about the EBABZ when I picked up a postcard about it at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in October.

EBABZ was a small but interesting Fest and I enjoyed walking around, checking out what other people were up to, chatting, building my zine library, and getting some advice.

＊ Milk & Carrots #2

Milk & Carrots is an anthology featuring a number of artists with vastly different styles of illustration and storytelling. I think this is a good start for anyone who’s just getting into the world of zines! Printed by Keness.com. For more information about Milk & Carrots, please visit www.ebbandflood.net.

＊ Between Here and Here by Brendan Monroe.

This zine is a dream-like abstraction filled with science, sexuality, and emotion. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anyone can see that Brendan Monroe is insanely gifted. Check out his amazing paintings, sculptures, and comics/zines on his Tumblr!

＊ Murder Dollhouse No. 1 by Teppei Ando

Murder Dollhouse is a completely bizarre but wonderful little zine! This volume includes The Man Who Lived In Their Attic (part 1 & part 2), the full-color and delightful short She Made Me Feel Four Inches Tall, and a number of fun extras. If you like a good pulp fiction, then this is the zine for you!

＊ Melancholy Rainbow: A Sitcom, “Tastes Like July” Issue One by Nina Kim

Melancholy Rainbow feels to me like a mix between Daria and The Book of Bunny Suicides  – a perfect blend of sarcasm and sadism. This is an autobiographical affair and, judging by my brief interaction with the artist, a pretty accurate one at that. Read Melancholy Rainbow for yourself at www.melancholyrainbow.com.

＊ 1984 Printing

Also, I discovered this wonderful local printer. Their products are really beautiful, high quality, and fairly priced. They gave me their very useful pricing list as well as a cute free notebook. I’m seriously considering using them down the line, whether for a small zine or possibly a bigger project.

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After stopping by the EBABZ, Wes and I ended up at this great soba restaurant called Ippuku. The whole experience was very authentic and I’d love to go back sometime.

Then, somehow, we ended up in Haight-Ashbury. We visited some of Wes’s favorite stores like Super 7, Kidrobot, and Amoeba Music, which were all a lot of fun.We also went to The Booksmith and proceeded to drool over all the gorgeous Penguin Classics hardcovers.

So, all in all, it was a very exciting day!

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas

Zines and Me!

Rough sketch for zine idea.

As I mentioned before (here), I’ve only recently become interested in the world of zines. Not only do zines appear to be an incredibly flexible channel for creativity, but I think that this medium would be a great compliment to my graphic novels and children’s books. I like the idea of the zine being very hands on — a real artist book, the artist not only illustrating, but also cutting and pasting the finished pamphlet together. This process reminds me greatly of Andy Warhol, his factory, and 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy.

Before I begin any zines of my own, I’ve been trying to get a better sense of their mercurial world. At APE (Alternative Press Expo) 2012, I talked with Tugboat Press, who produce annual free comics and an anthology called Papercutter. Tugboat led me to Parcell Press, who seems to carry a vast array of zines, comics, etc. I also found “How to Make a Zine” on Rookie. I guess the one true rule of creating zines is that there are no rules!

As I ponder the pre-existing zine world, my own ideas for zines just keep pouring out of me. I scribble these ideas down furiously in a Gallatin notebook I received upon graduation and was saving for something important (who knew that important something was zines). Endless ideas — everything from opera parodies to The Death of Chatterton. I’m not sure when I’ll actually have time to realize these zines since I’m already working on so many projects that need to get done (The Poet and the Flea, The First Reich, etcetera, etcetera). I’m hoping to take a stab early next year, June at the latest. We’ll see how that works out…

Some useful zine-related websites I’ve discovered:

• Zines 101 has some basic but good advice. They suggest submitting zines to sites that review them (Broken Pencil, Xerography Debt, Zine World, etc.) as well as posting on online zine communities (We Make Zines, etc.) to get larger exposure.
• Zinebook.com has an extensive list of zine distributors and reviewers as well.
• ZineWiki: The Independent Media Wikipedia encourages zine creators to add new articles about their zines.
• Etsy, Storenvy, and Big Cartel seem to be used by a huge number of zine creators. There are definite pros and cons to all of them, but I think I’m leaning more towards Storenvy at the moment. (I’m also thinking of selling other products [T-shirts, tote bags, greeting cards, etc.] with images from The Poet and the Flea as well as my zines.)
• In San Francisco, Dog Eared Books, Needles & Pens, and other local bookstores seem interested in carrying zines. Not to mention there’s the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest (Berkeley) and the San Francisco Zine Fest.
• I’m also considering self-printing versus printing with a printer. Most sites seem to recommend working with a local printer. In San Francisco – H&H Imaging, Your Printer, Autumn Press, etc.
• Update Nov. 6: Discovered issuu.com — seems like many zines publish online using this site. Pretty neat!!

Plus, I figure if I make enough zines, then eventually I can release them all in one book.

Any comments, suggestions, or thoughts would be truly appreciated!

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas

Brief Update

Here is a brief update on my current creative projects and endeavors…!

★ Send G.E. to the U.K.: http://www.indiegogo.com/send-GE-to-UK

★ “The Poet and the Flea 100 Day Countdown to the Premiere” is underway!! Join us on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook!

Thursday, October 11th

1. Designed and printed out The First Reich last-minute DIY postcards (seen in this post) for APE (Alternative Press Expo).
2. Preparing for meeting with Gabe tomorrow.
3. Continuing to work on some upcoming blog posts and project ideas.
4. Working on promoting my IndieGoGo campaign through twitter.

Friday, October 12th

• Meeting with Gabe: went very well (as usual) since Gabe is great to talk to/work with/bounce ideas off of! He liked what I’ve done so far with my character designs, but I need to go back and tweak them, which is an very interesting process and great creative practice for me. Our tentative schedule: finish mock-up of Elias by end of December; begin working on The Blanks screenplay in January.

Saturday, October 13th

1. APE (Alternative Press Expo): see post “Experience of APE.”
2. After APE, hung out with Wes in Japantown. He showed me around the New People center (home of h. Naoto and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright), which I’ve been meaning to visit. Meandered around the area, visiting my favorite Kinokuniya Book Store and more. Ate dinner (chicken pot pie for both of us) at this really cute restaurant called The Grove Fillmore, which has a ski-lodge-type feel. Saw some strange sights, including furries and men in lederhosen. Such a fun day!

Sunday, October 14th

1. APE (Alternative Press Expo): see post “Experience of APE.”
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Continuing to work on some upcoming blog posts.

Monday, October 15th

1. Working on character designs for Gabe.
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Later, hung out with Wes in The Haight! ♪(┌・。・)┌

Tuesday, October 16th

1. Working on character designs for Gabe.
2. Went by Christopher’s Books in hopes of a part-time job for the winter. We’ll see what happens!

Wednesday, October 17th

• Working on character designs for Gabe.

Etcetera

• The Poet and the Flea: 49 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.

To Do:

• Continue adding blog content to The First Reich.
• Begin sketching out first few pages of The First Reich.
• Continue to work on character sketches for Gabe.
• October 19 – 23: I will be out of town!
• Meet with Gabe at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 26.
• Sign up with Top Web Comics: Comic Rankings.
• Sign up with OnlineComics.net.

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas