The Endpapers--Last New Art For The Carter Family Graphic Novel!

Altho' these are crummy iPod pictures (see Corin See's much higher-rez shot, taken minutes after I took these, on Facebook), they offer a candid look at David--at work on the last piece of significant line art for Don't Forget This Song.

These lo-rez pix don't do justice to this stunning endpaper art. This is one of two ultra-detailed, distinctive pieces of endpaper artwork the book will have.

The book is going to press for a proof printing this week. We'll have a slim window of time to make a few needed changes, and then it's off to the press for real.

Here's David putting nib to bristol board, plus two shots of the art-in-progress...

More soon, friends!

Coloring Completed for DFTS! Whew!!!

I can relate to A.P. Carter's need to sit down in an easy chair, catch his breath, and maybe take a nap!
I just turned in the last color pages for our long-in-progress graphic novel Carter Family Comics: Don't Forget This Song!
David should have the book's decorative endpapers completed today as well.

If I weren't stone broke, I'd go out and celebrate!

The work isn't completely done. There's some tweaking and fixing-up left to do... but the big major effort is COMPLETED!

While we complete the last filigrees and lily-gildings of this project, and as we wait for the book to come into print, we'll present excerpts and behind-the-scenes stuff  here, to whet your appetite for the published book--which is scheduled to ship in October!

In the meantime--hey, "Doc," don't mind me! I'm slouching down in the armchair right beside you (not pictured in comics panel above--but believe me, it's there...)

AT LAST! Basic Artwork Completed For DFTS!!!

It only took us about 3.5 years--and many unforeseen obstacles--but David has completed the basic line art for this graphic novel!

Here are a couple of snapshots I took of the pencil work to the next-to-last chapter of the book, as they sat on David's drawing table at the time. They're all inked and they look beautiful!

Now to finish coloring the book... David is helping out on the coloring. We hope to get this last burst of work done quickly--and well. More updates soon!

Old Time Songs

I am working hard (furiously) to ink the last few pages of the book....

Meanwhile, if you're a fan of old time music, I'd like to point you toward Martha Burns' kickstarter campaign...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1226502260/martha-burns-solo-cd-of-old-time-songs
Her voice reminds of me Iris Dement's.

-David

America Salutes the Carter Family

A Northwest musician named Markly Morrison contacted me a while back about doing the cover art for his Carter Family tribute album, America Salutes the Carter Family. I'm excited to announce that it's been released! And, yes, I drew the cover art. And my collaborator Frank Young kindly colored that art...

You can sample the album and order a copy by clicking here.

The album is a collection of Carter Family songs as sung by northwest bands, encountered and recorded by Markly. You can read more about it at the link above.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Rita Forrester and the Carter Family Fold. Rita, a grand-daughter of Sara and A.P. Carter, suffered a horribly tragic house fire two years ago. It took the life of her husband, Bob Forrester.

We Made It--Thanks to You!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Wow! We raised $8523.00 in our Kickstarter campaign!

This show of support means the world to David and I! We can't throw a party for the 150 folks who became supporters of our Kickstarter campaign... so how about a couple new color pages?

This notable page introduces the adult Maybelle to the world of the Carter Family-as-musicians! The fella with the fiddle is Poor Valley postman, Price Owens.

This page shows Sara and A.P. going to their first, abortive recording session, for Brunswick Records' mobile unit in 1925. They travel by horse-cart to nearby Kingsport, which was already an industrial center of the area.

We hope you enjoy this new sneak peek at our work-in-progress! We'll be hard at work on the completion of this book--now we can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to the drawin' board (and colorin' computer)!

Dear Friends--You ROCK!

David and I have just learned that we've not only reached our Kickstarter goal of $5,000--we've exceeded it!

We could not be more moved and grateful for the terrific outreach of support for DON'T FORGET THIS SONG. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you!

To celebrate, here's a couple of recent pages of finished colored artwork. (No dialogue yet, but the images are mighty nice to look at!)

First is a page from Chapter 8, in which Maybelle's guitar genius absolutely flusters Price Owens, the fiddle-playing postman who sometimes jammed with A.P. and Sara, in those gentle days before recording fame...

Here is a page from Chapter 5, showing the aftermath of the wedding of A.P. and Sara, and their travels to their new home in Poor Valley. Sara comments as she places her Autoharp on the bureau, "There... now it feels like home."

We hope you enjoy seeing these finished pages. We're working hard to finish the book this year. Your overwhelming show of support has us both really jazzed! Thanks again...