The hardcover edition of The Sculptor will finally be on sale February 3, 2015. But already, I can see I’ll have a frequently-asked question: “Will there be a digital version?”

It’s a reasonable question, and the short answer is Yes. As far as I know, there’ll be versions available for tablets and other devices. I’m grateful to First Second for standing by me during those five long years while we busted ass to make this the best book we could, and anything that helps them break even sooner is okay by me. Also, if readers are hoping for a more affordable option, I realize that digital sometimes has its advantages.

But on a creative level, I frankly couldn’t care less about any digital repurposing of this one. This book is designed for print and as far as I’m concerned, the paper and ink version will always be the “real” version.

I believe passionately in designing for the device, and in this case, the device was a BOOK. If I was designing for digital, as I have in the past, I would have been just as passionate about taking full advantage of that environment—and just as apathetic about any lazily repurposed print version.

The idea of any artist in any medium feeling they have to castrate their work to suit multiple formats makes me kinda sick. I hated it when newspaper editors/syndicated started requiring strip cartoonists to make an entire third of their Sunday comics disposable. I hated it when movie makers starting avoiding any local idioms or a strong sense-of-place for international markets. I hate it when webcomics embrace shitty online formats for the sake of future print collection—or vice versa.

I spent years talking about the limitations of print. With The Sculptor, I was able to finally work within those limitations knowingly and create something I hope benefitted from that tension and strained against those limits in a creative and interesting way. In only 6 weeks, I hope my readers find that struggle worthwhile, and I hope they’ll have that experience with a book in their hands.

WATCH PIGEONS TO SLEEP from john campbell on Vimeo.

Al Davison is making a Graphic Novel. Let’s help him do it, shall we? Al is an extraordinary artist, with an extraordinary story to tell, and I look forward to whatever he has in store.

Also asking for a helping hand this week is the very promising documentary Stripped by Dave Kellett and Fred Schroeder. It’s a great cause (and I’m delighted that a goofy quote of mine got to be the punchline for the excellent trailer), but after such an explosive start to their fundraising campaign, I can’t imagine they won’t make their goal. So if you can only give to one (if either—I know times are tough), please consider Al this round.

Also this week, Faith Erin Hicks has begun online serialization of her new graphic novel Friends with Boys. Look great so far. Check it out.

Meanwhile, Darryl Cunningham is going after Chiropractic Therapy. Can’t miss that.

Finally, want to be a Google Doodler? Our old pal Tom Galloway reports that they’re hiring.
[Link corrected! Earlier link was to a “Doodle engineer” which is a little different.]

Off to NYC this weekend. I’m actually flying a bit early to, um, be in New York City in time for Hurricane Irene(?). Okay, not really. Just so that the hurricane doesn’t screw up my travel plans for my talk at NYU this Tuesday (not open to the public, sorry; just for freshmen in the Liberal Studies and Global Liberal Studies departments).

Have a great weekend.

Okay, we’ve moved apartments and gone to Comic-Con and back. Let’s get back to babbling about random comics news.

By far the coolest thing to happen in comics while I was on break these last few weeks was the debut of Derek Kirk Kim’s new video series Mythomania.

I have a cameo in the first episode but I’d be highly recommending these wonderful videos even if I wasn’t in it (oh Hell, especially if I wasn’t in it).

It’s a wonderful and funny portrait of aspiring young cartoonists so dead-on, it feels to me like I’ve known them for years.

Watch the first three episodes right now, and see if you don’t fall in love.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us at Con, and to all our friends for filling our days with happy reunions and crazy conversations. It’s my family’s Thanksgiving (complete with the eating too much) and the year wouldn’t feel complete without it.

It looks good!

Well, speaking of How-To videos (see Monday’s post), here’s a great video on creating facial expressions, à la Making Comics and The Grimace Project, in Anime Studio, using “Rudiger’s MorphDials script,” whatever that is. Pretty interesting stuff.

Had fun in Atlanta Tuesday, having fun in New York today, hope you’re having fun wherever you are!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In.

Here’s a great counterpoint to yesterday’s digital drawing video: a celebration of the traditional comics crafts in the hands of masters.

Sorry to be missing TCAF this weekend, but you can still make it. It’s a great, great show.

As promised, I’ve just released a real video tutorial covering last week’s lettering tips in two parts: Part One | Part Two. (Be sure to select “720p HD” for the clearest view.)

I know it’s just a silly How-To, but I’m actually kind of excited to finally be able to explain this system that I’ve enjoyed using for so many years. I really think this is a faster, more enjoyable, and more flexible system than most methods I’ve seen and would love for others to give it a try.

The appearance layer trick has been incredibly useful for me, but it was always hard to explain. Now I can simply give people a link, and show them why I like it so much.

Thanks to “Craniumation” in last week’s comments section who suggested the program Screenflow to capture my desktop demo.

I’m off to Atlanta today for a private Turner event on Tuesday, then off to NYC via JFK for SVA on THU. Blogging might be spotty, but have a great week!

Bottle from Kirsten Lepore.

[via Ivy’s friend Caroline]

From G. Alan Rhodes comes this unusual and innovative project. Be sure to view the demonstration video to get the full visual impact.

Rhodes writes:

I sometimes check-in with your website, and seeing your writeup of 5 Card Nancy (fantastic!), it occurred to me that you might like this project I’ve been showing around: 52 Card Psycho. It’s basically an Augmented Reality installation where the shower scene of Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ is made into a deck of cards. Writing to you now, I can see that this work strongly relates to the inspiration I had when reading Understanding Comics back in ’93: how can I made films into comics (the inverse of that has been done a lot lately…).

Maybe it will inspire an idea– I’m currently making several new projects with the same technology.

That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!