Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged 2dcloud, ignorant bliss, julian lytle, kayla e, lambda literary awards, nat. brut, nick gazin, peter bagge, rocky hadadi, spitandahalf

Juan Fernández

Posted on March 8, 2016March 8, 2016

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01/27/2017

Sally IngrahamJanuary 26, 2017NewsSally here with work and wisdom to share from Hellen Jo, Zoë Taylor, Kate Lacour, Audra Stang, Trina Robbins, Glynnis Fawkes, Lale Westvind, and so many more! ————————————————————————————————— Sequential State wrote about Zoë Taylor‘s Joyride (Breakdown Press, 2016): “Taylor’s line is quick and vibrant. It seems like each image in Joyride was constructed as quickly as possible, like a one- or five-minute sketch at a live drawing class. These images look like something quickly scrawled onto a whiteboard with an erasable marker, and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Taylor’s tool of choice for this book was a Sharpie marker. There is also sometimes a distortion of the line, as though there was a bleed or a bad scan from the original art. Because images look so thrown together, the reader’s focus drifts towards the places where Taylor has spent the most time. This is often the main character’s eyes, with thick eyelashes rendered while the character’s hands are a quick set of lines. That said, these are the one- or five-minute sketches of an artist who was studied their craft. Each mark, despite its looseness, feels essential. There’s no wasted space, no unneeded effort. The effect of these formal choices changes the way you perceive each page, and encourages you as the reader to move as quickly as you can. Zoom through each page, soak up the emotion, and let the work take you where it wants you to go.” Read the rest HERE. Zoë Taylor is an alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. See more of her work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Rookie sat down with Hellen Jo recently. She is a cartoonist based in Los Angeles who is known for her storyboarding work on Steven Universe and Regular Show. Dream jobs, to many. However: “I don’t believe in the myth of the dream job; any job worth having is hard, requires so much work, and will make you question your love of whatever it is you’re doing. Anyone who believes that working in animation is whimsical, magical, full of light and wonder and joy…wake the fuck up! Animation, especially storyboarding, drains all of your mental and emotional energy, requires incredibly long hours, deprives you of sleep, downtime, health, and your life. Once you finish and turn in an episode, you get to do it all over again! For another 20 or 200 episodes! Much respect and love to the ubermensch talents who do well in this field!“ Her pursuits are more personal these days, a balance of editorial illustrations and commissions – and a new comic is in the works! She cites Tara Booth, Heather Benjamin, and Maren Karlson as huge inspirations to her lately, “as well as Latina activist art and old school flash tattoo imagery.“ Read more HERE. Previously on Rookie: an interview with Aidan Koch, and one with Alison Bechdel – plus lots of other cool stuff. In fact, Rookie is an online magazine founded in 2011 that publishes writing, photography, and artwork by and for teens – including many comics. Be sure to take some time to poke around the website! ————————————————————————————————— Australia’s Minicomic.club is back for a 2017 season of mini comics love! Sign up to get 12 comics in 12 months from the most interesting cartoonists on that continent – including work by Elari Harris, Georgia Kriss, Meg O’Shea (all pictured above), Leonie Brialey, and Lizzie Nagy. Sign up before the end of January and be sure to explore the website, which is a nice who’s who of Australian cartoonists working today – HERE. Minicomic.club has conducted interviews with many of the creators whose comics they’ve sent out over the years – here are recent ones with Elari Harris, and Leonie Brialey, and Meg O’Shea. Lots more HERE. (Shoutout to Gabriele Di Fazio of Just Indie Comics for writing about Australia’s mini comic subscription service and for all the amazing work he does for the Italian comics community – including running his own subscription service for Italian comics makers! Check out Just Indie Comics for reviews and comics news – mostly in Italian, but Gabriele offers some posts in English as well. Killer!) ————————————————————————————————— Kate Lacour has a new comic on Study Group called The Disciple – you can read it HERE. Updates on Mondays. Her comic Vivisectionary is also running on Study Group, updating monthly. Kate is a New Orleans cartoonist who happens to be another alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. The comic she completed for the course – Zero Is – can be seen HERE and is excerpted from below: Kate joined Robin McConnell on Inkstuds earlier this month for a fascinating discussion of her “unflinching” work, which often deals with the human body in startling yet beautiful ways – listen to the podcast HERE. (Kate seems to share an interest in the body with Phoebe Gloeckner, who supported herself for a number of years by doing medical and anatomy illustration.) ————————————————————————————————— Audra Stang spent a total of 2 weeks here with us in Pittsburgh, PA, working on a new comic during her Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. Although she left the Rowhouse for a few brief excursions during that time, her focus was entirely on her work and by the night before she left there was a draft of a 30 page comic taped to the wall in the kitchen! We can’t wait to see where this goes – both the comic and the Audra Stang story. Follow Audra on Instagram for all her latest adventures and drawings – @audra.stang Keep up with the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency HERE. For more details and information on how to apply for a Residency, visit this page. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— From Hither and Yon Liana Finck composed a cartoon diary for Slate of the Jan. 21st 2017 Women’s March on Washington – check it out HERE. Lauren Weinstein also drew the Women’s March – for The Village Voice. The “Eternally Optimistic Paste Comics Crew” has a wishlist for the comics industry in 2017. Although it swings more toward mainstream comics, most of the items on the list should be industry wide norms. Things like “better professional conduct on social media”, and stopping “pigeonholing diverse creators”, (“socially relevant Mutants”!), plus one I’ll get up and shout about too: “Fewer Female-led Books With All-Male Creative Teams”. Sorry guys. Here’s the whole list. Check out M. S. Harkness‘ comic about a troll of a cat – HERE. Over on Study Group there is a new Process Party podcast with Leela Corman. Sarah Glidden‘s sketchbook is full of comics reporting these days – most recently she weighed in on an executive order that halts the refugee resettlement program… From Grace Helmer, a comic about smear tests and bikini waxes and other so-called “girl stuff” – HERE. Glynnis Fawkes spoke to a local Vermont newspaper about her comic for RESIST! “No artist who’s engaged with the outside world can keep working as if nothing has happened,” Fawkes said. Read the rest. The best gig posters ever designed by cartoonists, according to the Comics Alliance – including work by Lale Westvind and a whole pile of posters by Tara McPherson. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-27-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-27-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-27-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

11/28/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 28, 2016NewsJuan here with Ghengis Con Cleveland Check in; Gou Miyagi; Suzanne Ciani; Appplications for the Santoro Correspondence Course. ————————————————————————————————— I was just in Cleveland with the CW gang at Ghengis Con Cleveland. Sally Ingraham, Caleb Orecchio, Frank Santoro, Jenn Lisa and yours truly. I had a great time. Lots of fun. I love my team. John “draw hard” G. organized a cozy, profitable afternoon of comics sellers. He did an amazing job for this special show. This is my third year attending. I grew up in Cleveland, so there’s something very personal about coming back to where I grew up annually. It’s a good rustbelt comics reunion.The local seasons cycle is nice. Healthy. Ghengis Con in Cleveland November as winter sets in. PIX in Pittsburgh in April as spring cracks apart winters icy clutch. I’ll be sharing my experience there with you later this week in my Ghengis Con 2016 Report. The who’s who, the what’s what and favorite books from the show. Stay tuned Got some great photos.Lots of smiling faces, good conversations, hot coffee. No news for today. This is more important. Watch this: Listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73hRNJ0YkiM&t=395s Do your drills. ————————————————————————————————— Oh yeah, and don’t you forget that we’re still taking applications for the Winter term of the Santoro School Correspondence Course. Applications are coming in left and right, don’t get left behind! The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. Santoro School Application guidelines: -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

10/30/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 29, 2018NewsKatie Fricas, Kim Jooha/Conor Stechschulte, ‘Endless Enigma’, AI Halloween ————————————————————————————————— Via Whit Taylor at Pen America: I selected cartoonist Katie Fricas to create an original comic for Illustrated PEN because of her unique approach to the medium. Fricas’s autobiographical work regularly addresses the complexities of gender, sexuality, culture, and agency with a smart, quirky, and often humorous storytelling style. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Reading as Voyeurism and the Illusion of Continuity and Narrative: Kim Jooha on CHRISTMAS IN PRISON by Conor Stechschulte Comics consist of discrete units (panels), and we assume that these separate units (panels) are related to each other. We suppose that the similar image that appears in the later or previous panel refers to the same object. This is the principle of comics reading as the dialectic of repetition and difference as Thierry Groensteen argued in The System of Comics (1999). The reader creates a continuous story out of the discrete units. Christmas in Prison, with its aforementioned self-reflexive instruments, questions this principal assumption of comics. Our habit of finding sameness among different images as a comics reader deludes us to look for the sameness that does not exist, just as the book at the end of Christmas in Prison is not Christmas in Prison. It is an illusion. ————————————————————————————————— Endless Enigma: Eight Centuries of Fantastic Art This show closed this past weekend, but there’s a good deal of info about it online. It’s based on this MoMA show from 1936. The exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to examine affinities in intention and imagery between works executed across a broad span of time. Organized into six themes—Monsters & Demons, Dreams & Temptation, Fragmented Body, Unconscious Gesture, Super Nature, and Sense of Place—Endless Enigma will explore the ways in which artists have sought to explain their world in terms of an alternate reality, drawn from imagination, the subconscious, poetry, nature, myth, and religion. Works on view range from gothic gargoyles; masterworks from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by a contemporary follower of Hieronymus Bosch, Piero di Cosimo, and Titian; seventeenth- century paintings by Jan Brueghel the Younger and Salvator Rosa; eighteenth-century works on paper by Francisco de Goya and Giovanni Battista Piranesi; nineteenth-century works by William Blake, James Ensor, Gustave Moreau, and Odilon Redon; and works from the twentieth century to the present day by Eileen Agar, Francis Alÿs, Michaël Borremans, Louise Bourgeois, Giorgio de Chirico, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Dzama, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Alberto Giacometti, Robert Gober, Alfred Kubin, Sherrie Levine, René Magritte, Kerry James Marshall, Roberto Matta, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Sigmar Polke, Man Ray, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, and Lisa Yuskavage, among other artists. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Happy Halloween’ To create them, he used what’s called a generative adversarial network (GAN) to recognize patterns in data such as Halloween masks – Reed fed his computer thousands. The AI then tried to create its own that would fit the pattern, supposedly getting better over time. “What’s so scary or unsettling about it is that it’s not so detailed that it shows you everything,” Reed told New Scientist. “It leaves just enough open for your imagination to connect the dots.” ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

07/27/2018

Sally IngrahamJuly 27, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with comics and news from Nick Fowler, Annie Koyama, Believer Magazine, and much more! ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site Nick Fowler writes about his recent Rowhouse Residency: “One of the most important things that was cemented for me during my time at the Rowhouse was the immense importance of environment. In both a social sense…and a more literal, spatial sense. The room at the Rowhouse had a bed, a table and a box of Love and Rockets (#17-28 if I remember correctly). And nothing else. Every day I would wake up and take two steps to the drawing table to either draw, or to read Love and Rockets and then draw. For the week I was there, there was nothing else I had to do. It felt like a splash of cold water on my face.“ Read the rest of Nick’s Residency Report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Annie Koyama has announced that she is changing the way in which she supports artists. She will conclude her time as a publisher in 2021, closing the doors of Koyama Press. Her focus will shift to channelling her financial support and incredible positive energy directly into the hands of specific artists whom she chooses to be a patron of. She spoke to The Comics Journal about “switching gears”: ” “I will not tell the artists how to do anything,” Koyama said. “There are no strings attached. Once I decide to work with an artist, as I have always done with the press, I put enough trust in them and their project not to interfere. They don’t need my creative help, they need money.” How this next venture will work is still being formulated. Though the projects she supports will not be owned by Koyama, recipients of these “micro-grants” will be expected to fulfill their end of the bargain, whether if be self-publishing the project, offering a performance, or whatever Koyama and the participating party agree to. Additionally, the publisher expects to continue to pursue broader methods of support by hosting financial and business literary workshops and supplementing residencies. Her support will not be limited to cartoonists, either. Koyama recently supported a feature film and is already contributing support to projects with several fine artists. “I am choosing the artists because I like their work,” Koyama said. “I feel that they deserve a higher profile. I know that they can’t do it on their own. What I am most interested in is taking people who are known for one discipline and for example, helping them to try another discipline. For example, people who are good at drawing already but really want to work on a little stop motion animation. Or they want to go off and learn to play the trumpet, try sculpture, learn printmaking or start community art related initiatives.” Read the rest of the article and full announcement HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Believer Magazine has updated their website and built an archive for the comics that have appeared in the printed mag. Above is a page from Leela Corman‘s story Kraut – read the rest HERE. You will also find comics by Andrea Tsurumi, Ann Xu, Jennifer Camper, Anna Haifisch, and others. Check out the archive! ————————————————————————————————— Hyperallergic features an article about Carol Tyler and her new comic Fab4 Mania – HERE. Lauren Weinstein‘s Normal Person now appears at popula.com – here’s the latest strip! Mimi Pond also has a new comic up at Popula – Blind Dates of the Near Future. Jessica Campbell‘s latest comic on Hyperallergic – Musings About Life Today – can be read HERE. Anders Nilson writes about the process and responsibility of finishing a friend’s last book – A Bubble, by Geneviève Castrée (who passed away in 2016) – on The Comics Journal. Here’s an excerpt from Nancy Peña’s Madame Cat – on Paste Magazine. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-27-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

06/11/2018

Caleb OrecchioJune 11, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Michael Comeau’s, Winter Cosmos, and more! ———————————————————————————— Despite not having a frame of reference for the punk rock zine culture aesthetic Comeau emulates with Winter Cosmos (published by thee great Koyama Press), I really enjoyed it. Every spread is interesting. There is not a visual dull moment therein. Even after I read the book, I went back to flip through the images to “read” it again. The experience of the book is like reading an issue of What If… starring the Fantastic Four exclusively in Kirby’s collage-y Negative Zone. I can’t help but assume Comeau was inspired by this or some similar Negative Zone-related musing when he decided to make a comic about scientists in space. I had a good time reading this book. There is plenty of wit and humor within the writing, but also within the visual aspects. There is something both inherently funny and inherently fascinating about collage depicting science fiction. The pacing of the read itself is excellent. Even if the book were wordless, Comeau’s visual narrative is strong enough to pace the reader in a way that most wordless comics can’t due to their narrative approach (i.e. leaning on a cinematic or literary idea of narrative rather than an inherently comic book idea of narrative). Winter Cosmos is dynamic enough to hold a reader on a purely visual level and that, to me, is a high compliment to a cartoonist. ———————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Frank Santoro’s new book, Pittsburgh, is out in France and we have round up of French reviews here on the site, as well as where you can purchase the book if you’re in the states from Pittsburgh’s own Copacetic Comics. Speaking of which, see what the the great Copacetic Comics Company has new for June HERE on the site! Oh look! You can even buy Winter’s Cosmos by Michael Comeau! Did I mention this comes highly recommend? Did you catch the TCJ interview with The Beguiling owner, Peter Birkemoe? Process Party has a Columbus, OH scene report. ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-11-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

03/08/2016

Posted on March 8, 2016March 8, 2016 by Juan Fernández

They did it. 2dcloud reached their Kickstarter goal. It was a stretch but they had that long game. Art wins again. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the work that they are publishing i their upcoming season, I encourage you to check out their crowdfund campaign. There might be something right up your alley.

Now in their twenty-eighth year, the Lambda Literary Awards have announced their nominations. The Lambda Literary Awards celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2015. The awards ceremony on June 6, 2016, will be held at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012). It’s exciting to see the work that was chosen from the world of comics. Check out all the nominations here.

LGBT Graphic Novels

Curveball, Jeremy Sorese, Nobrow

Honor Girl, Maggie Thrash, Candlewick Press

The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, EK Weaver, Iron Circus Comics

O Human Star: Volume One, Blue Delliquanti, Self-published

Wuvable Oaf, Ed Luce, Fantagraphics Books

NEW at SPIT AND A HALF!!! Lisa Carver, Ian Sundahl, and some great French imports from Editions Tanibis (in English and/or wordless!): Sylvie Fontaine and Paul Kirchner! All the good stuff over at www.spitandhalf.com. John P. is doing God’s work.

Andrew White made a free PDF collection of his favorite among the one page comics he posted on Comics Workbook from 2012 to 2014. You can still read all 350 or so strips online, but Andrew thought it might be nice to have a pared down and easier to read version of the material available.

Even if many of the strips are rough or haphazard, this was an important body of work through which I began to address some of the topics that are important in my comics today. I hope you like it.

Nick Gazin chit chats with Peter Bagge over at VICE. While you’re at it, read up on the 5 Musical Urban Legends comics Bagge has done already for VICE. The series continues with the form that Bagge developed for Magnet Magzine. The Who, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson and Prince. Who’s next?! Read the whole thing over on VICE.

You never really learned how to draw, but your comics look great. Most people who try to make comics without learning to draw make garbage. How did you figure out the drawing style you have?
Well, I can draw people and things that look like what I’m drawing while looking at it/them. But that bores me, and I assume it would bore the viewer of the results as well. So I prefer to draw from my mind’s eye, and I take my chances from there. I’m almost never happy with the results, though, so I have a hard time arguing with anyone who thinks my art looks awful.

Initially, I was trying to duplicate the way old cartoons look, specifically ones directed by Bob Clampett. Later on, I was also mimicking early comics drawn by Harvey Kurtzman, in his old Hey Look! one-pagers and such.

It’s a very polarizing drawing style, though. Goodreads has all these rave reviews ofWoman Rebel by all these woman’s studies majors who love the content of the book but give it three or four instead of five stars, simply because they can’t stand my art!

Cartoonist and movie critic, Julian Lytle, sat down with Rocky Hadadi to talk 2015 Film on the most recent installment of Ignorant Bliss. This was recorded before the Oscars so there is a lot of talk about the nominees and a little TV talk. Good talk, good music, good banter. Listen in for a while.

Chris Mautner took some time to write about Michael Deforge‘s latest work, Big Kids and the themes and story mechanisms in Deforge’s work more generally. Read on.

Despite its small size, Big Kids manages to hold just about all of the ideas and themes DeForge has been exploring up to this point. The secret societies, the adolescent angst, the strange body transformations, the antisocial hero desperate to find acceptance — they all coalesce in this slim book. If you were looking for a starting point in DeForge’s bibliography, this might be the place.

Would you like to be Nat. Brut’s first Artist-in-Nonresidence?

It’s like an artist residency – but not.

You will get a month’s worth of gift cards to cafés around New York City and activate the whole city as your workplace!

The residency will last April 1-30, 2016, at the end of which all or part of your work will be published in Nat. Brut.

Who can apply?
Artists or writers of any medium, with a work sample.
We are limiting our first round to applicants who identify as people of color.

HOW TO APPLY
Apply now until 11:59 on March 31 using our online application here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XSbc4qqQQOOPGYm0TjplyLGWOpqJlMlXY7o8EFcdFp4/viewform?c=0&w=1

that’s it for today.
juan fernandez, over and out.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged 2dcloud, ignorant bliss, julian lytle, kayla e, lambda literary awards, nat. brut, nick gazin, peter bagge, rocky hadadi, spitandahalf

Juan Fernández

Posted on March 8, 2016March 8, 2016

Explore

Connor Willumsen Draws PRIS from BLADE RUNNER

Chris Anthony DiazMay 24, 2016The Diaz Archiveconnor willumsen’s portrait of daryl hannah as PRIS in ridley scott’s BLADE RUNNER (1982, USA) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION collection. the commission done in pencil was completed in 2015. willumsen’s candid portrait taken at CAB 2014 in williamsburg, new york and color by graham willcox Share this page: [...]

10/17/2017

Aaron CockleOctober 16, 2017NewsAaron here today with E.A. Bethea; Aidan Koch; Kara Walker; Thierry Groensteen; Connor Willumsen ————————————————————————————————— Book of Daze Domino Books is publishing a collection of E.A. Bethea work: Bethea, a simple interpretation might offer, chronicles the web of living in the world (and with her work, we are zeroed in on life in New York City, as this collection reveals itself as a truly local work of art about a city that paradoxically rarely receives its due—for every 1,000 works that gloss over the truth of the city, we have a book like this that has its eye on the reality of daily life in the five boroughs) with a heart and a mind sometimes at odds and sometimes simpatico. But Bethea gives us something more complex: at times, the work feels dead-pan as it shifts from exhilaration to resignation without a change in visual presentation, but it’s here where we have a guide to the heart of Bethea’s project. The often uniform nature of the pages and the highly non-uniform nature of what is contained within become a catalog of days or weeks or years. One page offers a subdued period in life, while the next (seemingly) similar page offers a day full of regret. Bethea talks about her work relating to cinema, specifically calling attention to what happens between one of her panels and the next. The shifts in emotion and carefully chosen images alongside highly precise language feel like walking into a film where the entire crew–from director to actor to gaffer—united in one mind to make something highly exquisite. ————————————————————————————————— Transmitter presents: In Search Of OCTOBER 20 – NOVEMBER 19, 2017 OPENING RECEPTION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 6–9 PM AIDAN KOCH • DAWIT L. PETROS Transmitter is pleased to present In Search Of, an exhibition pairing the work of Aidan Koch and Dawit L. Petros, two artists who, despite their disparate media, take related approaches to pictorial space in order to create open-ended narratives, notable as much for the space within them as for the connections between different moments. Taking its title from Bas Jan Ader’s In Search of the Miraculous, this exhibition considers these artists’ work in terms of questions and histories of migration, and the search, whether for the sublime or for survival, which underlies human movement. In addressing these issues, Koch and Petros both make significant use of abstraction, and range in their interests from a mythological past to the factual present, and beyond, to the possible future. ————————————————————————————————— ‘A prominent critic posted on Instagram that they felt “uncomfortable” being in the room, perhaps a desired effect of the artist.’ Jessica Bell Brown at Hyperallergic takes another look at the Kara Walker show that recently closed: Ironically, most of the works in Walker’s show will go to museums that will proudly collect them, while for the sake of political neutrality many will likely remain timid when the time comes to roll up their sleeves and speak truth to power. As difficult and divisive as her images are, they point to a reckoning that we can no longer afford to ignore. Racism will remain inseparable from America’s history, its present, and its future. It penetrates every crevice and corner of our institutions, and pervades every fiber of our collective being. Walker’s work does not signal an impending culture war; it is a reminder that the previous ones never ended. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Overall, I’m glad this book exists.’ Nick Mullins on Ann Miller’s translation of Thierry Groensteen’s COMICS AND NARRATION: The other major theme in this book, which I briefly mentioned above, is rhythm. Groensteen mostly discusses panel layout, but also considers how words affect rhythm. While I liked this, I wished that he had gone further. Layout creates rhythm of course, but so does the relative visual density of the panels. So does the amount of time in the intervened. As I showed above, Groensteen hints at this possibility. Again, the fact the Jason chooses to end his page with a panel that implies a longer space of intervened time creates a change in rhythm to the end of the page. If Groensteen didn’t say this explicitly, he pointed the way. In other words, he has invited us to continue where he left off, which is one of the great gifts of well-written theory. ————————————————————————————————— Anti-Gone En Plein Air Connor Willumsen provides some insights (‘Cartooning is a lot like magic’, ‘Sometimes I ask myself, why would I want to be a cartoonist?’) in this new video, published by Koyama Press 2017, directed by Fatine-Violette Sabiri. Get a copy of Anti-Gone, along with two zines – a 20 page bootleg, and a special collage zine – as well as a unique Anti-Gone drawing, as part of the exclusive Connor Willumsen bundle from Comics Workbook – available HERE. Brian Nicholson reviews Anti-Gone, calling it the “book of the year”. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-17-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10/17/2017 – by Juan Fernandez ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

8 1/2 by Roman Muradov

Chris Anthony DiazAugust 4, 2016The Diaz ArchiveRoman Muradov’s portrayal of Barbara Steele as Gloria Morin from Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 (Italy, 1963) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION. Roman dressed up like TOBY DAMMIT and his candid along with Alison Dubois was taken at Mission: Comics & Art, San Francisco, Friday, October 12, 2012. And Graham Willcox did the color on Roman’s candid Share this page: [...]

11/13/2017

Caleb OrecchioNovember 12, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with holiday dread, and other news.————————————————————————————————— As the holidays approach, I’m thinking about how I’m going to lie to my family. I don’t talk about my comics in a serious way around them anymore. I just do them for fun, I tell them. That’s great! they say back. Once I told an extended family member that I visited a comics syndicate in New York and showed them my comic strip. WOW—New York, that must’ve been exciting! Very much so. Did they except your strip? No—they said it was “too good”—like, it wasn’t simple enough—it’d be hard to sell to newspaper editors. The family member didn’t know what to say after that. That’s okay though, I tell them. I still make a comic strip every week day for a comics website. Oh cool—do they pay you? No. Again, they are speechless. Then I get defensive like I have to protect my dignity or something because I assume they think I’m an idiot who doodles all day for no money. I just do comics for fun really, I tell them—I’m actually a freelance graphic designer. That’s great—how’s business, they ask? Great. I switch the subject to how good the food is. The guy who does my taxes has a similar reaction to my comics making. He keeps telling me I should focus on my graphic design and try to expand. “Is there any money in comics?” he asks. “There is at the newspaper syndicates—I’m going to keep trying until I get in.” “Who reads newspapers?” ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Another CAB has come and gone. Had to ignore social media on Saturday so I wouldn’t get envious. Looks like Chris Anthony Diaz was busy taking photos which is good news for our eyes. I think this article is “interesting” just because making comics as a means of market research is basically what Marvel and DC do as publishing entities. Netflix joining the fray really doesn’t surprise me. Speaking of DC Comics. Really enjoyed this interview with How To Read Nancy authors, Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden conducted by Dan Nadel over at TCJ.com. Speaking of The Comics Journal, they proudly present an excerpt of Chuck Forsman’s new book, I Am Not Okay With This. Originally serialized for Forsman’s Patreon supporters. Seattle Review of Books has a report of Short Run–a show that I have only heard good things about. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-13-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 11-13-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

01/15/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 15, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Dash Shaw’s Spider-Man story from Strange Tales II, and more news.————————————————————————————————— Last week I talked a bit about Dash Shaw’s Doctor Strange comic from the first volume of the indie-cartoonist-superhero-anthology, Strange Tales. This week I was thinking about his Spider-Man comic for Strange Tales II. A meta, meditation on the Sam Rami movies, with a quote from Toby Maguire about his famous upside-down kissing scene with Kirsten Dunst at the end. This idea runs parallel with a Spider-Man v Mysterio fight with the latter using his “vapors of deception! Deceit!” I enjoy this comic as much as I enjoy all Dash Shaw comics. Shaw is usually not without something to say in his work: Spider-Man is on “some kind of elaborate film stage,” trapped by Mysterios deceitful fog until he finds his way out and falls into “Garbage! That’s where the spiders thrive!” Out of the theater and into the trash where he belongs. Where Spider-Man is best. I like this comic because Shaw is “selling out” (one could argue by working with Marvel) whilst simultaneously calling a childhood obsession (from Marvel) “garbage,” yet, lovingly. There is an irony that resides in this story and its circumstances that I relish. It’s an earnest love letter to trash. I always enjoy rereading this one. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know now you know Alex Wong talks to Jason Shiga at TCJ.com. I somehow missed that Chris Ware was a guest on RiYL. Conan the Barbarian is returning to Marvel in 2019. The latest guest on Inkstuds is Zach Hazard Vaupen. Have you checked out our own Sally Ingraham’s birding blog? Check out William Cardini’s Skew on Study Group if you’ve been snoozing. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-15-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

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