Comics Workbook

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Juan Fernández

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016

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08/23/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 23, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with more thoughts on Michael DeForge’s new book from Koyama Press, Brat. ————————————————————————————————— Earlier this week, I wrote about Michael DeForge’s “pace” as an author as well as within his comics, specifically his new book Brat, by use of the grid. Today I want to point out his use of symbolic imagery and repetition. Every character is a symbol. Brat’s “protagonist,” Ms. D is the character in the two non-sequential images above. The tippy top image is her most basic character model while the image beneath is a distorted version of this, an exaggeration. The exaggeration calls attention to itself by being “off-model” and communicates a more extreme than usual emotion. Ms. D is very angry and DeForge communicates this in a simplistic way as you can see. Below is another example of distortion where D’s face gradually distorts from panel to panel to communicate restrained frustration while talking to her mother. The distortion is not over-exaggerated right away in the immediate page below, but our memory of D’s uncomplicated model is ingrained in our head so we can’t help but notice a change. It’s kind of a subtle-not-subtle approach to emotion that the reader picks up on immediately as a visual cue due to the simplicity of the character model (and the dialogue). As DeForge moves us through space, we see cars, building, trees, etc. All these elements are rendered in their simplest symbolic form. They draw little attention to themselves while still communicating a sense of place and a sense of visual pleasure. They serve their purpose without taking over. Repetition is also key to DeForge’s storytelling. Repetition of the grid, repetition of character models, repetition repetition. This patterin-ing of information creates a nice beat as all grids do, but the pattern of symbol-based images adds to the smooth rhythm of the book. Maybe “adds” is not the right term. The rhythm sustained by repetition minimizes the effort the reader has to extend. It’s “easy” to read. And when you add the fact that every object is recognized immediately, the reading is immensely pleasurable. After a while you are not aware you are reading. You just are. That’s what I’m getting at, Brat (and all of DeForge’s work) is pleasurable to look at and read. The combination of sparse symbolic information, the grid and the repetition of these elements is a combination that gets to the heart of comics. It’s a pattern that creates a rhythm that the reader can get lost in. From what I can tell, DeForge just keeps jogging along in no rush to reach some transcendental finish-line of the mind that others may expect or have expected in the past. He steadily continues to run at his own pace thank God. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 8-23-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/29/2016

Aaron CockleNovember 28, 2016NewsAaron here today with the Micro-Press run-down; RESIST! Reminder; a look at Formalism and Historicity; Marlene Frontera; Gerhard Richter; CALA; O Correspondence Course, My Correspondence Course! ————————————————————————————————— Micro-Press Yearbook Robyn Chapman has released her third annual review of micro-presses. This one recaps 2015, which seems like such a quaint time as we stare down the last days of 2016. These books have been invaluable in assessing and giving some perspective to the current small-publishing comics landscape. ————————————————————————————————— RESIST! RESIST! will be published as a special issue of Gabe Fowler’s tabloid newspaper, Smoke Signal. We are aiming to make the print version an all-women issue though we’ll remain open-minded and we will consider all submissions. 30,000 copies will be distributed for free on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, in Washington D.C. Further distribution will occur at the Women’s March on January 21st and throughout the United States. It is guest-edited by Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker, and writer Nadja Spiegelman. The site is updated on a daily basis, so be sure to check back, and please consider submitting work. ————————————————————————————————— “authoritarianism,” “proto-Fascis,” and a “seizure of state power” Paul Mullan reviews Benjamin H.D. Buchloh’s Formalism and Historicity: Models and Methods in Twentieth-Century Art at the Red Wedge Magazine blog: The initial analysis of neo-expressionism was weighted towards its national(ist) origins, whether German or Italian, given, again, fears of a new, continental “authoritarianism” and “proto-Fascis.” However, the analysis by 1984 is more weighted towards the painting’s engagement with abex, US abstract expressionism. The relation between the US and Europe is here explicitly characterized as “colonialized.” Abex had arisen by the end of the Second World War, and the dominant military and economic position of the US – given the destruction of much of Europe and Japan – allowed for a strong cultural position as well throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. (See the histories of CIA support for art exhibitions that traveled globally, as instruments in Cold War propaganda.) The real, objective conditions that can provide an explanatory framework for this change should be evident. There was a new primary political contradiction developing on the ground: the mass movement – spanning multiple, national borders – against the “euromissiles” and new, US imperialist offensive. ————————————————————————————————— I Go Go Back and Forth Marlene Frontera will be launching her new risograph book of illustrations this Wednesday, November 30, 6-8pm at Picture Room, 236 Mulberry Street, NYC. Drawing inspiration from a childhood picture book in which a girl is seen next to a rippling pond that grows as the pages progress, Frontera documents the evolution of a single drawing at different stages. Working alongside Jeremy Jams and Dominic Fortunato of Soft City Printing, Frontera captures the subtle construction of an illustration, filling space with environment around her centric female character. This beautiful risograph book is an edition of 200, and was printed in Brooklyn by Soft City Printing. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Looked at in this way, all that I am trying to do in each picture is to bring together the most disparate and mutually contradictory elements, alive and viable, in the greatest possible freedom. No paradises.’ An interview with Benjamin H. D. Buchloh and Gerhard Richter from 2009, via the MIT Press: BB: So, in 1966, when you started to paint nonfigurative pictures, Color Charts, did that also have something to do with a head-on confrontation with minimal art? Was that another conflict situation, a rejection of American dominance, or was it through an evolutionary process of your own, rooted in the immediate, local context here in Düsseldorf? Was it through meeting Palermo, perhaps? GR: Yes, it certainly did have something to do with Palermo and his interests, and later with minimal art as well; but when I painted my first Color Charts in 1966, that had more to do with pop art. They were copies of paint sample cards, and what was effective about them was that they were directed against the efforts of the neoconstructivists, Albers and the rest. ————————————————————————————————— Comic Arts Los Angeles 2016 ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Starts December 29, 2016. 8 week course, $500, 10 spots available, apply by December 13, 2016 and get $100 off course fee. Share this page: [...]

8/10/2016

Juan FernándezAugust 10, 2016NewsJuan here with your Spanish language comics news once more! Esta semana tenemos: Sofia Watson en @lapololapodcast; Tetas Tristes en el spotlight; Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges; Informe. la antologia argentina del siglo 21; el Publicadero en Manizales; Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana; impresiones del 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics; un Space Riders Playlist via Alexis Ziritt. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276717421″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Escucha @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! Este episodio os ofrece un entrevista con Sofía Watson, música colombiana y un nuevo concurso (deadline es el 15 de agosto!). ————————————————————————————————— Tetas Tristes Cómics un gran shout out al Colectivo Tetas Tristes – cuatro chicas dibujando, desde sus mundos internos feministas. Estan publicando fanzines antisexistas, montando exibiciónes, y ofreciendo talleres – son unas verderas killers jovenes. Dales un vistazo a sus blogs: en fb: https://www.facebook.com/tetastristescomics/ en tumblr: http://tetastristes.tumblr.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Todo es Macanudo con Liniers en el Centro Cultural Borges Antes de su gran salido de Argentina, Liniers ha recibido una exhibición de su arte en el Centro Cultural Borges en Buenos Aires. La fiesta continua hasta el 20 de septiembre, de lunes a domingos, de 10 a 21. A donde se va Liniers? Pues: Después de tantos libros propios y de poner en circulación libros de otros en la Editorial Común (en ese sello editó a Alberto Montt, Carlos Trillo, Gus Delisle, Nine y Kazu Kibuishi, entre tantos), después de algunas tapas de discos (Calamaro, Johansen) y una muy frecuente colaboración con Kevin Johansen, sostiene su tira Macanudo desde años en la nacion y está a punto de partir rumbo a Vermont, la ciudad adonde está The Center for Cartoon Studies. Fue invitado a ingresar en ese laboratorio de ideas para historietistas y allí permanecerá dos años con su familia. ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo Vilches reseña Informe. Historieta argentina del siglo XXI, de VVAA Vilches nos da un analísis A FONDO de esta antologia argentina! Al contrario, la frescura y la ruptura de las normas del relato clásico son signos presentes en cada historia de las que conforman Informe. También, lo decía al principio, se impone cierta distancia con el dibujo académico, para profundizar en estilos gráficos sintéticos, naif o simplemente anti naturalistas, sin preocuparse por conseguir una representación de la realidad que se haga pasar por la realidad en sí. El color es un elemento que, cuando se usa, también se aleja de lo naturalista para explotar su capacidad expresionista y emotiva. Sin embargo, esto no son más que rasgos muy generales que sirven tan sólo de punto de partida para analizar a un conjunto de artistas que se caracterizan, sobre todo, por su heterogeneidad. ————————————————————————————————— El Publicadero – COLOMBIA Ya viene el encuentro de Autoedición y Fanzines celebrado en el marco de la séptima Feria del Libro de Manizales del 2016. 30 de agosto al 4 de septiembre. It’s coming! ————————————————————————————————— Revista Larva: Convocatoria para Publicar – La Colección Gusana FECHA DE CIERRE: domingo 28 de agosto de 2016 a las 11:59 p.m. A comienzos de este año presentamos una colección de fanzines de cómic y dibujo. La hemos llamada Gusana. Su objetivo en este mundo: abrir un espacio para autores de cómic que busquen un espacio de publicación y promoción para trabajos que ya tengan hechos pero que no hayan salido a la luz todavía. La prima menor de nuestra LARVA se prepara para su próxima aparición, el segundo número de la colección, y buscamos un(a) autor(a) para darle vida. ————————————————————————————————— Impresiones sobre el 2º Encontro Lady’s Comics Katherine Supnem tiene un gran recap del Encontro en el blog Comic, Genero, Femenismo. Si quieren ver otra perspectiva sobre este gran evento Manzanna nos dio sus impresiones del encontro la semana pasada AQUI en Comics Workbook. Katherine Supnem: Lo que más me llamó la atención fue la labor formativa y recopilatoria que inspiraba el evento. Estaban muy interesadas en transmitir contenido, fuerza, autogestión y lucha, ya que es difícil en toda latinoamérica ser autora de cómic, aunque ya no estemos en los 90. Además de tener un registro de otros colectivos brasileños de historietas donde sólo participen mujeres, lesbianas o trans. Para eso tenían un mapa de Brasil donde los colectivos se iban anotando para ser registrados en la historia de las comiqueras Brasileñas. No era necesario ser feminista para estar ahí, algo así como militar, porque ya es muy feminista ser artista y autora de historietas, como le oí decir a Sole Otero en nuestra Charla. A veces es difícil darle tiempo a las lecturas filosóficas que requiere el feminismo, como lo hablamos con Mariela, pero lo fundamental es comenzar a cambiar nuestras propias vidas autoconvocándonos y organizándonos junto a otras mujeres. ————————————————————————————————— Space Riders – the Playlist: BLAST YERR ASS OFF Alexis Ziritt has put together a loud, galaxy spanning mix of tunes that’ll get you tuned to the Space Riders frequency real quick. Gives these tracks a spin, if you’re up for adventure. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! JF Share this page: [...]

06/22/2016

Juan FernándezJune 22, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with your weekly spanish language comics round up: Helen Jo & Jonny Negron in THE DIAZ ARCHIVE; Berliac’s DESOLATION.EXE;Sindy Elefante presenta CicloReaders no.1; Taller de GIF via Sofia Alvarez; Antonio Samudio; Martin Lopez Liam in CuCo; birth of BUÑO; Caravaggio Comics by Álvaro Ortiz. ————————————————————————————————— On the site: New in the Diaz Archive: http://comicsworkbook.com/jonny-negron-draws-mr-freedom/ http://comicsworkbook.com/boy-by-hellen-jo/ ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: Pedro Moura on “DESOLATION.EXE” Portuguese critic Pedro Moura has written an article about Berliac’s “DESOLATION.EXE”. Originally in portuguese, Berliac’s got a translation over on his site. Pedro Moura: All stories refer to the same urban, post-industrial anguish that authors like Seiichi Hayashi, but also the Tsuge brothers, Shin’ichi Abe, Masahiko Matsumoto and Yoshihiro Tatsumi, among others, explore in their works. Stories of straightforward dramatic realism (thus approximating the etymological meaning of “gekiga”), focused on that which escapes through the cracks of economic and social wealth, warning us that the possible forms of happiness are not at all universal. Perhaps here lies the meaning of its title, with its extension “.exe”, that is, referring to something that can execute an action upon the “life” of a program. In this case, the desolation caused by poverty, by the alienation of labor, by the obsession of certain cultures with superficial pleasures, and by human isolation. ————————————————————————————————— Inaugural Ride-n-Draw in Bogotá This weekend, Sindy Elefante is leading the inaugural ride for the “Cicloreaders” drawing club in Bogotá, Colombia. Get some pencils & paper, sunscreen & water and your bike for a wild ride drawing al fresco, experiencing Bogota’s savannah. More info over on their site. cicloreaders.com . NOS GUSTAN LAS BICICLETAS PORQUE —COMO LOS LIBROS— NOS LLEVAN A DONDE QUEREMOS, PERO TAMBIÉN A DONDE NUNCA IMAGINAMOS LLEGAR. ————————————————————————————————— 2nd GIF Workshop – THIS WEEKEND – Buenos Aires Independent bookstore, PUNC LIBRERIA in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires is hosting its second intensive GIF animation workshop this Saturday. It is hosted by Buenos Aires based cartoonist, Sofia Alvarez. If you are interested in honing your animation chops and would like to participate, send an email to punclibreria@gmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Los grabados de Antonio Samudio Poets, Juan Manuel Roca y Santiago Mutis, have put together a collection of prints by the colombian expressionist painter and printmaker, Antonio Samudio‘s. Entitled,Los grabados de Antonio Samudio, it is comprised of 250 of his prints; woodcuts, lino, lithographs and engravings, Samudio’s worlds are now within reach. Samudio has created a body of work of really intriguing cartooning. His images live in an interesting space of dynamism that is neither the hyperbolically expressive Lynd Ward nor the politcally muted like Botero. Cool stuff. The book should be available soon. For now Arcadia magazine has a nice gallery of several of his prints for you to see Colombian life through his eyes. ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista con Martinez Lopez Liam (2014) This one’s a throwback to 2014, but it’s so in depth and chock full of great banter that I can’t help but share it. This is from the 3rd volume of Cuadernos de Cómic, the incisive latin american comics criticism magazine. CuCo: Quizás lo que pasa es que tradicionalmente el cómic se ha orientado más a la acción que a la introspección psicológica, y a la hora de mostrar sentimientos o pensamientos los autores necesitáis generar nuevas maneras de hacer cómic. MLL: De hecho Ware sí se ha acercado mucho al monó- logo interior sin usar la palabra, sólo con imágenes. Pero yo no quería ser Chris Ware, que ya está él ahí para eso. En Asterios Polyp hay una secuencia que me gusta mucho, casi al final. Es una secuencia de varias páginas en las que en la parte superior aparece el pensamiento de la mujer de Asterios y en la inferior él mismo haciendo cosas. De pronto ahí sentí esa introspección en la mente del personaje, pero mucho más abstracta. Y estaba usando igualmente el lenguaje secuencial para conseguirlo. En el cine de los últimos años se ha visto un recurso parecido: de repente ves a un personaje a través de una cámara, en silencio, simplemente ves su recorrido por un espacio determinado, sin acontecimientos… Tú tienes que intuir lo que está pensando el personaje. Creo que fue Deleuze el que decía que las disciplinas artísticas eran la intersección de dos conceptos que respondían a las problemáticas de la misma naturaleza del medio, así la pintura era la relación entre el color y el espacio, el cine entre tiempo y el espacio, entonces ¿cuál es o cuáles son los problemas del cómic? ————————————————————————————————— Caravaggio Comics RTVE.es has a great look at Álvaro Ortiz’ Dos holandeses en Nápoles, a comic co-edited by the Thyssen-Bonemisza Museum and Astiberri. The book serves to complement the Thyssen-Bornemisza’s exhibit Caravaggio y los pintores del north, inaugurated this Tuesday, June 21st. Dos holandeses en Nápoles tells the story of Gerard Van Honthorst and Dirck Van Baburen, two dutch painters who traveled to Naples in search of Caravaggio. This 28 page full color comic will be in stores on July 1st. You can get a peek at the pages over at Astiberri’s site. ————————————————————————————————— Buno: A New Imprint (In Partnership With Magnetic Press) Stateside: Ulises Fariñas & Magnetic Press has announced he’s starting a new comics publishing imprint called Buño. Looks like an exciting space for creator owned comics to really explore the space of fusion. MAGNETIC PRESS: The first 3 titles to be published by BUÑO will be: LIGHT (written & illustrated by Rob Cham),CLOUDIA & REX (written by Ulises Fariñas & Erick Freitas, illustrated by Daniel Irizarri), and GUARDIAN FORCE DESIGN MANUAL (written & illustrated by Ulises Fariñas, inked by Mike Prezzato). Alexander Lu over at Comics Beat has the whole story! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima 😉 Juan 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: [...]

07/04/2016

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Juan Fernandez here with: Daniel Clowes at the Bay Area Book Festival; Ronald Wimberly on spec work for corporations; Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary; Lauren Weinstein at the shore; Lunch at Alcatraz Jr.; Aline Kominsky-Crumb und Robert Crumb.

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On the site:
New in the DIAZ ARCHIVE:

http://comicsworkbook.com/daniel-clowes-talk-at-the-bay-area-book-festival-2016/

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No More Free Work for Corporations
Stop Doing Spec Pages Pt. 1

Ronald Wimberly: A quick preface: Yesterday a friend of mine told me the story of how she was scouted by DC Comics to participate in their “talent” workshop. My colleague, who worked as a professional for 7 years and had books from Marvel under her belt, made time to meet up with a rookie editor only to subject herself to the editor’s rejection and novice opinion as to how my colleague may one day meet the standards of the DC talent workshop- some other time I’ll talk about how lame this DC Comics talent workshop is in how it is manufacturing the spectacle of demand for their brand by creators and using that to forego the cost and editorial aptitude it takes to curate and build a stable of … but they had the gaul to ask my colleague to do test pages, so here’s my opinion on that.

Pt. 2.

Ronald Wimberly: If you can’t generate surplus value, then your business model is broken, fam. That means you need to go out of business or fix it. You don’t fix it by getting free labor. Or you can, but that is unjust.

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Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary

July is here and that means that it’s time to relish in Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary. Since 2012, every July, except for 2015, Gabrielle Bell has been posting a “July Diary,” on her site, which have been collected in her book Truth is Fragmentary from Uncivilized Books. Subscribe to Bell’s blog and receive Bell’s comics in your inbox on the regular. Oh, what a day! This year, Bell is shaking things up a bit in her process. It’s going to be really excited to see where her new process takes her stories…

This year I’ve set the parameter for myself of no penciling, no erasing, no revising, no redrawing, no editing. It still isn’t exactly a diary though. If it were really a diary, I’d be exposing all my ugly secrets, my inappropriate crushes, the people I hate and all kinds of incriminating and compromising information about everyone I know. I’d love to do that but it took me so long to get the friends I’ve got and I’d like to keep them. You could call this a journal but I don’t like that word either…it sounds too much like “journaling.” At this point it’s an experiment and I’ll figure out what it is in the future hindsight.

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Drawn Together: Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb at Cartoonmuseum Basel

7.2-11.13.2016

A comprehensive exhibition that charts the history of Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb’s collaborative work in their comics series Drawn Together has just opened at Cartoonmuseum Basel. If you’re in Switzerland, you won’t want to miss out on seeing this bit of taboo busting underground comics history in the flesh.

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“… I can feel time passing and it aches.”

Summer vacation comics from Lauren Weinstein over on the Guardian. Frageile memory, raw parenthood and wild horses swirl together in this one.

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New Street Angel update:
Jesse’s first breakfast in the big house! So ~~gross~~ yummy!

SUBSCRIBE here to keep up with Street Angel news + art via Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca.

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New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.3-7.9

Last but not least, we have a new private auction up at auction.comicsworkbook.com! Lots of old and new comics for you to take home. email Frank Santoro at santoroschoolATgmail for a password, if you don’t already have one. If you already have a password, it is the same from last week. All funds go to helping keep the lights on and further developing the school. Connor Willumsen is offering commission sketches that you don’t want to miss out on, all at different tiers. Don’t sleep on your chance to get work by this contemporary heavy hitter.

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soak up the sun, bomb some hills, and feel the wind in your hair,
until next time!
JF

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Juan Fernández

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016

Explore

03/28/2017

Aaron CockleMarch 28, 2017NewsAaron here today with Samplerman; Alice Neel; Raymond Pettibon (in Conversation); MOCCAFEST 2017 Looms ————————————————————————————————— I have always chosen the DIY way to make my fanzines and minicomics: it is affordable and it mostly requires commitment and time. Frank Young interviews Yves ‘Samplerman’ Guillo over on The Comics Journal: I would imagine you use Adobe Photoshop, or a similar computer program, to assemble your images. Does your creative process occur within those programs? Or do you make sketches or do other pre-planning before each image is assembled? Some “Samplerman” images seem extremely composed, while others have a feeling of spontaneity. The blending of these two opposites is a compelling factor in your work. The creative moment occurs mostly when I face the computer screen. I only make sketches when the computer is not on—when I take a walk with a paper and pen in my pocket, or when I have an idea related to structure or geometry for potential compositions. I am always thinking about some elementary geometrical manipulations, combined and applied to the samples. Squares, triangles and circles are everywhere. And I fear this is where my work could start being boring and repetitive—I could apply this to anything. I try to keep a sense of movement in my work. Sometimes I feel the urge to break my composition, to destabilize the eye-scan and push it toward the next panel. I tend to use symmetry a lot when I start putting together a background and the elements. It’s somewhat satisfying but at the same time it paralyzes any feeling of movement. I usually end up distorting the symmetry I rely on. I try to give it a shake and extend the life of these unearthed objects in any way, like a mad scientist. ————————————————————————————————— Alice Neel, Uptown Hilton Als has curated an exhibit of work by Alice Neel, at David Zwirner through 22 April: …the first comprehensive look at Neel’s portraits of people of color, is an attempt to honor not only what Neel saw, but the generosity behind her seeing. ————————————————————————————————— Raymond Pettibon in Conversation with Massimiliano Gioni Thursday, March 30, 7pm at the New Museum Join us for a special conversation between artist Raymond Pettibon and Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director of the New Museum, on the occasion of the survey “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work.” Gioni and Pettibon will discuss the artist’s storied trajectory over the last four decades, during which Pettibon has gained a reputation as one of the most influential and visionary living American artists. The conversation will take its cues from “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work,” which occupies the three main floors of the Museum and includes more than eight hundred drawings from the 1960s to the present, as well as a number of his early self-produced zines and artist’s books and several videos made in collaboration with fellow artists and his musician friends. Although Pettibon has been an unquestionably pivotal figure of American art since the 1990s, he has never before had a major museum survey exhibition in New York. ————————————————————————————————— MoCCA 2017 The Society of Illustrators-sponsored, Museum of Cartooning and Comic Arts (MoCCA) Festival will be taking place this weekend, April 1-2, at Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th Street, NYC. As with previous years, there will be some great panel discussions, organized by CW favorite Bill Kartalopoulos as well as satellite programming of events and activities. Here are a few highlights from the Sunday programming schedule: 12:30PM / Helvetica Room Teaching Comics Internationally For much of their history, comics have been a self-taught discipline. Now students are learning how to make comics in a variety of academic environments, from dedicated schools to majors to minors to electives. This panel will bring together a group of international comics educators to discuss the programs they teach in and the different ways in which they approach teaching comics. Bill Kartalopoulos will lead a conversation with Jessica Abel (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, US), Guillaume Dégé (Haute école des arts du Rhin, France), Ben Katchor (Parsons The New School for Design, US), and Merav Solomon (Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel). 2:00PM / Garamond Room Rutu Modan and David Polonsky in Conversation Israeli artists Rutu Modan and David Polonsky are both known for the excellence of their artwork and for their provocative approach to blending historical and current events into their imaginative works. Modan is best known in North America for her graphic novels Exit Wounds and The Property and for her short story collection Jamilti. Polonsky is best known in North America as the art director for the animated film Waltz With Bashir, directed by Ari Folman. He is also the illustrator of the graphic novel based upon the film. Modan and Polonsky will discuss their work with comics scholar and writer Tahneer Oksman (How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses?). 2:00PM / Helvetica Room RESIST! In the weeks between the 2016 Presidential election and the 2017 inauguration, Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman edited RESIST!, a newsprint anthology of comics and cartoons, mostly by women. 58,000 copies of the newspaper were distributed for free by a grassroots network of volunteers during the Women’s Marches in Washington and across the country. RESIST! used online networks to solicit contributions and in the process became a new kind of hybrid platform: both an ongoing online forum for urgent expression by diverse voices and a print publication that has its roots in the Sixties underground press. In this special session, Mouly and Spiegelman will discuss the development — and the future — of RESIST! 3:30PM / Garamond Room Anthologies as Art: Kramers Ergot and Lagon The great anthologies of comics history — Zap, Weirdo, RAW, and others — have both made an assertion of comics’ aesthetic ambition at a certain time and place while functioning as a personal expression by each series’ editors. Sammy Harkham is the editor of Kramers Ergot, the anthology which, since 2003, has generated excitement with each volume as a strong statement about contemporary art comics in North America. Alexis Beauclair is the co-editor of Lagon, which debuted in 2014 as a risographed encapsulation of French avant-garde comics, and has metamorphosed with each volume leading to the latest, Gouffre. They will discuss their work as artists and editors with Bill Kartalopoulos. There will (presumably) be comics for sale at this show, along with the requisite prints, stickers and tote bags. Maybe there will be some more t-shirts for sale this year as well? Come on out to the far west side this weekend and take a look! ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 3-28-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-28-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/30/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 30, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey; GRAF Madrid documentado; Fotos de la Muestra colectiva: Ciudades Imaginadas; Berliac’s TANGRAM; Suzy y Cecil. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Pittsburgh, PA – The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable, quien estudió con George Pratt y quien a dibujado con Grant Morrison. Estamos ofreciendo compras adelantadas a un precio reducido. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Madrid, España – GRAF en Video #GRAFMADRID2016 resumido en este vídeo de @MIIS3RIIA con música de @afeite_al_perro y @golondrinamente. Si quieres ver lo que la proxima si quieres ver lo que la próxima edición del gráfico Madrid os ofrecerá no te pierdas los vídeos que GRAF grabo hace unos meses en Barcelona (y más). Estan todos en su Youtube! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Rosario, Argentina – Fotos de la Muestra colectiva: Ciudades Imaginadas. Festival Furioso a compartido sus fotos de la Inauguración del festival, muestra colectiva ciudades imaginadas a cargo de: Feli Pablo, Bruno Crispino, Estefania Clotti, Guardabosques y Juan Vegetal y presentación de la Editorial Furiosa 8/11 Ph: Paganini Conforti. Dale un vistazo! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Berlin, Germany – Berliac’s TANGRAM is now for sale! los detalles: 16 pages 29,7 x 21 cm (A4) Duotone Risograph on newsprint Published by FOSFATINA (Spain) 6€ BUY IT HERE: http://berliac.tictail.com/product/tangram ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️Comics Workbook ha anunciado el semestre de invierno del Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – el curso empieza Dec. 29th 2016! Curso de 8 semanas – 500 dolares – 10 estudiantes – presentate para el curso antes del Dec. 13th 2016 y recibiras un descuento de $100! Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Direcciones para la Solicitud de Ingreso al Santoro School : -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. Manda tus solicitudes a: santoroschoolATgmail ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Pittsburgh, PA – El comienzo de Suzy y Cecil Suzy y Cecil es una tira diaria, creada por varias estudiantes de Comics Workbook. Pueden seguir sus aventuras y su amistad en instagram: @Suzy_and_Cecil. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Share this page: [...]

04/16/2018

Caleb OrecchioApril 16, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with John Porcellino’s recent stop in Pittsburgh, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— He has seen but half the universe who has never been shown the house of Pain. –Ralph Waldo Emerson This past Friday, John Porcellino stopped by Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh while on tour for his book, From Lone Mountain, a collection of his King-Cat “comics and stories” from 2003 to 2007, published by Drawn and Quarterly. This was the first signing at Copacetic I’ve attended since I moved to Pittsburgh this year. It was great. Porcellino did his song and dance at Kaibur Coffee (same building as Copacetic but two floors below) by taking us, via slideshow, through excerpts of his book and giving background details and tangents revolving around the events therein. John laid bare his soul during his presentation as he does with every annual release of King-Cat. Pain and Joy are one, and the audience often found ourselves laughing in hindsight at the misfortunes along with our hero. After the presentation and rather intimate audience Q&A, we hiked up to Copacetic where books were signed and comics were talked about. It was great. Not only could you chat with John Porcellino, but you could also hangout with the Pittsburgh crowd: Sam Ombiri, Sally Ingraham, Juan Fernandez, Jenn Lisa, Audra Stang, Nate McDonough, and many others. I showed Sam my favorite King City gag, while Juan waxed different ways to read and comprehend information with Audra and Sally. I clumsily talked about Pittsburgh roads vs every other American road system with John P as he signed my copy of his book. I asked Bill Boichel (Copacetic proprietor) if he agreed that Red Nails was Barry Windsor-Smith’s best work, and I think he did. Then we started talking about Kaluta. Lots of things seemed to be going on. The hours went by quickly. It was a beautiful day. Only several days before, the city was snow-capped, but today it felt like how I imagine California feels on its best days. On the Copacetic Balcony, you could see the beautiful old buildings over the hills that run through the city and the purple dusk. Thanks to John P. for coming to Pittsburgh and thanks to Bill Boichel and Copacetic Comics for hosting. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know TCJ.com launched a bi-weekly column called “Retail Therapy.” Every other week will evidently feature an interview with a comics retailer. First up, Portland’s Floating World Comics. Who, will be publishing Zack Soto’s debut The Secret Voice graphic novel. Your Chicken Enemy has the scoop on upcoming Uncivilized Books titles. TCAF 2018 is right around the corner! It will be here before you know it! Eddie Campbells limited weekly strip ended. Did you see it? ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-16-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-16-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/17/2017

Sally IngrahamNovember 16, 2017NewsSally here with Jillian Fleck’s Lake Jehovah, comics from Glynnis Fawkes, Gabrielle Bell, and Leslie Stein, plus the latest word from Kelly Sue DeConnick – and plenty more! ————————————————————————————————— I had a chance to read Jillian Fleck‘s first book – Lake Jehovah – yesterday, while hanging out at Copacetic Comics. I’ve been a fan of her work for awhile, keeping up with her web comic Bad Thoughtz, and other comics as they appeared on Tumblr. Jillian began Lake Jehovah back in 2012, as a series of scenes, focusing on the visual elements that she was interested in drawing. When I opened the book what jumped out at me immediately was her use – most often – of the nine panel grid, which is a visual element that I am particularly drawn to. She is a student of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers, so it’s not surprising that she would channel her story through a grid. The second thing that struck me was that this was a story that could only be told through the medium of comics. It seem like a lot of comics may just as well be novels. The images and panels are incidental – they accompany the text as a happy bonus, but take them away and the words would still tell the story. With Lake Jehovah, Jillian has composed a comic where the images and panels tell the story, and words are used as a final detail that ties the rest together – but only where necessary. There are many pages where emotions and mental states are portrayed through image, color, and the careful yet playful use and breakdown of the grid. The way that Jillian uses the comics medium to describe mental anguish and illness is quite brilliant. Lake Jehovah is a good example too of how a comic is an active relationship between the maker and the reader. There is a lot to figure out here, but between the images and panel structure Jillian leaves a trail of breadcrumbs. It’s a strange, post-post-post-apocalyptic world that we’ve stumbled into, but it’s not always clear what disasters are real and which ones take place in the mind of Jay, the genderqueer, thoroughly depressed main protagonist. There are demons in the woods and a bottomless lake that speaks, a fiancee who flees, a friend who wishes he was a spirit fox, and an actual wolf. It’s almost a funny comic, when it’s not horribly serious. And then there’s the whole poetry riff. It’s apparent that Jillian has spent a lot of time thinking about the mechanics of comics, and she is startlingly capable of using the form to explore heavy ideas. The drawing is relatively lively, with some of her influences coming through but not distracting from the tale. The bright color palette is an effective/unsettling juxtaposition against the backdrop of a cold, dark, Northern Canadian setting. Check this one out for sure (available from Conundrum Press if it’s not in your local shop), and you can also see Jillian’s most recent comic – Push Thru, made for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2017, HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There’s an excellent interview with Kelly Sue DeConnick in the fall issue of the Matador Review. She is the badass creator/writer behind Bitch Planet, and Pretty Deadly, among numerous other works. She’s been consistently outspoken, especially in the last few years, about better female representation in the comics industry, and the interview dives right into that: “Q: You’ve stated that, as a female creator pushing for female representation in comics, you’re willing to make people uncomfortable so that your daughter doesn’t have to. What can other artists do to make the world better for later generations? KSD: My intention is to make work that expresses some kind of truth. I do so in the hopes that the work will connect me to myself, and to my humanity, my community, and have the same effect on the consumer. But sometimes, finding truths or speaking truths means making yourself and other people uncomfortable. No one likes to be uncomfortable, but I think it’s gotten easier for me with practice. Everybody wants to be liked. Of course we want to be liked. I’m not aiming to be on anybody’s shitlist—but I’m willing to go there. A lot of people will thank you for it later. There’s a difference between art and entertainment. If we hope to continue experiencing growth, we have to let ourselves stretch and get out of the familiar places. We must try to understand how our truths are different from other people’s truths—especially as a woman. On some level, our culture still wants women to be seen and not heard. When you’re not quiet, it makes people uncomfortable. They may not be able to articulate it directly, but they sort of wish you would just be quiet, decorative, agreeable—just smile. I think our culture tends to treat women as not fully human. That’s tragic. It limits human beings as a whole.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Keep an eye on the Daily Shouts feature on The New Yorker – there have been lots of familiar names popping up there recently – just this week Glynnis Fawkes, Liana Finck, and Vanessa Davis have all had comics or illustrations featured. Above is work by Glynnis – see the rest of that comic HERE. Earlier this month Gabrielle Bell had a comic on Daily Shout – see it HERE – along with Miss Lasko-Gross, and Hallie Bateman (a new-to-me cartoonist – check out The United States Post (Apocalyptic) Office). Kudos to Emma Allen, The New Yorker‘s new cartoon editor, who stepped into the shoes of the iconic Robert Mankoff in May of this year – or rather, she brought her own shoes and is walking around in them quite well so far! I should note that she’s been the editor of Daily Shouts for three years, and only added being the cartoon editor to her already full plate. Here’s an article from The New York Times from earlier this year about Emma and her vision for comics in The New Yorker moving forward. ————————————————————————————————— John Seven reviews Leslie Stein‘s new comic Present over on The Comics Beat. “Stein’s narratives are short and qualify as slices of life, though they could just as easily qualify as single thoughts brought to conclusion. They cover small incidents like feeling guilty about not going home for Christmas, or trips to the museum to get away from her own art, or just an encounter with a particularly profound fortune cookie that ties everything together for her. Stein is mostly a lone figure in her comics, which isn’t to say that other people don’t appear, but is to say that they come from the point of view of her, as a stylized figure, navigating the world. Other people might be next to Stein, but they never interfere with her or crowd her out. She is our the reader’s avatar, after all. And yet that doesn’t mean that she hogs the narrative. Not true at all. Stein listens, so we listen. But Stein helps us tie it all together, and in doing so, sometimes she comes off as alone in a crowded comic book.“ Read the whole review HERE. ————————————————————————————————— On the Grape Vine Hyperallergic has a review of GG‘s I’m Not Here (Koyama Press, 2017) – check it out. Nerds of Prey talks to Paloma Hernando and Sunmi, of Dandelion Wine Collective, about publishing marginalized voices and their new anthology project – read about it HERE. The New York Review of Books has a writeup on the Tove Jansson show that is hanging in the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, through Jan. 28th 2018 – HERE. American Libraries interviews Emil Ferris – she talks monsters and memories. Jessica Plummer lists numerous cases of harassment in comics, over on BookRiot (in response to the recent story about veteran DC editor Eddie Berganza and his history of sexual harassment…) Eve Ewing MIGHT get asked to pick up writing Marvel’s Invincible Iron Man where Brian Michael Bendis left it off (as he switches over to DC, in a shocker/shakeup move!) – full (theoretical) story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-17-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK by Charles Forsman

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 11, 2016The Diaz ArchiveCharles Forsman’s b&w portrayal of Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken and Season Hubley as the Girl In Chock Full O’Nuts in John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981, USA) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION collection. The illustration was completed late 2015 in ink, and Charles’ photo was taken at Comic Arts Brooklyn, Saturday, November 7, 2015. And Graham Willcox did the color for Charles’ portrait Share this page: [...]

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