Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Ecuador, Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch, Jay Lynch, marc bell, nick gazin, VICE

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016

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07/29/2016

Sally IngrahamJuly 29, 2016NewsSally here, ready to dig into a roller-coaster of a week. We went from the excitement of the Eisner Awards to the wild Democratic National Convention, and then were hit with the sad passing of two comic masters – and the week isn’t over yet! Perhaps we will be able to catch our breath and our balance today? ————————————————————————————————— First up, a summer report from Frank Santoro, live from the Rowhouse Residency in Pittsburgh, PA – ————————————————————————————————— The EISNER AWARDS! They were incredible this year. Image Comics may have claimed the most awards, but it was Drawn & Quarterly that owned the stage that night (pictured above, publisher Peggy Burns accepting the Best Anthology award for Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-five years of contemporary comics, cartoons, and graphic novels). From the D+Q blog: “D+Q authors were nominated in five categories and swept all five of them, with wins for Kate Beaton (Best Humor Publication for Step Aside, Pops), Shigeru Mizuki (Best American Edition of International Material – Asia for Showa 1953-1989), Jillian Tamaki (Best Publication for Teens for SuperMutant Magic Academy) and Adrian Tomine (Best Short Story for “Killing and Dying”)! Beaton was the first solo female cartoonist to win in the humor category, a deserved and significant win. In addition to all that wonderfulness, two of our legendary and defining authors, Lynda Barry and Tove Jansson were inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.” Read more about D+Q’s Eisner sweep HERE, as well as a transcript of Peggy Burns’ wonderful speech inducting Tove Jansson into the hall of fame. Paste Magazine has a more general overview of the Eisner Awards, and the complete list of winners HERE. And for even more SDCC and Eisner Awards coverage: Jamie Coville recorded the ceremony plus 21 panels during the week, and took a million photos for The Comics Beat. You can check it all out HERE. Of particular interest to me were the panels “We Need Diverse Comics” with Raina Telgemeier, Nilah Magruder, Ron Wimberly, Ben Hatke, Nidhi Chanani and moderator Glen Weldon; the “Daniel Clowes Spotlight” with Clowes and Eric Reynolds; the “Trina Robbins Spotlight“; and “The Complete Wimmen’s Comix: Her-Story” with founders and contributors Trina Robbins, Terre Richards, Sharon Ruduhl, Lee Marrs, Rebecka Wright, Mary Fleener, Joan Hilty and Barbara “Willy” Mendes. ————————————————————————————————— Here on the site, Jillian Fleck has a fascinating report on a thriving corner of the comics world that many of us may not be aware of. Graphic Medicine is a thing, and a great thing at that – Jillian digs into why, via her experiences at the Graphic Medicine 2016 Conference in Dundee, Scotland earlier this month. Read the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Okay, let’s turn to politics briefly – The Nib has held my attention all week with comics that explore the scene around the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Once again Sophie Louise Dam killed it, this time teaming up with Eleri Harris. Their comic gets you on the Democratic Platform and makes you want to linger there – check it out HERE. CNN caught up with Matt Bors, editor of The Nib, and followed him around on day 4 of the DNC, checking in with the artists and getting the “funny” side of things. Video below. ————————————————————————————————— The Washington Post reported on Wednesday – “RICHARD THOMPSON, the “Cul de Sac” cartoonist who is widely considered one of the greatest comic-strip creators and illustrators of his generation, died Wednesday in Northern Virginia, family friends confirm. He was 58.” – via Michael Cavna John Martz drew some memories of Richard Thompson for Slate – See the rest HERE. Jack Davis also died on Wednesday, at the age of 91. The Comics Journal has begun collecting tributes to this beloved cartoonist, written by the likes of Gary Panter, Peter Bagge, and Jim Woodring among others – with more to come. Check them out HERE. And it was Gary Groth himself who sat down to write an obituary for Jack Davis for The Comics Journal, which you can read HERE. ————————————————————————————————— NPR turned it’s gaze to minicomics this week, with Etelka Lehoczky’s brief look at a few titles she got her hands on recently – among them Bonnie N. Collide, Nine to Five by Monica Gallagher. About minicomics Lehoczky wrote – “Shouldn’t minicomics be obsolete by now? Printed by their creators in tiny batches and sold for a few bucks at “alternative” comic shops and conventions, they’re as cumbersome to produce as they are to obtain. It would be much more sensible for the artists to just put up their work online — right? Fortunately, these artists aren’t interested in being sensible. They’re in love with the unique tangibility of print on paper, the sight and feel of pages under their fingers. It’s a powerful yen, as evidenced by the recent resurgence of printed books in the larger publishing world. There are enough artists who share it to make minicomics a thriving and diverse genre. Some of these creations really are “mini” — they may be 4″x6″ or smaller, or contain only eight pages. Even if they’re magazine-sized, they take some work to discover.” via NPR Check out the rest of the article and the minicomic reviews HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Lastly, also here on Comics Workbook today, we have a new Art Trip piece from Anna Mancini! Not to give anything away, but she was in a museum in Rio de Janeiro and had a definite encounter with comics. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Hang in there folks! The summer still has surprises for us I think. – Sally Share this page: [...]

08/10/2018

Sally IngrahamAugust 9, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with Penelope Bagieu’s “California Dreamin'” – plus a look at “Dakota North” and other news and comics! ————————————————————————————————— I thoroughly enjoyed Penelope Bagieu‘s California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas (2017). It’s a great use of the comics medium as a vehicle for biography. Bagieu tells the story of Ellen “Mama Cass” Elliot’s life leading up to the formation of the band The Mamas & the Papas, using the narrative voice of dozens of people who were part of her life. Her childhood and teens are revealed by members of her family and her first voice teacher, and then the story is picked up by friends, lovers, and bandmates. A complexity of prose-based biography is introducing and keeping straight all these people who surround a famous figure – providing the context for their relationship and explaining why their view matters. Handled poorly, it can be confusing and boring. However, Bagieu uses comics to neatly circomvent any such issues – each chapter simply begins with the name of the new narrator, and then plummets into their version of the story. Bagieu’s characterizations brilliantly capture the personality of the narrator while continuing the construction of the larger-than-life Cass Elliot. The humor and warmth of her drawings make the story wonderfully compelling. Cass is lovingly brought to life, full of passion and awkward grace. The musical world she tumbled through is well captured, and somehow even the sound of her voice seems to float up out of the pages of the book. The moment when she and future members of The Mamas & the Papas begin to write California Dreamin’ is a highlight of the comic, hilariously revealed from the viewpoint of Cass’ mother. Penelope Bagieu is a French cartoonist who has followed up her first graphic novel – (Exquisite Corpse, 2015) – with two terrific offerings published in America recently – this book (2017), along with the excellent 2018 collection Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. Keep an eye on her – I can only assume and hope that she will continue to make good work that will entertain and enlighten us! Check out Michael Cavna’s Washington Post review of California Dreamin’ HERE for more thoughts on this comic. ————————————————————————————————— There’s an excellent writeup on Dakota North over on The Comics Journal, a “revisit” by Keith Silva of the 1980’s 5-issue series. I am really fond of this series, but am somewhat astonished to note that there is a deluxe reprint now available. Exciting times! The series was the only comic written by Martha Thomases (ever), and it’s female, regular-powered hero, was remarkable for it’s time. Keith Silva has all the details on how Dakota North came to be, what the series was up against, and why it was cancelled, so I won’t reiterate that here – read the article. Briefly: “And yeah, like any (super)hero worth her salt, Dakota does indeed ride a motorcycle out of a service elevator and into a New York fashion shoot. She also rides the same motorcycle up an escalator in a chic Manhattan department store. She shakes off sheikhs, battles a bloodthirsty raptor, and outfoxes a monster truck in Rockefeller Center. And does so with fierce aplomb, style, and a sense of adventure. Dogged and defiantly independent, Dakota North is a fashion-forward comic whose style never caught on. To say Dakota North was an outlier is a disservice to outliers. The moment Ms. North starts stylin’ is when the ground began to shift under comics—Dakota North #3 comes out the same month as Batman: The Dark Knight #4 and Watchmen #1 . Now, it would be an act of hubris and hyperbole to say two neophyte creators like Thomases and Salmons (even with a wily vet like Hama at the helm) would come close to equaling the murder’s row of Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lyn Varley, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. Proximity to greatness does not make something great, and Dakota North is not on par with the craft, canniness and inventiveness of those ’80s masterpieces. And yet what Dakota North lacks in artistic pedigree it makes up for in chutzpah, idiosyncrasy, and how it outdistances its peers in representation and female agency. So subtle is it in its subversion, representation, and agency it almost passes as insignificant, almost. What Dakota North wanted was be seen as an equal in her world and the world writ large. She was a disruption of the status quo and way ahead of her time, perhaps even today. That’s why Dakota North matters.” Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Other News of Note Phoebe Gloeckner is the Guest Editor of 2018’s Best American Comics – more info HERE. For any UK readers – Posy Simmonds has an exhibition of original artwork and unseen sketches – details HERE. Also, Paul Gravett recently listed Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe as one of four highly recommended graphic novels – HERE. The New Yorker has a short feature on it’s Women Cartoonists – Then and Now. The Harvey Award nominees have been announced – lots of good stuff on the list – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

08/09/2016

Aaron CockleAugust 8, 2016NewsAaron here today with Jaime Hernandez covers; the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival; Zika Virus – Watch Out!; Sara Lautman on Grudges; Leela Corman on Jewish Comics; some Daniel Clowes Work up for Auction ————————————————————————————————— This week’s Featured Comic is from the Comics Workbook Roller Derby Team Berg/Doersch/Fleck/Huskisson/Lisa/Mancini/Mardou/Tito have covered Locas Starring Hopey, by Jaime Hernandez. Image above by Jennifer Lisa. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook at the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival Our illustrious founder Frank Santoro, along with CW stalwarts Aidan Koch and Connor Willumsen, will be in attendance at the upcoming Lakes International Comic Art Festival, October 14-16 in Kendal, UK. Santoro, Koch, and Willumsen will be conducting a Composition Competition Workshop on October 15 that should not be missed, especially if you happen to be in the Lakes District or are able to travel there. Koch and Willumsen will be conducting their own respective workshops as well. This is shaping up to be a top-notch festival! ————————————————————————————————— Maki Naro has a comic about the Zika virus over at Fusion.net. ————————————————————————————————— How To Hold A Grudge, by Sara Lautman ————————————————————————————————— Leela Corman’s Jewish Comics Rundown Corman covers a lot of comics history in a relatively short amount of space here. ————————————————————————————————— Rowhouse Auction: D. Clowes Edition This week’s Rowhouse auction will start Wednesday (August 10) at 1200 EST. We will be auctioning off artwork and other rarities generously donated by the great Daniel Clowes over on eBay. Stay tuned for details – or email Frank here santoroschoolATgmail.com – You won’t want to miss this! Share this page: [...]

06/14/2018

Sally IngrahamJune 14, 2018NewsSally here with a roundup of reviews and commentary on Frank Santoro’s “Pompei”, which was published in Italy in May 2018 by 001 Edizioni! ——————————————————————————— Frank Santoro‘s Pompeii (PictureBox, 2013) was published in Italy in 2018 by 001 Edizioni. Pompei was released during the Naples Comicon (April 28-May 1 2018) where Frank was a special guest. In addition, an exhibition of original artwork from Pompei was held at the Archeological Museum of Naples from April 18-May 31 2018. More about that exhibition can be found HERE. Several Italian critics, comics makers, and fans have written about Pompei since the release of the comic in Italy. Valerio Stivè, who translated Pompei for 001 Edizioni, was kind enough to translate those reviews into English for us. We present them here for you, with links to the original Italian publications where appropriate. The Afterward for the 001 Edizioni edition of Pompei was written by Manuele Fior (translated from Italian here by Valerio Stivè). If my personal library was threatened by a the eruption of a volcano, Pompeii by Frank Santoro is among the few books I would save. The subject of this graphic novel is drawing; drawing the living, that are drawn while they draw, and drawing the dead, who, hugging each other, become drawings. Here, the lines mix up, multiplying the levels of reading, and we don’t know if what we see is a face on paper, on canvas, or on a mural painting. The book is about drawing, and its ability to seduce, to distract from death, to imagine a future, and to establish an eternal testimony. There are no second thoughts in Frank’s line, no rubber strokes, only shameless immediacy that offers itself to the reader in its most direct essence, full of errors and clumsiness. This is the best and only way to express the unique strength of some of his compositions, of the raw sensuality of flesh, and especially, of the most necessary of all, the love between two people. This is a graphic novel that, for its intensity, I can never read in one breath. I have to stop, with shivers on my back, and reach for my heart. This is a book that looks like it was drawn on a stone dug up from the ashes, to which time has erased colors and details, while preserving the deeply human living trace of the intentions of this great cartoonist. – Manuele Fior Daniele Barbieri‘s review of Pompei was originally published on Fumettologica on May 5th 2018. Valerio Stivè translates it from Italian below (with sections in bold retained from Barbieri’s original piece): The idea of narrating a historic event through the personal events of a single fictional character in order to let the reader/spectator empathize with the story and understand the events – then comprehending History in a much deeper way than reading a History book – is not new. In literary fiction, as well as in cinema and comics, that is a common and effective narrative device, as long as the reader is able to understand it. Our present times can become the present of those events (despite the historical and cultural differences); and an every day life that we recognize as familiar suddenly fades into something totally different: the historic event itself. If limited to this, Pompeii by Frank Santoro could be seen as a story like many others, maybe more delicate and emotive. Yet there already are so many tales of the last days of Pompeii, even similar to this… The thing is that there is so much more in here. From the very first pages, even before one could figure out where the story would go, the drawing looks rapid, approximative; almost like a sketch or a storyboard – where the imperfect lines are not erased, but adjusted, leaving the imperfection in plain site. No colours, obviously, just some quick textures for the shadows, with an overall sense of temporariness and instability. Then, the story starts to take shape: Marcus, the main character, is an assistant to a painter who is probably going to become famous and move to Rome. Marcus prepares his colours and helps him with the paintings, while forced to be complicit in the painter’s affair with a princess, that needs to be kept hidden from Alba, his suspicious partner. Marcus has a woman too, Lucia, with whom he left Paestum, where he has no intention to come back: he wants to become a portrait painter in Pompeii – just like his master – to make money and start a family with Lucia. This is the picture of everyday affections and little tensions on which the eruption of the Vesuvius occurs. Obviously, the event leaves everyone astonished. However, Marcus encourages the painter to draw that shocking event right away (while it still has to fully take place). “You can add it to the landscape commission! You’ll be the first to paint the gods in action!” he says. The idea of drawing, which was there since the beginning of the story – but, before this, only in the work of the painter – now becomes more and more relevant. Please read the complete review in English HERE. Francesco Boille wrote about Pompei for Internazionale – you can see the magazine article in Italian above. Valerio Stivè translates it into English below. Pompeii fluidly tells a story of happy every day life of two couples from different social backgrounds, before the apocalypse that happened in August of the year 79 B.C. Santoro uses almost unfinished images that remind us of so many things from the History of Art, from cave painting onwards. He focuses on the act of drawing rather than on the act of painting – as Manuele Fior points out in his afterword – which “offers itself to the reader in its most direct essence”. This serves as a metaphor of the fact that images are only shadows, ghosts of the past, just like every one of us will be someday. Sketches of life and sketches of drawings are mixed up, and Santoro reverses the intense petrified physicality of the molds produced from human bodies in Pompeii into a totally lighter dimension. Looks like Frank Santoro, in contrast to the caducity of all things, is showing that the idea of how the strength of poetry expresses itself at best in its most ethereal form, as a unique way to go beyond time and space. To the cold and conceptual approach of most of American graphic novels, Santoro prefers a European approach, based on a free, soft and aerial line. Redesigned in a such a personal way. He comes up with a masterpiece of poetry in its most pure form, a masterpiece about the idea of poetry itself; and he does that while putting together frail and incomplete fragments of an artistic greatness that once was. – Francesco Boille, for Internazionale May 2018 Simona Di Rosa wrote a review of Pompei for FuoriPosto on May 23rd 2018. Valerio Stivè translates it from Italian into English below. Premiered at Napoli COMICON, Pompeii – a graphic novel published by 001 Edizioni from Torino – is written and drawn by Frank Santoro, and set in Pompeii a few days before the eruption that destroyed the city. The book – a large softcover edition – was published in collaboration with COMICON and the Archeological Museum of Naples, which until May 31st will be hosted an exhibition of original artwork from the book. Frank Santoro resides in Pittsburgh, where he manages artists’ residencies hosting and helping fellow cartoonists. He is not well known in Italy, and yet he is among the most original voices in contemporary avant garde American comics scene, thanks to Pompeii, published in the USA five years ago. Santoro has an artisanal approach to comics making, using poor tools – mostly pencils and markers – perfect to tell a story set in the ancient Pompeii, showing its historic value while supporting a touching plot, deeply touching despite the unavoidable outcome. Please read the complete review in English HERE. Get a copy of Pompeii by Frank Santoro in English from Copacetic Comics – HERE! Also, be sure to check out Frank’s new book, the stunning Pittsburgh (Éditions çà et là, May 2018 – currently available in French only!) You can read more about the book HERE. ——————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-14-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/02/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 2, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre: Arnau Sánz; Convocatoria Tragaluz; Sacapunta.cl; lanzamiento del informe de Clima Escolar; Tarantula a todo color en AdHouse; el Proceso de Vanesa R. Del Rey. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡“Quiero publicar mis libros desde mi editorial” Entrevista a Arnau Sánz P.: La autoedición ofrece tanto ventajas como inconvenientes al autor a la hora de crear la obra. ¿Cuáles son para tí los más importantes? R.: El control del trabajo. Yo he sacado tres libros en editoriales. En algún caso, con problemas de distribución, control de ventas, etc. De esta forma, sigo haciendo el mismo trabajo que hacía antes (dibujar, buscar firmas y entrevistas, moverlo, etc ), pero al menos sé que si algo no funciona es mi responsabilidad. Por suerte, tanto en Edicions de Ponent como en Apa Apa, la libertad a la hora de afrontar la historia, tanto gráficamente como narrativamente siempre ha sido total. El único inconveniente que encuentro, es el desembolso económico para imprimir las copias. El resto, a nuestro nivel de ventas, se puede hacer poco a poco. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡La editorial colombiana, Tragaluz, viene de anunciar una convocatoria para los cómics! Por supuesto, como no es un concurso sino una convocatoria pública, la propuesta debe estar firmada y llevar datos de contacto. Para que sepan: pueden participar autores de cualquier lugar del mundo! Hace un año nos inventamos una metodología para abordar una situación con la que lidiamos todas las editoriales del mundo: la cantidad tan grande de proyectos que recibimos todos los días de parte de escritores e ilustradores interesados en publicar. Quisimos que las propuestas que llegaban una a una a lo largo de todo el año se concentraran en solo dos semanas, para luego sentarnos a sistematizar todo lo recibido y programar cuándo y cómo leer, evaluar y tomar una decisión. Viendo que podíamos aprovechar los errores para mejorar la experiencia, este año decidimos repetir: de nuevo, entre el 1 y el 15 de noviembre habilitaremos el correo quieropublicar@tragaluzeditores.compara recibir todo tipo de proyectos editoriales terminados. Todo lo que necesitan saber sobre la convocatoria, en este enlace. Muchos más detalles por allá! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Pablo Selin, el Comics Workbook master-mind chileno del diseño de nuestro website, y un equipo de dibujantes y amantes de los cómics estan armando un nuevo website que sirvira como foro para los cómics chilenos y latinoamericanos (críticas, reseñas, noticias y otros cómics), se llama “SACAPUNTA”. Ponte a explorarló! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Hoy es el lanzamiento del informe de Clima Escolar. Acá un detalle del trabajo ilustrado por Sindy Elefante, para verlo completo: Hoy, 1° de noviembre de 2016, es la presentación de la primera encuesta nacional de clima escolar a niños LGBT de Colombia que lleva por nombre “Mi voz cuenta”, realizada por Sentiido y Colombia Diversa. Esta fue hecha entre diciembre de 2015 y marzo de 2016 de forma totalmente anónima, distribuida en redes sociales. Más de 550 niños y adolescentes entre 13 y 20 años la respondieron. Las cifras evidencian una preocupante realidad. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Han oido las buenas noticias? Ya pueden pedir Tarantula a todo color! AdHouse esta publicando este primer volumen de la novela policíaca, psicodelica y a la vez satanica del equipo Alexis Ziritt y Fabian Rangel Jr. y Evelyn Rangel. Si no has leido Tarantula – aquí tienes un preview 😉 Psychedelic pulp. Satanic noir. The story of three unusual agents of order trying to bring justice to a world on the brink of chaos. The pulp of yesterday retold through the lens of modern, over-the-top, psychedelic storytelling. The team that took the indie world by storm with SPACE RIDERS sets their sights on pulpy supernatural action/adventure! ————————————————————————————————— ⚡El proceso de la gran Vanesa R. Del Rey en acción! Estudia estos videos, jóvenes padawans. Seguro que aprenderas algo! 👻 ✨magik ✨👻 WIP pic.twitter.com/QOVfoDUDgJ — Vanesa R. Del Rey (@VDelRey) October 31, 2016 ✨🔮✨ pic.twitter.com/UNGp0Z7ZBs — Vanesa R. Del Rey (@VDelRey) October 31, 2016 ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Echale un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii! “Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición”. – Frank Santoro Puedes comprar uno aquí! ————————————————————————————————— hasta la próxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

04/18/2016

Posted on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016 by Juan Fernández

North American independent comics focus today; Comics Workbook Benefit Auction in its final days; Submitting comics to VICE; Marc Bell reflects on the past couple of months; Jay Lynch Collection joins the Billy Ireland; The Garden of Earthly Delights invites you in.
– Juan Fernández
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Ecuadorian Earthquake Victims
I wanted to take the time before we talked comics to ask for your help after the 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador that happened yesterday.

There are cities that are completely devastated, people trapped under debris waiting to be rescued, towns without electricity, running water or communication.

There are some initiatives receiving donations to send help to those in need. Here is a link to one of them that my friend Luis Eduardo is involved with: https://www.gofundme.com/hqzjghm4

Also, here’s an article where you will find other organizations at the end that are also receiving donations: http://www.bustle.com/…/155170-how-to-help-the-ecuador-eart…

Any and all help is appreciated. If you are not able to donate, please help us by sharing these initiatives.

Thank you so much for your help!

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COMICS WORKBOOK BENEFIT AUCTION ENDS SOON

There are ONLY TWO DAYS left for our benefit auction. Take a gander at the INCREDIBLE AUCTION of original Chris Ware artwork that is being held to benefit the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency.You don’t want to miss this opportunity to make this incredible art yours.

Check it out: The auction is live HERE, and will continue through mid-day Wednesday. We need your support and you need this art!

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VICE | Comics | Accepting Submissions
If you are looking for a good venue to publish some stand alone comics work, take not that VICE is taking submissions. You get a regular deadline, to make work in color, get an audience and they pay.

From Nick Gazin:

I need new comics for VICE.

The basic guidelines of Vice Comics is that the comics should all be:
-in color
-at least a page
-have characters, dialogue and stories
-not serlialized or to-be-continued
-each page should be a 2000 pixel wide jpeg no larger than 1mb.
-no racism, sexism or homophobia
-no comics about VIce or “hipsters”
-no genitals or sex acts
-should contain dialogue and moment-to-moment panel transitions
-should not rely heavily on narration. Actions and interactions should tell the story. Show, don’t tell.

Check out what I’m running at vice.com/comics

If you have stuff that’s already done or samples of comics you’ve made send them as low resolution email attachments to nick.gazin@vice.com

This might be a good opportunity for you. Shoot Gazin an email if you’re interested.

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Pouring Melted Snow in a Pan
Marc Bell does a couple life recap posts a year, he’s just posted his first one for 2016.
Catch up with Marc Bell here.

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Jay Lynch Collection finds Home
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum has acquired the Jay Lynch Collection. This collection includes original art, comics, correspondence and other material from Lynch, who is now 71. Lynch is best known as the creator and editor of “Bijou Funnies” in the 1960s and 1970s. This collection is a real underground gem. And it’s a huge one!

The collection totals to nearly 250 cubic feet of manuscript materials, original art, underground comix, merchandise from Lynch’s work at Topps, and letters from R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, and other icons of the popular culture dating back to 1956. Additionally, the collection is home to an extensive number of fanzines and college humor magazines, often offering the earliest look at work from Harry Shearer, Art Spiegelman, Gilbert Shelton, and more. Also in the collection are some famous (and infamous) publicity campaigns, including groundbreaking satirical work such as Oingo Boingo’s anti-clown movement, Ed Sachs’s Irreverent Newsletter, Alan Abel and Buck Henry’s Society for Indecency to Naked Animals press releases, and early press kits from Jay Ward Productions.

Get into the nitty gritty here.

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Visit Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights

https://tuinderlusten-jheronimusbosch.ntr.nl/en

Here’s a site that offers an interactive online adventure through Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. There are two ways to virtually visit. You can choose to take a fifteen-step museum style tour, narrated by Redmond O’Hanlon, or you can “freely explore,” an option that allows you to zoom in on any part of the painting at will, clicking here and there to hear O’Hanlon discuss its motifs. Your choice! Don’t get too lost.

The Garden of Earthly Delights is a story about moral and sin in a particular time. The painting however is timeless. The journey that the visitor sets out on in the interactive documentary is a personal one. Beneath the surface we aim to invite the visitor to reflect upon and question their sins and morals.

The interactive documentary Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Delights is part of the transmedia tryptich: ‘Hieronymus Bosch’. The transmedia tryptich consists of the documentary film ‘Hieronymus Bosch, touched by the devil’, the interactive documentary ‘Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights’ and the Virtual Reality documentary ‘Hieronymus Bosch, the Eyes of the Owl’. Website: http://jheronimus-bosch.nl

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I’ll see you Wednesday with South American happenings. I’ve got a ton of things I have to share!

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Ecuador, Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch, Jay Lynch, marc bell, nick gazin, VICE

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016

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3/10/2016

HarrisonMarch 10, 2016News MOK: Both these pieces are excellent examples of something I see throughout your work, which is this very gestural, observed quality to figures with strong acting, and projection of an inner process behind the character’s eyes and in their posture. I see influences from R. Kikuo Jonhson and Jillian Tamaki in there, who I know you listed as influences, along with Mignola, Lynda Barry, Tomine, Ware, Clowes, Shaw, The Dark Knight Returns, in this list that you made last April. Which is also interesting because then there are times, certain panels, and then your self-portrait, where you put in this super cartoony manga cat-mouth smile. I’m curious about your approach to figures, acting, gesture, and also playing against that super-observed, illusionistic style with other drawing vocabularies. RICKS: I think it just comes down to me just—I want this to come across as clear as possible. I want the audience to know exactly what I mean. I want there to be almost no ambiguity, because it’s not written. There’s no, “she said sourly,” “she said slyly,” I want it to read. Also, always trying to push… I hope this is a good example: one of the things that I found appealing, and a lot of people find appealing about [Hellboy creator] Mike Mignola is how he gets image and weight across in his incredibly stylistic artwork. But that comes from decades of observing and drawing. He put in the work before he could strip it down and simplify it. That’s what I wanna go for: I observe, I draw. I’m always trying to learn new things and new ways. I’m always down to expand as an artist. I want to bring that into my work. And just keep evolving as an artist, and not stagnate. I’m always worried, like, “Oh, my character’s too stiff, and their mouth is not open enough!” So I’m always trying to push and expand. – Annie Mok and K.L. Ricks conversation at TCJ. Dash Shaw wrote and directed the animated feature film mentioned here. It stars Jason Schwartzmann, Lena Dunham, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph, John Cameron Mitchell and Susan Sarandon. The Second Edition of “Stories Matter” at the Society of Illustrators in New York with moderator Richie Pope and panelists Shannon Wright, Cathy G. Johnson, John Lee, Odera Igbokwe, Yao Xiao, Ronald Wimberly, and Alexandra Zsigmond is below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/250653486″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Your comics often play with negative space. I was wondering when you started doing that, or if there was any other work that inspired you to do that? Not that I can think of. I mean, it’s been funny working in comics because I’m not super influenced by them. I was coming from what I was doing as an illustrator, or from fine arts practice. Especially working in pencil and erasing a lot and slowly removing unnecessary elements. I learned that I don’t have to show everything, and that I could use things as symbols for other things. I just gradually reduced the process. I think that After Nothing Comes shows that progression, which is cool. The pages get, like, emptier and emptier throughout the book. – Rachel Davies talked to Aidan Koch. Also, for a rainy day… Share this page: [...]

Addley Walker’s Angle

Comics WorkbookJuly 9, 2017EssaysAddley Walker is a comics and pattern maker from Los Angeles, CA. He joined us in Pittsburgh for a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in June 2017 (read about his experience HERE). While he was visiting, we realized that Addley was plugged into a different corner of the comics making community, and seeing work that we weren’t familiar with. His enthusiasm was catching, so we asked him to share with us some of the comics makers and artists that he follows and enjoys. Below is the “list” he sent. – Sally ————————————————————————————————————— Crow Cillers – Cate Wurtz (http://lamezone.net/) By far the best project of the already impressive body of work of queer webcomics wizard Cate Wurtz, Crow Cillers is an intense story about cute animal critters stuck in an oppressive world of cults and body horror. Presented in a faux-television manner where characters’ dialogue appears as closed captioning, stories change channels into others, and “episodes” in an arc are collected into season “box sets” (it, and individual episodes available monthly via her Patreon, are html documents that bring up navigable menus), Wurtz presents us casual talking sitcom characters forced to deal with increasingly violent situations while weaving in a metanarrative dealing with issues such as the absurd and often dark environment of the internet itself. Wurtz’s aesthetic and thematic odes to DeviantArt and Hot Topic not only serves as a coherent vehicle for her message, but asks the reader to re-evaluate their relationship with not only the corporate rebellion of Korn (most evident in her chopped ‘n screwed electronic music that is the suggested series soundtrack) and Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic with GUNS), but the earnest reaction to these institutions by the fringes of internet art and fetish communities. Download the pilot and first season free on her website. Hail Gay Satan. Music: https://partydog.bandcamp.com/ Past Comic: https://lamezone.net/comics/asscastle https://lamezone.net/comics/punc (not so explicit) ————————————————————————————————————— Angel of a Rope – Adam Buttrick (http://www.adambuttrick.com) There were some very good stories in Kramer’s 9, but Adam Buttrick’s entry really made the book for me. Adam’s making very peculiar and powerful work, with a literary influence that, while escaping my personal understanding, draws me deeper into the situations and characters that feel so familiar after a lifetime of cartoons and video games. His incredibly busy pages have a surprisingly minimal economy of shapes, making everything clear in the mess of action that make up his world. Angel of a Rope is another excellent entry into the ouvre of someone who I find to be one of the most exciting cartoonists working today. Work in question: http://dominobooks.org/angelrope.html ————————————————————————————————————— Now Nowhere – Elevator Teeth (http://elevatorteeth.com/) I’m generally very wary of artists who foster a branded presentation of their work, and Elevator Teeth definitely has that aspect. Scrolling on their website I watch art posts transform into shirts, a part of an image becomes a button or patch, an illustration becomes a record cover which becomes an object that gets waggled on a talk show. It helps that the work is rendered in such a clean and minimal style, which makes it very susceptible to duplication and modification. As such, words and images will come up again, re-arranged and colored differently. This shifting quality of Elevator Teeth’s work is part of it’s magic, though, and looking at one image after the other becomes very dreamlike and hypnotic. The objects in these images hold an internal charge and react in strange and interesting ways to new compositions. The zine Now Nowhere, which came out early last year, is a great example. With work originally presented as one pagers that work very well as statements by themselves, Elevator Teeth puts them together to reveal that side-by-side they form a coherent story that lasts 28 pages. Slick and fashionable as it looks, Elevator Teeth’s work is fundamentally about consciousness, and shows the way in which digital techniques can lend themselves to powerful forms of truth seeking. Work in question: http://elevatorteeth.storenvy.com/products/15662373-now-nowhere-riso-zine ————————————————————————————————————— Warrior Pose – Leon Sadler (http://leonsadler.com/) + Yannick Val Gesto (http://www.yannickvalgesto.com/) Omnipresent anthology contributor Leon Sadler and fellow fine art nerd Yannick Val Gesto are a dynamic duo whose collaborations I wish I knew more about. I do not know how I found this fabulous book in the first place, probably because I am great. Presenting itself as a gentle self help manual, Warrior Pose (which was consigned along with a video of the same name) might not be comics, but those literate to the form should have an entry into some joyful collages of anime, fanart, chan imagery, and other serene weirdness, along with drawings by both. Val Gesto’s quest in particular, revealing the beauty of internet ugliness, I find incredibly compelling, much like Cate Wurtz. Leon Sadler is pretty cool, too. Work in question: https://battcoop.org/en/produit/warrior-pose-2/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zAoe8ShMw ————————————————————————————————————— The Boys Are Back In Town – Mushbuh (http://mushbuh.com/) This entry is a funeral for the self experience that I discovered will be forever unrealized by me not owning this zine of colorful haniwa frolics. Mushbuh is someone who initially caught me with their lively Illustrator art and comics, as well as a demo for their N64 love letter Burrito Galaxy. While Mushbuh seems to be on a more automatic, almost anti-aesthetic track today, evidence is still there of the tightly geometric, bouncy cartoon art I see still around in works of artists such as George Wysesol. Please contact me if you have evidence of rare sightings of these boys… Work in question: http://www.mushbuh.bigcartel.com/product/the-boys-are-back-in-town-ed-of-50 Examples: Musbuh comics George Wysesol https://www.instagram.com/sassybluepanda/ George Wysesol web series(?) https://www.instagram.com/ithinkimintrouble/ ————————————————————————————————————— Check out work by Addley Walker on his website, and follow him on Instagram. Share this page: [...]

02/28/2017

Aaron CockleFebruary 27, 2017NewsAaron here today with Whit Taylor Comics; PaperJazz; LA Times Book Prize Finalists (Comics Category); Pete Toms Gets Reviewed; Another Look at Matthew Thurber; Horvitz/Provan in Conversation; Congrats to INK BRICK ————————————————————————————————— What is Race? Just the Facts. Whit Taylor has a comic about race and its perception throughout history posted at the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Graphic Novel/Comics of Note (in Los Angeles, California) The Los Angeles Times has released its list of finalists for their annual book prize awards, with a strong list of contenders for the ‘GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMICS’ category: “Beverly” by Nick Drnaso “The Artist” by Anna Haifisch “Don’t Come in Here” by Patrick Kyle “What Is Obscenity” by Rokudenashiko (translated by Anne Ishii) “Demon: Volume 1” by Jason Shiga ————————————————————————————————— A Comic Whose Characters Swim in Apathy and Cynicism At Hyperallergic, R. Orion Martin digs in to Pete Toms’s Dad’s Weekend, published by Hic and Hoc: Every middle-aged character in the book except for Manny seems to be in a state of resigned existential crisis. One middle-aged woman interrupts Manny to tell him about a realization she’s had, Once you unpack, you’re left with an empty suitcase. What’s at the foundation of who you are? Animal instincts? Some shit your parents said to you when you were a toddler? It’s all so simple and unimportant. I had this dream where I hung myself with my own DNA strand. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The pre-production of Cremaster 3 is kind of just rolling along without me.’ Sally and Juan linked to this Max Morris/Matthew Thurber interview last week, but I wanted to take another look at it, especially this part from the start of the Q&A: Max Morris: Back in 2014, you wrote this article for The Comics Journal Website , “Letter to a Young Cartoonist”, that stirred some controversy at the time. A bulk of the article dealt with the ramifications of posting comics work on Tumblr and Social Media, among other issues of challengers to the new generation of comics artists. This was in a time when that felt like the primary way to see new work being made by current creators. A little under 3 years after you posted that article, a lot has changed. Looking back at this article, what words do you have to say to the young cartoonist today? Matthew Thurber: I feel more than ever that printed media contains autonomous power that is almost magical. All internet publication is embedded in and framed by another corporation. With print, as soon as it flies off the press it belongs, like the land, to “you and me”. The disturbing thing about social media is they change the terms of publication from one of total freedom, to one where you are being allowed to express yourself. Because they grant it… they can take it away. Social media echo chambers are destructive: look at what they have helped to do in terms of ripping our country in half, replacing everything with a simulation of reality. Is that what you mean by “a lot is changed”? We’re opting into 1984 because it feels good. It’s so seductive to feel like you’ve done something in pseudo-reality. We need to learn to live without the internet, to distribute artifacts in physical space, to know how to talk to each other again. It is so much more meaningful and beautiful. And guess what??? I’m part of the problem because I’m on INSTAGRAM (@mtshelves)! What a miserable hypocritical worm!!!! And the worst part is….I LOVE it! I love the ego pampering attention and the immediacy despite my complete conviction that it sucks! ————————————————————————————————— Ask the Stone to Say Via Triple Canopy, David Horvitz and Alexander Provan discoursing on time, space, discourse, discoursing: Horvitz’s work as an artist often suggests how to live outside the bounds of time, how to recover forms of experience that are rooted in natural rhythms and not the dictates of international bureaucracies. “A lot of people are into yoga and meditation, but I see those as ways of relaxing your mind and body so that you can continue to work efficiently and productively, at absurdly accelerated rates,” he says. “I’m interested in forms of meditation that cultivate the enjoyment of time, that oppose efficiency, that make you miss every deadline.” Horvitz and Provan cover ancient Egyptian astrology and atomic clocks, the auditory landscapes of nineteenth-century villages and the contemporary landscapes offered by geostationary satellites. They find the origins of Brexit in the imposition of the Gregorian calendar (“European-elite time”) on the British in 1752, which vanquished eleven days and gave rise to a protest slogan after Boris Johnson’s heart: “Give Us Our Eleven Days.” ————————————————————————————————— INK BRICK’s crowd-funding goal for it’s 8th issue was met with some time to spare, so congratulations to them. The new book has a great list of contributors, and frequent readers of this news-blog will see some of their favorite cartoonists/people involved: Vidhu Aggarwal | Alyssa Berg | Warren Craghead | Erin Curry | John Hankiewicz | Keren Katz | Mark Laliberte | Matt Madden | Paul Madonna (cover) | Alexander Rothman | Alexey Sokolin | Bishakh Som | Deshan Tennekoon | Andrea Tsurumi | Paul K. Tunis | Andrew White | Sophia Wiedeman | Shahar Sarig More info, as well as details about their ‘Stretch Goals’, are noted on their Kickstarter page. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 2-28-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown –2-28-2017- by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

Ch 5: The Figure in Detail (FACC)

Juan FernándezJanuary 1, 2016ResourcesShare this page: [...]

08/26/2016

Sally IngrahamAugust 26, 2016NewsThe last Friday in August! We made it! It’s been a weird month – but this week was full of interesting things, like “one-page graphic novels” with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, Shannon Wright comics on The Nib, Nicole Claveloux being published in English, an ocean-spanning exchange between Ulli Lust and Priya Kuriyan, sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou, a look at Afua Richardson, and Jillian Tamaki in The New York Times. ————————————————————————————————— Shannon Wright has a comic on The Nib – Trump, Black Americans Don’t Need Your Help (above) – read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Françoise Mouly presented a piece in The New Yorker about the “one-page graphic novels” that have stuck in her husband’s head over the years. Art Spiegelman has often been called the “father of graphic novels” but has only recently started softening to the idea. “Spiegelman decided it was time to embrace the term that has come to characterize “an ambitious comic book,” whether the narrative is drawn on one page or three hundred. “Since comics is the art of compression, I started looking back on the one-pagers which either in terms of their subject matter or in terms of their resonance had stayed in my brain,” he said.“ Check out the list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The New York Review of Books announced that it will be publishing The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux in 2017. This collection is the first of Claveloux’s work that will appear in English, and it includes an introduction by Daniel Clowes. Clowes writes: “The artwork…is some of the most beautiful ever created for our lowly form—vivid, dreamlike, with intensely vivid hand-separated colors unlike anything I’ve ever seen.“ These short stories were originally published in the 1970’s. Read more about the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Here on Comics Workbook we are happy to present new sketchbook pages from Sacha Mardou. Her recent visit to St. Louis’ Magic House (a children’s museum) left her somewhat underwhelmed, but at least she had time to draw…! More pages and the whole story HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Ulli Lust (author of Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life) met Priya Kuriyan in Delhi, India, this spring, and they began an interesting project together. As Ulli Lust writes on Electrocomics: “Priya Kuriyan draws portraits of people in Delhi since years and so does Ulli Lust in Berlin. They met this spring in India and decided to begin a visual dialog: One sees an interesting person and sends the drawing to the other one to find an opponent on the other side of the planet.“ Here are the first results of this unique pen-pal exchange – Their second exchange can be viewed here – and it includes more of the stories behind each drawing. We’ll have to keep an eye on the site for more as the year progresses. Keep up with what Ulli Lust is into these days HERE. And you can find more comics and artwork by Priya Kuriyan HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Check out work by Afua Richardson, one of the artists working on Marvel’s Black Panther spin-off World of Wakanda. Vamp Jazz hands. . 08132k16 A photo posted by Afua Richardson (@doctafoo) on Aug 13, 2016 at 11:26pm PDT Afua Richardson has been working in the comics industry since 2004, when Brandon Graham got her a gig at NBM publishing. There is a lot of buzz about the series she is currently working on, stemming from the early July upheaval about Marvel’s attempts at diversity. Back in May, Richardson already had a lot to say about that to Ian Freeman at The Urban Daily: “Diversity is not just planting a black person or a gay person or a woman in a character normally held by caucasian men. It’s getting into the minutia of the human experience. Stories ages ago had common tropes and icons that were not even realistic to what would be considered the “White experience” – one-dimensional, straight-path good guys and unreasonably evil bad guys who explain their plans just for them to be foiled. That’s not reality. Even terms like white and black when describing people almost do a disservice because there is so much baggage with these terms. White = automatically racist, easier life and decedents of slave owners. And that’s just not factually correct in every case. Black in no way defines the cultural variety, philosophy or culture of the individual in question. But comics were a very niche industry that were created by a small group of people who had to answer to an even smaller group of editors and executives who wanted to make sure they spoke to their client base. Now that that base has expanded, people can speak with their dollars and back the books they want to see made. Falcon as Captain America says to comic readers that an African-American man can hold the mantle of Captain and American. Its not politically correct to show the variables in philosophy illustrated in fiction. It’s realistic.” – Afua Richardson Read the rest of this interview HERE. Read more about World of Wakanda HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Over on The New York Times there is a good interview with Jacqueline Woodson – which you should definitely check out – but I mention it because Jillian Tamaki did the accompanying illustration. Rad. ————————————————————————————————— See you next week! – Sally Share this page: [...]

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