Shout-out: Sungyoon Choi

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

SUNGYOON CHOI!

Sungyoon Choi is an illustrator and a comic book artist living in Brooklyn, New York. She studied illustration at School of Visual Arts MFA program. In 2008 she illustrated the graphic novel “American Widow” for Villard press. Currently she's working on two other new graphic novels which will come out next year. Sungyoon also teaches “the Art of the Graphic Novel” at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

See more of her work at choiarts.com

Sample pages from Rabid Rabbit #13

Editor's note: Choi is yet another of the fantastically talented folks I met through freelancing at JWT. She's also a key component of the Rabid Rabbit anthology series (Lead Designer, to be precise) and a teacher of cartooning at SVA here in NYC. 

Round up of all-things-Digestate...

• Aaron Long's short interview with J.T. Yost (that's me!) on Comicosity in regards to the Digestate food & eating themed anthology. 
• Alec Berry's interview with J.T. Yost on Spandexless, also about Digestate, but now with different questions & answers!
• The Beat, our favorite comics news blog, gives a shout-out to Digestate.
• Supervegan, our favorite all-things-vegan blog, also gives us a virtual thumbs up.

There's more, but I don't want to bore you.

Don't forget, the Kickstarter campaign is ending in less than three days...please, for The Love of All That Is Holy, go pledge some dough (and get great rewards).

Shout-out: Aron Nels Steinke

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

ARON NELS STEINKE!

Portrait of The Artist as a young wolf

Aron Nels Steinke first studied hand-drawn animation before eventually drawing and writing comics and children's books. In 2006 he received a Xeric Grant which propelled him into the self-publishing and cartooning world. Aron has published 5 issues of the autobiographical comics series, Big Plans, and has frequently participated in numerous anthologies including Not My Small Diary and the award winning Papercutter anthology. 

Aron's all-ages graphic novel, Neptune, first published by Sparkplug Comic Books and Tugboat Press, has been translated and published into French and selected as a notable book for this year's BestAmerican Comics, published by Houghton Mifflin. Aron's two early-reader children's books, The Super Crazy Cat Dance and The Super-Duper Dog Park were published by Blue Apple Books. The latter of the two was chosen as a Publisher's Weekly honorable mention for the Best Comics of 2011. Bozo the Teacher, a comic strip based on the author's daily life as an elementary school teacher updates weekly on the author's website, www.aronnelssteinke.com.

Editor's note: I touched on this in the previous post about James Kochalka, but I am a big fan of simplicity in comics. Aron Nels Steinke is very adept at drawing in a style that can appeal to both children and adults. Given his other profession (elementary school teacher), it's not surprising that he is able to tap into the fun & innocence many of us associate with childhood. 

My introduction to Steinke was through his self-published autobiographical comics. I recommend checking out his Big Plans series...very compelling and fun to read!

Shout-out: James Kochalka

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

JAMES KOCHALKA!

A mural James painted at the Living/Learning Gallery in Vermont

James Kochalka is the Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.  He has been drawing his daily diary comic strip American Elf since 1998.

www.AmericanElf.com

http://kochalka.tumblr.com/

Sample page from American Elf (sketch diaries)

Editor's note: It's fitting that when asked for an artist bio, James Kochalka sent the two sentences shown above. What I find most appealing about his artwork is his ability to simplify. The simplicity of his drawings belie the emotional impact he is able to impart. His range is also impressive. Sometimes he'll draw a crude gag, and sometimes a raw, emotional insight. 

Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forest!

I first discovered Kochalka through his Sketch Diaries. They used to be published each year, but they have since been retitled American Elf and are published in a larger format about every two years by Top Shelf (he's drawn a diary comic every day since 1988!). His brushwork inspired me to all but ditch the pens I was using at the time in favor of a brush, a practice I've continued to this day. 

Kochalka's output seemingly never slows. If anything, he constantly ventures into new territory. He's the lead singer of James Kochalka Superstar, has designed a video game (Glorkian Warror) with Pixeljam, painted countless tiny 2"x2" paintings for gallery shows (I've got one in my studio), drawn children's books (Squirrelly Gray is my daughter's favorite) and is currently working on an animated version of his SuperF*ckers series of books for Cartoon Hangover. 

Sample page from Johnny Boo

Sample page from Dragon Pucher

Sample page from SuperF*ckers

Cover art for DIGESTATE!

Check it out, y'all...here's the front cover (by Cha) for the Digestate anthology! Man, she did a great job.

Don't forget to kick in some dollar$ to the Kickstarter campaign. There's only five days left, so get in while the gettins good. And feel free to share any of these images and/or information on the World Wide Web. Thanks!

Shout-out: James Turek

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

JAMES TUREK!

James Turek (left) drawing/winning the Finnish Comics Battle 2012!

The artist bio picture he wanted me to run, for some reason.

James Turek is an illustrator/cartoonist/comic artist and print maker whose work has can be seen in several publications such as Kinkimag (Swiss) Smoke Signal (NY) Kus! (Latvia) and Drops (Germany) to name a few. He is currently working on an English word book for Klett Kinderbuch, due out in Spring.

Nature Park Cages

Sample page from adaptation of Huckleberry Finn (for sale on his blog)

I teach a children's comic workshop a few times a year, give lectures(for adults) and show my work at various comic festivals as well as actively participating in the growing comics scene here in Leipzig, Germany. Beyond that, like so many, I am always searching for new ways to put FOOD on the table by doing what I love the most..drawing (and reading) comix! You can see more of my work at:

www.absoluteturek.blogspot.com

"The Creation Story" from Berlin's 'Radio As Paper'

Editor's note: James is one of the many, many fine folks I met through The Nursery at JWT (storyboards, animation, etc. for advertising campaigns). His gorgeous silkscreen of a Waffle House is one of my favorite pieces of artwork hanging in my studio. The colors and line quality perfectly capture the nostalgia I feel for an iconic establishment that figured prominently in my youth in the deep south. Most of the mini comics I have of Turek's are entirely silk-screened - every page! Insanity!

"Tractor Beam" from Leizpig's 'Drops no.4' comic anthology

James Turek's Kickstarter reward sample!

The esteemed Mr. James Turek has added a reward to the Digestate Kickstarter campaign. There will be three (3) of these very limited edition silk screen prints available, so get on it folks!

Shout-out: Jonathan Baylis

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

JONATHAN BAYLIS!

Portrait by Paul Westover

Before Jonathan Baylis wrote auto-bio comics, he interned at Marvel Comics, Valiant/Acclaim Comics, and was an Associate Editor at Topps Comics.  His comics have been published locally in New York City and in literary anthologies like The Florida Review, Backwards City Review, and Wild River Review.  His first fiction story was published by Arcana Press in Dark Horrors 2.  Jonathan had a couple of two-pagers published in “I Saw You… Missed Connections” and “Side B: The Music Lovers Anthology”.  He has since collected most of his stories into the self-published, “So Buttons” series, of which there are four issues and a holiday special in print.  More stories can be found at www.sobuttons.com and sobuttons.tumblr.com

Portrait by Noah Van Sciver

Editor's note: I used to live in the same neighborhood as Jonathan (or "J. Bay", as I call him), and his street features prominently in Jonathan Lethem's "The Fortress of Solitude". My given name is also Jonathan. I'm not sure what this all adds up to, but I can tell you that he has one of the cutest bug-eyed Boston Terriers I have ever had the pleasure to lay eyes/hands on. If you meet up with him for a beer, Mocha: The International Delight (that's the dog's name) will undoubtedly be there, too. 

Portrait by Thomas Boatwright

Portrait by Gabrielle Bell

Portrait by Ed Piskor