The New Building

The new building, for non-local readers, is the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It's scheduled to open this September. If you're a fan of architect Moshe Safdie or the Kansas City skyline (or if you just like buildings with personality), you can order a print at http://www.flickr.com/photos/incidentalcomics.

When Water Towers Dream

I'm a strong proponent of the personification of buildings and man-made structures, a theme I'll return to in a drawing later this week. If the dreams of the first two water towers are reminiscent of scenes from the movie Super 8, it's likely because director J.J. Abrams read this comic when it first appeared in the newspaper or on the blog last year. So yeah, just a coincidence. 

Summer Vision

Island

Château for a Cartoonist

When I've drawn my millionth cartoon, published my memoirs, and sold the movie rights, I should have the financial resources to make the blueprints for this home a reality. I'll have to find an architect equally versed in escalators and observatories. I'll need a landscaper with a thorough knowledge of truffula trees. And a decent zookeeper or ex-lion tamer for my collection of exotic pets. 

The murals and sculptures will all be created by the original artists. This will require some scientific advances in order bring back the late George Herriman (1880-1944). It won't be cheap to fund research in the long-neglected field of corpse reanimation, but the result will be worth it. If you can name all the artists I reference in this drawing, I will give you a job tending the koi ponds.

Jazz

This comic is brought to you in part by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Charles Mingus, and Charlie Haden.

Want a poster of this comic for your smoke-filled jazz listening lounge? Get it here.

Un Fanzine Muy Bonito

An exciting package arrived in the mail yesterday from Barcelona. Apa Apa Comics, a Spanish comics publisher, just released Colibri #3, a fanzine featuring short works by 25 great cartoonists. And me. It's a thrill to see my drawings in a book that looks awesome, smells like paper, and can occupy space on my shelf or coffee table if I ever get tired of staring at it. Big thanks to the folks at Apa Apa for including my work. Here's the cover and credits page, masterfully drawn by Sergi Puyol:

 

My contribution was an adaptation of my Gorey-esque single page comic originally found here. This the zine version:

The Portland Oregon Trail

I drew this comic in 2009, a time when I was still concerned with depicting and satirizing "indie" culture. It has new relevance, however. Like the star-crossed band in this drawing, I am embarking on a voyage west. In a month, I'll be moving from Kansas City (near the city in the first panel), navigating I-70 (passing through the college town in the second panel), and setting up camp for two and a half years just outside Denver, Colorado (not far from the location of the third panel). So please understand if the comics I draw over the next couple months keep repeating this theme of transition, travel, and new beginnings. And the frustrations that inevitably follow.

The Algorithm

Checklist for an Epic Summer

One box I forgot to add: draw a comic influenced by the legendary Bill Watterson. Check!

The Shakespearean Heckler

This week marks the beginning of Kansas City's Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, a free professional production held yearly at a park next to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It's always spectacularly done, and you have to marvel at the actors for braving the Missouri heat and humidity in full costume. A couple years ago, my wife and I were kicked out of "Othello". Not for drunken heckling, but for smuggling in a small poodle. We were escorted out of the park during intermission, four-pound dog in hand.

Meet the Band

Public Displays of Unselfconsciousness

You can order a print of this drawing (and many other Incidental Comics) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/incidentalcomics 

Drawing Hands

"Drawing hands is hell." 

-Picasso or somebody

I try to avoid rendering anatomically correct hands whenever possible. You'll see one of my rare attempts at hand drawing in last week's "Career Path Generator." Which is probably why I decided to repost this exercise in evasion. 

Also: you can now follow me on Twitter @grantdraws. 

Career Path Generator