Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, gabriella tito, gloria rivera, isabel bas amat, jack brougham, mary fleener, miranda harmon

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 23, 2017

Explore

06/09/2016

HarrisonJune 9, 2016News Harrison is aggregating news for Thursday June 9, 2016. Today we have math jokes, ways of representing the internet, explore anime, and end with words of wisdom from the champ. ————————————————————————————————— Computer Love “I can think of a couple reasons for why I’m only seeing these types of representations of the internet in comics. First, the lower barrier to entry in publishing comics means that younger cartoonists (i.e. heavier online users) are able to publish stories – and they are stories that reflect their lived realities. But more fundamentally, the norm of using multiple panels in comics presents an advantage over other mediums when it comes to representing the internet. Multiple panels easily mimic the multiple windows and tabs of our online browsing. Split screen representations don’t feel as jarring as it might in other mediums.” –Representing the internet at Cute Juice. ————————————————————————————————— ✏️ ? ? An illustrated guide to math. ————————————————————————————————— 1’s 2’s 3’s “Exacerbating this is a lack of competent gatekeeping. American anime fansites and magazines have until recently shown complete indifference to the art of animation. Anime became popular overseas not for its contributions to craft but for its novel take on certain sci-fi conventions, its explicit sexual content, and its longform storytelling. The few genuine anime researchers like Fred Patten and Jonathan Clements are more often interested in the macro- aspects of the industry, its economics and social impact, than the labors of individual artists. It’s not uncommon to see a supposed expert display cavalier ignorance to the basics of animated technique.” Engaging conversation about the real aesthetic and conceptual differences between Japanese and North American animation. Read the article AND the comments here. ————————————————————————————————— Scissors and Precipitation Watch the film above really LOUD. ————————————————————————————————— ? ? Rest in power. Share this page: [...]

TCAF 2016 | Joe Kessler

Juan FernándezJune 3, 2016Festivals and ShowsCheck out Joe’s work here copaceticcomics.com/creators/joe-kessler Share this page: [...]

07/13/2017

Sally IngrahamJuly 13, 2017NewsToday we have Sam Ombiri on Matthew Thurber’s Art Comic 3, NPR’s comics reader poll, The Permanent Night from Adam Griffiths, and more. —————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I was recently reading Art Comic 3 by Matthew Thurber (a story of art world hijinx where the recurring character of Cupcake has gotten a new job at Dachshund Pond’s gallery). I really like the relationship between the characters Dachshund and Zenobia – the way Zenobia refers to Dachshund and the way Dachshund has an idea of what Zenobia thinks about him, (yet she mis-remembers him enough to recommend Cupcake to get a job with him.) There are these subtle moments that hint at Dachshund’s attitude and him dealing with his surfacing demise, or at least that “Demise” that he greatly fears. This fear isn’t shown blatantly or in a straightforward way. It begins being shown as Cupcake walks in to the Party Portal after Cupcake’s nose has “worked its magic”, and Dachshund’s archivist has left (in the panel where she says, “I’m not coming back. I got hired at Starbucks…a job with a future!”) Dachshund’s face has a look of horror, but then by the next panel Daschund undramatically drops his coffee cup, pretending, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, I know I’m a failure“. This isn’t what he says in the panel, but as the reader you hear it, because you combine the way Dachshund has dropped his coffee cup with him saying “Well OK! Guess I’m looking for a new archivist now, too.” He’s smiling, when not that much time has passed – we can still see one of the old archivist’s legs as she is leaving the Party Portal. The one looking at her is Cupcake. Thurber made the extra effort to register to the reader that Cupcake has turned Dachshund’s head, but Dachshund’s bigger and more significant turn isn’t registered, which is great because his turn is more muted – along with him tossing his cup being muted, you as the reader feel it more. The way Cupcake is looking at the old Archivist leaving also tells you this is something to look at, and who is Dachshund kidding by not looking at her, and smiling so nonchalantly? In that panel, Thurber doesn’t bother to spell it out for the reader or emphasize it. The drawing of the cup is tilted to look like it’s falling, and as the reader of course you register it like he tossed it, but then the cup also feels like it’s floating – again Thurber doesn’t bother to spell it out for the reader. Dachshund’s success is in a place where he could take it or leave it, or his desire for success is just success in general, I don’t know. My guess is that he’s not satisfied with his current role, since he said, “I was gonna be the next Jean-Luc Godard, but I didn’t have the talent, just the sunglasses. Five years ago, I finally realized what my role is… And took off my sunglasses. For Good.” The silence that comes after he says “I finally realized what my role is…” seems sad, and then after that it feels even more melancholy with Dushchand saying “And I took of my sunglasses. For good.” The sentences feel like forced uncompromising resolutions that surfaced after having no resources for what his goal is – to not look back at the sunglasses that he took off. Those sentences have more gravity than the more weightless words he was somewhat mumbling before, as if he wouldn’t be at all unsatisfied with them being unheard even by himself. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Art Comic 3 by Matthew Thurber HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Here’s a video of Keith Knight talking about his police brutality cartoons, made by the media students at Sierra Nevada College. —————————————————————————————————— NPR released the results of their summer comics poll, whittling down 7,000 entries to 100 comics with the help of an all-star team of creators and critics (including C. Spike Trotman, G. Willow Wilson, and Maggie Thompson). The list is a good place for non-comics readers to start, and will tick off the major works in a couple of genres that “everyone should read”. NPR doesn’t make any lofty pretenses however: “This isn’t meant as a comprehensive list of the “best” or “most important” or “most influential” comics, of course. It’s a lot more personal and idiosyncratic than that, because we asked folks to name the comics they loved. That means you’ll find enormously popular mainstays like Maus and Fun Home jostling for space alongside newer work that’s awaiting a wider audience (Check Please, anyone?).“ See the whole list HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths sent us a few copies of his new mini comic The Permanent Night (partially drawn during his January 2017 Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency). An urban fantasy set in Washington, D.C., it’s small “floppy” size is quite appealing. Digital color balances well with Adam’s intricate pencil drawings, and the wildly inventive lettering doesn’t hinder the reading at all – the added visual element instead pulls the reader deeper into the story. I’m eagerly anticipating more work from Adam in the future (his social media hints at something BIG on the horizon!) Meanwhile, get yourself a copy of this debut mini comic HERE and be sure to check out Adam’s ongoing webcomic American Cryo – HERE. —————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-13-2017 – by Gabriella Tito —————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/09/2018

Juan FernándezMay 9, 2018los Cómics / NewsWomen Write About Comics, Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire, Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez, Klari Moreno y Lorenzo Montatore —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ —————————————— Worth your time (& money): Women Write About Comics are raising funds to solve some tech issues. @womenoncomics is important for comics criticism and not a voice I’d like to see disappear. If you have a few spare dollars, I’m sure they’d appreciate them. The cost of moving WWAC to a new host, including all the background work to transfer seven years worth of archives, is more than we can handle on our own, so we’re asking for your help to get us over that initial hump. Our transition will also involve designing a layout that can handle the site. Donate today. —————————————— ¿Ya escucharon la cuarta entrega de #Womansplaining? Es sobre el papel de la mujer en el cómic colombiano y latinoamericano y tiene como invitados a Judith Gociol, Sindy Elefante, Daniel Jiménez – una conversación super, pero super enriquecedora. Tal vez uno de los nichos más permeados con la percepción de que eso “es cosa de hombres” es el cómic. Tal vez porque para muchos las historietas se limitan al universo de los superhéroes, o porque la idea del “comiquero” es la de un chico que se reúne con sus amigos a dibujar y a tomar cerveza. Sin embargo, desde hace algunos años, nombres como Power Paola, Sindy Elefante o Sofía La Watson han comenzado a sonar dentro de la escena editorial, no solo local sino también internacional. En este capítulo de Womansplaining hablamos con Sindy Elefante, autora de la novela gráfica Elefantes en el cuarto, con Judith Gociol, coordinadora del archivo de cómic de la Biblioteca Nacional de Argentina y con Daniel Jiménez, director de Entreviñetas sobre las diferentes maneras en las que la mujer hace parte del mundo del cómic. Una conversación sobre la rabiosa Helga, la esposa de Olafo, la hipersexual Yayita, la idea de que los cómics hechos por mujeres solo pueden ser autobiográficos y el importante papel de la mujer dentro de un universo en donde la autogestión es fundamental. Escúchenlo AQUI. —————————————— Muy informativa e interesante esta reseña sobre Redlands de Vanesa R. Del Rey y Jordie Bellaire en español, échale un vistazo: Tres brujas. La historia de todas las mujeres desde la Antigüedad. Sangre. Fuego. Venganza. Justicia. La sociedad contemplando su propio retrato de Dorian Gray. Establecido, pues, que las mujeres son las grandes destructoras y desestabilizadoras del mundo de los hombres, entramos por fin a hablar de Redlands, el primer tebeo guionizado por la colorista Jordie Bellaire (apoyada para desarrollar la historia por la ex-editora y amante de los batidos Heather Antos), e ilustrado por la dibujante cubana y valor en alza Vanesa R. del Rey. Desde las primeras páginas de esta serie queda establecido que las autoras han abrazado por completo todos los prejuicios y afrentas históricas contra la mujer y les han dado la vuelta para transformarlas en literales fuerzas de la naturaleza, encarnadas en tres mujeres muy diferentes. Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— En Revista Cactus 29, Klari Moreno se transmuta en Lorenzo Montatore en su entrevista dibujada. Estupendo. 100%. Léanlo la entrevista AQUI. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

12/19/2017

Aaron CockleDecember 19, 2017NewsAaron Cockle today with Black Dada; Why, Comics?; Laura Park; Ai Wei Wei (in NYC); What is Bias in Machine Learning? ————————————————————————————————— Adam Pendleton and Black Dada Here are a couple pieces about Adam Pendleton’s excellent Black Dada Reader: Interviewed in his studio, Pendleton is quick to point out that the book, like much of his work, has always been an experiment. The Reader began its life as a spiral-bound book that lived in the artist’s studio, an attempt to create “a collage in book format” of texts that inspired him. “Originally it was an in-studio publication, in the sense that it wasn’t really meant necessarily for a wide distribution,” he explained. “It was really meant for me to refer to in the space of the studio while I was working on different projects. But I did hand out maybe a dozen copies, maybe more, to the people who would come to the studio, or people who were interested in the work and or the concept of Black Dada.” ————————————————————————————————— Panter/Groening DIY Here is an excerpt from Hillary Chute’s book, Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere, at the Lit Hub blog: The punk scene that launched cartoonists Panter and Groening was part of a larger punk movement that hit America, and the UK, in the mid-to-late 1970s. Both political and aesthetic, the punk movement, which often registered as a visceral or even violent response to mainstream pop culture, encouraged people to create their own culture across many different forms of production. This includes, most famously, the music that came to be known as punk rock. Punk culture often consolidated around bands, particularly their live performances, and the independent labels that developed to put out their music, along with the art and graphic design that went into their promotion—as well as the fanzines that articulated their ideas and goals. The “do-it-yourself” ethic is the defining feature of punk culture and production. As Jaime Hernandez, the creator, along with his brother Gilbert, of the famed long-running series Love and Rockets explained, he never realized he could be a cartoonist until he got involved with punk. “Then I thought, ‘Oh, this is kind of the same thing,’” Hernandez told the novelist and comics writer Neil Gaiman. “They were all the same to me, so if you could do that with punk, you could do that with comics.” ————————————————————————————————— A Cartoonist’s Darkly Magical and Autobiographical Work At Hyperallergic, Sarah Rose Sharp looks at the Laura Park exhibition and residency at the Columbus Museum of Art: “When you’re doing autobiography, you realize our lives are very repetitive, so a sense of magical realism starts to seep in there,” said Park, who cited British-American cartoonist Gabrielle Bell as an admired peer working in a similar vein. For example, in the story “Office32F,” Park’s comic stand-in discovers a miniature and mysterious office in the walls and baseboards of her apartment, apparently devoted to the task of close-monitoring her daily existence. The tale is equal parts cute and unsettling, with the protagonist taking cues from miniature written reports, which criticize her unkempt birdcage, but also lead her to finding a tiny pair of red mittens caught in a spider web and bizarrely soaking them in bleach and flushing them down the toilet. The specificity of Park’s visual and literary descriptions adds a sense of the uncanny to even the most quotidian urban activities, like Strangers on a Train, which captures moments while riding public transportation. ————————————————————————————————— Good Fences Make Good Neighbors Public Art Fund has a great interactive site detailing the current Ai Wei Wei installation in NYC. Ai Weiwei conceived this multi-site, multi-media exhibition for public spaces, monuments, buildings, transportation sites, and advertising platforms throughout New York City. Collectively, these elements comprise a passionate response to the global migration crisis and a reflection on the profound social and political impulse to divide people from each other. For Ai, these themes have deep roots. He experienced exile with his family as a child, life as an immigrant and art student in New York, and more recently, brutal repression as an artist and activist in China. The exhibition draws on many aspects of Ai’s career as a visual artist and architect, and is informed by both his own life experience and the plight of displaced people. In 2016, Ai and his team traveled to 23 countries and more than 40 refugee camps while filming his documentary, Human Flow. ————————————————————————————————— The Trouble With Bias (in Machine Learning) Via Boing Boing: “The Trouble with Bias,” Kate Crawford’s keynote at the 2017 Neural Information Processing Systems is a brilliant tour through different ways of thinking about what bias is, and when we should worry about it, specifically in the context of machine learning systems and algorithmic decision making — the best part is at the end, where she describes what we should do about this stuff, and where to get started. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 12-19-2017 – by Cameron Arthur —————————————————————————————————Joanie and Jordie – 12-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/24/2017

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Sally Ingraham

We finish the week with Mary Fleener, Isabel Bas Amat, Gloria Rivera, Miranda Harmon, and more!

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I just had a chance to check out Mineshaft #34 (Fall 2016) at Copacetic Comics and happened across Mary Fleener‘s piece for the zine (above). Only hours later I discovered that Women Write About Comics had posted an interview with Mary Fleener, which digs into what she’s currently working on, her recent experience with comics about local politics, and her long relationship with the medium. She is part of a relatively small group of female cartoonists who have been working steadily since the 70’s, and I am pleased to see that she is still totally invested in the community and is still making serious work – perhaps the best work of her life (keep an eye out for her new book Billie the Bee, a project she considers to be the hardest thing she’s ever done.)

Mary Fleener’s advice to an aspiring comics maker:

“Read a lot of books, look at a lot of art, and go to a lot of museums. I compare a lot of things to learning how to play a musical instrument. It’s almost like a Law of Nature. If you practice, you will get better. If you draw a lot, you will get better. Some people take longer, and some can do it right away, but if you do not practice you’ll get nowhere. Another thing, if you have a burning desire to try something, then you MUST. If you do not, you will always wonder what you missed out on. Envy is another thing that can either give you the drive to try harder or it can eat you up inside. If someone gets an award, congratulate them, don’t be bitter. One more thing: always say “Please” and “Thank you”.“

Read the rest of the interview HERE.

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Isabel Bas Amat’s comic series *Ana-Emilia and Her Family* from *TBO* No. 504

Thanks to the wonders of Google Translate I’ve been doing my best to learn about Isabel Bas Amat (b. 1931), a cartoonist from Barcelona, Spain, who was one of only three women to draw comics for the long-running comics magazine TBO (1917-1983). She began making work for the magazine in 1967, and her strip Ana-Emilia and Her Family (above) became popular. She was completely self taught and had very little communication with other cartoonists, so all of her work was based on the comics that she had grown up reading. She drew from an early age, and first sent her comics to a local magazine when she was 15. She had the satisfaction of seeing her work published, and was able to carry on making comics and doing illustration work. Her comic for TBO, a magazine she always hoped to be published in, featured a character that was based on the daughter of the publisher, Albert Viña. Like her character Ana-Emilia, Isabel was a climber and swimmer and tabletop tennis player – but comics were her first love.

There is an interview with Isabel Bas Amat on Tebeosfera – with the aid of Google Translate you can learn more about this rad cartoonist and see more of her strips and comics – HERE.

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A spread from Gloria Rivera’s *White Hot* – made for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2014

Gloria Rivera is in Pittsburgh this week for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. She is an alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers and is a member of the CW Roller Derby League so we know that she isn’t afraid of working hard. Now she is making the most of a week dedicated entirely to drawing and research – or “sparing in the dojo” as we call it around CW. We’ll hear more about her adventures next week – meanwhile follow the Rowhouse Residency Instagram account – @rowhouseresidency – and if you’re interested in joining us in Pittsburgh yourself, email santoroschool@gmail.com for more info!

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Miranda Harmon was thinking about the X-Men recently (above). See the rest of her musings HERE.

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Fish Fry Friday

M. S. Harkness is a cartoonists from Minneapolis, Minnesota who is headed to Pittsburgh this summer for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency – come hell or high water! Donate to her travel expenses if you can – this gal will probably crawl here if she has to, but it would be nice if she could at least take the train – check out her Generosity campaign HERE – and send M.S. Harkness to Pittsburgh!
The PEN America feature Illustrated PEN has an excerpt from Thi Bui’s new book, The Best We Could Do – HERE.
Pinup Girl Clothing has released a line of Los Hernandez Brothers clothes, which uses fabric with designs pulled from their large body of work. Cartoonist Sarah Dyer (who is best known for the 90’s Action Girl anthology) is the Art Director for the line, so anyone ELSE who thinks this is a marvelous fashion development can join me in thanking Sarah for it! More about the line HERE on The Comics Beat – and you can order the clothing HERE.
Sophie Goldstein treated herself to a Patreon for her birthday – support her HERE.
Women Write About Comics reviews Peter Bagge’s new book Fire!!: The Zora Neale Hurston Story.

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Blinkers – 3-24-2017 – by Jack Brougham

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Suzy and Cecil – 3-24-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 3-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged caleb orecchio, gabriella tito, gloria rivera, isabel bas amat, jack brougham, mary fleener, miranda harmon

Sally Ingraham

Posted on March 23, 2017

Explore

09/01/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 31, 2017NewsSally here with reviews of work by Sophia Foster-Dimino, Tara Booth, and Katie Skelly, plus other news worth knowing. ———————————————————————————————— I’ve been reading a PDF version of Sophia Foster-Dimino‘s new comic (sent out as an advance review copy), which is being released by Koyama Press in the next few weeks. It’s called Sex Fantasy and it is going to be lovely. It collects the mini comics she’s been making in limited editions for over 4 years, translating them into a little square book of 440 pages. Each page will contain a single panel, and perhaps folks will be inclined to zip through the book at speed but I recommend taking time to savor this one. Each “sex fantasy” is a poem which manages to capture something about human interactions, attractions, anxieties, and those brief moments of connection or total disconnect. The pieces are funny, whimsical, and sad, some all at the same time. I like Sophia’s playful, but elegant line. I made myself stop reading the PDF version since I want to thoroughly enjoy the book when it is released. If you’re curious to check it out in the meanwhile, you can see some of the pieces HERE on Sophia’s website. Be sure to look for the entire Fall lineup of comics from Koyama Press – new work by Connor Willumsen, GG, Noel Freibert, Patrick Kyle, and Hannah K. Lee! ———————————————————————————————— Tara Booth‘s How to Be Alive was part of the spring 2017 collection from Retrofit Comics, but it was only released in the past few weeks. I don’t always go for comics that go careening around a page without panels or a grid to contain them, but I do enjoy Tara’s work. The simple sequencing is effective, the gags are funny, and of course her color and patterning is exactly as loud and as bright as I like it. She captures what it’s like to be caught inside her body and emotions quite well. There is a sort of joy in her drawings and paintings, whether she is lying on the floor wracked with anxiety, popping a zit or cutting her bangs, or delighting in comfy PJs. Get a copy of How to Be Alive from Copacetic Comics. Check out more of Tara Booth’s work HERE and follow her on Instagram. ———————————————————————————————— Katie Skelly‘s new comic from Fantagraphics is a big hardcover that collects the series she started drawing in 2015. My Pretty Vampire tells the tale of Clover, a young vampire who escapes the imprisonment of her brother to seek freedom and blood. How she became a vampire and how her brother was involved is deliberately unclear, but to me that was the only truly intriguing part of the story. Katie is playing with the horror genre, making her pretty blonde play the roll of both virginal survivor and slasher, but the comic fizzles before the end. Clover evades the pursuit of her brother and his hired detective, manages to stay out of the sun, mostly, and kills a bunch of folks. There seems to be a thread of abuse and certainly the potential for revenge, but that remains just a promise. You can expect erotic episodes in Katie’s work, and this comic has its share, plus it features Katie’s first use of full color. She was inspired by the spot coloring in Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest, and tried to go for the grotesque effect of almost overwhelming color (according to this interview on CBR). Maybe it’s because of the large format with lots of space, but the block coloring of the piece doesn’t appeal to me. (I just keep thinking about Photoshop’s paint bucket.) There are some interesting spreads, but overall I didn’t find this comic to be as strong as I’d expected. Of course you must judge it for yourself – get a copy of My Pretty Vampire HERE. NPR did one of their “cover crushes” on My Pretty Vampire – see what inspired Katie’s cover design HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Less Subjective News Emma Allen is the new humor and cartoon editor at The New Yorker. Artsy features a profile on her. Rob Kirby reviews Summer Pierre‘s Paper Pencil Life #5 on The Comics Journal. Julia Wertz offers an excerpt from her upcoming book – Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City, out in October – which provides a brief history of the Village Voice. Speaking of the Village Voice, they recently announced that they’re discontinuing the print edition of the paper after 62 years. Lauren Weinstein‘s strip Normal Person appeared in the print edition for over a year, but I think it will continue being published online – regardless, her most recent strip details what will be lost when the Village Voice is purely virtual. Jessica Campbell is publishing comics on Hyperallergic (I had neglected to notice before!) – her most recent one is about Gauguin… Hilary Brown reviews Mimi Pond‘s The Customer is Always Wrong on Paste. ———————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook is hosting workshops at SPX 2017 and I’m pleased to say that this year instead of running tech and passing out index cards, I’ll be doing that stuff PLUS leading a workshop myself, along with Audra Stang (the pair of us are pictured above). For a complete list of the workshops VISIT THIS SITE – and please signup in advance for the workshops you want to attend, as they will fill up quickly. ———————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro made a comic book about his parents and now he needs help making a handbound copy of the book for each of them. It’s a good story. Check out the Indiegogo campaign HERE – or if you want to contribute via PayPal, look at the campaign HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-1-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ———————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

04/18/2018

Juan FernándezApril 18, 2018los Cómics / NewsBRÍGIDA, Quique Alcatena, Elisa McCausland + TEBEOSFERA, y Alexis Ziritt! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ Este viernes, 20 de abril, a las 19 hrs. en PLOP Galeria se lanza BRÍGIDA, revista de historietas hechas por mujeres de Sol Díaz, Marcela Trujillo, Isabel Molina , Catalina Mendoza, Karina Cocq, Paloma Valdivia, Katherine Supnem, Pati Aguilera y Sol Undurraga entre otras! Quieren saber más? Sol Díaz charlo con Belén Roca Urrutia de el Desconcierto sobre el nacimiento y el crecimiento de BRÍGIDA. ¿Cómo se crea el proyecto “BRÍGIDA”? Es una inquietud que compartimos, desde hace un tiempo, con el equipo editorial de la revista. Nos hemos dado cuenta, en el día a día como ilustradoras, que el dibujo es un medio muy mirado en menos por el resto de las expresiones artísticas. Hay dos prejuicios muy arraigados en la gente, que impiden que se acerquen, siquiera, a conocer más sobre lo que está pasando: el primero, que “los monos” son cosa de niños. La ilustración, por el contrario, no puede ser más transversal. En estos días no es tanto, pero siempre al dibujo se le da esta connotación infantil; el segundo tiene que ver con las historietas y los superhéroes. Siempre con historias fantásticas, siempre con la mina tetona… estilos de dibujo y narraciones que, personalmente, no me llaman la atención. Muy masculinizado todo. Con “Brígida” queremos desmontar estos prejuicios y mostrar que hay harto trabajo, hecho por mujeres, cada una con su propio rollo. El primer número incluye el trabajo de Margarita Valdés, Magdalena Armstrong, Camila Barrales, Catalina Bustos, Karina Cocq, Otto, Sofía Flores, Amanda Mijangos, Florencia Olivos, Paloma Valdivia, Sol Undurraga, Katherine Supnem y Arolas Uribe,además de las colaboraciones de las cuatro editoras: Isabel Molina, Pati Aguilera, Marcela Trujillo y yo. Léanlo todo AQUI! —————————————— LA IMAGINACIÓN AL PODER. ENTREVISTA CON QUIQUE ALCATENA Hoy les invito léer la segunda parte de la entrevista al Quique Alcatena en Revista Kamandi. Hablaron en profundidad de su paso por la industria estadounidense, su desencanto con la maquinaria norteamericana, sus colaboraciones con los guionistas y sus proyectos actuales… Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— Les presento n° 6 de la revista TEBEOSFERA , con un dossier monográfico coordinado por Elisa McCausland sobre del tema “CÓMIC Y FEMINISMO”. Es un a coleccíon maravillosa de ensayos! Léanlo todo AQUI. Last but not least, exciting things are happening in the world of Alexis Ziritt… Check out this update from his Artist Shop! (It’s”all over” the place 😉 ) —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-18-2018 – by Sally Ingraham – – – – – – – Joanie and Jordie – 4-18-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/15/2016

Aaron CockleMarch 15, 2016NewsComics in China Cartoonist and critic R. Orion Martin did a brief overview of Chinese webcomics on the TCJ blog a while ago. From his post: ‘Although there are many working cartoonists, publishing is tightly controlled and few are able to reach a wide audience through bookstores. As a result, many cartoonists publish their comics on social media sites such as Douban. Douban began in 2005 as a review and recommendation site, and is something like a mix between Facebook, IMDb, and Tumblr.’ Artwork above by Scarlet-Faced Dog and Bu Er Miao, respectively. ————————————————————————————————— MoCCA 2016 Programming Schedule The Society of Illustrators MoCCA Arts Festival is April 2-3, 2016. As with previous years, there is a robust programming schedule. Of specific interest to readers of this newsblog would be the lead-off talk with Phoebe Gloeckner and Ariel Schrag, as well as the ‘Venn Diagram: Art/Comics’ discussion with Bill Kartalopoulos, Austin English, Aidan Koch, and Blaise Larmee. But really, there’s something for everyone this year. The above 2016 MoCCA Arts Festival image is by Noelle Stevenson. ————————————————————————————————— Laura Poitras + Vigée Le Brun 2 exhibits by 2 artists with very different relationships to institutional power are currently on view in NYC. Laura Poitras: ASTRO NOISE is at the Whitney Museum through May 1, and Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France is at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 15. ————————————————————————————————— Pedagogical Sketchbook Based on Paul Klee’s extensive lectures on visual form at the Bauhaus Staatliche Art School. Originally handwritten – as a pile of working notes he used in his lectures – it was eventually edited by Walter Gropius, designed by László Moholy-Nagy and published in 1925 as a Bauhaus student manual (Bauhausbucher No.2, as the second in the series of the fourteen Bauhaus books) under the original title: Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch. It was translated into English by Sibyl Moholy-Nagy (in 1953), who also wrote an introduction for it. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Journalism and The COJO List This is a newly-launched and expansive clearing house for all things comics journalism and nonfiction comics-related, run by Josh Kramer and Em DeMarco. Above image by Susie Cagle. Share this page: [...]

10/20/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 20, 2016NewsSam Ombiri is here today with some thoughts on his experience at the Pittsburgh Zine Fair, and then Sally Ingraham rounds up some other happenings in the greater comics community! ————————————————————————————————— thank you for attending the 2016 #pittsburghzinefair! we had almost 700 attendees this year, our largest turnout ever! another big thanks to our exhibitors, sponsors, and partners. watch this space for upcoming events soon! #zines #pittsburgh pic credit: @annesleyadventures A photo posted by Pittsburgh Zine Fair (@pittsburghzinefair) on Oct 16, 2016 at 6:49pm PDT Sam Ombiri was helping run the Pittsburgh Comics Salon table at the zine fair this past weekend. He writes: The Pittsburgh Zine Fair was a lot of fun, it was a such great environment. There was a constant wave of sound the whole time I was there. I’d try to make out what people were talking about from a small distance, but I guess that’s not how it works. I like how one person doesn’t see what the other sees – I maybe see person 1 and 3, but because I’m moving along too quickly I totally miss person 2. So I could think I found the coolest zines, but someone else shows me that’s not the case. This one guy’s book was about being in a place where someone else had previously left their mark there, and his fascination of the ghost like quality that comes with someone else being there before he’s there – but as he said, “I’m trying to avoid being didactic about it.” His name was Alex Lukas. I dig his marks, I wish I browsed more of his stuff, he has really cool work on his website. I talked to him a bit, then I went back to my table, then I went back to buy a book from him, then I gave him one of my zines (without intention of trading,) to which he generously gave me three, and then I walked away. He wanted to have a lot of ambiguity in the work, so that the readers draw their own conclusions to it – altogether irrelevant from his intentions. I started to think about what Alex’s intention was for his pictures of, say, rocks with chalk drawn on them by some mysterious people (who we don’t know what they looked like, their way of life, or their concerns – we know about them themselves through the marks that they left). In my view, the marks on the rocks were fueled by boredom, and the ones who drew it were moving their hands before they themselves realized they were moving their hands, and something else altogether powerful was moving through this, and that power is there in those marks they made. With that mark they left there’s not too much concern about design or maybe there was concern with design. So, Alex’s work, or at least the book, makes you think it’s design oriented. I guess this happens because Alex has designed the book, but the people who leave their marks not so much. There’s a couple of photographs of graffiti and signs, but he wasn’t taking a picture just because it just looked cool, I think. This will most likely be the only way we have of knowing them instead of seeing their face or hearing their voice. Then on top of that Alex copied the pattern on security envelopes and added them to confuse you as the reader, to my understanding it was just for having an effect there, but he said it also served in adding ambiguity. There was other people I got great stuff from as well – I did not leave dissatisfied, far from it. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Frank, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen made it safely back from the U.K. earlier this week, after a wildly successful trip to The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal. Frank scribbled some thoughts about the show on the plane home, and we have shared them here on the site. A taster: “One of the current riffs about comics festivals is that many different shows exist within the show. Meaning, you can go to SPX and not even see everything or miss your friends completely – whereas in years past you could lap the room each hour and see everything and everyone there. LICAF is different insomuch as it is not situated centrally in a hotel or a convention center. So what happens is that one has their interactions in the town of Kendal itself. The Brewery Arts Centre provides ample space to host everyone and the short walk to the Clock Tower is where I found myself most often running into friendly faces – friends and strangers alike. It was very pleasant, I thought, especially because it was so unlike what we are used to in the States and specific to the town of Kendal.” – Frank Santoro Read the rest of the report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Cartoon Crossroads Columbus for the Comics Workbook team – in one minute! Full festival report coming Friday, thanks to Whit Taylor – stay tuned! #comicsworkbook #cxc2016 A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 19, 2016 at 2:20pm PDT The rest of the team was in Ohio last weekend for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – Whit Taylor will provide a full report for us soon – meanwhile you can get a taste of the show above! ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg led a workshop for Comics Workbook at CXC, and as I was cleaning up afterward I noticed that attendee Phil Dokes had left his pages behind – check it out: ————————————————————————————————— #Repost @madegibbs with @repostapp ・・・ Ronald Wimberly at CMA, ey! A video posted by Ronald Wimberly (@ronaldwimberly) on Oct 18, 2016 at 6:16pm PDT Ronald Wimberly is the 2016 graphic-novelist-in-residence at the Columbus Museum of Art – over 100 pieces of his art will hang in the museum through this coming February, and he will be staying at the Thurber House through the end of this month working on his own projects and hanging out with high school students in the Young Writers’ Studio program. He got a lot of hype over the weekend of CXC, of course, and the Columbus Dispatch wrote a nice piece about him and the residency program. ————————————————————————————————— Copacetic Comics is hosting an auction of some SUPER scarce or rare Michael DeForge items – check it out HERE! ————————————————————————————————— P.S. A video about the Pittsburgh Zine Fair by Dan Scullin: Share this page: [...]

09/05/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 5, 2016NewsJuan here. It’s Labor Day in the United States, which means no insane barrage of news for today. Just the juicy bits. Celebrate Labor History & Mourn the end of summer. If you’re still hankering for a massive dose of comics jump into this years submissions to the Comics Workbook Composition Contest. There were a record number entries this year and some real gems. Read them all HERE. ————————————————————————————————— If you haven’t caught wind already, Comics Workbook will be firing on all cylinders at SPX this year. We are excited to announce that Comics Workbook will be hosting a series of special workshops at SPX this year! A Danger Room of our own. Learn more about this year’s special Comics Workbook workshops HERE. We will be at table N8 this year – stop by and say “Hello” – check out new work by Frank and our students – buy some old comics from Frank’s mind blowingly extensive collection. More to come! We’ll be back full force tomoroow, coming at you like an SPX maelstrom. Hold on to your butts -JF Share this page: [...]

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