Aaron Renier Blog

Maurice

Wed, 9 May 2012 00:00:00 PST

I learned along with everyone yesterday that Maurice Sendak had died. I was blessed to be a member of the Sendak Fellowship, and to spend time with him these last few years. It feels so strange that I'll never see or talk to him again.

He spoke about death on a regular basis, and somehow, because of all this talk, he seemed a bit invincible to me. As if talking about it made it impossible.

One day I was sitting with him on the porch of a property he owned, trying to pour him tea through a tea strainer while he read the newspaper. He watched me pour water all over the saucer, and make a mess on the table. He huffed and exclaimed that I had no idea what I was doing. I admitted I had never poured through a tea strainer before, and he laughed and apologized after his tea was finally drinkable in his cup.

We spent the rest of that morning trading parts of the paper, and complaining about the world. We watched the birds, and looked over the most amazing panoramic mountain view I've ever seen in my life. He told me as we marveled at the beauty, that he knew he'd never see that sight again. I was used to his talk about death, and assured him he would of course see these mountains again... but he didn't respond to me, he could barely look at me. He was tearing up, and his frustration was visible. I have no idea what that feels like, to knowingly look upon something beautiful for the last time.

Most of the articles I've been reading today seem to be written by people who didn't know him. I feel they reduce him into quotes from his books, reduce him into the grumpy old man in the woods. I admit, I barely knew him. I was just getting to know him. But he blessed me with his time, and he did so with so many other young artists these last few years. Allowing me to come over to his house with my family and friends... welcoming them into his home happily, excited to meet them, excited to share his world with them. Sure he was old, and grumpy, but he was also excitable and electrifying.

He left this world with new work still on his table, a book to be illustrated, thoughts about self publishing another. An artist should be so lucky... to leave with so much left to say. I feel more inspired by him now as an adult, than I ever did when I was a child reading him, and I know through the fellowship and his recent interviews, that I'm not alone. If you haven't seen them, his interviews by Terry Gross and Stephen Colbert and Bill Moyers will inspire. Thank you Maurice for opening up your world. You were loved, and you'll be missed.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 00:00:00 PST

My mom was just featured in Fox Cities Magazine, and I'm really proud of her. I just want to spread the word. My mom is the number one reason that I've gone the route of art in my life, and she's been my biggest cheerleader forever, so it's just really exciting to see her getting recognized for her amazing work. Her books are all unique pieces of art.

From Fox Cities Magazine:

"Kathy Hackbarth loves paper. She took a class at the Sievers School of Fiber Arts in Door County two decades ago and has been spreading her love for the art ever since. In honor of The Fox Cities Book Festival which is soon underway, who better to feature then an artist teaching the craft of bookmaking?
“I love the feel of [paper],” she says. “If I had nothing else to do in my life I would collect paper.”

Using waxed linen thread, electric drills and bookboard (in addition to paper, of course) Hackbarth makes special books for life milestones such as weddings, baby showers and retirements as well as journals.

Here is a link to the whole article.

ADVENTURE TIME!

Wed, 8 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

So I was recently asked by Kaboom! Studios to do a short piece for the new Adventure Time comic book... based on Adventure Time... the cartoon on Cartoon Network. I started writing and doodling ideas as soon as I got the email. I was so excited... HONORED to be asked. Adventure Time is one of my all time favorite cartoons. EVER. I don’t know many people who would disagree themselves. Pen Ward and his team are pretty fantastic. All of the amazing characters! It is boundless in it’s ability to explore ideas... any ideas... piling weird on top of weird, and then chopping it in half to watch the weirdness ooze out.

The inaugural issue of Adventure Time is out in comic shops today! Wednesday February 8th! Go pick up a copy from your local comic shop! I just got a box of them in the mail, and I really couldn't be happier with how the whole thing turned out. Ryan North's story with Shelli Paroline's art is SO good. It was like READING a secret Adventure Time episode. I can't wait for issue#2.

And now that I have said that... phew! (Go buy it.) Here is a little more about my comic.

I was given 7 pages to work with... to focus on any side character... and told not to focus on Finn and Jake. So I picked Tree Trunks. I picked her because I have a fondness for elephants, and she’s so much fun to draw... like a toaster oven sized elephant with oven mitts for ears. This is what most of my rough drafts look like... really quick just trying to get the idea out:

When my story was finally approved I decided I wanted to do it in watercolor... because I wanted to get the bright colors I love about the show, but I also really wanted it to be clear that I wasn’t trying to mimic the art of the show. I wanted it to feel like my comic as well as a tribute to the program.

I did the line art first, so I could keep my lines pure.

And then painted my watercolors on another sheet at my light table. I had to turn the overhead lights on once in a while to see what I was doing... but I very much painted them in the dark.

If you want to read the reason I decided to do this, read on.

The reason I didn’t paint on the same paper is because of something called trapping. If you are an artist who works in print you know what I’m talking about... and if you’ve ever seen a color comic printed in a newspaper or a book and there are weird magenta or cyan or yellow shadow around the lines... that’s what I was trying to avoid. It has always confused me how other artists scan watercolors to print. To trap line art on a watercolor, to me is like recording music in mono, and then making it stereo. You just can’t do it. So maybe there was a way to do it that I just didn’t think of. The idea came to me after looking at a Richard Scarry book where they break down his process... and seeing that he painted on paper that didn’t contain the line art made SO much sense to me. So I wanted to try it.

I can say the process was a lot of fun... and when I finally put them into the computer, and laid the color on top of the lines... it was magical. Like watching a photo appear in a developer bath.

ADVENTURE TIME!

PROCLAMATION!

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 PST

I'm a cartoonist, but some of my published works are chapter books and picture books, so I also see myself as an illustrator, and lover of illustrated books. I strongly endorse this manifesto I signed and everything it says for the form of children's books, and every sentiment can be directly used on graphic novels for younger readers. I hope publishing companies all over the world have this framed on their wall someday, as a reminder of why we do this.

ANYWHERE AT ONCE

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 PST

For immediate release!

If you live in Chicago and want to attend an amazing book release, go to the Chase Auditorium this Sunday the 22nd of May at 1 pm.

Anywhere at Once is a novel written by 106 2nd through 8th grade students, in 25 classes in 12 schools throughout the great city of Chicago. It's an epic story that recounts the fantastic adventures of Sam, Ophelia, and a certain learned lizard, Professor Stephen Scalious. And it was illustrated by Ms. Laura Park and myself.

Here is a larger version of the cover, and a short story of how Laura and I came to be involved:

I've been volunteering at 826chi for a few years now, and I would have to say it is one of my top three favorite things about the entire city of Chicago. Everyone there is amazing, and the kids who go there are often times brilliant beyond reason.

About two months ago I was asked if I could illustrate a crazy story that was written by 106 second to eighth grade students. One long story, written by 106 students. Wow. They wanted me to do ten interior illustrations and the cover. The whole book was due in a little over a week. I said yes. How could I say no to something so bonkers?

I sat down the next day and started to read the massive 200-something page manuscript and quickly realized that there would be no logical way to illustrate the book with only ten images. Each student tilted the story on it's ear, and deserved to be showcased as much as the last. The book needed over a hundred illustrations.

I met with the editor and told her. She agreed that it made more sense, but that it still needed to be done in the same amount of time. I pictured myself drawing that many images in a week, and I really thought I could do it.

After the first day, finishing 17 drawings, I realized I never could do it. On top of that I was packing up my apartment, and leaving Chicago for the summer. Over 80 illustrations to go, and I had to pack up my place. I was in a panic.

My downstairs neighbor called and asked how everything was going, and I told her I was in it thick, and couldn't even tell her what I talked myself into doing for 826. Somehow she got it out of me. I thought she was going to laugh, and tell me good luck. But to my good fortune my downstairs neighbor asked if she could help, and also to my good fortune my downstairs neighbor was the magical Laura Park.

So together we sat down, and over two crazy days illustrated the whole book.

It was one of those projects where you are so tired that you see stars, and the stars start to talk to you.

But when it was over, not only were we happy to finish, but we were so excited that all of the students would have had a fitting image for their amazing part of the tale. We were also both really happy that we finally had finished a collaborative project before we both left living in the same building. It was a great farewell to 1216 Rockwell.

If you are in Chicago and want to get the book, I highly recommend heading over to 826chi/the Boring Store.

1331 North Milwaukee Avenue

Between Hermitage Avenue & Paulina Street

(773) 772-8108

If you live outside of Chicago you can order it here.

The Center For Cartoon Studies diploma

Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 PST

I was given the opportunity to do the art for the CCS class of 2011's diploma this year. Every year the school asks an artist to do the art, and I was more than thrilled to do it.

I have been thinking about UFOs a lot lately... mostly because of my favorite podcast Mysterious Universe. I also recently watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind (I had forgotten just how good it was) ... and obviously that's where I leapt from. It may be hard to see, but the mascot of CCS is the school's "founder" Inky Solomon. He's wearing a thought projection helmet, where he's seeing a four panel strip about the work of a cartoonist student. The aliens are reinterpreting it the only way they know how.

It was really fun to do, and I'm thrilled to have done such a document for all my friends there in Vermont. Such a great class.

Congratulations 2011!

MATILDA

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 00:00:00 PST

So this is just a short entry to tell people I have a little comic about Roald Dahl's Matilda up on UNSHELVED. Please go check it out!

Also I have an interview up on Inkstuds in Canada. So also listen to me ramble on about myself and drawing. If you are listening with a youngster just know that between 44:30-49:00 minutes in there may be some words and topics you won't want them to listen to. I guess you can swear on the radio in Canada, and that is when I do. Listen here.

I hope everyone is doing well! I will post a much longer piece very soon.

Shiga / Renier West Coast Tour

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 PST

If you live in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle or Vancouver, come hang out with the fantastic Jason Shiga and myself. Jason is amazing and I really can't wait to sit next to him on the Greyhound for hours. I really actually can't.

Here are the details, some are book signings, some are presentations, some are workshops for middle schoolers.

San Francisco:

February 17th: SFPL Bernal Heights Branch, 4:00

Event: workshop for middle grade kids

Bernal Heights / 500 Cortland Street / San Francisco, CA 94110

Event: workshop for middle grade kids

February 17th: Cartoon Art Museum, 7:00

Event: presentation and book signing

Cartoon Art Museum / 655 Misson Street / San Francisco, CA 94105

Portland:

February 19th: Reading Frenzy, 7:00

Event: presentation and book signing

Reading Frenzy / 921 Southwest Oak Street / Portland, OR 97205

Seattle:

February 22nd: Third Place Books, 7:00

Event: presentation and book signing

Third Place Books / 17171 Bothell Way NE / Lake Forest Park, WA 98155

February 23rd: Fantagraphics Bookstore, 6:30

Event: cartoonists in conversation event series, debut event

Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery / 1201 S. Vale Street / Seattle, WA 98108

Vancouver:

February 25th: Strathcona Public Library, 1:15 - 3:00

Event: comics workshop

VPL, Strathcona Branch / 592 East Pender Street / Vancouver, BC V6A 1V5

February 25th: Lucky’s Comics, 8:00 - 10:00

Event: reception and signing

Lucky’s Comics / 3972 Main Street / Vancouver, BC, CA V5V 3P2

No Book Ever Ends

Tue, 8 Feb 2011 00:00:00 PST

On the 19th of February Jason Shiga and I are going to be at Reading Frenzy in Portland... and I just did this poster for them to coincide. Order one if you can! It's HUGE in size. 16"x20". Big big. Also if you are in Portland, come hang out. We'll be there at 7pm.

Here's the write up on Reading Frenzy's site:

Reading Frenzy is thrilled to present the latest installment in our artist's print series ~ No Book Ever Ends by Aaron Renier! This signed, numbered, limited edition two-color silkscreen print captures the feeling of sinking your head into a great book -- that swimming feeling of being there, and how every book you've ever loved is somehow, magically, a part of you now. See if you can pick out the references to classic children's literature from the ones that Aaron made up!

Green Bay Packers win Superbowl XLV!!!

Mon, 7 Feb 2011 00:00:00 PST

Wow. I am typing this from Green Bay, after going to every big Green Bay bar and passing a Lambeau field with fireworks coming out every which way. I have given out so many high fives, and have been yelling at anyone and everyone. It is so amazing to be here. The last time we won, I was in Milwaukee... which was pretty fantastic too (After we won in 97 against the Patriots, I was at a bus stop with people streaking down the snowy roads, getting hugged by a tall toothless man, and somebody from Papa John's giving out free pizza) But being in Titletown tonight was the right place to be. I watched with my family, including my 94 year old Grandpa, and it was breath taking.

Congratulations to my team and to my hometown! World Champions!!! Aaron Rodgers MVP!!!

p.s. has anybody heard Lil' Wayne's "Green and Yellow?" I'm pretty into it... but it's Green and GOLD.

http://youtu.be/MF1nMXXrwjE