Squee!
And yes...that is the 'fangirl' sort of squee, not me quoting Flaco.
I'm squee-ing over Tracy J. Butler's latest update for Lackadaisy. Have I gushed about this comic before now? I don't care if I have; I'm going to do it again.
If you've never seen it, go see it. I ran across it because Danielle Corsetto posted a Twitter indicating that she really admired the artwork. I clicked to see what the buzz was about, since I think Danielle is a fantastic artist. If she's admiring someone, that someone must be amazing.
Well, no disappointment there. When you read a lot of webcomics, you come to expect webcomic art from new webcomics. Not so here. I mean, everything is in sepia tones, but the backgrounds are intricate, the characters are drawn in dimension, everything is shaded. It's stunning, it really is.
Add to that the fact that it's set in St. Louis, and I'm totally hooked. I mean, that's probably the main reason why I love it SO much, but come on... how often do you run into a comic set in your own hometown? And Tracy set it during the Prohibition era, which is arguably one of the more interesting periods in St. Louis history. We are, after all, a brewery town, so the attack on alcohol was a serious blow to the local economy. The culture of speakeasies and the associated crime circuit is a subject I've always found to be rather interesting, and seeing it acted out in the form of anthropomorphic cats is rather amusing.
Tracy got a book deal arranged with Renoir Comics in Italy, which I gather is due to culminate in a book release later this year. The comic will probably be released in Italian, though, so I'm hoping she can find a more local publisher that is equally interested in her work. She's posted some of the associated artwork she's done for the book, and I just don't see how anyone can resist. The sepia-toned art is pretty amazing, but the COLORED stuff she does is downright stunning. She does a lot of depictions of Mitzi May in gold jewely and peacock feathers and other flapperish styles of the 1920s, and the amount of details she includes fascinates me. I like her work so much now that I've put up some of her artwork as desktop images on my Mini.
Tracy also lives in St. Louis (naturally), and that's sort of a kick too. She's fairly open with her IM handles, so now and then I'll send an IM complimenting this or that, just because I figure that's what fangirls do. Not sure I'm really up for mooning around outside her house, especially since the four kids in tow thing would probably ruin the whole effect, and Andy might object to this after awhile. So I guess I'll stick to the tentative IMs.
Anyway, I got to IM with her tonight, because I've been wanting to go to the Lemp Mansion for dinner (or at least lunch), and I mentioned it to her because I knew that she would probably be interested. The Lemps are such an odd, fascinating chapter in St. Louis brewery history. The more recent dominance of Anheuser-Busch tends to overshadow the fact that prior to Prohibition, the Lemps dominated the brewery scene by leaps and bounds. Then it suddenly seemed the whole family had sold its soul to the devil, and the devil called in his outstanding debts. Three members of the family committed suicide, several others died somewhat mysteriously. It's rumored that they had at least one or two relations in the house suffering from mental illnesses, including one family member who had to be restrained in a garage or stable or something while he or she howled like an animal. Nice. At any rate, the brewery went from being the largest and most successful brewery in St. Louis, to being flat busted within five years. Apparently the third generation of Lemps was already letting things slide in the brewery, and between the suicides and prohibition, the brewery just closed without warning and never opened again.
It's the sort of history that would naturally apply to Lackadaisy, at least as a reference point. So I mentioned my intent to her, and we actually talked for a few minutes. :) Hence my fangirl squee.
Seriously, though... even if you're not into webcomics, check out this piece she did:
I mean, I don't think Larry Elmore has anything on her (besides a preoccupation with overlarge breasts).
I'm squee-ing over Tracy J. Butler's latest update for Lackadaisy. Have I gushed about this comic before now? I don't care if I have; I'm going to do it again.
If you've never seen it, go see it. I ran across it because Danielle Corsetto posted a Twitter indicating that she really admired the artwork. I clicked to see what the buzz was about, since I think Danielle is a fantastic artist. If she's admiring someone, that someone must be amazing.
Well, no disappointment there. When you read a lot of webcomics, you come to expect webcomic art from new webcomics. Not so here. I mean, everything is in sepia tones, but the backgrounds are intricate, the characters are drawn in dimension, everything is shaded. It's stunning, it really is.
Add to that the fact that it's set in St. Louis, and I'm totally hooked. I mean, that's probably the main reason why I love it SO much, but come on... how often do you run into a comic set in your own hometown? And Tracy set it during the Prohibition era, which is arguably one of the more interesting periods in St. Louis history. We are, after all, a brewery town, so the attack on alcohol was a serious blow to the local economy. The culture of speakeasies and the associated crime circuit is a subject I've always found to be rather interesting, and seeing it acted out in the form of anthropomorphic cats is rather amusing.
Tracy got a book deal arranged with Renoir Comics in Italy, which I gather is due to culminate in a book release later this year. The comic will probably be released in Italian, though, so I'm hoping she can find a more local publisher that is equally interested in her work. She's posted some of the associated artwork she's done for the book, and I just don't see how anyone can resist. The sepia-toned art is pretty amazing, but the COLORED stuff she does is downright stunning. She does a lot of depictions of Mitzi May in gold jewely and peacock feathers and other flapperish styles of the 1920s, and the amount of details she includes fascinates me. I like her work so much now that I've put up some of her artwork as desktop images on my Mini.
Tracy also lives in St. Louis (naturally), and that's sort of a kick too. She's fairly open with her IM handles, so now and then I'll send an IM complimenting this or that, just because I figure that's what fangirls do. Not sure I'm really up for mooning around outside her house, especially since the four kids in tow thing would probably ruin the whole effect, and Andy might object to this after awhile. So I guess I'll stick to the tentative IMs.
Anyway, I got to IM with her tonight, because I've been wanting to go to the Lemp Mansion for dinner (or at least lunch), and I mentioned it to her because I knew that she would probably be interested. The Lemps are such an odd, fascinating chapter in St. Louis brewery history. The more recent dominance of Anheuser-Busch tends to overshadow the fact that prior to Prohibition, the Lemps dominated the brewery scene by leaps and bounds. Then it suddenly seemed the whole family had sold its soul to the devil, and the devil called in his outstanding debts. Three members of the family committed suicide, several others died somewhat mysteriously. It's rumored that they had at least one or two relations in the house suffering from mental illnesses, including one family member who had to be restrained in a garage or stable or something while he or she howled like an animal. Nice. At any rate, the brewery went from being the largest and most successful brewery in St. Louis, to being flat busted within five years. Apparently the third generation of Lemps was already letting things slide in the brewery, and between the suicides and prohibition, the brewery just closed without warning and never opened again.
It's the sort of history that would naturally apply to Lackadaisy, at least as a reference point. So I mentioned my intent to her, and we actually talked for a few minutes. :) Hence my fangirl squee.
Seriously, though... even if you're not into webcomics, check out this piece she did:
I mean, I don't think Larry Elmore has anything on her (besides a preoccupation with overlarge breasts).