Long John at the Crocker Art Museum

Jul19
by on 19 July 2019
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Aside from the expected promotions and, perhaps, professional development workshops, there aren’t many major milestones on a person’s resume that genuinely stands one out from the pool.

My resume isn’t that impressive. My academic resume––called in the industry a Curriculum Vitae––shows the classes I’ve taught over the years as well as work done directly with the English department. My artistic resume is, arguably, less impressive. Sure, over the years––and stretched between two series––I’ve published ten books, appeared at a smattering of conventions (I was even a guest at a few), hosted a few panels and workshops, but nothing that really makes me stand out from the shadows of the many other ambitious, socially and artistically talented, and business savvy local creators on the scene.

To my surprise, a few recent developments have occurred that make me proud to add a new line to my creative resume, and it’s one that I never intended nor expected to add.

Both buildings are the Crocker Art Museum. Yes, they are attached. Image Source: City of Sacramento

Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum is one of the premier art galleries in California if not only for being the longest continually-operating art gallery since it opened in 1885, then for being home to a collection of a wide variety of cultural and creative expressions from across the world. In the last few years, they have played host to traveling exhibitions from the prints of Toulouse-Lautrec to the modern esoteric art of Hi-Fructose.

Since 2013, the museum has hosted its own unique brand of comic book convention, called Crocker-Con, that is mostly a pop culture celebration that focuses on local talent and art. It’s one of my favorite shows and I have been lucky enough to exhibit at most of them.

For the first time this year, the Crocker has opened up its walls to local comic art, and I am lucky enough to be included.

Located in the Community/Studio section of the museum, the halls have been lined with framed comic book art by people like Jon Williams (Space Oddities, B-Squad), Justin Greenwood (The Last Siege), Lauren Gramprey (Nickelodeon storyboard artist, The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham and Eggs, B-Squad), Michael Calero (B-Squad), Sean Sutter (Relic Blade, B-Squad), and many others. More than that, local comic shop, A-1 Comics, brought in a stack of comics from the medium’s history to highlight major moments and developments of the art form (I took pictures of the X-Men books, of course).

The first page of Long John hangs at the Crocker-Con exhibit in the Crocker Art Museum.

The show runs through Crocker-Con at the end of September, with a reception event for the gallery on September 7.

I never had any expectation or goal to have my work hanging in an art museum, much less in a frame on somebody’s wall. And, sure, it’s not like I’m not a new, permanent addition to the Crocker’s collection, hanging next to the likes of Raymond Dabb Yelland’s sublime Yosemite Valley or Evelyn McCormick’s astounding Arizona Gardens (two of my favorite paintings in the museum), it’s still amazing to realize I’m in the building if even for a short while because I doubt there will be very few things that will continue to make me chuckle to myself in disbelief in the future than saying, “D. Bethel had work hanging in the Crocker.”

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Long John by Giannis Milonogiannis

Jul12
by on 12 July 2019
Giannis Milonogianni’s lineart for the Long John commission.

Adaptation is literally the key to evolution and survival.

However, adaptation isn’t only about moving forward; it’s about absorbing and interpreting what has come before, taking what you need, and making something new from the pieces.

It’s no secret how important the Prophet reboot from Image comics was for my development as an independent creator. It was––through its creative thesis––everything I wanted to be as a creator: bucking the writer/artist paradigm, blending prose and art as a creative process, and telling a story that challenged the tropes of a genre.

But that came later, once the trade paperback collections started releasing. What actually got me on board was the talent attached; first with Simon Roy and then securing me with the addition of Giannis Milonogiannis––two creators I’d found and who had blown my mind with their pre-Prophet work. Roy’s Jan’s Atomic Heart became one of those books I passed around incessantly, asking, “did you know comics could do this?!” Milonogiannis’ work with Old City Blues was much quieter but no less impactful. His work was a strange blend of manga and European-styled grit that actually pulled me away from an animation style into a world of creator-owned expression as I eventually discovered the works of Enki Bilal, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and François Boucq. But that trend started with Milonogiannis and his cyberpunk police comic, Old City Blues.

Representing old school Milonogiannis. #webcomiclife

Earlier this year, I saw through social media that Giannis opened up commissions and I jumped at the chance. A part of me wants to secure physical artifacts of those who inspired me as I head further into creator-owned independence: I have a book signed by Brandon Graham, I have a Prophet page by Simon Roy, and I had a giclée print from Giannis Milonogiannis, fully expecting that was as close as I’d get to having his work in my world outside of the books themselves.

To my surprise, he was willing to do commissions of original characters and, after a brief exchange with reference material and a link to the comic, he hammered out this wonderful Long John drawing in his own inimitable style.

Giannis’ “Old Man Prophet” print sits above my drawing table, alongside a throng of other art that constantly inspires.

What I received was a glimpse into the world of my characters but through the lens of a creator I respect and admire. It’s not the same as my own, but the differences make it better––not a look at what Long John should be, but what it looks like translated through another person’s hand. It proved (to me) that Long John is a transferable idea, one that can cross oceans and talents, and I love––more than anything––how Giannis captured the otherworldliness (and plain otherness) that the story embodies through its characters and setting. But hunting through the piece and seeing finding what choices he made––what pieces of the premise he absorbed and interpreted––is as fun as simply having the piece in front of me. It’s like hearing someone sing a cover of a song I wrote––it’s simultaneously instructive and validating.

What I received is an adaptation in the purest sense. It’s still clearly Long John and Hellrider Jackie, but in a style that is obviously not my own. In fact, it’s a style far from my own. This is Giannis’ version of these characters, hinting at the viability and applicability of, at the very least, the designs, giving them life in a manner of which I could ever give them––a different manner––and his work continues to inspire and push me forward, to break down even my own work, to reinterpret and reapply it to make something different and better with each step forward.

Long John commission by Giannis Milonogiannis (colors by D. Bethel)

Giannis is currently drawing Ronin Island for Boom! Studios with writer Greg Pak. Be sure to also check out his webcomic, Old City Blues, with volumes 1 & 2 available for purchase through Archaia Entertainment/Boom! Studios. Old City Blues is also currently in a development deal with Hulu, with Kerry Washington set to star and Gore Verbinski attached to direct.

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D. Bethel Draws… Long John #11

Jul05
by on 5 July 2019

I’ll admit, inking wasn’t a skill I wholly valued or ever really practiced for a long time. Part of that comes from having focused on the craft of drawing over everything else. Another part comes from never really being exposed to––during my burgeoning artistic years––skilled inking techniques or processes aside from looking at finished work in a comic, print, or book.

This was exacerbated in recent years by the fact that it seemed the comic book industry didn’t really value the art of inking much anymore, either, with some books coloring and lettering over pencils, skipping the inking step completely. This never really became a dominant trend, but one that an artist with a lack of confidence in his inking skills took notice of.

This has been compounded also by the rise of digital art, wherein the pencils and inks are kind of one and the same with each layer of art being a more refined version of the previous one.

Just introducing a brush to my toolset opened up so many new possibilities for inking.

When I started drawing comics “seriously” in 2007 (meaning, at the time, more serious than someone who was not making comics at all), my process was nearly completely digital. It wouldn’t be for a year or so when I decided to take a step back from the screen and, with my tools covered in a fine layer of dust, figure out how all of these things worked.

My basic approach hasn’t changed too much from those early days with the exception of gaining a more confident and steady hand and a stronger handle on more tools than just an assortment of pens. However, as I gain confidence and skill, I can see what good and considered inking can do––trying to understand the artistic intent of an inker––and those are becoming things I want my inking to do. Perhaps, my inking will not do that within the context of Long John but will, instead, be used on future projects and other pieces (I often chronicle not only my focused inking for Long John but also my practice pieces on Instagram and even more occasionally on my YouTube channel).

The point is that, when it comes to inking, I’m still learning and it’s exciting because it’s not just exercising the muscle memory to become better at what I’m already doing––things like perspective and anatomy and facial expressions, etc. The possibility I see in inking involves learning techniques that are wholly new to me and it’s exciting to not only learn them and practice them but doing so encourages me to imagine ways to use them.

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