Wednesday Tapas: Conferences, Chairs & Celebrations

Brief bites for the mid-week:

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I've gotten a couple of recent inquiries about the Comics & Medicine Conference I'm helping organize for next July in Toronto (this will be the third international "graphic medicine" conference, following 2010 in London and 2011 in Chicago). The Call for Papers deadline was February 28, and everyone who submitted a proposal should have received an e-mail explaining that they'll hear back by March 31. We'd hoped to review all of the proposals and finish our selection process earlier, but we got so many that it's taking more time. In fact, I'm afraid we may have to turn down some very good ones just because we don't have enough time/space for them all. We have our work cut out for us; I promise we take it seriously.

Registration for the conference is not yet open, but should be soon. Check our blog once in a while for updates.

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What is wrong with you people?

I've been blogging since July 2005, sharing my innermost thoughts, passions, wisdom and wit. Working hard. Baring my soul. And yet day in and day out, the post that consistently attracts more visitors than any other is the one with this doodle of a guy sitting in a chair:


I drew that in about 14 seconds to illustrate a point about the comics medium that cartoonist Mike Lynch shared with me. It goes like this: one cartoonist asks another to illustrate the abstract concept of Loneliness. The second cartoonist sketches the sad-looking fellow above. The first cartoonist says, "No, that's not loneliness," and draws an enormous empty rectangle around the sketch. "That's loneliness."

Swell. Except now everyone who googles the phrase "how to draw sad man sitting in chair" ends up on my site. You wouldn't believe how many people are looking for tutorials teaching them how to draw a sad man sitting in a chair. It's an enormous untapped market!

So for all those folks, here's your free semi-professional cartooning tip of the day: Start with the chair.

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Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year, the anniversary of my baby girls' birth. Not so baby anymore. Twenty-four. Geez.

Karen and I'll take them out to dinner, and I suspect (spoiler alert!) there may be cake and gifts involved. See you tomorrow, Chiquitas. Happy Birthday Eve!

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