Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alabaster pizzo, kaeleigh forsyth, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber, MVR4, rhode island independent publishing expo, sara lautman, Sparkplug Books

Aaron Cockle

Posted on May 2, 2016

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10/24/2018

Juan FernándezOctober 24, 2018NewsJuan and Andrew with an invitation to participate in 2018’s #30dayscomics Juan here! November is right around the corner which means that not only will I finally let myself turn on the heat at my apartment in Pittsburgh, but #30dayscomics will soon be upon us! As the weather chills and most of us become indoor creatures in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s good to come together by working on and sharing comics making challenges, connected by the internet. For those who don’t know, 30 Days of Comics is a month-long challenge. The parameters are pretty simple: Make 1 comic a day for the month of November. They can be anything you like, any format, any style, though most people do 1 page or 1 strip. Just do it everyday. This November, I’m excited to be able to allocate some time (likely at work) to working on my esperanza00 series and to see where these neurotrash digital collages of drawings, jpegs, clippings from articles, poems and facebook posts take me. The idea will be to create a 4 panel comic composed of 3-6 colors in this fashion daily: Needless to say, I’m excited. Here at Comics Workbook we’d like to invite you to participate in this year’s comics making journey. With me today is Andrew White to tell you more about a little this year’s #30dayscomics. Take it away Andrew. Starting on November 1st, I’m going to draw and post one comic per day for a month. I’ve done this almost every year since 2012, with varying success in terms of getting to the end of the month and in terms of the work itself. The cartoonist Derik Badman first took on this challenge, which he called 30 Days of Comics, in 2009 and invited others to join him in 2011. Derik describes the month as, “a time for experimentation, exploring short forms, and a great way to produce work.” That sounds about right to me. Often participants work with some kind of constraint, using the month to experiment with different approaches or new materials. See for example Kevin Czap’s A Lesson in Survival (2012), which appropriates text from Joni Mitchell and is visually very different from Kevin’s other work; or Simon Moreton’s set of printed zines produced near-daily; or Alyssa Berg’s Open Letter to Sleep (2016), an extended meditation on a single topic. Making one comic per day is of course a constraint itself. Personally, I’ve found the month most fruitful when I’ve gotten at a topic that I’ve been turning over in my mind for a while, which hopefully means that it will benefit from a rapid outpouring of work. The 30 Days of Comics Tumblr archive is another place to see how others have approached the month in the past. On that note, the community aspect of 30 Days has been essential for me. We encourage each other to keep going, and I’m still happy with the year when I riffed on the work of other participants. I’ve first met some dear friends thanks to 30 Days. Finally, implicit in the call to make comics daily for a month is the idea that making comics daily might not be possible through the rest of the year. We all benefit from a different balance between thinking about comics and making comics – and sometimes that balance is imposed externally by a day job or other life circumstance. We’re all affected, often negatively, by the idea that productivity is essential to our success as an artist, but we might wish we were more productive as well. For me, 30 Days helps with the difficult project of maintaining that balance. One comic per day isn’t too much work, but 30 comics in total is also significant. It’s okay if you miss a day. It’s okay if you aren’t happy with some of your work. This year I’ll be making four panel comics, inspired by people like Juan Fernandez and Madeleine Witt. My strips will be loosely based on this paper in the academic journal Science. I hope you’ll join us, and that you’ll use the hashtag #30dayscomics so that we can all find each other’s work! 10-24-2018 – Fifi Martinez 10-24-2018 – Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

09/06/2016

Aaron CockleSeptember 6, 2016NewsAaron here today with the Composition Competition Awards; Sophie Yanow in the Dakotas; Shaw/Nadel on U-tube; some pioneers of the comic strip; Kirby injustices revisited ————————————————————————————————— Congratulations to ALL who created and submitted work for this year’s Composition Competition contest! First Place – $500 cash prize: Cameron Nicholson – For a Lack of Better Words Second Place – $250 credit at Copacetic Comics: Shee Phon – I Know It’s Not About Me, But I Don’t Want To Die Third Place – $100 credit at Copacetic Comics: Cameron Arthur – Oasis Honorable Mention – $50 credit at Big Planet Comics: Lisa Wilkinson – The Last Time I Saw Tate; Janne Marie Dauer – Blame It On the Night Moves; Luke Howard – Extragalactic; Niall Breen – Śūnyatā Special Prize – $25 credit at Copacetic Comics: Lina Madöry – Reflection No Prize Shout Out!: Jillian Fleck – I Got A Job; Phillip Dokes – Falling Congratulations to the winners and all of those who participated. ————————————————————————————————— Sophie Yanow is covering the Dakota Access Pipeline protest at the Nib: ————————————————————————————————— The Strand bookstore filmed last week’s conversation with Dash Shaw and Dan Nadel In support of Shaw’s recently released Cosplayers book, for your viewing/listening enjoyment. ————————————————————————————————— Some updated exhibition info for the Pioneers of the Comic Strip show on view at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, through September 18: With an extensive exhibition, SCHIRN presents the pioneers of the comic strip, who set the artistic and substantive standards of early comic strips in an experimental and progressive way. This also highlights the relationship of comic strips and colorful newspaper supplements with the developments in visual arts at the time. The SCHIRN presents the cultural history of the comic strip in an outstanding series of selected works, primarily by American illustrators: Winsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger, Charles Forbell, George Herriman, Cliff Sterrett and Frank King. ————————————————————————————————— Asher Elbein writes about Jack Kirby’s history with Marvel Comics at the Atlantic: In the mid-1970s, Congress revised the laws around copyright, offering longer periods of ownership for copyright holders—if the proper paperwork could be provided. Marvel realized that many of its previous contracts were legally questionable, remnants of the comics industry’s fly-by-night origins with regards to creative work. In 1978, the company began handing out freelancer contracts that guaranteed the company “forever all rights of any kind and nature in and to the work.” As Michael Dean wrote in a 2002 issue of The Comics Journal, these “work for hire” contracts were partly a result of the superhero boom Kirby himself had a hand in creating. “It wasn’t just monthly comic books that were at stake any more,” Dean wrote. “It was the vast ancillary potential of licensing and merchandising the content of those comics.” The contracts legally formalized what had previously been loosely assumed to be corporate policy, but having it in writing gave many comics freelancers pause for thought. When Kirby got the contract, he refused to sign it and left Marvel for good. Share this page: [...]

San Diego Comic-Con International 2018

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 24, 2018The Diaz ArchiveMy first Comic-Con ever! So my apologies, I tried my best to take as many photos as possible, but this show is overwhelming, yet a lot of fun. Also, I lugged around too much stuff to get signed, which i brought — yes excuses! Anyways, this is all I ended up with despite going in with a more extensive list of cartoonists I wanted to photograph! Oh well, hopefully next year I end up taking more. San Diego Comic-Con International 2018, downtown San Diego Convention Center Exhibit Hall, Thursday, July 19, 2018 Share this page: [...]

09/20/2017

Juan FernándezSeptember 20, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Amanda Baeza; Entreviñetas 8; Marco Toxico en La Polola; José Muñoz y Maria Luque; Gaspar Pujadas y Rodrigo Vargas;#GRAFMAD2017; Mireia Pérez entrevista a Richard McGuire; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Amanda Baeza y las canciones dibujadas Gabriela Blanco nos invita a reflexionar sobre Su obra de narraciones autobiográficas en El Espectador. Sus historias son fragmentadas, alejadas de la estructura secuencial y más cercanas a la simultaneidad, y lo son porque responden a una representación de sus recuerdos, desde adentro, sin inicio, nudo y desenlace ordenados, así como recordamos todos. Su intención es lograr hacer sentir al lector lo mismo que ella sintió en aquellos instantes, ponerlo en su lugar. Le importa más el qué representó para ella que lo que realmente sucedió. Y es en ese punto donde Amanda emerge como vanguardia: cuando modifica las formas convencionales para contar historias y las reajusta a lo que realmente le interesa contar, porque cree en la empatía como un recurso más poderoso de conexión con el otro que la ficción misma. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— ENTREVIÑETAS 8 – BOGOTA La primera parte del gran festival Entreviñetas tendra lugar este fin de semana, del 20 al 24 de Septiembre. Si todavia no lo saben, el Festival Entreviñetas es el evento del cómic y el dibujo más influyente en la escena latinoamericana contemporanea. No se pierdan toda la programación! Pueden ver los horarios AQUÍ. Talleres, ferias, charlas y entrevistas – habra de todo, sobre TODO! ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Marco Toxico, les contó de su vida, sus inspiraciones, su punto de quiebre, y motivación por hacer lo que le gusta en esta vida. Conversan acerca de referentes, la monstruosidad como tema y mucho más. Lo que va del cómic argentino: Martín Pérez escribe en las #Entreviñetas de El Espectador acerca de la obra de José Muñoz y Maria Luque Entrevista Sacapunta N°1 – Gaspar Pujadas + Entrevista Sacapunta N°2 – Rodrigo Vargas Entrevista de Mireia Pérez a Richard McGuire en CuCo 5. Abierta la convocatoria para participar en #GRAFMAD2017 ¡Hasta el 16 de octubre! TIK TOK Comics os presenta una nueva entrega de DOMINGO, la serie conversacional de Muriel Bellini ¡Disfrutadla! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 9-20-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

11/08/2017

Juan FernándezNovember 8, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con el Latino Comics Expo; #GRAFMAD2017; Marcela Trujillo; Dr. Fausto Fanzine; Ramon Esono; La Polola; Power Paola y Santiago Caicedo; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— The Latino Comics Expo – Long Beach, CA – THIS WEEKEND – The Latino Comics Expo (LCX) goes down this weekend, November 11-12. It is the nation’s first convention dedicated to highlighting the work of comic book creators, illustrators and others in the literary and visual arts whose work reflects the influence and celebration of Latino culture. – 2017 Program Info – Founded in 2011 by Bay Area arts patron Ricardo Padilla and Los Angeles cartoonist Javier Hernandez, the Latino Comics Expo has been held at the Cartoon Museum of Art (San Francisco), the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library at San Jose State University and the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach). Since it’s debut show on May 7 & 8 in 2011 in San Francisco, the Expo has hosted a wide variety of creative talent from the world of comics, web comics, illustration and design, political comics, graphic novels, children’s books, filmmakers and animators. Veteran creators, newcomers, independent artists, scholars, female, male, LGBT. All have contributed to making the LCX the premiere showcase for Topics have included self-publishing, crowdfunding, Latina Power, individual author spotlights, historical presentations, scholarly studies, workshops for kids and more. The Expo is a place to celebrate creativity, to educate, inform and learn, and to be able to share the richness of our various Latino cultures. Learn more. —————————————————————————————————#GRAFMAD2017 En 2013 se celebró la primera edición de GRAF. Esta semana se celebra la décima. El fuego sigue ardiendo. ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: “Beyoncé has embraced the grid.” Marcela Trujillo ha sido invitada al Congreso Internacional de Literatura Y Cultura Femenina Hispánica en Santo Domingo. Esta es la primera vez que invitan a una dibujante. En algunas semanas regresa Dr. Fausto Fanzine para su edición 11 y cada semestre habrá nuevo número. Viva el Cómic Colombiano. ¡Queremos tebeos! No os perdáis la exposición HISTORIETAS DEL TEBEO, 1917—1977 en el Museo ABC. Ramon Esono sigue preso, este cómic su único “delito”. // Still in jail, this comic his only “crime”. Learn more about Esono’s incarcelation in Equatorial Guinea. Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con la académica Catalina Infante, quien les contó acerca de su vida, sus viajes, su búsqueda del origen, su mirada editorial, su interés espiritual, el valor que le da al mundo interno y la soledad, entre muchas otras cosas. Acá pueden ver el trailer de Virus Tropical, a black-and-white animated film from director Santiago Caicedo that adapts the graphic novel memoir of Colombian-Ecuadorian cartoonist Power Paola. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-08-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-08-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 11-08-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

05/03/2016

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Aaron Cockle

Sara Lautman; RIPE 2016; MVR4; Matthew Thurber; Hellbound Lifestyle Book Release; Katie Skelly; Last days of Sparkplug Books
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Sara Lautman is doing A Cartoonist’s Diary over at TCJ this week.

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Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo: Application Deadline Extended!

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MVR4
School of for Poetic Computation
Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00 PM 11–15° Cloudy
https://www.facebook.com/events/774574382675480/
155 Bank St, New York, New York 10014
‘MVR is an event series focused on new forms of exchange between body and technology. With the decreasing size and cost of computer vision, digital components and advances in virtual reality, we are faced with a new awareness of the impact of current digital practices on the physical body. MVR provides a platform for learning and discussion concerning the new interaction between body and information, device, and action. Confirmed presenters: Kate Sicchio on live coding, performance and wearables; Pablo Garcia on drawing machines; Pamela Liou on technology, textiles, bodies and craft; Claire Kearney-Volpe on screen-readers and coding.’

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Curtainphonehorn, a show of Matthew Thurber drawings, will open May 12 at Weird Things in Toronto.

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Katie Skelly Comics
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Sparkplug Books
May 17th – Last day to place any online orders, including wholesale orders.
May 22nd – Sparkplug will be tabling at Linework NW with Suzette Smith (Ce/Ze).
June 11th & 12th – Sparkplug will be tabling at CAKE in Chicago, with Suzette Smith. This will be Sparkplug’s last show.
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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alabaster pizzo, kaeleigh forsyth, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber, MVR4, rhode island independent publishing expo, sara lautman, Sparkplug Books

Aaron Cockle

Posted on May 2, 2016

Explore

09/12/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 12, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here to start your week off right! Your chance to sign up for the OFFICIAL Comics Workbook Cartooning Workshops at SPX; Dash Shaw’s My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea nails it; A new semester of the Santoro School; The Black Hood: an anthology of Depression and Anxiety; The Tale of Kitty-in-boots – Beatrix Potter’s latest posthumously published work; “Swinespritzen” and Portraits by Connor Willumsen. ————————————————————————————————— Stop whatever you’re doing and make sure that you are signed up for the terrific workshops that Comics Workbook is hosting at SPX next weekend. Make comics with Carol Tyler, Jeffrey Brown, Charles Burns, Frank Santoro, Cameron Nicholson, Juan Fernandez, and some of the crew from Fantagraphics Spanish Fever! Full workshop descriptions HERE. SIGN UP FOR THE WORKSHOPS HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw Does it Again The WORLD PREMIERE of Dash Shaw’s new film – My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea – just took place at the Toronto International Film Festival – And the movie has opened to some much deserved praise. What a joy. Do yourself a favor and check out what Eric Kohn has to say about it over at IndieWire: Combing the twitchy look with storytelling that follows suit, “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea” is by far the most original animated movie of the year, or any other in recent memory. While Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa” used its own delicate approach to represent one man’s alienated state, “High School” barely even bothers with narrative consistency in its quest to achieve a vivid representation of its protagonist’s experiences. A third act finale, as the survivors make a desperate dash for the exist, goes on for so long that it pitches the whole experience into the realm of avant garde, with coherent images morphing into strobing colors and abstract shapes. (The movie justifiably opens with an epileptic seizure warning.) ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of school – the VERY BEST SORT is also back in session. The fall semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is a GO! Applications are due Sept. 16th – course starts Sept. 23rd. You’ve always wanted to make comics, right? And all those terrific comics popping up all over Tumblr lately (due to the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016, no doubt) has really inspired you – RIGHT? So sign up for the Correspondence Course and take your cartooning to a whole other sphere of being. Do it! ALL THE DETAILS ARE HERE. ————————————————————————————————— “Don’t miss ’em at SPX” Frank’s in great company on this list put together over by Comicsverse by Luc Boyce. Ben Marra, Liz Suburbia, Tom Gauld and Noah Van Sciver.They’ve all got the fighting spirit and it’s a real pleasure to see others take note. A good and well deserved write for everybody there. Don’t miss any of them at this weekend’s small press explosion: SPX. We will be at table N8 this year – stop by and say “Hello” – check out new work by Frank and the students – buy some old and rare comics from Frank’s vast collection! We’re coming at you full blast this year. ————————————————————————————————— The New Depression: The Black Hood Now available online, it’s The Black Hood: an anthology of Depression and Anxiety is a new collection by the people who brought you “Suspect Device.” This book is determined to do for comics about Depression what Black Flag did for songs about depression. Want to see how it all pans out? Get yourself a copy. The Black Hood collects pieces by artists like John Porcellino, Box Brown, Tara Booth, Noah Van Sciver, Elizabeth Bethea, Josh Simmons, Mike Freiheit, Pat Aulisio, Katie Fricas, Mike (Late Era Clash) Taylor, Hyena Hell, and many others. Includes a one page comic/interview with Dwid Hellion from famed HC band Integrity, and an essay by artist/writer Eve Wood. ————————————————————————————————— There is still dancing in the streets over the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016 results – if you haven’t checked out the hefty list of comics yet, give it a look HERE! There’s so much to enjoy. ————————————————————————————————— The NEW Beatrix Potter – The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots Maureen Corrigan over at NPR’s Book Review has a look at Beatrix Potter’s posthumously published tale, The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots. Like Tupac, Potter is back. Quentin Blake is at the helm with illustrations for this one. To some, for better, to others for worse. Cash grab? Inspired publishing? The stars alining? It’s definitely an interesting time to see a new book by Beatrix Potter on shelves. Personally, I’m excited to see how this book feels, among her other work, what is no less than a canon of children’s literature unto itself. Check out what Corrigan has to say over at NPR: Here’s the backstory to this “new” Beatrix Potter book: Two years ago, a woman named Jo Hanks who’s an editor at Penguin Random House in the United Kingdom came upon a reference to a letter that Potter wrote in 1914. In that letter, Potter mentioned working on the manuscript of a story about “a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat who leads a rather double life.” Hanks dug into Potter’s archives at The Victoria & Albert Museum and she found the manuscript of The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots. Potter had written three drafts of the story and had done one watercolor illustration of Kitty, but for various reasons, she died in 1943 without completing the book. Skip to the present and this lavish debut edition of The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots. ————————————————————————————————— To conclude – one last thing that you CANNOT sleep on…!! – Connor Willumsen’s “Swinespritzen” is now available from Comics Workbook. Who knows for how long though! Connor and@santoro.frank reprinted this classic wacky pack originally produced for@breakdownpress – DM @santoro.frank and He’ll tell you all about it. A favorite of all Connor W fans – people have been bugging us about this for months. These are hard to make so we’re only offering them like this. Keep your eyes peeled at SPX because we might have a some! ALSO this is probably the last week that you can take advantage of the pre-sale on Connor Willumsen’s new book Portraits. Check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Well, I’ve got to get to hustling for SPX. Lots of books to finish up and workshops to prepare! Until next time. -JF Share this page: [...]

12/01/2017

Sally IngrahamDecember 1, 2017NewsSally here with comics by November Garcia, Lina Ghaibeh, Emil Friis Ernst, and much more! ————————————————————————————————— Emil Friis Ernst spent last autumn here in Pittsburgh with us at the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency and abroad on his own in the city. He was on loan from The Animation Workshop in Denmark, and he got to spend nearly 3 months making comics and exploring our strange American culture. He recently published the comic he made during that time – Disconnector – which you can view in full on his website, HERE. The comic is about a lonely inventor and his robot (drawn and painted on this lovely grey paper that I remember well from when Emil was here!) Take some time to check it out, as well as some of his other comics which you can also find on his website. ————————————————————————————————— Ryan C. reviews November Garcia‘s Malarkey, the series of auto-bio comics made by this terrific Filipino cartoonist, over on Four Color Apocalypse. I’m with Ryan when he says that November is bound to break through in the near future, and having met her in person at SPX this year I couldn’t be more delighted to have this talented and funny comics maker in the scene. About Malarkey, Ryan writes: “Simply put, Garcia’s varied-length strips are every bit as familiar to somebody who “speaks comics” fluently as they are to someone who’s “comics illiterate.” Her figure drawing is efficient, practical, and betrays more than a hint of warmth and, dare I say it, innocence, while her stories tend to revolve around daily-life complexities that, in the hands of a less-attuned artist, would be depicted in a matter ten times more grim : neuroses (insecurity being first and foremost on the list), family dysfunction, doomed relationships, and alcoholism. There’s no way this stuff should be fun, but in Malarkey, God help me, it is.“ Read the rest of the review HERE and get copies of issues 1 and 2 over at Spit and a Half Distro. ————————————————————————————————— Lina Ghaibeh shares a comic about growing up in Syria during the Assad regime on The Nib, titled An Education in Fear. Read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Also, also There’s a new comic by Glynnis Fawkes up on Mutha Magazine titled Can You Play Now – see it HERE. Hilary Brown interviews Leslie Stein and talks about her new book Present and what it means to her to live in the present – HERE. Sarah Glidden is the guest on Episode 59 of Process Party – they talk travel, journalism, and how cartooning fits into both. Check it out. On The Comics Beat Alex Lu interviews Alisa Kwitney about the female friendships at the heart of her series Mystic U (from DC Comics). Read the interview HERE. Sophie Goldstein talks to Alex Dueben of Smash Pages about House of Women and more – HERE. RiLY features Nicole Georges – and her dog – on Episode 243 – listen HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 18th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. Makes a great holiday gift for yourself – or for a loved one who is interested in comics. Apply by midnight (EST) on Dec. 25th and get $100 off the course price. Full details and how to apply can be found HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-1-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/11/2016

Juan FernándezMay 11, 2016NewsTatá Timbó; Carolina Rey on Joung Yumi; Cuadernos del Cómic; Angeli spotlight; Aidan Koch interview; Hernandez Brothers appreciation; new books at Spit and a Half distro; Abhay Khosla on Copra; Cole Closser and the Leroy Lettering System; New Statesman open call. ————————————————————————————————— Shop Spotlight: Tatá Timbó Located in the heart of the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Tatá Timbó is a studio space and book store that specializes in the visual arts. It’s a literary arts space that focuses on youth development through the visual arts founded by Mercedes Fox, Verónica Kaplansky, and Guido Amante. By combining the idea of a studio and a book store they seamlessly blend arts with reading and writing for all ages. Visual literacy and verbal literacy. Children get the opportunity to work freely and wildly while also benefitting from arts mentorships that help them hone their craft. This all allows youth to find artistic mediums and processes they enjoy. El Sol de San Telmo offers a good look at Tatá Timbó’s mission and genesis. This past weekend they put together a small zine fair to bring together the publishing energies of their community. It’s cool stuff. Really exciting to see this kind of thing in Buenos Aires. Among the participants for this zine fair: Nicolás Mealla, Jorge Quien, Musaraña Editora, Marcela Oliva, Juan Vegetal, Pedro Mancini, Delius, Pablo Picyk, PowerPaola, Pablo Besse, Fuga Serigrafía, Luz Marchio, Diego Perrotta, Are you a cop or what?, Alfonso Piantini, Daniela Ruggeri, Miscelánea Total, Fuga Serigrafía, Lino Divas, and Hotel de las Ideas. ————————————————————————————————— Joung Yumi Carolina Rey, creative director of Rey+Naranjo Editores appreciates the work of Korean artist, Joung Yumi during Korea day at la Feria Internacional de Libros in Buenos Aires 2016. ————————————————————————————————— CuCo – Cuadernos del cómic Cuadernos del Cómic is a free digital magazine dedicated to the study and critique of comics edited by Octavio Beares and Gerardo Vilches. It is published twice a year in Madrid, Spain. It’s in the vein of old-school academic journals, but in Spanish, with spanish comics coverage. You’ll want to sink your teeth into this one. ————————————————————————————————— Angeli Retrospective – 40 Years at Folha Folha de Sao Paolo has a feature on the cartooning career of Angeli, one of the forefathers of modern graphic humor in Sao Paolo. Whether you need to brush up on your portugese or you just have to smash that translate button, there’s lots of comics for you to feast your eyes on in this feature. ————————————————————————————————— Aidan Koch interview over at BOMB Magazine. CM You set up an exercise for yourself, in which you deconstructed classical paintings. Some of these are in The Elements of Painting. And there’s a recurring interest in deconstructing classical images or classical symbols in your work. AK For sure, and also life and space and other types of images, too. Seeing what’s important, or what you can make important by pulling things in or out. Like using myself for reference—by not drawing in the background, I’m only focusing on character, but if I started drawing other details, then suddenly there’s all this concrete information that’s competing. So being able to choose where the emphasis lies, all the time, panel by panel, seems really essential in learning about pacing and building. And when looking at paintings, it’s often hard to focus. Especially ultra-dynamic ones or ones that have many characters or little actions happening. Medieval paintings are insane because there’s so much going on all the time. I’ll draw in museums a lot because it makes me look at a painting much more than giving it ten seconds and moving on. Because then you miss all these teeny tiny nuanced emotions or gestures. In case you missed the news on Monday, we are currently featuring Aidan Koch’s The Elements of Painting here on the site. These strips were originally created for and featured on Comics Workbook in 2013. The full collection is now a 14pg, b/w offset on newsprint in an edition of 500. You can buy it directly from Aidan Koch on her site. ————————————————————————————————— Abhay Thinks He Can Write About COPRA Better Than You — Nowhere to Hide – Nowhere to Cry – I Sunk Your Battleship Edition: 666 Abhay Khosla with the comics criticism gold over on Savage Critics. Khosla writes like nothing else. Read it and weep. For the last few years, one of my favorite comics to read has been Michel Fiffe’s COPRA. It’s a comic that I really pretty unabashadely love– one of the few being put out right now where I would talk about it in those terms. But for the last few years, one of my least favorite comics to read people talk about has been Michel Fiffe’s COPRA. ————————————————————————————————— BOLD NEW COMICS at SPIT AND A HALF John Porcellino has got the good stuff over on the Spit And A Half distro site. Hanselmann, Ord, Doucet, KUŠ, Irene, Clotfelter, Van Sciver, de Dionyso, Booth, Picukane, Moisseinen, Franz. Won’t last for long. Get it while you can. ————————————————————————————————— Cole Closser and the Leroy Lettering System I’m an advocate for hand-lettering. I think some comics suffer when the text doesn’t come from the same hand as the line art. That inconsistency can be jarring—and usually ruins my immersion in a story. I letter everything in my books, from the dialogue to the page numbers and front matter. I generally use my own handwriting or imitate old alphabets (like in that first picture), but when I was workin’ on Bow White for my last book, Black Rat, I wanted the lettering to look like the story had been translated from another language. I wanted it more mechanical. I wanted Leroy lettering ————————————————————————————————— Love and Rockets appreciated on The Guardian People are waking up to the master work that is Love and Rockets. Nice.It’s a good time to be alive in comics. ————————————————————————————————— New Statesman has an open call for back page cartoonists. Make something witty & make some $$$. Shoot for the stars, hungry cartoonists and send some samples. ————————————————————————————————— See you next time, hasta la proxima 😉 -Juan Share this page: [...]

Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers

Frank SantoroMarch 21, 2018ClassesHi, Frank Santoro here! I’ve been teaching my comics correspondence course since 2011. You will never meet someone as enthusiastic about comics as me. I’m a good coach. The course is 8 weeks – I run several semesters a year but I will work with you if you want to start the course between semesters. 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to my coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Floating start date! Apply anytime – I can run the course for you whenever it fits your schedule! Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. The most common questions I get about the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is: “How does the correspondence course work?” The way the course works is that there is a private blog where you get all of your assignments. This blog is updated every day with demos related to each assignment. We do a lot of fast drawing to get you thinking about sequencing much like a storyboard artist. Over the 8 week course you will create a 16 page “signature” – that means that you will basically draw two pages a week. Email me – santoroschoolATgmail – and I will send you an invite to the course that just wrapped so you can see how it works for yourself. “What if I have a full-time job? Do you think I can manage to find the time to do the course within the 8 week time frame?” I’ve had many students in the past who have had full time jobs. I designed the course so that you can do it when you have the time – at night, weekends, etc. If you “fall behind” it doesn’t matter because I will work with you to complete your 16 page comic even after the course ends. The idea of the eight week course is to impress upon you the structure of a deadline which, I believe, is central to comics making. I know lots of talented comics makers who never seem to be able to finish anything. Comics is all about the deadline. So 16 pages in eight weeks is what we aim for – however if your job or other commitments prevent you from completing the comic, I will work with you until the comic is finished. “What if I can’t afford to pay for the course all at once?” Not a problem. I’m very flexible with payment plans. Talk to me about it and I promise you that I will make you an offer that you cannot refuse. If you think there is no way that you could afford this course then think again. Often I have found that people chicken out about actually doing the work by using the “I can’t afford it” excuse. I will work with you in ways that no “real” school would ever work with you. Also my course is way more affordable than just about any other comics program out there. 500 bux for an 8 week course plus access to my coaching for as long as you need. Thanks! Please email me santoroschoolATgmail with any questions regarding the course. I accept applications at all times. Santoro School Application guidelines: -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send me small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Thanks xo Frank @santoro.frank on Instagram http://www.tcj.com/category/columns/riff-raff/ http://coldheatcomics.blogspot.com/ http://www.coldheatcomics.com/ Share this page: [...]

Our Reflection in Comics

Gabriella TitoApril 22, 2016Art Trip / EssaysGabriella Tito reports in from Orlando, FL, with this process meditation. ————————————————————————————————— Hi all! I’m here to talk a bit about how we reflect ourselves in comics. Now, I won’t break down the psychology or anything, or go into how “mainstream comics” are a reflection of our society, but I think it’s safe to say that whether we realize it or not, a part of us is “merged” into our comics. The most obvious would be an auto-bio comic. Even if it’s not about a character that looks like you or is intended to be you, they still could represent a certain ideology or interest you may have. So what about comics without characters? Abstract comics? Excellent point! From my own experience in making abstract comics and comics without relatable humans, I realize I have drawn content from a particular emotion or thought I was feeling at the time. Maybe a song inspired me to put something on paper. You probably have done this too, given the nature of abstract works. Usually, the less I thought about the content, the more fluid the comic was. Abstract comics, and it goes without saying, abstract art in general, is filled with more character than meets the eye. Abstract works can be charged with so many emotions, and the thoughts the creator has, and they can grab the audience so much that they might even relate themselves to that specific work. It’s not a mistake that this leads to why good representation is always important, simply because of the fact that the audience is always trying to find themselves in characters or concepts. Where do they fit into this? If the characters are reflections of the creator or intention, what can it say about them? Now, this doesn’t apply 100% of the time, but it is a real possibility that does happen. These are thoughts a creator should always be aware of, but also be mindful of how far they push it. In any case, this brings us back to how we reflect ourselves in creative mediums. I’m aware that what I’m saying may not line up with your opinions and that’s OK. These are just some reoccurring ideas I’ve thought about when in the process of making a comic. I’m curious if other cartoonists think of the same things. ————————————————————————————————— Gabriella Tito is a cartoonist living in Orlando, FL. She is currently contributing to Comics Workbook through her own comics and article tidbits and is a graduate of Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course. You can find more of her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

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