seth and chester brown

Seth at the Rivoli.


Jeff, Reid and I went to The Rivoli last night to see Chester Brown and Seth, two of my favorite comic writers/artists. Rand got me hooked on autobiographical comics by these two as well as one by Joe Matt. Chester Brown and Seth live in Toronto; Joe Matt moved to Philadelphia last year.

Seth's gotten a ton of press lately, including a multi-installment article about him in The Globe and Mail. One of his most recent high-profile projects was doing the CD artwork and web site for Aimee Mann. Chester Brown's most recent graphic novel, Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography, has also been getting a lot of press. The event was jointly hosted by The Beguiling (comic store) and Pages bookstore as part of This Is Not A Reading Series.

Seth looked exactly the way he draws himself, except he wasn't smoking. His talk was entertaining and informative, though I wish he had focused more on his own work than on other people's. He spoke carefully and precisely, reading from notes, only looking up at the audience occasionally.

Chester Brown was more quiet-spoken than I expected; I suspect that both he and Seth would much rather be home drawing than out promoting their books, but I'm grateful that they chose to do this event. Fascinating to see how his early sketches gradually evolved into the final product in Louis Riel.

My friend Reid has more photos and details about the event, for those interested.



Reid in the Silver Snail.


I consider myself a doodler, not an artist or even a proper cartoonist, but I do have fun with it. My right arm has nearly recovered enough to start using my Wacom artpad again; I've been cautiously experimenting before I start back into my online comics.

I still need to finish off Waiting For Frodo (last I left them, poor Sam and his friends were still waiting in line for the third movie), continue My Life in a Nutshell, and start posting writing cartoons for Inkygirl again.

They're all fun hobbies, of course, which why I haven't been stressing about it. But I do miss doodling.

Hey, I just discovered the Toronto comic jam, which hosts collaborative comics online and offline. Sounds like way too much fun. :-)



Chester Brown. Crappy photo, I know, but the lighting sucked.

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