Tessa's Braces

You are being redirected to my current website www.tessab.net.

2011-03-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

DING DONG the Blog is Dead!

2010-07-08T18:51:00.001-07:00

Which old blog? The blog that I haven't updated for eight months!

Check out my new website Tessa Brunton's Comics (I know, I know, I just really couldn't think of a cool name) which I will be attempting to update semi-regularly now, and which will now be the new glorious hub of my self-aggrandizing little comic universe. For more info on what I've been up too these past eight months, check out the "News and Updates" page...

Signing off,

Tessa "only now realizing she probably didn't really need those braces" Brunton

Xmas

2009-12-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Descent

2009-09-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Soooo, a while ago someone kept posting comments to old comics in mandarin or something, and I think it was spam, so I set commenting to "moderation required", but blogger doesn't effing ping you when you get comments you need to moderate! Anyways, that's done with now forever.

If people try to post spam in mandarin to this blog, instead of switching to comment moderation, I will hunt them down like Sean Connery in a submaine.

Mono

2009-09-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

Comic Readin' at Modern Times Bookstore!

2009-06-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Next Thursday, June 25th! You. Me. Comics. Cool people. How can you resist?

Neeeeeew Mini Comic

2009-05-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

In the Tall Grass Number Four! Huzaah!

I took down my little cobbled-together mini-comic store because I was absolutely FAILING at mailing mini comics out in a timely fashion. However, if anyone wants one o' these I'd be happy to do it informal-like, just e-mail me and I'll send it right off!

Socks

2009-05-03T10:33:00.001-07:00

Tippy Tap

2009-05-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

Doppelgangers

2009-04-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey kids, the above comic was made for the new Bridge Project Anthology, which is bitchin', and was put together by Matt (this is Matt looking intellectually stimulated by his new anthology):

The premise of the anthology is to bridge two comic communities (portland and SF)- basically "contributors from one city will be paired up with a contributor from another, and together they will work on a story."
My collaborator was this girl named Vanessa Grunton, who I met last time I was in portland.

The anthology is really good - and Matt's debuting the whole shebang at Stumptown tomorrow. If you want to get your little piggy paws on a copy, it's looks like this:

It'll also be in various bookstores in the next couples months.
Sadly, I won't be at Stumptown. I've been living in this twisted sad little land for the past two and a half weeks:
and
(In case anyone is wondering, it's the land of sinus infections and hair that hasn't been combed in three days). As I result I've been too feeble to make mini-comics. Never fear, I now feel well enough to gambol through the spring air like a young colt, and will soon be back slowly going insane and sniffing glue while making mini comics on the floor of my room.

Sinusitis

2009-04-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I have since been informed by my housemate that using a Neti Pot is more of an art than a science, and that its all about the angle. Fortunately Youtube is a wealth of Neti Pot demonstrations.

This man makes the most amazing faces when he does it:

(The faces start at minute one)

Is this not Drew from Toothpaste for Dinner? It totally is.

2009-03-23T07:53:00.001-07:00

Exploratorium

2009-03-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

Criteria

2009-03-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

No one knows what a real recluse is

2009-03-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections

2009-02-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Dudes and Dudettes, Woot!

Julia's Missed Connections comic anthology just came out!

"It's filled with "comics inspired by real-life missed connection ads posted on Craigslist and in local papers around the country". I've got a comic in it, and I can't actually post the comic here but I can tell you it involves apocalypse now and people having sex on the beach...

In these tough economic times, its hard to spend money on comics when you need the dough to buy food and whatnot, but need I remind you that comics and food are not mutually exclusive?

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Hikin'

2009-01-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

A Nightime Visit

2009-01-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

Me and Chevy

2009-01-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

Frickin' Awesome!

2009-01-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

I feel the background music of this clip appropriately evokes my winter melancholy. Well done, Emma O - depression beccomes less depressing when totally cool stuff like this happens, and also when all the depressives who read your blog unite with you in blahness via your blog.
This totally makes me want to make a whole depressive paper doll world - I worry that I'd be festishizing my own inability to deal with reality, but as they say in the blogs these days, "whatevs".

2009-01-06T22:55:00.001-08:00

New Years Eve

2009-01-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

I'm Flipping My Lid!

2008-12-30T06:58:00.000-08:00

Over this:

"Cartoon College" teaser trailer

I want to go so bad. It's still super new, but who wouldn't want to meet some of the obscenely talented people who run the school or spend time with people who are forced to read your comics and provide you with constructive feedback?

The idea of going there raises all these questions though - tuition alone for one year is $15,000. So, if I go and it's awesome and I wind up doing what I really want to do, it'd be worth it right?
However, even if I do wind up drawing comics for a living, I'd be graduating with an MFA in Comic Art and $30,000+ in student loans from a small, non-accredited art school in Vermont. I'd have no real way of paying that off besides drawing and selling vital organs. Also, they can't accept federal student aid, so all of my loans would be made through Sallie Mae. Meh.

Thoughts?

Comic in Bitch!

2008-12-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Dudes and Dudettes,
You should totally get yer wee piggy paws on the newest issue of Bitch magazine (the noir issue)! Not only is there the regular selection of insightful feminist commentary on pop culture but there is also an aweso-tastic comics section in this issue, which is in color! And ahem, well, I do have a comic in that section, which you should check out...I certainly think everyone I meet at bus stops should check it out...

At a newstand near you!
love,
Tessa

Hand-Me-Downs

2008-12-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Instead of Working on my Mazillion Unfinished Comics, I Spent the Morning Learning the Ukulele

2008-12-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Incoherence

2008-11-20T22:49:00.000-08:00

Prop 8

2008-11-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

Also, now that it's all wintery out, it's time for:

Wee bit 'o news!

2008-11-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I made a list! For Venus Zine! About cool comic blogs! It is but a humble ode to those who toil for nay but a penny (or naught!) for their labors, with links to their comic genius.

(Can you totally tell that I've been reading Jane Eyre while I've been sick with a head cold? And that being in my room for five straight days with that book has totally affected my brain? If I start wearing gray frocks and trying to heard other people's children around in public like a governess, you'll know I've truly lost it. But I digress.)

Housies

2008-11-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

I got a stuuuuupid cold so I got delayed in putting this one up.

APE: an effing COMIX BONANZA

2008-10-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,
I haven't been posting lately because I've gone all keebler-elf, and spend all my time in my room working away at preparing for APE: the Alternative Press Expo, which is basically just a giant orgasm of mini-comics. I will totally be there, at my booth, doting on all the people who read this bulliten and then come by to say hello to check out the fruits of my endless comic-toil.

The details arrrrre:

When: Nov 1st and 2nd, next saturday and sunday.

Where: The Concourse
620 7th Street
San Francisco

Yeah, and did I mention that Chris Ware is going to be there? And Jessica Abel, author of the best book ever La Perdida?

This illustration has nothing to do with this post. It's just my friend Ash, drinking a hot toddy.

Hope I see you there!

Fooooooood.

2008-10-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

As I was making this I realized it was sort of a life-as-a-modern-single-woman joke cliche, and sort of sitcom-ey, but it's totally true. I love good food so hard, if I had to choose between sex and an avocado sandwich, it would reeeeeally depend on who the sex was with, and even then it would probably still be the sandwich.
Fortunately this is not a choice I often have to make.

A Rainstorm, a Couch and the Sound of Your Parents Talking in the Kitchen (about Obama) and You Totally Fall Asleep at 7 PM

2008-10-13T23:38:00.001-07:00

Visiting my parents last weekend was like a great big spoonful of peace-of-mind.

Four Beers, a Greyhound and Three Whippits and You Still Totally Wake Up at 6 AM

2008-10-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Life, the Universe and Everything

2008-10-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Dream Journal: Oct 4

2008-10-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Jess Experiences Kitty Tide

2008-10-01T20:30:00.001-07:00

Ye Olde Excuses

2008-10-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry it’s been so long since a comic posting - let's just say there was a flu and then some gruesome dental surgery, so it’s basically been a month of enfeebledness, and little creativity. I swear every couple weeks I post about not being able to do comics because of some minor crises that is steering my life into the screaming void. At least I am not encountering this in my wee home in Oakland. Right? Lieutenant Ripley knows all about crises
Anyways, my brother found out about all my troubles and sent me a list of videos to cheer me up – these are the choicest, meant to placate folks until I can put pen to paper and eek out some more of ye old comics:

After raving about this video for a week I found out that MC Hammer is in fact, an avid blogger! His blog is here!

Rasberries

2008-09-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

WARNING: This comic may not be suitable for members of my immediate family!

Tears for Fears = Reckoning with Mortality while Peeing

2008-09-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

everybody wants to rule the world

Night Thoughts

2008-09-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

News from Portland Town

2008-08-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

In love again:

alas! I miss it already.

AnnNNNnouncements!

2008-08-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

1. PORTLAND! THE SEQUEL! I'm comin' up to ole' Portland town this weekend to hang out at the Portland Zine Symposium! Please stop by and say hello and fondle my new comic!

2. Which brings me to the fact that I do, in fact, have a NeeEEeew comic that I'll be pressing into the hot little hands of folks at the zine fest. Let me know if you'd like to get your wee piggy-paws on a copy! (please note though that I haven't checked my P.O box in ages, so send me an email if your mailing me something to I can go during the brief moment on saturday morning when the stars align and I can stop by the post office.)

ps. Most of these comics have in fact appeared online, just an FYI.

3. Due to the general tooth malaise (read: mouth rot) of those around me, I've started flossing again! And this is what happens every time I do:

WHEN DOES IT STOOOOOOOP?!?! So much blood....so very very much...

Wild Waters

2008-08-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Moving

2008-08-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

This comic is all I've been able to scribble out lately, no need to go into detail, but the climax of last week involved me helplessly weeping on my parent's porch while I was returning their truck to them and then singing this song to myself.
[Additionally, as an Epilogue, I should mention that while I thought one of my mice had been eaten by my new housemate's cat while I was moving in (new housemate was really sweet about it) last monday night by some miracle I found my wee pet! She'd been hiding in my new apartment and HOW she did this, I don't know, because myself and my new housemate had scoured the apartment in the off chance she had survived her encounter with Mr. Mustache. She's a total survivor (read: invisible mouse ninja) and in full recovery, and ate all of the peanut butter off the celery I put in her cage last night. Huzzah! New plans are being made to build the mice a supreme rodent fortress, complete with moats and cauldrons full of hot tar, where they shall be safe.]
Thanks for all of the awesome comments last week, they seriously helped me power through, I was cheered immmensely by them!

No comics this week: My life = THE PERFECT STORM

2008-07-28T11:33:00.001-07:00

Hellllllooooo friends.
There have been no comics recently, nor sadly, will there be any this week because my life is currently a spitting furious, PERFECT STORM which involves cicumstances at work resulting in doing things I find stressful and time consuming whilst also packing, cleaning and moving every night after work until Friday. I feel uber stressed out right now, and the only thing that is really making me ok is watching the new preview for Watchmen OVER AND OVER on my computer:

Are you not electric with the thrill and awesomeness of this preview? IS IT NOT THE BEST EVER?!?!

Also, it was expressed to me last night that several people think I should get a website, instead of hobbling along on this wee blog. Thoughts, feelings? Anyone know where I might procure myself a website for cheap?

SF Zine Fest = Phenomenal!

2008-07-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well folks, having returned to my wee apartment and taken a long hot shower (to wash away the crusty-gutter-punk and hipsters-in-old-man-pants residue that such affairs often leave) I am prepared to give a full account, or at least a partial account based on the photos below!

Mah booth!

(I should probably stop taking pictures of my booth, I mean really, does it ever change? No. Is there any exciting new gadgetry like flaming pinwheels? sadly not. But I digress.)
Uber-charming table mate Mari kept me entertained with in depth discussions about peeing and also listened to me neurotically ramble about the fact that I thought I was maybe (but maybe not) but really maybe getting sick. Read her comics! They're so good!:

Ahem, yet ANOTHER picture where my head is TWICE THE SIZE of the other persons head. Really, you could put two of Mari's heads IN my head. To see further evidence of the phenomenon, please refer to these pictures of myself and amity at stumptown.

Ma Brunton pays me a visit. She bought a wee book! Horaay!

Former Housemate and Kitten Enthusiast Jess hangs out with Kelly at the booth for little paper planes, land of things pretty and hip. Don't they just both look so cute together with their braids? Don't they look like they belong to a box set of cute artsy girls?

Maud, Natalie, Colin and Bonnie visit and ask the question: Will cat-lovers like the new Hellboy movie more because they are gobs of cats in it? SUB-QUESTION! Are cat-lovers opinions and feelings easily manipulated and skewed by the presence of cats, PERIOD?!?!

Matt stops by and does clever things with my patches:

Then JENNIE does something EQUALLY clever with a button, while renee laughs with her, not at her:

While these photos do not capture all of the awesomeness or the wickedly cool people who stopped by and said hello, and traded and heckled, they do capture the fact that my head looks twice the size of other's peoples heads in photos and that (apparently) I have a watermelon-sized skull.

SF Zine Fest

2008-07-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Me! You! Buttons! Hugs! Comics! Ah!
Come to the SF Zine Fest this weekend, where I will be manning a booth (technically a half-table, but whatevs) and I would love to be visited!

Also! If you want to meet Jess (featured in many of my comics) she will be there too at this booth!

The Faaaaabulous Life

2008-07-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mixed up my "to"s and my "too"s...meh.

2008-07-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Harsh Realization in your Twenties that you Cannot Go on the "FIRE BALL" Seven Times in a Row like you could when you were a Kid

2008-07-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Strangers who Shout

2008-07-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Freebies

2008-07-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

Couch! Chair!

These are good finds, no?

High School: One

2008-06-28T15:16:00.003-07:00

I'm starting to do some comics about that dark chapter of mid-adolecense.

2008-06-28T15:16:00.001-07:00

Ira Knows

2008-06-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Up until minute 2:40, this describes exactly what I feel about doing comics, and why persistence and dedication are the two most important aspects of improvement, and why I have this blog.

2008-06-22T15:56:00.000-07:00

Botanical Gerdens

2008-06-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

So, about half way through drawing this I started drinking Tecate instead of black tea.
Also, for those who don't know about Melly.

COMIX...Fer Yer Wall

2008-06-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll - the reason I haven't posted for a while is cause I've been crafting a comic
flyer - to be posted hither and yon on bulliten boards, bus stops and bedroom walls! Let me know if you want to flyer your neck of the woods and I'll send some on to ya (I know it sounds SO tempting). If not, I hope you enjoy the collection of comics in my first attempt at "fer yer wall".

Funny Girl

2008-06-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

2008-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

Showers Heal all Ills

2008-05-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

This was the original comic in my travel journal:

More Animation!

2008-05-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

You can probably tell that at the end of this video I was totally over the project and my back was hurting and I just wanted to go and do my laundry. But hopefully you actually can't tell, and it just looks "arty" instead of "sloppy"...MOST of it was really fun to do though.

Know Thy Neighbor

2008-05-20T22:56:00.001-07:00

New Animation: Birds!

2008-05-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

The music in this animation was done by Badly Drawn Boy, from the About a Boy soundtrack, fyi.

I Want to Stab Myself in the Neck with a Pen

2008-05-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

Note: Mom, this is passing angst, and doesn't mean I'm going to run down the street naked waving a butcher knife or anything.

A Letter

2008-05-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

A Surprise

2008-05-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Friday Night

2008-05-04T19:59:00.001-07:00

Portland Mercury Knows Evil Genius when it Sees It

2008-05-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

Pondering

2008-04-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend gave me a lot to think about...

Portland: A Photo BANAZA!

2008-04-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourself for the blow-by-blow photo EXPLOSION of Stumptown AWESOME. It was so exciting and inspiring, and totally exhausting, and I appreciate you, dear reader, indulging my quasi-slideshow below of my first time in portland, which was pretty rockin.
This was mah booth, on saturday morning before anyone else had gotten there (note to self: punctuality is CLEARLY not an important part of becoming a cartoonist.)

Jason and Calvin, my tablemates!

Amity and Brent visit!

My first customer (totally NOT Brent).

Stumptown gets going...

That night, at cosmic monkey:

Amity gets drunk and rocks her mustard colored shirt. Seriously, who do you know that can wear mustard? Way to hustle, Amity.

Amity, handler, groupie, enabler, number one fan, and booth wench.

Monday morning, Amity and Brent waylay me on the way to the airport for some coffee. It's early for everyone, but I'm sad to go.

And lastly, a wee airport sketch, when I was thinking about how good it felt going to the airport on friday, listening to the Byrds "Turn, turn, turn". Right after I finished this sketch I realized that I had left my small blue suitcase unattended somewhere in the airport, and then found out it had been picked up by security. Then I had to go ransom it out of the bowels of the airport.

Headed to Portland Town...

2008-04-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

After an orgy of craftiness, I'm off to Stumptown! http://www.stumptowncomics.com/
More comics when I return!

Lunch

2008-04-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

The New Arrivals

2008-04-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

x

Ok, seriously, you don't have to watch all of this, but you SHOULD. Beacause my new mice are so cute, I die a little everytime I see them. What you are viewing above takes place in the "loft", where the mice are left to their own devices. You can see they dragged a bunch of fabric scraps up there that I put in the bottom of their cage...ok, I realize this is pet-owner drivel, so I am going to stop...

Snip Snip

2008-04-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Missed Call

2008-04-02T22:04:00.001-07:00

New and Awesome Mini Comic!

2008-03-28T20:27:00.001-07:00

Heaven

2008-03-28T20:26:00.001-07:00

Where the #@!!*# Have I Been?

2008-03-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been putting together my second mini comic, which means every wee hour that I had previously squeezed out of my day like the last drops of juice from each giant, sticky, overripe day that had previously been devoted to drawing has now been devoted to cutting and pasting and photocopying and visiting walgreens trying to buy rubber cement. "It's a Zine Factory!" says my housemate Jess. All I can say is I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN. If it means I have to find a portal to ANOTHER WORLD in a NEW DIMENSION, conquer and enslave the mystical creatures that live in said world and then BRING THEM BACK TO EARTH IN CHAINS to get them to do this entire ridiculous process for me, then by golly I will. All this feverish preparation is indeed for this event: www.stumptowncomics.com. In the meantime you should totally listen to the radio shows, which rock my world when I'm at my desk huffing rubber cement while I compile mini comics: www.radiolab.com - a WICKED AWESOME radio show. From the same part of heaven that this one is: www.thisamericanlife.org.

2008-03-07T09:53:00.001-08:00

2008-03-07T09:52:00.001-08:00

More Exploration

2008-03-06T20:31:00.001-08:00

Sounds Like

2008-03-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

Cages

2008-02-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

Nicknames

2008-02-21T22:13:00.001-08:00

On the Drip

2008-02-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

Review

2008-02-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

In: It reads:

The Office

2008-02-18T10:18:00.001-08:00

2008-02-12T20:45:00.001-08:00

Three Reasons Why I Have Not Been Postin' Comics Lately

2008-02-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

1: A loveable foster kitty that is kind of unable to keep food down, and who also keeps sending "fuck you"/cry for help messages to me and my housemate by peeing on our bedding and art projects (cat pee is like childhood trauma, no matter how much time passes, it's STILL THERE, just under the surface).

2: Painstakingly giving walgreen's Jesus candles a makeover. Best movie I watched while doin' mah Jesus candles? The Shining. As always.

3: Oodles of patches, that are of images that are probably copyrighted, so this is prob illegal, but not as illegal as all of the dead babies I keep in my desk drawers at work....

More comics soon.

Laundry

2008-02-02T17:04:00.001-08:00

Not that we NEED more rules on how to live our lives, but these are good:

2008-02-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

So I don't actually *go* to art school, but still, I appreciate this and want to apply them to my own art.
You can find more info about it here:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/31/rules-for-life.html

Contagious

2008-01-29T22:12:00.000-08:00

Hats

2008-01-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Macarthur Bart Smells like Blood

2008-01-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

Shuggie Otis and a Ghettoblaster

2008-01-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

The Break In

2008-01-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

Neighbors

2008-01-19T18:16:00.001-08:00

Reader David was curious as to why my housemate's boobs had swelled significantly in panels six. He clearly discovered the clever subtext of the comic where I secretly alluded to Jess (my housemates') boob job, which she got at some point between the second panel and the sixth. The subplot here really is that we are discussing our toilet, but really i am reeling in horror at the massive size of, ahem, her you-knows in panel six. David has kindly provided an illuminating illustration of the realities of this comic:

Our Spontaneously Overflowing Toilet

2008-01-15T22:44:00.000-08:00