Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Composition Competition 2016, Connor Willumsen, correspondence course, workshops at spx

Sally Ingraham

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016

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10/15/2018

Caleb OrecchioOctober 15, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with a story. ————————————————————————————————— I show my comic strip to another syndicate editor. Their smiling face quickly turns to curiosity. Then to confusion. Then to bafflement. They say the usual, “It’s great! But it will never sell. We need something a little more universal. Have you read the new Nancy strip? It’s funny, modern and very universal. Think a little more along those lines and come back with something else.” I stormed out of the building. What do these people know about comic strips! I have a great strip! People will love it! Nancy and Sluggo died with Bushmiller I always say! Later, I am visiting a lifelong friend. We, that is my friend his wife and me, are visiting his in-laws (her parents) for dinner. Somehow, I agree to come along. It’s actually a pleasant evening until: “Caleb makes comic strips,” my friend says at the dinner table. The father-in-law lights up, “Really?! I LOVE comic strips!” My friend takes out a self-published copy of my book collecting my strips from his book bag. “You carry this around with you?” I ask. No not usually. He had brought it to show his father-in-law and thought I would be flattered to witness the father-in-law read my comic. I was not and would continue not to be. The father-in-law opens the book with a smiling face that quickly turns to curiosity. Then confusion. Then to bafflement. “It looks great! I don’t understand what is going on, but I like the way it looks! I like the character’s expressions. Have you ever read Nancy? You know, with Sluggo – that new artist is HI-larious! You should make something like that. You just need a good idea.” I stormed out of the house. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 10-15-18 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 10-15-18 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

11/19/2018

Caleb OrecchioNovember 19, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with a wonky layout from a Gray Morrow page. ————————————————————————————————— Mindy Newell serves an incredibly personal PSA to readers in 1986. Within the pages of this two-issue mini-series, aggressive ace reporter Lois Lane investigates the epidemic of missing children sweeping Metropolis and the nation. Nothing will stop her in her pursuit, but is Lois taking on too much by herself? Will she except the help from her friends and estranged sister? The story, though heavy-handed at times, is sincere and written by an author with a purpose. I picked these issues up for the Gray Morrow art and Joe Orlando colors. I’m impressed by Morrow’s resistance, or the appearance of resistance, of relying on photo reference. As a result, there is little in the way of awkward, collage-y images that feel stiff and contrived; a common, yet not always unwelcome (by me), plague of Morrow’s comics. The pages herein are smoothly and professionally cartooned. More or less. Actually Morrow struggles as usual to make a format that even resembles a coherent structure. Below is an interesting example. A variation on the “shattered-glass” approach to comic page formatting. This way of making comics almost always looks clunky. The word balloons are unorganized, the space allowed for figures and backgrounds seems cramped, and the eye has a hell of a time knowing where to look. If you are following the dialogue, the page is divided into two tiers. The middle horizontal gutter dividing the top half from the bottom. I have shown the sequence of panels in accordance to the word balloons below: However, I think Morrow meant the page to read clockwise. Like this: Follow the sequence of the images as I see it. In the third panel, Lois slaps a newspaper with her backhand. In panel 5 the paper is still on the editor’s desk. She appears to pick the paper up in panel 6. They way the dialogue determines the sequence, Lois would have smacked the paper, picked it up, and put the paper back down again. Visually, it doesn’t make much sense. Still, the way I think Morrow intended the sequence to work makes for tricky reading due to the horizontal middle gutter because the reader would have to abandon the traditional rules of comic book reading. I think the editor, Robert Greenberger, made an executive decision and made the page read traditionally not only due to the middle gutter, but due to the fact that the clockwise reading presumably intended by Morrow ruins the flow of the spread by making the reader start in the top left of the spread, down to the bottom left corner and back up to the top left corner of the facing page. As oppose to the traditional pattern of top left to bottom right of the page, and top left to bottom right of the facing page. These are things that jump out at me and urk me. This is a flawed page and makes for confusing comics. I feel that cartoonists make these kind of pages in service to some strange sense of making personal art. Cartoonists must learn from these formatting mistakes and not fall victim to such practices. Keep it simple, stupid. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

Comics Workbook at SPX 2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 3, 2016Festivals and Shows / School UpdatesJoin Frank Santoro and Comics Workbook at SPX – September 17th and 18th 2016! We will be at table N8 this year – stop by and say “Hello” – check out new work by Frank and his students – buy some old comics from Frank’s vast collection! We are excited to announce that Comics Workbook will be hosting a series of special workshops at SPX this year! Details below. Learn to Draw from the Pros! Join educator Frank Santoro and his Comics Workbook school for a series of workshops featuring hands-on instruction from some of the most talented makers of independent comics. All workshops will held in the Brookside A&B downstairs at the Marriott Hotel. Please consult the workshop schedule and sign up in advance to insure a spot. Walk-ins will be welcome, however, space permitting. ADVANCE SIGNUPS FOR THE WORKSHOPS ARE CLOSED. CHECK AT THE BROOKSIDE ROOM ON THE LOWER LEVEL OF THE CONFERENCE CENTER TO SEE IF ANY SEATS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE SESSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND! Saturday September 17th 12:00-1:00 PM Comics with Jeffrey Brown Bringing the “Star Wars Academy” to you! Maybe you have a burning desire to learn to draw Luke Skywalker, or need help transporting your own middle-school adventures into a galaxy far, far away? Jeffrey Brown will be on hand to share storytelling tips and drawing advice. 1:00-3:00 PM Comics Workbook Hangout Join the Comics Workbook team for an afternoon of comics-crafting. Learn about color and line, explore the rhythm of the grid, and take your comics-making game to a new level. Simple exercises will push you in mind-bending directions. Drop in for a minute or an hour. 3:00-5:00 PM Spanish Fever (Spanish Language Workshop) SPX and Comics Workbook, along with the Spanish Cultural Ministry and Fantagraphics, is pleased to provide Spanish language instruction and presentations with José Domingo and David Rubín. 5:00-6:00 PM Cameron Nicholson and Frank Santoro Comics Workbook founder and internationally known cartoonist/teacher Frank Santoro will be joined by rising star Cameron Nicholson for a conversation about comics and music, and developing the samurai skills of a dedicated comics maker. Be prepared for mind-expansion. Sunday September 18th 1:00-2:00 PM Comics with Carol Tyler Learn the ins and outs of autobiographical comics from a maker who has been defining the form since the 1970’s. Carol Tyler will discuss her adventures in comics and share drawing tips and storytelling advice. 2:00-3:00 PM Comics Workbook Hangout Casual drop-in session with the Comics Workbook team. Take a break from circling the ballroom and channel some of that energy and those new ideas into your own work. Instructors and materials will be on hand for those who need additional inspiration. 3:00-4:00 PM Comics with Charles Burns We hear that Charles Burns is bringing slides to show us. Join us in discovering what his sometimes dark but always thrilling world involves. Draw along with him – maybe he’ll even create some of those immaculately inked black lines before your eyes. 4:00-5:00 PM Comics Workbook Hangout You never know who you might bump into at this final Comics Workbook hangout session. Everyone needs a place to chill out near the end of the show – we might be working on comics when Jaime Hernandez shows up to kick it, or Daniel Clowes – who can say? _____________________________________________________________ SIGN UP FOR THE WORKSHOPS HERE! Check out the rest of the fantastic programming available at SPX this year – HERE! Share this page: [...]

12/08/2017

Sally IngrahamDecember 7, 2017NewsSally here with comics by Nicole Claveloux, thoughts from Jackie Kirby, and lists from Abraham Riesman, among other things! ————————————————————————————————— Tis the season for “Best of” lists, with every news source you can think of publishing their 10 favorite “whatevers”. I’ve already seen a dozen “best of comics” lists, but I’m just linking to Abraham Riesman’s over on Vulture, since his list is 6 out of 10 female creators, and the rest are comics I also really liked. Riesman’s got writeups on Eleanor Davis‘s You & a Bike & a Road, Sophia Foster-Dimino’s Sex Fantasy, Jillian Tamaki’s Boundless, Thi Bui‘s The Best We Could Do, Poppies of Iraq by Brigitte Findakly (co-written and illustrated by her husband, Lewis Trondheim), and of course Emil Ferris’s My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. Connor Willumsen’s Anti-Gone and Gary Panter’s Songy of Paradise are also on the list, plus a few others. Look no further for your holiday gift-giving list, and if you haven’t already, add these comics to your own TBR lists ASAP. Check out the full list HERE. ————————————————————————————————— I am eager to get my hands on Nicole Claveloux‘s The Green Hand and Other Stories, which came out in English from New York Review Comics recently. Matthias Wivel reviews it over on The Comics Journal, making me only more excited to see it myself. Nicole Claveloux made comics for about a decade in France in the 70’s/80’s, but as her work went largely unnoticed she turned to other forms of artistic expression. “For a few brief years, Claveloux…contributed short comics to the legendary magazine Métal Hurlant – several of which were published in English in its counterpart Heavy Metal – as well as its offshoot Ah! Nana (1976–’78), which featured women creators exclusively. For the longer of these stories, she collaborated with the writer Edith Zha. The Green Hand collects most of this meager output between nifty hard covers, sensitively translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith and hand-lettered in imitation of the original by Dustin Harbin. It will hopefully be followed by a new edition of their feature-length comics album Morte-saison (1979). The title story, signed Claveloux and Zha, is the main draw here. Published in five installments in Métal Hurlant in 1977, and in Heavy Metal the following year, it is a technicolor dreamscape drawn from life clocking in at just over forty pages. An almost elegiac portrait of the unbearableness of being. There is no great crisis detailed in its vivid narrative of attempted escape from things as they are, just crushing inevitability as the couple at its center finally submerge themselves in an inky ocean under a neon sunset.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. Also, you can check out the comic strip she drew – “Grabote, which ran in the popular children’s magazine Okapi between 1973–’82″ – in French HERE. Here’s a page from it: I plan to see if I can track down some issues of Ah! Nana, which the Women in Comics Wiki describes: “Ah! Nana was a French comics magazine published from October 1976 to September 1978, running nine issues. It was published by Humanoïdes Associés, best known as the publishers of Métal Hurlant, or Heavy Metal. It was the first French publication featuring work almost entirely by women (though it occasionally featured male contributors) at a time when comics were still almost exclusively male environments. It included work by such French cartoonists as Chantal Montellier, Florence Cestac, and Nicole Claveloux, as well as Americans such as Trina Robbins. It sold 15,000 copies on a print run of 30,000, before the ban on sales to minors proved fatal, due to its frequent taboo and controversial material.“ Read more about the magazine HERE and HERE, in an article on Comics Forum. ————————————————————————————————— I was totally blown away by the article Jackie Kirby wrote for Comics Workbook earlier this week, which dug into the work of Lyn Hejinian as a way to talk about open comics. At one point she breaks down two panels from the comic by Lynda Barry pictured above, just as she had broken down the opening sentences of a short story, showing how each creator opened up their text/image to achieve a multitude of meanings. She goes on to say: “Barry’s formal style requires a more simplistic, linear execution, but even in two relatively unassuming panels, we see the process of anticipation and retrospection used in a variety of ways. It is also worth noting that because I am equating the prosodic sentence with the comic panel, a degree of slippage occurs. Each of the panels above includes multiple sentences, and were I to parse them one by one it would reveal even more subtle layers of activity within the text. Most notably, though, in dissecting these panels, the notion of juxtaposition becomes increasingly complex, and the reader is required to do much more work in producing meaning from juxtaposed images and words (e.g. identifying Freddie and Marlys, locating them at a kitchen table together). Spatial placement and juxtaposition are among the most essential elements of comic making. Fortunately for my purpose, they are also critical to Hejinian’s theories of openness.“ Read the whole article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Cookie Crumbs There is a comics journalism roundtable composed of Sophie Yanow, Iona Fox, and Joe Sacco over on Process Party – listen to episode 60 HERE. There’s a great interview with Stephanie Zuppo, publisher of The Ladybroad Ledger in Vermont, on the business of making comics and art – HERE on Seven Days. Emily Flake has a new comic up on The New Yorker – read it HERE. Traditionally in December Rob Clough reviews a huge stack of mini comics made by CCS grads on his blog High-Low – here’s the first set of reviews, featuring work by Sophie Goldstein, Colleen Frakes, and Amelia Onorato. He’s continued with work by Laura Terry, Tillie Walden, Joyana McDiarmid, Daryl Seitchik, and Mary Shyne, among others. ————————————————————————————————— 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 – 12-8-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-8-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/18/2017

Juan FernándezOctober 18, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Sofía Álvarez Watson; Ramón Esono; Begoña García-Alén; Mohammad Barrangi; Inés Estrada; Berliac; La Polola; La Primavera del Libro y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Dibujar el amor es el trabajo de Sofía Álvarez Watson Juan David Umaña Gallego nos cuenta en El Colombiano: “Llegué a Medellín con 105 anécdotas recogidas entre Buenos Aires y Bogotá. De aquí me llevaré unas 10 y luego estaré en Quito para después regresar a Buenos Aires y decidir qué hacer con ellas”, dice la ilustradora. Una de esas historias, la primera en realidad, relata como dos enamorados decidieron encontrarse en una estación de tren, pero con tal mala fortuna que cada uno se ubicó en una entrada diferente esperándose por más de una hora. Después de esperar ese tiempo los dos decidieron ir a la puerta contraria y se encontraron. Un inicio romántico para una historia que no termina bien. ————————————————————————————————— Ramón Esono, a la cárcel por dibujar contra Obiang Ramón Esono sigue en la cárcel y nosotros seguimos pendientes de su estado. Dibujar no es delito. Ramón Esono lleva en la prisión de Black Beach, Malabo (Guinea Ecuatorial), desde el 16 de septiembre, sin que los cargos contra él ni los motivos que han provocado esa detención estén muy justificados. Las autoridades del régimen de Teodoro Obiang apuntan a un supuesto delito por blanqueo de capitales, pero se intuye que las razones reales obedecen a un castigo por las críticas que Esono realiza desde su actividad artística, principalmente como ilustrador. ————————————————————————————————— 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! En este capítulo las chicas se fueron a recorrer La Primavera del Libro, en el parque bustamante (Santiago, Chile). Participaron del duelo de dibujantes entre Katerine Supnem, Malaimagen y Sol Díaz, entrevistaron a distintos personajes, dibujantes, editores, revisaron libros, cantaron, y reíron. Entre los entrevistados están los dibujantes Malaimagen, Christiano y Camila Barrales, hablaron con las editoras de los hermosos libros de La Mujer Rota, Neon, Vasalisa, Francisca Cárcamo de Pánico ediciones, y la grosa y divertida Lola Larra de Ekaré. Inés Estrada: “Millions of years of evolution for us to all be bored on our phones right now…” The last issue of her Alienation comic will be available from her webshop, Gatosaurio this weekend. If you haven’t picked up all previous 5 issues, you’d be remiss not to get all 6 for $25. Miguel A. Pérez-Gómez reseña Nuevas estructuras de Begoña García-Alén – el lector como constructor. Este sábado a las 20 no se pierdan a Berliac en una gran charla moderada por Lucas De Paoli en Libreria del Fondo en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conozcan a Mohammad Barrangi, el elegido por Tragaluz Libros como premio de ilustración. Aquí el intercambio de magnolias entre Barrangi y Juliana Muños Toro. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-18-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-18-2017 – by Juan Fernandez ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 10-18-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

09/08/2016

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 by Sally Ingraham

Sally here today to unpack a fantastic week in the Comics Workbook community – we are celebrating the results of the Composition Competition, looking forward to even more new work with the announcement of the fall Correspondence Course, dancing with excitement over the amazing lineup of CW-hosted workshops at SPX, and eagerly anticipating unpacking the box of hot-off-the-press new books by Connor Willumsen…!

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I believe that people are still working on reading all the comics that were made for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016 (the winning comics, by Cameron Nicholson, Shee Phon, and Cameron Arthur are pictured above)! With well over 100 entries, the competition inspired a phenomenal outpouring of talent and energy this year, from a diverse and international comics making community. This contest is utterly unique, with it’s focus on composition and the freedom that can be found in restriction, and folks world-wide respond to that in remarkable ways.

14192778_10157277957805251_6150833675844764190_n — Blood Sweat n’ Tears – Cameron Nicholson

Camerson Nicholson, who created the comic that won first place in the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition, has been channeling that energy into loads of new projects, like the one above. That is exactly the momentum that the competition hopes to inspire in contestants – many of whom have never completed a comic before. Making a complete comic, releasing it into the world and hearing the world clap back, often inspires one to say “Again!” And so the circle turns.

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tumblr_od5xxlhsrl1qgc04do1_500 — Frank “that’s me on tour w Los Bros” Santoro

With that in mind, Frank Santoro has announced a new semester of his Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers!

“Applications are due by Sept 16 2016 – The course begins Sept 23rd 2016

The application is: 3 landscape drawings, 3 still life drawings, and 3 figure drawings. All done on blank 3 x 5 inch index cards. Draw in direct pen with no pencil underdrawing. Also send me any specific urls of comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem.

You will never meet someone as enthusiastic about comics as me. I’m a good coach.”

Full details are HERE.

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Small Press Expo 2016 is fast approaching, and the Comics Workbook team is getting into high gear with a huge two-day schedule of workshops during the show. We will be hanging out with Jeffery Brown, Carol Tyler, Charles Burns, Cameron Nicholson, and some of the best comics makers from Spain all weekend. Find all the details HERE – and sign up for the workshops HERE!

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There are only a few days left until Connor’s new book makes it’s appearance – we are literally waiting for the mailman on the porch everyday, crossing fingers that he’ll have the box with him…! This means you have only a few days left to take advantage of the incredible pre-order deal – check it out HERE. This book is going to look (and smell) amazing, (thanks to the skills of WestCan) and fans of Connor’s work will no doubt find Portraits an essential part of their collection.

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I’ll be back tomorrow with more news and good energy to close out this first week of September. Cheers – Sally

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Composition Competition 2016, Connor Willumsen, correspondence course, workshops at spx

Sally Ingraham

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016

Explore

01/02/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 2, 2017NewsJuan here. New year. New comics. Hope you’re harnessing some positive energy around you to accomplish what’s important to you. I’m doing my best here in Pittsburgh, PA! ————————————————————————————————— Pittsburgh Comics Salon meets this week on Wednesday at Lili Cafe under Copacetic Comics. Can’t wait. If you’re in Pittsburgh, I hope to see you there, ready to for some comics making drills and exercises. ————————————————————————————————— Here are some comics and news that I think you should pay attention to: The last issue of Kevin Huizenga’s Ganges – arguably the most mechanically inventive and robust 2 color offset comic of the early 21st century – is coming out this March via Fantagraphics. Australians have put together a Minicomic Club you can subscribe to this year. $52 AUD for international shipping. $1/week for Australian comics. Think Oily Comics but 1 chunky comic instead 5 slim ones. The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion by Luke Healy is now online. Brilliant mix of narrative modes. If you liked Synechdoche, NY or anything in the Charlie Kaufmann vein. You’ll love this. Simon Reinhardt: What if Saul Steinberg and Jules Feiffer occupied the place of R. Crumb and Will Eisner in american comics history? Juicy TwitterCrit thoughts on mainstream, yet non-dominant alternative strains of american cartooning. ————————————————————————————————— Forge Art Magazine‘s put out a nice little interview with Brie Moreno. Sit down, grab a marker or pen and doodle while you get to know Brie if you have a free moment. If you’re already hep to Brie’s work, pass the signal along so more people can appreciate what she’s up to. I met Brie (AKA Booger Brie) and Matthew James-Wilson, editor of Forge Art Magazine at CAB this year. They were really kind and had the goods. Good people. This is important. I had questions about what they’ve been doing, and they were actually interested in my interest. No upturned noses. Thank you. Brie’s got an exciting world of comics and zines that you can dive into. Honest and wonky ideas that flow and cross back and forth across her zines. Chunky lines that ooze and distort familiar forms. Chunky hyucks. ————————————————————————————————— Something a little different for you, from the Comics Workbook school store: Gary Panter generously donated these two seminal books – Cola Madnes, the long lost graphic novel that was to be published in Japan in the early 80’s, and 100 Drawings, where Gary documents many of his best commissions. This set is available HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-2-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-2-2017 – by Sally Ingraham We collected the Suzy and Cecil strips that Sally Ingraham and Gabriella Tito drew in 2016 (not all of which were published in the Daily News) and shared them HERE. The series updates daily on Instagram – follow along HERE. Share this page: [...]

01/11/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 11, 2017NewsJuan con un poquito sobre las Tetastristes; Reconciendo Amanda Baeza y su gran obra Nubes de Talco; la estética de la distorsion;Laura Barrachina entrevista a Conxita Herrero, Joaquín Guirao y Antonio Hitos; Un Faulduo en el foco; Tarantula Preview; The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey; y tiras de Gabriella Tito,Caleb Orecchio, y Juan Fernandez. Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atencion: “Las Tetastristes se toman el puerto” – La colectiva de ilustradoras y autoeditoras feministas Tetastristes Cómics estará por primera vez en Valparaiso, en una intima variete de actividades en la casa de Me lo dijo unx TRUEK ubicada en Cerro Concepción, Valparaiso el 1/14. Va haber un montón de actividades, como exposición y venta de material de las Tetastristes Cómics y de lesbilais, además de otras artistas visuales porteñas feministas y revoltosas. Para más información: David Romera de FNAC reseña Nubes de Talco de Amanda Baeza. Esta obra, originalmente publicada por la editorial Fulgencio Pimentel, ya llegara al mundo anglohablante: kuš!komiks is set to translate Amanda Baeza’s Brume (Nubes de Talco) into English this February! Now the global english speaking community can experience Baeza’s tour de force in poetic, abstracted yet cartoony, work of emotional autobiography. Bañate en la estética de la distorsion con Pablo Turnes en la Revista Kamandi. En la ultima edicion de La Hora del Bocadillo en RTVE Laura Barrachina entrevista a Conxita Herrero, Joaquín Guirao y Antonio Hitos. Una hora de jovenes promesas… Sebastián Martínez ha compartido con Comics Workbook un gran tesoro postmoderno escondido: Un Faulduo. Joder, que genial. Dale un momento y ponte a explorar su website. Tienen de todo! Formalmente, Un Faulduo es un colectivo de investigación y experimentación alrededor del campo de la historieta, conformado por Nicolás Daniluk, Ezequiel García, Nicolás Moguilevsky y Nicolás Zukerfeld. Sus colaboraciones hacen un recorrido interdisciplinario que abarca las artes visuales, el cine, la música, las artes escénicas y la literatura. Un Faulduo es el nombre de la revista editada por el grupo. Lleva 10 números realizados desde 2005 y mantiene, desde su aparición y hasta la actualidad, un sistema de rotación de directores (cada número es dirigido por un miembro diferente del staff, lo que obliga a cambios de formato, contenido, técnica). / Un Faulduo is the name of a magazine published by the group. Ten issues have been released since 2005, and each one is led by a different member of the staff, forcing changes in format, content and technique. Han publicado un libro a la vez tradicional y de vanguardia, La Historieta En El (Faulduo) Mundo Moderno. Pop-Collage-Noise-Fanzine-Deconstructivistas. Al fin del cabo, el libroe, es un ensayo visual, que viene desde la tradición de la escritura visual de John Berger. Libremente inspirado en el mítico ensayo “La historieta en el mundo moderno” (Oscar Masotta, 1970), este libro realizado por Un Faulduo (colectivo de investigación y experimentación alrededor del campo de la historieta, formado por Nicolás Daniluk, Ezequiel García, Nicolás Moguilevsky y Nicolás Zukerfeld) se propone pensar la relación entre el lenguaje de la historieta y la forma del ensayo, tomando los propios materiales de la historieta como materia prima para su producción y como una forma que permite analizarse y pensarse a sí misma. Han oido las buenas noticias? Ya pueden pedir Tarantula a todo color! AdHouse esta publicando este primer volumen de la novela policíaca, psicodelica y a la vez satanica del equipo Alexis Ziritt y Fabian Rangel Jr. y Evelyn Rangel. Si no has leido Tarantula te daremos un antojo: aquí tienes tu preview. Hoy les presentamos una nueva publicacion de Comics Workbook: The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey. La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. Arte y Entrevista. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI.Order a copy of The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE. Frank Santoro, el director de Comics Workbook, nos cuenta un poquito sobre sus experiencias con Vanesa: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ Suzy and Cecil – 1-11-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-11-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

09/06/2018

Juan FernándezSeptember 6, 2018NewsJuan here announcing the winners of the 2018 Composition Competition! – – – – – – – – – – Congratulations to ALL who created and submitted work for this year’s composition competition! This year saw a move away from the previous years’ use of Tumblr as the dominant platform of digital media publishing and towards Instagram. A different platform invites different constraints. Instagram functions as a hyper-customizable newspaper that gets updated vigorously and endlessly. This year’s use of Instagram begged for a return to the building blocks of comics, thus the creation of comics strips. Details on this year’s criteria are available HERE. _____________________ First Place – A Weeklong Residency at the Rowhouse Residency in Swissvale, PA. Cory Feder Our decision to award Cory Feder First Place recognizes Feder’s creation of an ambitious yet simple, multi-layered poetic sequence that cuts through notions of language. This is the kind of strip that can be read and re-read ad infinitum to continue gleaning new meaning. Feder’s comic is the kind offhand remark, the cadence of which, you keep thinking about for years. This complex concoction of intuitive drawing and deft use of juxtaposition made for a winning combination. _____________________ Second Place – A collection of gag comics by the Comics Workbook gang Julian Fiebach In Second Place, Julian Fiebach’s “The Worker”clearly embodies excellence in both conception and execution of the classic 4 panel gag. Here is a testament to the raw power of smart minimalism in cartooning. These strips accomplish universally relatable expressions of the many ways that we engage in (and avoid) work in our lives through a pattern language pared down to its essentials. _____________________ Third Place – An original portrait by Audra Stang Will M. The Comics Workbook Competition’s Third Place, “BALLS”, offers an off the wall bit of nonsense. It’s a bizarre laugh that holds together quite well as an absurd re-interpretation of elements Charles’ Schulz world of Peanuts. It carries echoes of grief that crash into pure, unexpected, absurdity. This is a collection of visual chuckles, that accumulate to an absurd 4 panel sequence. A glorious bit of nonsense that begs the question, “WHY?”. _____________________ Honorable Mention Antoine Rigalleau David Craig Chris Jones _______________________ It is our belief that artistic creation is a two way street. An artist, or any other creator, grows in the process of creating; the greater the efforts, the greater the growth. By this measure, comics creators in general – and those who submitted work to this competition in particular – are growing by leaps and bounds, and so, by definition, is the comics form; as in the final analysis, the value of a form is coincident with the work that it contains. It is our hope that all of the makers who participated in this contest have been TRANSFORMED in some way – artistically, personally, spiritually, and/or physically – by the time and energy dedicated to the creation of their submissions. Everyone who took part in this exercise has completed a hero’s journey. _______________________ What I liked about the three winners is a strong sense of intuition and control. I see this aspect in the work of the honorable mentions. This year the judges looked at the entries and tried to frame the winners in a way that reflects the multifaceted jewel that is the world of comics creation in 2018. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s contest. And to everyone who may have begun their comic but did not finish it or enter it, please finish it and post it, and we will do our best to get it seen. Tag your post with #compositioncompetition2018 on Instagram. Juan Fernandez, Pittsburgh PA ___________________________ The restrictions placed upon the contest entries were derived from The Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. It is our firmly held belief here at Comics Workbook that restrictions such as the grid are ultimately freeing. We also believe that timing is the essential ingredient to making great comics. How do you study and practice timing in comics? You use the grid. _____________________________ Please check out the complete list of entries for 2018 at the following link! All Entries. _________________________ Check out past competition winners and entries: 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 9-6-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

03/08/2016

Juan FernándezMarch 8, 2016NewsThey did it. 2dcloud reached their Kickstarter goal. It was a stretch but they had that long game. Art wins again. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the work that they are publishing i their upcoming season, I encourage you to check out their crowdfund campaign. There might be something right up your alley. Now in their twenty-eighth year, the Lambda Literary Awards have announced their nominations. The Lambda Literary Awards celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2015. The awards ceremony on June 6, 2016, will be held at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012). It’s exciting to see the work that was chosen from the world of comics. Check out all the nominations here. LGBT Graphic Novels Curveball, Jeremy Sorese, Nobrow Honor Girl, Maggie Thrash, Candlewick Press The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, EK Weaver, Iron Circus Comics O Human Star: Volume One, Blue Delliquanti, Self-published Wuvable Oaf, Ed Luce, Fantagraphics Books NEW at SPIT AND A HALF!!! Lisa Carver, Ian Sundahl, and some great French imports from Editions Tanibis (in English and/or wordless!): Sylvie Fontaine and Paul Kirchner! All the good stuff over at www.spitandhalf.com. John P. is doing God’s work. Andrew White made a free PDF collection of his favorite among the one page comics he posted on Comics Workbook from 2012 to 2014. You can still read all 350 or so strips online, but Andrew thought it might be nice to have a pared down and easier to read version of the material available. Even if many of the strips are rough or haphazard, this was an important body of work through which I began to address some of the topics that are important in my comics today. I hope you like it. Nick Gazin chit chats with Peter Bagge over at VICE. While you’re at it, read up on the 5 Musical Urban Legends comics Bagge has done already for VICE. The series continues with the form that Bagge developed for Magnet Magzine. The Who, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson and Prince. Who’s next?! Read the whole thing over on VICE. You never really learned how to draw, but your comics look great. Most people who try to make comics without learning to draw make garbage. How did you figure out the drawing style you have? Well, I can draw people and things that look like what I’m drawing while looking at it/them. But that bores me, and I assume it would bore the viewer of the results as well. So I prefer to draw from my mind’s eye, and I take my chances from there. I’m almost never happy with the results, though, so I have a hard time arguing with anyone who thinks my art looks awful. Initially, I was trying to duplicate the way old cartoons look, specifically ones directed by Bob Clampett. Later on, I was also mimicking early comics drawn by Harvey Kurtzman, in his old Hey Look! one-pagers and such. It’s a very polarizing drawing style, though. Goodreads has all these rave reviews ofWoman Rebel by all these woman’s studies majors who love the content of the book but give it three or four instead of five stars, simply because they can’t stand my art! Cartoonist and movie critic, Julian Lytle, sat down with Rocky Hadadi to talk 2015 Film on the most recent installment of Ignorant Bliss. This was recorded before the Oscars so there is a lot of talk about the nominees and a little TV talk. Good talk, good music, good banter. Listen in for a while. Chris Mautner took some time to write about Michael Deforge‘s latest work, Big Kids and the themes and story mechanisms in Deforge’s work more generally. Read on. Despite its small size, Big Kids manages to hold just about all of the ideas and themes DeForge has been exploring up to this point. The secret societies, the adolescent angst, the strange body transformations, the antisocial hero desperate to find acceptance — they all coalesce in this slim book. If you were looking for a starting point in DeForge’s bibliography, this might be the place. Would you like to be Nat. Brut’s first Artist-in-Nonresidence? It’s like an artist residency – but not. You will get a month’s worth of gift cards to cafés around New York City and activate the whole city as your workplace! The residency will last April 1-30, 2016, at the end of which all or part of your work will be published in Nat. Brut. Who can apply? Artists or writers of any medium, with a work sample. We are limiting our first round to applicants who identify as people of color. HOW TO APPLY Apply now until 11:59 on March 31 using our online application here:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XSbc4qqQQOOPGYm0TjplyLGWOpqJlMlXY7o8EFcdFp4/viewform?c=0&w=1 that’s it for today. juan fernandez, over and out. Share this page: [...]

01/26/2016

Juan FernándezJanuary 26, 2016NewsNews 2/26/2015 Julia Wertz gives a little tour around through her Studio apartment where she lives and works in Greenpoint, NY. Full of the oddest of ends, it’s a bonafide curiocabinet. It’s always nice to have a little more insight in the life of Wertz. Conor Stechschulte gives a solid walk through of the process of producing his most recent comic, Generous Bosom 2 on Breakdown Press’ blog. From planning to color separating, Conor goes through it all. An important read for those who wan’t to understand composing comics for print. Most of what you’ll see here I developed in the making of the first volume of GB. The idea from the beginning has been to make the book in a manner that builds in layers of editing and to allow for further editing by using (mostly) the same grid. This way, I can move panels around or chop two pages in half and graft them together, things like that. Nick Drnaso‘s Beverly is officially now out and available for you to bring to the warmth of your home. Nice preview of the work over at the AV Club. VICE has got the comics you’re clamoring for. Julian Glander, Steven Weissman and Leslie Stein. Jump on in! Share this page: [...]

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