Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Aidan Koch, drawing the times, katie fricas, meg lemke, rachel dukes, rick geary, Sarah Glidden, steph neary, the nib, vanesa r. del ray

Sally Ingraham

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016

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04/19/2018

Comics WorkbookApril 18, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Joe Daly’s The Red Monkey – plus Frank Santoro at Naples Comicon in Italy! —————————————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: When reading comics, or engaging with any art form really, there’s this confrontation with internal noise that I have to dealt with – that for unknown reasons I feel desperate to make sense of. I wonder…this whole comics thing…what’s it for? Different artists at different times speak to me, to help make sense of it all, and I’m certain this is what it’s like for everyone who reads comics. For me this week, I’m not saying Joe Daly’s The Red Monkey rectified ALL of this ongoing anxiety, but reading The Red Monkey was in some ways an answer to some of my questions – in a big way, really. This isn’t the first time Joe Daly’s book has given me a real gut punch. Daly’s comics in general feel like a really sincere reaction to the energy that comics poses. When I say sincere, I mean he makes comics that don’t seem concerned with the reception that will be given to the book that he’s made. Every drawing he made was at the service of the form, and engaging with the ideas he is engaging with, as opposed to aiming to get attention and accolades. Telling a story means less and less for people. It’s too simple; too boring. People feel desperate to make comics more useful, and as a result can forsake the form altogether, and that’s not without its consequences – comics feel increasing impotent. With The Red Monkey, it doesn’t feel like Daly wonders how people will consume it. He engages with comics like it’s something to make things that are difficult to understand, understandable. As though comics are an effective way for any reader to be confronted with what’s not understandable. I remember Stan Brakhage quoting Bresson (in a conversation Bresson was having with Godard) about how it’s important to convince your audience to like you – and making a thing aesthetically pleasing so that you can take your audience certain places. The Red Monkey was so easy to read, without it’s simplicity being a big deal, and the environment was so well rendered – never did I have to ask where I was or what the the character was doing. It’s this clarity that’s important when making stories. With that in mind, I’m reminded of a moment in Daly’s Highbone Theater and how I was sucked into Palmer’s idea about 9/11 without questioning it or mocking it, because of how infectious the narrative was. It’s in the same fashion that I’m sucked into the madness going on in The Red Monkey. That’s what art can do. I keep having this recurring stupid mini revelation, or rather I had this thought a year ago, and it’s nothing impressive, but it’s really stuck with me. This revelation has to do with how potent attitude is, how it goes into making any piece of art have a certain energy that defines it. There’s a moment towards the beginning of the story when the main character gets roped into babysitting for his neighbor. He tries to find a comic for the kid, and he tells the kid that he’s babysitting (who is a fantastic character), to be careful with the comics, and that comics are like his religion. That’s the energy I’m referring to that I find over and over in Daly’s comics. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of The Red Monkey by Joe Daly over at Copacetic Comics, where coincidentally there is a wicked deal on the book as Bill Boichel is also eager to get more folks hep to Daly – check it out HERE. —————————————————————————————————————————— Sally here – the Naples Comicon Instagram account was buzzing yesterday, as famed Italian paleontologist Alberto Angela was caught at the National Archeological Museum of Naples, in Italy, looking at original artwork from Frank Santoro’s Pompeii (above). Alberto Angela is a popular TV presenter and commentator for science-based programs. He is the author of A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, among other texts, and has lectured on the tragedy of Pompeii. He seemed taken by Frank’s depictions, or as the Naples Comicon put it, he “could not resist the charm of the show“. There are over 30 pages from Pompeii on display at the museum, in an exhibition which is being held in conjunction with Frank’s appearance as a special guest at the Naples Comicon (April 28-May 1 2018). The show opened yesterday (April 18th) at MANN and will continue until May 31st 2018. More details on the show can be found HERE. During Comicon Frank will be participating in a panel with Blutch, whose graphic novel Peplum also takes a look at Ancient Rome. Details on the panel are HERE. If you’re in the area, be sure to attend Comicon and meet Frank, and don’t miss the exhibition at MANN! —————————————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-19-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/24/2017

Caleb OrecchioApril 23, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with projects and new work from Jim Rugg, Dash Shaw, Bill Wehmann, and Alan Moore to start the week. ————————————————————————————————— Jim Rugg will be signing his brand new Image-released Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special in Pittsburgh at The Phantom of the Attic, Wednesday the 26th from 4 to 7pm. Rugg is a cartooning and book-making master, and his design background really shines through in a big way with this book. When I opened up an advanced copy of After School Kung-Fu Special, my eyes dilated and my brain blew out the back of my head. The complete technical control he has over his craft goes unparalleled except by the cartoonists whose names are synonymous with the medium. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a review coupled with an interview with Rugg by Geeked Gods here. Order Street Angel: After School Kung Fu Special from your local comic book store. ————————————————————————————————— Also in Pittsburgh, Dash Shaw will be rolling in for a sneak preview of his animated film, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea on Tuesday the 25th. Details here. Look for his film coming to an area near you! And check out Dash’s riff on René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet over on Criterion.com ————————————————————————————————— Pittsburgh cartoonist, Bill Wehmann has an interesting comics-related project over on his site called “Death by Comics.” Whether the story is fact or fiction is irrelevant because the sentiments and emotions ring true through the entire history of the comic-book industry. ————————————————————————————————— Pittsburgh again. Over the weekend, it seems that The Toonseum held a comics award ceremony where Ed Piskor won a NEMO Award for “Excellence in the Cartoon Arts.” The ceremony took place at The ToonSeum’s fundraiser K-Blam! 2017. Caitlin Rose Boyle also won a NEMO Award for “Emerging Talent”. Ed’s show at The ToonSeum – “Hermetically Sealed” – will be up through May 21st 2017. ————————————————————————————————— Around the 12-minute mark, the boys over at the Comic Books Are Burning In Hell podcast recently had some thoughts on the final issue of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Lovecraft epic, Providence. I really, really enjoyed Providence, Moore’s latest and probably last graphic novel. It stands among his greatest works like Watchmen, From Hell, Miracleman, V for Vendetta, etc. Once considered the greatest comics writer (though he still is, as far as writers who don’t draw go), Moore’s reputation has gone down the toilet for a lot of folks. It’s a shame. He’s been screwed over by cooperate shadow-people and shunned by finicky readers. Now he’s leaving comics for good and it’s probably too late to apologize. If you’re late to the game, ask your local comic shop about getting Providence Act I, a hardback collecting the first four issues. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-24-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-24-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/24/16

Juan FernándezOctober 24, 2016NewsJuan here with Comics Workbook’s ongoing CXC and LICAF coverage; my own thoughts on strip cartooning; HTML Flowers’ No Visitors – Issue One; Anya Davidson interviewed by Paste Magazine; a shout out to Good Comics by Kim; The Economist takes a look at the power of comics journalism; a Pepe oriented call to action from Matt Furie; Robyn Chapman soliciting stories about challenges or financial woes tabling at North American comics shows; Comics Assistant Professor Job opening at CCAD. One week out and we’re still thinking about CXC on our end! It was a hell of a weekend. Reports and thoughts seeded by CXC have been coming in left and right. I’ve wrangled them all for your convenience. Check them out and if you like what you read, consider making CXC part of your comics adventures in 2017. Here’s what we’ve got for you: The collective blow by blow take on the CXC experience, think of it as a Master post, if you will! Sacha Mardou’s personal CXC adventures Juan Fernandez’s (me ;)) CXC-inspired thoughts on expanding the “comics festival toolkit”. Kurt Ankeny’s post-CXC thoughts Alyssa Berg shares her first convention experience Caleb Orecchio’s detailed and hilarious tale of his CXC experience CXC 2016: 3 Questions for the Crew ⚡Frank and Niall Breen have taken some time to reflect on their experiences in Kendal during the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. You can check those out here to find out why if you’re anywhere near the UK, you’re going to want to add LICAF to your comics appreciation schedule next year. The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2016 report by Frank Santoro Niall Breen on LICAF 2016 ⚡ On my end, I’ve been thinking about 4 panel comics. A lot. Reading them, drawing them, teaching them… Through all those thoughts,one that I keep coming back to is that of openness of narrative. In today’s cultural landscape of fractured narrative and more broadly the idea of narrative collapse, I’m finding I’m interested in constellations of narrative. Non-linear experiences through a narrative world. Just as how comics creates fertile liminal spaces between panels, it’s my belief that comic strips have the potential to foster inviting spaces between individual strips. No large structures, just small moments. Some link together. Many don’t. Think Cul de Sac, Moomin, Macanudos. All that said, I’m excited to announce that come Mid-November I’ll have a weekday comic strip going live online. I tried the experiment of Daily Comics from 2013-2014. But I fell off that horse. That was at the Center for Cartoon Studies. After I graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies I had to transition back into a more regular pattern of life. Life’s commitments made it very hard to find that time. I’ve used these past two years to work on different forms and to experiment with technique. I realized that when it comes to comics, I’m here for the bliss of creation. The strip is where I feel that bliss most strongly. I’m ready and I hope you are too! ⚡ It’s exciting to see that The Economist is running a piece on the power and vitality of comics journalism in the current news media environment. It’s great to see the ascendancy of work like Sacco’s and Glidden’s happen real time. Comics journalism is nothing new. It has been around for decades, kept alive by such talented artists as Joe Sacco, who has used the medium to depict everything from a war-torn town in the Gaza Strip to the Eastern Bosnian war. But it has only been in the last few years that it has really started to find its place in the mainstream media. The Nib, founded in September 2013, consists entirely of comics, many of which contain journalism and non-fiction. It has published more than 2,000 works on its website and released a popular 300-page book of its best offerings. The Cartoon Picayune has been around even longer—since April 2011—and showcases a variety of comics journalism online as well as in its yearly publication, which it offers to readers for $4. Even some of the more established publications, such as the New York Times, are making use of the format. In May, it published Patrick Chappatte’s moving five-part piece that takes an in-depth look at the lives of four death row inmates. It is surprising, in the age of tight newspaper budgets and the 24-hour news cycle, that comics journalism is thriving. Ms Glidden says it’s because “it can make people stop and take notice.” Everyone is constantly bombarded by so many images and text that they can simply grow numb to all of the information being thrown their way. It helps that comics journalism is still novel to many people; its format encourages people to take an extra minute to fully consider the information being presented. ⚡ I wanted to share a short and sweet letter from Matt Furie: Dear friends, I need your help making positive pepe the frog memes to battle against evil trolls: Please make a kid-friendly pepe in your style and send it to me at: hashtagsavepepe@gmail.com I’m creating a positive pepe artist database, so include your name. also, please share nice pepe’s with the hashtag: #savepepe thanks! -matt ⚡ Don’t miss this juicy interview with Anya Davidson over on Paste that goes into her work on Band for Life! Paste: I think that love for your characters really shows in the work. A lot of these characters—and it was what really struck me about School Spirit, which was the first work of yours that I encountered—already feel distinct and fully formed when you first meet them. I’d be curious to know more about your process, especially for something serialized like this. How much do you plan, how much just comes from working with them for a few strips, etc.? Davidson: I had a story arc for Band for Life, but I wrote the strips week to week. It kept the project fresh and spontaneous. Sometimes I’d write a few weeks ahead when I knew there was a thread I wanted to draw out. I had a lot of fun working that way. Lovers in the Garden, the book I just finished for Retrofit Comics, was scripted start to finish before I put pen to paper. And my next book is going to be fully scripted, too. For a graphic novel, in my case, just so I can keep everything straight, and so I can hone dialogue, I really prefer scripting. But the strip form uniquely gave me the freedom to improvise. Every cartoonist has their preferred methods—there’s no right way. As far as character development, all my characters are me. I went to see George Saunders speak and a woman asked him how he was able to write the adolescent girl so well in his short story “Victory Lap,” and he said, “Because she’s me.” I also think about people I know: their mannerisms and speech patterns and personal histories. So all of my characters have elements of friends, acquaintances and myself put in a blender. And I like to drop people into stories as they’re happening. I want people to feel like they’ve been dropped in a world that is fully formed—like the story started before they got there. I think that’s most engaging, most surprising. ⚡ If you’re a comics educator that is looking for a new opportunity, check out this job opening at CCAD – Assistant Professor – Comics & Narrative Practice, Illustration ⚡ I want to give the great Robyn Chapman of Paper Rocket Comics a signal boost for her “poll”. She is looking for your thoughts about challenges or financial woes tabling at North American comics shows. She does a great job at compiling small press and minicomics trends in her zine, The Tiny Report. Hey, micro-publishers. I’m looking for a quote or two about the challenges of tabling at conventions. I’d be happy to hear numbers or about financial woes. You can remain anonymous. Please PM me in the next few days if you’re interested. robertaraechapman@gmail.com ⚡ I want to give a shout out to Good Comics by Kim Joo Ha. <3 Kim’s always turning me onto the good stuff via their posts. Kim makes it easier to find art comics and wild zines in this crazy fractured hyperactive internet mediated comics landscape. What a godsend… If you don’t follow their twitter or the Good Comics by Kim blog, I’d check that out. I don’t know how they stay on top of everything, but that doesn’t keep me from appreciating their eye on comics or their writing… Don’t sleep on Kim! Until next time! Juan Share this page: [...]

06/09/2016

HarrisonJune 9, 2016News Harrison is aggregating news for Thursday June 9, 2016. Today we have math jokes, ways of representing the internet, explore anime, and end with words of wisdom from the champ. ————————————————————————————————— Computer Love “I can think of a couple reasons for why I’m only seeing these types of representations of the internet in comics. First, the lower barrier to entry in publishing comics means that younger cartoonists (i.e. heavier online users) are able to publish stories – and they are stories that reflect their lived realities. But more fundamentally, the norm of using multiple panels in comics presents an advantage over other mediums when it comes to representing the internet. Multiple panels easily mimic the multiple windows and tabs of our online browsing. Split screen representations don’t feel as jarring as it might in other mediums.” –Representing the internet at Cute Juice. ————————————————————————————————— ✏️ ? ? An illustrated guide to math. ————————————————————————————————— 1’s 2’s 3’s “Exacerbating this is a lack of competent gatekeeping. American anime fansites and magazines have until recently shown complete indifference to the art of animation. Anime became popular overseas not for its contributions to craft but for its novel take on certain sci-fi conventions, its explicit sexual content, and its longform storytelling. The few genuine anime researchers like Fred Patten and Jonathan Clements are more often interested in the macro- aspects of the industry, its economics and social impact, than the labors of individual artists. It’s not uncommon to see a supposed expert display cavalier ignorance to the basics of animated technique.” Engaging conversation about the real aesthetic and conceptual differences between Japanese and North American animation. Read the article AND the comments here. ————————————————————————————————— Scissors and Precipitation Watch the film above really LOUD. ————————————————————————————————— ? ? Rest in power. Share this page: [...]

04/17/2018

Aaron CockleApril 17, 2018NewsAaron here today with Latin American Art; Remembering Geneviève Castrée; Banksy/Zehra Doğan; Retrofit Comics 2018 Subscription ————————————————————————————————— Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985 At the Brooklyn Museum through July 22: The artworks on view range from painting and sculpture to photography, video, performance, and other new mediums. Included are emblematic figures such as Lygia Pape, Ana Mendieta, and Marta Minujín, alongside lesser‐known names such as Cuban‐born abstract painter Zilia Sánchez; Colombian sculptor Feliza Bursztyn; Peruvian composer, choreographer, and activist Victoria Santa Cruz; and Argentine mixed‐media artist Margarita Paksa. The Brooklyn presentation also includes Nuyorican portraits by photographer Sophie Rivera, as well as work from Chicana graphic arts pioneer Ester Hernández, Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez, and Afro-Latina activist and artist Marta Moreno Vega. ————————————————————————————————— “Poetry seemed useless in the context of actual annihilation.” On Studio 360, Kurt Anderson talks with Phil Elverum, husband of Geneviève Castrée, who passed away in 2016, about Elverum’s recent Mount Eerie albums, which are about Castrée’s death. Her last book, A Bubble, will be published in June by D&Q. ————————————————————————————————— Zehra Doğan/Banksy Patricia Mastricolo at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund wrote about the Banksy mural protesting the imprisonment of Turkish artist and journalist Zehra Doğana few weeks back: This first night the mural was revealed, a projection of the dark painting Doğan is imprisoned for showed over the mural. Based off a photo Doğan saw, she painted the rubble of a Kurdish town, destroyed by tanks, with the Turkish flag flying over the town. She painted the tanks as surreal monsters. The Turkish government said that the painting compromised military security, even though it was based on a government photograph. ————————————————————————————————— Retrofit Comics 2018 All the Sad Songs – Summer Pierre Fashion Forecasts – Yumi Sakugawa I Love You – Sara Lautman John, Dear – Laura Lannes Our Wretched Town Hall – Eric Kostiuk Williams The Prince – Liam Cobb Survive 300 Million 1 – Pat Aulisio Survive 300 Million 2: Serpentine Captives – Pat Aulisio The Troublemakers – Baron Yoshimoto TRUMPTRUMP vol. 2: Modern Day Presidential – Warren Craghead III Understanding – Becca Tobin The Winner – Karl Stevens ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 4-17-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-17-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/28/2016

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Sally Ingraham

Sally Ingraham here with a whole lot of comics journalism – Sarah Glidden, Katie Fricas, Rachel Dukes, Steph Neary, and the many makers at Drawing the Times share the world according to their pens or brushes – while Aidan Koch and Vanesa R. Del Ray are caught on film, and Pittsburgh is visited by comics master (and another journalist) Rick Geary.

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Meg Lemke presents Sarah Glidden‘s new work Rolling Blackouts on PEN America this week – check out Meg’s thoughts HERE, as well as a generous selection from the book.

PRI also has a feature on Sarah and Rolling Blackouts – HERE. The book is about a month-long journey she took in 2010 through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. She was traveling with old friends who were also journalists.

‘ “The goal of the trip was really to show journalism: how it’s made, how difficult it is to do this work, how it’s more than just going in, reporting on a story and getting out of there.”

Glidden quickly saw the conflicting pressures the reporters were under.

“You know, journalists really care about the stories they’re working on, but they also have to think about marketing, their audience, and how they’re going to get someone to take time out of their day and read their article or watch their documentary. And this is a struggle I think that all journalists have to go through. I just really wanted to show that process.” ‘ – Sarah Glidden via PRI

Read the rest of the article HERE.

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Katie Fricas has a spooky comic up on Hyperallergic called Doomocracy. It charts her navigation of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes’s politically themed haunted house – a huge installation piece at the Brooklyn Army Terminal that was funded through Kickstarter and features encounters with gun nuts, climate change, weird crops, and the specters haunting the presidential race. Katie finds it quite frightening indeed.

Read the rest of the comic HERE.

Learn more about Doomocracy HERE.

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Rachel Dukes has a comic on The Nib this week about The IUD Obstacle Course – and if after digging into this plus Katie Fricas’s and Sarah Glidden’s weighty works you want still more comics that deals with real world problems – pen nibs blazing – tromp on over to Drawing the Times, a website devoted to graphic journalism.

01_nardiweb1-555x434 — From Victoria Lomasko’s *A Trip to Tbilisi* – HERE

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??30min digital warm up?? inspired by @shlohmo – Ten Days of Falling ?

A video posted by Vanesa R. Del Rey (@vrdelrey) on Oct 27, 2016 at 10:36am PDT

Vanesa R. Del Rey often posts videos like these on her Instagram account, offering an amazing glimpse into her working life – follow her at @vrdelrey.

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Aidan Koch‘s work is part of a show at the Whitney Museum of American Art – Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016. It will be on view through Feb. 5th, 2017.

Aidan Koch’s work seen at the Whitney Museum of American Art – part of the exhibition Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016 – on view through Feb. 5th 2017 @aidanalexiskoch – thanks to Katherine Ball for the glimpse @katbusbrawl #aidankoch #whitneymuseum

A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 26, 2016 at 2:05pm PDT

Katherine Ball got a look at Aidan’s work and shared the video above.

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I need to catch up on Lumberjanes this fall, and had a nice reminder recently in the form of the little Booooooooom! Box Halloween Haunt 2016 freebie, which included sections of Lumberjanes, Giant Days, The Backstagers, and Goldie Vance. I was particularly delighted to note that Carey Pietsch drew issues #29-32 of Lumberjanes (see her work above) – Carey is a former student of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers.

Check out Carey Pietsch’s work HERE!

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Steph Neary filled in for Nils Balls this week, taking on the Glassblock Pittsburgh City Council comic. This bit of comics journalism has been developed by Nils Balls over the course of the last year, and has gained a large following. It is yet another part of the rich culture of comics and cartooning found in this city!

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Speaking of that rich culture, the ToonSeum hosted Rick Geary last night for a wonderful presentation on his career and large, fantastic body of work. He talked about finding focus and direction during his 4 year stint as the art director for The Prairie Journal of Wichita, Kansas, his work for National Lampoon and the New York Review of Books, and his recent experience with self-publishing and utilizing Kickstarter. Here’s a bit of video from the event:

It was a true pleasure to meet this master cartoonist – thanks Rick!

(Further reading: check out this 2014 interview with Rick Geary over on The Comics Journal.)

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The Comics Reporter has a comprehensive list of all Cartoon Crossroads Columbus-related reports – check it out.

Here on the site we have our own massive roundup post of CXC-related stories and reports.

Oliver East, Frank Santoro, and Jack Brougham at LICAF

We also have Frank’s LICAF report along with the thoughts of Aidan Koch and other CW students – HERE.

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Even if you didn’t making it to one of the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX, CXC, or LICAF this year, you can still bring your comics game to a new level via thee Santoro School Handbook for Making Better Comics by Frank Santoro and Kurt Ankeny. Printed offset on cardstock by the professionals at The Prolific Group, Winnipeg, Canada, this is not some cheap color xerox or risograph. Looks great, feels great, and even smells great. Always available at our store HERE – free shipping worldwide!

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Have a happy Halloweenie weekend folks! – Sally

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in NewsTagged Aidan Koch, drawing the times, katie fricas, meg lemke, rachel dukes, rick geary, Sarah Glidden, steph neary, the nib, vanesa r. del ray

Sally Ingraham

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016

Explore

07/28/2016

HarrisonJuly 28, 2016NewsH*rris*n returns with news about various forms of pictures arranged in a sequence of boxes and the people who make them and read them. ————————————————————————————————— Help Out – Czap Books Hello hello! My name is Kevin Czap and I’m the Comics Mom, aka the publisher, of Czap Books(pronounced “chapbooks”). We’re a micro-press based in Providence, RI dedicated to publishing genre-defying comics that celebrate the poetic, the personal, and the weird. We’re turning to you to help us fund the production of our next three titles: Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky; don’t tell me not to worry (i’ll worry all i want) by Kelly Kwang; and Egg Creme #1 by Liz Suburbia! Read on ————————————————————————————————— Out of Step Arts – Chris Visions Original Art for sale BUY ART Follow Chris Visions to stay up to date with what he’s up to: https://instagram.com/chrisvisions/ ————————————————————————————————— https://www.instagram.com/p/BIYlJQoANQj/ LOOK AT ART Salute to the RVA king prof_weston. ————————————————————————————————— Zeanie Weenies “We want to print your zine and put it inside VICE Magazine, so we’re giving you the next few weeks to download the Zean.it app, upload your finest 16 images into one print-ready publication, and hashtag #TCPOffensive. Then, a special panel of guest judges, including VICE photo editor Elizabeth Renstrom, The Creators Project’s Editor-in-Chief, Marina Garcia-Vasquez, and a super special guest judge TBA, will select the top zine, to be printed and distributed as an insert within the September Issue of VICE.” Sure. ————————————————————————————————— Ghosts and Flesh – Patrick McHale. Here’s the first half of an 8 page comic called “The Blood Ghoul” I did for a german comic anthology called “Mondo #4: Fear”. I did it right before i started work on the C.W. Stoneking music video for “The Zombie”, and used it as an opportunity to figure out the right style for that video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvNCGtZlQso) The color image at the top was a test; I had been hoping to color it, but I ran out of time. Same thing happened with the music video; I’d been hoping to color it, but just ran out of time. Oh well. I’m not sure of the best place to get the anthology, but seems like you can get it here: https://www.kwimbi.de/Kwimbi-Shop/Comics/Mondo-4-Fear.html Maybe someday i’ll post the rest of it. Oh, and maybe I’ll post a different comic that I ended up not using which was not scary at all. –Patrick McHale. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡️ ? “Let all the cosmos see reality, illusions will decompress ya dome.” Share this page: [...]

01/09/2018

Aaron CockleJanuary 8, 2018NewsAaron here today with an Art from Guantánamo Bay Update; Comic Book Heroes of Taiwan; Austin English on the End of Krazy Kat (and Superman Comics); More Machine Learning ————————————————————————————————— Ode to the Sea An update regarding the Art from Guantánamo Bay post from a few weeks back, via Patricia Mastricolo at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Fortnunately, the Pentagon is backing off its previous threat of incinerating art by the Guantánamo Bay detainees. Unfortunately, they still maintain all of it is the property of the U.S. military and will not be permitted to leave the prison. … The exhibit is free and open to the public and runs through January 26, 2018, at Haren Hall (899 10th Avenue at 59th Street, on the 6th floor in the President’s Gallery, New York City). The exhibit is open Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except January 15). ————————————————————————————————— Taiwan’s comic book heroes Via the BBC: Hsu Mao-sung, one of Taiwan’s earliest comic book artists, says it may be too late to save the industry. His generation endured censorship during the martial law period from the 1960s to 80s, but he says it didn’t kill off his passion for drawing. ————————————————————————————————— Anything But Reality At TCJ, Austin English takes a long look at some comics from the 1940s-1960s: The strip that follows is June 11th, with the stick now re-purposed to prop up the scarecrow. So, the final interactions of Krazy Kat and Ignatz map out like this: Ignatz tricks Krazy into getting hit by a brick toppling from a growing tree, Ignatz passingly confuses Krazy about oak trees vs. olive trees, Ignatz works to transform a weasel’s color in an issue whose subtleties are (seemingly) obscure to Krazy and finally Ignatz’ brick is discovered with a stick from Offisa Pup while Ignatz writhes in agony, his body beneath ground. After these events, the scarecrow emerges and Ignatz discards his brick. For a brief moment the strip is silent and empty. … The tone of the line defined itself in 1958, partly by a constraint that the comics world imposed on itself. Physical violence, while not banned by the comics code, was to be avoided. So Weisinger took a line of superhero comics and instead of emphasizing brawn, made them into intricate puzzles. Now, these are not puzzles that use the unreliable world as one of its factors in the way a Raymond Chandler novel might. Instead, every story has no relation to anything real (except basic outlines of things like ‘I have a job at a newspaper’ or ‘humans need to eat food to survive’ or ‘ice is cold’)—the comic book world of Superman itself is the only thing the stories use to set up their questions and render solutions. These are mysteries whose only logic is cartooning, and I’d argue that they are more beautiful as science fiction than anything EC ever published. ————————————————————————————————— Adversarial Patch An update from the machine learning front, via Boing Boing: Another key difference here: the researchers achieve their best results using a “white box” technique where they get to design their patches through detailed knowledge of the AI they’re targeting, unlike other adversarial preturbations, which achieved good results with “black box” constraints (designing attacks without any technical knowledge of the AI). The patches they created didn’t work very well on other AI image classifiers. We show that we can generate a universal, robust, targeted patch that fools classifiers regardless of the scale or location of the patch, and does not require knowledge of the other items in the scene that it is attacking. Our attack works in the real world, and can be disguised as an innocuous sticker. These results demonstrate an attack that could be created offline, and then broadly shared. There has been substantial work on defending against small perturbations to natural images, at least partially motivated by security concerns Part of the motivation of this work is that potential malicious attackers may not be concerned with generating small or imperceptible perturbations to a natural image, but may instead opt for larger more effective but noticeable perturbations to the input – especially if a model has been designed to resist small perturbations. Many ML models operate without human validation of every input and thus malicious attackers may not be concerned with the imperceptibility of their attacks. Even if humans are able to notice these patches, they may not understand the intent of the patch and instead view it as a form of art. This work shows that focusing only on defending against small perturbations is insufficient, as large, local perturbations can also break classifiers. ————————————————————————————————— The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 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. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote “I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard”) among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 1-9-2018 – by Cameron Arthur Share this page: [...]

05/11/2017

Aaron CockleMay 11, 2017NewsAaron filling in today with a pre-TCAF run-down. ————————————————————————————————— The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is scheduled for Saturday-Sunday, May 13-14. Here is a brief listing of some of the many wonderful event offerings that may be of interest to our regular and patient readers: Gengoroh Tagame My Brother’s Husband – Exhibition by Gengoroh Tagame May 9th to May 30th, 2017 @ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, 1st Floor Display Room (Near the Browsery), Free The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to a host a small display of materials from the creation of My Brother’s Husband, the new graphic novel series by TCAF Featured Guest Gengoroh Tagame. Winner of the Excellence Award for manga at The 19th Japan Media Art Festival, My Brother’s Husband is the moving story of a Japanese man learning to accept his late brother’s Canadian husband, the first LGBT person he’s ever met, who is visiting Japan. Upon winning the award, a small display of roughly 16 pieces of Tagame’s artwork, from layouts, to penciled pages, to final artwork, was assembled to be displayed for the award ceremony. It is this exhibition of materials, with additional English language material, which will be exhibited at Toronto Reference Library this May, as a part of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival. My Brother’s Husband will make its English-language debut at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 13th and 14th, 2017, from Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House. TCAF would like to thank Toronto Public Library, and Pantheon Books, for their assistance with this exhibition. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— The German Comics Pavilion Featuring Anna Haifisch, Ulli Lust, and Martina Schradi Saturday May 13, 9am-5pm & Sunday May 14, 10am-5pm The Appel Salon, Novella Room, Toronto Reference Library 2nd Floor Presented in association with the Goethe-Institut, Internationaler Comic-Salon Erlangen, Germany @ Canada 2017: Partners from Immigration to Innovation, the Federal Foreign Office and the German Comics Association The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to welcome a special pavilion of cartoonists, publishers, associations, and gallery shows from Germany! Germany is home to a thriving comics and artistic scene, and at TCAF 2017 you’ll be able to sample some of the diverse wares, thanks to a special international exchange between TCAF and Internationaler Comic-Salon Erlangen in Germany, with the incredible support of the Goethe-Institut. The pavilion is located on the second floor of Toronto Reference Library in the Appel Salon. TCAF will travel to Erlangen in 2018 with a cadre of Canadian cartoonists, to complete the exchange. Exhibiting in the pavilion will be cartoonists Anna Haifisch, Ulli Lust, and Martina Schradi, as well as Internationaler Comic-Salon Erlangen and The German Comics Association, and German comics publisher Rotopol (who will also be present but exhibiting on Toronto Reference Library’s first floor, so look for them there). The Pavilion will also house 3 small art exhibitions, including: “Ach, So Ist Das? (Oh, is that so?),” a survey of contemporary LGBTI society; a survey of contemporary German comics curated by comics journalist Lars von Törne for the Frankfurt Book Fair and presented here in collaboration with the German Comics Association; a selection of prints by Anna Haifisch. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry will be representing Comics Workbook at TCAF with a special workshop on Sunday, May 14th, in the Writers Room, on the 3rd floor of the Toronto Reference Library. 12:30pm – Comics Workbook : Composing a Spread – This workshop is about visual storytelling. Learn essentials of generating ideas, building a page, editing, and refining a functional comic spread layout. This workshop is PERFECT for beginners, or anyone more seasoned who wants to try a different approach to bringing their ideas to the page This workshop is being facilitated by Tyler Landry (Comics Workbook Member, Santoro Correspondence Course Alumnus, Cartoonist, Art Director, Head of the Charlottetown Comics Club) ————————————————————————————————— Other Programming Highlights Saturday, May 13: 11:00 AM – Koyama Press 10th Anniversary Celebration – Koyama Press is now 10 years old! Join founder and publisher Annie Koyama, as well as a slew of artists whose work she has helped usher into the world, as they reflect back on the past 10 years, challenges and highlights of independent comics, and what their plans would’ve been had Koyama Press not come along. The comics world would be very different, that’s for sure! Happy Birthday KP!Panelists: Michael DeForge, John Martz, Jane Mai, Fiona Smyth, Aaron Leighton, Anne Koyama. Moderator: Dustin Harbin. 01:30 PM – Expressive Lines And The Power of Restraint – There are many ways of showcasing expressive art in comics. Join Hellen Jo, Ron Rege Jr., Keren Katz, Maggie Umber, and Xia Gordon as they talk about what goes into composing a page, what influences their art, and how they use expressiveness to tell a story. 2:00 PM – Watercolour and Comics – Julia Bax is an illustrator based in São Paulo, Brazil. She has been drawing comics for the majority of her career, and has been published in the United States, France, and of course, Brazil. In 2015 her book Princesse Caraboo (story by Ozanam) was published by Le Lombard in France. In this album the pages were illustrated using watercolor, and that is the theme of this workshop. Julia will explain her process from layout to completed page, and demonstrate the technique she used in Princesse Caraboo. If you have a love for traditional media and isn’t afraid of getting your hands dirty, this is the workshop for you! 02:45 PM – Spotlight: Marcelino Truong x Thi Bui – With Such a Lovely Little War and The Best We Could Do, Marcelino Truong and This Bui share their powerful and compelling stories about the Vietnam War. Following their families’ experiences in getting out of the country, to the struggles of immigration, these creators explore the traumas of war. Join Marcelino and Thi as they discuss what drew them to comics to tell their stories, and what challenges they still see ahead for Vietnamese communities around the world. Sunday, May 14 10:30 AM – Book Shrinking – Make a miniature version of your favourite zine/comic book/artist book! Bring: A book you’d like to shrink and drawing supplies (preferably dry media, i.e., markers, coloured pencils, pens, scissors and transparent tape/double sided tape). This workshop is being facilitated by Keren Katz (The Academic Hour). 12:00 PM – Comics As Political Resistance – Comics are amazing tools for communicating. This is never more vital than when telling your stories involves speaking out against oppressive systems or political climates. Join Nate Powell (March), Ben Passmore (Your Black Friend), Julia Alekseyeva (Soviet Daughter) and Matt Lubchansky (The Nib) as they talk about how creating and sharing comics can be an act of political resistance in these troubling times. 02:00 PM – So Pretty / Very Rotten – So Pretty / Very Rotten is a collection of comics and essays that are at once academic and intimate, exploring the world of Lolita fashion and cute culture. In celebration of their new book and art show, Jane Mai and An Nguyen will be at the Japan Foundation for a reading and presentation that goes beyond the clothes. 4:00 PM – 10 Years 10 Years: Koyama Press x 2dcloud – Annie Koyama & Raighne talk about 10 years at their respective labels and what the next 10 years might look like. ————————————————————————————————— Wowee Zonk Small Press Showcase The Toronto Comic Arts Festival and Wowee Zonk proudly present the Wowee Zonk Small Press Showcase for 2017. Curated by Toronto Artists Chris Kuzma, Ginette Lapalme and Patrick Kyle, the Wowee Zonk Small Press Showcase highlights some of the best and most exciting work being made in comics, zines, and independent publishing. See below for the entire list of artists! You’ll be able to find all these fantastic folks in the Browsery at the Toronto Reference Library. Patrick Kyle – patrickkyle.com Chris Kuzma – chriskuzma.com Ginette Lapalme – ginettelapalme.com Ted Gudlat – tedgudlat.tumblr.com Keith Jones – Zipzapzoo.com Brie Moreno – boogerbrie.tumblr.com Kendra Yee – kendrayee.com DDOOGG – shop.ddoogg.ca Issue Press – issue.press Swimmers Group – swimmersgroup.com Alabaster Pizzo – alabasterpizzo.com Tommi Parrish – tommipg.tumblr.com Lee Lai – lee-lai.tumblr.com Anya Davidson – anyadavidson.com Colour Code – shop.colourcodeprinting.com Eli Howey – elihowey.ca Sabrina Scott – witchbody.com Jamie Q – jamieq.net Inés Estrada – inechi.com Michael DeForge – michael-deforge.com Adam De Souza – kumerish.com Lily Snowden-Fine – lilysnowdenfine.com Walker Mettling – walkermettling.tumblr.com Ben Sears – freebensears.com Connor Willumsen – connorwillumsen.com Daryl Seitchik – darylseitchik.com Starchild Stela – instagram.com/littlestarchild <3 JG <3 PLANT WORLD PRINTING – plantworld.tictail.com Jenn Liv – jennliv.com Michael Comeau – slomeau.tumblr.com Alicia’s Klassic Kool Shoppe – alicianauta.com Forge Art Mag – forgeartmag.com Perish Publishing – perishpublishing.ca ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! 8 weeks! 500 bux! Payment plans are available! Summer Course starts June 1st 2017! Applications are due by May 25th. Visit THIS page for more details and email santoroschool@gmail.com with applications and questions! ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-11-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-11-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/14/2016

Aaron CockleJune 13, 2016NewsAaron Cockle with In Pieces Part 2; Art crit; Dan Clowes WTF?; Kramers Ergot on the road; Cult of Claymation Cthulhu; Dada@MoMA; “Sonata in primordial sounds” ————————————————————————————————— CW’s Featured Comics continues this week with Part 2 of Kurt Ankeny’s In Pieces: Someplace Which I Call Home. ————————————————————————————————— In the sense that he starts with the idea that the canvas is a limited area to be divided, to be designed, he is following a European tradition. It is the opposite of the concept of the image which unfolds and spreads out, as in the panoramas of the Hudson River School or the panoramas of American Action-Painting where the edges of the canvas are the last facts to be considered, not the first. Many abstract painters today, for instance, work on unstretched canvas tacked to the wall and decide on the size and proportions of the painting after it is finished. This would be as unworkable an approach for Davis as it would for Mondrian or Léger, since the exercise of will and consciousness can only be accomplished within a fixed space. For artists who insist on complete control, the world must be square; there must be boundaries to act against. — Elaine De Kooning on Stuart Davis circa 1957 via ARTNews ————————————————————————————————— Cartoonist and writer Daniel Clowes brings the world of underground comics into Marc ‘s garage. They talk about the great comic artists who paved the way, the difficulty in translating some graphic novels to film, and the similarities between creating comics and performing standup. Plus, filmmaker Ezra Edelman stops by to talk with Marc about his documentary OJ: Made in America. ————————————————————————————————— This Wednesday in Pittsburgh and this Thursday in Brooklyn. ————————————————————————————————— Pingu’s The Thing, by Lee Hardcastle ————————————————————————————————— Dadaglobe Reconstructed reunites over 100 works created for Dadaglobe, Tristan Tzara’s planned but unrealized magnum opus, originally slated for publication in 1921. An ambitious anthology that aimed to document Dada’s international activities, Dadaglobe was not merely a vehicle for existing works, but served as a catalyst for the production of new ones. Tzara invited some 50 artists from 10 countries to submit artworks in four categories: photographic self-portraits, photographs of artworks, original drawings, and layouts for book pages. The exhibition brings together these photographs, drawings, photomontages, and collages, along with a selection of related archival material, to reconstruct this volume. Though never published, due to financial and organizational difficulties, Tzara’s project addresses concerns about art’s reproducibility that continue to be relevant today. — via Museum of Modern Art [Image above: Francis Picabia. Tableau Rastadada. 1920. Cut-and- pasted printed paper on paper with ink, 7 1⁄2 x 6 3⁄4″ (19 x 17.1 cm). Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange), 2014. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris] ————————————————————————————————— Julie Doucet’s Carpet Sweeper Tales Doucet’s fragmented and reconstituted sound-language echoes Kurt Schwitter’s Dada “sound-poems” and the zaum, or transrational poetry, of Russian Futurist Aleksei Kruchenykh. Both Schwitter and Kruchenykh abstracted words in order to liberate language from meaning: their letterforms are descriptive rather than prescriptive. In Schwitter’s “Ursonate,” which roughly translates to “sonata in primordial sounds,” the four movements are interspersed with a coda that comprises the German alphabet read backward; each of the three iterations is meant to be read aloud with a different pitch and tempo. Much of the poem relies on the repetition of sounds—“Lanke trr gll / Ziiuu lenn trll? / Lümpff tümpff trll.” Kruchenykh’s “Hum of Hillclimbing Locomotive” is a collection of sounds that approximate not just the noise of a train engine but also, importantly, its laboring momentum: “boro / choro / two / one / hubb / sham / ga / gish! / boro sorko ba.” In the same way, Doucet’s collection of sounds and patterns isn’t an unruly mess: she harnesses the constructed ejections and exclamations together, and they accrue a syntax. — Via Nicole Ruddick at TCJ ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

07/26/2016

Aaron CockleJuly 25, 2016NewsAaron Cockle today with Tom Kemp Comics; RNC & DNC; The Heidi/Carrie Continuum; Dennis Cooper v. Google; SPACE ROPE; Art that is good, certainly not boring; New Rowhouse Auction Items ————————————————————————————————— Midden Feeder CW’s Featured Comic this week is by Tom Kemp from 2015, made for that year’s Safari Festival in London. ————————————————————————————————— Comics and U.S. Politics in the 21st Century In addition to The Nib’s excellent coverage of this past week’s Republican National Convention, Katie Fricas was on assignment for The Guardian. The Nib will be in Philadelphia this week covering the Democratic National Convention. Please check in with them should you require updates from the enduring, shambolic shit-show that is national party politics in these United States. ————————————————————————————————— Heidi/Carrie/Lynda Cartoonist, teacher, national treasure, and recent Eisner Hall of Fame winner Lynda Barry has a piece in the New York Times Book Review about young adult reading. ————————————————————————————————— Dennis Cooper Non-update Update The New Yorker writes about the recent removal of Dennis Cooper’s work from the Google platform. Juan posted about this last week, and nothing has changed in the month since Cooper’s work was removed without notice. Via Jennifer Krasinski at the NYer: Either way, Cooper’s ordeal is a chilling reminder that those of us who use the Internet to house our creative work do so at the mercy of the platforms who host us. In its general terms of service Google states, “We believe that you own your data and preserving your access to such data is important,” and “If we discontinue a Service, where reasonably possible, we will give you reasonable advance notice and a chance to get information out of that Service.” But it also includes a sweeping disclaimer: “We don’t make any commitments about the content within the services, the specific functions of the services, or their reliability, availability, or ability to meet your needs.” ————————————————————————————————— Casey Bohn’s Space Rope Charles Forsman‘s Oily Comics has released Space Rope: Mars & Venus, by Casey Bohn. ‘Three stories of the mysterious Space Rope from outer space.’ It reprints the original mini-comic from 2011, and includes 2 new stories. ————————————————————————————————— Some (optional) assignments from John Baldessari’s California Institute of the Arts class from 1970 They probably didn’t know that Baldessari was questioning art itself and in the middle of a crisis. That year he had taken all his previous painted work from 1953 – 1966 and cremated it at a San Diego mortuary. He turned from painting to photography. And he expected his students to rethink everything they thought they knew. ————————————————————————————————— Rowhouse Auction Update: July 24-30 New private auction up at auction.comicsworkbook.com. Lots of old and new comics for you to take home. Email Frank Santoro at santoroschoolATgmail for a password, if you don’t already have one. If you already have a password, it is the same from last week. All funds go to helping keep the lights on and further developing the school. Share this page: [...]

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