Saturday, November 16, 2013

Comic Artists' Night at the Opera - Arabella


The Minnesota Opera generously invites artists and members of the press to dress rehearsals for each show that they premiere.  The Black Hat Collective and I arrive with pens, pencils and paintbrushes and make it out mission to interpret each show through cartoons and sketches.


In this 1932 opera by Ricard Strauss, a family is living far beyond their means in a fancy hotel (pictured).  Their credit has run out and they are in danger of getting kicked out, unless they can get their eldest daughter Arabella to marry somebody with money.

Unfortunately Arabella doesn't want to get married for money, she wants to fall in love.  Though she has a number of suitors, she does not have feelings for any of them.


However, Arabella's younger sister Zdenka (pictured) - who dresses as a boy and goes by the name "Zdenko" - has secretly fallen in love with Mateo (not pictured) - one of the men who pines after Arabella. Zdenka loves Mateo so much that she doesn't want him to be unhappy, so she tricks Mateo by writing him love letters and signing Arabella's name.  As a result, Mateo thinks Arabella is in love with him, when she is not.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Drawn Out Storytelling - Rebecca by Steve Zimmer - illustrated by Thomas Boguszewski

This is my second piece for Drawn Out Storytelling:  A live show based in Brooklyn, New York which combines live storytelling and live music with live illustration.


In this tale, performed at Drawn Out's "End of the World" show in June 2012, Steve Zimmer tells of his attempts to find love with a new neighbor.

Read the story in the form of an illustrated comic made with animated GIFs below:


Monday, January 7, 2013

Drawn Out Storytelling - "Good News vs. Bad News" by Erin Barker illustrated by Thomas Boguszewski

At the Minneapolis Indie Expo in Nov. 2011, I hooked up with Drawn Out Storytelling:  A live show based in Brooklyn, New York which combines live storytelling and live music with live illustration.

By February 2012 I was illustrating for them.  The title of the show was "I hate you" - The theme was about animosity within families, and the story was Good News Versus Bad News (also called "Love and Baseball") by Erin Barker. "  In it, a daughter has to deal with hate and love in her own family when she learns the truth about her mother’s pregnancy.  Read the story in comic form below.