About this project
I am at work on the natural history-oriented graphic novel biography, "WILD MAN - The Strange Journey and Fantastic Account of the Naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, From Bavaria to Bolshaya Zemlya (and Beyond)", currently serialized in the Fantagraphics quarterly comics anthology, MOME.
"WILD MAN" is a work-in-progress, with a little over 100 completed drawings, so far, and hundreds of new drawings forthcoming.
I was recently awarded a residency in Talkeetna, Alaska, to work on this project during the summer, and aim to raise $3000 by July 1, 2010 to cover supply costs, travel expenses and a field drawing expedition through the Aleutian Islands, where the subject of my biography traveled with the Second Kamchatka Expedition's return trip to Russia in 1741. Your support not only insures the success of "WILD MAN", it enables you to own an original drawing from the book, or art from the limited edition supplementary, "Beasts of the Sea".
Sample drawings and art can be viewed on my blog
http://antizerogravity.blogspot.com
and you can follow Steller's story beginning in the Summer 2009 Volume 15 of MOME, through to the current issue, with more episodes on the way. Check out this educational and rewarding project. Thanks!
FAQ
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on July 1, 2010.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
You'll know that your contribution made "WILD MAN" a reality, your name will go into a drawing for a signed copy of any volume of MOME featuring one of the "WILD MAN" serials, and a signed copy of "Beasts of the Sea", a limited edition supplementary series of 4 letterpress prints featuring the marine mammals Steller observed while he was stranded on Bering Island.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
One signed letterpress print from the "Beasts of the Sea", an illustrated supplementary series of prints featuring the four marine mammals (the Steller sea cow, the Steller sea lion, the northern fur seal and the sea otter) encountered by Mr. Steller.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
One pair of signed letterpress prints featuring two animals which became extinct after Steller encountered them in the North Pacific during the winter of 1741-1742: the Steller sea cow (from the "Beasts of the Sea" series) and the (generally) flightless Pallas cormorant. NOTE: The Pallas cormorant print is only available through the $50 pledge and does not appear in the "Beasts of the Sea" supplement!
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
One signed copy of "Beasts of the Sea", a limited edition accordion fold-out "WILD MAN" supplement, featuring all 4 marine mammal prints and information about the aforementioned animals, plus a special acknowledgment on my antizerogravity blog.
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
One signed 5x8" original drawing from the graphic novel, "WILD MAN - The Strange Journey and Fantastic Account of the Naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller - From Bavaria to Bolshaya Zemlya (and Beyond)" by T Edward Bak.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
One signed original watercolor drawing of any North Pacific marine animal. You tell me!
Pledge $3,000 or more Pledge $3,000 or more
One signed Moleskine book filled with 40 original ink wash drawings from the first published chapter of "WILD MAN".
Project By
Connected as T Edward Bak (927 friends)
I am a cartoonist and educator at work on a graphic novel biography about the 18th century naturalist, Georg Wilhelm Steller, a colleague and contemporary of Carl Linnaeus. In 2008, I spent six months working aboard a ship which traveled throughout SE Alaska's Inside Passage, and began researching the story of Steller and the Second Kamchatka Expedition, close to an area where several of the expedition's men were lost in 1741, near present-day Sitka.
I've also lived, studied and worked in Colorado, Georgia, Vermont, Texas, and Oregon. In addition to Fantagraphics Books' quarterly "Mome" collection, my work has appeared in Houghton-Mifflin's "Best American Comics" series and was featured in the "Drawn and Quarterly Showcase". In 2007, I was awarded with the Fellowship at the Center for Cartoon Studies. I am an instructor with the Pacific Northwest College of Art and one of several talented resident artists associated with the Independent Publishing Resource Center. I was recently awarded an artist's residency in Talkeetna, Alaska, where I will spend part of the summer writing and creating drawings for my Steller biography, "WILD MAN"..
These day, I usually call Portland, Oregon home.
