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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
David Lasky's LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Monday, April 23rd, 2012 | | 11:34 pm |
| | Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 | | 4:23 pm |
Support the life's work of Dylan Williams
In the last 6 months or so, I've lost two wise and talented friends to cancer, Dylan Williams and Dale Yarger. Both of them quietly made huge contributions to the world of alternative comics, and to the culture at large. Both of them left us too soon. I want to write a little bit about Dylan, because there is an opportunity for anyone who loves good comics to help continue his life's work. Dylan was an artist and a comics publisher, who maybe loved comics more than any other person I know. With his Sparkplug publishing line, he was unlike any other publisher I've ever worked with, large or small. He made a point of only publishing undiscovered artists who would have been overlooked by other publishers, but who had something unique and personal to express. The thing that I couldn't quite understand (until after his death), was that he was a completely uncommercial publisher. He never published anything because he thought it would sell. This, of course, goes against the logic of publishing in the commerce-based world we live in. It seemed like a recipe for failure, to publish work based on uniqueness and merit alone. But with hard work, community-building, and his own quiet charisma, Dylan made it work. He basically took comics publishing out of the commercial world and made it his art.  Dylan died last fall at the age of 41, a few years younger than me. He was not expecting to leave this world so soon, and a lot of his life's work remains unfinished. H is widow Emily, and two close colleagues, Virginia Paine and Tom Neely, are continuing Dylan's publishing work and the Sparkplug label. They have launched a fundraising campaign, using a site called indiegogo.com, to help fund the printing of Sparkplug's next three books. These are books that Dylan was working toward publishing at the time of his death. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN HELP!
http://www.indiegogo.com/sparkplugbooksCheck out the link and watch the video about Dylan and Sparkplug. Read about the three books Sparkplug is going to pubish, and please think about pre-ordering them. I contributed $35 so I can have all three. There are higher and lower levels of support. And, as of this writing, there are only 16 days left! I don't do a lot of blogging these days, but the continuation of Dylan's mission is something that means a lot to me. There was and is really nothing like Sparkplug Comics in the world. I hope you'll consider helping out if you're at all able. Thanks!  Current Mood:  optimistic | | Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 | | 3:12 pm |
Thinking of old friends
Today I'm thinking of Dale Yarger, who art directed so many of the Fantagraphics book that influenced me when I was starting out as an artist... http://dyarger.carbonmade.com/projects/2449121#1I was fortunate enough to draw some illustrations for him when he art directed The Stranger, and learned a lot from him. Also: Happy Birthday to Vesna, wherever you are. | | Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 | | 5:07 pm |
| | Sunday, January 29th, 2012 | | 7:31 pm |
She Walks in Beauty
I just completed a commissioned comic: an adaptation of "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron. I will be debuting the original art, and exhibiting comics and illustrations of beautiful women, for the Capital Hill Art Walk on Feb 9, 2012, at the People's Republic of Koffee, 1718 12th Ave in Seattle. The opening happens from 6 until 10pm, with an open mic at 8pm and jazz at 9pm.
The adaptation will appear later this year in an anthology called "The Graphic Canon."
 | | Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 | | 11:24 am |
| | Sunday, December 25th, 2011 | | 1:30 pm |
| | 1:29 pm |
| | Thursday, October 13th, 2011 | | 2:35 pm |
Make Your Own Comic Book in Forks, Port Angeles, and Sequim!
Next week, Oct 17 and 18 I'll be teaching free library worshops for teens on the Olympic Peninsula. Description: Create your own mini-comic book @ the library. Learn some of the ins and outs of cartooning from artist David Lasky who was recently named “Cartoonist of the Year” by Cartoonists Northwest. Forks Branch Library: Monday, October 17, 3:30 pm Port Angeles Main Library: Monday, October 17, 6:30 pm Sequim Branch Library: Tuesday, October 18, 4pm All are for young adults ages 12-18. More info: http://www.nols.org/events/index.html | | Thursday, October 6th, 2011 | | 2:10 pm |
| | Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 | | 3:18 am |
We made our goal!
Frank Young and I reached our Kickstarter goal in only one week! The campaign is to help us finish Carter Family Comics, a graphic novel biography of country music's Carter Family. I want to thank everyone who repsonded -- I'm hugely grateful for your support!
If you didn't pledge yet, but are interseted, there is still time. A pledge of $50 will get you a bit of original art from the book. And if times are tough, you can donate as little as one dollar to be a recipient of exclusive updates and views of art-in-progress and such. Thank you, folks. Keep on the Sunny Side. | | Sunday, September 11th, 2011 | | 10:07 am |
| | Thursday, September 1st, 2011 | | 4:09 pm |
Lasky Comics News, Fall 2011
Hi Everyone, I'm excited that I have some printed comics coming out (for the first time in a while) and wanted to share the news.... Working with writer Frank Young, I drew a graphic novel for younger readers (middle school age) called Oregon Trail: Road to Destiny. This sweet little book, about one famiy's harrowing journey on the trail, was something Frank and I took on to help support the Carter Family graphic novel that we've been working on for the past three years. I was lucky enough to ink and color a two page comic for the late Harvey Pekar (in collaboration with penciler Sara Rosenbaum) for a book called "Yiddishkeit" -- and was then invited to draw the cover image. (All this happened a while ago & the book comes out this month). You can see a review of "Yiddishkeit" here (and scroll down to see the cover and the two pages I inked).  On top of all that, I'll have two short pieces in the upcoming Best American Comics anthology... (My contributions are the comic book "soixante neuf", with writer Mairead Case, and the one page strip "Ultimate Graphic Novel (in 6 panels).") As mentioned, I'm still at work on a graphic novel about country music's Carter Family. Frank and I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign any day now to raise funds to finish the book. I will probably write you (and everyone I know) about that soon. Meanwhile, if you're interested, you can get a look at some of the new art on the Carter Family graphic novel progress blog. Hope you're doing well in these crazy times, Hang in there, friends... David | | Friday, August 26th, 2011 | | 10:46 am |
What kind of summer is this?
This summer was mostly winter-like in Seattle, but then it turned all sunny and now the grass is dried out in many yards.
A friend got beat up in the Greenwood neighborhood, not far from where I live, and I'm hearing that women are being attacked in North Seattle. Yesterday I heard that some people were randomly attacked in Cal Anderson park (Capital Hill's lovely centerpiece).
What is going on Seattle??!
And two friends have recently been diagnosed with cancer. I'm wishing them a lot of strength and positive energy.
One of those friends, Dylan Williams, is one of the most daring and kind-hearted comics publishers I've ever known. He published my minimalist adaptation of The Raven in his ORCHID anthology, and he's given so many great young artists a start (Jason Shiga! Austin English! Eric Haven! Chris Cilla! and etc).
You can read a little more about Dylan here:
http://exquisitething.blogspot.com/2011/08/dylan-williams-of-sparkplug-comics.html And show your support for his label, Sparkplug Comic Books, here:
http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/books/books.html
| | Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 | | 2:25 pm |
| | 12:05 pm |
John F. Kennedy vs. Predator
It's Comicon weekend in San Diego, and though I am not there, I want to celebrate by showing the cover of a comic book begun by one of my students at a library comics workshop in Seattle recently. I think it's one of the best ideas I've ever heard...
To the student who made this and left it behind: Don't stop! Keep working on your story!
| | Friday, June 17th, 2011 | | 12:05 pm |
| | Thursday, June 16th, 2011 | | 3:49 pm |
| | Saturday, May 28th, 2011 | | 8:05 pm |
| | Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 | | 1:30 pm |
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