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If you head over to Jordan Shiveley’s Where They Draw blog you can see some photos of my workspace. Or what’s left of it anyway.

BIG NEWS: you can now buy my mini-comics at the 2D Cloud shop! They’ve got Covered in Confusion, The Old Guys, Errand Service and Mind-Mapping.

At the very least, you should check out their other offerings. 2D Cloud has some very interesting projects in the works and I continually look forward to what they come out with next.

For too long, I was having trouble writing stories that I liked. In fact, I have a solid stack of notebooks filled with stories that will likely never be drawn. Spinning my wheels, I was at a loss as to what to work on next.

Now, I’m not one to collaborate. I’ll do it. But generally, my preference is to work alone and hold onto control of the entire project. Like a rabid dictator. However, the one other time I’ve worked with another person on a comic was to draw a story written by Aaron Poliwoda. I was happy with the result, but considered it a one-time experiment.

As far as clichés go, “necessity is the mother of invention”, is one of my favorites. I met Mark Ehling for the first time at the Twin Cities Zinefest, and really liked the books of poetry and short stories he was producing. Later, I became a fan of the movie he wrote and directed when I caught it at the Movies in the Park in Stevens Square. So I threw a hail mary email in an attempt to get a new project off the ground and I asked Mark if he had anything he’d let me adapt. Fortunately, he responded with the usual Ehling Enthusiasm and sent me a number of different and incredible stories to choose from. The Old Guys jumped right out at me.

I finished The Old Guys just as my deadline for the Nashville Review approached. The Nashville Review is a literary journal out of Vanderbilt University that has made a point of including comics alongside their other literary offerings. (Other cartoonists in TNR include Jeffery Brown, Anders Nilson and Jess Smart Smiley). It’s a well curated journal, and you can read The Old Guys in the new August 2011 edition.

Vanderbilt University

So now that I’m pretty much a pro when it comes to collaboration, this Tuesday I’m going to hold court on the topic at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. They’re having a roundtable discussion on collaboration that Mark and myself, along with other TBA artists, will be a part of.

Book Arts Roundtable: Collaboration Chat
Tuesday, August 16, 7 pm

If you’re able to come out, I’m going to have about 10 copies of a book I made for The Old Guys. If you want one, I’ll be giving them out free to anyone who comes up to me and says, “I want one of those books you have that you’re giving out for free.” or something like that. Maybe, “Can I have The Old Guys book?”. Or maybe, “I don’t care much for your work or comics, but I do like free stuff. Can I have the free thing you’re giving away?”

Saying any of these things will work.