Chapter 6 (pages 11 & 24)

Can it really be? The end? The finale? The last 2 pages to be drawn? Oh, no... Now it's time to format the book as a PDF and start contacting interested publishers. This is where the real fun begins. While all of this is going on behind the scenes, I'll be working on more strips which will be posted here, continuing to refine a few older pages (Chapter 1 looks so foreign now) and work on my column for JUNO magazine... By the way, doesn't my mom look beautiful in that third panel?

Chapter 6 (more pages)

A reworking of page 12 (that's me as a boy in the first image), and the almost last pages.

Chapter 6 (pages 1&2)

Yes, that's blood... Devon's blood.

I'll Be There (in an unofficially capacity)

Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest

Where did October go?

I just noticed that I had no posts for the month of October. Well, chalk it up to my new employment status... Call it luck, call it fate, call it Bush's legacy, but the Painted Man has recently joined the ranks of millions of gainfully unemployed Americans. I say 'gainfully' because I am (as many others are) now working from home as a freelance designer. More time with my son and more space to be creative... Right?

The Painted Man in 'Baby sitter? What baby sitter?'

It's bound to happen if your skin color is different than your child's... You'll be in the park or playground and a nanny will approach you and ask how long you've been 'nannying' for 'the family'. Or in my case, the caregiver might assume that your wife is actually your child's nanny... This'll be the next strip on Swirl (the final will have a few edits).

Chapter 6 ( a lot of pages...closer to the end)

Painted Man on SWIRL #2

To view the strip, click here.

The Painted Man in 'First Day of School'

What's it like for a mixed-race parent on the first day of school? Well a teacher might question whether or not you really are the parent of your child (as I observed on the first day at my son's new school). The next strip for SWIRL will highlight this experience. Above is a sketch.

The Painted Man in Smoke Signal #2

I almost forgot about this. Here's what the printed version of 'The Painted Man in Bushwick Bodega' looks like in Smoke Signal. Look for us in issue #3 with a full page.

Side note: My son's still not sure how he feels about his life being chronicled in comics... But it did get him into the Smoke Signal launch party where he saw live bands. He dug that, but it was way past his bedtime and he just couldn't hang.

The Painted Man on SWIRL

The first syndication of the Painted Man comic strip is now available on SWIRL. Get your SWIRL on!

Chapter 6 (pages 13 & 14 draft)

The Painted Man in 'Parents' Night Out'

The final will be a bit different. In panel 4 Liza will say, "What are you talking about? My dad's Jewish and my mom's French-Irish." And the cricket might be replaced by a fork falling (not so certain as yet).

Chapter 6 (page 7 & 12 draft)

Chapter 6 (page 4 darft)

Promotional Comic Strip Sketch #3

I think a fellow parent assumed that since my wife (who is white) married me, then she had to be at least some kind of anomalous, ultra light-skinned African-American. A hilarious moment. The finished version of this strip will be my first submission to Swirl and Intermix.

Chapter 6 (page 25 - 28 sketches) THE LAST

Believe it or not, these are the sketches for the last few pages. HOORAY!

Chapter 6 (page 6)

New Portrait

My new 'head shot' by Jessica Findley. It'll work nicely on the back of the book once it's done. THANKS JESS!

Chapter 6 (page 5)

The Painted Man in print

The first comic strip has been accepted for the second issue of Desert Island's 'Smoke Signal' comics paper. If we complete more before press there might be more than one 'Painted Man' strip in the paper.

Chapter 6 (page 3)

Chapter 6 (sketches: pages 13 - 24)

The Painted Man in 'Bushwick Bodega'

A draft of 'Bushwick Bodega'.

Promotional Comic Strip Sketch #2

Our good friend Keiko had a booth at the Renegade Craft Fair last month. While hanging out waiting to help her break down her booth, Liza and I had an interesting interaction with a little girl that had befriended Devon. We thought it was hilarious (as depicted above), but what the strip will not show is how Devon felt about the whole thing (which we quizzed him on afterward). A sure sign for things to come, he was a bit embarrassed that this little girl had loudly expressed her discovery that his dad is "a brown" and that his mom is white. Devon [with a hint of exasperation]: "I just wished she didn't say it like that." Oy vey... more to come.

This will most likely be the second in the series of strips I'll be doing for Swirl (when the official blog launches).

Chapter 6 (sketches: pages 1 - 12)

... this is a long one, more sketches coming.

Chapter 5 (title pages 1&2)