I had a dream last night that I lost my website, and then couldn’t remember what I might need one for. I think this is a sign that I ought to blog more often, although it’s possibly a sign that I shouldn’t blog at all anymore.
Continue reading RIP, Nancy Swartz
Just a heads-up that I’ve posted an Adobe After Effects video promoting my webcomic ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?- which ran from 2015 to 2017, and is still viewable on Patreon (and which is soon to become my next book from Dark Horse)- on YouTube and Patreon. The video takes the form of credits sequences for imaginary Reality TV shows such as KIBBLE KITCHEN and CLOSET CLEANSE, which appear as part of the story. I’ll be posting digital art created for the video in the coming weeks.
Watch the video on YouTube
Watch the video on Patreon
Read ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? on Patreon
My first foray into Adobe After Effects, this animated logo is taken from the Cellar Dwellers chapter of ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, a graphic novel about Reality TV which ran from 2015 to 2017 on my Patreon page, and which is forthcoming in book form from Dark Horse Comics. My eventual plan is to make animated logos for all the Reality shows in the story as a video promotion for the book. I got a major assist on this one from Milan Erceg, After Effects wizard and director of 24 Hour Comic, the recent documentary I appeared in. I did the illustration and lettering, but Milan added the creepy blur-in effect and lots of digital noise to simulate the look of a vintage TV show. My hope is to eventually acquire enough chops to be able to do this kind of thing on my own with no help. Wish me luck!
We’re well into the fall, and I have posted only sporadically the entire summer, so it’s time I caught you loyal readers up on what I’ve been doing. One big thing was that I concluded my webcomic ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, which I have been serializing on Patreon for the past two years. You can read the entire run of the strip on Tumblr here, at least for a while- there are plans in the works for a book version, and I will most likely take down the archive when that comes out.
David Chelsea is reading: Someone Please Have Sex With Me
by Gina Wynbrandt
Continue reading How I Spent My Summer Vacation
This week it’s a bumper crop of posts on my Patreon page. Last week I ended the two-year run of ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, my webcomic about 24 Hour Comics. I follow it with a personal shout out to my loyal subscribers in comics form:
David Chelsea is watching: 24 HOUR COMIC: The Documentary
directed by Milan Erceg
Continue reading This Week on Patreon: A Curtain Call For ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, And THE CRUMB BUMS Begin!
Last night was the long-awaited theatrical premiere of 24 HOUR COMIC, the documentary film directed by Milan Erceg, in which I appear along with seven the other artists including my daughter Rebecca, drawing– what else?– 24 hour comics. The premiere at the Laurelhurst Theater in Portland went well; we had a near-full house, the audience laughed in all the right places, and there was a lively question-and-answer session afterward. My fellow participant (and ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? colorist) Jacob Mercy still refuses to watch the film, but showed up for the q and a and seemed to have a pretty good time despite his misgivings. Rebecca (thirteen at the time of filming, seventeen now) was unfortunately barred from attending due to restrictive Oregon Liquor Control Commission rules, but she will be on hand for a matinee showing today at the theater at 4 PM. If you missed the first time, even if you didn’t, I urge you to attend.
24 HOUR COMIC matinee with Q&A
Friday, 4-6 PM,
Laurelhurst Theater
2735 E Burnside St, Portland, OR 97214
l’ll be on KBOO-FM radio today at 11:30 am PDT to talk about the film with Milan and KBOO host S.W. Conser. Listen in Portland at 90.7 FM, or worldwide on the web.
David Chelsea is reading: Absurdistan: A Novel
by Gary Shteyngart
Continue reading 24 HOUR COMIC Opens! ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? Ends!
I believe I have mentioned this before, but 24 Hour Comic, the documentary in which I appear, along with seven other cartoonists, is about to have its Portland theatrical premiere. In the film, 8 Artists confined to a comic book store partake in Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comic Challenge. Each attempting to write, draw, and complete a 24 page comic in 24 hours. The film is the debut feature from filmmaker Milan Erceg, and features, among others, Paul Guinan, Rachel Nabors, Sera Stanton (now known as Opal Pence), Jacob Mercy, Pete Soloway, and Tom Lechner, and also has some delightful footage of my daughter Rebecca at 13, making her first attempt at a 24. Special guest appearance by comics guru Scott McCloud!
David Chelsea is reading: Fante Bukowski Two
by Noah Van Sciver
Continue reading 24 Hour Comic: The Movie Premiere!
I’m beginning a new archive comics series today on Patreon, a collection of the prototype strips for my graphic novel DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE. These were drawn over a period from about 1987 to 1989, and distributed in the form of photocopies which I gave away at performances of the Weird Al-like stand up act which I had been doing for several years in and around the East Village. The idea was that audiences would come back to follow the story (of course, it would have made even more sense for me to come up with new material to perform, but I was a slow writer). When I finished the series, I tried to market it to alternative weekly and comics publishers, but could find no takers. Gary Groth at Fantagraphics suggested that I expand it into a full-length graphic novel, and it was that version which Eclipse Comics eventually published in four issues in 1991-92, and as a collection in 1993. This early version did eventually make it into print when Eclipse made it part of their weekly ad in the industry publication THE COMICS BUYERS GUIDE, which actually reached far more readers than the comic itself.
David Chelsea is watching: Blade Runner
starring Harrison Ford
Continue reading DAVID CHELSEA IN LOVE: THE WEEKLY STRIPS on Patreon
Last Friday, I put up another two page installment of my continuing webcomic about Reality TV, ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? on Patreon. This week we meet our three celebrity judges who will decide who is this week’s winner, and who will be eliminated on the 24 Hour Comic Reality TV show hosted by Eisner-award nominated graphic novelist and perspective expert David Chelsea:
David Chelsea is reading:The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time
by Ariana Huffington
Continue reading ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?: Up The Yin-Yang!
In this week’s installment of my continuing web comic on Patreon, ARE YOU BEING WATCHED?, Mugg is deep in the lucid dream he is having while napping at his drawing board during a 24 hour comics session. Mugg has discovered that he can control the events of his dream, so naturally he uses his powers to put the girl of his dreams Mandy into a very fetching corset:
David Chelsea is reading:Rose City Vice: Portland in the 70’s: Dirty Cops and Dirty Robbers
by Phil Stanford
Continue reading This Week On ARE YOU BEING WATCHED? Work In Progress, And Mandy Rocks A Corset!