Alex Toth is the Yoda of Comics

Monday I went into Periscope because I wanted to spend the whole day amongst the pros and see what an actual full length day there would feel like. I had been working for a while on a page of CVA (cavemen versus aliens) and I was asking Steve Lieber about composing panels and he asked me in return "have you looked at much Alex Toth?" I had seen a snippet here or there and likely dismissed exploring it further as a function of youthful stupidity. He then proceeded to show me two different examples of his work-one was a romance comic that had more dynamic fluidity than 10 contemporary comics put together and a fighter pilot story reprinted in the 80's that was so bad ass that it left me feeling like a ham-fisted clod.

Toth is like a kung fu master that just sat you down using only his thumb. He is so good at directing the eye and conveying mood that you really have to be looking for it to see how it works. The thing that is apparent immediately is the story-not the technique. After I had been looking at his stuff for about 20 minutes I wanted to redraw everything I'd ever done.

That was Monday. I've been absorbed by thoughts of Toth since then.

Learning about this guy made me feel simultaneously hopeful and sad. I'm sure the Germans have a word for that.

Tuesday we were fortunate as a nation to have a brilliant, charismatic, articulate, purpose driven, empathetic Democrat sworn in as the first black President of the United States and a vile, contemptuous buffoon barely worth mentioning eschewed into the dust-bin of history. Hallelujah. With our awesome new President at the helm I feel like good things are ahead. I feel inspired to be better at life. It sure is refreshing to be excited about your country.

As for today I worked on some pages and both Ron and Steve complimented my progress. That felt nice. I really do like everyone there and so far this is the best thing I've done for myself since moving here.

With the help of Colleen, Jonathan, Ron and Steve I'm going o get myself a wacom tablet and start doing some digital stuff. Time to join the 21st century.

Look for my first clumsy attempts right here once I get that tablet.

I've posted a few Toth pages here for any of you who are unaware, like I was, how brilliant this guy is. A master at reducing forms their essential components and not losing the power of communication