Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Agony, DINK, Hagio Moto, julie doucet, Mark Beyer, New York Review Comics, Sarah Glidden

Juan Fernández

Posted on March 23, 2016March 24, 2016

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Comics Community Heart: an Interview with Kevin Czap

Alyssa BergNovember 1, 2016Interviews“The Emerging Talent Award – this goes to a cartoonist whom we feel has plenty of promise as a cartoonist and has shown themselves to be a solid and giving community member as well… We love everything we’ve ever learned about you, in terms of your comics community heart.” —Tom Spurgeon, during the presentation of Jeff Smith and Vijaya Iyer’s Emerging Talent Award to Kevin Czap at CXC, 2016. By a combination of good luck and being an early bird at a pick-your-own-table convention, I ended up tabling close to Kevin Czap of Czap Books during the recent Cartoon Crossroads Columbus expo. This proximity allowed for neighborly chats and also afforded me a front-row spot when they were awarded the CXC 2016 Emerging Talent Award. Jeff Smith and Vijaya Iyer presented Kevin with a $7,500, no-strings-attached award in the form of a novelty check. It was a special moment to witness at CXC – a generous display of support for a deserving artist. A week later, I met up with Kevin in Providence, Rhode Island, to continue the conversation about CXC, comics and community. Alyssa: Tell me a little bit about winning the Emerging Talent Award at CXC. What was that like for you? Kevin Czap: I’ve been going to shows in Columbus with that crowd for a long time. I do a lot of shows – this year I’m going to be doing a total of 14 or 15, more than I usually do. So I know a lot of people, but there are a number of people I don’t necessarily think they know who I am, or I’m not necessarily on their radar… I’m just going about my thing. I didn’t expect it at all. It felt nice in that regard – plugging away at this thing and trying to be a part of the larger conversation of comics that I feel a part of is being represented at CXC. So the award felt like acknowledgement, that you are being noticed and heard, which feels nice. I’m doing all of this stuff without expectation of reward, it’s just what I what I want to do, but it’s definitely nice to see some traction. A: You recently did a Kickstarter for the 2017 collection from Czap Books that more than doubled the amount of money you asked for, and you won this Emerging Talent Award, both within a short span of time. It’s pretty wild, right? KC: I was thinking about that on the drive home and I was crying a lot. Not only that, last year Annie Koyama approached L. Nichols and I about funding Ley Lines, and she gave us a big check for printing the whole line for a year (as well as to pay the artists). And she just did that again for next year. I’ve collected close to what my salary was at my old full-time job to put into making comics, just out of people’s kindness and support of me. It’s too much (laughs). A: It’s the perfect amount! What was your old full-time job? KC: I was a web and graphic designer for a marketing firm in Northeast Ohio. It took good care of me but as I was becoming more ambitious with comics-things that had various facets of identity, the time got to be too much. I was spending the whole day thinking about the comics work that I was not getting done. A: It’s a leap of faith, as an artist, to leave a full-time job. KC: This award validates that decision even more. And also with the Kickstarter, I’ve been able to see the gains that I’ve made since leaving that job, and all of the time I’ve been able to put to good use. A: You have a lot of projects going at once: your own comics, publishing other people’s work, Ley Lines… In addition to those projects you are going to 15 festivals this year. It’s a pretty basic question but how do you manage your time? KC: In the beginning of the year, I figured out a really nice system of dividing up the days into specific blocks so everything is being worked on continually. But then after the first couple of big shows I fell off that a little bit. Now I’m trying to catch back up and get in to it again. Generally I just have a million to-do lists. I realized there are things I really don’t want to do, like call somebody on the phone or ask a stranger a question where the ‘no’ could be a scary thing. But if I put it on the to-do list, I have to cross it off. A: Do you love crossing things off? KC: It’s the greatest thing in the world. A: I was just reading Fütchi Perf and I’m wondering about the process that goes into your comics. KC: I’ve been trying to speed it up a little bit. Generally I’ll have ideas and over a couple months, they’ll formulate. Different bits and pieces of an idea will grow and crystallize and an image will pop out of that. I feel like I work better in smaller chunks. Fütchi Perf was made in discreet units over time. The first couple stories were for specific publications or tasks. I was living in Cleveland and the local alt-weekly had a comics issue: ‘do Cleveland of the future.‘ I did a single page that I later adapted to the first story in Fütchi Perf. A lot of them are based off of experiences I’ve had. I try to shove across any plotting ideas I have. ‘Alright that doesn’t matter, what is the feeling, what do I keep obsessing over?’ The story I was just talking about, I was trying to capture the feeling of going to my first house show – going down this hill and there is this weird house and it’s going to change your life but you don’t know it yet. From there I’ll have the images and then I try to run through the actions in my head. I’ll write out the lyrics or phrasing of the song. I’ve always been obsessed with this idea of somehow translating the feeling or structure of a song to a comic. Some of the more recent work I’ve done I’ll literally try and dissect the structure of song lyrics and try and transcribe that to panels. But for Ley Lines, it was different. I wrote all of the words first. I had some images like I usually do but it was writing out the actual lines, then rewriting and editing before drawing. A: Your Ley Lines book, The Letting Go, was inspired by a conceptual artist (Bas Jan Ader)? KC: Yeah, it’s an artist I learned about in college who I’m still interested in. I was reading a lot of writing about his work and my friend gave me a copy of a documentary about his life and work. I was thinking about these things in general and trying to shove that into a more personal, auto-biographical thing. A: I work with auto-bio in my own work but I try to pull away from the specific and make it more of a relatable feeling. With the auto-bio stuff, is that really close to you? KC: I feel like it’s really personal but it’s heavily coded. There’s a very thick screen. Some of the lines or words are directly things I’ve thought about my own situation but taken out of context to be more relatable and capture a feeling. Everything I do is really earnest, but there is a layer of self-consciousness about that because you have a sense that people don’t take earnestness seriously or it’s an easy route to being bad. There’s always an awareness of that. I don’t want it to be naive, but I do think that earnestness and honesty are important. A: When I made Alpenglow for the Comics Workbook competition, I made a conscious decision to re-imagine that story through kinder eyes. I have the tendency to go toward a heavy-hearted place but I wanted to be more positive, for myself and the people who would read it. When you’re making your work are you conscious of what’s being put out into the ether…of wanting to put positive vibrations into the universe (I’m sorry, I’m a half-hippie!)? KC: No, totally. That’s a lot of where Fütchi Perf started coming from. That idea of how can I turn this into positive energy that I can put into the world? It’s partly what I’m putting out into the world but it’s also what I’m putting into myself, too. I realized at some point it’s very easy to grow negativity in your own mind and I could see where that path leads. How can you correct that behavior, or view it another way? It is a lot of explicitly taking something and flipping it to see, what’s another outcome of this, what do you actually want to happen? A: That’s interesting that you say ‘what do you actually want to happen’ because as I was reading Fütchi Perf, in the first story, a character is “chosen to receive a sizable arts grant.” KC: Oh, ha, I forgot about that. That’s so funny because that specifically came out of not getting a grant and I thought, wouldn’t it be great if I had? A: Tell me about the comics community and how you might add to it. KC: As far as the community goes, my role – if I can do anything, I want to be able to bridge some gaps and constantly be true to my idea of comics being a very diverse and interesting medium full of possibility and not about any one particular way a comic looks or is made. A lot of it involves me constantly questioning and revisiting my own assumptions and tastes. I think it’s valuable to revisit those assumptions. Part of why it seemed important to me to go into publishing, besides liking it – promoting other people’s work and putting books together which is fun – is being very aware that the culture and history of comics is editable. It’s created by active involvement. ———————————————————————————————————————— One of my favorite things to see is a work in progress or sketchbook from an artist I admire. I asked Kevin if they would bring something in progress along to our meeting. KC: Right now I’m working on some things, but it’s all writing at this point. This is a recent sketchbook. It started as all ballpoint pen, and more recently I brought in the highlighter. With the line drawings, it’s like a wall I can’t get past. I want to do more blocky color. ———————————————————————————————————————— Kevin Czap – a.k.a. “Comics Mom” – has been making comics since they were a child in Northern Virginia. They live in Providence, RI, where they run the publisher and distro Czap Books. Their most recent work is The Letting Go (Ley Lines #8 – August 2016). Catch up with Kevin at Comic Arts Brooklyn this weekend (Nov. 5th 2016)! Alyssa Berg makes comics in Brooklyn, NY. You can find her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

08/14/2018

Aaron CockleAugust 13, 2018NewsOn Vacation/Process Post ————————————————————————————————— I was on vacation last week, so I don’t really have much in the way of comics news for this week. My apologies! While on vacation, I tried to get some work done, mostly sketching, but also some penciling and inking in my sketchbook, trying to keep my hand moving. I didn’t really work on anything of substance, comics-wise, I’m kind of at a point with my current work-in-progress that some time away from it would do it some good. Here are some pictures: some of my materials, sketches, and some tracing/drawthrough exercises I did in my sketchbook. What else? I finished Joan Didion’s Miami, about U.S./Cuba in the 1980’s: Many Havana epilogues have been played in Florida, and some prologues. Florida is that part of the Cuban stage where declamatory exits are made, and side deals. Florida is where the chorus waits to comment on the action, and sometimes to join it. The exiled José Martí raised money among the Cuban tobacco workers in Key West and Tampa, and in 1894 attempted to mount an invasionary expedition from north of Jacksonville. The exiled Fidel Castro Ruz came to Miami in 1955 for money to take the 26 Julio into the Sierra Maestra, and got it, from Carlos Prío. Fulgencio Batista had himself come back from Florida to take Havana away from Carlos Prío in 1952, but by 1958 Fidel Castro, with Carlos Prío’s money, was taking it away from Fulgencio Batista, at which turn Carlos Prío’s former prime minister tried to land a third force in Camagüey Province, the idea being to seize the moment from Fidel Castro, a notably failed undertaking encouraged by the Central Intelligence Agency and financed by Carlos Prío, at home in Miami Beach. And I read Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson’s novel about psychological operations and the Vietnam War: The nights were wild with stars, otherwise empty and cold. For warmth he kept fifty-five-gallon drums full of diesel-soaked sand burning around the place. He made a circuit among the maze of conveyor belts under gargantuan crushers and was never done. The next evening the same belts, the same motions, even some of the same pebbles and rocks, it stood to reason, and the same cold take-out burger for lunch at the dusty table in the manager’s trailer at 2:00 a.m.; washing his hands and face first in the narrow john, his thick neck brown as a bear’s, sucking water up his nostrils and expelling the dust in liverish clumps. Not long after his lunch the roosters alone on neighboring small farms began to scream like humans, and just before six the sun arrived and turned the surrounding aluminum rooftops to torches, and then at six-thirty, while Houston punched out, the drivers came, and they lined their trucks nose-to-ass and one after another drove beneath the largest hopper of all to wait, shaken by their machines, while wet concrete cascaded down the chute into each tanker before they went out to pour the foundations of a city. OK, thanks for reading. I’ll return to regularly-scheduled news posting next week. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 8-14-18 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 8-14-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Tac au Tac

Juan FernándezSeptember 18, 2017ResourcesFrom the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, Jean Frappat presented a show that was a joy to watch, Tac au Tac. Based on the concept of exquisite corpses so dear to the surrealists, the show generally set up two, three or even four cartoonists to compete in a friendly drawing match. The concept was simple, efficient, and allowed for many variations: A huge, blank white page and cartoonists equipped with just a simple marker. A theme was proposed (ex. invasion or pursuit), sometimes a visual starting point (simple line, spiral, circle), and the authors improvised, either collaboratively with their peers, or in a duel facing off against their opponents. The result was often far more than a juxtaposition of drawings, it was often a real visual dialogue between cartoonists. The tone of the rare commentaries by Jean Frappat gives an old-fashioned charm to these shows. It is a nice way to casually watch some of the greatest French cartoonists: Franquin, Uderzo, Moebius, Druillet, Roba , Bretecher, and Gotlib. Interestingly, there was a season recorded in New York in the fall of 1972, with guest artists Jim Steranko, Bernie Wrighston, Burne Hogarth, Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and John Buscema who wound up facing off against Gir, Druillet, Forest and Gigi from France. The INA (Institut national de l’audiovisuel) has posted on its site about one hundred Tac Au Tac programs. Below you will find a convenient index of those programs so you can dig in and watch. -Juan August 14, 1969 : Pouzet/Morez against Faizant/Gus August 22, 1969 : Piem against Maurice Henry September 1, 1969 : Philippe/Gébé against Fred/Gotlib September 26, 1969 : (Michel Douay, Mose, Tetsu and Piem) then (Urs, Philippe, Cardon and Jean By) December 15, 1969 : Laville/Soulas against Pichon/Barbe December 22, 1969 : Philippe, Urs, Cardon and Jean By July 5, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo July 19, 1971 : Piem, Mose, Trez and Rauch se piègent July 26, 1971 : (Urs, Philippe, Blachon and Jean By) then (Soulas, Laville, Pichon and Barbe) August 2, 1971 : Gotlib, Uderzo, Fred and Gébé August 9, 1971 : (Philippe, Urs, Blachon and Jean By) then (Piem, Trez, Rauch and Mose) August 16, 1971 : (Pichon, Laville, Soulas, Barbe) then (Piem, Trez, Rauch and Mose) August 30, 1971 : Barbe, Pichon, Laville and Soulas September 6, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo se piègent September 13, 1971 : (Alexis and Alessandrini) then (Gébé, Cardon, Siné and Philippe) September 20, 1971 : Siné, Philippe, Cardon and Gébé September 27, 1971 : Alexis, Fred, Gotlib and Alessandrini October 11, 1971 : (Piem, Urs, Pichat and Mose) then (Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo) October 18, 1971 : Gébé, Philippe and Cardon trap Siné October 25, 1971 : Exquisite Corpse with Gébé, Topor, Bretécher and Cardon November 15, 1971 : Caricatures by Ricord and Mulatier November 22, 1971 : Siné, Desclozeaux, Picha and Puig Rosado play and draw with food. November 29, 1971 : Franquin, Forest, Gigi and Druillet December 6, 1971 : (Gébé, Cardon, Philippe and Siné) then (Siné, Puig Rosado, Picha and Desclozeaux) December 13, 1971 : Franquin, Morris, Roba and Peyo December 20, 1971 : Franquin, Forest, Gigi and Druillet December 27, 1971 : The animals refused from Noah’s arc according to Giraud, Gotlib, Mandryka and Alexis January 8, 1972 :Exquisite Corpse with Cardon, Faizant, Tim and Ghertman January 22, 1972 : Giraud, Gotlib, Alexis and Mandryka February 5, 1972 : Jacques Faizant, Tim, Cardon and Alain Ghertman February 19, 1972 : Bretécher, Barbe, Laville and Loup February 26. 1972 : Druillet, Enric Sio, Buzzelli and Forest March 4, 1972 : Franquin, Bretécher, Uderzo and Fournier March 18, 1972 : Fred, Gébé, Soulas and Philippe March 25, 1972 : Druillet, Enric Sio, Buzzelli and Forest April 1, 1972 : (Piem, Cardon, Siné and Topor) then (Ricord, Mulatier, Solo and Gibo) April 29, 1972 : Jean Giraud faces of Jijé in 4 situations, with Hugo Pratt and Jean-Claude Forest as onlookers May 11, 1972 : Forest faces Hugo Pratt under the scrutiny of Jijé and Giraud May 13, 1972 : Horror with Guido Crepax, Esteban Maroto and Thé Tjong-Khing May 20, 1972 : Jean Giraud challenges Hugo Pratt under the scrutiny of Jijé and Jean-Claude Forest May 27, 1972 : Exquisite Corpse with Cardon, Gébé and Gourmelin June 3, 1972 : Piem, Siné, Cardon and Topor June 18, 1972 : Franquin/Roba against Brétecher/Gotlib June 24, 1972 : The theme of gas inspires Cardon, Gébé and Gourmelin September 16, 1972 : Jean-Claude Forest, Jim Steranko and Robert Gigi on a boat in New York (1) September 30, 1972 : Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Jean Giraud October 7, 1972 : Exquisite Corpse between Bretécher, Johnny Hart and Parker Brant (no sound) October 14, 1972 : Burne Hogarth, Philippe Druillet and John Buscema in New York October 21, 1972 : Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Jean Giraud October 28, 1972 : Mike Kaluta, Bernie Wrightson, Forest and Druillet in New York November 4, 1972 : Jean-Claude Forest, Jim Steranko and Robert Gigi on a boat in New York (2 November 25, 1972 : Fred, Gébé, Soulas and Philippe December 2, 1972 : Tillieux, Jidéhem, Morris and Brétécher December 9, 1972 : Piem and Siné December 16, 1972 : Piem against Siné December 23, 1972 : Desclozeaux and Puig Rosado drawing dreams December 30,1972 : Dali Special (without drawing) July 29, 1973 : Bretécher, Fred, Soulas, Gourmelin, Desclozeaux and Serre August 5, 1973 : Exquisite Corpse with Laville and Barbe August 26, 1973 : Serre, Cardon and Gourmelin (without sound) September 2, 1973 : caricatures by Ricord and Mulatier September 9, 1973 : childhood by Cardon, Serre and Gourmelin September 15, 1973 : Exquisite Corpse with Jean-Claude Forest and Gourmelin September 22, 1973 :Exquisite Corpse with Tim, Cardon, Desclozeaux and Faizant September 29, 1973 : Tim, Cardon, Jacques Faizant and Desclozeaux July 26, 1975 :Exquisite Corpse between Greg/Dany and Goscinny/Uderzo August 2, 1975 : Piem against Siné August 9, 1975 : Gourmelin, Cardon and Forest August 23, 1975 : Serre against Christian Broutin August 30, 1975 : Piem, Wiaz, Tim and Maja September 6, 1975 : caricatures with Ricord and Mulatier September 13, 1975 : The Storm Forest, Cardon and Gourmelin September 20, 1975 : Bretécher/Gotlib against Giraud/Druillet September 27, 1975 : Christian Broutin and Claude Serre improvising October 4, 1975 : Buzzelli, Peter Foldes and Thé Tjong-Khing October 11, 1975 : Maja, Piem, Tim and Wiaz October 18, 1975 : Christian Broutin against Claude Serre Share this page: [...]

01/02/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 2, 2017NewsJuan here. New year. New comics. Hope you’re harnessing some positive energy around you to accomplish what’s important to you. I’m doing my best here in Pittsburgh, PA! ————————————————————————————————— Pittsburgh Comics Salon meets this week on Wednesday at Lili Cafe under Copacetic Comics. Can’t wait. If you’re in Pittsburgh, I hope to see you there, ready to for some comics making drills and exercises. ————————————————————————————————— Here are some comics and news that I think you should pay attention to: The last issue of Kevin Huizenga’s Ganges – arguably the most mechanically inventive and robust 2 color offset comic of the early 21st century – is coming out this March via Fantagraphics. Australians have put together a Minicomic Club you can subscribe to this year. $52 AUD for international shipping. $1/week for Australian comics. Think Oily Comics but 1 chunky comic instead 5 slim ones. The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion by Luke Healy is now online. Brilliant mix of narrative modes. If you liked Synechdoche, NY or anything in the Charlie Kaufmann vein. You’ll love this. Simon Reinhardt: What if Saul Steinberg and Jules Feiffer occupied the place of R. Crumb and Will Eisner in american comics history? Juicy TwitterCrit thoughts on mainstream, yet non-dominant alternative strains of american cartooning. ————————————————————————————————— Forge Art Magazine‘s put out a nice little interview with Brie Moreno. Sit down, grab a marker or pen and doodle while you get to know Brie if you have a free moment. If you’re already hep to Brie’s work, pass the signal along so more people can appreciate what she’s up to. I met Brie (AKA Booger Brie) and Matthew James-Wilson, editor of Forge Art Magazine at CAB this year. They were really kind and had the goods. Good people. This is important. I had questions about what they’ve been doing, and they were actually interested in my interest. No upturned noses. Thank you. Brie’s got an exciting world of comics and zines that you can dive into. Honest and wonky ideas that flow and cross back and forth across her zines. Chunky lines that ooze and distort familiar forms. Chunky hyucks. ————————————————————————————————— Something a little different for you, from the Comics Workbook school store: Gary Panter generously donated these two seminal books – Cola Madnes, the long lost graphic novel that was to be published in Japan in the early 80’s, and 100 Drawings, where Gary documents many of his best commissions. This set is available HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham We collected the Suzy and Cecil strips that Sally Ingraham and Gabriella Tito drew in 2016 (not all of which were published in the Daily News) and shared them HERE. The series updates daily on Instagram – follow along HERE. Share this page: [...]

06/20/2017

Aaron CockleJune 20, 2017NewsAaron Cockle here today with Lauren Weinstein; Jillian Tamaki; Ad Reinhardt; Georgia O’Keeffe; Kriota Willberg; Snail Farm & Friends Book Fair ————————————————————————————————— Normel Person Lauren Weinstein continues her strong run of weekly strips at the Village Voice. ————————————————————————————————— ‘Each story shifts emotional and visual register.’ Jillian Tamaki’s new book, Boundless, receives another solid review, this time over at The Atlantic: An ambitious and eclectic set of tales, it focuses on the interior lives of unexpected subjects: the writer of a pornographic sitcom, a shrinking woman, a plant-nursery employee with an internet doppelganger, even a fly. Boundless uses a constantly varying visual treatment that keeps readers on their toes and mixes and matches artistic styles with a proliferating set of genres, from speculative fiction to domestic drama to magical realism. If a reader comes to Boundless with assumptions about visual storytelling, Tamaki will confound them. ————————————————————————————————— 5. No design. “Design is everywhere.” Via ARTNEWS, Ad Reinhardt’s 12 Rules for a New Academy: Much of today’s discussion of contemporary abstraction is centered on “Zombie Formalism”—Walter Robinson’s coinage for new work that revisits (or apes, one might say) historical forms of abstraction for purely stylistic reasons. Given the intensity of that debate, we thought it would be interesting, for this week’s Retrospective column, to jump back almost 60 years, to 1957, when Ad Reinhardt took up the subject of contemporary abstraction in ARTnews. Reinhardt, who had written for the magazine previously, said that the article—titled “Twelve Rules for a New Academy”—”constitute his last words on art in terms of words.” He sharply criticized his formalist contemporaries, offering instead twelve ways to achieve purity in art. There would be no forms, no texture, no color, nothing—just pure blackness, as in Reinhardt’s most famous paintings. Reproduced in full below is Reinhardt’s article, which takes subtle swipes at Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian, the Abstract Expressionists, and more. —Alex Greenberger The Six General Canons or the Six Noes to be memorized are: (1) No Realism or Existentialism. “When the vulgar and commonplace dominate, the spirit subsides.” (2) No Impressionism. “The artist should once and forever emancipate himself from the bondage of appearance.” “The eye is a menace to clear sight.” (3) No Expressionism or Surrealism. “The laying bare of oneself,” autobiographically or socially, “is obscene.” (4) No Fauvism, primitivism or brute art. “Art begins with the getting-rid of nature.” (5) No Constructivism, sculpture, plasticism, or graphic arts. No collage, paste, paper, sand or string. (6) No “trompe-l’oeil,” interior decoration or architecture. The ordinary qualities and common sensitivities of these activities lie outside free and intellectual art. ————————————————————————————————— Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern At the Brooklyn Museum through July 23, 2017: The exhibition is organized in sections that run from her early years, when O’Keeffe crafted a signature style of dress that dispensed with ornamentation; to her years in New York, in the 1920s and 1930s, when a black-and-white palette dominated much of her art and dress; and to her later years in New Mexico, where her art and clothing changed in response to the surrounding colors of the Southwestern landscape. The final section explores the enormous role photography played in the artist’s reinvention of herself in the Southwest, when a younger generation of photographers visited her, solidifying her status as a pioneer of modernism and as a contemporary style icon. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The Internal Body Interacting with the External World’ New York Academy of Medicine’s Artist-in-Residence, Kriota Willberg, recently concluded a 4-week workshop, Visualizing and Drawing Anatomy, and has a brief recap about it. And in a post from 2016, Willberg looks at some historical anatomical drawings: The images of Jacopo Berengario da Carpi’s Anatomia Carpi Isagoge breves, perlucide ac uberime, in anatomiam humani corporis… (1535) powerfully emphasize the fiber direction of the muscles of the waist. This picture in particular radiates the significance of our “core muscles.” Here, the external oblique muscles have been peeled away to show the lines of the internal obliques running from low lateral to high medial attachments. The continuance of this line is indicated in the central area of the abdomen. It perfectly illustrates the muscle’s direction of pull on its flattened tendon inserting at the midline of the trunk. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 6-20-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-20-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/23/2016

Posted on March 23, 2016March 24, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Hagio Moto in the limelight; Julie Doucet’s latest; New York Review Comics announced; Rolling Black Outs stacked; Denver Indepent Comics Expo.

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Hagio Moto spotlight on Urasawa no Manben

There is a great sub of the 1st episode of the 2nd season of Urasawa Naoki no Manben with author Hagio Moto. Don’t miss a behind the scenes look at the life and work of the founding mothers of shōjo manga! For those hungry for more, check out Matt Thorn’s TCJ interview of Hagio-san from 2005.

Urasawa Naoki no Manben (which, roughly translated, means “Naoki Urasawa‘s Manga Exertions”) is hosted by veteran manga artist Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto,20th Century Boys) and follows different artists each episode, watching them draw their manga from scratch and exploring what differentiates their styles. Amazing show, with a great format for comics makers by comics makers.

Watch the subbed episode over on Daily Motion.

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Carpet Sweeper Tales
There’s Nice write-up of the new Julie Doucet book, Carpet Sweeper Tales book by Joe McCulloch over at TCJ.

Doucet, in a four-word introduction, requests you read everything in the book out loud – this is much harder than it seems, as some of the text is made up of symbols, and many of the words are broken down to some (not all) of their component letters. In this way, the book also evokes experimental vocal performance – Meredith Monk, for instance.

Check it out over on the Comics Journal.
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New York Review Comics
New York Review Books has announced their new line of classic comics reprints, New York Review Comics. In the tradition of NYRC Classics, NYRC will present new editions of out-of-print masterpieces and new translation of books that have never been published in English. The books will be of all sorts, from intimate memoirs to absurdist gags, from graphic novels to dizzying experiments. NYRC is coming out of the gate reprinting Mark Beyer’s Agony, an impeccable first choice. This is very, very exciting.

If you’ve never had a chance to before, Mark Beyer’s delightfully mordant Agony, at Lithub now.

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http://sarahglidden.tumblr.com/post/141552146632/5-years-279-pages-rolling-blackouts-is-finally

Rolling Black Outs
Sarah Glidden shows how all her hard work piles up. You can get a look at Sarah’s process on the book over on her site. Lots of behind the scenes looks at her thumbnails, watercolors and all around design.

Rolling Blackouts details Glidden’s two-month long journey through Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Glidden accompanies her two friends—reporters and founders of the journalistic non-profit The Seattle Globalist—as they research stories on the Iraq War’s effect on the Middle East and, specifically, the war’s refugees. Joining them is a former Marine and childhood friend of one of the journalists whose deployment to Iraq in 2007 adds an unexpected and sometimes unwelcome viewpoint, both to the people they come across and perhaps even themselves.

Rolling Black Outs will be published by Drawn and Quarterly this October.

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Denver Independent Comics Expo – DINK
The inaugural DINK is this Weekend. Get the scoop on DIN over on their site. They’ve got a crazy amount of panels and workshops. Check out the smorgasbord and see what’s up your alley.

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Comics Workbook

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Posted in NewsTagged Agony, DINK, Hagio Moto, julie doucet, Mark Beyer, New York Review Comics, Sarah Glidden

Juan Fernández

Posted on March 23, 2016March 24, 2016

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11/27/2018

Aaron CockleNovember 27, 2018NewsVERY LATE EDITION: Roz Chast; Christoph Niemann; Katie Fricas; IN THE LABYRINTH ————————————————————————————————— SVA Honors Roz Chast With 30th Annual Masters Series Award and Exhibition November 17-December 15 SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street, NYC Artist’s Talk: Wednesday, November 28, 7-9pm Chast’s interest in drawing started when she was a young child growing up in Brooklyn, where she learned to use art as a way to make sense of an anxiety-inducing world. She once told an interviewer, “On every level I feel like anything horrible can happen at any moment.” Early on in her career, her nervousness even found expression in her chosen scale. “I used to work really tiny,” she says. “I thought if I worked small, nobody would mind me that much. If I take up as little space as possible, then everything will be okay, nobody will get mad at me.” ————————————————————————————————— CHRISTOPH NIEMANN: HOPES AND DREAMS November 13-December 21 ZieherSmith, 505-507 West 27th Street, Suite 5, NYC In November 2017, artist Christoph Niemann flew from Berlin to Los Angeles at the invitation of his Zurich publisher, Philipp Keel, under the auspices of meeting David Hockney. Anybody who knows the first thing about Christoph Niemann (from his many New Yorker covers, museum exhibitions, children’s books, “Abstract Sunday” his New York Times blog and Instagram account, TED Talk, apps or any of the many other ways he manifests as a contemporary visual voice) knows that under his scrutiny, even the most mundane task can turn into something altogether peculiar, altogether special, as if to say everything can be enlightening. ————————————————————————————————— A Graphic Tribute to Anne Sexton Katie Fricas at the NY Times. ————————————————————————————————— CELEBRATING ‘THE LABYRINTH’ BY SAUL STEINBERG On Tuesday, November 27, at 7pm, join us at Powerhouse Arena (28 Adams St, Brooklyn, NY) for a celebration of the reissue of Saul Steinberg’s remarkable graphic work The Labyrinth, available from NYR Comics. Liana Finck, Françoise Mouly, and Joel Smith will be in a conversation moderated by Bill Kartalopolous. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 11-27-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/16/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 16, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre: las Comiqueras en diciembre; Octavio Beares sobre GrafMadrid + video; Venta de arte: Alexis Ziritt; Revista La Traca; La Polola Podcast #20: Realidad; Inés Estrada WINTER MEGASALE. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Madrid, España – GrafMadrid Octavio Beares ha escrito un poco sobre el milagro que es el festival, Graf. Octavio Beares es un veterano de los cómics, osea que su perspectiva es muy pero muy valorosa. Si no han ido a Graf, hay que ir, este festival es el “Comic Arts Brooklyn” del cómic hispanohablante! Entonces voy a Graf, y Mireia Pérez, cuando se cosca de que este tipo al que recuerda de otros grafs “soy yo”, Octavio, y me suelta una risa así de grande y sincera y un abrazorte del doce, se disipa cansancio y dudas. Porque es la primera. Vienen más de seguido, de más encuentros, y cuando me reencuentro con Gerardo y con tantos autores y colegas críticos, con gente que veo muy de vez en vez y con gente que solo conocía por Redes Sociales, y cuando estalla ese ambiente ígneo que es estar en Graf… “cansados mis bemoles”. El cómic es un manantial de cosas buenas, de gente BELLA, de talento, de ganas. Reventados todos por tres días duros, sobre todo organizadores y expositores. pero felices, o eso creo yo. En serio, id a Graf si os gustan los cómics y no conocéis este festival. El manantial brota de allí, es la gente, el pozo en que nace el arco iris. Hay una sinergia brutal, es centrifugante y vertiginoso. Es amoroso, afectivo, admirativo, alegre y POSITIVO. Es una sinfonía luminosa de ganas de hacer cosas, conocer gentes, autores, amigos virtuales. Es tan intenso que te balda y sabe a poco a la vez. Y si no conoces a nadie, te encontrarás en un espacio que acoge y que alimenta, con charlas bárbaras y talleres para todas las edades y todos los pelajes. Léelo todo AQUI! Aquí podéis ver una pequeña muestra de los expositores de GrafMadrid: ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Santiago, Chile: Comiqueras – Diciembre 10, 2016 Con la intención de fomentar la autopublicación de cómics y la producción de Autoras en la historieta local, se ha creado este evento. Para que se pueda exponer y conversar sobre la historieta hecha por mujeres cis, hetero o lgbtiq y compartir experiencias sobre la historia de las comiqueras en Chile y compartir conocimientos sobre autopublicación con aquellas que estén interesadas en comenzar a autopublicarse. Pueden participar todes aquelles mujeres y/o trans heterosexuales o lgbtiq que se dediquen a la creación de cómics de forma independiente y autogestinada en formato libro artesanal, fanzine u otro tipo de autopublicación. ¿Eres chica y haces cómics? Inscríbete para participar de este evento! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Miami, Florida: Space Riders pages by Alexis Ziritt are on sale via Out of Step Arts. Buy a couple and bring ’em home! If you’re wondering what Ziritt’s tools of choice are, he’s got the answer for you right here. He gets this question, pretty often! Practicality above all. Road-friendly, simple & reliable. Pentel Pocket Brush. Kuretake No. 8 brush pen. Pentel Brush Pilot Petit3 Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Ultradraw Waterproof Ink ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Valencia, España: La exposición Revista La Traca. La transgresión como norma acaba de habrir sus puertas. Se puede ver hasta el próximo 15 de enero en La Universitat de València en la Sala Estudi General del Centre Cultural La Nau. Comisariada por los profesores Antonio Laguna y Francesc-Andreu Martínez, la muestra es la primera dedicada a la revista, en la que se puede ver material inédito sobre la que fue la publicación de mayor tirada de España, con en torno a medio millón de ejemplares despachados en su época dorada. La revista La Traca. Semanari pa la chent de tro reflejó una cultura alternativa a la corriente mayoritaria de los medios de comunicación, siendo inmisericordes con la corrupción. No en vano, la revista fue una de las poquísimas publicaciones en caricaturizar la figura de Franco. La propaganda antifascista se convirtió en el eje central del semanario una vez estalló la Guerra Civil cuando, derivado de su éxito en Valencia, ya se editaba en castellano y distribuía por todo el país. Hitler y Mussolini eran representados como enemigos de la cultura y el progreso, siendo el 17 de marzo de 1937 cuando, por primera vez y de manos del colaborador José María Carnicero, aparece la figura de Franco, dibujado como homosexual –“el general invertido”-. Vestido de mujer, suspirando por los bellos marroquíes o mirando de forma golosa a unos platanos (la fruta), las viñetas no dejaban de producirse. Hasta el final. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Texas, USA: Inés Estrada esta ofreciendo un MEGAbundle, su “Winter reading mega pack“! Prepárate para el invierno y ahora $41 cuando compras este mega pack. Get over $90 of comics for just $49! Solamente disponible en http://gatosaurio.com. Prepárate! ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/292329543″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] ⚡Santiago, Chile –Escucha @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! It’s always a fun, relaxing and enlightening listen. If you haven’t tuned in to La Polola just yet, Póngale Play 😉 En este capítulo las chicas conversanacerca de los límites entre la realidad y la ficción, entre lo concreto y la fantasía, entre lo comprobable y lo imaginario, lo privado y lo público. Conversan acerca de estas posturas en la narrativa a través de diferentes libros que vamos poniendo como ejemplo. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: thee Santoro School Handbook by Kurt Ankeny Comics Workbook has had a great show season, with visits to SPX, CXC, LICAF, & CAB. The workshops we have hosted at these events have been a highlight and folks all over are digging into comics making with new ideas swirling in their heads. If you didn’t making it to a workshop this year, be sure to keep an eye out for us next year – and meanwhile, check out thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics 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. Always available at our store HERE – free shipping worldwide! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

05/16/2017

Aaron CockleMay 16, 2017NewsLATE EDITION: TCAF NOTES As promised, here are some notes and pictures RE: TCAF 2017. I’ll return to my usual posting structure next week, highlighting the ins-and-outs and comings-and-goings within and without the comics community, as well as some more expansive thoughts about TCAF. ————————————————————————————————— Some Books of Note I purchased/traded for a bunch of work, some notables are shown above. Tommi Parrish did the ONESTEPINSIDEDOESNTMEANYOUUNDERSTAND book. Not pictured is the 5th issue of the always-excellent Pope Hats, by Ethan Rilly, which was the first and only book I needed to read as soon as I got the chance. Still working through the stack, there was so much great and beautiful work on display at the show. ————————————————————————————————— Tom Spurgeon’s Recapitulation Over at the Comics Reporter, Spurgeon looks at the show, including some notes on the Sammy Harkham/Kevin Huizenga talk about the past and current state of comics distro-ing: Kevin Huizenga and Sammy Harkham presented on the distributions system as it has an effect on their recent attempts to self-publish. Kevin Huizenga provided a history of distributors — including his own USS Catastrophe effort — that may not have been aces in terms of getting books out there but were deeply personally meaningful for him at the time. Harkham went on an interesting mini-rant about how crowd-funders interfere with his conception of how the artist/audience relationship best works. I like both of those guys a lot and appreciate their seriousness about the comics they made, and thus enjoyed every second of that panel. In an after-panel conversation, Huizenga noted to me how one problem with doing things to help the small-press end things is that there are SO MANY cartoonists that they often bury any such attempts without meaning to. That helped me clarify some thinking I had on industry reform. Huizenga is a smart man and scrambles to points of perspective as well as anyone I’ve ever known, so it’s always great to talk to him. ————————————————————————————————— Random Cellphone Pics ————————————————————————————————— Economies of Scale Something Something There is a part of this work (cartooning, comics, these shows that we attend) that is in a way absurdly, almost aggressively anti-capitalist, while at the same time fitting safely and snuggly within a traditional capitalist framework. I was thinking about this a lot over the weekend, based on what came up in that Harkham/Huizenga talk, as well as some conversations I had with other people/cartoonists, and time spent sitting at my table ruminating. I need to better formulate all of this, obviously, and do some math before going into it more extensively, but these are the thoughts that plague me during these 2-day shows. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— AM EDITION: Aaron here today with sincere apologies. Please bear with me, I was at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival this past weekend, and my flight was delayed Monday evening coming back to NYC, where upon arrival I found that there were extensive (and fairly impressive, actually) traffic delays going out of the airport due to construction. I’ll have some quick notes about TCAF later today, so please check back, and I’ll take a closer look at the show in my post next week. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read this newsblog and supporting the work we’re doing here at Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 5-16-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-16-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

07/06/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 6, 2017NewsSally here with new work from Kyle Baker, old work from Jay Jackson, and more! ———————————————————————————————— The work of Jay Jackson – a pioneering African-American cartoonist who died in 1954 – has risen to the surface of the internet sea, and Steven Thompson shares pages from the strip Home Folks, and a little info on the creator, over on his blog Booksteve’s Library. “His weekly panel HOME FOLKS, always crowded with many characters and variations on a theme a la a number of classic cartoon panels dating back to the 1920s, is brilliant. Running exclusively in small African-American newspapers, week after week he managed to hit the nail on the head regarding not just exclusively the black experience but human life in general–even animal life at times. It was all recognizable and relatable…“ See more of Jackson’s work HERE. (via tcj.com) ———————————————————————————————— Kyle Baker has turned his comics know-how to Gumby recently. “The A.V. Club has an exclusive look at Baker’s entire story in next week’s Gumby #1, and he’s using a style that he previously tried out on Plastic Man, removing black outlines so that the images on the page look like they’re made out of layers of construction paper. It adds a tactile quality to the art, which makes a lot of sense for a property that started with three-dimensional clay figurines. The characters still have the exaggerated expressions that Baker is known for, and this rendering choice makes the entire story feel lighter and more childish. This first issue also features stories by writers Ray Fawkes and Jeff Whitman (Managing Editor or Papercutz), artist Jolyon Yates, and colorists Laurie E. Smith and Matt Herms, and reader can discover each creative team’s take on the property when Gumby #1 goes on sale July 5.“ Read more and see The A. V. Club‘s exclusive look HERE. ———————————————————————————————— The Comics Journal features an interview between Gary Panter and Dash Shaw – they break down Panter’s new book Songy of Paradise (Fantagraphics, May 2017) in a number of different ways, but it was these comments from Panter about working within your limitations that stuck with me: “Shaw: One time, I can’t remember how you said it, but it’s always stuck with me. I was at your place and you were telling me about your beaded necklaces or something that you were working on, and you had all these different, experimental, non-commercial projects– projects that might not have any audience– and you said that being raised Christian helped you follow all these unusual ideas, because you always had the impression that you were being watched. Panter: Yeah, I’m not sure about the first half, if it propels me, but I do have the feeling of being watched. I was thinking about that today, it’s odd. We were taught that there’d be the Day of Judgment, it’d all play back. And it would be really fucking embarrassing, you know? [Shaw laughs] [Jokingly] Why did he spend all this time drawing comics?! Well, I dunno, you just decide what you’re good at, what fascinates you, and you kind of go for it. I don’t really have giant resources, I’m limited in a lot of ways, so I can do these… Like if I take up lanyards, which I have as part of my little projects—lanyard making, like you made at summer camp, those woven plastic gimp things. When I learned how to do that—I’m completely untalented at it, but I can invent my version of it, I can get as far as I can get. It’s the same with my candles, my comics, my paintings, my music—everything. I’m working within my limitations. So if you’re working within your limitations, you can actually get stuff done. “ Read the rest of the interview HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Julian Lyte talks to Ulises Farinas about Farinas’ publishing imprint Buno, and his ideas about comics distribution and pre-ordering, on the Ignorant Bliss podcast. Check it out HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Connor Willumsen is having a screen print sale! The screening series is called Cinema1999 – prints are 20 bucks and shipped rolled, editions of around 25 – limited supplies. Check it out HERE! ———————————————————————————————— We are already in the midst of our second summer running the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency! Above is a collection of photos from our first summer, into the winter of 2017, and beyond. More photos and info on the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency can be found HERE! ———————————————————————————————— 7-6-2017 – by Sam Ombiri ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-6-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Sunday is a Good Day to Visit a Museum: Part Two

Alyssa BergMay 5, 2016Art Trip / EssaysThis series began last week with Part One: Ritual in Preparing the Space/It’s the Simple Things – now we are drawn deeper into the museum and into a new process meditation. ————————————————————————————————— My last stop at The Rubin Museum of Art was the exhibit Gateway to Himalayan Art. What immediately drew my attention were 4 pieces showing the stages of a thangka (scroll) painting. Thangka paintings most often depict deities or mandalas and are used in meditation practice. The paintings are not an expression of an individual artist; they are made by following a strict set of rules. Underneath the forms and colors is a complex grid based on precise measurements according to which deity is being depicted. In the process pieces at the Rubin, areas of the underlying grid of sacred geometry are left visible. I love seeing works in progress or unfinished artwork–a chance to spy the secrets that lie underneath the surface. But also, look at that grid! Yes, it’s true I am a student of Frank Santoro and, no, I am not going to go deep into practical and/or theoretical grid-talk. If you want that, get it from the man himself (the comments section is full of gems, too). If you prefer having your information in hard copy, it’s available that way, also. As a person who has spent many+ hours drawing and re-drawing and drawing again the grid, it was an easy jump in my mind from this: to this: ————————————————————————————————— Part 2: Meditation on the Grid/Free Your Mind Recently I was in the audience at a panel discussion where someone asked the artists about ‘creative block’ and how to over-come it. The answers ranged from ‘just getting off of the couch’ to knowing that there are ups and downs in creative work. If I might add my own answer to the question no one asked me: Sometimes my mind is unwell, or full of complicated messy things or unable to think of new ideas (‘creative block’, I guess?). When I am in this state, I let my wild, creative mind rest. One way to do this is by going into a gentle analytical and physical practice. I sit down at my desk and pre-draw pages of panels and grids. Similar to preparing my workspace as mentioned in Part One, pre-drawing panels and grids is a simple concentration-meditation that doesn’t require much thought (common theme: freedom from the mind!). I get out my ruler, triangle and compass and start to push my pencil across the page making the prescribed lines. I am not inventing them. There is a formula and I’m following that formula. In my comics, I almost exclusively use a four-panel grid. Through years of repetition comes ease and comfort in getting to a single-pointed mind-concentration. In this concentration I’m not working out story ideas or fixing problems. I’m just there, holding the pencil in my hand, running it along the ruler. On certain days I’ve ended up with a stack of 20 pages of panels with varying elements of the grid or sometimes a single page with different color lines on top of lines on top of lines… It is an easy practice that is calming and allows some space to open up. And at the end of the practice, as an added bonus to a relaxed mind, I have pages at the ready for the days when the last thing I want do is draw a straight line. ————————————————————————————————— Look for Part 3 of this ongoing series next week! Read Part One HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg makes comics in Brooklyn, NY. You can find her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

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