Time for the MoCCA 2009 edition of Sean's David Bowie Sketchbook! Let's get right into it:

Gabrielle Bell: Gabrielle took more time on her sketch than any other artist I've gotten a sketch from, I think. Time well spent. A young Mod Bowie, taking tea.

Ron Rege Jr.: A favorite of mine since my earliest days as a grown-up comics reader, Ron debated whether or not to use the photoref I had--he figured he could pull it off with the Ziggy mullet alone. He ultimately used the photo reference, but gave it a very mullet-centric spin. Ron also has the benefit of being a genuine rock star, which adds verisimilitude.

Nora Krug: I think Nora Krug had the shortest span of time of any artist in the book between my first becoming aware of her work and getting a sketch from her--a timespan of approximately one minute.

David Mack: David Mack based his sketch on one of Bowie's painted self-portriats, but added the disembodied aspect and the flames. He's alight with the flame of rock and roll, I think.

Kate Beaton: With her rich history of drawing dandies, I knew Kate Beaton would kill on this.

Tom Gauld: Hailing from the UK, Tom Gauld was a guy I was lucky to get, a real coup. Note the reappearance of the everpopular eyepatch.

Cliff Chiang: Cliff knew exactly what era of Bowie he wanted to draw. I think the vampire idea was given to him by an onlooker we were chatting with, though I forget how "vampire" came up in conversation. Either way, damn. Cliff is one of the most talented artists in mainstream comics right now--I'm really glad I nabbed him.

Randall Munroe: When I approached xkcd artist Randall Munroe for a sketch, I debated whether or not to hand him my photo reference books. I ultimately did, not wanting to be insulting. He looked at me and said, after a pregnant pause, "Nnnnnnnnaaaaaaaah, I don't need photo reference. Good artists need photo reference, not me." Note the Labyrinth reference and the clever solution to the problem of how to depict tight pants when you draw stick figures.

Hans Rickheit: Hans Rickheit is the guy I always name when asked for a cartoonist who deserves more attention than he gets. I can't wait for his Fantagraphics book The Squirrel Machine to put him on more people's radar. In the meantime he gave me this richly detailed rendition of Bowie in full "man's dress" regalia--enacting one of my favorite idiomatic expressions ("you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a [noun] in here") to boot.

Dave Kiersh: Dave K. is one of my big personal favorite cartoonists--I've loved his stuff ever since coming across it in Jordan Crane's NON #5, one of the first big alternative comics I came across--and after an abortive attempt to get a sketch from him while he was waiting for his ride home on Saturday night, he hollered at me as I passed his table on Sunday and delivered this Mod-era rendition. Dave is a poet of teenage-dom, so teen Bowie is a delightful choice for him.

Lisa Hannawalt: Lisa was actually working at the Buenaventura booth when I asked her to do a sketch for me, so she ended up doing it while standing up and taking people's money. She is not the first person of roughly my generation to draw a Bowie sketch emphasizing his Labyrinth-era bulge, and she will no doubt not be the last.

Seth: Was there any doubt which era Bowie Seth would pick? This is one of those sketches that makes people say "Whoa" in a hushed voice.

Geoff Grogan: Geoff, who came out of nowhere with one of my favorite comics of 2008, Look Out!! Monsters, really took his time with this sucker, and produced one of the few Bowie sketches I've gotten that emphasize David's androgyny. I'm really fond of it.

Scott Campbell: Scott C. did that terrific "Building with the Bowies" drawing that went around the Internet a few weeks ago, so when I found out from my pal Rickey Purdin that he was at the show I got psyched to get a sketch from him--and when Scott found out from Rickey that I was at the show, he got psyched to give me one. Unfortunately this happened as I was on my way out the door on Saturday evening. But I ended up returning on Sunday and tracked him down toot sweet. Then, like a jerk, I rushed him so that I could get on line for David Mazzucchelli (who, it turns out, wasn't doing sketches). He did a terrific job anyway.

BONUS SKETCH FROM NEW YORK COMIC CON 2009!

Ross Campbell: I originally used this sketch as my debut post over at Savage Critic(s), but of course I want to show it off over here too. I was very, very excited to get a Bowie sketch from Ross at NYCC, but not having anticipated the demand for sketching, he didn't bring a pencil. I loaned him my pen, and he was concerned about not being able to make a mistake, but drew this anyway. This was done entirely without photo reference, which amazes me--he NAILED that Labyrinth hairstyle. As you can see, he wasn't happy with the hand, but he's being entirely too hard on himself.

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So that's this year's haul, a hefty one indeed. But there are always the ones that got away: David Mazzucchelli and Jerry Moriarty weren't sketching; Tom Devlin promised me one but I never caught up with him to get it; I whiffed on Sara Edward-Corbett, Kevin Scalzo, Kurt Wolfgang, the non-Matt Wiegle Partyka gang, the new crop of Top Shelfers, and the Abstract Comics folks; and I had no idea that Renee French, Hellen Jo, Cameron Stewart, or Tim Kreider were even there. Plus, my previously undisputed title of (let's fucking face it) Coolest Themed Sketchbook Idea is facing a serious challenge now that Brett Warnock has unleashed his Twin Peaks Sketchbook on an unsuspecting world. Even so, I think this is a great batch of sketches. And what's really nice about having this many sketches in the book (70! 71 if you count the Drew Weing/Eleanor Davis jam as two separate sketches! and to think I was constantly lowballing the amount as being "at least 40" when people asked at the show) is that when I hand the book to artists to draw in, they get obvious enjoyment out of flipping through it and checking out the contents, making me feel like a lot less of a freeloader. I continue to love this project to pieces.

Past David Bowie sketchbook galleries may be found here, here, here, here, and here; see them all as a Flickr set here.

Posted by Sean T. Collins at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)