Sally here with you today to show off what Renee French and Vanesa R. Del Ray have been drawing lately, check in with Sophie Yanow on the ground at the Republican National Convention and Atena Farghadani in Iran, take a peek at the San Diego Comic-Con, and hear what Mike Kuchar and Anne Bongiovanni are hyped about.
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Things are heating up everywhere as the summer progresses, and Sophie Yanow is in the thick of things this week as she makes comic reports for The Nib on the Republican National Convention. Her most recent Mean Streets piece documented some of the goings on around the 4th Street RNC entrance the other day, aptly titled The Clash. Check it out HERE.
The Nib has exploded since the recent launch of it’s new website, with comics piling in from all sides. Check back daily for the latest on the Convention and other good stuff – (Get to Know the 2016 GOP Platform by Andy Warner and Sophie Louise Dam is a particularly useful read!)
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The Washington Post had an exclusive interview with Atena Farghadani recently. Farghadani is the 29-year-old cartoonist who had been arrested and sentenced in 2014 to more than 13 years in prison after drawing Iran’s parliament as animals. She was protesting her government’s anti-birth control policies. She spent the better part of 2 years in prison, before finally being released in May of this year. Michael Cavna was the first Western reporter to conduct an interview with Farghadani since her release, via email and with the help of the Cartoonists Rights Network International.
Farghadani speaks about her imprisonment only briefly, focusing more on her plans to stay in Iran, where she will continue being an activist and a cartoonist.
“At the moment, since I’ve arrived at the certainty that there is miracle lying in the art of drawing and painting, I’m more determined to continue doing it than ever.” – Atena Farghadani
Read the whole interview HERE.
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The San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing, and Michael Dooley wrote a piece for Print about the women who will be getting well-deserved recognition, as featured guests, panelists, and during the Eisner Award ceremony.
“This year’s Eisner Awards ceremony will offer a relief to the series of sexist fiascos surrounding the Angoulême Comics Festival’s Grand Prix earlier this year. Around fifty deserving women have garnered 61 nominations in 27 of the thirty categories. A large number of them will be present to accept their honors, including the triple-nominated Joëlle Jones and Colleen Coover as well as SDCC Spotlight guests Kate Beaton and Emily Carroll. I’ve assembled some of the most graphically impressive works from among these artists, and concluded by acknowledging one more from the author of a book that’s sure to be of vital interest to any and all designing cartoon enthusiasts.” – Michael Dooley
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I enjoy Renee French‘s work, and find the process videos that she posts on her Instagram account particularly fascinating. The one above is her most recent offering, and since we have a fondness for pugs (Lenny!) around the Comics Workbook headquarters, I had to share it here.
Give French’s Baby Bjornstrand (Koyama Press) a look if you haven’t yet experienced how her unique style translates into comics storytelling – HERE.
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Open Space conducted a conversation with Mike Kuchar this week. It delves into the relationship between filmmaking and cartooning, both of which Kuchar excels at, and the guys he used to hang out with in California – folks like R. Crumb, Billy Griffith, and Art Spiegelman. It’s a highly entertaining read.
“You know, even the stupidest movie or the most despised movie, there’s always something that is a spark. There’s something that can be explored or affects you in a certain way. I love Hollywood movies. That’s how I learned movie making — when I was watching the picture, I was also seeing how they were made, in some ways. And I love junk stuff. I love B-movies, I love the cheap science fiction movies of the fifties.
I love to look at paintings too, because in some ways, they also help me as a cinematographer. You see a painting and the colors that are used, the composition — there’s magic in an image. Something will affect you. There’s magic. There’s a sense of atmosphere, light and mood. I always find the mediums are all interchangeable.” – Mike Kuchar via Open Space
Read the whole thing HERE – via Dan Nadel at TCJ.
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Anne Bongiovanni made the twelfth installment of Comic Book Decalogue over on The Comics Journal – listen to it HERE!
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Check out the Summer Set that Uncivilized Books is featuring, especially the new mini-comic from Laura Park – Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #5. (“Pigeons, French guest stars, face punching, stolen oranges, dogs, true Americans, warts and so much more!“)
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And now, what the heck, a process video from Vanesa R. Del Ray to finish up –
A video posted by Vanesa R. Del Rey (@vrdelrey) on
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These days you never know what the next week will hold, but we’ll be back to investigate it with you on Monday! – Sally