Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, NewsTagged CF, Fanzination! en el Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Festival Entreviñetas. Mario Levrero, Flor Monfort, Joaquín Guirao, Libreria PUNC, Revista Clitóris, Roberta Vázquez

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 16, 2017August 16, 2017

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05/01/2018

Aaron CockleMay 1, 2018NewsAaron Cockle here today with Eva Hesse; Alberto Savinio + Roberto Calasso; Edward Gorey; Frederick Luis Aldama; How to Tell a (Good) Story; The Revengerers ————————————————————————————————— Eva Hesse: Arrows and Boxes, Repeated April 6-May 25, 2018, Craig F. Starr Gallery, 5 East 73rd Street, NYC Hesse is best known for the pioneering sculptural works in nontraditional materials like latex and fiberglass that she made between 1966 and her untimely death in 1970. Prior to identifying herself as a sculptor, Hesse worked in more traditional media like painting, and she made hundreds of drawings over the course of her short but prolific career. Her paintings, drawings, and sculptures are often considered separately, but this exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view early and late works side by side, illuminating the underlying structural similarities as well as their transformations. ————————————————————————————————— ALBERTO SAVINIO Annual installation, 06 October 2017 – 23 June 2018, The Center for Italian Modern Art, 421 Broome Street, 4th Floor, NYC Alberto Savinio will feature 25 rarely seen works by the artist, focusing on paintings produced after his move to Paris in 1926, when he put his other creative pursuits on hold in order to devote himself fully to visual arts. The exhibited works are characterized by Savinio’s vivid color palette, his fantastical interpretation of mythology and voyage, and his eccentric vision of landscape. Continuing CIMA’s practice of introducing work by contemporary artists into its exhibitions, the installation will also feature select sculptures and prints by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010). This juxtaposition will bring to the fore the two artists’ commonalities, including their flirtation with Surrealism, a shared interest in the subconscious, and, most significantly, the profound influence that familial relations had on their respective artistic imagery. ALSO: WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 6-8PM Join CIMA for a rare opportunity to hear Roberto Calasso discuss the work of Alberto Savinio in conversation with JonathanGalassi, president of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Calasso is the publisher of Adelphi Edizioni, the Milan editorial house that has over the last forty years embarked on a rigorous project to re-issue Alberto Savinio’s literary oeuvre. Adelphi has to date published some 23 books by the author including, in 1977, the Nuova Enciclopedia—a remarkable and highly original personal encyclopedia with entries ranging from the god Apollo to Josephine Baker, which Savinio worked on throughout the 1940s until his premature death in 1952. Note: This program is the first of two evenings featuring Roberto Calasso at CIMA, co-presented with Farrar Straus and Giroux and with the support of the Maurice English Poetry Award. On May 10, Calasso will discuss FSG’s newly issued edition of The Ruin of Kasch, translated by Richard Dixon, with author Lila Azam Zanganeh. The book will be available for purchase and signing both evenings. ————————————————————————————————— Gorey’s Worlds February 10–May 6, 2018, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street Hartford CT This pioneering exhibition explores Gorey, his work, and the artists Gorey admired and collected. Works range in style, era, and media—from 19th-century prints and drawings to contemporary art from the 1970s and 1980s. Through 73 works on paper by Édouard Manet, Charles Meryon, Eugène Atget and Albert York and others, as well as anonymous folk art, visitors will step into Gorey’s imagination by viewing the art he collected alongside his own sketches, drawings, prints, and art books. Rarely seen portraits and personal effects, such as his distinctive fur coats and metal jewelry, further bring Gorey himself to life. ————————————————————————————————— The 217th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, Kellen Auditorium (Room N101, off the lobby), Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. 66 Fifth Avenue. Free and open to the public. Frederick Luis Aldama on Latinx Comics: Geometric Storytelling, Production, and Consumption . Aldama will unzip his brain, offering a multimedia extravaganza of US Latinx comics as explored in and through pop culture. He explores how Latinx created comics vitally complicate and enrich our understanding of Latinx identity and experience and powerfully add to and actively shape the history of comics. Along the way Aldama presents a dynamic model for understanding Latinx subjects as active transformers of the world we live in today. Frederick Luis Aldama is Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar at The Ohio State University. He teaches courses on Latino comics, film, and other cultural phenomena. He is the author, co-author, and editor of over thirty books. He is founder and director of the White House Hispanic Bright Spot awarded LASER (Latinx Space for Enrichment Research) as well as recipient of the Ohio Education Summit Award and American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education’s Outstanding Latino/a Faculty in Higher Education Award. In 2017, Aldama was awarded the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching and inducted into the Academy of Teaching. He was recently inducted into the Society of Cartoon Arts. ————————————————————————————————— How to Tell a Story Eleanor Davis provides the illustrations for this NY Times piece by Daniel McDermon. Common Pitfalls As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” But here are some things to look out for while you practice: Don’t sound like you’re reading from a book. Keep your language informal, like the way you would talk to a friend. “Your story isn’t meant to be read,” Mr. Beverly said. Wear your influences lightly and speak in your own voice. Don’t mimic someone else’s style or verbal patterns. Keep your goal in mind: this experience is for the audience, not for you. If you get lost or mess up, don’t call attention to a mistake. “Pause, gather yourself, and continue,” Mr. Beverly recommended. “Even if you have to repeat yourself.” Don’t overshare. There’s a difference between a relatable personal story, which helps connect you to the audience, and TMI. ————————————————————————————————— Intentional knockoffs Obvious Plant’s Jeff Wysaski made some knockoff Avengers action figures and they’re perfectly hilarious in their bootleggedness. See them all here. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-1-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Rowhouse Residency Report – Nick Fowler

Comics WorkbookJuly 26, 2018Residency Reports / School UpdatesNick Fowler is a cartoonist based in San Francisco, CA. He joined us in Pittsburgh, PA, for a weeklong Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in June of 2018. Here are his thoughts about visiting the city and his Rowhouse Residency experience. ——————————————————————————————— Nick Fowler here: I was very nervous on my Greyhound ride from New York to Pittsburgh. I didn’t know exactly what to expect from my time at the Rowhouse and it was a fairly spontaneous decision to take part in it. The weeks leading up to my residency were spent packing all my belongings from my three years in New York City at The School Of Visual Arts, and then shipping them back home to San Francisco. It just so happened that there was a last-minute opening at the Rowhouse the week I was scheduled to move back home, so I jumped at the opportunity, thinking it would serve as a buffer between three confusing years of art school (think Art School Confidential with cartoonists) and my indefinite time back home. There, I would be looking for part-time jobs, reacquainting myself with the friends I had left and relearning, in some ways, a vastly different San Francisco from the one I left three years ago. In an attempt to quell my fears and distract myself, I read Connor Willumsen’s Anti-Gone on the Greyhound. It blew me away – a comic about the role of entertainment in a capitalist dystopia reminiscent of J.G. Ballard’s Drowned World by way of Moebius’ Airtight Garage in which, for the majority of the comic, the main characters spend their time buying things. Talking about this comic any more would require writing an entire article. The first night, Sally Ingraham picked me up from the Greyhound station and we talked about our respective comic-making histories. She showed me around the Rowhouse and introduced me to the other permanent resident, Audra Stang. The first day at the residency, Caleb Orecchio drove me to Copacetic Comics where Sally was working. On the car ride over, we talked about Dash Shaw, Connor Willumsen and SVA. I have been going to comic book stores my whole life, and I honestly think Copacetic is one of the best, if not the best I’ve ever been to. It’s often hard to find a comic store that has a thorough collection of both old back issues and small press stuff. Usually, I find that if a store specializes in one, it’s significantly lacking in the other. Despite being a fairly small store, Copacetic somehow has both in spades (and more). While at Copacetic, Caleb and Juan Jose Fernandez started a conversation about why Craig Thompson’s Blankets doesn’t hold up for them. The conversation, as I remember it, was centered around the way Craig’s loss of faith was portrayed in the comic. The details would be hard for me to articulate here, as it was gloriously convoluted and drew from their past experiences with Christianity and Catholicism, most of which was lost on me, as I was raised culturally Jewish. Nevertheless, to hear such an impassioned discussion about Blankets and its place in the pantheon of comics history was a thrill. I stood there smiling like a doofus. I felt like I was where I needed to be. Afterwards, seeing how overwhelmed I was with the store, Juan gave me some great recommendations and I went home with an issue of Street Angel and the 2003 edition of The Ganzfeld. One of the most important things that was cemented for me during my time at the Rowhouse was the immense importance of environment. In both a social sense (as demonstrated above) and a more literal, spatial sense. The room at the Rowhouse had a bed, a table and a box of Love and Rockets (#17-28 if I remember correctly). And nothing else. Every day I would wake up and take two steps to the drawing table to either draw, or to read Love and Rockets and then draw. For the week I was there, there was nothing else I had to do. It felt like a splash of cold water on my face. On my fourth day, I decided to take a break from drawing and walk around the neighborhood. Pittsburgh itself feels special. It’s a quiet, beautiful city with tons of history. It’s the kind of place where people watch Frasier with the door open. Eventually I found a baseball field in an alcove down a long set of stairs, surrounded by trees. I sat there as the sun set, watching a man fly a drone in the middle of the diamond while a deer looked on and the sound of passing trains echoed throughout the park. The day before I left, I went down the block to Frank’s house. Having both lived in San Francisco, we compared our respective SF’s. His being the romantic-sounding post-earthquake, pre-dot com boom and mine being the nebulous post-dot com boom, pre-tech boom. The conversation eventually turned to bay area punk, Cometbus, Kembra Pfahler, and inevitably, comics. Having just returned from a trip to Europe, Frank was ready to lay out his bountiful experience and frustrations with the North American comics landscape. Frank is a walking comic history course. At a certain point, he mentioned how when he was younger, he would listen to Bill Boichel of Copacetic Comics go on these long, weaving tangential rants, and just say, “What next?” Egging him on and soaking up everything he could. This was exactly how I felt talking to Frank. He ended the conversation by telling me, “You’re going to struggle.” The various car rides and conversations with Sally, Caleb, Audra and Frank were equally as inspiring as having unlimited drawing time. Advice I’d give to future residents is to balance your time between drawing and socializing with the Rowhouse crew. I tried to achieve a balance myself, but ended up spending most of the time indoors drawing. Some pages from my stay: ——————————————————————————————— Keep up with Nick Fowler HERE! For more information about the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency visit this page or email santoroschool@gmail.com Share this page: [...]

02/27/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 27, 2017NewsEasing into the week with Jesjit Gill on riso printing, something new from Gabby Shultz, a Rowhouse Residency experience, more on Annie Koyama’s recent gift to the BICLM, and the latest strips from our team of daily cartoonists! ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro interviews Jesjit Gill of Colour Code Printing for Part 2 of his Risograph Workbook on The Comics Journal. “FS: What is your risograph origin story? When did you first encounter risograph? I assume you were interested in printmaking before you discovered riso printing. Jesjit Gill: I studied printmaking, primarily screenprinting, at OCAD in Toronto. After graduating I did a residency at AS220 in Providence, Rhode Island, where I got to learn how to use a small offset press. While I was there I visited Mickey Zacchilli and saw a riso for the first time. I think I had a vague idea of what they were but when I saw one working for the first time it blew me away. At that time it perfectly encapsulated what I loved about screenprinting and what I wanted to get out of offset printing, but it was so much easier to handle in terms of costs, materials, and space. As soon as I got home from the residency, I was on the lookout for a used riso and soon after I went splits on one with Patrick Kyle and Michael Deforge.“ Read the rest HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths offers a detailed report of his experiences in Pittsburgh during a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. He found that a new environment, distanced from his normal spaces and routines, brought greater focus. “I felt very concentrated on completing the work, and was very satisfied with the quality of the drawings. Part of focusing on completion has nothing to do with how fast you’re working – it’s more like being a kind of live television actor with floor marks that you need to hit during scenes. If you miss the mark, or a line, you play through anyway, and plot to sneak in the part you meant to express later. I would work on a page for as long as I could – if I hit a dead end, I’d go to the mini-library I’d set up on the floor in the front room and look through comics until I was ready to start working again. The privacy of the Rowhouse made that feasible – I just kind of tore all over the place unrelentingly, joyfully.“ Read more HERE. For more details about our residency program visit this page or email santoroschoolATgmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Gabby Shultz has a “sudden unexpected new book for sale”…! He writes on his blog: “Alec Longstreth’s bizarre, Fitzcarraldo-like obsession with publishing my awful diary comics (previously only seen on this extremely obscure & neglected website) has beaten the odds and reached fruition! A Process of Drastically Reducing One’s Expectations is an almost 400-page collection of the diary comics and doodles i scrawled out in Iowa City and Chicago, during hopefully the most hopeless and miserable period of my life. It (the book) is now for sale *cheap* through Alec’s new Phase 8 imprint…“ Get a copy of the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Comics Reporter has an interview with Annie Koyama about her recent gift of over 250 pieces of original artwork by contemporary American cartoonists to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. “SPURGEON: Do you remember how the collection stopped being just a few pieces you were buying from friends and people you liked and started having its own weight and momentum? Did that change how you approach your purposes? KOYAMA: I do. I was at TCAF and I was talking to Jim Rugg. I knew that he was bringing his ballpoint pen drawings for sale and I really loved them. It seemed that no one else was doing that kind of work at the time. After gently berating him for charging too little for his work, I took a couple of pieces home. Looking at them later, I realized how selfish it felt to hold onto those pieces and have very few people ever see them in the flesh. So I started thinking about where I could place them so that anyone could see them. For a while I considered trying to organize a gallery/museum space but then realized how insane it would be to add another full-time job onto what I do now. I need regular reminders that I am not 20 any more, it seems.” Read the rest HERE. Get a copy of Storeyville HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Have you seen the trailer yet for Dash Shaw’s My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea? If not, view it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-27-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-27-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-27-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio —————————————————————————————————Cozytown – 2-27-2917 – Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

07/20/2018

Sally IngrahamJuly 19, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with a look at Lale Westvind’s Grip Vol. 1! ————————————————————————————————— I am usually swept along by Lale Westvind‘s work, but her latest comic – Grip Vol. 1 – swept me away. It “grips” you immediately, as your eye catches sight of the bright screen-printed cover and the lovely risograph interiors. The rise of riso printing has brought a wealth of pretty books, but a pretty book does not always equal a great comic. Lale’s voracious drawing style and the way she bends the comics medium to her will is in this case thrillingly complimented by the work of Chicago-based Perfectly Acceptable Press. Lale’s storytelling is particularly good in this comic. It begins with a transformative encounter with a force that sets the hands of the protagonist in motion. Her hands remain the focus of the story throughout, visually and thematically. She moves from one adventure to another, from one job to the next, meeting people and traveling, and her hands manipulate and influence what happens around her both at her will and perhaps against it. Without words and using only a few written sound effects, Lale Westvind crafts a moving tribute to working women, a wild celebration of female power and skill. Whether sorting mail, serving tables, piloting aircraft, traversing mountain heights, or sharing long significant eye-contact, the women in Lale’s comic are moving, building, holding the world together while tearing it apart. Although there is no regular rhythm in the structure of the panels, there are a lot of interesting design choices from spread to spread. There are visual rhymes and mirroring that I find satisfying, and a color scheme that balances and harmonizes with the lines. Grip Vol. 1 mixes reality with fantasy in a way that feels familiar to me. It’s like Lale got inside my head – and likely the heads of many women – and illustrated how the work of the moment, the task at hand, is transformed by the inner fantasies and landscapes of the heart, the joyous and violent riot of thought that leads to action or survival. Whether physically or metaphorically, often getting a grip and keeping it becomes the only motion that really matters. Recommended. Get a copy of the comic HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-20-2018 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

02/14/2018

Juan FernándezFebruary 14, 2018NewsJuan starts the day off with Annie Mok’s “Pictures of Candy” and the arrival of Anomaly 26! ————————————————————————————————— Candy Says – Annie Mok on the journey making of “Pictures of Candy” Over on Rookie Magazine Annie Mok offers the long and winding story of the origins of a great interbiographic comic, Pictures of Candy, she made about herself and Candy Darling. It’s a good story on the struggles in creating the art we need to make, and the oftentimes surreal way that the pieces fall into place years after the struggle. It’s a good story on the power that of stories. In Annie’s words, “Stories change you, and you change the stories.” In 2011, feeling rusty on comics and wanting new direction, I took the cartoonist Frank Santoro’s comics correspondence course online. Because I knew Frank was from Pittsburgh, I thought he’d love the idea of me going to the Andy Warhol Museum in his hometown to see the letters, diaries, and photos that Jay Newton donated after Candy died of cancer. This was all Jay could carry out of Candy’s childhood home after interviewing her mother, following Candy’s death. In a heartbreaking scene in Beautiful Darling, Jay recounts that Candy’s mother burned the rest of her late daughter’s belongings in the hopes that the mother’s new husband, a very conservative man, would never find out that she had a trans daughter. Read the story here. ————————————————————————————————— Anomaly 26 A new issue of the literary journal, Anomaly, formerly Drunken Boat, is now out. The journal has had a history of editing a robust collection of comics. Challenging work, lush work, inspired work. Needless to say it’s an interesting collection of comics edited by Nick Francis Potter that highlights a wide range of artists cartooning poetics. In this issue you’ll find short works by Anapurna, Anja Wicki, Aya Kakeda, Hue Nguyen, Ishita Basu Mallik, Jennifer Lisa, Mark Ehling, Wenting Li and Émille Gleason. Make yourself some coffee or tea and hop on over to Anomaly’s site to check it out. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! —————————————————————————————————Suzy and Cecil – 02-14-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

08/16/2017

Posted on August 16, 2017August 16, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Empezamos el día con el octavo Festival Entreviñetas; Mario Levrero; Flor Monfort; Clitóris: Relatos gráficos para Femininjas; Pablo Turnes; Amadeo Gandolfo; Libreria PUNC; Roberta Vázquez; Fanzination! en el Institut Valencià d’Art Modern; Joaquín Guirao sobre CF; y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook!

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Historietas, el eslabón recuperado de Mario Levrero
Álvaro de la Iglesia nos ofrece un refleccíon sobre el artisto uruguayo, Mario Levrero.

En casi todas las biografías que pueden leerse por ahí (incluso en las solapas de sus libros) se incurre en el error de presentarnos a Levrero, no como al artista conceptual que fue, sino como un autor polivalente que escribió, sacó fotos, y se dedicó al cine y a las historietas. Como si todo no partiera de una misma cosa, en definitiva: la necesidad espiritual plasmada en la manifestación artística. Decir que Levrero fue, entre tantísimas cosas, guionista de comics, parece no hacerle justicia a Levrero como artista de conceptos. Más correcto sería decir que era un escritor pero, sobre todo, un artista que cultivó varios géneros en pos de una inquietud y no de un mercado específico (¿o acaso alguien tilda a Osvaldo Lamborghini de guionista de historietas, a causa de aquella que hiciera con Gustavo Trigo en 1972, ¡Marc!?)

Ahora bien: hasta el día de hoy, para muchos de los seguidores de la obra de Levrero (Levrero el novelista, a diferencia de Varlotta el guionista), las historietas seguían siendo el eslabón perdido. Tanto sus ilustraciones más personales (él no era dibujante, pero lo mismo dibujaba) como las historietas más ambiciosas hechas en colaboración con ese gran dibujante uruguayo llamado Lizán (Edgardo Lizasoain) -publicadas en la primera época de Fierro y Superhumor- pedían a gritos una edición para los fanáticos del escritor. Criatura Editora, el sello uruguayo que suele publicar e Levrero en su país de origen- recoge el guante y nos ofrece este hermoso y necesario volumen titulado Historietas Reunidas de Jorge Varlotta, donde descubrimos varias facetas más de arte levreriano, en este caso decididamente visuales, aunque totalmente en sintonía con su obra literaria.

Léanlo todo AQUI.

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Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana:

Flor Monfort les reseña y contextualiza Clitóris: Relatos gráficos para Femininjas.
- “Humor gráfico y reflexiones feministas recogidas en un arco de tiempo que va del 2010 a la actualidad, con los cambios y atravesamientos que sufrió el movimiento de mujeres y lgbt en estos últimos siete años. Un corpus que permite discutir relaciones de poder, roles, estereotipos desde la gráfica y el texto y, también, una apuesta política y una invitación al orgasmo.”
Hay un nuevo bloque del taller de lectura de Pablo Turnes (@blopaturnes) y Amadeo Gandolfo (@kingmob84) en Libreria PUNC (@punclibreria) en Argentina.
Entrevista a la dibujante y autoeditora Roberta Vázquez (@bobbypatata) por Javi Godoy
¿Qué hace un fanzine como tú en un museo como este?: nace la fanzinoteca del Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) – “Fanzination!, la exposición con la que da por inaugurada una fanzinoteca que se pone en marcha con una colección de 2.109 ejemplares donados por el experto Álvaro Pons”
¿Es CF el autor más influyente en España del que nadie habla o dice que le ha influenciado? Ni idea de porqué se dá este fenómeno: Joaquín Guirao

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OJO: La gran editorial, Fulgencio Pimentel, os ofrece unas rebajas maravillosamente filthy – válida solo durante una semana larga, del 8 al 18 de agosto, y hasta fin de existencias. Si quieres ampliar tu coleccíon con unos de los cómics publicados en España.

La Semana de la Mugre incluye devoluciones de librerías y ejemplares de exposición que han vuelto a casa después de mucho jaleo; es decir, son libros que han visto mundo, libros más sabios, libros que miran de frente como Ramoncín. Solo por eso, durante unos días estarán disponibles aquí con un descuento de entre el 40% y el 60%. El cruel azar determinará si su ejemplar de usted solo tiene un doblez en una esquinita o muestra signos de haber sido sodomizado por Satán.

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Suzy and Cecil – 8-16-2017 – by Gabriella Tito

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Joanie and Jordie – 8-16-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 16, 2017August 16, 2017

Explore

02/22/2016

Juan FernándezFebruary 22, 2016NewsLet’s start off right with a look at Ron Wimberley’s latest offerings! He’s published his 12 powerful illustrations of black luminaries. He did 12 last year in February. He did 12 this year. You can see the full set in detail over here. For snippets of the inking process, hop on over to Ron’s Instagram. He’s also got the whole behind the scenes action over at his Patreon. Very much worth checking out if you’ve been looking to step up your inking game. I dropped three a week. Here are most of them. Original inks and zip are for sale, $350 a piece. DM me with inquiries (All but Zadie Smith are available as of this posting) – Ron Ever been to Prague? Yeah, me neither! But with Sophia Foster-Dimino‘s most recent travel diary I now know a good deal of what I should check out should I ever have the good fortune to go. Art, history and day drinking with KJ Martinet. She’s shared her pages via twitter as she completed them and it seems some were made while abroad and others upon returning. I love Sophia’s way of plugging in completed comics sequences, illustrations and doodles and filling the text around them. Really refreshing and inspiring assemblage process. One for the utility belt, kids. For now, take a peek on her travels! I’m in Prague for a week with @kjmartinet, gonna try to document it as much as possible, travel tips appreciated ✨ pic.twitter.com/MRXJR5AvFn — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 10, 2016 Thursday part one! pic.twitter.com/icN0wYZdxl — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 12, 2016 Thursday part two ✌ pic.twitter.com/0iXycZ00TW — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 13, 2016 Saturday part two and Sunday part one ? pic.twitter.com/wDjSSbqcri — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 16, 2016 aaand Tuesday part two and then we went home and now I’m home. ? pic.twitter.com/Ue5eD63lFh — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 21, 2016 Isabel Ryan‘s got some floaty, dreamy, goofy cartooning going on over at Rookie Mag in her comic Magic 8 Ball. Should you go over and read Isabel’s latest *shake shake shake* Definitely . Zainab Akhtar‘s been thinking about Jane Mai‘s See You Next Tuesday. It’s time you did too. She’s got a really interesting review of this whirlwind of comics by Mai. Really puts Mai’s work in context for greater appreciation. Big ups to Koyama Press for making this showcase of Mai’s skills possible. While the relative ‘democracy’ of the internet has allowed people to bypass instituionalised gatekeeping to some degree, the transition of culture from ‘in real life’ to online remains the same (if not worse in that it facilitates rampant, unchecked abuse). Mai is one of many contemporary artists who have built followings after publishing work online, a feat that often requires a specific level of engagement and giving of oneself in order for it to be successful. The nature of that interaction can feel more direct and personal to the audience, fostering (with regard to female creatives, especially) entitlement and attempted ownership. There’s a sense of people playing a part in your persona, a ‘we made you’ mentality; a collective Frankenstein-ing. – Zainab Blaise Larmee joined Robin over at Inkstuds to talk about some of the new work he has been involved with from 2d Cloud. Most recently, Blaise edited the Mirror Mirror anthology which is part of 2d Cloud’s current Kickstarter efforts. Most awkward inkstuds ever. Highly recommended. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/248252491″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Print wizards Justine and Jordan Hurder over at Chance Press have announced a gorgeous new Kim Deitch print for ya. Really cool story behing this one: There’s another unique thing about this print: it’s not based on original artwork. Usually with fine art printing, the goal is to reproduce an original piece of work as faithfully as possible. Here, the original black and white artwork was sold long ago, the color was done in Photoshop, and the only scan was on a disc that didn’t work anymore. In fact, the only surviving record of the artwork was a yellowing page from an early-90s issue of the LA Weekly. After an extensive color correction process, I was able to restore it and include it in the 2014 publication of ‘A Deitch Miscellany.’ For this print, I tweaked some more color, made the blacks a little deeper and more consistent, pulled out some of the oversaturation, and came up with something I’m really happy with. It definitely doesn’t look like a normal print made from a modern high-res scan, but that’s part of the charm. Preorder a copy now over at Chance Press. Last but not least, Paper Jam 5 took place this past weekend. Seemed like it was a buzzing hive of color and camraderie in NYC. A party for sharing that deep, deep zine love. Photos are trickling in from attendees and exhibitors. You’re going to want to follow the paperjam tumblr to stay abreast with photos, interviews and the like that happened during the happening. More news to come! Juan Fernandez, over and out. Share this page: [...]

1/07/2019

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 7, 2019NewsCaleb Orecchio here with the weirdest comic book of all time ————————————————————————————————— Stray Cats by Ted Echterling (1991) is like a dream (a fever-dream of a young Doctor Moreau) that wakes you up to a feeling of nausea. It lingers in your mind and puts you into a funk for the rest of the day. The perversion of this comic is that it portrays anthropomorphic animals as ACTUAL animals. A woman holds another cat-sized woman in her hands and treats her like a pet. The felinesque people in turn act like animals. The image is simply unsettling. A grotesquery. Grotesque as it may be, you have to admire the courage to render such personal fancies. It is comics like these where I feel I am seeing the world through the author’s eyes and I, despite my reluctance, respect that vision. Artists dedicate their lives to depict life as they see it, and Echterling (where are you now?) managed to do just that in a strangely direct way. This is the comic that dares to ask, “Are cats people too?” I put this comic in the middle of my apartment to repel mice, dog-lovers and other decent human-beings. Share this page: [...]

04/08/2016

Sally IngrahamApril 8, 2016NewsSally here with the good news from Retrofit, the Bad Boyfriends collection, and comics from Amanda Hamilton, Disa Wallander, and Jonathan Yee to send you into the weekend with light feet – plus Gabriella Tito on Audra Stang’s new piece! ————————————————————————————————— Kicking things off with a couple of forays into comics that’ll give your Friday a colorful start! From Amanda Hamilton comes this piece in marker – a new medium for her, and one that seems to suit! The comic came about “…during one very anxious night where it was too noisy to sleep. I was inspired…to do something with markers instead of colored pencils and I had a set of Rose Art neon markers I thought would be good to convey that jarring, discordant feeling and combine the colors in interesting ways.” ————————————————————————————————— Next up, something from Jonathan Yee – Jonathan made this comic last weekend at PIX, during a Comics Workbook workshop with Juan Fernandez and Frank Santoro. ————————————————————————————————— Gabriella Tito taking a turn here! Attention: Audra Stang is branching out into new territory (following her recent wrap up of “Love Me Like An Autograph“) with her new comic “April 2008“ (see panel above). Most noticeably, in her recent series taking place in the fictional town “Star Valley”, is her change in technique! Instead of using bold line art for her characters and traditional color, she’s now transitioning into using sleek pencil shading without too many lines – and I think it’s absolutely fabulous. Audra keeps the style current with light digital color overtones, not breaking the mood and flow even the slightest. Once again, check out my good friend Audra’s new comic HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Back to Sally, with the stellar news that Retrofit did it! All those lovely books will be coming out soon – including the title above by Sophie Franz – with the first ones hitting the world in May. Congratulations! ————————————————————————————————— Bad Boyfriends is out now. It has comics by Cathy G. Johnson, Celine Loup, Hannah Kaplan, Laura Lannes, Julia Gfrörer, Laerte Coutinho, Mariana Paraizo, Paula Puiupo and Hazel Newlevent (above). This collection is important and gut wrenching – available as a free download HERE, and for sale as a physical copy HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Disa Wallander posted a cute spring comic, which offers a glimpse of sunlight unlike anything I personally have seen recently…! Spring is around here, somewhere. ————————————————————————————————— Something to take with you into the weekend – Practice your craft, whatever it may be, stay nimble and sharp and badass! Catch you later – Sally and Gabriella Share this page: [...]

04/07/2016

HarrisonApril 7, 2016NewsFor April 7 News and insights; Cameron has visions of cats on top of beats, comics about haircuts and squirrels, and artists you should know. ————————————————————————————————— RVA (RICHMOND,VIRGINIA) SHOUT OUT! ? ? ? ? ? Cameron here, this time I’d like to shout out a RVA artist who’s been killin’ the game for some time now, Chris Visions. I’m not citing a back story other than that he was born to be a great artist. From doing covers for Marvel and DC to having a full series of his own, written by Chris Sabela; Dead Letters, I advise you to check it out like right now! There are infinitely great things I can say about Chris so I’ll keep this short. This dude’s Illustration work is marvelous; the shapes create striking figures with unforgettable poses. He knows how to really put a story to each of the characters he draws/paints. Man, all I can say about his comic pages is CHECK THEM OUT! Seriously, go see them. You’ll see how great they are. Last but surely not least this man’s portfolio is filled with more colorful, striking, masterful pieces then anyone could did, Ya Dig?! Here’s a link to his website, AND if any of ya’ll are at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, go see him at TABLE X-01! He makes rad videos too: EVERY WEEK I’m going to try and feature an RVA artist. I won’t be able to feature EVERYONE, but here and there I’ll mention some great people! ATTENTION ATTENTION! ? ? ? ? ? ? If you haven’t heard, Ronald Wimberly’s PRINCE OF CATS WILL BE GETTING A REPRINT BY IMAGE COMICS. If you don’t know who Ron Wimberly is then let me fill you in. He is a kick ass, bad ass, comic artist who constantly puts out beautiful pieces one after the other. He also has an updated comic on STELA called GratNin! Check it out on your cellular devices. Here’s a link to his Tumblr so you can follow and support a great comic artist! MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC! FAT BEATS since 1994. I wont say much, go listen for yourself. Marvelous beats for the everyday grind. Comics are for EVERYONE! ————————————————————————————————— Home Kurt Ankeny’s latest update to his series In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home is on ComicsWorkbook. The sharp marks for pupils, eye glasses, and flesh against the softer graphite borders create an inviting contrast. More so, Kurt’s script works as the consistent foreground for his narration throughout the series. Pre Order Some Copies Read from the beginning ————————————————————————————————— Buddies Filmmakers Charles Huettner and Sean Buckelew of L8Night WorkClub have a movie discussion/animation art talk podcast called Movie Buddies. This episode they rightfully gushed over Ryan Coogler’s second movie Creed with fellow filmmaker Brian Smee. In the second half of the show I asked them who some of their favorite black artists were and they gave some good answers that others should check out. Listen Here ————————————————————————————————— it’s the vestiges of my “career” that I should abandon anyway Kimball Anderson ? (Not a squirrel but close) ————————————————————————————————— Sticks and Stones Share this page: [...]

01/25/2017

Juan FernándezJanuary 25, 2017News Juan José con un poquito sobre: las Tetastristes en Ruda con Malicia;Miguel Ángel Martín; Conversando con Katherine Supnem; La nueva sangre de la poesía colombiana; Alexis Ziritt; Emma Rios; Power Paola y más. Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atencion esta semana: Miguel Ángel Martín lleva 30 años provocando con sus historias de sexo, violencia y tecnología. Koldo Gutiérrez explora su mundo de sadomasoquisma emocional en profundidad en la Revista Cactus. Conversando con Katherine Supnem. Ruda con Malicia se trasladaron la semana pasada a la casa de las Tetas Tristes y las acompañaron en su feria “Las Tetas se Toman el Puerto”para grabar la edición mas reciente del programa. Escuchen esta edicion sobre los momentos de placer, los festivales y cumbres de rock, sexistas y patriarcales. Comics: La nueva sangre de la poesía colombiana – Una corriente de poetas jóvenes, editoriales independientes y espacios de difusión no convencionales, quiere impedir que esta tradición literaria se estanque. Hay una apuesta por la ilustración y lo visual, llegando a bares y ferias para acercarse a un público juvenil. Alexis Ziritt hizo unos dibujos para LucasFilms al fin del año pasado… Ahora estos dibujos pueden ser tuyos! Visita a http://aziritt.bigcartel.com/ para comprar tu dibujo. Charlando con Emma Rios Kaboom, la nueva seccion de El País dedicada a la exploracion del mundo del comic contemporaneo, compartió una mañana con la artista y arquitecta gallega, Emma Rios. Léanlo HOY! Angel Luis Sucasas: ¿Cómo cambia tu método cuando escribes y cuando dibujas? Emma Rios: Escribiendo, trabajo mucho desde los personajes pero al mismo tiempo soy muy conceptual. Nunca doy demasiadas explicaciones. Como escritora no me mola nada hacerlo. Lo que quiero es que el lector se sienta parte del mundo, que escuches cosas. Hablábamos antes de Dark souls y de cómo te enteras de las cosas por lo que dicen los personajes, por el contexto. En ID lo transmitía mucho a través de la gestualidad corporal. Normalmente se trata de decidir de qué coño me apetece hablar. En ID estaba claro que quería hablar de la aceptación… Es un cómic muy político. Tiene mucho que ver con una situación en la que yo me encontraba en el curro. Yo trabajo para gente extranjera. Eso significa una barrera idiomática y cultural. Y soy relativamente introvertida y me cuesta enfrentarme a esto. Me cuesta ser el centro de atención y me cuesta tener esa actitud, que allí es tan natural, de “¡Compra mi tebeo, compra mi tebeo”. Así que acabé distribuyendo eso en varios personajes para enfrentarme a ello. Yo estoy hasta las narices de que se me trate como alguien especial. Mira, lo que hago no es especial. Tu idea de lo que hacen las mujeres no es la realidad. Las mujeres hacen muchas cosas. Conversando con Power Paola Power Paola habla con Ben Alfaro en Hijos del Atomo los hijos de la tomo sobre su proceso, sus gustos y sus inspiraciones: ¿Qué dibujante o dibujantes han llamado más tu atención y por qué? ¿ Y qué escritores o escritor y por qué? Me gustan los dibujantes que encontraron su propio lenguaje y que dibujan más por una necesidad física que por buscar reconocimiento. Me encanta el Art Brut, dibujantes comoHenry Darger, Daisuke Ichiba, Stephane Blanquet, Caroline Sury. Y artistas comoRaymond Pettibon, Marcel Dzama, David Shrigley, Louise Bourgeois, El Bosco, Rousseau, Francis Alys, Ernesto Neto, etc. De escritores me gustan mucho Rita Indiana, Yuri Herrera, Junot Díaz,Juan Cárdenas y toda esa camada del caribe que tienen un lenguaje mezclado y muy contemporáneo. También disfruto mucho a Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, Valerie Mrejen, Gabriela Wiener, Patti Smith, Susan Sontag, etc. Me gusta mucho lo autobiográfico y autorreferencial en el cómic y en las novelas, la mezcla de culturas, de lenguajes y de intereses. Me influencio mucho por lo que leo, veo y escucho. Así que siempre tengo referencias en cada proyecto que hago, es mi forma de agradecerles a los que me mostraron una manera de expresar. En Venta: 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 – 1-25-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-25-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— 1-25-2017 – by Juan Fernández Share this page: [...]

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