The Rise of the Platypuses!

Give these Platypuses hope. Give them purpose. Support Cellar Door and give them color and character and pizzaz. We will send these little fellows forth into art auctions once they are properly adorned to earn money for the continued success of our collective and projects.

There are four of these clay-born creatures available at Denver Drink & Draw (Leela European Cafe) tonight. I also have a plethora of colorful sharpies and acrylics.Be the first to sign one and grow in fame.


Their infamous debut will most like be occurring on September Second wherever our auction table finally lands (You will be kept in the know).

For those of you language geeks that are scoffing at my pluralizing of these little guys, Webster's and other trusted interwebs sources assure me that both platypuses AND platypi are acceptable usages. Thank you for your time and consideration!

Denver's Superheroes and Villains!

Good day Denver!

So, in preparing a fantastic comic conference (see www.denvercomiccon.com) we are preparing a video blog about our local heroes and villains. If you would like to be the stars of said blog you should let me know about your powers and your wicked plans. This can be done in two ways. First you can make a quick vid and send it over to me at MichaelWilliamPrince@gmail.com OR stop in at the Drink & Draw of Leela European Cafe on Tuesdays between the hours of four and six for a quick try-out. Tights, masks and the such are welcome, otherwise just tell us about what you could do with superpowers and your plans for world domination. Hope to see you!

Lonnie MF Allen

Next up we have the interview results from one of the most notorious members of Denver Drink & Draw and a dear friend of your humble editor: Lonnie MF Allen! Enjoy!

Cellar Door: What do you write and draw?

Lonnie MF Allen: I’ve made a lot of mini-comics since then late nineties as well as had comic short stories published in anthologies, including an Eisner nominated one in SPX 2005. I’m currently working on a graphic novel that I hope to show around as well as irregular web-comic on my blog page.

CD: Is there anything you would love to adapt? A book to a screenplay? A movie to a comic? A fairy tale to something? Etc…

LMFA: Just about every novel that I read I want to adapt into a television series or film. Oddly enough, I don’t feel that way about comics because those are better adapted to animations. Aeon Flux is the best example I can think of, it was a wonderful animated series and when I had heard they were adapting it into a film, I thought that could be nothing but horrible, and I was right.

CD: Who are your strongest influences?

LMFA: If I went into a list, it would most likely be boring and long. I’ll name off a few big ones for me: Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Voltaire, Dash Shaw, Hernandez Brothers, Jose Munoz, and David Mazzuchelli.

CD: What are your favorite books (comics, of course are included)?

LMFA: Breakfast of Champions, As I Lay Dying, Things Fall Apart, Asterios Polyp, Body World, anything by Neal Stephenson.

CD: What music (if any) do you listen to while you work?

LMFA: Everything and almost anything. Please don’t misunderstand this as me not caring. I love music, so I try to just set my iTunes to random, and listen.

This piece is from www.LonnieAllen.blogspot.com

Astroland!

        

        

     Come one come all to a comic reading at the new(ish) DIY art and music headquarters of Boulder! This should be a fun night full of amazing artwork and great storytelling by some of our local heroes including Lonnie MF Allen, the Xeric award-winning cartoonist Sam Spina, Celso, and Noah Van Sciver of Blammo fame. 

      The gallery will be opening at 6 pm and the readings will commence at 8 pm. This event is free but there will be places to make a charitable donation! Astroland is located at 4415 North Broadway, Boulder, CO.

      This should be a lot of fun! I hope to see you all there on July 9th!

Zazzle

New Cellar Door Anthology merchandise available including coffee mugs, 1" buttons, and more! Check out the Zazzle Market by scrolling to the bottom of the blog (and clicking on the link if you are so inclined). Thanks are due to Abi Fitches of PLUG zine for introducing me to this site!

The Spectrum (Themes)

Attention one and all! In considering themes for future books I thought I might be able to make you part of the process. Always feel free to offer suggestions to Cellar.Door.Book@gmail.com.

We are coming out with the Unraveling book later this summer once we get some more art between the covers. Let me know if you're still interested in doing an illustration or two! The theme of the third book is to be Threshold and I'm going to start sending out guidelines for it any day now. As for those coming after I have decided to post a selection of themes (and have guidelines on hand upon request) and accept submissions for them simultaneously. The order of printing will be decided on which inspires the most content first and then we'll continue from there. So, without further ado, here are the first selections:

Dead Authors & Artists (working out an exact title still)

Tricksters & Fools

Out of Your Skin

Deviance

Also, there is a distinct possibility that we may have an opportunity to print a book in color now and then which will allow the artists to truly shine! Please send me any thoughts you have on powerful themes that would inspire some great vivid art. Here's some of my thoughts:

Paradise

Green

Purple

Swords & Sorcery

Return to the Sea

And as always, your thoughts and opinions are invaluable to Cellar Door Anthology. Please share them freely.

Professor Lunchbox

So one of our resident artists of Denver Drink & Draw, Professor Lunchbox, will be the guinea pig for this interview column of the Cellar Door Blog. If the interaction .seems a bit stiff its because the interaction was strictly through email. I'll be conducting more dynamic Q&A's down the road once we get some more projects and collaborations underway. It is an exciting time for both the anthology and our community of artists and writers! So, without further ado, I present Professor Lunchbox:

Cellar Door: What do you draw?

Professor Lunchbox: I draw, paint, and make digital images (mostly in Adobe Illustrator) for print of people...sci-fi guys, elves, geeky lookin' dudes and a lot of pin-up gals. I also do graphic design stuff like logo designs and posters on the freelance end of things.

CD: Is there anything you would love to adapt? A book to screenplay? A movie to a comic? A fairytale to something?

PB: A story that Michael has yet to write...I'd like to adapt that into a short comic ;)  ... other than that I draw a lot of inspiration from creative works by others but I rarely ever think of using someone else's ideas to make art. I have too many of my own that I have yet to execute to spend my time reinterpreting other people's creations.

CD: Who are your strongest influences?

PB: That is a loaded question. I'm inspired by a lot of artists who do things similar to me. I'm a really big fan of Fafi (French graffiti artist), Adam Hughes (of course), Joe MAD!, Hyung-Tae Kim, Joe Chiodo, the amazing creative staff at CAPCOM (they've been inspiring me since I was like 10), Humberto Ramos, Mike Mignola and as of recently I'm really into Olivier Coipel though my absolute favorite of all time has to be Alphonse Mucha. Beyond that music always plays a strong role in keeping the creativity flowing...and I'm big into animation and movies...and video games of course. They all keep creative ideas going in without having to just look at drawings for inspiration.

Lastly I'm very inspired by the Works of the Mighty Boosh and friends (Noel Fielding, Julien Barret, Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Michael Fielding, Dave Brown, Rich Fulcher and the crazy dude who plays Garth Marenghi). They may do comedy and TV but their Wu-Tang style comedy troupe is such a great idea. They often work in small groups and always shift up who's working with who...I think there is a lot of strength in that...I hope to build something like that out of the Drink & Draw.

CD: What are some of your favorite books (comics, of course, are included)?

PB: His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, anything by Phillip K. Dick (more movies are based on his books than most people realize), Batman, 100 Bullets, The Goon, Hellboy, Artemis Fowl, The I Ching, The Tao (my favorite philosophical book) and the Hagakure.

CD: What music (if any) do you listen to while you work?

PB: Artists who like to change their style inspire me a lot though I tend to stick to mine. Tricky, DJ Shadow, Buck 65, David Bowie, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and EL-P are some of my favorites. I really like the high synth electro scene right now too: Daft Punk, Kavinsky, Mux Mool, Royksopp and so on.

CD: Do you have a webiste or some work I can plug on the blog?

PB: My website is www.professorlunchbox.com...it is about to be updated in the next few weeks so be sure to keep a watchful eye on it! My facebook profile is currently under my name: Benjamin Givens.


(The art displayed in this blog was created by Benjamin Givens aka Professor Lunchbox. If you like these make sure you check out his site or come and visit Denver Drink & Draw at Leela European Cafe on Tuesday nights)