Grab Bag Media: a blog of cartoons, design, and process by Charles Riffenburg IV

Posts tagged ‘news’

Print portfolio update

  • Posted: July 18, 2011 at 12:48 am
  • Category: freelance

New portfolio samples

Just a quick update to hype the fact that I’ve finally updated my print portfolio. I threw some new stuff into it a couple months ago when I had a job interview, but this time I’ve actually taken a smidgeon of time to make sure the fonts are more closely aligned with my new branding, seen on this blog, my portfolio site, and my new business cards. The title page you see here contains all the elements of my business card meshed into one single image. If you’re interested, skip on over to www.GrabBagMedia.com and download the new PDF from any of the section header links (it’s about 7 megs, FYI).

Striking 12

  • Posted: December 13, 2010 at 6:37 am
  • Category: freelance

Striking 12 promo image

Finally, a comic of sorts! My theatre company BoHo Theatre is opening its first holiday show this week, and our publicity photos weren’t ready in time for a big audience push. So I sprang into action this week and cranked out this little number in about 4 hours to include in the mass emailing and Facebook profile. I’ve also been doing some quick and simple comics for Lisa, illustrating the downright bizarre stories that the 3-5 years olds in her theatre classes have been coming up with. I’ll post those here soon.

What’s up for the coming new year? Well now that Dumbstruck is for all intents and purposes done, I’ll be working on completing my back strips with the aspiration of putting together some comprehensive compilations by this time next year. Also, one my projects over the holidays is to begin a complete revamp of my portfolio site, since it has now become very important to my livelihood. This site will become much more of a part of the portfolio site, and I’ll be using it as a real blog, posting more often with the projects I’m working on, thoughts and observations about being a freelancer, and (of course) comics when i get the chance.

So look forward to awesome changes over the next month or two. And if you have any favorite art portfolio websites that you think are really awesome, drop me a comment with the address to check it out. I always love inspiration!

New Portfolio

  • Posted: August 11, 2010 at 10:22 pm
  • Category: freelance

New portfolio

Hey, whatever happened to the new comics!? August is a crazy month for me. I’ve got one major major project I’m working on for a big local theater, as well a bunch of projects for smaller theaters and freelance clients. Big changes are in the works over the next month. We’ll see where it takes me. In any event, I’ll be carving out more time for myself and, yes, comics, because I need to or I’ll go insane. But one good thing to come out of all this is a brand new design portfolio I’ve put together for design position interviews. As you can see in the photo above, it’s very sleek and sexy.

Want to flip through it yourself? Click here for an online PDF version. I’ll be updating my design website to jive with this new look soon. But before I do that, I have to finish tidying up around here, because Grab Bag Comics is moving to a new server over the next two weeks. Hopefully, you won’t even notice the move, but I hope to get a better organizational structure going around here, and updated WordPress functionality out of this blog. But enough about me. How are you doing?

Hell Freezes Over

  • Posted: March 19, 2010 at 7:55 am
  • Category: dumbstruck

February 14, 2010: “Hell Freezes Over”

And here it is: Dumbstruck’s seven year birthday!! I’ve finished almost 1100 strips to date. That’s crazy. I’m kinda exhausted. But true to my word, I’m caught up (caught up meaning only about a month behind. I like being a few weeks behind so I can get a feel for the shape of what I’m writing).

Also, you might have noticed a subtle switch to the site. Well, Blogger has decided to discontinue their FTP support, so I had to switch over to WordPress. You might notice a few bumps along the way as I learn this new platform, and there are still some features I have yet to finish work on (like a link for older posts, and a tag cloud). But we’re moving forward!

And my final surprise is that I’m finally getting on the bandwagon with the social media. Grab Bag Comics is now on Facebook, and you can become a fan to learn about news, projects, and art posts. Why not check it out now? I’ll go get some sleep. :)

Fast Forward Challenge

Fast Forward Challenge

So here’s the deal, faithful masses: We’ve been spending far too long living in the past. There is no time like the present. It’s time to march forcefully towards the 2010s! Change we can believe in. Etc etc. Even Lost has decided to give up their time-travel season and straighten things out, so it’s time I did.

On March 19th, Dumbstruck will turn seven venerable years old. It will also mark the beginning of the end of the strip, as I long ago promised that, since the strip began with the Iraq War/Conflict, it will end with the winding down of the Iraq War/Conflict. Obama has promised to remove the majority of troops from the country later this year, so the strip will find it’s natural, book-ended conclusion then. Here, then, is how the year will play out, for those of you keeping score at home:

By March 19th, I will be current with the strip. That’s right– six months will fly by in the span of the next six weeks! Most certainly this means a lot of good strips that I already have written and thumbnailed will be left on the cutting room floor as I draw and post only the best and most necessary strips. But fear not, because once the comic is over at the end of the year, I will begin releasing compilation books of each year, complete with all the strips that were left behind in the dust. I don’t know how often these books will be released (every 4-6 months likely), but rest assured they will be attractive little numbers with full-color covers and creator and character commentary sprinkled throughout. You’ll be able to have a nice little collection of my life’s misadventures on your bookshelf with which to amaze your friends and impress your in-laws.

That’s my nefarious plan, my darlings. I’ll have some more fun and excitement for your eyeballs appearing on March 19th as well, but we’ll let that stay a surprise for now. In the meantime, it’ll be like fast-forwarding comics on your TiVo for the rest of the winter! Enjoy

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