I Pick The Best Books To Make You A Better Artist

I was recently approached by Sheperd.com to compile a list of books to recommend. What is Shepherd? Here’s what their website says on the subject: “Shepherd is like wandering around your favorite bookstore but reimagined for the online world… along with little notes from authors pointing out their favorite books.”

The recommendations on the website are all over the map. Some recent ones are: “The best young adult shifter romance books” “The best science fiction books in aesthetic universes” “The best historical fiction books about the Tudors” and “The best Christian romance with spiritual and romantic passion”. Since the Shepherd people had chosen me because of the popularity of my perspective instructional books, I decided that my list would be “The best books to make you a better artist.”

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Quarantine Continues

A month and change into the quarantine, and things have settled into a routine. Every morning I wake up around 6:30, have coffee and a frozen banana for breakfast (I’m trying to avoid putting on quarantine weight as well as using less toilet paper), feed Winston, post dreams to Facebook, and then work until noon, when I have… another cup of coffee (and feed Winston some dry food). Eve usually answers work emails for an hour or so in the morning, then goes outside to do stuff in the garden. After noon I usually put in a little time pulling weeds (the focus this week- bluebells!), work in the studio for a few more hours, maybe take a leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood in the afternoon. At seven, just before dinner, (and around the time Winston gets his third feeding- he’s a growing boy), Eve & I go outside and bang pots and pans or beat on a drum with our neighbors. Theoretically, this ritual honors essential workers, but mostly it just lets off steam. Then Eve & I watch TV: So far we’ve watched Season 3 of Ozark, Mrs. Fletcher, Avenue 5, Season 9 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Some of Dave and What We Do In The Shadows, and two and a half seasons of Better Things. I usually get sleepy and head off to bed between 9 and 10.

Some weekly events punctuate the Groundhog’s Day sameness. Saturday morning we do our weekly Zoom conference with scattered family. Wednesday evening garbage goes out. Various podcasts arrive on schedule to tell me what day it is. Ken Jennings’s Trivia Quiz email tells me it’s Tuesday.

I’ve been making little tweaks here and there to my Patreon page. Recently, I decided to add links connecting all the Call Slip Comics I have posted over the past few years. Cheer your confinement by recalling the bygone days of when libraries were still open! Now you can read the strips in order, starting from the very first:

David Chelsea is reading: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

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Two Modern Love Illustrations For February

 

I had two of my old Modern Love column illustrations from the New York Times repurposed for the podcast in February. From the website:

“How do you fall in love again after loss? How do you feel with all the complicated, conflicted emotions that come from grieving one person, and also opening yourself up to loving someone else?

That’s what Brendan Halpin explores in his essay. It’s called “Dedicated to Two Women, Only One of Them Alive.”

It’s read by Terry Crews. He stars in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which returns to NBC on February 6th.”

David Chelsea is reading: She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey

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Modern Love Podcast: Never Tell Our Business To Strangers | With Ruth Wilson

I’m usually more on top of this, but I’ve been extremely busy lately, so I let almost two weeks pass before I noticed the appearance of another of my Modern Love column illustrations from the New York Times, repurposed for the podcast. From the website:

“Never tell our business to strangers.” That’s what Jennifer Mascia was told growing up. But it wasn’t until she was an adult that she learned the reason why.

Jennifer’s essay is read by Ruth Wilson. Ruth has starred in “The Affair” and “Luther.” You can see her now in “His Dark Materials” on HBO.

David Chelsea is reading: She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey

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American Bystander #10: James McMullan and Full Frontal Haiku!

The latest issue of American Bystander, number 10, contains a murderer’s row of heavy-hitting cartoonist and writers, including Drew Friedman, M.K. Brown, Ed Subitzky, Charles Barsotti, Rick Geary, et al, and I especially recommend the reminiscence by Jennifer Finney Boylan, who was Managing Editor of the American Bystander’s original prototype issue in 1982, but for me the most significant name is this month’s cover artist, veteran illustrator James McMullan.

David Chelsea is reading: Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America
by Jared Cohen

Continue reading American Bystander #10: James McMullan and Full Frontal Haiku!

Modern Love Podcast: Race Wasn’t An Issue To Him, Which Was An Issue To Me | With Lorraine Toussaint

This week the Modern Love Podcast revives one of my favorite illustrations from my run on the column, which originally ran in 2006. From the website:

“Kim McLarin writes about race and dating in her piece, ‘Race Wasn’t an Issue To Him, Which Was an Issue To Me.’ It’s read by Lorraine Toussaint. She’s starring now in the shows ‘The Village’ and ‘Into the Badlands,’ and you can also see her in the upcoming films ‘Fast Color’ and ‘Sprinter,’ out later this month.”

David Chelsea is reading: Dreyer’s English
by Benjamin Dreyer

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Modern Love Podcast: “Ah, To Be Old, Male, and Single.”

Another of my New York Times illustrations has been repurposed for the Modern Love Podcast. From the website:

“Here’s a problem most of us never have: So many people want to date you — and send you baked goods — that you have to turn them away.

Well, that did not happen to Amy Cohen. But it did happen to her father. Amy writes about the difference between her father’s dating life and her own in her essay, “Ah, To Be Old, Male, and Single.”

David Chelsea is reading: Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey
by Mark Dery

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American Bystander #9 Is Here!

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The latest issue of AMERICAN BYSTANDER has just recently arrived. Considering the figure on the cover by Rick Geary, this issue may have been SLIGHTLY delayed in getting to me, but hey, who says Santa Claus is just for Christmas? This issue continues the high standards of hilarity the fledgling humor magazine has set for itself, with contributions by mainstays Shannon Wheeler, Roz Chast, Drew Friedman, S. Gross, Ron Barrett, Brian McConnachie, and Peter Kuper, a cartoon by newcomer Lila Ash, and multiple contributions by yours truly.

David Chelsea is reading: The Goat Getters
by Eddie Campbell

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