Dragon and Goat

New D&G Website

2008-03-23T10:46:00.002-06:00

Wahoo! Dragon and Goat have a brand, spanking new website. You can check out past D&G antics, buy new and old Dragon and Goat books, and find out where their robotic dog Magnet came from. Check it out and tell us what you think. http://www.dragonandgoat.com
Cheers!

And that's a wrap. . .

2007-08-28T20:54:00.001-06:00

The Power of Pi!

2007-08-28T20:47:00.000-06:00

Professor von Gopherton, I presume?

2007-08-28T20:41:00.000-06:00

Under the Sea and to Pi-rat Island

2007-08-28T20:20:00.001-06:00

WaHoo! Some Pi-Rat Action!

Walk the Plank

2007-07-21T15:33:00.000-06:00

Arggh! Cap'n Squidfoot!

2007-07-21T14:39:00.000-06:00

To Find a Boat: The Cursed Manatee

2007-07-03T14:04:00.001-06:00

Week Three of Pi-rats of The Caribean:

Dragon and Goat finally secure a vessel so to travel the Seven Seas in search of the Pi-rat treasure.

Pi-Rats of the Caribbean: Part 2

2007-06-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

Pier Fishing yields Dragon and Goat a plot-jumping catch.

If you haven't noticed the lettering for D&G has changed. I've traded the hand-lettering for a font that I designed based on my hand-writing. It's tighter, cleaner. . . and it frees up some time to do more with shading. Let me know what you think.

Pi-Rats of the Caribbean: Part 1

2007-06-20T06:55:00.000-06:00

This summer Dragon and Goat's latest adventures take them to the beach and then in search of Pi-rat treasure! Not "pirate," but "Pi-rat."

Lunch with R.C. Harvey

2007-05-18T11:03:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday before driving to Bloomington to drop off a sculpture/painting for the Emerging Illinois Artist exhibition, I had the good fortune of meeting up with R.C. Harvey for lunch at the White Horse Inn.

R.C. is a pretty well-known cartoonist and the writer of a column "Rants and Raves" as well as several books The Art of the Funnies, The Art of the Comic Book, and the book that he gave me a copy of- Kids of the Yellow Kid. I had read his weekly columns in the Accent newspaper (the only thing in there that I read), and I knew he lived in Champaign, but I didn't meet him until we all went out to dinner with Scott and Ivy McCloud.

He has a slightly different perspective on a definition of what "comics" are than McCloud. He seems more invested in the aspect of the medium as a synergy of word and image than McCloud's (and Eisner's) requirement of sequential images- McCloud's definition thereby excluding The Farside. Harvey's emphasis in the interplay of word and picture in comics closely resembles Art Speigelman's construct for comics- the "word-picture." Harvey expressed a concern that the term Sequential Art was perhaps a broader category in which comics fit, but that not everything sequential was necessarily a comic. Like a rhomus is a parallelegram but a parallelagram isn't necessarily a rhombus (it can be a square, rectangel, etc.) Thank you geometry.

We didn't spend the whole time covering comic theory, though, it was a great discussion, and he really seemed to care what I thought. He was interested in how I got into comics and doing it for a Chinese newspaper. I gave him a copy of Dragon and Goat's newest anthology: Into the Jelly (Click to check it out!).

We started to talk about the business of daily comics, newspapers, and various daily artists he knew and how the business worked and didn't work for them. Unbeknownst to me, the Daily Illini is actually paying me hansomely for a daily comic at $9/strip. Harvey was really surprised at the rate since most artists only get $2.5/strip through syndicates, requiring them to sell to a lot of newspapers.

All in all it was a great lunch. We wanted to get together again, but since I was leaving for Chicago for the summer, and he would be moving to Colorado in June it may be difficult. Still I may take the train down for another lunch with one of the great minds of comics.

Check out R.C. Harvey's site at: www.rcharvey.com .

Baka!

2007-05-02T17:00:00.000-06:00

I'm no otaku, so I'm relying on the interweb for the characters of what Goat is saying to Dragon in today's strip (http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/paper736/sections/20070502Diversions.html). Since my characters aren't that great (as good as one semester of Chinese calligraphy got me), they do read "baka!" Baka is often translated as stupid or idiot, and it's a phrase that Inuyahsa says quite a bit- which is why I decided to use it.

Sorry it's not more exciting than that. . .

Scott McCloud Visit

2007-04-26T19:22:00.000-06:00

So, yeah, I got to meet Scott McCloud. It was pretty amazing. I drove him around campus in my B2000, but he didn't seem to notice the toaster turtle on my dashboard. His mind must have been on other things. The visit seemed pretty short, but getting to hang out with one of the leading comic theorists for a day and a half was pretty sweet.

The lecture went off without a hitch. The auditorium was filled beyond capacity, and there thankfully wasn't a fire marshall in sight. Scott covered a huge amount of material in the lecture and gave a lively presentation.

We got pizza afterwards with Scott and his wife Ivy, though the kids preferred to stay in and watch Heroes at the hotel. We had some good conversations and R.C. Harvey, a Champaign local and comic mastermind, came along and John Jennings.

The next day we checked out the Canvas technology 3d-dealie in the Krannert and visited a printmaking class. Afterwards Ivy, Winter and Sky joined us out at my studio where I showed them my non-comic art and gave Scott a copy of the new D&G book. So if Scott McCloud owns a copy you should, too: http://www.lulu.com/content/634431.

After laughing at the South Farms signs for Tornado Shelters the McClouds were off to Chicago on the 50 State Book tour.

In the end I don't really know how I got him here (well, me and the school's money), but it was pretty great. If you didn't catch his lecture. . . you better run to his next engagement.

Scott McCloud is Coming to UIUC Apr. 23rd!

2007-04-18T07:56:00.000-06:00

The amazing Scott McCloud of Understanding Comics and the newest book Making Comics is coming to Urbana Champaign as a stop on his 50 State Tour.

He'll be here Monday, April 23rd at 6:00pm at the Krannert Art Museum for a lecture titled "Comic Storytelling." It promises to be an excellent lecture, and afterwards he'll be available for book signing.

The event is hosted by the Art Graduate Student Organization and is being funded by the School of Art's Visiting Artists Series and the Student Organization Activity Fee.

Here's the Krannert Location: 500 East Peabody DrChampaign IL 61820 [view map and driving directions].

Any questions, comments? Just let me know.

New Dragon and Goat Anthology is HERE!!!!!!

2007-03-12T21:39:00.000-06:00

At long last! The all new anthology: Dragon and Goat: Into the Jelly is available to the public. Expand your library and your mind with this amazing collection of Dragon and Goat cartoons spanning their time in the Shenzhen Daily in China and their first year in the Daily Illini in Champaign, Illinois. This is the first time several of the comics have been printed in mind-blowing RGB color.
You can catch up on whatever awesome storylines you missed out on from the arrival of a miniature Chairman Mao to Dragon contracting the bird flu.
If you want a copy of the book just go to http://www.lulu.com/. This should be the link directly to my book: http://www.lulu.com/content/634431. It's pretty cheap. . . and collectible.
When you get the book let me know what you think.

Dragon and Goat: Pluto

2007-02-06T20:22:00.000-06:00

So, the latest strips have Dragon and Goat venturing to Pluto to re-establish its planetary status, but then things get a little crazy. . .

It's a super long sequence- the longest that I've done so far- but I think it's worth it in the long run. . . even if it outright confuses 95% of the Daily Illini readers who pick up the paper every once in a while.

BUT. . . if you are one of those valuable readers who picks it up occassionally, you're in luck. You can catch up on the back story and hilarious jokes that you've missed right here:
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/afotos2/www/fotopia/d&gweb/d&gPages/d&Gs2006/d&gUIUC2.htm

Not only can you catch up but you can see all the new Dragon and Goat in FULL COLOR!!!!

Dragon and Goat: Let the Blogging Begin (For Real this Time)

2007-01-31T18:57:00.000-06:00

I'm starting up the Dragon and Goat Blog for real this time. To start off I want to make sure everyone can access the old Dragon and Goats on my website. Here you'll be able to read what the Daily Illini keeps hidden away in a secret vault that they're too lazy to upload to their site.

You'll also get to see that some Dragon and Goats are in COLOR!!!!! Hoo-ray RGB!!! In fact, all the new Dragon and Goats for the spring semester will be made entirely in color!
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/afotos2/www/fotopia/DragonGoat.htm

Let me know what you all think.

Dragon and Goat, the blogging begins

2006-04-16T20:59:00.000-06:00

So I'm beginning a blog for Dragon and Goat. I'll be posting comments on D&G, and hopefully this can be a forum for Dragon and Goat fans from around the world. Please leave your comments.