More of my Facebook Graffiti, I’m having fun with this application, if you’re one of my Facebook friends let me know what you want me to draw and I’ll sketch something up.

Here’s a really nice one Cayleigh made for me.

Fairbanks is cold. The COYA Steering Committee Meeting is going well and I can’t talk too much about the delegate selection process until later this week but I know most of the Juneau delegates pretty well and I think it’s going to be a phenomenal group.

I was slightly disheartened by attendance at the Forum of Young Alaskans in October. It wasn’t horrible but it could have been better. The smaller pool of applicants for COYA was another boot to the junk after having put so much time into visiting classrooms and organizations. I thought that during such a lively election cycle people might take a little more interest… wrongo.

This weekend has eradicated all that drag and I’m feeling good about the process again. The conference delegates are going to be strong and we may have some concrete goals developing for how to continue the project.

The comic this week is for Lee and Zaz. Lee is my roommate and fellow steering committee member, he’s a great guy and Zaz is his sassy not-girlfriend who cracks me up. It was fun getting to know them both better this trip.

• Comic - Cold Snap

I was supposed to jet up to Fairbanks on Friday afternoon but high winds fenced me in.

Missing the flight gave me a few extra hours to dig into my project for art class. I have a lot of travel ahead of me so I’ll probably end up failing the class based on my attendance but I really like the project and intend to complete it on the road.

It’s a story of a boy and his mother living in a city which has been half-submerged by a rising ocean. It’s told on seven 12″ x 12″ panels and I was originally going to try for a pen and ink look with some light water colors but I think it may change as I proceed.

A couple of the scenes have involved tricky perspective grids. I might be over complicating the process but when I tried to eyeball it I ran into problems with where to plant buildings and how to determine the water level so I busted out my copy of “Perspective! for Comic Book Artists” by David Chelsea.

“Perspective!” is a great visual reference and it’s really helped me get a grip on creating a more realistic space to draw within. The image above probably looks like something from a Tron game to the untrained eye but I see a flooded city fading into the horizon and a tiny row boat drifting over the rooftops.

I think my dad is probably the most deservedly happy man I know. He’s friendly, gracious, mischievous, and full of love.

Yesterday was the old man’s 59th birthday and his snowy beard was full of grins and chocolate cake.

Dad’s been getting crafty in his old age. I jumped in the car with him a few weeks back and he proudly announced that he’d just finished crocheting a hat. I’ve known him my entire life and he can still surprise me with a lumpy little hat as proof of his efforts.

He’s also knocked together a cluttered painting nook in the basement of his house where he’s imagined some beautiful landscapes, a handful of portraits, some whimsical jellyfish and a babe on a piano.

• Comic - Big Mike

It’s because of my dad’s unwavering support and encouragement that I don’t ever do anything that makes much sense. He’s given me license to be happy.

My friend Melissa introduced me to the facebook graffiti application a while back and I finally I tried it out for the first time today. It isn’t as flexible as Photoshop for digital painting but I love being able to play back the drawings and see the process unfold. I think this will be a fun place to sketch.