The year I was too busy to blog

Hey all,  Thomas Boguszewski here.

This site has been awfully silent since last November.  I've been doing a lot of fun stuff and telling nobody about it.  That's all going to change, though.

In the coming weeks I'll be catching up on lost time, and sharing stories about the projects I've worked on and experiences I've had in 2014.

Among them:

4 puppet shows
a book trailer
3 operas
3 conventions
1 film festival
1 delayed animated film
1 cancelled commercial
1 aborted installation piece

300 pages of comedy

a collection of incredible summer adventures...

and more!
stay tuned while I not only revitalize the stream of news stories, but redesign this blog as well!
Here's looking forward to a future where I take more of what's going on in my world and share it with others.

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.

Anna Bolena at the MN Opera

You know that I usually like to give you loads and loads of history and backstory whenever I go to an opera, but this time, all you need to know about Anne Boleyn, 2nd wife of Henry VIII, can be heard in this song:

"Young Anne Boleyn she was two, had a daughter, the best she could do.  I said she flirted with some other man, and off for the chop went dear Anne"

Sexy Henry!  Take me now!

 The 1830 opera Anna Bolena by Donizetti is ostensibly a portrayal of Anne Boleyn's life leading up to the day when Henry had her head chopped off, as he was wont to do.  Donizetti did four operas about Tudor England so I was excited for some history.

Then during the reception the speaker told us, "If you're a fan of Showtime's The Tudors, rest assured that we have a very sexy Henry for you!" And I sighed the collective sigh of a million historians crying out in terror, only to be suddenly silenced. [Link:  Sexy Henry's diet]

To read my write-up of the opera and see my lovely cartoons, keep read on under the cut.

Inside the Monkey Lab: A Story Collider Comic

Click here to read Inside the Monkey Lab
on the Story Collider website

This summer I got a small paid gig illustrating comic books for The Story Collider, a podcast and online magazine that collects audio stories about how science has effected people's lives. My second comic, Inside the Monkey Lab went online in October.

"Guy Schaffer wanted to understand the brain, but the only job he could find was in a monkey lab — a lab where a monkey attack led to a deeper set of crises."

Time and Pressure: A Story Collider Comic

This summer I got a small paid gig illustrating comic books for The Story Collider, a podcast and online magazine that collects audio stories about how science has effected people's lives, "From finding awe in Hubble images to visiting the doctor... Whether we wear a white lab coat or haven't seen a test tube since eighth grade"

My first comic, Time and Pressure, went online in May, and illustrates Rachel Bitney Wecht’s story of her struggle to woo a physicist—The Story Collider’s own Brian Wecht.

Click here to read Time and Pressure
on the Story Collider website

Abra-Ka-Deborah!

May 26 was the 2nd Annual Mini Comics Day, where cartoonists come to the Minneapolis Center for Book Arts and write, draw and print a mini-comic from 10:00-5:00.  It was also my Mother's Birthday, so I dedicated my mini comic to her as a gift.

Read on to see scans of "Abra-Ka-Deborah - The Marvelous Misadventures of My Mom!":

The Tale of Turnip Head - In Color

You've heard of Christmas in July, but what about Halloween in May?

You might remember The Tale of Turnip Head from when I posted inks for it in November.  Part of, "one of my ongoing, long-term projects... a graphic novel about the history of Halloween," The Tale of Turnip Head is "a wordless fantasy illustrating the evolution of the Jack-o-Lantern" that begins with a Celtic warrior on the battlefield.

This Spring I bring you the colored version of the story, and the news that I'm selling booklets of Turnip Head.

Enjoy!

MN Opera Adapts The Giver for Young Singers

The MN Opera has a habit of inviting The Black Hat Collective to dress rehearsals for new performances of classic operas, but this April we were blessed with a very special opportunity to see an brand-new opera, written specifically for young voice students (between the ages of 8 and 18) based on the enormously popular children's novel The Giver by Lois Lowry.

MN Opera: Madame Butterfly

For each new show it opens, the Minnesota Opera invites local bloggers to a full dress rehearsal.  The Black Hat Collective of cartoonists and I make it our mission to interpret each show in cartoons and drawings, then post them online.

Last Thursday's show was the immortal:

Madame Butterfly

Part of the reason I didn't do a blog for the MN Opera's last production, Lucia Di Lammermoore, is because I was often too interested in what was happening onstage to draw!  That's a good problem to have.  The same problem came up a lot on Madame Butterfly.  It has a very rich story, complex and expressive characters, and lots of background info to deal with.  I'll be walking you through Madame Butterfly in the most enlightening way I can  —with words, videos, jokes, drawings, and photos.

Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy - April 2012 - Moebius Tribute

In March 2012, French bandes dessinées artist Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, passed away.  Moebius' science-fiction work, often in collaboration with writer-filmmaker-guru-psychomagician-artist Alejandro Jodorowsky, influenced feature films such as the Fifth Element, and Moebius created pre-production storyboard art for films such as Tron, Alien and most heavily, Blade Runner.

This April, the Minneapolis chapter of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy convened to bring to you a Moebius tribute jam comic:

Moebius is Dead

Werther —or— A Dark Knight at the Opera

Last Thursday I went along with the Black Hat Collective to another preview at the Minnesota Opera.  Our mission:  To draw comics, enjoy the show, and have a fun time —then blog about it!

Tonight's show: 
Werther

Read on to learn about history, tragedy, romance and Batman in this fully-illustrated article featuring cartoons and comedy. 

St Paul Comic Jam - December 2011

The Saint Paul chapter of the Cartoonist Conspiracy met in December to bring the world

KRAMPUS in: The Power of Positive Drinking

You'll notice that this one is only 5 pages because there weren't very many people there that day.
Also, you'll notice that I worked in a shot from the gritty christmas superhero story that I'm working on:

—Thomas Boguszewski

"Silent Night" at the Opera

The Black Hat Collective was invited out to another show at the Minnesota Opera on Thursday.  Our mission is to view the opera, interpret it with cartoons, then blog about it.

This time the show was Silent Night — An adaptation into opera of the 2005 film Joyeux Noel, which is a beautiful story about the 1914 "Christmas Truce" of World War 1.

Read on to explore the history, music, art and drama behind Silent Night in this fully-illustrated article —with cartoons, videos and more!

The Tale of Turnip Head

     One of my ongoing, long-term projects is a graphic novel about the history of Halloween. So far I only have an outline for it written out, and a folder with a few page layouts.
     I figure the full-sized project will take a few years to finish, but I wanted to whip something up in time for Halloween this year. So I created a little four-pager sequence called "The Tale of Turnip Head."
     It's a wordless fantasy illustrating the evolution of the Jack-o-Lantern. It starts off with a Celtic Warrior in the midst of battle. Enjoy.

     and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

I plan to take the "Turnip Head" inks and either color them or put some gradients in there to distinguish the figures a bit more. I also have another short Halloween story (an eight pager) blocked out, so you'll probably see it soon.

24-hour-comic: The Event

So earlier this week I posted the product of my go at the 24-hour comic.  Now that pictures have surfaced of the event, I'd like to give you a glimpse of what it was like.

24-hour comic - Oct 1 2011

So this is my answer to the creative challenge of this year's 24-hour comic (to create a 24-hour comic in 24 hours).  I was only able to make 8 pages during the 24 hour period, but that's okay.  I tried my best.  This project is made of firsts:  My first 24-hour comic, my first time using bristol board, my first time using ink and watercolors together in a "real" comic.  It was a great day.  Photos of the event to come.

Cosi Fan Tutte

This last week I tagged along with the Black Hat Collective, a crew of cartoonists and bloggers, to the Minnesota Opera for a showing of the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutte.  And the lot of us drew some funny pictures to go along with what we've seen.


Read on to learn more about Cosi Fan Tutte and to see my cartoons.

IT CRAWLED ON MY FACE

Just Add Ink: A Comic Cookbook - Gallery Opening and Discussion

One might remember when I created a "How to Cook a Story - With Thomas Bake-a-Chef-Ski,"  a comic to be submitted to a cookbook-themed anthology.  It was a project I first heard about at SpringCon 2011 and taking on that project is how I became aware of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy —a group with which I've since done quite a few collaborations.

The anthology has finally been put together.  You can download it for free, and physical copies are being sold at the Altered Esthetics gallery in Minneapolis.  At the same time, the gallery is hosting a showcase of the original artworks (and work-in-progress art) created by the 45 cartoonists and illustrators who contributed to the book (myself included).

The gallery opened with a small party on August 5th and will remain open until August 25th.

Here is some coverage of the evening:

Cartoonist Conspiracy 8/4

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy met to create another Jam Comic at Diamond's Coffee

Click on this link to read this week's Jam Comic

Warning: Not Safe For Work.