Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on December 6, 2017December 6, 2017

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01/05/2018

Sally IngrahamJanuary 4, 2018NewsSally here with notes on Nicole Claveloux’s new NYRC book, work from Ulli Lust, Archana Streenivasan, and Trina Robbins, and much more! ————————————————————————————————— Michael Dooley wrote about The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux for Print Magazine, calling it “2017’s best book in celebration of a European comics artist“. Why? “Because thanks to this handsome hardcover compilation, we can finally come to appreciate and admire this master of French comics; her extraordinary career from the late 1960s to early ’80s has been unjustly overlooked for way, way too long. Because her radiantly colorful renderings of illuminated late afternoon landscapes and elongated shadows conclusively prove that she’s the Salvador Dali of Pop Art cartooning. Because her interiors are beautifully, bleakly haunting. Because her figures might take on a Victor Moscoso-like amorphous organicism … just because they can.“ Read the rest of Dooley’s thoughts and take a look at an excerpt from the book HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Ulli Lust completes her engagement with the ExBerliner magazine with the comic pictured above. She has published 15 comics with the magazine, all of them riffing on “a simple stroll” in some part of the world. You can read them all HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Archana Sreenivasan, an Indian cartoonist and illustrator, has a new comic up on Ulli Lust’s Electrocomics, called Otherly Urges, about being an Indian woman who is NOT interested in having kids. You can download the comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Back in 1985 Trina Robbins made an adaptation of Tanith Lee’s novel The Silver Metal Lover. Now IDW and Drew Ford have Kickstarted a reissue of the comic, with a new forward by Gail Simone and an afterward by Colleen Doran. Drew Ford wrote about the comic: “This cult classic science fiction romance is an important early example of ‘the graphic novel’ as a storytelling vehicle, telling an intimate story of a young girl’s first love…who just happens to be a robot! We are very honored to shine a light on the brilliant work of the late Tanith Lee.” The Kickstarter has already reached it’s initial goal, but you can get in on some fun reward brackets if you want, through Jan. 5th 2018. Check it out HERE. (Thanks to The Comics Beat for the lowdown on this news item.) ————————————————————————————————— Just a reminder to read the website Women Write About Comics regularly. Recent articles that were great include Rosie Knight on the work of Melina Chavarria and Jean Marie Pilario (pictured above) and creating positive Latinx representation in comics, and Tia Kalla on Sleepless #1 by Sarah Vaughn and Leila del Duca. The Interview section is the best, so dive in there and then explore. ————————————————————————————————— In Addition Robert Kirby presents an excerpt from GG‘s I’m Not Here on PEN America’s Illustrated PEN – check out his comments and the comic HERE. Anya Davidson has started a weekly podcast called Mindkiller, which is dedicated to creative struggle – the first episode, featuring musician Jill Flanagan, can be heard HERE. Julia Wertz‘s Conversations with Ma are amusing and can be seen HERE on The New Yorker. Image Comics is releasing Sloane Leong‘s Prism Stalker – coming March 2018. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-5-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-5-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/24/2017

Caleb OrecchioJuly 23, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with The Power of Kirby and other news. ———————————————————————————————— all images herein are from the collection of comics given to me by my dad and uncle from when they were kids, circa 1976 to 1978. All images are drawn by Jack Kirby. The Power of Kirby Jack King Kirby, the powerhouse conundrum who unwittingly created the foundation of modern day popcorn flicks, is undoubtedly thee heavyweight champion of the comic book. Often, I think, it is hard to convince the layperson of the prowess of Jack. The boys who grew to men who are now my dad’s age (just turned the big five oh) have a less fond memory of him. At the point my dad would have seen Kirby’s work, Jack was drawing at his most “square” – that is to say, to my mind, his most “Kirby.” This was between 1976 and 1978, at the time my dad was 9, 10, and 11 and evidently a connoisseur of comic book quality. This was also arguably one of the lowest points in comics history as far as the amount of good comics on the stands and the amount of money pumping through the industry. At this point in time Kirby was working on such Marvel titles as Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, Captain America and Falcon, Black Panther, 2001: A Space Oddysey, Captain America Bicentennial Battles, some Thor covers, etc. Basically, titles that have become very revered by today’s cartoonists. My dear ol’ dad would have none of it though. This is how I know… My dad had ZERO Kirby comics in his collection as a child. I know this because I inherited these comics when I was seven – my first comics! My dad really liked The Hulk, Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Champions, The X-Men, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two in One – stuff like that. It wasn’t until I convinced my uncle (my dad’s younger brother by a year or two) to give me his collection from the same era that I was exposed to Kirby. HE seemed to like Kirby whether he knew it or not. He had a few of the reprints Marvel put out like Marvel Super Action (reprinting Captain America runs) and Marvel’s Greatest Comics (reprinting Lee/Kirby era FF). I have a feeling the covers caught his eye. He even had The Mighty Thor #252 that had a Kirby cover. My dad would have never got a comic with a Kirby cover. How do I know he’d never knowingly buy a comic with a Kirby cover? Well one day I was meeting him for coffee. I live in Dayton, OH and he was driving from Cincinnati to Columbus for a conference. If you don’t know, Dayton is more or less in between so it’s what inspired my dad to ask me to meet for coffee. Anyway, I thought I’d get to the coffee shop way before him and so I brought along one of those 80’s reprints of New Gods to read while I waited. You know the ones? They had new covers by Kirby and mostly dumb essays by Mark Evanier in the back. Recolored and all that. Basically, my dad would have not been aware of these. He got there and saw the comic and pointed to it, “That’s an oldie but a goodie.” You have to understand he was referencing his familiarity with Kirby’s drawing style rather than his affinity for the work or his familiarity with the particular book sitting on the table. “What?” I said, “You didn’t have any of this guy’s comics in your collection. How do you know him?” He replied with a sour face, “I never liked him. He drew too square. Too blocky.” “But you know this is him?! This comic came out in the 80’s! You read comics in the seventies!” “Yeah. His style is distinct.” This, true believers is one of the many facets to Kirby’s genius. He carves his lines right into the lining of your brain. Whether you like him or not, you cannot forget Kirby. Now, if I had, say, Conan the Barbarian #99 at that table that day I met with my dad, he still would have said that’s an oldie but a goodie but he would have meant it. And he would remember having that comic and reading it and that he liked it probably, but he wouldn’t have known it was by John Buscema or written by Roy Thomas or anything particular like that. He may have just said, “It was cool and I liked the art.” Do you see what I’m trying to say? Do not underestimate the King. Kirby IS comics. He can draw his way into your dreams and nightmares. He can brand his vision into your eyes forever. So much so that after 40 years have passed, whether you like him or not, you can spot a Kirby drawing wherever it may be – namely at your son’s table at the coffee shop in Dayton, OH. ———————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know I think it’s interesting when the mainstream media tries to be hip to comics. They almost always drop the ball. The real cartoonists tend to get the shaft. Like this LA Times article that spends more time on Wayne Brady than it does on the fact that the Hernandez Brothers made it into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Kudos to Rob Clough for fighting the good fight and getting some good nominations out there this year. There’s going to be a lot of post San Diego Comic Con news this week. Here is one about comics for kids, particularly girls. The proliferation of Wonder Woman fandom is pretty interesting. I think a lot of it stems from the new movie obviously, but also from the book by Jill Lepore. And I’d be remiss not to mention Ron Regé Jr. So when I saw this trailer, I was both surprised and not surprised. There is a roundtable discussion over at TCJ.com concerning Gary Panter’s latest book. Also if you didn’t know, Panter is on Instagram now:) ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-24-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 7-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/09/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 8, 2017NewsSam Ombiri and Sally Ingraham bring the Thursday news – Sam riffs on books within books and title cards, and Sally shares news from John Jennings, Chris Ware (on George Herriman), Fantom Comics in D.C., Darrin Bell, and Ronald Wimberly and his new book. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I was reading Infomaniacs and at the same time I was reading The League of Divine Wind by a certain Tsunanori Yamao – they both addressed this one issue I feel all the time; it’s a really simple concept that’s often tackled. (To Be Or)Not to be still yapping about my petty frustration with what I was yapping about last week…but…it amazes me how a book by an imaginary author commands more respect than a real human being’s work. [Editor’s Note: In Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, a character is given a copy of the pamphlet The League of Divine Wind and part of the rest of the story involves him reading it…] I think since The League of Divine Wind is a book within a book, the actual author can give his own book rave reviews in the narrative. (The author being who he is, I’m very, very sure he didn’t care about his reception whatsoever, or at least that’s what I’m guessing.) That might be a good solution to someone who keeps having bad reception. I think Matt Thurber said something like, “World building is a good solution for your frustration of getting lost all the time.“ I was watching Simpsons Season 3 I think. There’s one episode where Homer saves the town from a meltdown – that was just amazing. It was broken down into what felt like seasons, or chapters of emotions running through Homer, but without giving this so much attention that it was nauseating. Like an example of that more recently would be in Moonlight – the way it’s chapters were broken down. It kind of felt like something that I couldn’t quite get with. I felt as I was watching it – and this was confirmed by an article I was reading (I think it was an interview) – that it was an attempt to be Claire Dennis. It was while watching those title cards which broke down the chapters that I felt a little agitated – as his [Moonlight‘s director, Barry Jenkins] solution to what Claire Dennis accomplished was with the cheapest, most easy means possible. It felt a bit dishonest, and of course it more than likely wasn’t – and to some effect it worked – but there’s something nagging at me, telling me that there is too little being accomplished in the way Barry Jenkins is biting Claire Dennis. Claire Dennis bites too of course, but it always feels earned. At least with what I’ve seen. The way Barry bit felt exploitative and a tad immature. It just felt that way. I’m not speaking of the whole movie, just the parts of the movie where the title cards of the chapter were forced in. I remember in an essay about Sundays y Cybele it said something like, “Some feel the music in the movie is pretentious.” The writer of the essay came off as if he was in on it, and smart, and so down to earth that he could admit something – something that didn’t affect his enjoyment of the movie. Which is fine. The thought didn’t even cross my mind when watching Sundays y Cybele. While the aforementioned part of the essay bothered me, I feel it’s a bit of a similar thing going on here with those title cards, except it wasn’t a scenario where it didn’t effect my enjoyment. The music wasn’t what I despised, it was something else. It was the title cards and the music with the title cards. There were parts that were real impressive, but…I don’t know. As an aside. I’m not a good writer by any means. By any means! Criterion has to do something about their essays, though, seriously. I’m not speaking about the one that came with Sundays y Cybele, and I’ve only read a few, (and it’s a pretty weird generalization to make, as the essays come from all over) but I’m real surprised at how bad they can be. There are some really good ones. (Like this one on Tarkovsky and Solaris by Akira Kurosawa.) Anyway, it was really impressive the way the Simpsons did this thing they did. It starts off with Homer saying if they look up idiot in the dictionary my picture will be there, and then this picture comes to his head of him in the dictionary with the word idiot written there, and then it’s used the rest of the episode in this impressive way. – Sam Ombiri Sam Ombiri – 2-9-2017 ————————————————————————————————— Sally here: Eight years after the publication of Black Comix – an anthology edited by Professor John Jennings and Dr. Damian Duffy that collected art and essays celebrating the African American independent comics community – we are excited to announce that Black Comix Returns will be hitting bookshelves soon! The original publication featured “over 50 contributors, including Dawud Anyabwile, Eric Battle, Kenji Marshall, Afua Richardson, Larry Stroman, Rob Stull, Lance Tooks, and many, many more.” It sold out with remarkable speed. The comics industry changed a bit over the last eight years, and many new creators have arrived on the scene, so instead of simply reprinting the book John and Damian are creating a whole new anthology. Check out the Kickstarter campaign HERE. They made their first goal in a few days, and with almost a month left they have some big dreams and stretch goals to reach. They have over 100 artists and writers involved – including Kyle Baker, Keith Knight, Ronald Wimberly, Whit Taylor, Ben Passmore, Chris Visions, Tanna Tucker, and Ashley A. Woods – the book is guaranteed to be incredible! Back the project and look forward to the book. Take a moment to get to know Professor John Jennings while you’re at it – he has been called “the soul of black comix” and is the co-founder/organizer of The Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem, the co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal’s Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and also SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University. He earned an Eisner award for the collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, which he co-edited. He is an artist and writer as well as an editor/scholar/educator – look for his most recent book, Blue Hand Mojo: Hard Times Road coming out in March 2017. ————————————————————————————————— We linked last week to the incredible piece on Krazy Kat that Chris Ware wrote for The New York Review of Books – but it deserves a second look. Adapted from an essay which will appear in the catalog of an exhibition on George Herriman at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, in Madrid, Spain (opening in October 2017), the piece is Chris Ware’s love letter to Krazy Kat and the strip’s mysterious author, George Herriman. Chris Ware theorizes that although Herriman successfully passed as white all his life, he voiced his true identity through his strip in not-so-subtle ways. The details that Ware delves into – Krazy’s banjo, for example (seen above) – are fascinating, and he writes beautifully about what might have gone through Herriman’s head as he drew the strip. “Lately, I’ve been wondering if Herriman knew that one day his secret-in-plain-sight would be uncovered, that America would change, adapt and grow up enough as a people to understand Krazy Kat in all of its psychological and poetic depth. I’m not sure if we’ve yet reached that point, but what myself and other cartoonists already knew—that the strip was already the greatest ever drawn—is now magnified, multiplied and maximized. Krazy Kat is not just one of the greatest comic strips, it’s one of the strangest, most inventive, emotional, and personal works of art of the twentieth century. In their admiration for Herriman, Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Jack Kerouac sensed something in his line and voice that was endemically American, deeply felt. Herriman should now take his rightful place as one of the most original African-American voices of the early twentieth century, contemporary with, if not predating, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston as one of the first writers to understand the racial animus of America and to try to fix the essence of black consciousness on paper. That Herriman made it come alive, sing, dance and suffer in an art form barely fifty years old is all the more astonishing. For decades, we’ve all been reading and laughing and, most of all, feeling for Krazy Kat, who passed right under our eyes as a living drawing on a page. But what we were really feeling came straight from the heart. It was the very soul of George Herriman himself.“ Read the rest of the piece – To Walk in Beauty – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Fantom Comics in Washington, D.C., is hosting a rad event on February 15th 2017. Ronald Wimberly will be there signing Prince of Cats and Black History In Their Own Words, and there will also be a roundtable discussion with Ron, Chris Visions, Shannon Wright, and Chris Kindred. If you’re in the District be sure to check this out! Event details are HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Darrin Bell is an award-winning cartoonist whose work “navigates issues such as civil rights, pop culture, family, science fiction, scriptural wisdom and nihilist philosophy while often casting subjects in roles that are traditionally denied them. According to Darrin, “There’s nothing more fundamentally all-American than a square peg that insists on filling a round hole.” “ He has a daily comic strip called Canderville – check it out HERE – and is also the creator of Rudy Park – follow it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Wired lists Ronald Wimberly’s Black History In It’s Own Words among their 5 Comics You Absolutely Must Pick Up This Month. The Comics Alliance is helping folks sort through The Best Comics Ever (This Week) – a.k.a. their recommendations on which comics to read as they come out – and their list also include’s Ronald Wimberly’s Black History In It’s Own Words this week, among others. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! The course starts March 7th 2017. Apply by February 26th to get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. 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. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 2-9-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-9-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

06/22/2018

Sally IngrahamJune 21, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with a look at Nicole Hollander’s “We Ate Wonder Bread”, and Abouet and Sapin’s “Akissi: Tales of Mischief” – plus other comics and news! ——————————————————————————— Sally here! I spend two days a week at Copacetic Comics, in Pittsburgh, PA, and between drawing and dreaming I read a lot of comics. There are an overwhelming amount of comics coming out all the time, so (with a few exceptions) I narrow the field for myself a bit by only reading work made by female creators. Here are a couple of things I’ve picked up recently. Nicole Hollander‘s ground-breaking strip Sylvia was in syndication for 35 years. It’s sardonic middle-aged protagonist, surrounded by her cats and her lamps, made her opinions known loudly and languidly. She is modeled after a number of women from Hollander’s childhood – friends of her mother and folks who lived in her apartment building. In Hollander’s memoir – We Ate Wonder Bread – she recollects those people and the stories they lived in the building that surrounded her. Told through a mixture of text and illustrations, as well as comics, Hollander’s memories flow somewhat haphazardly. They follow the loose chronology of how rooms in her family apartment were arranged at various times, what mischief her little sister got up to, what outrageous scheme her father was invested in, and who her mother was friends with. Her own hopes and dreams and confusions as she navigated the rough waters of the West Side of Chicago as a child are hilarious and endearing. You get the sense, when reading this book, that Hollander could be in the room with you narrating her adventures and musings. The text was engaging, but I did find myself wishing that there were more comics and drawings. You could almost skim through the book and JUST read the comics, and get the gist of the story. Hollander’s drawings are excellent, and I enjoy her storytelling through images – but with the text in addition, things were strangely repetitive in places. I find this very interesting, and have to note that it may not be easy for a visual storyteller who has written gag-based comic strips their whole life to switch gears and compose with text alone. Like I said, I wish there were a lot more comics in this memoir. However, setting that slight disappointment aside, as a memoir We Ate Wonder Bread is a charming read, and learning something about the context of both Sylvia and her creator is valuable and inspiring to me as a comics creator and a woman myself. Get a copy of this book HERE! ——————————————————————————— Another delightful recent read is Marguerite Abouet‘s Akissi: Tales of Mischief, with artwork by Mathieu Sapin. I am a fan of Abouet’s Aya books (which feature the artwork of Clament Oubrerie). Those comics feature a beautiful Ivory Coast setting and a wonderful adult(ish) heroine, with plenty of mischief and mayhem to keep you engrossed. Akissi follows a similar pattern, with it’s setting in the Yopougon neighborhood of Abidjan (Yop City) – however it’s heroine is a 6 year old girl, who causes more mischief and mayhem than I can quite comprehend. Whether she is making garbage soup for the neighbor baby, running a secret movie theater while her Dad is at work, trying to catch lice so that her head can be shaved (preferable to the tight braids her mother favors), or knocking her Grandmother out with coconuts (by accident!), Akissi is always in the thick of it. I laughed and cringed my way through the collection of 21 6-page comics, and found myself recalling moments from my own childhood (although I never got tapeworms or had a pet monkey). Abouet is a terrific storyteller, and Sapin’s drawings compliment her writing perfectly. The combination really brings to life the time and place, with well-realized characters leaping out of detailed backgrounds and the whole thing carrying you along at a voracious pace. According to an interview from April 2018, Akissi IS Marguerite Abouet. She was born in Abidjan and lived there until she was 12, so the vivid sense of place makes sense – so does the feeling of “you can’t make this stuff up…!”. Abouet said: “I think Akissi is like open-air theatre, where children can feel quickly gripped by her tales. She invites them to journey to an unknown country, that is so close and yet so far away from them, for a relaxed ramble in Africa. Children are impressed by Akissi and her group because they are like ‘urban superheroes’ trying to live in the adult world. She shows them that this is not easy, because living together and accepting each other are daily struggles, so it demands a lot of willpower and courage.“ I highly recommend this one! Get a copy HERE. ——————————————————————————— For the Record Whit Taylor writes and Shannon Wright draws a comic for The Nib about Shirley Chisholm – read it HERE. Michael Dooley chats with Esther Pearl Watson – on The Comics Journal. Episode 30 of Comic Book Decalogue features Laura Lannes as the guest – listen HERE. ——————————————————————————— Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank’s coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! ——————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-22-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

07/31/2018

Aaron CockleJuly 31, 2018NewsGeneviève Castrée and Anders Nilsen; Escher in Industry City; Evolving Floorplans ————————————————————————————————— Writing about A Bubble Anders Nilsen discusses his work on the posthumous book by Geneviève Castrée: It’s often the case that the right solution to a narrative or visual problem feels like it comes out of nowhere. These bubble don’t feel, to me, like “my style,” but they immediately felt right somehow. They aren’t her style either, they are simply what the book asked for, and finally accepted. I very much like that they are, in a way, not a drawing I’ve done on top of hers, but, because they are a literal digital negation of the toothy yellow paper on which she drew, the bubbles manage, in a funny way, to end up behind her work, as a support. At least I hope that’s how it feels to the reader. White is a color of blankness, is the color of an empty page, and of course, of death. ————————————————————————————————— THE MAURITS CORNELIS ESCHER EXPERIENCE In addition to the Escher works on display, the exhibition includes scientific experiments, play areas and educational resources that will help visitors of all ages to understand the impossible perspectives, disquieting images and seemingly irreconcilable universes which Escher combined to create a unique artistic dimension. Among these special installations will be immersive photo booths constructed to emulate Escher’s hypnotic environments. Visitors will be able to photograph themselves “inside” the worlds of M.C. Escher, including the Relativity Room, which turns normal size and scale on its head, and the “Infinity Room,” in which visitors can see their reflection repeated, seemingly, into infinity. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The results were biological in appearance, intriguing in character and wildly irrational in practice.’ Joel Simon (via Boing Boing) on ‘an experimental research project exploring speculative, optimized floor plan layouts.‘ Two simulations, graph-contraction and ant-colony pathing, are used as ‘growth processes’. Graph contraction is a family of algorithms that aim to create visually appealing layouts of a graphs. Ant-colony algorithms are probabilistic methods for finding optimal paths using a hive of emergent agents. Attribute genes encode meta-parameters that control various aspects of the simulations. This is analogous to developmental genes that establish patterns and guide development. Instead of encoding every path of all the hallways, a few attribute genes can optimize the entire layout. The floor plan genome is a weighted, connected and undirected graph. Every desired room is represented with a node gene that contains information such as the room’s size. Connection genes specify two node genes to span as well as a randomly initialized weight; they are added in a random manner until the graph is connected. Adjacency requirements create a subgraph with maximum edge weight. For example, the cafeteria must be adjacent to the kitchen. The genetic encoding is a generalization of NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT) that allows the artificial evolution of neural networks to graphs. This applies historical markers to allow crossover of graphs with varying topology. This allows floor plans to differ in the number of rooms they have. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 7-31-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

12/06/2017

Posted on December 6, 2017December 6, 2017 by Juan Fernández

Juan empieza el día con Gerardo Vilches y un elogia de mal dibujo; La Polola; un documental sobre Jim Pluk; #JusticiaParaHonduras, Call for Papers CuCo, Cuadernos de Cómic n.º 10 y más!

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«Eso lo dibuja un niño de cinco años»: Elogio del mal dibujo

Over on Revista Cactus, the great Gerardo Vilches offers a fun exploration on the power of bad drawing. It moves through many different aesthetic streams, in the vein of Austin English’s recent piece for the Comics Journal, Feininger’s Grandkids.

Gerardo Vilches: No es casual que estas corrientes de mal dibujo se estén desarrollando de forma paralela a la aparición de cómics que se publican al margen de la tradicional industria de la historieta infantil y juvenil, centrada en la aventura y la acción. Mientras que el dibujo realista es más literal y, por tanto, idóneo para reproducir la realidad tal cual la vemos, el dibujo que prescinde de todas las reglas académicas se ha mostrado especialmente adecuado para desarrollar temáticas nuevas y transmitir una información más abstracta, que va más allá de la descripción de situaciones y la narración de una acción. En eso coinciden todos los autores mencionados anteriormente, y otros nombres que sin llegar a sus extremos también se saltan ciertas normas en algunos trabajos —como puede ser el caso de Aisha Franz en Planeta Tierra, dibujado a lápiz de un modo muy fresco—: practican un tipo de cómic en el que la acción es secundaria, y lo que interesa es lo personal, lo psicológico, las ideas. Todo aquello que no puede dibujarse con herramientas convencionales.

Léanlo todo AQUI.

– All hail Heta-uma.-

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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 Majo Puga, una de las gestoras de la feria, Viña del Mar, y de la carrera de ilustración. Les habló de su carrera como ilustradora, su gusto por hacer clases, por enseñar y motivar el amor por el dibujo y por la necesidad de gestionar y tomarse espacios de creación de forma colectiva.
Ya pueden ver “Hasta que el cuerpo resista”, el documental para conocer de la creatividad y los retos del historietista colombiano Jim Pluk.
With #JusticiaParaHonduras, cartoonists are turning their sketchpads into a form of protest against the recent electoral debacle in Honduras. Check out the aggregation over on REMEZCLA.
Cuadernos de Cómic han lanzado el call for papers de CuCo 10. Podéis enviar propuestas desde ya. //Call for Papers CuCo, Cuadernos de Cómic n.º 10
Exposición: MUJERES DIBUJADAS. Seis autoras de hoy revisitan a Núria Pompeia en Barcelona.

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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!

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Suzy and Cecil – 12-6-2017 – by Sally Ingraham

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Joanie and Jordie – 12-6-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in los Cómics, News

Juan Fernández

Posted on December 6, 2017December 6, 2017

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08/10/2018

Sally IngrahamAugust 9, 2018NewsSally Ingraham here with Penelope Bagieu’s “California Dreamin'” – plus a look at “Dakota North” and other news and comics! ————————————————————————————————— I thoroughly enjoyed Penelope Bagieu‘s California Dreamin’: Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas (2017). It’s a great use of the comics medium as a vehicle for biography. Bagieu tells the story of Ellen “Mama Cass” Elliot’s life leading up to the formation of the band The Mamas & the Papas, using the narrative voice of dozens of people who were part of her life. Her childhood and teens are revealed by members of her family and her first voice teacher, and then the story is picked up by friends, lovers, and bandmates. A complexity of prose-based biography is introducing and keeping straight all these people who surround a famous figure – providing the context for their relationship and explaining why their view matters. Handled poorly, it can be confusing and boring. However, Bagieu uses comics to neatly circomvent any such issues – each chapter simply begins with the name of the new narrator, and then plummets into their version of the story. Bagieu’s characterizations brilliantly capture the personality of the narrator while continuing the construction of the larger-than-life Cass Elliot. The humor and warmth of her drawings make the story wonderfully compelling. Cass is lovingly brought to life, full of passion and awkward grace. The musical world she tumbled through is well captured, and somehow even the sound of her voice seems to float up out of the pages of the book. The moment when she and future members of The Mamas & the Papas begin to write California Dreamin’ is a highlight of the comic, hilariously revealed from the viewpoint of Cass’ mother. Penelope Bagieu is a French cartoonist who has followed up her first graphic novel – (Exquisite Corpse, 2015) – with two terrific offerings published in America recently – this book (2017), along with the excellent 2018 collection Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World. Keep an eye on her – I can only assume and hope that she will continue to make good work that will entertain and enlighten us! Check out Michael Cavna’s Washington Post review of California Dreamin’ HERE for more thoughts on this comic. ————————————————————————————————— There’s an excellent writeup on Dakota North over on The Comics Journal, a “revisit” by Keith Silva of the 1980’s 5-issue series. I am really fond of this series, but am somewhat astonished to note that there is a deluxe reprint now available. Exciting times! The series was the only comic written by Martha Thomases (ever), and it’s female, regular-powered hero, was remarkable for it’s time. Keith Silva has all the details on how Dakota North came to be, what the series was up against, and why it was cancelled, so I won’t reiterate that here – read the article. Briefly: “And yeah, like any (super)hero worth her salt, Dakota does indeed ride a motorcycle out of a service elevator and into a New York fashion shoot. She also rides the same motorcycle up an escalator in a chic Manhattan department store. She shakes off sheikhs, battles a bloodthirsty raptor, and outfoxes a monster truck in Rockefeller Center. And does so with fierce aplomb, style, and a sense of adventure. Dogged and defiantly independent, Dakota North is a fashion-forward comic whose style never caught on. To say Dakota North was an outlier is a disservice to outliers. The moment Ms. North starts stylin’ is when the ground began to shift under comics—Dakota North #3 comes out the same month as Batman: The Dark Knight #4 and Watchmen #1 . Now, it would be an act of hubris and hyperbole to say two neophyte creators like Thomases and Salmons (even with a wily vet like Hama at the helm) would come close to equaling the murder’s row of Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lyn Varley, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. Proximity to greatness does not make something great, and Dakota North is not on par with the craft, canniness and inventiveness of those ’80s masterpieces. And yet what Dakota North lacks in artistic pedigree it makes up for in chutzpah, idiosyncrasy, and how it outdistances its peers in representation and female agency. So subtle is it in its subversion, representation, and agency it almost passes as insignificant, almost. What Dakota North wanted was be seen as an equal in her world and the world writ large. She was a disruption of the status quo and way ahead of her time, perhaps even today. That’s why Dakota North matters.” Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Other News of Note Phoebe Gloeckner is the Guest Editor of 2018’s Best American Comics – more info HERE. For any UK readers – Posy Simmonds has an exhibition of original artwork and unseen sketches – details HERE. Also, Paul Gravett recently listed Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe as one of four highly recommended graphic novels – HERE. The New Yorker has a short feature on it’s Women Cartoonists – Then and Now. The Harvey Award nominees have been announced – lots of good stuff on the list – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

04/12/2018

Comics WorkbookApril 11, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Deryl Seitchik’s “Missy No. 1”. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: Missy #1 by Daryl Seitchik has left me floored. There are other comics that may be similarly made, and somewhat similarly successful. However, for me Missy is entirely unique, though it’s uniqueness is somewhat hard for me to articulate. This comic communicated through obscuring information. When the title character Missy either scribbles over words, or misspells something, there’s a lot of truth revealed. I honestly wonder how much it was on Daryl’s mind for this story to be effective as it was. Efforts here don’t appear to be calculated, but suspiciously efficient and mysteriously rough. Calculations in some ways are a form of improvisation. The story is so well laid out from moment to moment. It progresses with an abundance of specificity, which is surprising for such a small minicomic. Between these specifications there are small moments for me to really feel. The feelings are surprisingly rich, given how there’s not that many pages in this comic (only 12). The comic feels like watching something with the sound turned all the way down. It’s very muted and very distant, because of how timid Missy is. She is so timid that she remains secretive. Even in her own journal! Despite being presented like the drawings of a child, the drawings don’t resemble drawings a child would make. This is because we’re introduced to the pictures as a representation of what the child is writing. As a result, the drawings feel really humble. The naiveté of the book isn’t for the sake of spectacle, or to be fashionable, but it’s the most honest thing to do, and it isn’t much more than writing in a diary. This merges us with Missy’s vision; with how she sees things, every anxiety, every worry, every tiny betrayal, we’re immersed as a result. It seems like for this minicomic, it’s important for it to be physically as small as it is, or rather the way it was printed especially adds to this comic. Since Missy is small, so is the minicomic. The comic being a diary doesn’t define it completely – the book, rather, just weaves in and out of the idea of the book being a diary. Reading this I could sense that Missy was feeling like the world was about to crash down on her. At the beginning of the story with her parents divorce coming into the picture, it would seem that this was the case. It feels like she’s looking for places to run to, and this journal we’re reading seems to be one of those places. – Sam Ombiri Check out more issues of Missy by Deryl Seitchik as well as her graphic novel Exits (Koyama Press) HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers 8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available! Rolling start date because of spring break – start NOW! Deadline to apply is April 12th- today, by midnight EST. Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-12-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

2/19/2018

Caleb OrecchioFebruary 19, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with Barry (Windsor-)Smith, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— “Red Nails” was the last Conan the Barbarian story Robert E. Howard ever wrote before he killed himself. It is almost undoubtedly, to my mind, his greatest story–which is also, appropriately, the best and most faithful Conan comic book adaption, drawn by Barry Smith in 1973. Obviously, Barry Smith was and is thee great Conan adapter despite the fact that John Buscema would eventually become synonymous with the character; but “Big” John never could match the intensity of Barry Smith–an intensity that eventually caused him to see ghosts and psychedelic phenomenon in his NYC apartment. Smith’s adaption (according to the book’s credits, Roy Thomas “wrote” the adaption, but the comic is so faithful to the source that I regard Thomas’ role as merely editorial given what we know about the “Marvel Method”) is so electrifying to the eyes, that the original black and white version (first appearing in the magazine, Savage Tales #2 and #3 in two parts) nearly makes me cross-eyed. The amount of detail crammed into each panel is staggering and almost intimidating, yet the beauty of each image and prowess of the hands that made them is simply undeniable. Thus, the release of Marvel Treasury Edition: Conan the Barbarian #4 gave “Red Nails” the release it deserved, finding it newly colored by Smith and in an oversized deluxe format. I don’t want to show my hand just yet, but I felt it important today to point out the sheer blood, sweat and tears Barry Smith (later Barry Windsor-Smith) put into this work. Of course, this kind of ambitious, detail-oriented work is not realistically feasible on a monthly deadline and would cause Smith to miss said deadlines, cause fatal distribution problems and as I mentioned before, see things. Still, the results speak for themselves. I want to share more of my thoughts on this work, but I have to wait until next week. See you then. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Tucker Stone and David Brothers talk Black Panther comics, with small a shoutout to under-appreciated artist, Billy Graham. Jaeah J. Lee on “The Forgotten Zine of 1960’s Asian-American Radicals” at Topic.com. Kawai Shen reviews “Mother” by Celine Loup over at Your Chicken Enemy. Michel Fiffe is the latest guest on Process Party. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-19-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

01/22/2018

Caleb OrecchioJanuary 22, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Brandon Graham’s daily diary comics and other news. ————————————————————————————————— Lately, I’ve been intrigued by Brandon Graham’s daily comics he posts to social media. He posted them on his blog too. The simplicity is really nice structurally and tonally. Often the strips include whatever he’s thinking about that day, or what music he’s listening to. Sometimes these reflect very personal and revealing aspects of his life, while other times he just seems to let his mind wander and his lines and words fill the page. These are nice to read, and the benefit of improvisation lends itself to a simple, downward reading style—your eye starts on the top left-hand of the page and follows the strip down to the lower right-hand side. All the incredibly detailed gimmicks and intricacies of his professional work (i.e. King City and Multiple Warheads) are basically non-existent here, in a good way. Now don’t get me wrong, I generally love Graham’s work. His ability to make interesting images is not to be taken lightly and every new Brandon Graham release is an event unto itself in my house. However, in imperfect light, I simply can’t read Multiple Warheads. Often all the very pretty colors jump out at me at once and my eyes have to really focus to absorb the work as intended by the author. Plus, take into account the consistently inconsistent structural integrity of a Graham comic and I’ve got me a headache. His black and white work is often easier on the eyes, but still lacks a cohesive composition to allow for effortless reading that flows steadily. Maybe some would consider me a lazy reader, color blind and biased towards more Comics Workbook-y grid type comics, and I am biased for sure. That being said, I’m trying to make a point. Compared to King City and Warheads, Graham’s recent daily comics are very rough but to me they are actually much more inviting and enjoyable to read aesthetically at the moment. Whether it’s the content or the actual drawing (drawing: which I should point out, is different from inking), these daily comics feel particularly essential. Maybe it’s just my mood, but meandering thoughts by way of improved lines on paper feel pertinent right now. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Michael Cavna on the work and career of legendary Pittsburgh cartoonist, Jackie Ormes, over at the Washington Post in lieu of Ormes’ induction into The Will Esiner Hall of Fame. Cailla Baasch Anderson gives some details into how lawyers are using comics to make legal contracts easier to understand. Phillippe LeBlanc writes about the Uncivilized Books series, Structures over at Your Chicken Enemy. Rob Kirby is the latest guest on Comic Book Decalogue. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank’s best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the “Best of Frank Santoro” PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-22-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-22-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/21/2016

HarrisonJuly 21, 2016NewsDaily News with Harrison returns with drones, thoughts about war, dark animation, and ends with a question. ————————————————————————————————— Ride or Die “Jasper. We’re picking up a lot of drone noise. I think there’s a watch coming.” Sam Alden‘s Test of Loyalty at Hazlitt. Here ————————————————————————————————— Shadow and Form Jonathan Djob Nkondo’s Dark Day is a conflation of everything I want from contemporary animation; moody, inventive, stark, humorous, surreal, frightening, and impeccably illustrated. Pts. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. ————————————————————————————————— Before ” “NOddIN” is a collective launched by filmmakers and artists in the wake of the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake and related Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. With the cooperation of a large number of Japanese animation artists, we spearheaded this self-production with the aim to animate the words of the book round-robin style, and our collaborative project was begun. After over a year of production including the conception period, we completed our short film.” – The NOddIN team, October 2, 2015 More about the film project here. More about the collective NOddIN here. ————————————————————————————————— Visions of Heroes Friend of Comics Workbook Chris Visions has a collection of fun drawing videos shot by Richmond photographer/videographer Tyler Q. Tucker on his site. Here. ————————————————————————————————— Why? Share this page: [...]

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