Thanks so much to everyone who made it to the show tonight! I had a blast! Anyone who didn't make it can come out to Lincoln Square for Pride Fest on Aug. 20th. I'll be doing another book signing there from 4 to 9 pm. Also, my watercolors will be up at the Heartland Gallery until Sept. 10th, so stop in and check them out.
SWAK
-- Edited by Jim Gallagher on Wednesday 17th of August 2011 04:57:32 PM
In addition to this Saturday at Lincoln Square, I'll also be doing another signing at Flesor's Candy Kitchen in Tuscola on Sunday, Sept. 25th, from 3 to 5 pm.
I'll also be speaking to the Tuscola Kiwanis Club about both my books some time in November. Final date and time still to be deterimined.
It's sort of a memoir I had published last year, of my mom's old letters. Her sister saved 20 years worth of letters from my mom and gave them to me and I made a book out of them and illustrated them with lots of odds and ends that my mom included in the letters such as kids' artwork and schoolpapers, newsclippings, fabric swatches, wallpaper swatches, etc. etc. plus photos of course. It has a lot of local history and family memories and has been very popular among family, friends, and just people who grew up in the area. Unfortunately, it's 320 color pages, which makes it very expensive to print and impossible for me to turn a profit on. Here's a link to the cover on my Facebook page:
The graphic design instructor at Parkland College just asked if I'd be interested in speaking to his classes about my graphic novel this semester! How cool is that? Below is part of his email, sent to me by Tim Stiles.
- invite local pros to give a presentation, followed by q&a (50 min max) - make this required attendance for a parkland class to guarantee an audience - invite anyone else who may want to come (on campus or off) - parkland provides venue, tech support - no honorarium, just good will - maybe 2 or 3 speakers a semester
tim and i were thinking jim gallagher (precision graphics) might be a good candidate this semester since his self-published graphic novel is just out (it's pretty good, too).
Here are some photos of my models receiving gifts at my book-signing/art show. Unfortunately you can't really see the paintings in the background.
You should post close-ups of those gifts you gave out, Jim! The ones you showed us before via e-mail were so cool!
Jim Gallagher wrote:
The graphic design instructor at Parkland College just asked if I'd be interested in speaking to his classes about my graphic novel this semester! How cool is that? Below is part of his email, sent to me by Tim Stiles.
- invite local pros to give a presentation, followed by q&a (50 min max) - make this required attendance for a parkland class to guarantee an audience - invite anyone else who may want to come (on campus or off) - parkland provides venue, tech support - no honorarium, just good will - maybe 2 or 3 speakers a semester
tim and i were thinking jim gallagher (precision graphics) might be a good candidate this semester since his self-published graphic novel is just out (it's pretty good, too).
Here are some of the gifts I gave my models for each character. I'll have to dig up some for the others. There was no lion model, but when I saw this figure on ebay I couldn't resist getting it.
Thanks for the pointer. That's some impressive work there, Jim. Watercolor is a tough medium to deal with. I only wish you could have included all of the paintings in the book. How did you decide which four paintings to use?
Well, Jason was a natural for the cover. I figured I had to put his name in the title for marketing reasons since he's the most famous character. "Iphicles and his Friends" probably wouldn't attract much attention. But basically, I just chose my four favorites. Which four would you have chosen?
Well, that's just it. I'd have a hard time choosing four I liked more than the others, which is why I wondered how you made the decision. I suppose one painting that perhaps stands out more than the others is the one of Pan. I really like him with silver hair. And he has this slightly mad, bemused, scary gleam in his eye, as if he's saying, "Oh, thinkest thou art smarter than I, dost thou?" Sorry, I can't do that Shakespearean English the way you do.
My watercolor show at Heartland Gallery has been extended to October 8th, so get in there and see it if you haven't already. I must say that the 12 paintings look pretty impressive all displayed together.
Ongoing through Saturday, October 8 – “The Adventures of Jason and the New Argonauts” by Jim Gallagher
This solo exhibition continues in popularity and has been extended through Saturday, October 8. The show features a new graphic novel by Champaign artist, Jim Gallagher, along with original watercolors of the twelve main characters. Taken from Greek mythology, each one is associated with a sign of the zodiac. Gallagher is a graphic designer with Precision Graphics in Champaign. He spent a major part of the last five years devoting his free time to the development of this project, with the help of longtime friend Tim Stiles, who inked all of Gallagher’s drawings for the book. Copies of the book are available for $12. Original watercolors and giclee prints are also available for purchase.
The show's coming down today. Here I am in front of it before it comes down. And here's my friend, Ed, who played the twins, in costume at the opening and some general crowd scenes.
On Monday, Nov. 14, which just happens to be my birthday, I'll be talking to the Kiwanis Club in Tuscola about both my books and my website. I think it's for Kiwanis members only, but hey, if you're a member I hope to see you there at noon.
Also, my book is now available locally at Jane Addams bookstore on Neil Street in downtown Champaign, as well as at Gmart Comics also in downtown Champaign and at Heartland Gallery in downtown Urbana.
I basically had to revamp all the pages to fit their format, which is 8.5 x 11, submit the files to their subsidiary, CreateSpace, and fill out a bunch of forms. They'll send me a proof next week and once I approve it, it will be available on Amazon.
Quite a pain considering I had it done at 8.5 x 11 originally and had to reduce it to fit the other printer's specs. I had looked into Create Space for my mom's book, but at that time they didn't offer anything over 8 x 10 inches or 200 pages. I guess that's changed.
I stopped in at my local comic shop today and they informed me that they finally sold 2 copies of my book last week! Woohoo! I suspect that our new member, A, was one of them.
So yesterday I went to the Champaign Library and asked if they could look up how many times my book has been checked out. They said it's been checked out TEN times from Champaign and FIVE times from Urbana! Considering they've only had it for about a year I think that's pretty good!