Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

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Juan Fernández

Posted on September 5, 2016September 5, 2016

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Connor Willumsen’s LICAF 2016 Workshops

Comics WorkbookOctober 30, 2016ClassesConnor Willumsen teaching a Comics Workbook-hosted workshop at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, 2016 Share this page: [...]

02/01/2018

Comics WorkbookJanuary 31, 2018NewsBryce Davidson shares the work of Honore Daumier, and Chris Diaz has 3 new photo reports for us! ————————————————————————————————— Bryce Davidson here: What’s up with cartoons? Caricatures perhaps might be more accurate. Simplified, amplified, and elegant, is it just good drawing? Nice shapes and lines? No, there’s something more. Most of us who read comics and appreciate the form will understand what I am referring to. Why do we spend so much time looking at these distorted images when we could look at a real person with actual facial expressions? Why does that twisted grin of a Chuck Jones character seem to portray more emotion and depth than any actor in Hollywood? It’s a tough question. For one thing it seems that the exaggeration of a cartoon help consolidate and refine the emotions and actions of character. It’s like boiling down syrup – only the essential, the truth, remains. This brings me to the artist whom I want to focus on, one who everyone should know, especially within the current political climate – Honore Daumier, the quintessential political cartoonist. Coupling the revolutionary political climate of 17th century France and the burning hate of the bourgeoisie, “He revealed, as a true visionary, the faults endemic to the system that transcended the cast of political players” (Erlanger). The venom this guy spits in his drawings is insane. The introduction to Daumier: Politicians goes on to explain: “The overfed, somnolent, or sneering deputies in Daumier’s picture are physically and morally hideous. Here is an art that denounces not only individuals, but underlying attitudes. Daumier brings to the pitiless light of day monsters serving as puppets for monied interests, electoral fraud, and the inextricable links between money and power.“ I shouldn’t even have to mention how relevant it all is. If you’re looking for an artist who defined the sneer and critique of political caricature, look no further. I could rattle on about artists who are still producing work that rips this guy. His stuff is that universal. The characters are timeless, truly human, no smoke and mirrors. It’s really something that only a cartoon can do. Following are some more scans from the previously mentioned book, Daumier: Politicians by Philippe Erlanger. It can be purchased HERE if you’re interested in learning more. – Bryce Davidson Works Cited: Erlanger (Author), Philippe. “Introduction.” Daumier: Politicians, Alpine Fine Arts Collection, 1992. ————————————————————————————————— Chris Diaz was busy attending comics events in the last few months! He shares photos from Jaime Hernandez’s Dec. 11th 2017 chat with Jordan Crane HERE, Charles Forsman at Comix Experience on Dec. 6th 2017 HERE, and Tom Gauld at a few places in Nov. 2017 while he was on tour for his new comic Baking With Kafka HERE. As always, comics fandom thanks you Chris! ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-1-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/14/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 14, 2016NewsSally here, reporting live from Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, OH! I drove over from Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday with my car loaded down with materials for this weekend’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at CXC (details on those HERE), making it to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on the OSU campus just in time to catch Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes in conversation with CXC festival director Tom Spurgeon. Their conversation was interesting and entertaining, detailing the complexities of making editorial cartoons, especially as a woman in the industry. Ann spoke of the necessary sense of urgency that a good editorial cartoonist must posses, and about how the cartoons are the QUESTION, not the answer. Regarding her famous caricatures, she said it is about drawing “how a person IS, not just what they look like – them INSIDE“. Then she drew Hilary Clinton for the audience, real quick: Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes draws Hilary Clinton for us at her CXC presentation at the Billy Ireland Library & Museum @cartoonlibrary @anntelnaes #cxc16 #femalecartoonists A video posted by Comics Workbook Roller Derby (@cwrollerderby) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:16pm PDT Check out Ann Telnaes’ most recent animated gif HERE – this is the format she has been using lately to get her point of view across (and that is the most important thing for an editorial cartoonist to have – a point of view!) ————————————————————————————————— After meeting up with fellow Comics Workbook representatives and cartoonists Kurt Ankeny, Alyssa Berg, and Whit Taylor for dinner, I joined forces with Kurt and Caleb Orecchio to check out the Winsor McCay presentation at the Wexner Center for the Arts, put together by John Canemaker. It was a fantastic exploration of the animated films made by the famed creator of the Little Nemo in Slumberland strips. Totally blown away by the Winsor McCay presentation hosted by John Canemaker at CXC – this is part of McCay’s first animated film, drawing on characters from Little Nemo #cxc2016 #winsormccay #animation A video posted by Sally Ingraham (@sally_ingraham) on Oct 13, 2016 at 6:40pm PDT The CXC festival program claimed that John Canemaker‘s lectures were not-to-be-missed, and I found this to be true (in case you didn’t know, he is an Academy Award-winning animator himself!) It was thrilling to watch McCay’s first animated film on “the big screen”, and then Canemaker really won the audience over by taking on McCay’s roll in the vaudeville performances he used to do using his animated character Gertie the Dinosaur. John Canemaker stepping into Winsor McCay’s roll in the type of vaudeville act McCay used to do with his animated character Gerdie – at CXC tonight #cxc2016 #winsormccay #johncanemaker #gertie A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 13, 2016 at 8:10pm PDT Terrific stuff. I sat in awe behind Lucy Caswell (founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum) throughout this presentation and enjoyed the deference that John Canemaker showed her on any McCay details he felt iffy on (and he actually wrote THE book on Winsor McCay). It was a good first day of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, with plenty more to come for me and the rest of the Comics Workbook team! Here’s that complete schedule of where we will be throughout the weekend. As you can perhaps gather, we are live-reporting all weekend via social media and especially through Instagram, so follow @comicsworkbook, @cwrollerderby, and @sally_ingraham for updates! (Also give a look to Juan Fernandez, Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor, Caleb Orecchio, Kurt Ankeny, and Emil Friis Ernst for other CXC stories!) Next week keep an eye out for a full CXC Festival report brought to you by Whit Taylor – stay tuned! ————————————————————————————————— LICAF opening night A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 13, 2016 at 2:17pm PDT Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen made it to the U.K., and for live reporting from The Lakes International Comic Art Festival this weekend, check out @santoro.frank on Instagram. Get tickets to Frank, Aidan, and Connor’s workshops on Saturday HERE. Hang out with the crew in the Comics Clocktower Saturday and Sunday! ————————————————————————————————— Check out the Pompeii Medallion HERE – for an interesting artistic collaboration. Connor Willumsen has new work – this way please! ————————————————————————————————— Regular reporting will return next week – but for today, this is Sally signing off. I have to run and catch up with Sacha Mardou, get a tour of the special collections at the Billy Ireland, and check in on the state of the comics industry, before meeting Garry Trudeau, and then partying the night away with Katie Skelly – and that’s just the stuff on the CXC program schedule for today that I’ve highlighted… Cheers! Share this page: [...]

02/19/2016

Sally IngrahamFebruary 19, 2016NewsRight out of the gate on a Friday – Connor Willumsen has a new comic up on Study Group! Sweet Love is the last chocolate in the box, leftover from Valentines Day revels. A sticky treat for modern lovers wrapped in pink and red. READ IT HERE. Connor’s past work includes Calgary: Death Milks a Cow, which punched us in the gut with it’s visual detail and fierce movement. On the move himself, Connor is hoping to supplement the cost of his transit – “I am currently selling drawings, accepting commissions, skype portraits, etc. email mail@connorwillumsen.com for all inquiries – thanks” You can find an extensive list of Connor’s work HERE. Check it out! The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting Black comics makers and cartoonists “who made significant contributions to free expression“. It’s high time to learn about Larry Fuller – Larry Fuller—a.k.a. A. Christian White—with his quick wit, eye for innovation, and keen sense of opportunity is regarded as one of the indisputable kings of the 1970s underground comix movement. From Ebon to White Whore Funnies, Fuller wrote comics, drew comics, published comics, and would become one of the premier businessmen in an industry characterized by its fast, loose, and decidedly un-business-like attitude that arose out of the aftermath of the 1954 Comics Code. Fuller’s ability to effectively use satire to comment upon social issues such as race and sexuality would make him an influential and important icon not only in the Black, but also the LGBTQ comics communities. Read all about Larry Fuller HERE! The world is losing Sparkplug Books…! This news hurts the heart… Virginia Paine wrote on the Sparkplug blog: It is with mixed feelings that I must announce that I will be shutting down Sparkplug this year. I appreciate the opportunities that running Sparkplug has given me and the wonderful people it has introduced me to. I know Sparkplug means a lot to many people and I want to assure you this is not a decision I’ve made lightly. Read the rest of her letter HERE, and see what amazing stuff this publisher still has to offer for the next few months HERE. Don’t mess around – value and support for as long as you can a part of the community that meant a lot to so many. Hey look! It’s an excerpt from Luke Pearson’s comic in š! #24 ‘Urban Jungle’. These Latvian comics anthologies bring together comics makers from around the world, and their latest offering – due to be released on February 23rd – looks like mad fun. Pre-order it HERE. Frank recently caught up with Wayne Wise at Phantom of the Attic in Pittsburgh, PA, to get the low down on how Wayne became one of the first Xeric Grant recipients. During the grant’s long cycle (1992-2012) over $3,000,000 was awarded to comic book makers and non-profits. Pretty brilliant! Check out the video below. Keep up with Wayne Wise over on his blog – Notes From the Playground – and get a taste of his comic Grey Legacy Tales HERE. (You can also get to know him better and hear more great stories via this episode of The AP Collection hosted by another cool Pittsburgh artist, Genevieve Barbee.) Check out the web comic Lovely’s (story so far HERE), now on it’s 10th episode on Pulp Deluxe HERE. LOVELY’S is a graphic novel / cookbook in the making, by Val Gallardo and Jonathan Beaton. The story follows a group of old friends who haven’t seen each other since they graduated from art school. Older but none the wiser, the ‘Brush Monkeys’ are reunited after they all receive an invitation to dinner from the mysterious philanthropist and burger tycoon Bingo Lovelett, owner of the Lovely’s Heavenly Burgers empire. New pages every Sunday 6 p.m GMT+1 Weird and funny, like all reunions of old friends should be, this comic is worth following. There’s a mystery to be solved after all…! A new collaborative comic from Zach Mason & G.W. Duncanson – Team-Up Comic #3, pictured above – just rolled into town! G. W. Duncanson has a history of these team up comics and they’re all interesting in their own right. Check out Team-Up Comic #1, made with Laurie Piña – and Team-Up Comic #2, made with Karissa Sakumoto. And finally, the fountain of knowledge is running over – another video from Bill Boichel and Comics Workbook, this time dishing up Melody by Sylvia Rancourt. You’re going to want to drop whatever you’re doing and get yourself a copy after watching this! Share this page: [...]

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2016, Part ll of ll

Chris Anthony DiazDecember 14, 2016The Diaz ArchiveSacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Seth and Craig Fischer Seth Keith Knight, Rich Tommaso and Tom Spurgeon Caitlin McGurk Sergio Arragonés, Carol Tyler, Jeff Smith and Tom Spurgeon The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum Galleries The Billy Ireland Museum GalleriesThe Horseshoe aka Ohio Football Stadium Wexner Center for the Arts Gary Trudeau and Glen David Gold in conversation at the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch Columbus Metropolitan Libary, Downtown Branch Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Joseph Remnant, Noah Van Sciver and Robin McConnell Alyssa Berg Rich Tommaso Noah Van Sciver Kevin Czap (backturned), Tom Spurgeon and Jeff Smith (on Spurgeon’s right)Charles Burns Live at CCAD Canzani Center Auditorium Charles BurnsTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth in conversation at the Columbus Museum of Art SethTom Spurgeon, Ben Katchor and Seth Sacha Mardou Sacha Mardou Juan José Fernández Juan José Fernández and Sally Ingraham (top far right)Sally Ingraham, Juan José Fernández , Caleb Orecchio, Sacha Mardou, Whitney Taylor and Alyssa Berg Peter Arno original at the Billy Ireland Museum Reading Room Robert Crumb Charles Schulz Ohio State Buckeye running back and Heisman Trophy winner and favorite son Eddie George, Columbus Airport Titans running back Eddie George, Columbus Airport Share this page: [...]

09/05/2016

Posted on September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Juan here. It’s Labor Day in the United States, which means no insane barrage of news for today. Just the juicy bits.

Celebrate Labor History

& Mourn the end of summer.

If you’re still hankering for a massive dose of comics jump into this years submissions to the Comics Workbook Composition Contest. There were a record number entries this year and some real gems. Read them all HERE.

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If you haven’t caught wind already, Comics Workbook will be firing on all cylinders at SPX this year.

We are excited to announce that Comics Workbook will be hosting a series of special workshops at SPX this year!
A Danger Room of our own. Learn more about this year’s special Comics Workbook workshops HERE.

We will be at table N8 this year – stop by and say “Hello” – check out new work by Frank and our students – buy some old comics from Frank’s mind blowingly extensive collection. More to come!

We’ll be back full force tomoroow, coming at you like an SPX maelstrom. Hold on to your butts -JF

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Juan Fernández

Posted on September 5, 2016September 5, 2016

Explore

Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman in Conversation

Juan FernándezMarch 28, 2016ResourcesFormer Arcade magazine editors and Underground Cartooning legends Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman discuss their early days as artists at a talk given March 16, 2016 at Columbia University commemorating Griffith’s announcement that he will be bequeathing a large portion of his personal art archives to the University. The talk was moderated by Karen Green, Columbia’s Librarian for Ancient & Medieval History and Graphic Novels. The clip begins with a brief memory from Griffith about his first meeting with cartoonist Robert Crumb. Former Arcade magazine editors and Underground comix legends Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman talk about romance comics at Columbia University on March 16th, 2016. Moderated by Columbia’s Karen Green. Video by John Kelly Share this page: [...]

On Philippe Druillet – by RM Rhodes

Comics WorkbookJuly 30, 2017EssaysRM Rhodes presents commentary on the work of Philippe Druillet ————————————————————————————————— I feel like when someone like me asks a young artist “Have you ever heard of…?” the young artist is expecting to know why the person in question is important. Or, even more simply, why they should care. Having said that, Philippe Druillet is important because he’s one of the founding members of Les Humanoïdes Associés, the group that created Metal Hurlant (which later became Heavy Metal in America). If you’re guessing all of that French indicates Druillet’s national origin, you’d be correct. Of even more relevance, Druillet is an amazing visual artist whose work deserves to be looked at by anyone who has any affinity for color and the use of color in art. His work is clearly influenced by Jack Kirby, but it also harkens back to European engravings that have been colored from the mid-17th Century. His early work is black and white, but when he got his first airbrush, his entire style changed. As far as I’m concerned, Druillet levelled up when he started working color into his compositions. He clearly spent a long time working on the underlying pen illustrations, but it’s his use of color as a major element of the composition that’s worthy of note. Speaking of composition, Druillet’s works like Lone Sloane, Salammbô, and Gail gave him ample opportunities to create some really challenging page layouts. These layouts are so distinctive that Benoit Peeters’ Four Conceptions of a Page uses Druillet as the exemplar of Decorative pages. In the interests of show vs tell, I’m going to stop talking about how awesome Druillet is and just show you a whole bunch of his artwork. It will either resonate with you or it won’t, but I have a feeling that if it does resonate, it will resonate strongly. ————————————————————————————————— RM Rhodes is the curator of the Heavy Metal Magazine tumblr. He lives and works in Washington, D.C. His current project is a weekly online anthology called The Rumor published on the Comics Workbook tumblr – see issues of it HERE. Check out more of his comics at Louis Deux. Share this page: [...]

05/28/2018

Caleb OrecchioMay 28, 2018NewsGone fishing ———————————————————————————— We will be back tomorrow at our normal programming schedule. Have a good one! ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-28-18 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

03/22/2016

Aaron CockleMarch 22, 2016NewsNew York Public Library Digital Collections; the tyranny of the cloud; comics journalism in the 1950’s; new interviews to read/read aloud and/or listen to; random word informatics. ————————————————————————————————— NYPL Digital Collections Recently, the New York Public Library posted an amazing amount of content to its digital collection. Work above is from Indian coloured drawings: a collection of 177 original paintings on “talc,” etc., with 17 engravings, illustrating costume, vehicles and trades in India and Fred Carlo, Works Progress Administration, respectively. ————————————————————————————————— Exercises in Scrolling Colonising the Clouds, an essay about Internet/institutional power structures, physical and virtual territories, ‘memory’, ETC. ————————————————————————————————— Mid-20th Century Comics Reportage Featuring work by Noel Sickles (‘The immediacy of a direct drawing or sketch seldom breaks through in the more static nature of other forms of art.’) and Austin Briggs. Essay by Daniel Zalkus. ————————————————————————————————— Recent Interviews of Note Aidan Koch + Tyler Landry ————————————————————————————————— Random Word/Phrase/Sentence/Paragraph Generator This is a good site if you’re in a pinch for words. For illustrative purposes, the Random Paragraph Generator has been utilized above with the following keywords: ‘Frank Santoro’ + ‘Golden Age of Comics’ and ‘Frank Santoro’ + Comics Instruction’. Share this page: [...]

07/04/2018

Juan FernándezJuly 4, 2018los Cómics / NewsEntrevista con Emil Ferris; Broken Pencil Zine Award Deadline Extended; the Airtight Garage in Galicia – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – El Cómic como Reflejo y Abismo – Emil Ferris entrevistada Elisa McCausland, El Salto El formato del diario está muy ligado al género de la autoficción. ¿Hasta qué punto es Lo que más me gusta son los monstruos autoficción, un relato inspirado por tus vivencias personales? Es evidente que en mi novela gráfica hay mucho de autobiográfico, empezando por su ambientación en el Chicago donde nací y donde transcurrió mi infancia, como la de Karen, a finales de los años 70. Mucho de lo que cuento son cosas que me pasaron a mí por entonces o que le pasó a gente que conocí. También comparto muchos de los intereses de Karen, como su pasión por el terror, tanto cinematográfico y literario, como cuando adquirió un carácter muy pulp a través de las historietas y revistas de aquella época y décadas anteriores. Sin embargo, hay un dicho que me gusta recordar cuando se habla de estos temas, que viene a decir básicamente que no es importante que los hechos narrados en una ficción hayan sucedido o no, pero sí que la historia que reflejan sea verdadera, responda a una pulsión profunda, auténtica. En este sentido, la ficción funciona como un espejo que nos permite reconocernos a nosotros mismos, y también como un abismo que nos descubre aspectos de nuestra personalidad y la de otros que desconocíamos. También en lo que respecta al amor, ese monstruo tan extraño, que está en todo lo que somos y hacemos y que sin embargo es tan invisible y se le echa siempre tanto de menos. Por eso me gusta considerar la ficción como un remedio paliativo contra esa enfermedad tan difícil de abordar que llamamos la realidad. Puede sonar pretencioso, pero creo que, en definitiva, la ficción nos ofrece las armas para afrontar con ánimo la realidad. Las historias son nuestra fortaleza. Léanlo todo AQUI. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The Broken Pencil Zine awards are open for submissions. This year the winner will recieve a free subscription to Zine-o-Matic. Lots of categories. $200 + other goodies for winners in each category. $25 to enter. DEADLINE TO ENTER THE ZINE AWARDS IS NOW JULY 15, 2018 Learn more. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Comics Education: Galicia’s “Airtight Garage” Paula Castiñeira – ABC Galicia Galicia’s O Garaxe Hermético, established in 2012 is the first professional center of comic and illustration in Galicia. It offers up a relatively avant garde approach to comics education for Spain. Born in 2012 by the hand of cartoonist Kiko da Silva, who is also its director, this private school is a revolution in terms of the teaching model. When he started with the center, Da Silva brought together a team of friends and professionals of Galician illustration to organize a syllabus from scratch, with a very clear purpose: “To teach our profession in the most realistic way possible,” says the director.With an unconventional training and without evaluating the students with a numerical score – the works are classified as “not publishable”, “publishable” and “publishable collectible” -, what is intended is to show the students “what they are going to find later ». For this reason, apprentices receive classes not only on illustration and comics, but also on what they must do to dedicate themselves to it, from how to register for freelancers to how to make contracts with publishers so that they are not abusive. Learn more about O Garaxe Hermético, HERE. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Cozytown – by Juan Fernandez – 07/04/2018 Share this page: [...]

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