The Modern School for Gifted Youth

Lately, one my default cartooning methods has been to squeeze an entire children's book into a single comic page. Instead of stretching an idea to 32 pages, I distill it to 8 panels. Due to space constraints, some couplets I write don't make the final cut. Like this highly personal rhyme:

If OCD is off the charts

We train them in the Dental Arts.

Who Needs Art?

What's the solution to being fed up with art? I'm not sure, but looking at the paintings and sculptures of Joan Miro will help immensely.

You can get a poster of this comic here.

Superpower

Strange Animals

The Post-College Arcade

There will be no encore.

Color Therapy

On the Beach

Warrior Poets

Incidental Comics is now on Tumblr! You can follow me at http://incidentalcomics.tumblr.com/. My plan is to post a brand new comic every Thursday, with some sketchbook outtakes, process posts, and other projects thrown in the mix.

I've been reposting some comics from my archives (like the Roz-Chastian attempt above) on this blog every Monday, but for now these won't appear on my Tumblr. I want to track the progress of my work, rather than looking back at when I had a rougher drawing style and better sense of humor.

The Other Side

Museum Rules

This week on Incidental Comics: chaos and exploration in the art museum. For today's comic and Thursday's comic, I used rough sketches (pencil only, please) and photos (turn off the flash, sir) from visits to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Walker Art Center, Denver Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Art Institute of Chicago.

Back to School

Last Night's Show

This fictional venue is modeled after The Granada and The Bottleneck in the idyllic college town of Lawrence, Kansas. But it could be any other bar where sweaty fans and loud bands congregate. Maybe I saw you there? 

The Diabolical Botanical Garden

If you're a fan of horror and/or horticulture, you can order an 11"x17" print of this drawing. Email me at gsnider11@gmail.com or visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/incidentalcomics for details.

Like most of my work, I can't quite pinpoint where the idea for this one came from. I remember taking a trip to Botanica, The Wichita Gardens as a kid, then drawing one of its fountains the moment I got home. But instead of sketching a regular fountain, I turned it into an fountain-shaped alien! Another possibility: my grandfather was a retired landscape architect for the National Park Service, and he had a backyard that was a forest of Ponderosa Pines. He told us that the piles of rocks scattered throughout the forest were old Indian graveyards. The idea fascinated and terrified me. I didn't quite believe him, but I was still afraid to peek out the window into the dark forest at night.

The Feuding Death Metal Band

One of my favorite songs of the past decade is "The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton" by The Mountain Goats. This cartoon is nowhere near as good as that song. But then, not much is. Someday I hope to draw a comic that approaches the pure manic energy and disarming wit of a John Darnielle song lyric. Someday!