Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on October 12, 2016October 12, 2016

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11/15/2016

Aaron CockleNovember 15, 2016NewsAaron here today with Mardou on Clowes; Bianca Xunise Comics; Research & Destroy NYC; European Abstract Formalist Comics; A bystander’s guide to help the person who’s being targeted ————————————————————————————————— Featured this week: On Being a Woman in the Manly World of Daniel Clowes Sacha Mardou takes an in-depth look at the role of women in Clowes’s work. Another strong piece from the CW Roller Derby League. Julie Patheticstein and Violet Vanderplatz are two wronged women who team up in an unlikely friendship. Patience endures a humiliating stage in her development under the kind mentoring of the older waitress, Nancy. And Vida just adores her old grandmother, the fading poetess Ida Wentz. There’s a subtle alter-world of quiet kindness and acceptance in his books and when you look for the women, you’ll find it there. It would be a miserable life for the men if not for this quiet, subplotted influence. Even grumpy-pants Wilson benefits from the tender mercies of his daughter, and then from his life companion, Shelly. ————————————————————————————————— The 94% Bianca Xunise looks at demographics from this past week’s United States presidential election. ————————————————————————————————— RESEARCH & DESTROY The zine collective Research and Destroy New York City has made a good deal of their protest relevant material available online, including RIOT CONTROL; SUPERSTORM SANDY AND NEW YORK CITY’S DARK RECOVERY,OR, THINGS TO BE SEIZED DURING THE COMING INSURRECTION; and RULES FOR PICKETING. Their most recent work, The 2015 Baltimore Uprising: A Teen Epistolary, a tweet zine, was recently reviewed: The chunky, semi-glossy self-published work provides a singular view of the uprising quite separate from the breaking news of the national media or the think pieces churned out after the unrest. A few examples: “now Freddie broke his own neck…so why it take yall so long to tell the public @BaltimorePolice”; “they keep hollerin bout gangs, WE DON’T EVEN HAVE GANGS LIKE THAT NOMORE.”; “yall need to purge a fucking book w/ yall low ass gpa’s.” Collectively, these tweets can teach us things. They send us back to those days when we didn’t know what was happening or what was going to happen next during the violence on Saturday, April 25 downtown, and the rioting on Monday, April 27, and amid the making-it-up-as-they-go-along week of protests prior to that. The tweets capture the larger thing that we keep calling “the uprising” and the “is a revolution happening before our very eyes” excitement and worry. One tweet just declares, “Looking at a lot of shit different now.” ————————————————————————————————— Over at Kim Jooha’s blog, an attempt at a definition of European Abstract Formalist Comics Why “European” Abstract Formalist Comics? The above-listed works are mostly by French artists and all are by Europeans. There are only few Abstract Formalist Comics in other regions. ITDN (2016) by Andy Burkholder and artist books by Sol LeWitt (USA), Re/Forma (2014) by Luis Aranguri (Brazil), 9gbb (2016) by Ryukyung Hotel (South Korea) and works by Yuichi Yokoyama and Tiger Tateishi (Japan) are exceptions, rather than the norm, in their countries and continents. ————————————————————————————————— WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE WITNESSING ISLAMOPHOBIC HARASSMENT: A bystander’s guide to help the person who’s being targeted This came out at the end of August, and has been making the various social media rounds again in light of recent events. By Marie-Shirine Yener at The Middle Eastern Feminist. Share this page: [...]

11/29/2017

Juan FernándezNovember 29, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Ghengis Con 2017; La Polola y #HumorAmenazado! ————————————————————————————————— Ghengis Con, the annual small press and independent comics convention run by John “draw hard” G. was held at the The Lake Erie Building, in Lakewood, Ohio on November 26th, 2017 from 2-7pm. (It’s always held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.) Ghengis Con is the embodiment of the best of what a regional show can offer: Tradition, support, reliability and low stress. Since it’s move to the Lake Erie building spirits have been high, but I’ve felt that the crowds and exhibitors haven’t known how to best feel at home in the larger warehouse space. Not so this year! (It used to be held in the cozy, and what would become cramped, Beachland Ballroom) The long corridor that has been used in years past was abandoned and the impact was significant.This year, all 115+ exhibitors filled up the back room. Very few slumps in attendance. Lots of natural light, ample space to walk around, a nice hum of conversation. A miracle for a regional vendor fair like this. After talking to several exhibitors it’s safe to say John G. organized a warm, profitable afternoon for comics sellers and zine makers. In my opinion he did an amazing job for this small show. This is my fourth year attending. It’s his 9th year organizing it. 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 was there representing the Comics Workbook gang. Just me and Jenn Lisa this year. No hawking comics this time around, just passionate hands on education with kids and adults. The traveling academy. Printer. Scanner. Rolling Writers. Index Cards. Crayons. Staplers. I’d proposed the idea of doing a personalized workshop space right on the show room floor. We drew, copied and assembled entire zines. 8 page 1/4 Letter zines, One sheet foldies and some wildstyle zines concocted by a motley crew of kids. Kids learned how to assemble booklets and how to smash that “Copy” button on the scanner. If it wasn’t clear before, this isn’t pandering pedagogy, we’re teaching folks how to fish. It was a smash. This is my attempt to create a parallel space for engagement at comics shows. A baby step in expanding the festival tool kit. A huge thank you to John G. for inviting us to work our stuff. I had a great time. Lots of fun. Spirits were high. Get in touch if you’d like to host Comics Workbook workshops at your show. You can email santoroschool@gmail.com to start a conversation. – JF ————————————————————————————————— Spanish Cartoonists Release Free Expression Manifesto Maren Williams brings it to you over on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s website: Dozens of Spanish political cartoonists have signed their names to a manifesto in defense of free speech, citing recent attempts to prosecute comedy under the country’s two-year-old ‘gag law’ as well as a recent string of cartoonists abruptly fired from their jobs. Read it all HERE. Read the English-language manifesto with the full list of signatories at CRNI’s website. ————————————————————————————————— Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas se reencontraron y hablaron de lo que fueron sus viajes, aprendizajes, charlas, feminismo y mucho más. Compartieron parte de su botín comiquero de los viajes y además podrán escuchar dos conversaciones que tuvo Maliki con dos de las invitadas al congreso, la primera con Marina Bettaglio acerca de maternidad y la segunda con Hoffy de feminismo. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-29-2017 – by Sally Ingraham —————————————————————————————————Joanie and Jordie – 11-29-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

01/19/2018

Sally IngrahamJanuary 18, 2018NewsSally here with a fabulous new exhibition at the Library of Congress, Phoebe Gloeckner in her studio, Brie Moreno, Ramona Fradon, and more! ————————————————————————————————— The Library of Congress has a new exhibition – Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists – which “is dedicated to exploring the lesser-known, centuries-spanning contributions of female artists who broke into these male-dominated fields.” Curated by Martha Kennedy, the exhibition is vast, detailed, and will be up through October 2018. “The exhibit features nearly 70 pieces from in an impressive array of 43 artists, with work from the 19th century to today. The artwork ranges from Alice Barber Stephens’ Impressionist-influenced illustrations to Anne Harriet Fish’s elegant, fine-line drawings that graced more than 30 Vanity Fair covers to Roz Chast’s frenzied and funny cartoons in The New Yorker. Even so, Kennedy saw she had more ground to cover, so she wrote a companion book (out in March) and curated a second rotation of the show, with an entirely different lineup of artists, to replace the current one in mid-May. “There are a lot of women who did really interesting, innovative work who have been overlooked and are worthy of further study,” Kennedy says.“ An article on Smithsonian details the exhibition, and it is full of the names of creators and artists to research and get to know. Start there, and then plan a trip to D.C. – or two, if you want to see both halves of the show! Read all about it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Michigan Daily visited Phoebe Gloeckner recently and talked autobiography and its place in comics. “On one hand, Phoebe argues that stories involving heavier, real topics work well as graphic novels because “the more specific something is, the more relatable it becomes. I think in a sense it’s easier to do that with comics because instead of describing the wallpaper, you’re drawing the wallpaper, it’s there.” The concept that graphic novels allow readers to visualize their characters exactly the way the author sees them, however, is a double-edged sword. When asked if presenting readers with one specific image made them focus more on the content and less on the imagination, Phoebe responded with questions of her own. “When you read Maus, do you just accept the person looks like a mouse? Or someone is cartoony with simplified features? This too gives you room to interpret what they look like in real life.” “ Gloeckner also discusses her current project, another type of storytelling, but one that “uses cloth dolls and elaborate, miniature film sets to represent the violent scenes of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.” Read the whole piece HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Brie Moreno is featured on It’s Nice That, talking about the direction her work has taken recently. “…Brie also notes that her style has developed as a result of “really turning away from finalising all my drawings on the computer,” she tells It’s Nice That. “I love using the computer for creating guides and altering the size of my compositions, but when it comes to the finished product I’m obsessed with the naive quality of smeared up felt tips, crumpled newsprint and happy accidents.” In turn, there is a lush tangible quality to each of Brie’s singular drawings. Even when displayed on a digital screen they evoke that crinkly paper texture that develops from layering and layering felt tip pens to make the page a little fluffy. The appearance of this texture has also evolved from Brie experimenting with using A3 newsprint as a base, “I really look forward to seeing the originals fade and deteriorate with time,” she explains.“ Plenty more comics and drawings to see HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Reporter found the drawing pictured above on Roger Langridge’s blog, where Langridge also posted his take on inking Ramona Fradon‘s pencils – I’m just here for Fradon’s Metamorpho however! I’m reading Liz Prince‘s Be Your Own Backing Band at the moment, which collects some of her comics that were first published on the website If You Make It, which is devoted to punk music and culture. Check out her comics HERE. Episode 263 of the Comics Alternative podcast includes a review of The Strumpet #5, around the 44 min. mark – listen HERE. Nidhi Chanani has a comic up on Mutha Magazine – Eggs: A Comic on Stillbirth, Loss, and Breakfast. On PEN America’s Illustrated PEN “Meg Lemke presents cartoonist Lisa Lim’s How I Went From Being An Apolitical to A Little More Political Asian” – HERE. Tegan O’Neil reviews Hazel Newlevant‘s Sugar Town on The Comics Journal. Black Mask is publishing a new comic written by Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson which may be interesting – Her Infernal Descent – which is about a middle-aged mother who visits hell, guided by Agatha Christie and William Blake, in an effort to get her family back. The Comics Beat has the story. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-19-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-19-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/16/2017

Caleb OrecchioOctober 15, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on practicing color, and other news. ———————————————————————————————— I’ve been thinking and working with color a lot. In this day and age, where color is an option for cartoonists looking to print their work (color was not always an option for ye olde comics makers, true believer), the quantity of choice of what the colors should be and how to apply them can be intimidating. Fear not. In my opinion, the best way to start in color is the classic CMYK–which is essentially, as you probably know, blue, red, yellow, and black. One reason this is a good choice is that most riso printers carry these four colors (riso being probably the best option in self-publishing in color if you can swing it) AND they are easily acquired in forms of marker or colored pencils, AND because these are the colors comics used in the past and traditions are important to me. The Classics Illustrated series is a great gateway into classic coloring. They all have a minimal, crude feel to the coloring. It does not seem that their printer offered a large pallet, or maybe they couldn’t afford it. Anyway, I read about the 152nd installment of the Classics Illustrated line, “Wild Animals I have Known”(adapted from the book by Ernest Thompson Seton; drawn by LB Cole) from Kevin Huizenga’s blog years ago and subsequently bought it. I’m going to run through an example of how I play and practice with this book. Here’s a good panel that demonstrates a nice, simple combination of CMYK. First, I isolate the colors by tracing over them with markers on tracing paper. I don’t worry about being exact because that isn’t the point. I’m not trying to recreate the image, I just want to see how colors interact. Then I put them together–then yellow, then red and so on. Please forgive how the lightbox makes the photos look. But the idea is to keep going. Okay so how would it look like if we took one color out? Or just used one color? I could go on and on. You just have to keep trying things. Try it if you want–and feel free to mix it up. Make a new blackline drawing and put it up against the color. Flip the color layers or stagger them. This is just something to think about while you work on your comic. Follow your bliss. ———————————————————————————————— if you don’t know now you know I meant to post about this a month ago when it came out. I sincerely love this youtube documentary about comic shop owner Glenn O’Leary and his store, Comic Book Palace. My taste literally never overlaps with his and I think he is wrong about almost every aspect of comics–accept the way he retails–but I can’t help but love it. Sticking with the retail theme; TCJ.com blog made me aware of this–Dan Gearino on Jim Hanley. LOL they are making the New Mutants movie a horror movie (or seemingly so)–nothing wrong with that I guess do what you gotta do whatever. Aaaaand a shoplifter jumped out of a Midtown Comics second story window–doesn’t he know comics are worthless? ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-16-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-16-2017 – by Juan Fernandez ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 10-16-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

08/22/2017

Aaron CockleAugust 21, 2017NewsAaron Cockle here today with Graphic Medicine; Santoro PDFs; Eclipse Comics ————————————————————————————————— Excerpts from Graphic Medicine #1 Due to the generosity of anonymous benefactors, CW has acquired a copy of the comic published in support of the most recent Comics and Medicine conference. ————————————————————————————————— Santoro Treasure Trove Please consider supporting Frank Santoro’s Indiegogo project. As a way of raising funds, he’s collected the past 10+ years of work he’s posted on various blogs, including Comics Comics. 666MB and counting. I took some quick screenshots from the first 3 PDFs that have been sent out. BEST OF COLD HEAT BLOG Layout Workbooks, Color Workbooks, and Notes on Scroll Comics BEST OF COMICS COMICS ————————————————————————————————— Eclipse Comics, not to be confused with Eclipse Comics ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 8-22-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-22-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-22-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/12/206

Posted on October 12, 2016October 12, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Juan les presenta: Tierra de fanzines; Teen Wolf de Fosfatina Ediciones; Catalina Bu en La Polola; Laura Andrea Garzón con Aidan Koch; Puño en el Tiempo; “Animal Collective” el cómic europeo de vanguardia; Los Space Riders se acercan; y MAS!

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Comics Workbook participará en dos festivales ESTE fin de semana:

En el Reino Unido

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Octubre 14-16. Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen en Kendal, UK. Buscános para y visita la mesa 67 en el Comics Clocktower para conocer a Oliver East y Jack Brougham, entre otros. Tendremos 3 talleres especiales, “Visual Poetry” con Aidan Koch, “The Hammer Party” con Connor Willumsen y “Composition Competition” con Frank Santoro. Las entradas para los eventos principales en el Festival Internacional de Lagos Arte cómico de este año están a la venta.ickets for the main events at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival are on sale now.
Visita nuestra página de eventos para más información..
En los Estados Unidos
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, October 13-16. Ofreciendo talleres y tendremos libros de venta. Júntate con la boca y dibujantes Alexa bar y Kurt Ankeny para disfrutar un fin de semana Juan llenísimo y de creación de cómics. Examinarémos el arte y la cuadricula, uniendo las pracitcas artísticas de Berg y Ankeny junto con la disciplina y el ritmo de la cuadricula, según lo principios establecidos por Frank Santoro. Cuatro horas a través de dos días, llenas de la exploración de una variedad de técnicas y métodos – que inspirarán el principiante, y desafiarán al dibujante avancado.
Cómics como el jazz; cómics como la arquitectura; cómo una simple tarjeta de índice puede transformar su proceso de secuenciación y la narración. El horario completo del Festival CXC esta disponible AQUI.

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⚡ Gerardo Vilches anuncia “Tierra de Fanzines” una nueva iniciativa en su blog. ¡Fanzines, todo fanzines!

⚡ Fosfatina ha sacado una nueva antologia: Teen Wolf –

Mejores amigas, selfies, transmutaciones en la cancha, superpedos, misiones secretas, hombres malos, drama adolescente, sexo tinaguer, coreografías licántropas… y lo que queda por llegar. Así reza la entrada de esta maravillosa serie creada y alojada por TIK TOK y que ahora aparece recopilada y extendida en este volumen, que ahora se publica en colaboración con FOSFATINA.

⚡ Escucha la nueva edición de @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo: En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Catalina Bu acerca de cómo:

… Empezó en el mundo del dibujo, la soledad de venirse a santiago a estudiar, el tema de lo cotidiano, la aceptación de uno mismo en la forma en que tenemos de dibujar, cuestionamos al “éxito” impuesto desde afuera y recomendamos varios libros, entre muchas cosas más.

Póngale play!

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/286263657″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

⚡ Laura Andrea Garzón habla con Aidan Koch en Colombia –

De camino al taller hablamos de la estructura laberíntica del barrio. Pienso que es una buena estructura para perderse o para jugar a las escondidas. Curiosamente es algo que se repite en la exhibición de la que ha hablado Aidan.

Me interesan los laberintos, aunque no son propiamente juegos. Uno sabe por donde entra pero no puede estar muy seguro de por dónde va a salir. Está esta idea de que se puede ganar o que se puede salir pero no es necesariamente cierta, no es la manera en que funciona la realidad. Usar estas figuras de manera metafórica es lo que más me llama la atención a la hora de incorporarlas en mi trabajo.

⚡ Puño en el Tiempo –

¿Desde pequeño tuvo talento para dibujar?

Yo no creo en el talento, creo en el trabajo y en las horas de experiencia. Siempre he sido muy mal dibujante, pero he dibujado tanto que inevitablemente he tenido resultados. Dibujar es fallar miserablemente una y otra vez. Por eso hay mucha gente que lo deja, porque estamos acostumbrados a recibir recompensas inmediatamente y para dibujar bien hay que hacer entre 3.000 y 10.000 dibujos, según tu habilidad para aprender. Entonces, lo que he sido siempre es muy obstinado.

⚡ No te pierdes esta exhibicion – Animal Collective – en Madrid. En un lugar puedes saborear la vanguardia de cómics internacionales. Uuf, que delicia!

Solo tenemos que pasear diez metros y habremos visto cuales son los proyectos más innovadores y auténticos del cómic europeo. De Finlandia a Austria pasando por Noruega, Letonia o Bélgica sin olvidar Barcelona o Madrid.

Todo es parte de una exposición que pretende ofrecer una amplia visión de los movimientos artísticos y las tendencias colectivas que trabajan la viñeta en la actualidad. Es Animal Collective y se podrá ver en la cuarta planta de Centro Centro madrileño (Plaza de Cibeles, 1) hasta el 29 de enero de 2017.

⚡ SPACE RIDERS – el segundo volumen llegara el año que viene en 2017. Alexis Ziritt y Fabian Rangel Jr. nos vienen FULL FORCE. No se lo pierdan! Apurate y lee el primer volumen cuando puedas! Apúrate, apúrate y lée di el primer volumen cuando puedas!

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Echa un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii!

“Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición”. – Frank Santoro

Puedes comprar uno aquí!

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hasta la próxima,
Juan

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, News

Juan Fernández

Posted on October 12, 2016October 12, 2016

Explore

10/04/2017

Juan FernándezOctober 4, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Daniel Blanco; José Muñoz y Maria Luque; Inés Estrada; Rodrigo la Hoz; #GRAFMAD2017 y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Juan here: Well, folks, made it through the gauntlet. I had a brilliant time at CXC as Jenn Lisa and Sean Knickerbocker’s hype man & dutiful assistant. Comics Workbook held it down and got the good word into the hands of Columbus aplenty through workshops, back issues and conversations. It’s great to have a crew like Comics Workbook where we’ll have a core crew running programming and officially representing (Frank Santoro, Sally Ingraham, Audra Stang, Caleb Orecchio, and Connor Willumsen) while also having “agents” floating around the festival. It was good to be in the company of folks like Aaron Cockle, Kurt Ankeny, Adam Griffiths, Marina Harkness. All of us doing our thing. A huge thank you to the CXC staff and volunteers for helping establish a show that best honors cartoonists and building a deep city wide infrastructure. Most specifically, I’d like to thank the CXC Executive committee, the people who make this show what it is and tirelessly keep it going–Jeff Smith, Lucy Caswell, Vijaya Iyer, Kathleen Glosan, Tom Spurgeon and Melody Reed. Got to catch up with the great Iona Woolmington. Hearts on fire for her. Picked up fresh Comics School USA #8 from Kevin Huizenga. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into his notes. Watched Kat Fajardo receive the CXC emerging talent and felt the waves of excitement. Still running on that energy. Talked autobio comics with Breena Nuñez. Watched Jenn Lisa find kindred spirits at this show talking autobio and DIY and talking about the garbage aspects of the intersection of ego and publishing. This is a big deal for me and her. Good stuff. CXC 2018 is 9/27-9/30. Thursday through Sunday. Mark your calendars and make your pilgrimage to Columbus. Stay tuned for my annual Expanding the Festival Tool Kit post. After bathing in the warmth of CXC and swimming through a year of shows and festivals, I’ve got lots of thoughts. And I hope you do too, so chime in. Tonight in Pittsburgh we’ve got our monthly comics salon: If you’re in Pittsburgh, be sure to stop by for some drawing exercises, coffee, shop talk, and solidarity. Tonight we’ll be riffing off of Connor Willumsen’s latest workshops, focusing on distilling action, observation and dialogue into their essential bits across tight but flexible architectures of the page. We’ll be guided by the principles he’s developed over the past couple of years, most visible in his latest work, Anti-Gone, published by Koyama Press. Anyway here’s the usual comics gold I bring you every week from Latin America and Spain. A little lighter a haul than usual, but just as shiny. *Turn on your translation devices* ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Daniel Blanco sobre sus inicios en el dibujo, su infancia en la religión mormona y su vida en peñalolen rodeado de animales y perros. Les contó acerca de su formación casi autodidacta y su amor por la filosofía y la teoría. Finalmente les habló de su editorial Endorsain y el gusto de hacer libros de autor distintos y originales Lo que va del cómic argentino: Martín Pérez escribe en las #Entreviñetas de El Espectador acerca de la obra de José Muñoz y Maria Luque Inés Estrada sale de gira: AUSTIN, DALLAS, TOKYO, CIUDAD DE MEXICO, LOS ANGELES y les ofrece un nuevo calendario para el 2018 en la tienda Gatosaurio. Rodrigo la Hoz les da tres consejos para contar historias en viñetas en Revista Bacánika. Abierta la convocatoria para participar en #GRAFMAD2017 ¡Hasta el 16 de octubre! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie -10-04-2017- by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-4-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

Gloria Rivera – Rowhouse Residency Report

Comics WorkbookApril 2, 2017Residency Reports / School UpdatesGloria Rivera is a comics artist from Canyon Country, CA. An alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers, and a member of the CW Roller Derby League, she joined us in Pittsburgh for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency March 23rd-29th 2017. Here are Gloria’s thoughts about her experience, in her own words. ————————————————————————————————————— The Quick List of What Happened: 22 pages completed, drawing to color w/lettering – comic 1 6 complete pages (B & W) – comic 2 Yona Harvey and Ed Piskor lecture at the Harris Theater Visit to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Copacetic Comics visits various nature walks, incidental birding with Sally Ingraham I had no expectations for my residency when I had arrived – only to work. I had followed Frank Santoro’s online presence for a few years prior and had taken his online correspondence course, but really couldn’t say that I had any idea of what kind of a teacher Frank was in person, or how much of a gift being in this space could be, not only referring to the Rowhouse, but to Pittsburgh – a town constantly working its bellows to support its comics scene. The first day I had arrived, I met Sally Ingraham. I was really blown away by Sally, who works as a coordinator for the Rowhouse Residency and holds various responsibilities for Comics Workbook. She is exhaustively knowledgeable, hardworking, and compassionate. She asked me what I had come to Pittsburgh to work on, and we sort of agreed that this first day I would work in solitude on my comic that I had started half a year earlier, until I felt I had gained some momentum, and then we would go from there, gauging if/when I wanted outside conversation. For the majority of my stay, the rhythm I kept to was non-stop working until a personal moment was offered (whether it be a walk, dinner with Frank and Sally, or short trips through the city), taking those moments, being present, and then continuing my work. Any time spent with other cartoonists (Frank, Sally, one of Sally’s 9-yr old students, cartoonists in a lecture, a.k.a Ed Piskor) was used to further my stride into my work. On the second day of my residency I met Frank. We had dinner at his house, where he was working on his new book. He is spirited, purposeful, mindful, and has endless passion for his work. He told a brief history of Pittsburgh, intertwined with his own of growing up, leaving and returning. It’s a story of dedication and belonging which I think not many people of MY generation are comfortable with, as many seem to be constantly striving for “better”, but without knowing, really, what “better” is. Aside from the stories Frank told about the city, he also gave me insight into the reality of living as a comics maker, which I would not have been privy to, and which until then I really was only guessing at. Some may be disheartened by these sort of conversations, but I am excited by how real it made things for me, despite it being a gauntlet. Topics for the week were: comics making process, the value of comics as a physical object/printing, the strengths of the avant-garde (non-narrative) against those of the narratively structured comic (two very different modes of storytelling), visual literacy, and comics community (inclusive of audience, publishers, comics friends, and family). The talks were long, but the time passed quickly. I tried my best to respect both Sally and Frank’s personal time to work, as they had mine. When Frank approached my work for advisement he was very objective, and I wanted his worst, so that I could do my best. Still, I think he saw my being in the work, and was courteous with his critique. Before coming to Pittsburgh I had half of my comic completed – 25 pages – and I completed the remaining 22 there. I completed as much as I did from August to November of 2016 in a week at the Rowhouse! I won’t say it was easy, but provided with the time to concentrate and motivation from the community, I was happy to put in any amount of time that my work demanded. Any formal education I had before comics was always for painting, and the more serious I allow myself to become about comics making, the more I see they are not so dissimilar. Frank is really great about sharing his knowledge and relating it to that which you came with. He was generous in his talks, while asking me to be accountable for the information I did know. One night Frank had casually presented me with some reading material; recommendations – mostly comics (Yuichi Yokoyama, Rich Buckler) – and among them two catalogues of Philip Guston paintings (it turns out that Frank is not only a comics expert, he is well versed in art history as a whole). Although in the past I have kept Guston as a sort of painting mentor (through books and image), I was surprised when I was presented with these catalogues – to be looking at his work during this comics residency. Phil Guston was a painter who understood the politics associated with images, but always kept a personal relationship with his visual library. Imagine your images are made of characters, places, things, each one a word, a letter, all making up your language. You hold this close to you. This is comics. What follows is an excerpt from a book of collected writings on Phil Guston: “Now, I think the original revolutionary impulse behind the New York School , as I felt it anyway, and I think my colleagues felt it, in the way we talked all the time, was that you felt as if you were driven into a corner against the wall, with no place to stand, just the place you occupied. And it’s as if the act of painting itself was not making a picture, because there are plenty of pictures in the world. Why make more pictures, clutter up the world with more pictures? But it’s as if you had to prove to yourself that truly the act of creation was still possible. Whether it was possible.” (Guston 58) I never expected to have felt this myself, to be able to talk to a group of people about images in such an earnest way – always internal conversation, now externalized. Frank and Sally offered their criticism, and experience, and questioning. I am working everyday to be worthy of comics as my form, and regardless, I put the pen to the paper – but over time I’ve forgotten to ask the big questions. Now I am more than willing to report that while the uninterrupted work time, the comics lectures, and accessible reading material was what whipped me into completing my goal, what I am bringing home with me – more than another book done – is a sense of what true community is, and the importance of holding your peers to standards that will benefit them in the longer run. It’s with great enthusiasm that I support the agenda of Comics Workbook, and the Residency program, and look forward to furthering my involvement with them to make better work (my own and that of others). ————————————————————————————————————— Check out more work by Gloria on her website, follow her on Instagram, and look for her new comic soon! For more information about the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency visit this page or email santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

11/09/2018

Sally IngrahamNovember 9, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here – I am traveling at the moment, going to birding festivals (which are a lot like comics expos!) in TX and NM. I am seeing rare and interesting birds, meeting amateur and professional naturalists and ornithologists and quite a few “bird artists”. When I walk the floor of the vender show at these birding festivals, I see similarities to the small press comics community – but I am one of the few people who plays in both sandboxes. Increasingly, I am a “bird comics” maker. Right before this trip I gathered all of my birding comics into one place – check them out on Instagram by following me at @duck_hollow_comics. My work is documentary and verging on journal comics, especially when I make them on the fly, in the middle of a birding trip, as seen below: Typical “rare bird” behavior! Incidentally, the Golden-Crowned Warbler, which we DID NOT see, is a Central American warbler that has ventured a bit further north than it usually does. The Buff-bellied Hummingbird which you see in the comic above – one of the birds that we DID see – is not a rarity for South Texas, but it is not a species I ever see in my usual haunts of Western PA! (Apologies for my bird nerd moment!) I met another “bird comics” maker at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival yesterday – Rosemary Mosco, who became well known for her web comics Bird and Moon. Science and nature cartoons! I have been a fan of her work for awhile, and it was terrific to meet her and immediately find a kindred spirit. Just briefly we touched on the interesting and historic significance of science comics, and the relationship between female artists and nature, and the overlooked impact of amateur female naturalists on science, etc. Great stuff. Check out Rosemary Mosco’s work and if you haven’t already, be sure to follow me on Instagram too. See you out there, on the road or somewhere in nature! Share this page: [...]

10/26/2016

Juan FernándezOctober 26, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre: Daniel Jiménez y Jesús Cossio entrevistan ha Joe Sacco; GRAF Madrid; Alienation 2 por Inés Estrada; “el fracaso de la narrativa gráfica” en Mexico; Publisher’s Weekly on Spanish language comics; Fanzinología Mexicana 1985-2015. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Joe Sacco habla sobre el periodismo,el hecho de narrar conflictos, y la violencia que el capitalismo permite. Es genial ver esta entrevista. Esta entrevista fue realizada por Jesús Cossio y por Daniel Jiménez en el Hay Festival 2014 de Cartagena. Mi trabajo es sobre la realidad de los conflictos, pero éstos se basan en la naturaleza humana. Yo no podría haber dicho esto hace diez años pero es de lo que tratan mis cómics, en realidad. Algunos de mis libros son acerca de un grupo específico de seres humanos. Por ejemplo, en mi libro sobre la Primera Guerra Mundial veo a los seres humanos convertidos en una masa y cómo la naturaleza humana responde a ese tipo de situaciones. Si existe un interés en el autoritarismo y la xenofobia yace, por decirlo de alguna manera, bajo la sombrilla de mi interés en la naturaleza humana. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡GRAF – Madrid se acerca! Ya puede consultarse la programación y el listado de expositores de #GRAFMadrid2016 que tendrá lugar del 11 al 13 de noviembre de 2016 en Madrid. talleres, musica, encuentros, feria de libros… es obvio que el equipo Mireia Pérez, Iñaki Sanz, Borja Crespo, Gerardo Vilches y Pedro Toro estan montando un monstruo de comics y fanzine fest… ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Alienation 2 por Inés Estrada esta disponible para la venta! Es el segundo volu su segundo volumen de su serie sobre la realidad virtual en el ártico. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Publisher’s Weekly has a piece on the comics that are making a large impact on the American comics market from Spain and Latin America. (Thanks Heidi!) Paco Roca, Liniers, Power Paola… Heidi McDonald touches on the heavy hitters in comics. The ones have changed how many approach the art form. It’s a nice, concise recapitulation of all the on the ground work that cartoonists and comics publishers have been doing in the past decase. Of course, McDonald’s emphasis here is on what is making it to the states, and at the moment that is primarily Spanish work. If you’ve been following this blog, I think you can imagine that this is soon to change… ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Francisco Haghenbeck nos da un contraste a esta atitud tan optimista. Haghenbeck se enfoca en “el fracaso de la narrativa gráfica” en Mexico. Por supuesto quizás Haghenbeck no no ha buscado bien bajo la superficie? Como, no es una criticá de “la novela grafíca “, osea que conviene proceder con cuidado 😉 A los últimos años, se ha tratado de recuperar la cultura de la narrativa gráfica en México, siguiendo la moda de otros países con una robusta lista de obras de calidad como Francia, Argentina, Japón o Estados Unidos. Cuando yo hice la recopilación e investigación para la exhibición “La vida en cuadritos: 120 años de historieta” (Museo Pape en Monclova; Gran museo de la Cultura Maya, Mérida; y Museo Guanal, Cd. Del Carmen) me di a la tarea de buscar las obras que representaran a nuestro país. Con tristeza, me enfrenté a que en los últimos 25 años hay una gran ausencia de historias de calidad literaria. Desde la muerte del colectivo Taller del Perro de la ciudad de México, y en especial, la novela gráfica Operación Bolívar de Edgar Clement, es notable el vacío. El único maravilloso asomo, apenas el año pasado, es la versión personal de William Burroghs de Bef, Uncle Bill (Sexto Piso, 2015) que, como señal de crisis, fue realizada con el apoyo del Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Literatura y no de narrativa gráfica. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Y para darle contraste a ese articulo, les quiero decir que la antología de fanzines que Inés Estrada recopilo hace un año, Fanzinología Mexicana 1985-2015 (editada por Enrique Arriaga y Inés Estrada), ahora se puede descargar gratis en Gatosaurio. The underground is alive and kicking. Compilation featuring a selection from the graphic and visual narrative of three decades of mexican fanzines. The work collected was originally self-published in limited runs by and for underground niches formed by punks, queer activists, artists and amateurs among others. This book intends to collect and highlight these obscure publications and also to be a reference for contextualizing mexican zines. This is the first effort of its kind in Mexico. Edited by Enrique Arriaga and Inés Estrada, with material they both collected for la Fanzinoteca del Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City. Arriaga started la Fanzinoteca in 2014 as a zine archive and a cycle of exhibitions at the museum. Book design by Inés Estrada, with a cover illustration by Edwin Sandoval. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Echale un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii! “Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición”. – Frank Santoro Puedes comprar uno aquí! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la próxima! juan Share this page: [...]

07/12/2016

Aaron CockleJuly 11, 2016NewsAaron Cockle today with Alyssa Berg comics; Kurosawa storyboards; illuminated manuscripts; Fitch/Trecartin in Montreal; Sara (. , : ; — () – [] “” ? ! ‘’ … {}) Lautman; The Graphics of War; Burkholder/Walden/Ellsworth; Rowhouse Auction Continues ————————————————————————————————— ALPENGLOW CW’s Featured Comics continues this week with Alyssa Berg’s ALPENGLOW, from 2015. This won the Comics Workbook Composition Competition last year; info about the 2016 competition can be found here. ————————————————————————————————— Akira Kurosawa: Filmmaker, Painter, Story-board Artist Kurosawa, from his book Something Like an Autobiography, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Benton: I intended to be a painter before I became involved in film. A curious turn of events, however, brought me to cinema, where I began my present career. When I changed careers, I burnt all the pictures that I had painted up until then. I intended to forget painting once and for all. As a well-known Japanese proverb says, “If you chase two rabbits, you may not catch even one.” I did no art work at all once I began to work in cinema. But since becoming a film director, I have found that drawing rough sketches was often a useful means of explaining ideas to my staff. ————————————————————————————————— Text, Image, Image-as-Text, Text-as-Image Via Medievalpoc’s essential People of Color in European Art History project, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Aratea (Harley MS 647, ff 2v-17v), 22 constellation figures containing extracts from Hyginus, Astronomica. England (c. 820-11th century). ————————————————————————————————— Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin: Priority Innfield For anyone living in/traveling to Montreal before September 5, an installation of Fitch/Trecartin work at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Priority Innfield is a “sculptural theater” containing four movies and an ambient sound track presented in five pavilions. The movies, Junior War, Comma Boat, CENTER JENNY and Item Falls (all from 2013), unfold at a furious pace without interruption. Shot in a direct, quasi-amateur style, they explore the potential impacts of information technologies on communication, language and identity, and offer a barrage of frenetic images, absurd retorts and exaggerated poses and movements, drawn from a culture based on constant performativity. ————————————————————————————————— Sara Lautman on the New Punctuation On the Hairpin site it says this is a 2 minute read, but you should give yourself at least 4 minutes, maybe more. Maybe give yourself 5 minutes, if you can. Good work from Lautman, as usual. ————————————————————————————————— The Graphics of War: Comics, Animation, and Simulation If you’re like me, any down-time at your dayjob is spent scouring the internet for random university-level course syllabi from 2011. Culture, Art, and Technology (CAT) I The Graphics of War: Comics, Animation, and Simulation Professor Emily Roxworthy As alternatives to photography and live action film, this course examines three graphic media that are not usually considered serious candidates for representing global crises such as war: comics, animated film, and videogames. We will ask whether these alternative graphic arts depart from photorealism and the passivity of media spectacles to convey unspoken truths and instill deeply felt understandings about world changing events. ————————————————————————————————— ITDN, A City Inside, Other Selves Some capsule reviews from Daniel Elkin at Comics Bulletin of some recent work by Andrew Burkholder, Tillie Walden, and Theo Ellsworth. RE Burkholder: There’s little to no narrative in any of the 10 comics that comprise ITDN. Burkholder uses the medium of his comics to explore ideas, raising question after question in the expedition while providing no answers. Understanding is not the point; pursuit is the only goal. Each comic is presented using its own style, form following function as a psychotropic experiment. From the tight conventions of tradition in “The Fury” to the insouciant scribbling of “FUCK THIS” to the thin-line panel transition study of “Street”, Burkholder shows a depth of understanding for the tone of ideas. Each enterprise is an agreement between thought and expression. Each takes its time to shake the reader from the stupor of preconception. RE Walden: Other than the incredible craftsmanship in both her art and its execution, the dream-like quality of Walden’s work is what separates it from so many others working today. This is a story about transitioning and passages, what we gather and what we leave behind, as well as an exploration of expectation and uncertainty and the need to define the self. RE Ellsworth: Ellsworth calls this book a “psychic chiropractic adjustment” (to be filed under: “Hand Drawn Inner-Space Documentary Comics”). Here he is an artist viewing himself as the one who is in control of creating the Other Selves of his imagination. As he probes deeper and deeper into his self-creations, though, things get weirder and weirder, layering levels of the fantastic and the imaginative, each self in control of itself. Finally his inner workings are so far out that a part of him unleashes the “Reality Control Officers” into his “Personal Imaging Zone” admonishing him to “Go back to reality! Now!” What remains is a battle between inspiration and sense, art versus logic. ————————————————————————————————— Rowhouse Auction Continues New for this week of July 11 at auction.comicsworkbook.com. Email Frank Santoro at santoroschoolATgmail for a password, if you don’t already have one. All funds go to helping keep the lights on and further developing the school. 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