This is the second in a series of regular reports documenting the production of the fourth issue and chapter of my artist book/comic Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions Of Doctor Comics. These reports are updated approximately on a monthly basis. The new chapter Beer, Chocolate and Comics deals with the cats recovering from the demise of their patron and their travels in Germany and the world of European comics.

Continuing the turnaround of events and forward momentum that the above image from Chapter 3 illustrates the cats begin to get on top of things, take control of their situation and consequently develop and express their characters on their travels abroad.

I have been playing around with a beer label collaging idea, mostly from Belgian and German bottles, and have come up with this character so far but I expect there will be others. With the European theme and setting I am also considering including some bilingual content, preferably English and German and possibly even doing a combined issue #4-5.

The subject of fish and the technique of woodblock printmaking also return. And there is cooking too, of both fish and comics!

In addition to collage there were ink and paint printed images of an abstract nature that serve as backgrounds, settings or sometimes even graphic expressions of the characters’ thoughts.

The art work also features several words and images made with pen and ink including some quick-sketch location drawings from previous visits to Hamburg and Hanover and more recently to Berlin.

For location drawing I usually carry a small leather bag of art tools…

More visual developments and an update on progress will be posted on this blog in the new year.