Aaron Renier

So my first book project since Spiral-Bound is out in stores. You can order it here at amazon. It's part of a series of books called The Knights Tales by Gerald Morris. There is at least one more to follow that I have already finished. I hope it does well, because that means I can continue drawing and getting better at drawing knights, and horses and hopefully dragons. My dream is that more and more of these types of projects can happen, and people will seek out my other work, and then eventually I can just be doing my own books. I'm very glad to be a part of this series though. The author is also from Wisconsin, and for some reason, I feel like it's this that makes our work fit together.

Almost 90% of my friends are in Portland Oregon for Stumptown comic fest. My biggest regret is not being there for the unveiling of BFF by my good friend Nate Beaty. I wish I was there, but I'm also glad to be home drawing my book for First Second. I just need to focus on my hermitdom. Here is a panel from the book that I really like.

It's a junk shop called The Armed Junk & Thrift in a town called Spit Head. You can see a slightly bigger version here. The owner's name is Taro Tung, and the characters entering are Shiv, his dog Perrogi, and Walker Bean. Huddled in the corner is a shadowy character known as Dr. Patches. These are not the real colors it will be printed in... I will leave that to the amazing Alec Longstreth.

And on a quick note... speaking of amazing people in my life, Nicole Joanne Georges has a new book of Invincible Summer out for sale. I had the privilege of hanging out with her for the last couple days, running around the Natural History Museum, and eating chocolate with hints of sesame and leather. Anyway, check it out here.

I hope everybody is having a great spring! The weather in New York is perfect for staying inside and drinking coffee... which I am drinking out of my new novelty mug that I think is depressing and hilarious at the same time.

This coming Saturday I will be drawing at Jim Hanley's with a bunch of really amazing cartoonists for kids. I'm going to be there earlier in the day with Sara Varon, and Geoffrey Hayes. The event promises to be an extravaganza of comics, cookies, and creativity... obviously I am going for the cookies, everything else is bonus. I'm really excited, if you are in the NY area and have children, please stop by!

Here's the lineup:

10-12: Sara Varon , Geoffrey Hayes, and me
12-2: Misako Rocks!, Kevin Pyle, and Fred Van Lente
2-4: Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Frank Cammuso, and Jay Lynch
4-6: George O'Connor, and Nick Bertozzi 

I will also be up in the Bronx this Wednesday, in a program between the New York Comic Con, and the New York Public Library. It's a two hour program for children, the first hour I will be discussing my work, and how I write, and the second hour the kids will be making their own comics. So if you're a patron of the Westchester Square Library, I will see you there at 4.

I also just discovered that you can read part of my first book on google book search. Do they actually have somebody scan in all those drawings? I'm sorry, for whoever had to do that. That must have been a pain. I could have sent you jpegs.

Other than that, I'm just drawing the Unsinkable Walker Bean. It's going well, and has a new publisher. I'm now proudly working with Mark Seigel at First Second. So far it's a match made in heaven. I'm very excited to have this project back on the font burner.

More Soon.