Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, juan fernandez, kate harmon, Michael DeForge, phil dokes, rep. john lewis, Ronald Wimberly, sam ombiri, tyler landry

Sally Ingraham

Posted on January 18, 2017January 19, 2017

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05/24/2018

Sally IngrahamMay 24, 2018NewsSally here with a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Report from Jason Robinson! ———————————————————————————————— Jason Robinson is a comics maker, illustrator, and graphic designer living in Asbury Park, NJ. He joined us in Pittsburgh early last summer for a weeklong Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. When Jason arrived, he mentioned that he had brought along a few “housewarming gifts” – these turned out to be several boxes worth of kitchen gadgets, pots and pans, a tea kettle, and other goodies for the Rowhouse that future residents and the more long-term resident cartoonists have made delighted use of. This generous gift was just one among many ways that Jason showed his support for the Rowhouse Residency, and if Frank and the rest of the team was able to give him anything in return we are grateful! It’s a treat to revisit Jason’s time in Pittsburgh through his thoughtful and entertaining residency report – here’s an excerpt: “Day six was filled with daydreams and the jotting down of enough story ideas to last the next five years. In many ways, I feel like I was just getting revved up and here I am at the end, hoping I have the discipline to continue this trajectory or at least ride this wave for a long while. Because only now have the chaotic thoughts begun to settle on the floor of my brain. And I’m able to calmly wander through, picking up bits and pieces, and notice how some seem to connect—to join together like pieces of a puzzle. I joined Frank and Sally for dinner on that last night. And a bit drunk on wine, I tried to convey this feeling by paraphrasing a similar concept I’d read somewhere about a scientist explaining that “it may not look like I’m working when I’m staring off into space, but what I’m really doing is constructing a 3-dimensional puzzle in my head—piecing together bits and bytes of information, and that takes time and focus to carefully construct this puzzle in my mind’s sky so that it may stand on it’s own. So, please don’t interrupt me, or you risk the pieces of the puzzle caving in on each other, imploding into a cloud of ash.” …Fortunately, Frank has a better and much more succinct iteration in his back pocket – “When I’m working, you may not see it, but I’m welding here. I have a helmet on, and my mitt, it grips a fucking torch-of-fire. So stand back, or you’re in danger!” I’ll close with some unsolicited advise to future residents: You don’t have to chain yourself to the drawing table. Of course you may, and obviously there can be great benefits to doing so, I only argue that there are other equally constructive ways to make use of this time you’ve carved out for yourself. Paradoxically, doing “nothing” may be exactly what’s needed to do the next something.“ Read the rest of Jason Robinson’s Rowhouse Residency Report HERE! For more info on the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency please visit this page or email santoroschool@gmail.com ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-24-18 – by Audra Stang Share this page: [...]

08/15/2017

Aaron CockleAugust 14, 2017NewsAaron Cockle here today with Maqsood-I-Kainaat; Tom of Finland; Wolk on Borges; FRAME Festival Open Call; Fake Photos! ————————————————————————————————— Maqsood-I-Kainaat, by Shreyas R Krishnan The 12th issue of the Ley Lines series is coming soon! Ley Lines is a quarterly publication dedicated to exploring the intersection of comics and the various fields of art & culture that inspire us. Co-published by Grindstone Comics and Czap Books. ————————————————————————————————— Tom of Finland, the Movie Touko Laaksonen gets the biopic treatment, and a fancy review at the Guardian. Considering the film’s subject matter, it actually contains very little sex – the main bedroom scene cuts from a kiss to the morning after. “The core fans were always saying: ‘I’ve seen the drawings, those are my sex, now I want to see the story of the man I idolise,’” says Karukoski. “So the amount of gay sex will come very much from the dramatic need. Where is the line where it becomes provocation? it overrides the emotional balance of the story.” Instead, much of the film focuses on the struggles Laaksonen endured as a gay man in conservative Finland, from facing jail as a young man after a pick-up went awry, to facing constant pressure from his younger sister never to express his true identity, since she believed it would bring shame on the family. “Even when I told her about him being accepted into the permanent collection at MoMA, her response was: ‘Well, what were they thinking?’” says Dehner, still hurt by the memory. The film, he says, is “touching – how terrible society has been to us and how conditional the love is from family members”. ————————————————————————————————— Webmaster Borges This is from way back in 1999, and probably the first piece I read by Douglas Wolk. Jorge Luis Borges and the Internet: Canny Borges never names the Web, of course: As “The Garden of Forking Paths” points out, in a riddle whose answer is chess, the only word that cannot be used is “chess.” But the meaning of his parables is specific and undeniable. The Aleph in the fiction of the same title, the portal through which one can see every point in the universe, is Netscape Navigator in all but name. The Zahir, an object that changes its form over time but monopolizes its owner’s attention forever, is none other than Microsoft Internet Explorer, as anyone who’s tried to unstick it from a computer’s operating system only to click fatally on an innocuous icon will tell you. (Consider, in fact, the alphabetical remove of Borges’ names for the browsers, his subtle jest on the Alpha and Omega of his new world.) ————————————————————————————————— Prague Comic Arts Festival Open Call Sign up for the FRAME festival and become a part of an emerging festival, full of comics, zines and illustrations! We welcome all small publishers, authors and illustrators. OPEN CALL is until 31.8. 2017. Each exhibitor can choose from two options for his presentation – a small table 110 x 55 cm or a large table 220 x 55 cm. The jury of Centrala and No Ordinary Heroes will then select approximately 50 exhibitors who will be contacted with detailed information on arrival and installation no later than September 10, 2017. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Research suggests that regardless of what you might think about your own abilities to spot a hoax, most of us are pretty bad at it.’ The BBC has a handy guide to spotting fake photos: Another giveaway is the colour of people’s ears. “If the Sun is behind me, my ears will look red from the front because you’ll see the blood,” he says. “If the light is coming from the front, you won’t see the red in the ear.” ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 8-15-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-15-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Conversation with images: ERIK NEBEL AND THE SPIRITUALITY OF COLOR

Gloria RiveraApril 6, 2017EssaysErik Nebel is a contemporary comics maker, whose body of work is predominantly published digitally. The comics world is founded on a history of printed matter, and it often unintentionally disenfranchises work that is strictly made for the web. Web comics typically have their own forum apart from comics made for print, which is self-categorizing. Erik Nebel’s comics dominate their platform, in terms of simplicity for means of visual distribution, as well as accepting and employing the screen to their advantage in regard to color and motion. Erik Nebel, from a formal standpoint, uses the elements of color, scale, pattern (repetition) to create a connection with their audience without means of establishing “character” descriptions. We look to Erik’s images of fluid, moving, form-ambiguous figures across the page, with the only rigidity in their work in the sequencing across the template of three rectangular panels. It is a primitive instinct to read groups of figures as multiple persons when placed in the same space, so the setup of the comics are a defining line, implying a narrative. It’s a simple mechanism (the three panel grid) but without it, it would be a different kind of comic. If anything, the stationary structure of the grid enhances Erik’s graceful forms, and stark choices in color/contrast. Comics made for print usually see a loss in translation to the digital screen, but this is where Erik does their best to exploit the gap between the two. Nearly every strip they create vibrates between lines, flat against flat. In 1963 Josef Albers published a book known as Interaction of Color, and described various principles, one being the Bezold Effect. This effect describes a color illusion called “optical mixture” where two or more colors perceived simultaneously are seen combined. From the impressionistic painters we have learned that they never presented, let us say, green by itself. Instead of using green paint mixed mechanically from yellow and blue, they applied the two unmixed in small dots, allowing perception of the green – as an impression. (Incidentally this is the same principle used in 4 color process printing). Nebel’s colors are joyous and spontaneous, working to retain your attention as the eye reads the figure. The colors appear to have no code, which is important to the narrative of the non-binary; the stories are of figures in ecstasy, emotion. When we look at the way the images relate to figures in art history, we can see Matisse. Bold color and iconography only suggesting “Humanity”, to tell stories of spirituality. When we talk about the Eastern perceptions of gender in imagery, they see male as an Earth figure, carnal and woman pertaining to the spiritual. The figures we see in these stories are both and neither. They are charged and meditative. I do not assume any comics maker is looking to be regarded through a lens outside their intentions, but the language of images is made for these sort of relationships. Looking outside of a formal breakdown of Nebel’s comics, we see a space for loud, silent moments. For figures which best express themselves by means other than speech. We are challenged by Erik’s images, in such a way that while the digital screen generally promotes the shortening of the attention-span for images, this timing is thrown off by the interactive quality of Erik’s work. Timing is one of the variables in comics that is controlled through the panel (largely through multiple panels), and Erik manages to alter this further through means of color, in very limited space. This questions what other ways of interacting with our readers we cartoonists may be overlooking. Erik Nebel is not only a deft cartoonist demonstrating new boundaries, but with these comics is forcefully pushing a space for social change. ————————————————————————————————— Erik Nebel has been published in print in Best American Comics 2015, and listed under Notable Comics in Best American Comics 2016. They have a 96 page compilation through Yeti Press of their online work. Erik Nebel participates with The4PanelProject (exploration of the four panel comics format) and you can see more of their work on their tumblr, where they post a new comic everyday. Share this page: [...]

11/10/2016

Sally IngrahamNovember 10, 2016NewsSam, Sally, and Juan here with Thursday’s comics news! Thoughts on originality, a moment with Yona Harvey, and some comics Instagram gems. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri: I find it hard these days to quote something where there is power in the words the person says and part of the power is reaffirmed by their accomplishments and stuff like that, and then their words are elevated really high. I guess what I’m kind of scared of is the trap of mentioning some important person’s name, followed with that important person’s quote, all manipulated so that I might appear important. Anyways, this isn’t to criticize others, it’s more a personal gripe. I was reading something where this guy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNMPrPyUcnM) quoted Kubrick. It was cool what Kubrick said, it reminded me of something Josh Bayer said, since in both instances they were dealing with the subject of originality. There’s a huge appeal of originality, and aspirations towards it. Maybe it’s because of bragging rights? However, Kubrick didn’t think that. Or maybe he did, but he instead looked at originality as something different. What he was saying was: you shouldn’t be so preoccupied with ideas of how to be original because original people can’t help but be original because they can’t work in the old form so they have start a new one. Josh Bayer’s trajectory in the subject of originality was that originality is “just a red herring.” When I heard that, it felt awesome to hear that thought so well articulated. I more than agree with that for many reasons, one of them being that originality doesn’t take too much effort. I also disagree with it, at the same time though if that makes any sense. Luckily Josh wasn’t using this idea as an excuse, but realigning focus to other aspects of the work. So I don’t disagree with what he said at the time he said it, and that being said, his originality just came by automatically, for reasons I can’t articulate nor do I feel I’m in the position to attempt. ————————————————————————————————— Juan Fernández: Last night I raced from work to Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland to catch Poet Yona Harvey’s signing for her first issue of the new World of Wakanda series. For those not in the know, this series is a spinoff of the popular new Black Panther series (written by Ta-Nahisi Coates). It made me really happy to see Phantom welcome one of Marvel’s newest creators and usher in a new wave of Marvel comics. Of course, when I had arrived all copies had been sold out! Bummed for myself, overjoyed for Yona, I placed an order for a copy 😉 In 2008 Yona taught a class that I can safely say, has informed pretty much all of my art creation. Synthesis through metamorphosis of existing images and words. The class was on archiving and autobiography. We read, and wrote and discussed a wide gamut of fiction and non-fiction that blurred any conceivable lines of categorization. Above all, we explored the idea of “truth”. She required us to go see lectures, attend poetry readings in the city and so much more. It’s thanks to her pushing us out of the classroom that within my first months as a student in Pittsburgh, I had understood that I wanted to call Pittsburgh home. I have so much gratitude in my heart for all the time that she has given her art and her students. I can say, without a doubt that I’m still unpacking the things I learned from her 7 years ago. She’s an amazing educator and to see her get the chance to swing fiercely on her work on the World of Wakanda brings me so much joy. Her collage based approached is very much the approach that I believe is the most fertile space for comics. Collaging thought through the collage of image and word. Here’s a little about her from the Pennsylvania Center for the Book: “Harvey’s work tends to originate through methods of collage or sampling, informed by her background in archiving and information science, and she celebrates the many lives one piece of literature can possess through the various multimedia and web-related forms it can take. She welcomes innovation in the study of how poetry is constructed and presented, and she is often referred to as a, “literary artist.” Her interest in audio archives and rare poetry recordings furthers this fascination in her study of how poetry is read aloud. The American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, Mary Lou Williams (who happened to grow up in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh) is often a muse to Harvey’s work. This is especially true of her recent poetry collection, Hemming the Water (2013), which publisher Four Way Books describes as, “ speaks to the futility of trying to mend or straighten a life that is constantly changing.” The description goes on to read that with references to fairy tales and ancient fables, Yona Harvey, “inhabits, challenges, and explores the many facets of the female self—as daughter, mother, sister, wife, and artist—both on a personal level and cultural level.” ————————————————————————————————— Sally here: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but increasingly Instagram is the place to keep up with the new work of your favorite cartoonists. The little square offers the chance to reveal only so much of a “wip” so you an keep fans engaged without giving away all your secrets. Folks have started to play with the format as well, when it comes to a publishing platform for actual work. A single panel comic is easy to share, as is a 4-panel strip. A few people have figured out how to share longer work as well, through the use of video. Here is recent work by some of the cartoonist that Comics Workbook follows (and follow @comicsworkbook!): Went to Walmart, being an adult, and these fruits (I think they were some kind of lemon??) had on tiny sweaters! ? #inktober A photo posted by Shannon Wright (@shannondrewthis) on Oct 26, 2016 at 8:47pm PDT Shannon Wright – @shannondrewthis Samurai mechanica colors. #mecha #conceptart #art #artwork #drawing #samurai #sword #coloring #comicartist #comic #anime #manga A photo posted by Skuds McKinley (@skudsink) on Nov 8, 2016 at 8:41pm PST Skuds McKinley – @skudsink a tomato wake into a bar… A video posted by Cameron•Weston Nicholson (@prof_weston) on Nov 3, 2016 at 1:34pm PDT Cameron Weston Nicholson – @prof_weston Another ☝️ #nyc #newyork #brooklyn #majorkey #peaches #sketchbook #art A photo posted by Chris Visions (@chrisvisions) on Nov 6, 2016 at 9:44am PST Chris Visions – @chrisvisions ————————————————————————————————— Sally started an eBay store to help out the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency and also her own comics-making projects. Check it out HERE! Share this page: [...]

Niall Breen on LICAF 2016

Comics WorkbookOctober 23, 2016Festivals and ShowsTo the lake district! AWAY!!!! A video posted by Niall Breen (@niall.breen.comics) on Oct 14, 2016 at 9:17am PDT Last week I traveled from Ireland to join the Comics Workbook crew in Kendal, England for The Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The Lakes Fest (LICAF) is an unusual beast in today’s world of heavily branded industry conventions. Marketing itself as a “comic art festival” immediately stands it apart from the large majority of sales-orientated cons which exist in most larger towns and cities throughout England and Ireland. While there is a venue at LICAF for artists and publishers to sell their work, this is not what pulls in the tens of thousands of visitors each year. LICAF instead focuses on education and appreciation of craft, with a packed roster of artist talks and workshops spread over the weekend. This love of craft and appreciation for artists seems to be a reflection of an attitude that naturally exists in Kendal; a town which, despite its modest size boasts a number of cinema spaces, theatres, art groups, and live music venues. Kendal is a town which thrives on art and when it came time to host this years LICAF, the whole town seemed fully on board. The weekend’s events were held in numerous locations throughout the town, from local pubs and cafes to the town hall and library. Even businesses not directly connected with the event went to great effort to create window displays fitting the Festival. The talks and workshops held throughout the weekend were well attended. There was an air of excitement buzzing all over as people were given the opportunity to sit and talk with their heroes. Even on the streets of Kendal the public brushed shoulders with comics superstars in a way which seemed exciting and yet, completely natural. I attended the Comics Workbook Composition Competition workshop which was run by Mr. Comics Workbook himself, the great Frank Santoro. Connor Willumsen and Aiden Koch were also in attendance, providing moments of insight and balance throughout the talk. The workshop was well attended and drew a wonderfully diverse audience. Children and adults, amateurs and professionals – it was a wonder to see how Frank’s process worked so well for everyone in the group. Each person was guided through so confidently and with such positivity that nobody felt unable or less capable than anyone else. In fact, many of the experienced British comic artists in attendance marveled at Frank’s aura of positivity, a trait which seems to be rare in the industry. The standard of work which came from the group was very high as everyone seemed to get on board with Frank’s ideas very quickly. We all left having completed a 4 page, pamphlet style comic. Not bad for a two hour session! I also managed to sit in on Connor Willumsen‘s workshop later that day. This class drew a small group of dedicated artists. We took great inspiration and warning from Connor’s industry stories. Seeing him describe his composition method was great as I could see how it was tied to Frank’s fundamental ideas, even if they go about the process differently. Another huge moment of inspiration for me was when Connor talked about how his ability to program code meant that he had greater control over how his work can be displayed. This seems more relevant now than ever as we are in a time of uncertainty over how to show our work on the internet. Each of the current options for artists (Tumblr, Instagram) seem to come with some level of restriction. It was great to see that Connor had taken the matter into his own hands and made a site which worked for him. It shows a level of ingenuity and determination which I think we will all need to strive for to stay afloat in the digital age. Overall, my experience of LICAF was one of community, of inspiration. For one weekend, makers and fans came to Kendal to share ideas, work together and grow. There was no line separating the novice and the master. There was only respect and the flow of ideas. LICAF is a rare and beautiful thing. ———————————————————————————— Niall Breen makes comics in Sligo Town, on the west coast of Ireland. You can find more of his work HERE. Share this page: [...]

01/19/2017

Posted on January 18, 2017January 19, 2017 by Sally Ingraham

We’re here today with news from Ronald Wimberly and Rep. John Lewis, work by Phil Dokes, thoughts on Michael DeForge from Sam Ombiri, and our Thursday collection of daily strips by Comics Workbook students and alums!

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Ronald Wimberly is on an international tour! He was at Gosh! Comics in London yesterday speaking to a packed house about his work and process and his series Black History In It’s Own Words, which will be released by Image Comics in early February 2017 to help commemorate Black History Month – check it out HERE.

Here’s a nice little video about Ron which was made for the Attack on Titan Anthology:

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I love the pieces that Phil Dokes has been posting on Instagram lately (follow him @phildokes67). He’s an OH cartoonist and comics historian, and a regular attendee of our comic salons here in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Representative John Lewis won’t be attending the inauguration ceremony on Friday, much to Trump’s dismay. As sales of the March trilogy rocketed to No. 1 on Amazon, amid this dustup, The Washington Post published a nice piece that focuses on what Rep. Lewis believes his story will continue to fuel.

“I’m hopeful…that young people can see another generation that acted in a peaceful, nonviolent fashion and never gave up.“

Read the whole piece HERE.

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Ant Colony – Michael DeForge’s first graphic novel

Sam Ombiri here: A couple of weeks ago I saw an Ant Colony book. I didn’t think much beyond “Oh wow it’s Ant Colony.” Then later I thought about the digital one that I had read – wait that was Michael Deforge back then! Of course I knew that, but it didn’t fully render in my mind that it was the same Michael that made all the other work I think of when I think of him.

His work is still the same but at the same time, (as obvious as this is to say) it’s different. Like in my mind I think of that Michael and the Michael doing comics now as different (obviously this can be attributed to passage of time, but I’m kind of ignoring this aspect to say what I’m saying here). The way he changes his work so often, it creates this weird effect that I find in anonymity. It feels like Michael cloned himself and multiple Michaels make different work, but we can’t tell who the “original Michael” is.

It feels like a less convoluted and less contrived way of working under different pseudonyms (not that I begrudge anyone for having a pseudonym whatsoever, but what I mean is that it’s tough to pull off in a way where the new person created through the pseudonym interacts with the work being made.) I also don’t know if I buy into what I’m saying. – Sam Ombiri

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Always available on our school store – Thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics (one page of the book is pictrued above) by Frank Santoro and Kurt Ankeny. Printed offset on cardstock by the professionals at The Prolific Group, Winnipeg, Canada. This is not some cheap color xerox or risograph. Looks great, feels great, and even smells great. This 16 page handbook is a quick guide to the tenets of our school. A smash hit – get a copy HERE.

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Dungeon Lollers – 1-19-2017 – by Tyler Landry

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Suzy and Cecil – 1-19-2017 – by Kate Harmon

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Joanie and Jordie – 1-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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1-19-2017 – by Juan Fernández

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, juan fernandez, kate harmon, Michael DeForge, phil dokes, rep. john lewis, Ronald Wimberly, sam ombiri, tyler landry

Sally Ingraham

Posted on January 18, 2017January 19, 2017

Explore

10/25/2018

Caleb OrecchioOctober 25, 2018NewsYour friendly neighborhood Caleb Orecchio here with a public service announcement. ————————————————————————————————— Hello fellow cartoonists, winter is on its way. For some, winter is practically here. Don’t be an Ice Worm this year. Don’t hole up in your lair until some wayfaring stranger comes across your cave to slay you. Get out of the house. Have coffee with a friend. Check in on a relative. Exercise. It is important to take advantage of the cold weather by staying in to work on your comics, but don’t forget that the world keeps turning outside the drawing desk. This has been another message from your friend, Caleb, the cartoonist who cares. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

05/15/2017

Caleb OrecchioMay 14, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here. Some good comics are on Instagram. Did you know that? Plus I’m very very excited for Koyama Press’ Fall 2017 lineup. Are you? Also people can’t stop talking about Sammy Harkham’s Crickets. ————————————————————————————————— I made the lists below for a friend I was talking to about my comic strip (Joanie and Jordie—just scroll down), and how they enjoy seeing it everyday on Instagram (always nice to hear). It’s a very convenient way to view comic strips, they said. Do other people do comic strips on Instagram, they asked—of course they meant other than the legion of memes and bad nerd/fan clickbait crap civilians refer to as “comics” sometimes. I said yeah: It’s interesting to me—to my knowledge, Comics Workbook’s own “Suzy and Cecil” was the first real traditionally minded comic strip to come out of the comics community on Instagram. And one specifically made to fit the format to boot. I think maybe Michael Deforge’s “Leaving Richard’s Valley” came about around the same time (exclusively on Twitter originally) – followed closely by Jim Rugg’s “Running Comic,” where he documents his training for the Pittsburgh Marathon, and Mickey Z’s “Space Academy 123.” I like that cartoonists are constantly adapting to the next best available format to get our stuff out there. Since the slow and quiet fall of tumblr cartoonists are making their Instagrams a prominent place to put out work, and the work is morphing to its new platform. Instead of short serialized comic book pages every few weeks or months on tumblr, Instagram allows good use for square (literally) four-panel daily strips. I think it also helps that real civilians are on Instagram, whereas tumblr or deviant art was preaching to the choir. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Koyama Press has announced their Fall 2017 lineup and it’s gonna be a good Fall. My favorite comics podcast, Comic Books Are Burning in Hell has a new episode where they talk about the new Crickets. I love to listen to these dudes talk comics. Speaking of Crickets, you all read TCJ’s great interview with the author, Sammy Harkham right? Part one here and part two here. TCAF was this past weekend. I’m sure we’ll have some sort of coverage this week. Stay tuned. Tyler Landry did a workshop, did you go to it? The NY Times has a weekly comic called Welcome to the New World, about “the true story of a Syrians family’s journey to America.” Which is great. Non-ficiton contemporary stories like these are what we need to help create empathy and awareness for a.) people who don’t know what this kind of thing is like and b.) the people living it. Cool cool. However, the actual cartooning is achingly dull and elementary. There is no emphasis or even an attempt at visual rhetoric here. It drives me crazy that “high-profile” mainstream comics fucking suck and are not done by cartoonists within the comics tradition; but instead are drawn by the most boring hack illustrators. Oh well, it’s comics journalism after all—I can’t help but notice that The Sculptor obviously had an influence on the look of this work. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! 8 weeks! 500 bux! Payment plans are available! Summer Course starts June 1st 2017! Applications are due by May 25th. Visit THIS page for more details and email santoroschool@gmail.com with applications and questions! ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-15-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-15-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/02/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 2, 2018NewsThurber + Tomine; Hairy Who; Drawing Center; Adversarial Elephant Networks ————————————————————————————————— ADRIAN TOMINE: Comics Work (2004-2014) October 4 – November 11, 2018 ADAM BAUMGOLD FINE ART 104 E. 81st Street, NYC ————————————————————————————————— Hairy Who? 1966-1969 The Art Institute of Chicago Through January 6, 2019 Although the Hairy Who chose to exhibit together, they were six individuals with their own personal, chiefly figurative vocabularies. They each radically manipulated source material collected from everyday life—including advertisements, comics, posters, and sales catalogs—with technical virtuosity. Their sense of humor embraced idiosyncrasy and spontaneity with wordplay, puns, and inside jokes that often belied the transgressiveness of their subject matter. Ambiguous, provocative, but also strategic, their work transmitted progressive ideas that challenged prevailing notions of gender and sexuality, social mores and standards of beauty, and nostalgia and obsolescence. ————————————————————————————————— Opening Reception: Thursday, October 11, 6–8pm The Drawing Center | 35 Wooster Street For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn; Jennifer Wynne Reeves: All Right for Now; a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 explores the imaginative determination of “drawing” and “line” by relating it to a development process, social artifacts, psychological trace, and prosthetic memory—journals, maps, technology, and calendars. The poetics of flow between known and unknown is a feedback murmur that leads to clarity when engaging the object. a..is alter(ed) features Joeun Aatchim, Kenseth Armstead, Ludovica Carbotta, Billy and Steven Dufala, LaMont Hamilton, and Ester Partegàs. Organized Rosario Güiraldes and and Lisa Sigal, Open Sessions Curators, together with participating artists. ————————————————————————————————— Detecting an elephant in a room. Via Amir Rosenfeld, Richard Zemel, and John K. Tsotsos We showcase a family of common failures of state-of-the art object detectors. These are obtained by replacing image sub-regions by another sub-image that contains a trained object. We call this “object transplanting”. Modifying an image in this manner is shown to have a non-local impact on object detection. Slight changes in object position can affect its identity according to an object detector as well as that of other objects in the image. We provide some analysis and suggest possible reasons for the reported phenomena. 10-02-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

10/03/2017

Aaron CockleOctober 3, 2017NewsAaron here today with the continuing Cartoon Crossroads Columbus recap. ————————————————————————————————— If you haven’t already, please take a look at Caleb Orecchio’s excellent write-up of the recent Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival. Caleb pretty much covers the entire show, it’s definitely worth the read. ————————————————————————————————— I was in attendance at that show as well, but only managed to take a few photos. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

06/15/2016

Juan FernándezJune 15, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: los Cómics españoles en Bologna;lo nuevo de TIK TOK; las novedades del Club de Dibujo; Juan Diaz Canales’ COMO VIAJA EL AGUA; Santiago García y el arte del guion. ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: Report: Spanish Art Comics Day in Bologne Serena Di Virgilio over at Italian comics criticism hub, Just Indie Comics, has a great report on the Spanish Independent Publishing panels and exhibitions from this May in Bologne. Lots of inspiring photos and a great primer on some of the most exciting contemporary makers of Spanish speaking comics from around the world making comics in Spain. Thursday, May 26 BilBOlbul Spring / Summer 2016 , preview of Bologna balloon festival, a meeting dedicated to Olaf Ladousse, Klari Moreno, Roberto Massó and Martín López Lam, and an exhibition of the latest works of the latter. The four authors, mostly unknown in Italy, living in Spain and selfpublishing their creations. Apart from that, it is a rather heterogeneous group that presents a stimulating variety of imaginary and experiences. ————————————————————————————————— Novedades/New over on TIK TOK Cómics: ¡Click through to read/Dale click para continuar a los comics! ————————————————————————————————— Club de Dibujo – Weekly Drawings from Around Latin America Club de Dibujo es la publicación serial de un grupo de artistas latinoamericanos que envían cada semana un nuevo dibujo. La curadora es Adriana Lozano. Check them out and stay atop the refreshing and raw wave of Latin American illustration and comics! ————————————————————————————————— Rafael Villa con Martín Cáceres: El Sueño de la Máquina Here’s a neat interview of Martín Cáceres in the latest edition of Chilean arts periodical La Panera. The interview starts on page pg. 32 of the PDF, surrounded by lots of interesting contemporary arts and culture from Chile 😉 ————————————————————————————————— Juan Díaz Canales y Como Viaja el Agua Juan Díaz Canales, best known in the states for his work on the Blacksad series with Juanjo Guarnido, sits down and talks with Bilbao 24 horas about his ventures into his first solo graphic novel, Como Viaja el Agua. P.: “Como viaja el agua” es tu primer trabajo como autor completo. ¿Cómo afrontas el reto? R.: Como una experiencia más. Así es como me voy planteando el resto de cosas en la vida. Como apasionado de los tebeos es algo que quería hacer desde hace tiempo. También es cierto que, al no tener un pasado fanzinero tenía algo de miedo. Sin tener ese bagaje, me he enfrentado a un libro de 90 páginas. El riesgo era alto pero ha llegado un momento de madurez profesional y eso me ha dado algo de seguridad para afrontarlo. ————————————————————————————————— Diego Cuevas y Iván Galiano interview guionista Santiago García Over on Jot Down, EL PAIS’ contemporary culture magazine, there’s a solid interview with Spanish comics writing all star, Santiago García. If you’re not familiar with García, take note! He’s one of the most popular writers of comics in Spain. An auteur comics writer if you will. Smash that google translate button if you need to for all the juicy details of García’s creative formation, the nature of his collaborative process with artists and his hopes for the future. P: Estudiaste Periodismo e Historia del Arte. ¿Las hiciste pensando en trabajar en algo relacionado con los cómics? R: No. No sabía lo que iba a hacer. Empecé Filología Inglesa y en mitad de ella me fui a la mili. Cuando volví en vez de retomarla me fui a Periodismo en la Complutense. Fue la carrera que hice con veinte años. Años después, con treinta y cinco, hice Historia del Arte. A mí me gustaban mucho los tebeos. En realidad lo que me ha gustado siempre es el papel impreso, la prensa, los periódicos, las revistas y los libros. Yo lo que quería hacer era papel impreso. Probablemente en orden de preferencia los cómics eran lo primero, pero yo me veía de periodista. Aparte, Peter Parker era periodista, Clark Kent era periodista, era la profesión que lo aunaba todo . ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! (Share the love you have. Nunca sabes que pasara…) JF Share this page: [...]

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