Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Aaron Cockle

Posted on October 2, 2018October 1, 2018

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12/13/2017

Juan FernándezDecember 13, 2017los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con Julie Doucet y John Pham! ————————————————————————————————— Hoy en Revista Cactus Gerardo Vilches publicó su reciente entrevista con la gran Julie Doucet: ¿Qué sientes cuando tantas jóvenes dibujantes se declaran seguidoras de tu trabajo y afirman que eres una influencia para ellas? Es algo muy fuerte, desde luego. Y emocionante. No tenía ni idea de que eso pudiera pasar cuando hacía mis fanzines fotocopiados, con cincuenta ejemplares de tirada. No sabía que algún día me publicarían en una editorial o que inspiraría a otras personas, a otras mujeres, especialmente… Es increíble. Tus primeros trabajos están llegando ahora a un público joven… ¿Qué piensas cuando algunas de esas historias son leídas en clave feminista? Es cierto que, cuando las dibujaba, no tenía ninguna intención como esa. Principalmente, hablaba de mi propia experiencia, ni se me ocurría que alguien pudiera ver eso en mi trabajo. Entonces yo no terminaba de sentirme a gusto como mujer, y mis intereses no tenían nada que ver con los del resto de las mujeres que conocía. Pero pienso que cuando publicas una historia, esta deja de pertenecerte solo a ti. De modo que puedo entender perfectamente que haya gente que las considere feministas. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Breixo Harguindey reseña al flamante ganador del @Puchiaward 2017: J+K de John Pham. Se trata de las peripecias de dos amigas en un universo de colorido eléctrico y resplandeciente. “A medio camino entre Gumball, Hanselmann y los videojuegos.” Aún no ha llegado a los Estados Unidos! Breixo Harguindey: A primer vistazo, lo más llamativo de J+K es su tratamiento del color, eléctrico y resplandeciente, con degradados muy conseguidos. Esta novedad respecto de Sublife proviene del trabajo de investigación de Pham con la técnica de impresión risográfica, una sistema a medio camino entre lo digital y el Offset. El propio autor reconoce la influencia del Norakuro de Suihō Tagawa en este tratamiento cromático. El ascendente del kitai manga, anterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, en las últimas hornadas del cómic alternativo se deja igualmente traslucir en el dibujo de Pham, cuyo trazo redondo como de dibujos animados (el autor colabora también en Cartoon Network) nos recuerda poderosamente al maestro del nansensu Shigeru Sugiura. Léanlo todo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-13-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

06/07/2017

Juan FernándezJune 7, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Isabel Méndez y los derechos de ls traductores; Fernanda Frick en La Polola; Ines Estrada; Sol Díaz; Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas; y por supuesto los tebeos de Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Y los traductores… ¿tienen derechos de autor? Isabel Méndez nos presenta un guía genial sobre los derechos del autor. En este mundo de intercambio cultural internacional, los traductores son inestimables! Si tienes algún interés en el mundo de traduccíon, tienen que léer este articulo. ¿En qué consisten los derechos de autor de los traductores? Si eres traductor, debes tener en cuenta que nuestra legislación te atribuye los mismos derechos que a cualquier otro autor. Esto es, tendrás derechos patrimoniales y derechos morales. Conocer bien tus derechos te ayudará a proteger y reivindicar mejor tu trabajo. Los derechos patrimoniales te servirán para explotar la traducción y los derechos morales te servirán, entre otras cosas, para que se reconozca la autoría de tu trabajo y aparezcas, por ejemplo, en los créditos de la obra. También, como cualquier otro autor, tendrás derecho a registrar tu obra. Al igual que con el resto de autores, muchas veces los traductores son trabajadores asalariados, por lo que la cesión de los derechos de las traducciones que realicen bajo un contrato laboral, deberán quedar bien determinadas y reflejadas en el mismo. Es conveniente leer en este caso el artículo 51 de nuestra Ley de Propiedad Intelectual, dedicado a la transmisión de los derechos de un autor asalariado. Léanlo todo AQUI! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con el gran dibujante Fernanda Frick, directora, animadora y dibujante. Hablamos acerca de su nuevo corto “Here`s the plan”, cómo empezó su carrera, su experiencia en la animación, sus estudios, temores, ideas, planes y mucho más!! Ya puedes léer Alienation #3 de Inés Estrada en línea. Léanlo si les gusta el sci fi, hentai & conversaciones intensas. Esta historieta fue adaptada a HTML maravillosamente. La Universidad de Santiago y @PLOPGaleria convocan al Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas! Para este año, el eje del Encuentro será Narrativas gráficas: sociedad, política y género, y el plazo para enviar las propuestas de ponencias es hasta el lunes 12 de junio de 2017. Pueden ver la entretenida entrevista que Carlos Reyes le hizo a Sol Díaz en un nuevo VIÑETAS DEL FIN DEL MUNDO. La semana pasada Drawn & Quarterly annuncio la publicacion de Sadboi por Berliac. Hubo una reacción inmediata en línea, ya que dibujantes y lectores señalaron las declaraciones públicas sobre personas transgénero realizadas por el dibujante, algunas dirigidas agresivamente a la artista Sarah Horrocks, quienes descomprimieron sus interacciones y pensamientos en Twitter. Después de dos días de investigación y pensamiento, D & Q, que al igual que muchas editoriales pequeñas, se basa en relaciones bastante íntimas con sus autores, ya no sentía que podía apoyar Berliac dado su comportamiento. La declaración de la compañía está aquí. La declaración de Berliac en respuesta a la situacíon está en su Facebook. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-7-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-7-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/28/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 28, 2017NewsSally here to close the week, joined by some of the cornerstones, gatekeepers, and “keepers of the flame” of the comics community – Lucy Caswell, Caitlin McGurk, Karen Berger, Dash Shaw, Frank Santoro, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Some weeks you get to meet and hang out with your heroes. Here in Pittsburgh we were lucky enough to not only get a screening of Dash Shaw’s new film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, but Dash himself came to town for a few days. He and Frank Santoro, who created the main exterior background paintings for the film, were interviewed onstage before a special screening at the Row House Cinema, and then there was a meet and greet after the film (photos from the event are above). I had been eagerly anticipating seeing the film, and it exceeded all my expectations. It’s beautiful and funny, with characters that I immediately identified with. I plan to see it in the theater several more times before it leaves town, and will be harassing all my friends into going as well. It plays in Pittsburgh at the Row House Cinema April 28th-May 4th. For a complete list of showings around the country, visit the official website HERE. It was cool to hear Dash talk about this type of animation and storytelling, dig into his inspirations and plans for future projects, and hear Frank’s take on being part – for a unique moment – of an animation “studio”. Most of the comics community in Pittsburgh came out for the special screening. This support of Dash and Frank was well deserved, of course – but I was even more excited that one of my comics students – a 9 year old boy – was in the audience as well. I heard afterward how much he liked the film and how thrilled he was to see the creators in real life. I can only hope that he will be inspired to keep making his own work and really invest his energy in the things he’s passionate about. Maybe he’ll be the next torchbearer. Who knows? It’s an interesting moment in the timeline of comics history, and Dash’s film, and Frank’s school, and the Pittsburgh scene, and my 9-year old student are all part of that moment. I can’t wait to see what happens next. In the meantime, go see My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea – go meet your heroes – go make your comics. ————————————————————————————————— In other news (and following a theme here, in a way), Columbus Alive celebrates the 40th anniversary of of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum with a nice feature piece. They spoke to Lucy Caswell, founding curator of the museum, about the collection’s origins. “…Caniff himself dubbed “the keeper of the flame.” “It’s hard to go back, in a way, because people think about cartoons and comics in a very different way than they did 40 years ago,” Caswell said when asked to recall those early years, when clarity and stability were in short supply. “We were outliers. When I started, I did what all good researchers would do and tried to find out what similar people had done in similar circumstances, but I found that there were no similar circumstances. We were trying to make something new, different. But I believed it was important, and there were administrators on campus who also felt it was important. Funding was always competitive, and they — the administrators in the School of Journalism and in University Libraries — had to convince higher-ups this was something to pay for.” “We were very fortunate that Milton Caniff … lived until 1988 and was a wonderful advocate for us. I can’t emphasize how important that was,” she added.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Congratulations to Caitlin McGurk, Assistant Professor and Curator for Outreach for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum – she is the recipient of the Annual Award in Teaching Excellence for 2016 from Ohio State University! “Caitlin’s agility in teaching across a wide range of courses demonstrates her adaptability and resourcefulness in bringing the unique resources of the BICLM collections to life for many faculty and students, and for others in the local community. Her outreach role has brought increasing national attention to the resources of the BICLM and to their potential for enriching curricula and deepening community engagement, and for enhancing the creativity of students and community members themselves. “ I am as much a fan of the work Caitlin does for the comics community as I am of any of my favorite cartoonists – so thanks Caitlin, and good luck as you continue! ————————————————————————————————— John Porcellino is working hard to bring the work of Jenny Zervakis back to the attention of the comics world – he has been raising funds to print The Complete Strange Growths, 1991-1997, which he hopes to debut at CAKE this year. Jenny is one of his favorite cartoonists, and this is a publishing project that he has hoped to do for over 20 years. He writes: “Jenny Zervakis is one of the great unsung creators of 1990’s DIY comics. Her zine Strange Growths was gentle and sincere at a time when most alt-comics were loud and sarcastic. They were poetic and allusive, delving into the heart of the human experience, and they were one of my biggest influences as a cartoonist.“ John P. is currently selling old and rare copies of his own work in order to fund the printing of this book – check it out HERE. You can see work from some of the Strange Growth issues and hear another glowing opinion from Kevin Bramer over on Optical Sloth. ————————————————————————————————— Karen Berger, editor extraordinaire, is starting her own imprint – Berger Books – under the banner of Dark Horse Comics. “As founder and head of DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, Karen Berger brought ambitious, outré series like “Sandman” and “Preacher” to mass audiences, helped prove that comics weren’t limited to superhero adventures and kickstarted the careers of writers like Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore.“ Karen was at DC for 30 years – she left in 2013, but is now returning – to the sound of trumpets and general fanfare. Considering that she likes “weird shit“, and that part of her incentive for returning to comics stems from the need she sees for an artistic response to the Trump election, I can only imagine her line of graphic novels are going to be exciting! “In the next few months, Berger Books will announce its first titles. “I think I’ve been known for not publishing expected stuff,” Ms. Berger said, “and I think people will see that the first few books I’m publishing are not expected.” Among the first batch of titles, she hints, are “a near-future eco-fiction love story, a psychological crime horror thriller, a personal tale of race and identity, (and) an unseen side of a notorious legendary figure.” “ The Wall Street Journal has the rest of the details – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Extra, extra! Teen Vogue featured an excerpt from Melissa Mendes‘ and Anne Elizabeth Moore‘s ongoing comic series about the water crisis in Detroit. The full series so far can be found on Truthout. The Comics Beat speaks to Mariko Tamaki about her new series Supergirl: Being Super (which features art by Joelle Jones, of Lady Killers) – apparently the new comic captures “lightening in the bottle“. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-28-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-28-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Bill Griffith’s Weird Pittsburgh

J KellyMarch 25, 2016Art Trip / SketchbooksLegendary Underground cartoonist Bill Griffith has often set his long-running daily newspaper strip Zippy the Pinhead in the city of Pittsburgh. Griffith has visited Pittsburgh several times, including in 2009 when Pittsburgh’s cartoon museum, The ToonSeum (then still located in the Children’s Museum), put on the show Zippy’s Pittsburgh and More, which included some of the strips seen below. On April, Griffith will return to Pittsburgh to talk about “45 Years of Zippy” at the ToonSeum on April 1st at 7 pm and to take part in our Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo (PIX) on April 2nd. As part of PIX, Griffith will sign books during the day, run a cartooning workshop for Comics Workbook at the Carnegie Library at 3:30, and speak about his new book, Invisible Ink at 7:30. In preparation for all that activity, we thought it was a good time to re-visit a few of those Zippy strips, as well as take a look at some never before seen pages from Griffith’s sketchbook composed during a 1990 trip to Pittsburgh. But first, here’s a couple where Zippy, Griffy and others note Pittsburgh’s “more enlightened and weirder” culture: Here’s a few (and there are many more) Zippy strips that are set in familiar Pittsburgh locations: Ritter’s Diner in Bloomfield. The Big Day Wedding & Event Center, Strip District. Charlie’s Diner (now known as Peppi’s, and also once known as Scotty’s, as well as Downtown Diner), Lincoln Highway. Glowing Sculpture Thing, PPG Place. In early June of 1990, Griffith visited Pittsburgh to take in the Thomas Rowlandson show at the Frick Art Museum. The images below are taken from sketches he made at the time. While in town, Griffith also spent some time at the historic Kennywood Amusement Park in West Mifflin, as seen below. Griffith, who arrived for that trip via the rail road, also sketched the train ride and station. “For me, Zippy is funniest when his craziness bumps up against the ‘real world’, which is why I put him in diners and have him talking to Bob’s Big Boy,” Griffith said in 2009. “It doesn’t get much more real than Pittsburgh, PA – it’s Zippy Country!” Hopefully he’ll find some additional examples of that “more enlightened and weirder” pop culture on his trip back here in April. Share this page: [...]

05/29/2018

Juan FernándezMay 29, 2018NewsJuan here covering for Aaron, who’s been traveling far and wide. I’ve got a juicy preview Frank Santoro’s Pittsburgh, thoughts by Spike Trotman, David Brothers and Ron Wimberly talking radical application of black aesthetic and Michael Deforge comics. Fun for the whole family. ————————————————————— You can read a preview of Frank Santoro‘s newest book, Pittsburgh over on Éditions çà et là.‘s website. You’ll want to brush up on your french, because it’s not yet in English! It’s gorgeous, painful and well worth a look. And here is a great review which was in Libération, (a nationwide daily newspaper), slam that google translate button, me hearties. You can read it HERE. Pittsburgh’s splendid graphical instability helps to create a space of evanescent memory, as if it were dangerous to remember too much, that to try to materialize things would lose their souls. Barely sketched, the details of a bus ride escape us but not the enveloping heat of the sun that taps on the skin through the windows in the early morning. Condemned to wander between California where he lives and Pennsylvania, which recalls him all the time, Santoro ends up looking like a ghost come to haunt his family while rehearsing the past. The territory he travels also has something unreal, since instead of Pittsburgh, he surveys its peripheries. Perrons, hardware, living-room: a space that only the family seems to frequent. Places that change over time, replaced by a no man’s land of bridges, roads and deserted railways. “Pittsburgh is like Pompeii, a ruin of what it was,”wrote Santoro in a previous book. ————————————————————— In case you missed the talk this year at TCAF, Ronald Wimberly and David Brothers jammed out on radical application of black aesthetic at TCAF 2018. Sit back, tune in and take notes! David Brothers asks Ronald Wimberly questions about his thoughts on how the black body is depicted in pop culture. Ronald reads from his LAAP magazine in regards to that issue and other images he created in it. Why the depictions of the black body was bad and what their purpose was. They spoke briefly about the Cotton Club, the production of Cotton and it’s impact on Europe. There was just discussion on Jay Z’s The Story of OJ and the Sambo character. Other topics touched on was Anime and appropriation, seeing stereotypes as kids and changing it for modern audience (eg the Mammy character from Tom & Jerry cartoons), black women vs black men depictions, blaxpoitation done by white creators, the 1975 Coonskin animated movie, Donald Glover’s / Childish Gambino’s This is America video, the White Gaze & David Chappel and Monsters & black bodies. Listen HERE. ————————————————————— Spike Trotman offers up “unpopular creative opinions” on twitter. Unpopular, honest and useful. Some gems: – What is happening in the superhero book scene, unless you explicitly want to be part of it, literally doesn’t matter and should occupy zero percent of your thoughts. – If you want to make comics, read something other than comics. – If your publisher doesn’t do promo, doesn’t at least attempt to get you nominations and reviews, and doesn’t grant your work access to wider dissemination than you could manage by yourself, you have no reason to be using them. Read on! ————————————————————— The Comics Journal posted an excerpt of Michael Deforge‘s A Western World you can read HERE. Soak it up. ————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-29-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/02/2018

Posted on October 2, 2018October 1, 2018 by Aaron Cockle

Thurber + Tomine; Hairy Who; Drawing Center; Adversarial Elephant Networks

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ADRIAN TOMINE: Comics Work (2004-2014)
October 4 – November 11, 2018
ADAM BAUMGOLD FINE ART
104 E. 81st Street, NYC

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Hairy Who? 1966-1969
The Art Institute of Chicago
Through January 6, 2019

Although the Hairy Who chose to exhibit together, they were six individuals with their own personal, chiefly figurative vocabularies. They each radically manipulated source material collected from everyday life—including advertisements, comics, posters, and sales catalogs—with technical virtuosity. Their sense of humor embraced idiosyncrasy and spontaneity with wordplay, puns, and inside jokes that often belied the transgressiveness of their subject matter. Ambiguous, provocative, but also strategic, their work transmitted progressive ideas that challenged prevailing notions of gender and sexuality, social mores and standards of beauty, and nostalgia and obsolescence.

Jim Falconer, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, and Karl Wirsum. Hairy Who, 1966

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Opening Reception: Thursday, October 11, 6–8pm
The Drawing Center | 35 Wooster Street

For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn; Jennifer Wynne Reeves: All Right for Now; a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12

Dufala Brothers, Tic Tac Toe, 2015, video, 22:05 minutes.

a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 explores the imaginative determination of “drawing” and “line” by relating it to a development process, social artifacts, psychological trace, and prosthetic memory—journals, maps, technology, and calendars. The poetics of flow between known and unknown is a feedback murmur that leads to clarity when engaging the object. a..is alter(ed) features Joeun Aatchim, Kenseth Armstead, Ludovica Carbotta, Billy and Steven Dufala, LaMont Hamilton, and Ester Partegàs. Organized Rosario Güiraldes and and Lisa Sigal, Open Sessions Curators, together with participating artists.

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Detecting an elephant in a room.
Via Amir Rosenfeld, Richard Zemel, and John K. Tsotsos

We showcase a family of common failures of state-of-the

art object detectors. These are obtained by replacing image

sub-regions by another sub-image that contains a trained

object. We call this “object transplanting”. Modifying an

image in this manner is shown to have a non-local impact

on object detection. Slight changes in object position can

affect its identity according to an object detector as well

as that of other objects in the image. We provide some

analysis and suggest possible reasons for the reported

phenomena.

10-02-2018 – by Niall Breen

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Aaron Cockle

Posted on October 2, 2018October 1, 2018

Explore

02/20/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 20, 2017NewsJuan and Sally tag teaming it this morning with the goods: Ron Wimberly at Copacetic Comics; 2nd biennial Queers & Comics conference, the QC Travel fund; Simon Reinhardt on Anya Davidson; PEN World Voices Festival; Matthew Thurber; Cynthia Rose on Andre Franquin; Sam Alden; Sophie Goldstein; Wayne Wise on Herriman. ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly is coming to Pittsburgh this week to check out the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency, the Andy Warhol Museum, The ToonSeum, and Copacetic Comics! He will be doing a signing on Wednesday at Copacetic: “Please join us from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 22 to welcome Ronald Wimberly and celebrate his latest release, Black History in Its Own Words. Wimberly will be coming through town straight from wrapping up his Graphic Novel Residency Exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art. The Copacetic Comics Company is located on the third floor at 3138 Dobson Street, Pittsburgh PA 15219.” Be sure to check this event out, meet Ron, and get some copies of his books if you are in the area. ————————————————————————————————— Juan here, San Francisco’s California College of the Arts is hosting the 2nd biennial Queers & Comics conference on April 14-15 2017 with Keynotes Mariko Tamaki and Gengoroh Tagame. Queers & Comics features two days of discussion panels, workshops, readings, and comics galore, along with a multitude of off-site events. This year the conference will spotlight international and emerging LGBTQ cartoonists, the role of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the future of queer comics. It should be great. As people gear up for the conference, there are still some creators and presenters who need your help. Traveling to these important spaces for conversations is hard and costs a good deal of $$. Not everyone who needs to be part of these conversations has that $$. That’s where you come in, dear reader. A small band of creators have joined together with Prism Comics to create the QC Travel Fund. With your help they will raise the necessary funds to help creators in need reach their destination at the Queers & Comics conference in San Francisco at CCA on April 14-15, 2017. The fundraiser can be found here: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/queers-comics-conference-travel-fund/x/16025161 Pitch in what you can! ————————————————————————————————— This morning I’m passing the mic to Correspondence Course graduate, Simon Reinhardt. He’s got some great thoughts on Anya Davidson’s latest books. Quick comics thoughts just how I like them. Essential, enticing and illuminating. 2016 Comics: Anya Davidson-Lovers in the Garden/Hypatia’s Last Hours I’ve been a fan of Anya Davidson for a while, but these two pieces–which function very well as companions–felt like a breakthrough to me. There’s always been an emotional intensity to Davidson’s work, and here it is turned all the way up. Both of these stories deal with the moments before a disaster, ending abruptly when that disaster arrives. We see the protagonists’ hopes get dashed but, crucially, the stories clearly highlight how important and worthwhile those hopes were despite ultimately not being fulfulled. In both works, the cartoony, lively figure drawing fleshes out the world of the characters and communicates a depth beyond what can be explicitly foregrounded in relatively short form work. Devastating stuff. -Simon Reinhardt Lovers in the Garden is available from Retrofit Books. “Hypatia’s Last Hours” was included in Kramers Ergot #9, available from Fantagraphics. ————————————————————————————————— Dots and Dashes The PEN World Voices Festival (May 1-7th 2017) will spotlight gender and power this year, and unlike in years past, it will feature a lot of cartoonists. The Comics Beat has the details – but just to throw some names around, the lineup will include Simon Hanselmann, Roz Chast, Gabrielle Bell, Rokudenashiko, and Meg Lemke among other panelists! There is an interview with Matthew Thurber and an excerpt from Art Comic, his ongoing serial, over on Bad At Sports – check it out HERE. Cynthia Rose writes about Andre Franquin over on The Comics Journal – was he in fact comics’ greatest draftsman? The Strand is hosting a cartooning focused panel: I’m Drawn This Way: Cartoonists on Cartooning (March 13) featuring Pénélope Bagieu, Natalie Andrewson, Katie Skelly, Julia Gfrörer, and Whit Taylor moderated by the great Meg Lemke of the Brooklyn Book Festival, PEN America, and MUTHA Magazine. Part 2 of Sam Alden‘s Sledgehammer is up on Hazlitt – “Okay, never mind. Go back to destroying the house.” Sophie Goldstein announced that her comic House of Women will be collected by Fantagraphics this fall. Congrats! Pittsburgh’s Wayne Wise reviews George Herriman: A Life in Black and White. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! Frank Santoro here. I’ve decided to give this semester a rolling start date. I realize that everyone has spring break at different times, and that’s always a good time to start a comic – so I will officially kick off the course March 7th but will continue taking applications past that date. I will make it work for your schedule. Just apply! Applications received by February 26th will get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. Many more details can be found HERE plus the answers to all your questions (hopefully). Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply Santoro School Application guidelines: – 3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards – draw in a contour line style –think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink – just send me small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls – send specific url links to any comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Thanks xo Frank ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-20-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-20-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-20-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-20-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

07/22/2016

Sally IngrahamJuly 22, 2016NewsSally here with you today to show off what Renee French and Vanesa R. Del Ray have been drawing lately, check in with Sophie Yanow on the ground at the Republican National Convention and Atena Farghadani in Iran, take a peek at the San Diego Comic-Con, and hear what Mike Kuchar and Anne Bongiovanni are hyped about. ————————————————————————————————— Things are heating up everywhere as the summer progresses, and Sophie Yanow is in the thick of things this week as she makes comic reports for The Nib on the Republican National Convention. Her most recent Mean Streets piece documented some of the goings on around the 4th Street RNC entrance the other day, aptly titled The Clash. Check it out HERE. The Nib has exploded since the recent launch of it’s new website, with comics piling in from all sides. Check back daily for the latest on the Convention and other good stuff – (Get to Know the 2016 GOP Platform by Andy Warner and Sophie Louise Dam is a particularly useful read!) ———————————————————————————————— The Washington Post had an exclusive interview with Atena Farghadani recently. Farghadani is the 29-year-old cartoonist who had been arrested and sentenced in 2014 to more than 13 years in prison after drawing Iran’s parliament as animals. She was protesting her government’s anti-birth control policies. She spent the better part of 2 years in prison, before finally being released in May of this year. Michael Cavna was the first Western reporter to conduct an interview with Farghadani since her release, via email and with the help of the Cartoonists Rights Network International. Farghadani speaks about her imprisonment only briefly, focusing more on her plans to stay in Iran, where she will continue being an activist and a cartoonist. “At the moment, since I’ve arrived at the certainty that there is miracle lying in the art of drawing and painting, I’m more determined to continue doing it than ever.” – Atena Farghadani Read the whole interview HERE. ———————————————————————————————— The San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing, and Michael Dooley wrote a piece for Print about the women who will be getting well-deserved recognition, as featured guests, panelists, and during the Eisner Award ceremony. “This year’s Eisner Awards ceremony will offer a relief to the series of sexist fiascos surrounding the Angoulême Comics Festival’s Grand Prix earlier this year. Around fifty deserving women have garnered 61 nominations in 27 of the thirty categories. A large number of them will be present to accept their honors, including the triple-nominated Joëlle Jones and Colleen Coover as well as SDCC Spotlight guests Kate Beaton and Emily Carroll. I’ve assembled some of the most graphically impressive works from among these artists, and concluded by acknowledging one more from the author of a book that’s sure to be of vital interest to any and all designing cartoon enthusiasts.” – Michael Dooley Check out the full list HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Drawing to @peteholmes ‘s podcast for the upcoming @eatmoreartout show “Slim Pug with Chex Mix” A video posted by Renee French (@reneefrench) on Jul 20, 2016 at 8:09pm PDT I enjoy Renee French‘s work, and find the process videos that she posts on her Instagram account particularly fascinating. The one above is her most recent offering, and since we have a fondness for pugs (Lenny!) around the Comics Workbook headquarters, I had to share it here. Give French’s Baby Bjornstrand (Koyama Press) a look if you haven’t yet experienced how her unique style translates into comics storytelling – HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Open Space conducted a conversation with Mike Kuchar this week. It delves into the relationship between filmmaking and cartooning, both of which Kuchar excels at, and the guys he used to hang out with in California – folks like R. Crumb, Billy Griffith, and Art Spiegelman. It’s a highly entertaining read. “You know, even the stupidest movie or the most despised movie, there’s always something that is a spark. There’s something that can be explored or affects you in a certain way. I love Hollywood movies. That’s how I learned movie making — when I was watching the picture, I was also seeing how they were made, in some ways. And I love junk stuff. I love B-movies, I love the cheap science fiction movies of the fifties. I love to look at paintings too, because in some ways, they also help me as a cinematographer. You see a painting and the colors that are used, the composition — there’s magic in an image. Something will affect you. There’s magic. There’s a sense of atmosphere, light and mood. I always find the mediums are all interchangeable.” – Mike Kuchar via Open Space Read the whole thing HERE – via Dan Nadel at TCJ. ———————————————————————————————— Anne Bongiovanni made the twelfth installment of Comic Book Decalogue over on The Comics Journal – listen to it HERE! ———————————————————————————————— Check out the Summer Set that Uncivilized Books is featuring, especially the new mini-comic from Laura Park – Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #5. (“Pigeons, French guest stars, face punching, stolen oranges, dogs, true Americans, warts and so much more!“) ———————————————————————————————— And now, what the heck, a process video from Vanesa R. Del Ray to finish up – ?Mr. Bones? #timelapse A video posted by Vanesa R. Del Rey (@vrdelrey) on Jul 13, 2016 at 10:24am PDT ———————————————————————————————— These days you never know what the next week will hold, but we’ll be back to investigate it with you on Monday! – Sally Share this page: [...]

04/18/2018

Juan FernándezApril 18, 2018los Cómics / NewsBRÍGIDA, Quique Alcatena, Elisa McCausland + TEBEOSFERA, y Alexis Ziritt! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ Este viernes, 20 de abril, a las 19 hrs. en PLOP Galeria se lanza BRÍGIDA, revista de historietas hechas por mujeres de Sol Díaz, Marcela Trujillo, Isabel Molina , Catalina Mendoza, Karina Cocq, Paloma Valdivia, Katherine Supnem, Pati Aguilera y Sol Undurraga entre otras! Quieren saber más? Sol Díaz charlo con Belén Roca Urrutia de el Desconcierto sobre el nacimiento y el crecimiento de BRÍGIDA. ¿Cómo se crea el proyecto “BRÍGIDA”? Es una inquietud que compartimos, desde hace un tiempo, con el equipo editorial de la revista. Nos hemos dado cuenta, en el día a día como ilustradoras, que el dibujo es un medio muy mirado en menos por el resto de las expresiones artísticas. Hay dos prejuicios muy arraigados en la gente, que impiden que se acerquen, siquiera, a conocer más sobre lo que está pasando: el primero, que “los monos” son cosa de niños. La ilustración, por el contrario, no puede ser más transversal. En estos días no es tanto, pero siempre al dibujo se le da esta connotación infantil; el segundo tiene que ver con las historietas y los superhéroes. Siempre con historias fantásticas, siempre con la mina tetona… estilos de dibujo y narraciones que, personalmente, no me llaman la atención. Muy masculinizado todo. Con “Brígida” queremos desmontar estos prejuicios y mostrar que hay harto trabajo, hecho por mujeres, cada una con su propio rollo. El primer número incluye el trabajo de Margarita Valdés, Magdalena Armstrong, Camila Barrales, Catalina Bustos, Karina Cocq, Otto, Sofía Flores, Amanda Mijangos, Florencia Olivos, Paloma Valdivia, Sol Undurraga, Katherine Supnem y Arolas Uribe,además de las colaboraciones de las cuatro editoras: Isabel Molina, Pati Aguilera, Marcela Trujillo y yo. Léanlo todo AQUI! —————————————— LA IMAGINACIÓN AL PODER. ENTREVISTA CON QUIQUE ALCATENA Hoy les invito léer la segunda parte de la entrevista al Quique Alcatena en Revista Kamandi. Hablaron en profundidad de su paso por la industria estadounidense, su desencanto con la maquinaria norteamericana, sus colaboraciones con los guionistas y sus proyectos actuales… Léanlo todo AQUI. —————————————— Les presento n° 6 de la revista TEBEOSFERA , con un dossier monográfico coordinado por Elisa McCausland sobre del tema “CÓMIC Y FEMINISMO”. Es un a coleccíon maravillosa de ensayos! Léanlo todo AQUI. Last but not least, exciting things are happening in the world of Alexis Ziritt… Check out this update from his Artist Shop! (It’s”all over” the place 😉 ) —————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-18-2018 – by Sally Ingraham – – – – – – – Joanie and Jordie – 4-18-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

08/30/2017

Juan FernándezAugust 30, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Carla Berrocal; Jueves Furioso de Dibujo; Simon Hanselmann; la Convocatoria de Voluntarios de Entreviñetas; La Polola con Brittany Tullis; Graficas Pro Aborto Libre; Alex Fito; Berliac y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Sobre el Proceso de Trabajo – Carla Berrocal Antes de nada, debo decir que no creo que exista un método de trabajo que sea bueno o malo o que sea el método definitivo. Creo, sencillamente, que existen miles de formasdistintas de afrontar un encargo, tantas como dibujantes. El mío es uno más de esos miles de métodos. No creo que sea el mejor ni de lejos, pero si que pienso que puede ser interesante compartirlo con vosotros. Siempre con la idea de establecer un diálogo y aprender cosas que puedan resultar interesantes para todos. Así pues, ¿cómo trabajo? ¿cómo afronto un encargo? ————————————————————————————————— Jueves Furioso de Dibujo con Virginia Abrigo 31/09 – 18:00-20:00 Plataforma Lavardén Mendoza 1085, 2000 Rosario, Santa Fe ————————————————————————————————— Simon Hanselmann: la vida no es bonita, ni siquiera en cómic En tiempos de Tumblr, de bloggers sobrevalorados, de fotos de perfil manipuladas por Photoshop y relaciones interpersonales supeditadas a una interfaz friendly, algunos pensamos que una vuelta al existencialismo honesto y deprimente es algo casi necesario. Por eso nos gusta reivindicar a Simon Hanselmann. Y no es que estemos de acuerdo con eso de levantarnos cada mañana planteándonos la existencia entre lacrimosos accesos de frustración, no. No del todo. Pero en esto coincidimos: empieza a resultar imprescindible un poco de reality bite, una dosis medicinal de realidad sucia que levante la alfombra y deje al aire toda esa porquería que se ha ocultado debajo con insistencia. Porque, sin entrar en discursos grunges, es dolorosamente cierto que la realidad, aunque pretendamos lo contrario, no suele ser algo que pueda retocarse con un filtro trendy ni reconstruir recortando el trozo que queremos mostrar. A pesar de que podamos tener momentos felices, la felicidad no es una imagen y, por lo tanto, nunca podrá permanecer demasiado tiempo. Léanlo todo en Literary Notes. ————————————————————————————————— ENTREVIÑETAS, plataforma cultural colombiana, invita a todas las personas en Colombia con interés en donar su tiempo para ayudar en la navegación del #FESTIVALENTREVIÑETAS como Voluntarios de la *red viñetera*. El voluntariado supone a menudo un desafío, pero significa también adquirir nuevos conocimientos y realizar actividades gratificantes. En el voluntariado no se recibe un pago y se entiende como una donación de tiempo y conocimiento para comprender y atender a los detalles que permitirán llevar el festival a buen puerto en sus sedes de este año: BOGOTÁ Miércoles 20 al domingo 24 de septiembre 2017 MEDELLÍN Miércoles 11 al domingo 15 de octubre de 2017 Convocatoria de Voluntarios ————————————————————————————————— 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! Las chicas conversan con la académica Brittany Tullis acerca de sus estudios acerca del cómic feminista latinoamericano (grabado con público en Galería Plop!). Brittany comparte sus visiones acerca de la mujer y su rol creativo, la necesidad de replantear como nos vemos socialmente, críticar los roles impuestos y entrar en nosotros mismos a través del cómic y cómo éste a su vez tiene el poder de generar realidades que terminen en un cambio cultural. Aquí las compañeras de Gráficas ProAborto Libre y su campaña por un aborto libre en Chile. Alex Fito repasa algunos de los tótems de la historia del cómic en su último trabajo, una recopilacion en formato concertina. Una auténtica gozada que mezcla las influencias estética’s de Chris Ware y Max. Berliac‘s got a new Asian Food Store Junkies – Manga is Masturbation. The international fracas digs into the “scene” on an empty stomach… Tereixa Constenla offers a solid and interesting overview of the recent transformations in the Spanish Comics Industry in El_Pais. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-30-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2016 report

Frank SantoroOctober 19, 2016Festivals and ShowsFrank Santoro here – reporting from Kendal, England. If you are only hearing about “The Lakes Festival” or “LICAF”, please read last year’s report. This is my second year of going to “The Lakes” and I hope to make it back every year. Why? Frankly, it’s because this show has Mr. Chris “TCAF” Butcher’s stamp of approval, and anything Mr. Butcher touches is gold, so I’m sold. Meaning LICAF and TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) have some cross-cultural curation going on with the great Julie Tait, who steers the fleet of LICAF activities and who was at TCAF’s 2016 show, helping with the expansion of that festival’s venues. So, I see the big picture. A comics festival that appeals to just about everyone – not just the “mainstream” or the “alternative” crowd. LICAF, like TCAF, has something for everyone. Indeed, this year’s LICAF hosted Gilbert Shelton and Bryan Lee O’Malley and Tillie Walden and Jordi Bernet (amongst many other greats, see the full list here). That’s about four major demographics in my comics world. Plus, ahem, Aidan Koch, Connor Willumsen and l’il ole me representing some other, uh, demographic. Kendal is a small town on the northwest coast of England, above Manchester. The whole surrounding area is absolutely beautiful and up the road is where Beatrix Potter called home. What I like about it is how pleasantly unique this show is because of the way the show is embedded in the town. The festival takes place, primarily, at a few different venues spread within walking distance to each other. It is a Saturday/Sunday type of show, however, one can feel it expanding. The Comics Workbook crew arrived a day early to present at an academic conference at The Kendal Museum and The Box Theatre on Friday. Then over the weekend we hosted workshops at The Brewery Arts Centre and sold our wares at The Clock Tower. And then had a closing party at Ruskin’s Bar. The Comics Workbook crew at LICAF: Aidan Koch, Connor Willumsen, Oliver East, Jack Brougham and myself – with a special appearances by Naomi Nowak. A number of students from Kendal College and the University of Cumbria participated in Comics Workbook workshops after the presentation to “the academics” at The Box Theatre. The great comics scholar and author Paul Gravett was in the audience, so you can be sure, loyal reader, that the Comics Workbook team “slayed them”, as the saying goes. Here is a link to my “notes” for our presentation on Friday. I like to have a long rambling blog post of inspirational videos and rough notes to refer to during a presentation. I find that it allows the audience to revisit the material later or even during the talk. My basic argument that afternoon is, as Geoff Dyer says of D.H. Lawrence, an inversion of the “traditional hierarchy of genre” has occurred – in comics – and more importantly for those associated with Comics Workbook. Aidan Koch spoke of how she rejects the idea of “the great American Graphic Novel” or even telling stories. She spoke eloquently of how she is concerned mostly with “the poetics of comics”. Connor Willumsen talked about genre being merely a raincoat and umbrella under which to make comics. He even lovingly compared it to a sport where performing under pressure to “do it right the first time” was valued. I riffed on my modular notecard method. A lively and valuable discussion followed within the question and answer period. It was, for me, one of the best received presentations I’ve been a part of and I would like to thank Aileen McEvoy for helping myself and my team feel so welcomed. Oliver East and Jack Brougham – the UK CW representatives – worked the table at the Clock Tower. Generally, there are tables selling comics like a traditional comics show at the Clock Tower. And “programming” is at The Brewery Arts Centre, however, there is programming and signings at The Clock Tower. For example, the great Jordi Bernet was signing in the same room as our table on Sunday. Actually, the signing area was behind us on an elevated stage which helped ease the flow of traffic at busy times. Also, hats off to Ollie and Jack who stuck to CW’s number one rule at shows, which is, of course: “sitting is not selling”! One of the current riffs about comics festivals is that many different shows exist within the show. Meaning, you can go to SPX and not even see everything or miss your friends completely – whereas in years past you could lap the room each hour and see everything and everyone there. LICAF is different insomuch as it is not situated centrally in a hotel or a convention center. So what happens is that one has their interactions in the town of Kendal itself. The Brewery Arts Centre provides ample space to host everyone and the short walk to the Clock Tower is where I found myself most often running into friendly faces – friends and strangers alike. It was very pleasant, I thought, especially because it was so unlike what we are used to in the States and specific to the town of Kendal. During the fantastic opening night ceremony for, ahem, VIPs, I was lucky enough to meet the Mayor of Kendal, Mr. Stephen Coleman, and his wife, Sarah. Mrs. Coleman was kind enough to give me some driving directions up to see the beautiful countryside around Kendal. On Friday and Saturday after our obligations at the festival concluded, myself and the CW gang piled into our hired car and I drove us up as far as Ambleside and Windemere. Believe me when I tell you that everyone in the car was startled at how beautiful this part of the world really is – you gotta see it to believe it, folks. Book your tickets in advance for next year and head to LICAF and “The Lakes”, you won’t be disappointed. Aidan Koch, Connor Willumsen and I have just returned Stateside as I type this on the plane now. I will try and fill out this report a little bit more as the jetlag wears off. (I gotta tell you about talking shop with Gilbert Shelton.) Until then, I’d like to thank Julie Tait, Carole Tait, Aileen McEvoy, and everyone who believed in the Comics Workbook programme and helped us make it to LICAF 2016. For additional reading: Connor Willumsen on Mint Cakes, sheep photography, his LICAF workshop experiences, and Frank’s “intuitive” driving. Aidan Koch shares some of her LICAF experiences HERE. My student Niall Breen’s thoughts on LICAF – he came from Ireland to hang out with us. Jack Brougham sent his thoughts on tabling with Comics Workbook at the festival – HERE. LICAF opening night #licaf A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 13, 2016 at 2:17pm PDT Connor Willumsen’s workshop LICAF UK 2016 #comicsworkbook He is talking about his comic Swinespritzen – available through the link my bio #licaf A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 15, 2016 at 2:07pm PDT Aidan Koch discussing her collaborative workshop project from LICAF UK 2016 #comicsworkbook @aidanalexiskoch #licaf A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 15, 2016 at 2:11pm PDT Connor Willumsen demonstrating the differences between Western and Eastern landscape painting #comicsworkbook LICAF UK 2016 #licaf A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 15, 2016 at 2:16pm PDT Ahem. Hanging out and talking shop with thee one and only Gilbert Shelton at LICAF UK 2016 #comicsworkbook #gilbertshelton #licaf A photo posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 16, 2016 at 3:39am PDT Ambleside UK A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 14, 2016 at 12:58pm PDT Connor Willumsen talking about working with colorists #comicsworkbook #licaf LICAF UK 2016 A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 17, 2016 at 2:24pm PDT Aidan Koch workshop at LICAF – Connor’s was next door at same time (note @comeauslomeau appearance) #licaf @aidanalexiskoch #comicsworkbook A video posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 17, 2016 at 10:05pm PDT This is one of the LICAF locations – ye olde clock tower in Kendal England – from yesterday Sunday #licaf A photo posted by @santoro.frank on Oct 17, 2016 at 1:24pm PDT Share this page: [...]

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