Red Panda Comics

Ed Emberley Videos

2012-01-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of videos with Ed Emberley discussing his work have turned up recently on YouTube, and they are both worth investigating. This first video gives us a peek into Emberley's beautiful 17th Century home in Massachusetts, a tour of his both drawing and his digital studio, and some memories of getting started as an illustrator.

This second video is another interview with Emberley, this time at the opening of the Ed Emberley & Friends exhibit in L.A.
I would enjoy an entire album of Ed Emberley singing sea shanties, here we at least get a sample.

Monster Parade Prints

2011-06-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

The Cloudy Collection and Koyama Press recently released a limited series of Ed Emberley themed prints called Monster Parade. There's a wonderful print by Ed Emberley himself (seen above), as well as prints by Stephan Britt, Souther Salazar (both favorites of mine), and thirteen other talented Emberley fans. They look fantastic, I hope I can scrape together enough money to buy myself a set soon!

SPACE in Columbus, OH

2011-03-18T20:31:00.002-07:00

I will be selling comics at the SPACE Comics Convention this weekend in Columbus.
This is my...uh...fourth year exhibiting at SPACE, and it's always a great time. The usual gang of artists will be there, with a few exciting additions: John Porcellino! Colin Upton! And Steve Willis!

the Yellow Wallpaper

2011-03-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I made for a gallery show last year, it's based on one of my favorite short stories: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's feminist horror classic the Yellow Wallpaper.
If you're not familiar with the story, you can read it at Project Gutenberg here, and there's a free audio recording at the bottom of this page.

Prestidigitonium on etsy

2011-03-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

I'm selling my comics on etsy now, under the shop name Prestidigitonium.
Emberley Galaxy can be had for a mere $10, and you can find my old mini-comic Grouse there too, for $3. You can read a review of Grouse by Tom Spurgeon here.
I expect to put a couple more things up for sale in a week or two.

the Zortian Chronicles

2011-03-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn blogger Tara Rose Stromberg maintains the site unkoshergirl, which is just littered with drawings of Zortians out of Ed Emberley's Big Green Drawing Book. Apparently Tara has been drawing Wooflers and Fwaaps since she was a little girl!

See several childhood Zort drawings here, and see how we bumped into each other here. Poke around her blog and you'll see delightful Zort doodles all over the place!

Matt Kish Finishes His Series of Moby-Dick Drawings

2011-01-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Matt Kish, friend, and contributor to Emberley Galaxy, for completing his massive project One Drawing For Every Page of Moby-Dick. There will be a book soon from Tin House Books collecting the entire series of 552 drawings!

A Few Great Stores

2010-10-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've slowly been getting Emberley Galaxy into bookstores and comic shops one by one, so here is a list of stores and vendors that are now carrying it:

Stores:
Shake It Records - Cincinnati, OH (where I work)
Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore - Cincinnati, OH
Clifton Comics & Games - Cincinnati, OH
Joseph-Beth Booksellers - Cincinnati, OH
Boxcar Books - Bloomington, IN
Million Year Picnic - Cambridge, MA
Chicago Comics - Chicago, IL
Quimby's Bookstore - Chicago, IL
Copacetic Comics - Pittsburgh, PA

Distributors:
USS Catastrophe - St. Louis, MO
Sparkplug Comic Books - Portland, OR
Last Gasp Books - San Francisco, CA

Ed Emberley & Friends Exhibit

2010-09-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

I'm late to seeing these photos from the Ed Emberley & Friends exhibit at Scion Installation in L.A., but it looks like it was a great show with some beautiful and inspired work.

Here's a neat video advertising the exhibit:

Scion Presents: Ed Emberley and Friends from Scion ART on Vimeo.

Ed Emberley Drawing Event at Blue Manatee

2010-01-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'll be doing an Emberley Galaxy book signing and drawing event with kids at Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore, this (Superbowl) Sunday, February 7th at 1PM!
Blue Manatee, Cincinnati's finest bookstore for kids, is in Oakley Square at 3054 Madison Rd.

Emberley Galaxy in the press

2009-12-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Some recent press on Emberley Galaxy:

Maija Zummo does a brief interview with me for Cincinnati's free weekly Citybeat.

And Emberley Galaxy is also spotlighted in the newest issue of Giant Robot, one of my favorite magazines, I'm thrilled!

Poopsheet on Emberley Galaxy

2009-10-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ed Howard reviews Emberley Galaxy at the Poopsheet Foundatio n site:

"These artists take a number of different approaches to giving Emberley a nod, and the resulting anthology is both entertaining in its own right and a fantastic summation of what makes its title subject’s work so exciting and enduring."

Rob Clough on Emberley Galaxy

2009-09-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

Rob Clough reviews Emberley Galaxy over at High-Low Comics:

"I've read a lot of themed anthologies and comics textbooks, but I've never read anything quite like Emberley Galaxy...even those unfamiliar with [Ed Emberley] will find something to enjoy."

Drummer Hoff

2009-09-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

Barbara and Ed Emberley's picture book classic Drummer Hoff done in the "rappin' dad" fashion.

Emberley Galaxy available now!

2009-08-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Emberley Galaxy: A Tribute to Ed Emberley is finally here!
It's 60 pages of comics and drawings based on Ed Emberley's drawing books.
Scroll down to earlier entries in this blog for more details and some previews.
It'll cost you $12 + $3 shipping and handling.
If you need more than one copy, or are ordering from outside the US, please write me first!
Look in the comments below for my email address.

Make A World

2009-08-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

I regret that this blog has been stagnant for so long, but I do hope to update more regularly from now on. I've got a dependable internet connection at home for the first time in a while.

Correcting the proofs and getting to to the printing stage has taken longer than I expected (I don't know what made me think printing would be the easy part), but Emberley Galaxy is in production now and I expect to have it this week.

In the meantime, you may be interested in reading up on the Make A World documentary that is being put together by the good people at Chicago's the Swiderski Institute:
http://swidinst.org/make-a-world-film/
As the title suggests, the movie focuses on Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make A World, perhaps the most influential of all his drawing books, certainly the most minimal and flexible in its designs.
Ed Emberley himself is in the film, and the crew also visited me and C. Spencer Yeh at the Art Damage Lodge in Cincinnati to talk about Emberley. Friends at Wire and Twine of Oxford, OH are also involved.
There's also a Make A World fan group for the film you can join on facebook.

Update: the Make A World film has been canceled.

Night's Nice

2009-05-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Little, Brown recently reissued a classic Barbara and Ed Emberley picture book from 1972 called Night's Nice. It's a great bedtime story in lovely blues and purples.

I'd love to see more vintage Emberley books get a classy reprint like this one.

Emberley Tribute: Rina Ayuyang

2009-05-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Rina Ayuyang's comic is based on Ed Emberley's Thumbprint and Fingerprint drawing books.
This anthology was intended to be all black and white, but Rina's story will be in color because it has to be.

Emberley Tribute: Sam Henderson

2009-05-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

See Sam Henderson's page at his blog:
http://themagicwhistle.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-post.html

Sam's page is based on Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos.

Emberley Tribute: Stefan Gruber

2009-05-04T07:53:00.001-07:00

I love the homage to the Wizard of Op in Stefan Gruber's comic strip.

Emberley Tribute: Joe Kuth

2009-05-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

My story is based on 'Zort' from Ed Emberley's Big Green Drawing Book.

Emberley Tribute: Endpapers by Matt Kish

2009-05-03T08:47:00.001-07:00

Matt Kish's endpapers are based on an idea of mine: a spiral galaxy composed of Ed Emberley's drawing symbols and shapes.
Matt did a much better job of it than I could have managed.

Ed Emberley Classics

2009-05-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Most likely if you're an Ed Emberley fan you've come to love his work through his drawing instruction books. Or maybe someone read Go Away, Big Green Monster! out loud to you, or you checked Drummer Hoff out of the library every other week.
But Emberley has been drawing books for decades and has dozens of titles to his name, drawn in an array of styles.
This cool but confounding site has beautiful illustrations from several out of print Ed Emberley picture books. (Scroll down and click on the red icon next to each title.)
The spread shown above is from Wing On A Flea.

Emberley Tribute: Chris Cornwell

2009-05-03T08:05:00.001-07:00

In Chris Cornwell's story, the skeleton from Make A World has an enlightening vision.

Emberley Tribute: Joe Kuth and David Paleo

2009-05-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

David Paleo finished these battle comics based on my doodles. These pages include monsters and creeps from several Ed Emberley books, plenty from Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos.

Emberley Tribute: Dan Zettwoch

2009-05-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

Dan Zettwoch's story is based on Ed Emberley's Big Orange Drawing Book and Big Purple Drawing Book.

Emberley Galaxy

2009-05-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

I hope to finally have Emberley Galaxy: A Tribute to Ed Emberley available in just a couple of weeks.
It will cost you $12, it's 60 pages, 8 1/2" X 11", mostly in black and white, and features interpretations of Emberley from 19 different artists. Here's the role call:

Rina Ayuyang
Jeffrey Brown
Chris Cornwell
Warren Craghead
Toby Craig
Cansafis Foote
Jack Fraley
Stefan Gruber
Sam Henderson
Alex Holden
Dave Kiersh
Matt Kish
Joe Kuth
Doug Meyer
Dan Moynihan
David Paleo
Dalton Webb
C. Spencer Yeh
Dan Zettwoch

Ed Emberley is the artist and author responsible for an amazing series of drawing instruction books for kids that first appeared in the 70's, and have been staples on the shelves of libraries and bookstores ever since.
You may remember, like me, finding the Drawing Book of Animals or the Big Green Drawing Book on the shelves of the public library, or using whatever was available from the bookmobile, and drawing from them feverishly. Like me, many artists I know have learned a lot from these books and still enjoy having them around both for reference and for fun.

Many people will recognize Emberley's books without necessarily knowing his name, so if you're still in the dark you may want to check out previews at http://www.amazon.com/ , or see http://www.edemberley.com/ . Or better yet, just find the books themselves. Get the old editions, I do not recommend the current editions in botched vertical format.