February 1, 2007
Still cloudy and rainy looking but no precipitation as of two P.M.

Started working on scenes for Paul Cool's new book on the El Paso Salt Wars. Here's my first rough sketch, done last night at the kitchen table. I did more this morning and will publish those this afternoon:



News From The Front Lines
"Joseph Lobrillo called and subscribed for 2 years. He met you at the Tombstone 125th and loves True West magazine. He is a reenactor."
—Carole Compton Glenn

The Best of 3,000
We are closing in on the end of our sketchbook tour. Here is a sneak peek at my hand-drawn schematic for the 16-page prototype of the Top Secret Project (below, left). Every scene and plot point it here (assuming you can see it). On the right are several takes on a rico carriage bouncing across a dry lake, which will appear on page five or six of the prototype:



And finally, here's the page after my 3,000th sketch, which brings us to the end of the line for this batch. But be forewarned I am well on my way to 4,000 and won't rest until I hit 10,000 (the magic number that my cartoonist friend Dave Sims pegs as: "Every artist has 10,000 bad drawings in him." We shall see.)



Onion Headline de Jour
Iraq Declares Partial Law

"When a writer uses his secret wounds as his starting point, he is, whether he is aware of it or not, putting great faith in humanity."
—Orphan Pamuk