Spoke with my high school friend Tina L. about SPX (Small Press Expo) in Maryland. We (Tina, some of her friends, and I) are going to try to get a table there this September! Also, Tina may share a table with me for this year’s APE!
Wednesday, February 20th
Zest Books Internship, Day #7: Super busy with some editing/fact-checking work! Also, sat in on a Teen Advisory Board meeting, which was interesting. Going in again tomorrow instead of Friday to sit in on a meeting and meet a tight deadline!
Thursday, February 21st
Sent Hannah some follow-up answers.
Zest Books Internship, Day #8: Came in Thursday instead of Friday. Managed to complete a big project before the deadline. Finally met Dan in person (had only talked on phone before). Going to help Hallie with a photoshop project on Wednesday. Busy, busy, busy!
First skype meeting with film director Josh! He’s interested in my short script The Man Who Never Smiled. Soon, he’ll be scouting locations and creating a shot list. Wants me to write detailed notes about the script and eventually create a simple storyboard. Set filming date for July. Extremely excited!!!
Zest Books Internship, Day #11: Worked on a graphic-novel-related marketing research project.
Thursday, March 7th
Meeting with Gabe! Hoping I can finished illustrations for Elias in a few weeks, scan them, then meet with Gabe to get everything prepared to send out to publishers!
Zest Books Internship, Day #12: Continued to work on a graphic-novel-related marketing research project. Received some very interesting advice about publishing.
Zest Books Internship, Day #15: Worked on research for London Book Fair and literary agents. Put together a bunch of packages to be mailed. Image research for computer/internet-related ebook.
Saturday, March 23rd
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Date night with Wes. Saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone — actually much more entertaining than we were expecting. Bought David Bowie’s new album!
Yay!
Sunday, March 24th
E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
Received reply from a potential job — interview on Thursday.
Passover trip — had Passover and stayed overnight at cousin’s house outside of Sacramento. Would be perfect location for filming Death Is No Bad Friend.
Received e-mail from local production company. Interview scheduled for April 11th!
Tuesday, March 26th
Return drive from Passover trip.
Wednesday, March 27th
Zest Books Internship, Day #16: Worked on image research and fact checking! Fact checking is definitely one of my strong suits — I have so much random knowledge stuffed away in my brain that I can immediately sense when something is off.
Beautiful but deadly pollen!
Thursday, March 28th
Interview with potential job unsuccessful, but that’s fine by me. Looking forward to next interview on the 11th!
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: about 6-8 pages of illustrated work in progress.
Two Storiesis an autobiographical graphic novel that deals with themes of “…life, love, loss, and depression.” As far as I can tell, the novel will consist of a series of short stories that are all autobiographical, but will be presented in various styles, tones, and genres (“serious to silly”).
Not only are Josh’s illustrations absolutely stunning, full of texture and movement, but his storytelling is powerful and compelling. For this first chapter, it is not just a story of attempted suicide, but more astonishingly a step-by-step examination of the protagonist/author’s thought process — a complex mind that makes connections (from Shakespeare to It’s A Wonderful Life and back to reality) and plays tricks on itself (“The Suicide Game” on page 4).
Josh is a Xeric Award-winning cartoonist who works as a freelance illustrator as well as an adjunct professor at Laguna College of Art and Design. With such an impressive background and body of work, I’m expecting Two Stories to be quickly snatched up by publishers.
The following images belong to Joshua Kemble.
For more Quarterly Stories and Joshua Kemble, please check out the following websites…
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following images or video!!
One of my favorite operas is Jacques Offenbach‘s The Tales of Hoffmann(Les contes d’Hoffmann). This opera is a fantastical retelling of the life of the German Romantic author E. T. A. Hoffmann, casting Hoffmann as the protagonist of his own stories.
Placido Domingo performing the “Chanson de Kleinzach” aria.
Désirée Rancatore performing ”Les oiseaux dans la charmille.”
Through The Tales of Hoffmann, I developed an interest in Hoffmann and his stories, quickly leading me to Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny. In Freud’s essay, he uses many of the same Hoffmann stories as Offenbach, but in this case to prove a psychological point (not that Offenbach’s opera isn’t deeply psychological). If I remember correctly, Freud even mentions Offenbach’s opera.
Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
I’m sure you are all wondering, “What does all this have to do with The Nutcracker?” Well, little do most people know, E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote in 1816 one of the earliest versions of The Nutcracker story, entitled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Nussknacker und Mausekönig).
Alexandre Dumas was also a fan of Hoffmann, employing allusions to Hoffmann’s stories in The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas even went as far as creating a revision to Hoffmann’s Nutcracker in 1844 called History of The Nutcracker (Histoire d’un casse-noisette), or The Tale of the Nutcracker.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, Hoffmann’s Nutcracker was adapted to ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, perhaps the most famous incarnation of the tale. I write this post because my dad purchased tickets to the San Francisco Ballet to see The Nutcracker at the end of the month. Perhaps later I’ll add my thoughts on the production to this post.
Tchaikovsky’s music is always wonderful, if not a little too overplayed for the holidays. A lot of people tend to associate The March from The Nutcracker or The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy not with Tchaikovsky, but with the thousands of Christmas commercials that use these pieces. This also happens with The Chinese Tea Dance from The Nutcracker with Disney’s Fantasia and The Sleeping Beauty Waltz with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
I believe the most creative and exciting production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut. The Hard Nut is set in 1950s America with a very retro feel inspired by the comic artist Charles Burns — a strange but brilliant compliment to the classical music. I hope to one day be able to attend a live performance.
Advertisement for The Hard Nut.
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Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
Comics I Admire: “Quarterly Stories”
Today, I am pleased to present Joshua Kemble and his new online graphic novel Two Stories.
I stumbled across the website Quarterly Stories whilst on my search for autobiographical/non-fiction webcomics. I’m not sure how I came across this amazing work, but I sure am glad I did.
Two Stories is an autobiographical graphic novel that deals with themes of “…life, love, loss, and depression.” As far as I can tell, the novel will consist of a series of short stories that are all autobiographical, but will be presented in various styles, tones, and genres (“serious to silly”).
Not only are Josh’s illustrations absolutely stunning, full of texture and movement, but his storytelling is powerful and compelling. For this first chapter, it is not just a story of attempted suicide, but more astonishingly a step-by-step examination of the protagonist/author’s thought process — a complex mind that makes connections (from Shakespeare to It’s A Wonderful Life and back to reality) and plays tricks on itself (“The Suicide Game” on page 4).
Josh is a Xeric Award-winning cartoonist who works as a freelance illustrator as well as an adjunct professor at Laguna College of Art and Design. With such an impressive background and body of work, I’m expecting Two Stories to be quickly snatched up by publishers.
The following images belong to Joshua Kemble.
For more Quarterly Stories and Joshua Kemble, please check out the following websites…
quarterlystories.com
joshuakemble.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Kemble-Illustrations/130292550362837
Store: joshuakemble.com/?page_id=241
Numb: www.amazon.com/Numb-Lost-Love-Broken-Memories/dp/B002O746WA
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
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Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas
12 comments | tags: Absolutely, Aesthetic, Amazing, Art, Artist, Artwork, Astonishing, Attempted, Author, Autobiographical, Autobiography, Award, Background, biography, Black, Black and White, Blizzard, Blog, Body, Book, Brainstorming, Cartoon, Cartoonist, Chapter, Character, Character Design, Coat, Cold, College, Comic book, Comics, Comment, Compelling, Consist, Creative, Creativity, Dark, Deals, Depression, Design, Doodle, Doodles, Drawing, Drawings, Endeavor, Examination, Examine, Expectations, Expecting, First, Freelance, Freezing, Genres, Gorgeous, Grant, Graphic Design, Graphic Novel, Handmade, Hero, Idea, Ideas, Illustration, Illustrator, Impressive, Ink, Inked, Josh, Joshua Kemble, Laguna College of Art and Design, LCAD, Life, Loss, Love, Movement, New, Non-Fiction, Notable, Note, Noteworthy, Novel, Pen, Pen and Ink, Pencil, Powerful, Present, Process, Professor, Project, Protagonist, Publish, Publisher, Publishers, Quickly, Search, Self-Publish, Sequential Art, Series, Serious, Short Stories, Short Story, Silly, Sketch, Sketchbook, Sketches, Snatched Up, Snow, Snowing, Step-by-Step, Storm, Story, Storyteller, Storytelling, Stunning, Style, Styles, Suicidal, Suicide, Texture, Theme, Themes, Thought, Tone, Tones, Trick, Tricks, Two Stories, University, Various, Vary, Web Comic, Webcomic, Winner, Winning, Work, Writer, Xeric | posted in Graphic Novel, Illustration/Design, Links