Fablepaint -

As I’ve been experimenting with a flex nib based fountain pen, I’ve sunk more heavily into ink as a medium than ever before. There’s an intense amount of pleasure derived from scratching the thin steel tip of a pen against different kinds of paper and seeing an image appear. The visceral nature of it is something I miss as a career digital artist.

So I have found myself obsessed with drawing again. I need to draw this rock, or that leaf, or anything that demands intense attention to lighting and detail. Paint allows for a broad picture view of a subject, but ink is my medium for intimacy.

There’s no fun to be had quite like a thin scratchy line.

Good also is its encouragement for tiny, loose drawings of fashion or forms.

Or I guess in the case of some of these doodles, bitty tiddy sphinx ladies.

And internal angst.

Accomplished the biggest jump of my career yet over the weekend. At Further Confusion 2023, our trailer dropped.

I’ve been working on an independent film called “Lackadaisy: The Animated Short” for about three years now, muscling through historical horror to get to a small celebration of personal significance. This project has been–to date–the largest single thing I’ve worked on with my name so largely featured. I’m far more accustomed to stepping backwards into the shadows and letting my skillset speak on my behalf. But alas, the age of the Internet demands my face be seen on occasion.

Table 116A at Dealers East at #FurtherConfusion
I got posters, books, pins, and animation playing! pic.twitter.com/rYMZRTGgzr
— Fable Siegel Lackadaisy Director (@fablepaint) January 13, 2023

That said, where as once I might’ve felt some reluctance to make a public appearance, the Covid-years have taught me to treasure human interaction more keenly. And I can’t deny the appeal of trying to arrange an attractive table space. It requires an artful eye of its own.

pictured: Cactus Friend guards the Lackadaisy merch corner

I had a similar set up at BLFC in 2021, the only other convention I’ve been to recently. And I was happy to expand upon it. It must’ve been successful too, as I think I hit the Lackadaisy aesthetic so hard that I had a few people mistaking me for Tracy herself. And following the trailer drop panel–in which I showed the trailer to an audience of over a hundred attendees with the crew calling in virtually–I had the bright idea to include my camera at the table. So some crew members and Tracy herself were able to sit at the table with me on the last day, a lil pair of Robocop eyes I was free to stick wherever comfortable.

Painting examples, poster paint and ink wash

That made up for some of the loneliness of table lock (the unfortunate condition in which a dealer finds themselves unable to leave their position for fear of losing sales). With the trailer announced, now everyone knows our final timeline. And sales help me float for the next couple of months while we wrap it up.

Thank you Tracy and Spike for sending Lackadaisy merch my way to exhibit and sell. I owe you and then some. Thank you also those at the convention who commissioned paintings from me.