Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged 1963, 8 1/2, Barbara Steele, Federico Fellini, Gloria Morin, Illustrated Moments in Cinema/Television, Roman Muradov

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on August 4, 2016August 4, 2016

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04/08/2016

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

09/29/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 29, 2016NewsSam Ombiri and Sally Ingraham here to present Cameron Weston Nicholson’s amazing Small Press Expo workshop to you today! (Plus some tangents well worth following.) ————————————————————————————————— https://vimeo.com/184552852 We just received the complete video footage of Cameron Weston Nicholson‘s SPX cartoon workshop from ace filmmaker Tyler Q. Tucker. View it above! Sally can vouch for the fact that Cameron caught on film is just as powerful as he was in person. You can find a few more details about the event HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri was one of the first people to lay eyes on the film of Cameron’s workshop. He is a regular attendee of the Pittsburgh Comics Salon, where we discuss music and comics a lot, so this was familiar ground. Sam wrote some notes while he viewed the film – check it out: “This video was rad for many reasons. The video will articulate the things I can’t better, so I guess I won’t say too much. I kind of laughed at the idea that Cameron proposed: musical literature. It’s funny to imagine people reading sheet music, and those people imagining the sound from the notes – and then they cry (that’s not to say this doesn’t happen, but it’s a super bizarre way to listen to music – though, ultimately notes are a language, so there’s no reason a book with sheet music shouldn’t be read like a novel) but in the context of comics it’s exactly what transpires! (And images are for the most part a universal language, unlike musical notes where you need someone who can read them, and who then must learn an instrument to play the song. Then you have to do this over and over til you find a piece that you like. Even then, it might just be the musician that lacks the soul to play the tune you want to hear.) Cameron says “In music you have your notes, in comics you have your panels.” I dig how he talks about sculpting/directing the focus of the reader through emphasis (or lack thereof) for dramatic effect (or really any effect – I just think he was using dramatic effect as an example) to bury an idea in the reader’s mind. So their interest is peaked or their shoulder is tapped, and then the reader suspects there’s something else going on. So then the reader will follow Cameron, out of curiosity…then Cameron’s got the reader sucked into his image, and then there’s no escape! Another thing I like is how he has a simulator of how fast most readers read this (mostly) universal language. It’s super cool the amount of awareness he has for the reader. There is of course more to look at in the video, but especially at the 24 minute mark there’s a zillion things that are being articulated better than I could – I can articulate that it’s a must watch!” ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook was absolutely delighted that Tyler Q. Tucker could attend Cameron’s workshop and film the event. We discovered Tyler’s work after he made a film of the live drawing event that Chris Visions, Alexis Ziritt, and Vanesa R. Del Ray took part in at HeroesCon 2016. He has continued to make fantastic films for Chris Visions, which you can check out HERE – the newest films, which show off Rocky Roswell and the Adventures of the Neon Space Cowboy (which debuted at SPX) can be viewed HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Alexis Ziritt attended one of the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX, taking a break from his table (and from working on finishing Tarantula!) Sombra. A photo posted by Alexis Ziritt (@aziritt) on Sep 28, 2016 at 10:22am PDT Alexis Ziritt is part of the super art collective Out of Step Arts – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Shannon Wright has been dashing off comics for Instagram lately – here’s one such: The power randomly went out, it’s not even close to the time I go to bed, I figured this would “mak3 @ coOl coMix” but it’s actually really stupid, I thought a spark of creativity would hit me if I just started drawing but I actually wasted battery and precious data to upload this . My mom thinks someone hit the electric lines (box??) somewhere. A photo posted by Shannon Wright (@shanneyy23) on Sep 25, 2016 at 8:59pm PDT Check out more HERE. ————————————————————————————————— On the site we have the first collection of images from the Comics Workbook-hosted cartoon workshops at SPX – check them out HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Help send Connor Willumsen to the UK for The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in October! He will be teaching workshops with Frank Santoro and Aidan Koch while there – if you’re in the area check it out. To help him get to the show, Comics Workbook is offering two new Connor publications. Portraits and Swinespritzen – both limited editions, both incredible. Details about both and where to order them can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Happy Thursday folks! – Sally and Sam Share this page: [...]

7/18/2016

Juan FernándezJuly 18, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: Shannon Wright’s MAY FLOWERS; ShortBox 2; J. A. Micheline on Megan Purdy, Claire Napier, Zainab Akhtar; Google’s digital erasure; Nik James; new STREET ANGEL; this week’s rowhouse auction. —————————————————————————— May Flowers – Shannon Wright I’m happy to announce that we are featuring Shannon Wright’s May Flowers on the site this week. May Flowers was made by Shannon Wright in 2015 for Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course. She took the principles that Frank teaches and implemented them in a gorgeous fashion, really setting the bar a full notch higher. Shannon is a cartoonist and illustrator who recently graduated from VCU. —————————————————————————— ShortBox 2 – LIVE The neat 2nd edition of Zainab Akhtar and Clark Burscough’s quarterly, independent comics box is now taking preorders. This edition features an exciting collection of work by Carolyn Novak, Ben Passmore, Lucie Bryon, Lizzy Stewart, Bailey Sharp, Lisa Hanawalt and Honey Parast. Beginning today, we are opening pre-orders for ShortBox #2, containing all the items listed below (and some sweets- we got you). Pre-orders will run for 10 days, until midnight on July 28th, and buying one guarantees you’ll receive a box. —————————————————————————— J. A. Micheline on inspiring women working in comics today Comics Bulletin editor and AV Club contributor, J. A. Micheline reflects on the tireless work of Megan Purdy, Claire Napier, Zainab Akhtar over on www.womenwriteaboutcomics.com/. —————————————————————————— Save your Work – Lest your Digital Overlords Deny you Access A terms of service violation has caused the practically complete deletion of Dennis Coopers’ digital body of work by Google. It’s a tale of face palming frustration across the board. From the aching reminder to back up one’s work to the reminder that Google is the world’s most powerful organization when it comes to preserving and storing information, it’s a head ache all over. I’m look at you, digital artists! Artist Dennis Cooper has a big problem on his hands: Most of his artwork from the past 14 years just disappeared. It’s gone because it was kept entirely on his blog, which the experimental author and artist has maintained on the Google-owned platform Blogger since 2002 (Google bought the servicein 2003). At the end of June, Cooper says he discovered he could no longer access his Blogger account and that his blog had been taken offline. —————————————————————————— Go look: NIK JAMES Nik James//UNOVIS has created a new website for their work. Take note lovers of dynamic anatomy, fusion comics, and fearless narrative experimentiation: make some time and give their work a look.There’s lots to dig into. —————————————————————————— —————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.17-7.24 Last but not least, we have a 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. —————————————————————————— until next time, Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

Vanesa R. Del Rey – Process

Sally IngrahamDecember 9, 2016Tool TalkFeaturing Vanesa R. Del Rey // vrdelrey.com Video by Michael Pisano, Di-ay Battad and Juan Fernandez // michaelpisano.com // cargocollective.com/di-ay // juanjosefernandez.com Soundtrack // Victoria’s Other Secret // Galapagoose Check out The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey HERE. Share this page: [...]

04/19/2017

Juan FernándezApril 19, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con fanzine alacarta!; Chicks On Comicks; Berliac; Albert Monteys; Liniers; Pablo Selin; Mariana, a miserável; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— Dibujos en femenino plural – El PAÍS os ofrece una toma sobre el mundo del cómic dibujado por mujeres. Más que nada, el enfásis es en la pluralidad de perspectivas. Las protagonistas de autoras como Gina Wybrandt, Flavita Banana, Raquel Riba, Monstruo Espagueti, Meritxell Bosch, Hardcore maternity… no son las mujeres hipersexualizadas de algunos cómics. Tienen vello, sus curvas son imperfectas, andan semidesnudas por su casa, tienen la regla y la sangre mancha (que parece que es un tabú), practican sexo o no lo practican y se quejan por ello… “Reflejo la normalidad”, dice Flavita Banana, que, como las demás, se inspira mirando alrededor. Todas tienen un toque desenfadado, irónico. Cada una en su línea pero con el humor muy presente y, a veces, con un punto de mala leche, de hacer que lo que cuentan sea una sacudida, que levante algunas ampollas. A pesar de que hay algunos temas como el de la bulimia que se trata en Yo, gorda, o el cáncer de mama, del que habla Jennifer Hayden en La historia de mis tetas (Reservoir Books), que son más femeninos porque por suerte para los hombres ellos sufren en un porcentaje mínimo estas enfermedades, cualquiera se puede sentir identificado con, por ejemplo, Lola Vendetta y la idea de hacer rodar cabezas (metafóricamente) cuando algo resulta desesperante. Y de esta empatía, al éxito. ————————————————————————————————— Inmersate en el mundo Ernesto Franco, el dibujante colombiana que creó ‘Copetín’, la tira cómica que esta semana cumple 55 años, con este tronco de perfil en EL TIEMPO. Una mañana de abril de 1962, un artista sin dinero y sin trabajo decidió probar suerte llevando unos dibujos al tradicional edificio de EL TIEMPO, en la avenida Jiménez con carrera 7.ª. Había cumplido 33 años y cargaba a cuestas varias quiebras económicas. Pero tenía una idea. Y esa idea cambió la vida del artista: Ernesto Franco. ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: fanzine alacarta! La segunda seccion de la nueva edicion de Panorama Federal sección esta dedicada a las historietas en una publicación muy especial realizada por 151 artistas, bajo la coordinación del colectivo Chicks On Comicks. “Arte” es el título de el fanzine gratuito que se distribuyó en la muestra que se realizó en la Fundación Proa. Dale un vistazo! Berliac‘s got some new comics on Vice – Asian Food Store Junkies – S01 E06 The fracas gets international… The Funny Pages, un extra de Orgullo y Satisfacción La historia de los cómics está trufada de maravillas olvidadas que pasaron desapercibidas en todo tipo de revistas y catálogos. Durante décadas, Albert Monteys ha estado recopilando y clasificando meticulosamente estos residuos de narrativa gráfica olvidados por el tiempo que ahora se presentan Audioentrevista con ilustrador Liniers – es Pura Mestiza nº3. Pablo Selin nos trae una hola de cómics nuevos en su sitio! Dale a los que se mueven! Perfil de fanzinera, Mariana, a miserável en la Revista Cactus – Con un estilo fresco y desenfadado, la artista portuguesa Mariana, a miserável muestra las escenas cotidianas de la vida a través de unas ilustraciones con regusto agridulce. Un golpe de realidad al dia. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-19-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-19-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-19-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

8 1/2 by Roman Muradov

Posted on August 4, 2016August 4, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Roman Muradov’s portrayal of Barbara Steele as Gloria Morin from Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 (Italy, 1963) for my ILLUSTRATED MOMENTS IN CINEMA/TELEVISION. Roman dressed up like TOBY DAMMIT and his candid along with Alison Dubois was taken at Mission: Comics & Art, San Francisco, Friday, October 12, 2012. And Graham Willcox did the color on Roman’s candid

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz ArchiveTagged 1963, 8 1/2, Barbara Steele, Federico Fellini, Gloria Morin, Illustrated Moments in Cinema/Television, Roman Muradov

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on August 4, 2016August 4, 2016

Explore

02/28/2017

Aaron CockleFebruary 27, 2017NewsAaron here today with Whit Taylor Comics; PaperJazz; LA Times Book Prize Finalists (Comics Category); Pete Toms Gets Reviewed; Another Look at Matthew Thurber; Horvitz/Provan in Conversation; Congrats to INK BRICK ————————————————————————————————— What is Race? Just the Facts. Whit Taylor has a comic about race and its perception throughout history posted at the Nib. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Graphic Novel/Comics of Note (in Los Angeles, California) The Los Angeles Times has released its list of finalists for their annual book prize awards, with a strong list of contenders for the ‘GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMICS’ category: “Beverly” by Nick Drnaso “The Artist” by Anna Haifisch “Don’t Come in Here” by Patrick Kyle “What Is Obscenity” by Rokudenashiko (translated by Anne Ishii) “Demon: Volume 1” by Jason Shiga ————————————————————————————————— A Comic Whose Characters Swim in Apathy and Cynicism At Hyperallergic, R. Orion Martin digs in to Pete Toms’s Dad’s Weekend, published by Hic and Hoc: Every middle-aged character in the book except for Manny seems to be in a state of resigned existential crisis. One middle-aged woman interrupts Manny to tell him about a realization she’s had, Once you unpack, you’re left with an empty suitcase. What’s at the foundation of who you are? Animal instincts? Some shit your parents said to you when you were a toddler? It’s all so simple and unimportant. I had this dream where I hung myself with my own DNA strand. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The pre-production of Cremaster 3 is kind of just rolling along without me.’ Sally and Juan linked to this Max Morris/Matthew Thurber interview last week, but I wanted to take another look at it, especially this part from the start of the Q&A: Max Morris: Back in 2014, you wrote this article for The Comics Journal Website , “Letter to a Young Cartoonist”, that stirred some controversy at the time. A bulk of the article dealt with the ramifications of posting comics work on Tumblr and Social Media, among other issues of challengers to the new generation of comics artists. This was in a time when that felt like the primary way to see new work being made by current creators. A little under 3 years after you posted that article, a lot has changed. Looking back at this article, what words do you have to say to the young cartoonist today? Matthew Thurber: I feel more than ever that printed media contains autonomous power that is almost magical. All internet publication is embedded in and framed by another corporation. With print, as soon as it flies off the press it belongs, like the land, to “you and me”. The disturbing thing about social media is they change the terms of publication from one of total freedom, to one where you are being allowed to express yourself. Because they grant it… they can take it away. Social media echo chambers are destructive: look at what they have helped to do in terms of ripping our country in half, replacing everything with a simulation of reality. Is that what you mean by “a lot is changed”? We’re opting into 1984 because it feels good. It’s so seductive to feel like you’ve done something in pseudo-reality. We need to learn to live without the internet, to distribute artifacts in physical space, to know how to talk to each other again. It is so much more meaningful and beautiful. And guess what??? I’m part of the problem because I’m on INSTAGRAM (@mtshelves)! What a miserable hypocritical worm!!!! And the worst part is….I LOVE it! I love the ego pampering attention and the immediacy despite my complete conviction that it sucks! ————————————————————————————————— Ask the Stone to Say Via Triple Canopy, David Horvitz and Alexander Provan discoursing on time, space, discourse, discoursing: Horvitz’s work as an artist often suggests how to live outside the bounds of time, how to recover forms of experience that are rooted in natural rhythms and not the dictates of international bureaucracies. “A lot of people are into yoga and meditation, but I see those as ways of relaxing your mind and body so that you can continue to work efficiently and productively, at absurdly accelerated rates,” he says. “I’m interested in forms of meditation that cultivate the enjoyment of time, that oppose efficiency, that make you miss every deadline.” Horvitz and Provan cover ancient Egyptian astrology and atomic clocks, the auditory landscapes of nineteenth-century villages and the contemporary landscapes offered by geostationary satellites. They find the origins of Brexit in the imposition of the Gregorian calendar (“European-elite time”) on the British in 1752, which vanquished eleven days and gave rise to a protest slogan after Boris Johnson’s heart: “Give Us Our Eleven Days.” ————————————————————————————————— INK BRICK’s crowd-funding goal for it’s 8th issue was met with some time to spare, so congratulations to them. The new book has a great list of contributors, and frequent readers of this news-blog will see some of their favorite cartoonists/people involved: Vidhu Aggarwal | Alyssa Berg | Warren Craghead | Erin Curry | John Hankiewicz | Keren Katz | Mark Laliberte | Matt Madden | Paul Madonna (cover) | Alexander Rothman | Alexey Sokolin | Bishakh Som | Deshan Tennekoon | Andrea Tsurumi | Paul K. Tunis | Andrew White | Sophia Wiedeman | Shahar Sarig More info, as well as details about their ‘Stretch Goals’, are noted on their Kickstarter page. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 2-28-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-28-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown –2-28-2017- by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

Residency Report: Homemake at the Rowhouse

Comics WorkbookJune 15, 2016Residency Reports / School UpdatesWe kicked off the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency over Memorial Day Weekend with a visit from Matthew Conway and Mahmoud Hashemi. Matt is an architect and very recent Harvard grad (congrats Matt!), and Mahmoud is the lead developer of the Python Infrastructure team at eBay/PayPal. Neither of them had ever made a comic before. However, Matt and Mahmoud were men on a mission. They arrived at the Rowhouse with the clear intention of using its many resources and the full breadth and depth of Frank’s knowledge and techniques to make something great. They were challenged and inspired during their time here, and in return they challenged and inspired the whole Comics Workbook team. And yes, they did end up making their first comic! During his flight home Mahmoud wrote a detailed report of his experience at the Rowhouse, and it offers a lot of insight into what made the experience extraordinary for everyone involved. Below you will find excerpts from Mahmoud’s report along with some commentary from me. There’s a lot to unpack! – Sally ————————————————————————————————— Mahmoud Hashemi wrote: “From May 28th to June 2nd, 2016, I visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went to work with Frank Santoro on Matt Conway’s game Homemake. Overall it was a great vacation because it wasn’t your typical beachside retreat. Rather, it was mounting an effort to renew creativity and productivity on Matt Conway’s longstanding project, Homemake. The timing was great, as it was right before Ramadan for me, and right after Matt Conway’s graduation from Harvard GSD. Started in 2013 and Kickstarted to the tune of 18,000 in 2014, Homemake is an experimental art game that is unique for its focus on architecture and music, and its lack of traditional game elements like enemies and time limits.” Mahmoud, who serves as an editor, instigator, and cheerleader for Matt and the game, recognized that his friend needed a burst of new energy and that the game itself needed more concentrated story development. Mahmoud continues: “Homemake was designed as a system, meaning that it was designed nonlinearly. It was a procedural way to achieve certain preconceived moments. But there were no sentences between the punctuation. Almost all games, including HM, result in linear gameplay. The player sequential acts or chapters. My goal became to quickly build the best linear structure with what was already there. In a way, there was a middle act, but no opening or closing. So, the goal was to use a comic book as a storyboard to create the opening act.” Sally here – like I said, these fellows arrived at the Rowhouse with a fire under their tails! Mahmoud had known for a while that he needed to sit down with Matt and really hash out a narrative for the game. When he discovered Frank’s Kickstarter for the Rowhouse last fall, Mahmoud knew that he wanted to support this new comic book institution, and guessed that a residency might provide the right sort of space for he and Matt to work. He wasn’t 100% sure that Frank’s methods would be the magic pill they needed, but he was willing to come to Pittsburgh to find out. Back to Mahmoud’s report: “Frank’s own creative methods have a focus on systems, especially jazz-inspired rhythmic systems, making them an exceptional fit with Homemake‘s motivations and goals. I was skeptical at first, but it worked wonders. This effectiveness may have been magnified because half of Homemake‘s vision was disparate moments, a grab bag of mental notes about certain aesthetics. This method allowed Matt to express all his thoughts and editors, like me and Frank, to come through, see the patterns a reader would want to see, and develop the most coherent narrative. Everyone wins.” ‘With Frank’s method, images come first, then words. There should be no script. The images tell almost the whole story, and those images must be allowed to find their own rhythm. A script disrupts that. Similarly, a grid is like an empty script. Frank’s method of modular, card-based creation was as effective as it was simple. Hard-earned simplicity. … Matt ended up drawing 52 cards. I found a cohesive story with 40, and we expanded that to use 48 cards to create 6 pages, 3 spreads. … With this new direction, and Conway’s drive, I expect that development will continue on the comic book and game. For the comic book, we’ll start having real deliverables within a couple months. The game has 80% of what it needs now, and may be approaching a playable version within the year.” Matt and Mahmoud did more work in about three days than most people get through in three weeks. They also found time to explore Pittsburgh a bit, catch a hockey game, and even read a few comics in the midst of drawing their own. However, the majority of Matt and Mahmoud’s time here was spent in a lively discussion which looped back to comics regularly, but ranged all over the place. It was almost a bonus that some work got done, but really it was this discourse, this rapid-fire exchange of ideas and experiences that made the time uniquely valuable. It certainly made the line between “teacher” and “student” very fluid. Mahmoud had incredibly generous things to say about the experience as a whole, and I’ll let him finish this report in his own words. Mahmoud concluded: “Frank is inspirational, completely earnest, and almost totally pure. He is not jaded, not burned out. He is hopeful and hard working. He has lived a lot of places, from Pittsburgh to New York to San Francisco to New Mexico and back to Pittsburgh, just down the street from his mom (who is very nice). Compared to my expectations of independent comics artists, Frank is well-adjusted and well-equipped, with good taste in more than just comics. This expectation is likely skewed by my reading of so many “journal comics” artists. I feel like I learned about creating and collecting in general, not just about comics. Frank never stops relating things to comics, education, and community-building. Passion is fleeting compared to this. His motivation is closer to second nature. This nature was my original hopeful realization with Frank, before I met him. I feel a deep kinship with him, as I think about creating code the same way he thinks about creating comics. Independent, expressive, and individually valuable. Corporate partnerships are inevitable and, while they can be good, ultimately these looming entities don’t care about the potential of comics/code, they just use creators opportunistically. I see Frank doing for independent print comics what E-40 does in hip hop. He seems to know everyone past and present. E-40 and Frank both act upon this knowledge, combining it with the deeply ingrained understanding that respect is the real currency of the business. Money is an inescapable reality, but it’s possible and laudable to address the group as a community first and an industry second. Economies have a tendency to be treated as zero-sum. But respect is not zero-sum. Through his music, E-40 pulls everyone together, adding to their respect, and his own. And above all he respects himself, setting a good example. So it is with Frank. Suffice it to say, we need more creator-mentor-educators like Frank (as well as Sally, who I think recognizes all this and more, and actively assists Frank in the mission). In my ideal world I would be able to spend one week per year with a creator of his caliber, but I feel lucky to even have this one trip. … Long story short, I wish Frank and team the best of luck in “reddin up” the residency in time for another visit in the next year or two.” – Mahmoud Hashemi Many thanks to Mahmoud and Matt for coming to the Rowhouse and contributing their considerable energy and talents to Comics Workbook. We’re humbled and thrilled to have hosted them, and look forward to channeling what we learned from them into future residencies. ————————————————————————————————— Please take a moment to check out Homemake, as well as some of Mahmoud and Matt’s other interesting projects. Homemake (coming soon! – keep up with the progress) Chill Anime Beats (a musical curation collaboration) Matt Conway’s website Sedimental (Accretionary thoughts by Mahmoud Hashemi) Listen to Wikipedia (seriously, check this out it is SO COOL!) Here’s a taste of what Homemake will offer – P.S. Mahmoud and Matt had a funny encounter with Frank’s Mom and a real pap-pap (Mr. Greene) at the airport. Check it out below. Share this page: [...]

02/24/2016

Juan FernándezFebruary 24, 2016NewsLet’s start off with some good news in light of all the essential discussions about the history of women involved in the comics art form! Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics, a new exhibition at the House of Illustration has opened its doors and will be open to the public until the 15th of May. The exhibition features the work of Tove Jansson, Jackie Ormes, Marjane Satrapi, June Tarpé Mills and so many more. An unmissable exhibition, really. Wish I was in the UK for this! Intelligent Life Magazine and The Guardian both have articles you should check out about the show that might help you dip a little deeper into how very real women’s role in the history of comics medium has been. – Portland’s Floating World Comics has published their 2015 sales report, juicy details and all. Get the inside scoop here. There’s been a lot of talk about Marvel and DC dropping the ball or missing the mark creatively. Licensed books and superheroes make up the majority of the 10,000 different titles we carry, but only one cracked the top 25. Are they making the best books they can? Are their hands tied? Do they care? Marvel and DC are corporate employers that offer creators steady pay and benefits. Image doesn’t offer a page rate, a book has to sell over 3000-5000 copies to make it sustainable. (Usagi Yojimbo sells just under 5000 copies). But many of the best writers have reached a level of success where they can afford to take the freelance, creator owned route. It’s complicated because all these things are connected in the direct market. There’s a much larger, diverse selection of good books to sell compared to when I started the store 10 years ago. But Marvel and DC are still the backbone of most shops even if they’re producing the least interesting material. – Big news for daily comics publishing: The Nib relaunches. It’ll be over at First Look Media. After it’s departure from Medium it is changing form to satisfy the kaleidoscope of digital platform usage habits of modern comics readers. Read more about the future of the Nib here. “Joining First Look Media is a fantastic evolution for The Nib, ” said Bors. “We’re going to expand our lineup and offerings. The Nib won’t be confined to just one online destination, but will deliver comics where readers want to see them – whether through our re-launched website, on social media or in their inboxes every morning.” – Kim Jooha‘s writtten a short, insightful piece on Deep Valley, Jean-Philippe Bretin‘s latest effort. Read it over at Good (art) comics. While there are about a dozen panels over a spread of two pages, like familiar comics, plentiful panels are enlarged so that we see a panel over a page or even a spread. As this large drawing appears, we confront the enormous space with the depth, compared to the flat page with panels. Even a blank panel with nothing inside possesses some physical weight. Sometimes the panel itself (not just the boundary) is twisted so that the space in that panel is contorted. After facing the vast space, we encounter a page with several panels and dynamic and crowded lines of different panels stand out. – Alex Hoffman reviews Mickey Z’s dealing with Winter zine, a fun, fast and loose themed comics anthology. Check out and see what Hoffman thinks over at Sequential State. My stray thought on DEALING WITH WINTER zine is how it feels like a self-portrait of Zacchilli, in the sense that the things that comprise the anthology are also the things that Zacchilli focuses on in personal work. There’s a strong component of mark-making and frenetic energy throughout the book. The off-the wall and/or wry humor in the book also feels a lot like the humor Zacchilli includes in RAV. And I think I like it more for that reason. The anthology feels directed, maybe not completely successfully, but it doesn’t feel slap-dash. – Last but not least I want to point out a wonderful piece of critical theory by Kevin Yuen Kit Lo. Kevin focuses on the recent Pantone Colour of the year choice and explores the of the color pair’s rise as aesthetic form and how it exemplifies just another instance of capital’s sublimation of rebel forms for profit. It’s an old story, yeah, but it’s one that bears repeating. Sit down and have a read. Beyond filling corporate coffers on the backs of subcultural labour, the truly grievous effect is the erasure of a critical aesthetic tool from the subculture and its associated social movements. It blunts the critical teeth of the colours’ usage within these contexts and undermines the visual self-representation, self-determination, and autonomy of these subcultural groups. Joyous, rebellious anger is being cynically muted into a gentle, weightless calm by designers everywhere, blindly following the authority of Pantone’s proclamations. Share this page: [...]

10/05/2018

Sally IngrahamOctober 4, 2018NewsSally here. Busy week. I’m working on completing, and starting, a couple of personal comics projects. I’m also (as usual) reading three different comics at once – Rina Ayuyang‘s Blame This on the Boogie, Emma Rios‘ I.D., and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Whichever one I finish first I’ll write about next week! For the time being, here’s a roundup of what everyone else has been writing and thinking about, comics-wise, lately. Laura Howell (pictured above) was the first female cartoonist to produce a strip in The Beano (an 80-year old British children’s comic magazine) – 12 years later she is still working for them. Read about her HERE. The mysterious “Olivia Jaimes“, current and much discussed artist behind the rebirth of the strip Nancy, made an appearance at CXC recently (in a disguise) – Rocko Jerome was there and offers a full report. Annie Koyama announced the spring lineup of books for Koyama Press – including the latest from Emily Carroll (above). See what else is coming up HERE. Joe McCulloch reviews Lale Westvind‘s Grip #1 over on The Comics Journal – and words fail him. The Washington Post compares notes on the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process with Ann Telnaes and Signe Wilkinson, among other editorial cartoonists. The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is now accepting applications for the 2019 Lucy Shelton Caswell Research Award – details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

11/06/2018

Aaron CockleNovember 6, 2018NewsVote Aquí; Art of Native America; Comic Arts Brooklyn Panels ————————————————————————————————— A Brief History of Bilingual Voting José -Luis Olivares at Popula. ————————————————————————————————— Art of Native America At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 4, 2018-October 6, 2019. This landmark exhibition in the Museum’s American Wing showcases 116 masterworks representing the achievements of artists from more than fifty cultures across North America. Ranging in date from the second to the early twentieth century, the diverse works are promised gifts, donations, and loans to The Met from the pioneering collectors Charles and Valerie Diker. Long considered to be the most significant holdings of historical Native American art in private hands, the Diker Collection has particular strengths in sculpture from British Columbia and Alaska, California baskets, pottery from southwestern pueblos, Plains drawings and regalia, and rare accessories from the eastern Woodlands. ————————————————————————————————— Comic Arts Brooklyn 2018 The CAB show is this Sundayn November 11, here is some info about the panels and additional events: ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

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