Artist in Review: Adrian Tomine - Part 2

"We thought there had to be at least one fist fight, which didn't occur...", were  Adrian Tomine's exact words in one of his interviews at a Strand Book Store event (StrandBookStore, 2011). He revealed how he and his wife, Sarah were hoping for at least one fist fight to at least occur during their wedding (Adrian says this in laughing tone). The specific interview digs deep into the making of Scenes from an Impending Marriage, and seems to shed some extra light on the events that occur within it, which makes it seem that more favorable.

Adrian didn't really want to make the book, and never planned on publishing it.  He explains that this is where the raw and more intimate and loose drawing style may have come from.  An interesting thought...

As an author, if you want to write something that really has a lot of you in it, just make sure you believe it will never be published!

The contrast between Adrian's "Scenes" vs. his other works is stark. The tone is lighter and funnier - truly something that would be more appropriate at a wedding. In true memoir style, some of the short vignettes seem a little glossed over, perhaps a little lighter than the actual event...

My own wife and I could not decide on how to run just one event, or even ruthlessly cut our guest list down, and so we just included everyone, and planned 2 very open and unstructured events with food, music, pictures and some socializing.  Adrian's short morning newspaper comic strip style pages go into detail of deciding on whether they should have Taiko Drummer or Bagpipe players...

Perhaps we all get into our fun projects a little more than we initially intend to, but perhaps this is also the best way to come up with something people will love!

After Adrian's book showed up on eBay (in it's original Wedding format, as a little comic book, without the epilogue added to the published version), he realized it might be something to publish. This sketchbook project that turned into a published work seems to mark a kind of pause in Adrian's career.  It's still about relationships, but it's different.. It's still about life, but again, it's just .... different!

Looking back at some of Adrian's previous work :

Optic Nerve

Vs.  Shortcomings

vs "Scenes"

It's great to have something like this pop-up in an artists collection of work.  I'd make the trip over to Beguiling comics in Toronto to find his older work, and maybe onto Amazon.com to find "Scenes".  

As Adrian says in the before mentioned Strand Interview (which you can find on YouTube), it was this vs. Chocolate bars with their faces embossed on them. I actually did Chocolate bars with Wrappers for my wedding guests, which had our names on it, and ingredients like Love and Hanky Panky.

If you get a chance, check out some of Adrian's work at your local bookstore, or at your local library, or here.  He definitely provides some entertaining reads.  

Review of Adrian's Most Recognized Publications

In the last post I wrote, I talked about Adrian Tomine's success as a writer and producer of his own graphic memoirs and fictional autobiographies  Through his hard work and determination, his success was acknowledged by the community through different awards and nominations, as I mentioned last week. After researching some of Tomine's most known publications, my interest peeked. I wanted to find what the core of these works are about. In this blog I will be sharing my findings and what I think about them based on their description. 

I will be starting with Tomine's iconic series Optic Nerve. It is the comic book series that began Adrian Tomine's career; his first issue was published in 1995. His latest issue being #12, was published September 2011, which comes packaged with two tales: "A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture" & "Amber Sweet" ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). I also found that a new issue will be coming out this September making its debut in the Brooklyn Books Festival. Each issue has something different to share with different characters, and is packed in a short story format ("Drawn and Quarterly", n.d.). 

Excerpt from Optic Nerve - Issue #12

The first issues of Optic Nerve were only focused on Tomine's life story. However, as more issues were published, they began to evolve into a more fictional genre, but notably are still very personal to Tomine. 32 Stories, as I mentioned in the previous post, is a collection of stories from the the first few rare issues of Optic Nerve ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Based on what I read, Optic Nerve is a series that I think I would enjoy, mostly because it is in a short story format (my personal preference), but most importantly gives something fresh in each issue.

Moving onto Sleepwalk and Other Stories, which is another composition of Optic Nerve (the first 4 issues), is a series that contains "sixteen concise, haunting tales of modern life" ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Each story goes deep into the lives of Tomine's characters, that from far would appear to be well-adjusted. However when reading, their faults are revealed, which is their inability to make a connection with those close to them ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Just like the Optic Nerve series, it would appear to keep a short story format, and I believe the humor level would be equal to Scenes from an Impending Marriage. Summer Blonde was next to follow, with four short stories about "beautiful and haunting tales that illustrate with great sympathy the loneliness and bleak humour of modern life" ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.c). Both writings appear to be a good read in my opinion. There are life experiences we would take seriously at a certain time, but then we like to take a look back and find a way to laugh about it; these works seem to accomplish that.

Excerpt from Shortcomings

Among other works from Adrian Tomine, there is Shortcomings. It is Tomine's longest writing to date, which focuses on the story of Ben and Miko and their relationship. Miko moves to New York while Ben is left behind, and in the meantime he meets a new employee, Autumn. He soon becomes confused as to whether he should join Miko in New York. This work represents present-day life and the common problems that occur in relationships ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.c). I have watched many films and heard many stories with the same theme Shortcomings talks about. Although this writing may be more lengthy from all of the other writings Tomine has produced, it appears to present typical problems that occur in relationship, in comical way (note the excerpt above); just like Scenes from an Impending Marriage, which made it that much more interesting for me to read. Not only that, it helps me see the importance of commitment in a relationship and gives me an idea of what to expect when I'm in a relationship.

Overall, Tomine's publications take a very unique format, the comics allow the reader's to put themselves in the character's place easier and adds to the humor when one reads them. This is a very effective way to mingle real-life experiences and fiction in one great package. That is something that allowed me to enjoy reading Adrian Tomine's work; I am not one who normally reads memoirs/fictional autobiographies or enjoys reading a lot in the first place, so this was nice for a change. 

Based on all these publications I looked at, I think I would chose Shortcomings as the next writing to read from Tomine's collection. Its set up, seems to be very similar to Scenes from an Impending Marriage, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

If anyone really likes Tomine's art and drawings, Scrapbook takes a decade of Tomine's works and mashes all his comics and art together into one book ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Further details about Tomine's recognized works can be found and purchased here.

Tomine's Works and Accomplishments

Since Adrian Tomine turned 16 his long road of creating and writing fictional autobiographical stories had begun. He knew what he was going to do with his life at that age, and was going to make good use of his talents. The fact that he was already publishing his own mini comic, Optic Nerve which was sold in local stores and mail order, was already a big accomplishment at the time ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.b). This is something I find to be remarkable; he was only in high school, but had already begun his lifetime career. In comparison I was nowhere near the position Tomine occupied at his age. I was still unaware of what I was going to be, and how I would make good use of my talents, for a bright future.

As years past, Adrian would continue to write about his life experiences and share them to the world through his publications. After doing more research I found that in 1994 (the year I was born), Tomine's Optic Nerve mini-comic became a regular comic book series for Drawn & Quarterly (D&Q). At the time, Adrian Tomine was only 20, which I find to be a very rare age for any writer to become successful ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.b). He plotted himself on the writer map early-on and through his success, he won the Harvey Award for "Best New Talent" in 1996 ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.a). His name and award is listed in a post I came across on the Comic Book Resources webpage. The post also includes many other graphic writers who won the same award over the years.

Excerpt from 32 Stories

In 1995, 32 Stories was released, which was composed of Adrian's early comics based on fan favorites. Two years later Sleepwalk and Other Stories was released by D&Q which was composed of the first 4 issues from Optic Nerve. From what I gathered it continues to be the best-seller for the company ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.b). At the time Adrian Tomine was probably around 23, which I find to be a great accomplishment, as he is now 39 years old ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.a). 

As the years went by, Tomine's work continued to show up in places including albums and magazines such as The New Yorker and Time. In 2002, Summer Blonde was released and won critical notice from The Los Angeles Time, among many others ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.b). In the same year he was nominated for Best Writer/Artist (also nominated for this in 2005) and Best Single issue for Optic Nerve as can be seen here ("2002 Will Eisner", n.d.). Though he had not won any of these awards, he was recognized for his work and still accomplished a great victory. 

Among recent publications, Tomine has of course released Scenes from an Impending Marriage (2011) which exposes Tomine's preparation for his wedding and New York Drawings (2012), a story where two strangers in New York meet ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.a). Tomine goes further into detail about this publication and the considerations he has to make when writing, in the video below:

After watching the video I realized the details that Tomine and other writers have to consider when writing memoirs or any other kind of publication. They have to make sure to keep the essence of an autobiography but at the same time not make it evident that it's from their life-story. The video also shows how Tomine transitioned from being a immature teen to a responsible adult; as he grew up, so did his writings. From a liking of superhero comics, to the writing his own memoirs, fictional autobiographies, and comics, Adrian Tomine has put good use to his talents and has accomplished much over the years. His future writings show great promise but in the meantime, we can enjoy the great deal of publications he already has made, listed here.

Adrian Tomine and Weddings

My name is Christina Kang. Recently, I read a memoir by Adrian Tomine, called Scenes from an Impending Marriage. As someone who usually doesn't read memoirs, this one caught my eye and was definitely an interesting read. It described the struggles and decisions that a couple faces when deciding on the many different aspects of a wedding – more specifically on the wedding of Adrian Tomine and his wife Sarah Brennan. Since I had found that the story showed realism within the troubles and decisions needed to be made in preparation for a wedding, I decided to write my first ever blog on Adrian Tomine. As I was doing some research on him, I learned that Scenes from an Impending Marriage was actually created as a wedding favour for the guests at their wedding, to be something a bit more personal for their guests to enjoy (Tomine, 2011). This was also relayed within the graphic memoir directly, with her request for several strips for their guests.

Recently several friends of mine have been getting engaged, and getting ready to be married so this story gives some idea as to what they must be going through to get ready for their own weddings. As some people say, weddings are for the families and the guests, not for the bride and groom.

Excerpt from "Scenes"

This memoir definitely awakened me to realize how stressful the whole process is for the couple and how much work must be needed to ensure that their wedding goes off without a hitch.

Excerpt from "Scenes"

It also gave me a new-found appreciation for the work that people go through in order to confirm their love for each other in front of their friends and families.

While looking into Adrian Tomine, I found out that he grew up mostly on the west coast of America and moved to New York in 2004 (Terzian, 2012). He mentioned in one interview that he was constantly being asked if he preferred living in New York, or in California. His response to that question was that it wasn't really comparable as when he was living in California, it had been in the same apartment since he was in college and living a ‘collegiate’ life (Terzian, 2012). Meanwhile his decision to move to New York had been with the intention to get married, start a new life and family, leaving behind 30 years of life on the west coast (Terzian, 2012). Therefore as the situations were completely different, it was difficult to say which was better. I found a video on YouTube that uses the songs Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and California Love by 2Pac to show various locations and teams that represent each state.

As mentioned already, the reason he moved to New York was in order to marry his wife, Sarah Brennan, who was already living in the city at the time (Terzian, 2012). It was for this reason that Scenes from an Impending Marriage was created, bringing a short, cute and realistic view of a couple getting ready to be married.

A Look at Adrian Tomine's Early Life

Before I get started I would first like to introduce myself, as this my first blog post here. My name is Peter Chmura and am 19 years old. My parents were born in Poland but I was born in Canada. In my spare time I enjoy playing guitar, gaming, hanging out with friends and surfing the net...but that's enough about me, since this is not the place nor time. I would just like to give a heads up that this my first time writing a blog post; so please try to bare with me. 

When I read Scenes from an Impending Marriage by Adrian Tomine I found his memoir to be humorous and entertaining. He writes about the typical process a couple goes through to prepare for their wedding and the disagreements they have between each other. Though I cannot relate to his experience, it does give me a good glimpse of what I can expect if I get married in the future.

After reading his memoir I was curious about Tomine's past and how he got to be a writer in the first place. When I began searching online I came across a post by Melissa Hung who read Tomine's comics Optic Nerve in which he reveals his life story. I will share what I found to be the making of Adrian Tomine's early life through her post and summary.

On May 31st, 1974 in Sacramento, California, Adrian Tomine was born to his parents and became the fourth generation Japanese-American in his family. His mother is a psychologist and his father is the head of civil engineering at the department of Cal State Sacramento (Hung, 2002). From what I read, both of his parents are artistic and encouraged their art talents to their kids. His mother makes documentaries, whereas his father likes to take photographs and play music.  Unfortunately Tomine's parents divorced when he was two and he ended up moving many times with his mother; he spent summers with his father in Sacramento (Hung, 2002).

When Adrian Tomine was a kid he liked to read comics such as spider-man and make drawings. He recalls saying "I can remember being a little kid and feeling my artwork wasn't quite right. I had an idea of what it should look like, and I was not attaining it" (Hung, 2002). After reading this  I realized that from the beginning Tomine had it in him to make drawings and that he enjoyed comics. However when he got a little older he apparently lost interest, thinking he outgrew comics and began to skateboard as a hobby. Though this all changed again when he was thirteen and began reading the comic Love & Rockets, by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (Hung, 2002). From what I found, Tomine realized that he didn't lose interest in comics but only in the superhero genre. When he went into high school, he didn't have a pleasant experience and did not have a lot of friends. However thanks to this, the negative experiences got him to write his future collections of comics 32 Stories. Going further into the future, Tomine went to university and eventually changed his major to English literature (Hung, 2002). This was the base of his early life and what began Tomine's career as a writer.

I found it interesting how Adrian Tomine's early life played out. His inspiration from comics is defiantly evident in Scenes from an Impending Marriage. From the start, his drawing skills were going to become his future in presenting very entertaining and comical, graphic novels.

Author in Review: Adrian Tomine - Part 1

The first book I ever read by Adrian Tomine was Scenes from an Impending Marriage.  It's a short book, only 56 pages; a wedding favour. Recently married, I was impressed by this, I didn't have the time or the creative energy to create something so wonderful for my own wedding (I gave out little bags of Swedish Fish and Reeses Pieces in tiny bags tied with twine)

I'm going to put Adrian under the microscope (not a very powerful microscope). If he ever reads this, maybe he'll be a little confused by three people coming together to make a blog about him and his work.  The fact is, we are taking a Life Writing course and want to do a good job. Adrian Tomine's "Scenes" looked appealing to us, when choosing a graphic memoir for our project. However, when I suggested to the group to write about him, I didn't actually find him in the approved list of authors our professor gave us.  I found him on Good Reads, upon searching for memoirs; "Scenes" came up with 4 stars, which was my minimum criteria for a graphic memoir.  

The next items on my list when trying to find a good graphic memoir were:

A. Something I could connect with
B. Something with appealing artwork

I asked myself, where did this man come from?  I found out, he was born in California and has now settled in New York City.  After reading numerous interviews, I wanted to see more and more of Adrian Tomine's work, and find out more about the man behind these charming and detailed images; unfortunately I was let down. I found out that he has no Facebook or Twitter account, nor a mailing address, so the only way to find more information on him is through his writings such as: Optic Nerve, Shortcomings, and "Scenes" (which I found was one of his less popular works).

I also discovered, that some people found Adrian Tomine's story content contained controversial racial undertones.  Getting married and writing about it could cause some controversy, as most of the successful memoirists and cartoonists I've followed are usually single, which only made Adrian's work seem more compelling to myself.

Adrian has a knack for cultural details, capturing them in everyday scenes, usually set in New York. His own depictions of himself downplay his own Japanese heritage to a degree. However when reading this material, race does play a role in his writing and art, as his characters try to figure out themselves and each other.

Not afraid to make fun of himself , and really dig into some of the raw, real world situations, Adrian tends to write dialogue that seems particularly normal, with very few embellishments and exaggerations.

Although, having said that, I still don't understand where this picture really came from:  Super Hero Girls (Weezer).

When reading Adrian Tomine's work from "Scenes", there are plenty of laughs that come from his material, which wade through logistics, negotiations and compromises, as the couple plan their wedding. He also exemplifies moments where one tends to say something bad to a family member, and then attempts to repair the damage after such things are said.

Excerpt form "Scenes"

The little windows into Adrian's final days before his wedding, reveal plenty of personal details about him that really helped me as a reader, get an idea of who he was, and also helped me begin thinking about how he views himself.  While I'm no expert on the life of this artist, I hope the reflections in this post, and following blog posts will help give you an idea of who Adrian Tomine is, and give you a sample of the quality of his work.

I love the classic yet modern cartoon graphic art style in "Scenes", it reminds me Herge's Tintin, or some of my favorite Spider-Man covers.  I also get the sense of a little Frank Cho in there, minus the exaggeration.  

In the next post I will be writing a full review of Scenes from an Impending Marriage. In the meantime, here is a question for you to think about:  What Artists does Adrian Tomine remind you of?