Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged alyssa berg, anya davidson, art trip, Benjamin Marra, dov torbin, georgia o'keeffe, maggie umber, marinaomi, noah van sciver, Rokudenashiko, sally ingraham, the shirley jackson project, zeitraumexit

Sally Ingraham

Posted on May 19, 2016May 20, 2016

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05/03/2016

Aaron CockleMay 2, 2016NewsSara Lautman; RIPE 2016; MVR4; Matthew Thurber; Hellbound Lifestyle Book Release; Katie Skelly; Last days of Sparkplug Books ————————————————————————————————— Sara Lautman is doing A Cartoonist’s Diary over at TCJ this week. ————————————————————————————————— Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo: Application Deadline Extended! ————————————————————————————————— 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.’ ————————————————————————————————— Curtainphonehorn, a show of Matthew Thurber drawings, will open May 12 at Weird Things in Toronto. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Katie Skelly Comics ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

11/24/2016

Sam OmbiriNovember 24, 2016NewsToday we have thoughts from Tyler Landry on the recent work-in-progress of Cameron Weston Nicholson, and Sam Ombiri’s response to this with further exploration of the act of sketching and process work – plus other news items from the week. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry here. I’ve been following some of Cameron Weston Nicholson’s semi-secret endeavors over the last week or two, and the man is ON FIRE! Several simultaneous streams of intense character development are taking place here – some involving characters you might recognize from a certain book/film about a peculiar little girl who’s looking for her place in the world, while some are brand new, straight from Cam’s brain-swamp. The latter are the first manifestations of a new comic he’s got in the works. Sssshhhhhh… There is a sincere (and successful) attempt here to accentuate each character’s unique physicality which, for me, helps to telegraph their personalities directly into their appearance. Think of it like exaggerated facial expressions – for the whole body. This next set of character poses is as much about movement as it is about base structure. In this case, what they do outwardly speaks volumes about what’s going on inside. Combined, the physical form and the gestures amount to much of what’s required for these characters to communicate who they are. What Cameron’s been doing here is the beginning of world-building for a story. Be it in comics, film/tv, a novel, or a video game, steps like these towards developing characters and, by extension, the world they inhabit, are essential. Cam’s really feeling these guys out, trying to understand what makes ‘em tick, how they dress, how they act, how they go about their business in the world he’s going to place them in. Just like any exercise in copying the masters, there’s a wealth of information to be gleaned from retracing the steps of your predecessors on the way to (or alongside) taking your own. – Tyler Landry Follow Cameron Weston Nicholson‘s Instagram to keep up with more of his process work – @prof_weston Watch the video of Cameron’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshop at SPX 2016 HERE. We have presented this Feature in full, but you can also read it HERE on the site, and check out more links to Cameron and Tyler Landry’s work. What follows is Sam Ombiri’s response to the above piece about Cameron’s work. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here. Gary Panter said something like sketchbooks are your friend – sometimes you hide an idea in there and you find it later when you need it (I think that’s what he said). CF said he likes to think of a sketchbook or blank page as an experimental plane. Mieko Kawakami said that for her, sketching (she actually said poetry – but it’s in a different cultural context, which unless you avidly read contemporary Japanese literature in Japanese, and keep up to date with the trends in relation to the history of Western influence on Japanese poetry, mixing with the more traditional Japanese poetry, then going back to a mix of traditional and Western influence and just what’s hot in the scene right now…you’d get it – not that I know anything about all that, I just heard it somewhere). Anyway for Mieko Kawakami “sketching” is like delusion and the “final draft” (she actually said prose) is like imagination. I kinda partly disagree with this illustration. I don’t think – with my ignorance of what’s going on with Japanese poetry right now – work of that kind is pure delusion, but it is emotion tapered with structure at least for the time being (though there’s still structure at play, as shown in Cameron Weston Nicholson’s work – see above – but there’s room for expression created here. Or maybe it’s just one’s personal fears and reservations.) CF said something like the best way to draw is to turn your back on everyone you know and your ideals – at least I think that’s what he said. Japanese poetry is really preoccupied with rhythm, so even with the “delusion” it’s still grounded in something. Mieko Kawakami said the delusion she was referring to was like how she could have a family live in a house made out of pancakes – but ironically when she’s referring to her imagination she feels she can’t do that. It makes me wonder – why make novels that limit yourself if they are a “higher calling”? From my understanding, for awhile the attitude readers had for novels in Japan were: the more difficult the better. I’m not sure whether it was The Tale of Genji or Don Quixote that was the first novel, but I think it’s safe to say the novelists most likely have a strong sense of tradition strictly built on the foundation that The Tale of Genji set up (I’m only assuming). So then, maybe that strong sense of tradition is what drives Kawakami to limit herself. That doesn’t really make any sense though, because a lot of the more popular contemporary Japanese authors, at least popular outside of Japan, have been influenced by novels outside the Japanese tradition. I think she cited Virginia Woolf as a big influence. Someone said that the current movement is a fusion of the old difficult traditional Japanese literature and the new fun Japanese literature. Maybe in delusion/sketching/experimentation there’s a lack of tampering (which isn’t always the case). The only tampering to be found in imagination or in the work is in one’s limitations (sometimes). Ambiguity is subtracted so there’s a more possible chance of connection, but connection can happen either way. Sketches/process work is the most honest/real documentation. It doesn’t always show up in apparent ways in all works but sometimes it shows up in the final work, which usually rocks. I like to be reminded when I’m looking at a drawing that it’s a drawing made by a person who isn’t always graceful. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— A few other news items for the day: Ben Passmore has a comic up on The Nib this week about getting arrested for protesting the KKK – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The New Yorker ran a piece last week about the “Hidden Black Female Figures of Western Art” that is well worth a read. An excerpt: “What began as a small experiment expanded into the history of art in the entire Western world. The museums were invisible graveyards. They were just sitting there: broken, defaced, unseen. A catalogue of bodies. It was an invisible archaeology—an archaeology that crisscrossed time and space. Everywhere I went, I found them, just off, just to the edge, just beneath: pieces of black female bodies buried in plain sight. A small black female carved into the handle of a tool. Miniature black women who could fit into your palm. A three-inch-long black female carved into a knife handle, so you could hold on to her body tightly whenever you sliced your daily bread. A palm-sized black woman in your hand when you brushed your hair at night, looking absently into the mirror. A spoon handle, a drum, a hammer, a flute—black bodies sculpted into the wooden frame surrounding a heroic painting of a white male on top of a white horse, riding triumphantly into war. Black female bodies ornamenting the tripods, the base of a table, sleeping inside the frame, selling, offering, tending in the background of innumerable paintings. Bending, standing, waiting. Our whole artistic history crawling with the decorative bodies of black women.” – Robin Coste Lewis for The New Yorker Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Robin McConnell has a massive Cartoon Crossroads Columbus report up on the Inkstuds site – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Matthew Thurber‘s comics have been adapted into the play 1-800-MICE, being put on by the Baltimore Annex Theater – info and tickets HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has announced the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. 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 small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

04/25/2018

Juan FernándezApril 25, 2018los Cómics / NewsMuestra Mostra, Ivan Kreilkamp, Stina Sandström, Frank Santoro —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ —————————————— Larga vida a los fanzines: impresiones alternativas Muestra Mostra, llevada a cabo en Córdoba (Argentina) réune las obras de muchas en el mundo del fanzinismo feminista. Javier Mattio: Expresión material, múltiple y subterránea del hazlo-tú-mismo, el fanzine (literalmente, “revista de aficionado”) vive hoy un auge que es también una expansión de su usual destino de fotocopia alternativa: el fanzine llega a librerías y museos, se celebran festivales, ferias, talleres y charlas en su nombre, se los archiva en “fanzinotecas”, se convierten en preciados y requeridos objetos artísticos. El fenómeno se concreta en Córdoba en exponentes como la actual “Muestra Mostra” del Museo Genaro Pérez, el Festival Ctrl P y la feria La Batalla en Casa Trece (donde también opera la fanzinoteca más grande del país) o las historietas-zines que publica el sello Buen Gusto Ediciones. —————————————— In Praise of Pulp Ivan Kreilkamp: No fan of the genre can complain about such a turn of events—and yet, surely something is also always lost in this kind of upward-mobility success story. Alison Bechdel observed a few years ago that “one of the reasons I became a cartoonist was so that I could write and draw free from the kind of critical scrutiny that I was sure would wither me if I dared to enter the lists of the fine art or literary writing worlds. Comics was a dark, disreputable place … You could do what you wanted here.” —————————————— The Carnival Grotesque: Representations of femininity in Swedish feminist comics Stina Sandström: This dissertation explores the mainstream success of a new wave of Swedish female cartoonists borne out of the feminist zine community between 2004 and 2016. These cartoonists have contributed to a change in perception in Sweden about comics as a medium and their potential to introduce current feminist discourse into mainstream media and reach a wider public. The study identifies a commonality in these comics of the parodic and liberating humour of the carnivalesque; a literary tendency proposed by Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakthin which expresses frustration and discontent with the structure of society through a certain ritualistic humour which in the context of these comics expose dominant gender structures and offer new ways of performing femininity. Despite working independently for the most part, the power of their work lies in the way they expand on (even imitate) each other, often picking up on a specific subject or area of critique where another left off, with the effect of combining their individual voices into one great voice. The phenomena is investigated through a series of questions: What Swedish political and cultural preconditions allowed for these usually marginalised feminist zine makers to become part of popular culture? How do they communicate feminism in ways that appeal to a mainstream audience? How, if at all, does their work influence or improve women’s lives in Sweden? —————————————— Nello Studio di Frank Santoro Which instruments and tools do you use to draw? I do not use a computer. I do not know how to use Photoshop. Why teach the machine how to do my job? Everything is analog. I draw on conventional office paper and use conventional office supplies essentially. Pentel rolling writers which were the first rollerball pen. Alex Toth told me to use that pen. And I use color pencils and markers. Mostly Berol Prismacolor brand. As Art Spigelman says “it is more like writing” in that sense if one uses “dry” media. One of my jobs as a young man was to be an assistant to oil painters and I enjoy not having to have a separate studio in which to make art. Cartoonists are lucky that we can be relatively clean in that way. I do use the airbrush. That’s fun. But it is water based. I use the airbrush mostly for background paintings that I am hired to do by Dash Shaw. But I also did a Silver Surfer story for Marvel with the airbrush. The airbrush is fun because it is like drawing with colored air. And it is water based paint. —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-25-2018 – Gabriella Tito Joanie and Jordie – 4-25-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/29/2016

Aaron CockleMarch 29, 2016NewsMarcel Broodthaers in NYC; Bernadette Mayer & Experimental Writing; PMF VII; FUCK OTHER FORMS OF ART; O Risograph, my Risograph! ————————————————————————————————— Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976) is experiencing something of a renaissance here in NYC, what with the room devoted to his book work at the most recent New York Art Book Fair, a show currently at Paul Kasmin Gallery, and the expansive career retrospective now on view at the Museum of Modern Art. ————————————————————————————————— Bernadette Mayer’s List of Journal Ideas + Writing Experiments ————————————————————————————————— Aidan Koch @ Open Space + the Seventh Annual Publications & Multiples Fair (PMF VII), April 9-10, 12-6pm each day at the Baltimore Design School, 1500 Barclay Street. The fair is free and open to the public. ————————————————————————————————— Jef Czejak’s essay from 2001 about funding for comics projects within the art-funding community still has relevance. That whole issue of The Comics Journal, #238, guest-edited by Tom Devlin, is full of useful information. ————————————————————————————————— Risograph Tutorials on YouTube. There are some semi-slick, corporate videos that are kind of fun to watch, if you’re in to that sort of thing. ————————————————————————————————— SPECIAL NEWS ITEM Please consider supporting the Retrofit Kickstarter. They have an ambitious publishing schedule in place with an amazing group of artists producing high quality comics work. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

06/29/2016

Juan FernándezJune 29, 2016NewsJuan Fernanadez here with your Wednesday Spanish language comics news: Selo Piqui’s TOPOGRAFIAS; Valencia Línea Clara; Comics workshop with LUTO; Ana Galvañ comics making video series; Isabel Cortés Navarro entrevista a Max; taking a look at Portugal’s Chili com Carne; fotos de los cicloreaders y Sindy Elefante. ————————————————————————————————— Now available: Topografias Topographias is Selo Piqui‘s latest collection of stories, whose common thread is the way, the route: through the frames, unlikely places are discovered, all with a strangely familiar narrative. It features two color work by Barbára Malagoli, Julia Balthazar, Lovelove6, Mariana Paraizo,Puiupo e Taís Koshino. Very cool comics poetics in service of these 6 women’s stories. If you’re curious about this exciting anthology, check out their online preview. ————————————————————————————————— VLC. Valencia Línea Clara El Institut Valencià d’Art Modern presenta la exposición “VLC. Valencia Línea Clara”, que podrá verse hasta el 2 de octubre de 2016 en las salas de la instituciónn. Esta exhibicion es un recopilatorio de alrededor de 200 cómics originales del grupo erróneamente conocido como la Nueva Escuela Valenciana de los años 80, uno de los proyectos expositivos estrella de la programación del IVAM para el 2016. Entre los artistas participantes destacan Sento Llobell, Mariscal o Micharmut. Una colección que se contextualiza con otros cómics de los años 70 como Tritón de Daniel Torres, Macao de Mique Beltrán o Futurama de Micharmut, también presentes en la exposición. Durante los años 60 y 70, Valencia vivió un espectacular momento creativo. Las vanguardias creativas explotaban con grupos como el Equipo Crónica y Realidad, que influían decisivamente en los jóvenes que por aquel momento comenzaban a cursar estudios artísticos. Unos jóvenes que, además, se habían formado en la cultura del tebeo, que tuvo en Valencia un centro neurálgico durante los años 40 y 50, y que sirvió para que estos nuevos artistas generaran un bagaje visual que se amalgamó durante su etapa formativa con las nuevas tendencias artísticas que inundaban la ciudad. ————————————————————————————————— Aprende a dibujar cómics con Ana Galvañ Ana Galvañ, dibujante de cómics e ilustradora a creado una serie exhaustiva de videos y actividades en Domestika. En esta serie, Galvañ te enseñará a crear tu propio cómic con el programa de ilustración Clip Studio Paint (anteriormente conocido como Manga Studio). Aprenderás a plasmar y estructurar tus ideas de cara a la creación de una historia y llevarla a cabo de forma fácil e intuitiva. Es un guia extremadamente útil para vosotros que quieren utilizar Clip Studio Paint pero que prefieren no dibujar en un estilo de manga tradicional. Te lo recomiendo! ————————————————————————————————— Isabel Cortés Navarro entrevista a Max Isabel: ¿Qué valor tiene para alguien que ha promovido el reconocimiento artístico de la historieta ser editado por el Museo del Prado? Max: A nivel personal es una satisfacción y creo que es bueno para el cómic en general. También debo advertir —sé que hay por ahí mucha gente que me va a dar la brasa con eso— que hacer esto no significa en absoluto venderse al sistema. Para mí no es nada contradictorio, ni con mi pasado underground ni con mi presente. Igual que hago esto hoy para el Museo del Prado, mañana hago un tebeo grapado y autoeditado. No tengo problemas ni nada de eso, eso que quede claro. Isabel: Además de compartir obsesiones, entre tu obra y el Bosco se pueden encontrar muchos otros paralelismos. Simbolismo, iconografía propia, surrealismo, arte secuencial… Max: Sí, eso es mérito de Jose Manuel , que pensó que yo era el adecuado para el Bosco. Por lo demás, la influencia de este pintor la he tenido siempre. Igual no evidente, pero creo que se nota que andamos por caminos parecidos. Soy muy consciente de la tradición simbólica de ciertos personajes y objetos, y la he usado mucho siempre. Funciona como un extra narrativo en mis tebeos, para quien lo pilla. Bueno, algunos elementos simbólicos son ya tan antiguos que todo el mundo los pilla, aunque sea a nivel subconsciente, pero otros no. Por ejemplo, lo de los mochuelos es curioso. En todos los libros sobre el Bosco se citan mucho como ave de Atenea y por tanto de la sabiduría, o bien como infernal porque es el ave asociada a las brujas, y no salen de ahí. Pero me di cuenta, a raíz de esa época en que dibujaba mochuelos en las esquinas, que no tenían ninguna función especial, de que el mochuelo es el autorretrato del autor. Es el pájaro que ve en la oscuridad, por tanto es el testigo de lo que estás contando, y es el autor el que ha sido testigo de algo y lo puede enseñar a los demás. En el Bosco funciona así, en casi todos sus cuadros hay un mochuelo. ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo Vilches le da un vistazo a la editorial portugues, Chili com Carne: Una de las cosas más interesantes de la última edición de GRAF en Barcelona fue la presencia de dos editoriales independientes extranjeras. Una fue la letona Kus!, y la otra la portuguesa Chili com Carne. De esta última, gracias a la amabilidad de Marcos Farrajota, responsable de la editorial, me traje a casa un puñado de cómics que he podido ir leyendo poco a poco, y que me han resultando muy estimulantes. Chili com carne lleva años publicando cómics en su país, e incluso han publicado obras de Olivier Schrauwen o Tommi Musturi. Resulta muy significativo lo poco que conocemos del cómic que se hace en Portugal, un país que tenemos literalmente a un paso. Tiene que ver con muchas cosas, cuestiones históricas y políticas que ahora mismo no vienen al caso, pero espero aportar mi grano de arena para dar a conocer una escena independiente muy interesante, y accesible para el lector español: muchos títulos incluyen traducción al inglés, y, en realidad, no es complicado leer en portugués con un poco de voluntad por nuestra parte. ————————————————————————————————— Taller de comics con LUTO – Comics Workshop with LUTO (Luis Tobon) in Colombia ————————————————————————————————— Documentado: El 1er tour de los Cicloreaders Estuvimos dibujando y pedaleando por la sabana con @SindyElefante ¡Gracias a todos los que participaron! pic.twitter.com/Bi5we75x6D — Cicloreaders (@cicloreaders) June 26, 2016 ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

05/20/2016

Posted on May 19, 2016May 20, 2016 by Sally Ingraham

Today, on scene reporting from Alyssa Berg, an amazing comics show in Germany, comics with Georgia O’Keeffe, tips from Benjamin Marra and Noah Van Sciver, and a few other things we’re excited about.

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Alyssa Berg provides this snapshot of a recent evening spent with Rokudenashiko, MariNaomi, and Anne Ishii (pictured above, left to right) –

“On Wednesday evening (May 18th, 2016), the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in NYC presented a conversation between MariNaomi (Turning Japanese, 2dcloud, 2016), Rokudenashiko (What Is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy, Koyama Press, 2016) and Anne Ishii (moderator of the conversation, translator and co editor of Rokudenashiko’s new book).

MariNaomi did a reading from Turning Japanese accompanied by projected images from the book. The first part focused on her experience in an illegal hostess bar in San Jose. The second part presented was a quieter section of the story based on a visit to the temple of the Goddess of Mercy in Japan. (Check out that excerpt HERE.)

MariNaomi also discussed curating the Cartoonists of Color Database and the Queer Cartoonists Database and her fear that “diversity is a fad right now.”

Rokudenashiko presented a wide variety of manko (pussy) artworks that appear in her new book What Is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy and discussed details of her arrest for breaking Japanese obscenity laws for posting online, open-source blueprints of her pussy. She also talked about being an easy target for police because she is an unrepresented, female, freelance artist but “people in a position of weakness need to show resistance.” Rokudenashiko presented this video piece and if you have 4 minutes 34 seconds to spare, I recommend having a look.” – Alyssa Berg

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The German show …and Other Stories opens today in the Zeitraumexit gallery in Mannheim! The show explores current American self-publishing trends and will feature a collection of booklets, original drawings, mini comics, zines, and other printed materials by American artists Alyssa Berg, Julia Gfrörer, Aidan Koch, Laila Milevski and Maggie Umber. What a lineup!

Maggie Umber and Raighne Hogan (of 2dcloud) will be presenting two free workshops at the gallery on June 11th and 13th – find details on how to attend HERE.

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Check out a new feature on Comics Workbook: ART TRIP – a continuing series that offers reflections on art and comics, and the adventures that transform those who seek it out.

First up, my own (Sally here!) recent run-in with Georgia O’Keeffe.

“…I’m looking at her stuff and seeing comics, yes. That’s where my brain lives constantly, these days. The index card is a panel for a comic. The Palo Duro Canyon drawings aren’t a series – they’re a sequence. Her paintings without lines prove how lively comics can look without being pinned down by traditional inks.“

Read the rest of the adventure HERE!

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Benjamin Marra added his “10 Rules for Drawing” to the collection curated by Dov Torbin this week. Some highlights for me are:

2. Emotional accuracy is more important than emulating reality. Realism is overrated and reality is an illusion anyway. Just make a good drawing.

4. Don’t create walls. You’ll only run into them later. Avoid Puritanism of materials, tools, techniques, methods, and approaches. Don’t be a perfectionist.

9. You gotta know the rules before you can break the rules.

10. There are no rules.

Check out the whole list here, and read more “10 Rules for Drawing” by the likes of Alex Toth or Michael DeForge, among others…!

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While we’re on the topic of “tips for being a good artist” here’s a Comics Workbook TV interview with Noah Van Sciver that I really appreciated. The idea of “world-building” through sketchbooking is great.

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Two things I’m excited about that will be releasing into the world soon –

Anya Davidson is working on a new zine (above), due to be released at CAKE this year (tentatively titled Gloom Planet)…!

The Shirley Jackson Project (edited by Rob Kirby and being released by Ninth Art Press) is in it’s final production stages. Here’s the rad cover art by Michael Fahy:

Can’t wait for this beast to roar!

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That’s my story for this week, folks. I’m currently on the road between Santa Fe, NM, and Pittsburgh, PA, (coming home to the Comics Workbook world headquarters!) so pardon a light offering today. The whole team will be back next week with all the best in comics news for you. Thanks for hanging out with us! – Sally

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Sally Ingraham

Posted on May 19, 2016May 20, 2016

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The Drawing Power Report (2013)

Juan FernándezMay 15, 2016Festivals and ShowsThis article was co-written with Simon Reinhardt. It originally appeared at Dog City Press. This past weekend a couple of us from Dog City trekked down from Vermont to Pittsburgh, PA for the Drawing Power conference at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The museum setting established a wonderful tone for the conference. It was a breath of fresh air to go to an intimate event with such a clear focus on discussing comics. A big thanks is due to Jude Vachon, zine librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Vachon was the core organizer of this event and responsible for steering it toward such a success. The days events ran from 10 AM until 5 PM. Each panel was a jam packed 45 minutes. The first panel of the day was moderated by Bill Boichel, owner of the Copacetic Comics Company. It focused on the idiosyncrasies of the local Pittsburgh comics scene. The panel consisted of Lizzee Solomon, Andy Scott, Paulette Poullet and Nate Mcdonough. The panelists spoke about their experiences self-publishing and the role that the Pittsburgh community played in their work practices. Scott spoke about his anthology, Andromeda and the restructuring of the publication in late 2012 from a monthly to a quarterly format. Solomon spoke about cartooning being at the core of her multi-disciplinary work practices while Nate McDonough retold the beginnings of hisGrixly publication. McDonough, Solomon and Scott spoke of their times drawing together during the early issues of Andromeda and the competitive one-upmanship that their drawing parties would foster. The panel explored the inroads that the four cartoonists had made into self-publishing and the external factors in their lives that had driven them to continue to self-publish in Pittsburgh. Following the Pittsburgh cartoonists panel, French cartoonist, Boulet (Gilles Roussel) , author of the 24-hour comic Darkness took the stage to give a lecture on the evolution of his cartooning practices. He spoke about streamlining his creative process and the increased emphasis on improvisation that he had developed in his work. He spoke about working with Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim on the series, Dungeon along with the exquisite corpse comic, Chicou Chicou, that he developed with several French cartoonists. The aim of Chicou Chicou was to create a fictional “auto-bio” group comics blog. The cartoonists would pass strips back and forth over the internet adding pages until they were complete. Each of the cartoonists involved created a persona and crafted a drawing style that suited their character. Boulet played a small, geeky girl named Ella. Besides discussing the subtleties of drawing stories from the perspective of a female character, Boulet talked about the harassment he received online when writing under a female pen-name. He reported receiving unsolicited love letters and invitations on dates and noted that when he got into disputes people would ask “are you on your period or something?” At the end of his talk, Boulet spoke succinctly of his influences and of his current project, a 200 page improvised story in which he is neither pencilling nor scripting. He showed several of the 60 pages that he’d completed and the audience was in awe. Freelance writer, illustrator and graphic designer, Joan Reilly then took the stage and talked about her work editing the forthcoming feminist anthology, The Big Feminist But. Joan presented the book’s contents and the genesis of the project. The Big Feminist But arose from Reilly and O’Leary’s attempts to learn why so many of us, women and men, couch discussions around feminism with the phrase “I’m not a feminist, but…” or “I am a feminist, but…”. They decided to embark on the journey of making a comics anthology as the first step in starting a conversation about the issue. The result is a promising book that features “graphic musings on life, love, lust and liberation,” by talents such as Jeffrey Brown, Gabrielle Bell, and Lauren Weinstein. The book’s list of contributors is especially notable for including a number of couples working together, as well as single men and women. Reilly mentioned that a number of Kickstarter backers expressed their gratitude that men were involved with the book as well– an observation that highlights The Big Feminist But’s drive to create an expansive and inclusive conversation about feminism. Subsequently, John Porcellino, took the stage to talk about the story of his life of zine-making and distribution. He talked about the story of King Cat, and the Spit and a Half zine and comix distribution service. Porcellino touched on his artistic development and the early years of King Cat (focusing on the first 50 issues, collected in King Cat Classix). Porcellino has created books, comics, and publications since he was 7 or 8, and was creating zines for years before he discovered Factsheet 5 and learned that other people were doing it too. He read some highlights from early King Cat issues and talked about his work processes and goals in creating that work. One revelation from this portion of the talk was the influence of Marvel’s monster comics from the 50s and early 60s. While the relationship between these fantastic stories and Porcellino’s chronicles of everyday life might not be immediately apparent, Porcellino emphasized the drab, repetitive nature of the monster stories as well as the alienation of their typical mad scientist protagonists. “As an artist I’m very interested in repetition and boredom,” he said. Porcellino also talked about the sales and distribution history of King Cat, which was instructive for the many self-publishers in the audience. Gesturing to the cover of the first issue of King Cat to be sold in stores, Porcellino noted the 35 cent cover price and remarked “in true zine fashion, I probably charged 35 cents because it cost me 36 cents to print.” He also talked about his history of working bizarre or menial jobs to support his comics, and pinpointed King Cat issue 42, which he wrote, drew, and edited entirely on company time, as “the point I became a professional cartoonist, because I was being paid to draw comics.” Porcellino spoke about his interest in the idea of real life and the ineffable experience of being alive. One thing he mentioned—and we think this is a big part of what makes King Cat so special—is that he tried not just to describe the event of his experience, but to communicate the feeling of that experience. Porcellino characterized the subject matter of his comics as “this weird feeling I had… the underlying mystery in every moment,” a description we think King Cat readers will agree is quite fitting. Caitlin McGurk, librarian at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum moderated the following panel on self-publishing. Porcellino remained on stage to join Ramsey Beyer, Rachel Masilamani and Bill Boichel to chat about their experiences self-publishing in the United States. Similar to the first panel of the day, the panelists spoke of how they’d found their way to comics and more generally towards self-publishing. Masilamani recounted first encountering zines through Christina Kelly’s zine of the month column in Sassy magazine. She spoke about the experience of receiving the Xeric grant and the consequences that it brought along with it. It allowed for her to get her first comics into the world and to hit the ground running with her first collection of RPM, but from the get go she was on her own. The panelists thoughts on the pricing of mini comics were particularly interesting. Not surprisingly, Boichel as a vendor and Porcellino as a distributor had a lot to bring to the discussion of the relationship between self-expression and the commodification of desire. Boichel mentioned that artists sometimes come to him with $20 minicomics, reporting that they sold a lot of copies in New York, but he knows they won’t sell at that price point in Pittsburgh. Beyer emphasized the importance she placed on the ethics of the production process and mentioned having worked with 1984 Press in Oakland California. Boichel, suggested that aspiring cartoonists always pick someone to write to; a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger, someone. By thinking of their audience’s interests and their budget, they could be more likely to create works that would move through the world more freely. Dash Shaw followed the self-publishing panel. He began his talk by showing some recent animation work. One of the most striking animations that he played was the music video,Seraph, which he had made in collaboration with Frank Santoro and other artists for Sigur Ros’ valtari film experiment. Shaw took the audience through a brief survey of his cartooning work, starting with his three current publications– the minicomic New Jobs, published by Uncivilized Books, the pamphlet3 New Stories, and the graphic novel New School, both published by Fantagraphics– and working his way backward to the mammoth graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button. One through-line of Shaw’s talk was his thoughts regarding line and color. “I could talk about color forever,” he said, and it’s hard not to get excited by his original and distinctive ideas. Many of the pages Shaw showed from New School use color in ways that are entirely divorced from traditional comic book coloring. Shaw rarely uses colors to simply fill out the drawing, preferring instead to use the collision between the color and the line-art to create meaning and emotion, often in oblique and subtle ways. This unwillingness to spell things out directly for the reader was evident in Shaw’s discussion of line and drawing as well. He spoke of being inspired by David Mazzucchelli’s idea of the “dumb line,” (which he describes in more detail here) and by trying to push back against the conventions of “good” illustration. “So much illustration is about telling people what something is and how to feel about it,” Shaw said, adding that he wanted to make drawings that don’t tell their reader how to feel. He also spoke about his fascination with the house styles found, among other places, in manga and Archie comics, speculating about an ideal, impossible Archie style. In Shaw’s conception, even the best Archie artists fall short of this Platonic style, and their own personal style would be the accumulation of their failings at achieving a true Archie drawing. All in all, it was a dense, stimulating talk, and we can’t wait to dive into New School and read it with the attention Shaw’s work demands. The final panel of the day, “A Career in Comics” was moderated by Caitlin McGurk and featured Jim Rugg, Ed Piskor, Frank Santoro and Dash Shaw. The fluidity of the discussion was really satisfying. Without much effort it hopped from discussions of style (and avoiding “style”) to explorations of narrative collapse. Of course, a highlight of the panel was the discussion of the differences between making money around comics and making money in comics. Career development and survival were recurring topics, and every member of the panel had a different way of approaching making a living as a cartoonist. The common thread was work ethic and hustle. Santoro half-jokingly described himself as “basically a used book dealer at this point.” Rugg spoke about doing design work and also discussed the Flight School fellowship , a professional development program for Pittsburgh artists he recently participated in. To see the comics medium getting the attention of an established institution like the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and for it to occur at the Carnegie Museum was inspiring. Here’s hoping for more small events around the country with this level of intimacy and intensity of dialogue. all in all, you could say… Share this page: [...]

04/27/2016

Juan FernándezApril 27, 2016NewsFumetto 2016; Begoña García-Alén’s El Espectador; Dr Fausto Fanzine 10; Daryl Seitchik’s Missy for sale; a first look at Tim Hensley’s Sir Alfred No. 3 ; Al Jarnow & Edwin Rostron. ————————————————————————————————— FUMETTO 2016 Fumetto, one of Europe’s leading international comics festivals wrapped up this past weekend in Luzern, Switzerland. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the festivities lasted from April 16-24. Among the many guests this year were Lorenzo Mattoti, Joost Swarte, Gabrielle Bell, Caroline Sury, Fremok, Max and Ben Katchor. Fumetto has captured glimpses of all the lectures, workshops, pop-up studios, gallery exhibitions, market places, and parties in a recently posted archive of photos. (If you want to get lost into the nitty gritty of the social media coverage of Fumetto, explore Fumetto’s social media wall here.) Among all of the goings on this year was Fumetto’s annual competition exhibition. The theme this year was “Temptation”. View the winning entries from the 2016 competition here. For those of you really hungry for more of Fumetto’s competitions, you can read all of the winning entries from 2014 and 2015. ————————————————————————————————— (the spectator) The fourth installment of Begoña Garcia-Alen‘s El Espectador (the spectator) is now up over on TikTok cómics. Her spectator series is a nice collection of work that explores the idea of observation and reflection. It’s done in a playful, formalist Koch/CF hybrid. Check it out here. ————————————————————————————————— Llegó nuestra Décima Edición. 10 Autores de Colombia, Argentina y Chile. Toda la info en: https://t.co/0OsmwQUpyN pic.twitter.com/Qhq901Nfmf — Dr Fausto Fanzine (@DrFaustoFanzine) April 25, 2016 Dr Fausto The 10th edition of the Colombian publication, the Dr Fausto Fanzine is here! This edition comes out thanks to the support of Editorial Universidad de Caldas. Ya llegó! It’s now available in cities throughout Colombia, starting in Bogotá. This is issue features 10 cartoonists from Colombia, Argentina and Chile: Edward Muñoz (Editor) http://eddmunoz.tumblr.com/ Un reptil http://relampagarto.tumblr.com/ Truchafrita http://www.truchafrita.net/ Wil Zapata http://wilcomix.blogspot.com.co/ Lutocorps http://lutocorps.blogspot.com.co/ Pablo Bofelli (https://www.facebook.com/PUNCH-590883774340172/?fref=ts)http://felipunch.com.ar/ Toto Duarte https://www.flickr.com/photos/sergalletas/ Javier Fabregas http://www.javierfabregas.co/ Pablo Pérez http://periodistailustrado.tumblr.com/ Jko Sánchez http://jkosanchez.net/ ————————————————————————————————— Digital Missy Daryl Seitchik has collected and made all of her issues of her comic Missy available digitally over on gumroad. Check it out. The first one’s free 😉 ————————————————————————————————— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJZjfcMR2fc Comics Movie Tie-in Fantagraphics has just shared a detailed look at Tim Hensley’s latest book, Sir Alfred No. 3. It’s beautiful stuff, full o hyucks. Sir Alfred No. 3 is an oblique biography of the world’s most famous film director, Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, despite being numbered “No. 3,” no other issues exist. The comic book is composed of multiple gag strips based on anecdotes found in tomes of film lore in the public library and used book shops. As Hensley’s previous work Wally Gropius referenced the ’60s teenager genre, Sir Alfred pays homage to ’50s personality comics and movie tie-ins. It ends up being something of a cross between Marge Buell’s Tubby, who bears an unforeseen resemblance to the famous director, and Miss Beverly Hills of Hollywood. Have a closer look at the book over on Fantagraphics’ site. ————————————————————————————————— Asymmetric Navigations Take a walk and join Al Jarnow in conversation with Edwin Rostron over on Edge of Frame as they reflect on his life of creation that has move seamlessly across artistic mediums. Paintings, animations sculptures, software, exhibits – his ideas have taken every form you can imagine. Tune into his frequency for a little energy and inspiration. EoF: In the documentary Asymmetric Cycles you describe your process onCelestial Navigation as “setting up an experimental environment in which I could more or less improv and riff off of different ideas to do with time, the passage of time and the passage of light.” Was this typical of how you worked with your animations? Did this kind of experimental process relate to how you worked as a painter? Was there a lot of material generated through this kind of process that didn’t make the cut? AJ: Yes, always! In painting as in film, the process has always been a dialogue. What happens with the first stroke is a determining factor in what happens with the next. An experiment is an act in which you don’t know the outcome. It’s a learning process. You might have expectations and anticipate your results, but those can color your results. In film, a lot of snippets ended up on my cutting room floor (or at least in cans still stored in my attic). In painting, pieces ended up in re-cycling, painted over, cut in half, and again stored in my attic studio. ————————————————————————————————— Have a good one and see you soon. Here’s one some reverie for the road. Share this page: [...]

05/17/2017

Juan FernándezMay 17, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Álvaro Pons; DisTinta; 11 autoras latinx; #HUL2017; Mujer y Comic; Bas; #gutterfest; Peter Jojaio; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— La Cárcel de Papel nació como “el diario de un lector de tebeos” y en poco tiempo se convirtió en la referencia en la red para los amantes del cómic. Ahora, Álvaro Pons recupera en un volumen las mejores entradas que han ido apareciendo desde 2002. Se dice pronto en alicanteplaza.es: – El ritmo de La cárcel era frenético, una entrada al día durante mucho tiempo. Y era una dosis intensa, no cuatro líneas. – Confluyeron varias cosas. Al abrir La cárcel, pensaba más en un recopilatorio de artículos que iba escribiendo por ahí, siguiendo el ejemplo de los primeros blogs americanos. Pero luego mi verborrea natural me lleva a generar nuevos contenidos. Cuando me doy cuenta estoy escribiendo todos los días y, cuando se introducen los comentarios, eso tenía repercusión, la gente participaba y eso me animaba a hacer más contenidos. Al final se convirtió en una auténtica cárcel. – ¿Acabarías un poco hasta los güevos ¿no? – Sí, como te digo, acababa casi convertido en una auténtica cárcel, aunque igual no me daba cuenta porque lo hacía a muy a gusto, todo sea dicho. ————————————————————————————————— Andrea Guzmán le da un vistazo a la nueva antología argentina, DisTinta compilada por Martín Pérez y el dibujante Liniers: La historieta argentina debería estar muerta. Así de rotunda es la primera frase que abre el prólogo de DisTinta, la nueva antología compilada por Martín Pérez y el dibujante Liniers. Aunque esta contundente afirmación, aseguran los autores, no se trata de un deseo personal ni de una premonición pesimista, sino apenas de una constatación realista acerca de nuestra actualidad y nuestra forma de consumo cultural. Cada vez más digital, más efímera, menos narrativa, más pirotécnica. Lo bueno, es que aunque quizás debería estar muerta –o como afirman ellos, con suerte relegada a la nostalgia– la historieta argentina no solo continúa con vida, sino que respira con una energía renovada y sorprendente. Tanto así, que incluso esta selección –con sus imponentes 400 páginas a todo color, sus treinta y tres dibujantes y sus seis guionistas– llegaría a parecer pequeña para abarcar todas las aristas de su actualidad. Por este motivo, Pérez y Liniers se propusieron pensar en un libro bien específico. El recorte que eligieron no busca reunir a la nueva historieta con sus representantes más actuales o más vanguardistas, sino ser retrato de la generación de los años 2000, que ellos consideran la generación huérfana y una bisagra entre la gloria editorial que gozó la Argentina de antaño, y el universo de la historieta actual, que ya encontró su vía para renovarse y seguir existiendo de forma independiente. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Ana Tijoux acerca de sus inicios en el rap, su forma de hacer canciones, su vida como inmigrante, la diversidad y mucho más. Alex Serrano, les ofrece una lista de 11 autoras latinx que representan el presente y el futuro del cómic en español. ¡ Tienes una editorial o un fanzine? Ya está abierta la convocatoria para el #HUL2017 en Madrid! Mujer y Comic – Sobre la visibilidad de las autoras de cómic. Bas: la representante de las autoras en el TBO, entrevistada por Elisa McCausland. El fin de semana que viene llega el @gutterfest en Barcelona con un montón de sellos internacionales y actividades. Quieres saber quien viene? Kike Infame entrevisto a Peter Jojaio, autor de Febrero para galgos en @bilbao24horas. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-17-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-17-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

San Diego Comic-Con International 2019

Chris Anthony DiazJuly 23, 2019Festivals and Shows / The Diaz ArchiveSan Diego Comic-Con International 2019, San Diego Convention Center, Exhibit Hall, Thursday, July 18, 2019 Share this page: [...]

06/08/2016

Juan FernándezJune 8, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez with: a Studio Visit with Steven Weissman; COTTONOPOLIS on CW; School Store Restock Selling Fast; Hostia un Libro; Pablo Besse’s ANTITIERRA; El Capitan Trueno; un look a Locas; Club Fosfatina 2000 Vol. 2. On the site: New in the DIAZ ARCHIVE: http://comicsworkbook.com/a-studio-visit-with-steven-weissman/ ————————————————————————————————— Cottonopolis Week continues on CW Made from November 2014 through January 2015 by Oliver East for Comics Workbook, Cottonopolis is a series of 6 panel comics that unpack moments in a life that swirls in the history of Manchester, UK. Spend some time with them today. ————————————————————————————————— School Store: Recent Restock SELLING OUT FAST We have some new items up on the school store that have been selling fast. Don’t miss your chance to grab: ZONA #03, Cold Heat Specials and Blades & Lazers set, Gary Panter postcard set, and Mikey Z’s Venom. Off the site: ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! Just around the corner in Madrid, Spain is ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! a small press festival in its 3rd year. Comics, poetry, literature, all in the small press mix in this outdoor book fair. Organized by Elisabeth Falomir Archambault, Alberto Haj-Saleh, Francisco Serrano, Pedro Toro, hosts of Hostia un Podcast. ————————————————————————————————— Antitierra – Pablo Besse Real purdy, sexually charged digital edition of a book by argentine cartoonist, Pablo Besse. If you like what you see there, be sure to take a dip into Pablo Besse’s drawings over on his site. ————————————————————————————————— Reflecting on 60 Years Capitan Trueno Jesús Jiménez has wonderful look at the history of Spain’s best selling comic book over at RTVE.es. Inspired by Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, El Capitan Trueno was a rock ’em sock ’em action comic full of o’ hyucks that took Spain by storm under Franco. Smash that Google Translate button to read it all! ————————————————————————————————— Dandole un look a Locas Ruth García Martín os da un look al primer volumen en la serie Love and Rockets de Jaime Hernandez, Locas 1. RGM: A lo largo de las 272 páginas y 24 vemos una notable evolución narrativa como discursiva en la que se va despojando de lo accesorio para utilizar, o innovar, los recursos necesarios en cada escena. En cierta medida, salvaguardando todas las distancias, su evolución es equivalente a la de Mike Mignola. Ambos tienen una narrativa muy particular con la que han recreado un personal universo y un arte que ha ido limpiándose de artificios innecesarios con el paso del tiempo sin mermar, más bien al contrario, un ápice la calidad. En este primer tomo Jaime Hernández sienta las bases de lo que será su universo Si no han leeido Love and Rockets, os toca empezar vuestra aventura con Los Hermanos Hernandez hoy! ————————————————————————————————— CLUB FOSFATINA 2000 VOL 2. Galician publisher Club Fosfatina has just released a peek at Julia Huete’s killer looking Gran Danes (Above), the first book in Club Fosfatina’s second bimonthly A4 Risograph comics subscription. Subscriptions can be made up until June 30th. Don’t sleep on ’em! FOSFATINA 2000 es una colección bimensual de cómics a dos colores tamaño A4 impresa en RISOGRAFÍA, con una tirada limitada de 150 ejemplares. El segundo volumen de la colección está conformada por las obras de los siguientes autores: Julia Huete, María Ramos, Cynthia Alfonso, Berliac, Nacho García, Los Bravú,Óscar Raña y Berto Fojo. Ocho ediciones repartidas durante todo el año, cada dos meses con dos lanzamientos dobles (Cynthia Alonso / Berliac, Óscar Raña / Berto Fojo). Share this page: [...]

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