Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

Explore

04/27/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 26, 2017NewsSally here with the Kugali database, work from Adam Griffiths and Lawrence “Raw Dog” Hubbard, and your daily dose of comic strips by Comics Workbook creators! ————————————————————————————————— I recently discovered Kugali, a curated database of African comics, games, and animation. The three Nigerian founders – Ziki Nelson, Tolu Olowofoyeku, and Maculay Alvarez – spoke to Konbini recently about why they started the site and their continuing plans for it. Ziki speaking here: “My relationship with comics was love at first sight. I started with Spiderman and for over two decades it’s been non-stop. However, at some point I realized that the vast majority of comics consistently overlooked or simply ignored the African experience. At first this was disappointing. I felt like this thing that I loved so much didn’t care about me or my culture. I reached out to my co-founders, both of whom had gone through similar experiences, and our goal was simple: find out if there are any African comics and see if they were any good. Not not only did we discover dozens of amazing comics, we also found awesome video games, cartoons and many other cool projects. The only problem I had with this revelation was the whole discovery process. So, we decided to aggregate all of this awesome content so people could discover the best African content.“ The Kugali blog is an excellent place to start exploring – check it out HERE. The official database can be found HERE. The guys also have a YouTube channel and a Podcast, so take some time to really dig into the comics of Africa and the African diaspora with them! ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths has launched a new webcomic called American Cryo – you can read the rest of the first strip (pictured in part above) HERE. He also released the mini-comic he finished drawing in January during his Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency – The Permanent Night – which you can purchase HERE. ————————————————————————————————— In his weekly roundup of comics-related stuff on VICE, Nick Gazin spoke to Lawrence “Raw Dog” Hubbard, co-creator of the Real Deal comics (with H. P. McElwee, who passed away in 1998). Lawrence has been working on the comic since 1990, and Fantagraphics recently collected the 7 issues. “VICE: What’s it like to have this hardcover collection of your comics after all these decades? Lawrence “Raw Dog” Hubbard: “What’s it like?” It’s a feeling of euphoria, of validation. Thinking of all of the hard work, hours of drawing and creating Real Dealand wondering, Does anybody give a shit about this? All of the times me and H.P. McElwee took Real Deal directly to the people, the fans, they loved it! But at the same time when we went before the gatekeepers of the industry—publishers, distributors, shop owners—they said, “No! Why don’t you come up with a new superhero?” The best way to look at this is to never give up! If you love something and have a passion for it, stick with it! And whatever happens will happen! And thanks to Fantagraphics, the word about Real Deal will get out to gobs of comic fans who never heard of it before.“ Read more HERE. Get a copy of Real Deal from Copacetic Comics! ————————————————————————————————— Extra Innings Keith Knight was featured on Episode 29 of Study Group‘s Process Party. The Comics Journal shares one last review of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand – reviewed by Mathias Wivel HERE. David Betancourt, who has joined the Washington Post‘s Comic Riffs blog team, wrote about Tee Franklin‘s Bingo Love earlier this month. James Kaplan reviews Space Riders: Galaxy of Brutality #1 by Alexis Ziritt and Fabian Rangel Jr. on Panel Patter – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-27-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-27-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-27-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/05/2016

HarrisonMay 5, 2016News Daily views of daily news. For Thursday were looking for the free stuff, talking about (visual) language, paying attention to style, and cooking up soul. ————————————————————————————————— Freebies Tell your friends and family, Free Comic Book Day is Saturday. Find a store here and try not to get stingy. ————————————————————————————————— “Look at him. In a couple of years he could become another Picasso.” “I watched Style Wars today – it’s been on my list ever since reading that bit of Hip Hop Family Tree by @edpiskor. I made a bunch of “scene” cards and arranged them this way – next time I’ll arrange them a different way. Turns out I like drawing break dancers almost as much as I like drawing graffiti.” Sally Ingraham Putting this idea from my CW colleague in my briefcase for the near future. ————————————————————————————————— Eye Emoji. Paintbrush Emoji. “A critique is an oral or written discussion strategy used to analyze, describe, and interpret works of art. Critiques help students hone their persuasive oral and writing, information-gathering, and justification skills.” ————————————————————————————————— Ideas and Language By Cameron Nicholson Your ideas are pure, but in order to make your ideas connect, you must learn the language they understand and speak. Once you’ve learned the stepping tones of their language you can get your ideas through. Then they HAVE to listen. Now that you have them listening, captivate them. Captivate them for the sake of YOU creating; you’re not catering to their needs. Your ideas are way more powerful than you think, the language barrier is what halts understanding from artist to viewer. These Language Barriers in art are why artists and non-artist get scared or become stagnant, but then we realize these languages are the “foundations.” Knowing these foundations are the basic words of art. “Whether or not you agree now, you will begin to at least listen once I start speaking your language.” If I started a track with a sample of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” that led into my song or beat, a listener can become indirectly invested to continue listening. For people who love Otis or that sound you already feel comfortable and invested in him & those sounds. It’s how mixing and sampling became so big in Hip Hop. Fan Art uses the languages you already comfortable with and gets you to keep listening. Everyone has different taste, but the idea is to learn the foundation/language of that “art form” to speak your thoughts. Thus the idea of languages in/of art. Morning thoughts and ideas forming in this odd head of mine. I’ll keep cracking at these ideas until they make sense to everyone. Smooth music to relax, drink some tea or even work too. Richmond, Va’s DJ Harrison makes some insanely amazing beats. Each track can give you energy to do many different things. I personally like “Vault Series #6 Trio 1967” just some great things there. When doing comics, think of beats per panel. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Comics as music, music as comics. https://djharrison.bandcamp.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Live! Sop up this soul with your breakfast bread. Happy Thursday. Share this page: [...]

12/31/2018

Caleb OrecchioDecember 31, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here on the last day of 2018 with Parallel Lives by Olivier Schrauwen ————————————————————————————————— Parallel Lives by Olivier Schrauwen Olivier Schrauwen lives way up there with kings and queens of our medium. I have a lot to say about the author and his new book, but brevity may stop me from going too far over my head so in brevity I will write. Schrauwen has set a hammock between the rigid and the naturalistic. Schrauwen’s drawing veers towards the rigid often. His use of ruled lines and strict character models nearly teeter into stone. Yet, it is his natural, loose free-hand that brings balance to the force. His wonderful, thin pencil lines themselves serve to soften that rigidity as well. O how I love that pencil that leaves smudges though they are hardly noticeable in direct sunlight, but nonetheless make looking all the more pleasurable. The feature story of Parallel Lives, “Space Bodies,” is undeniably inspired by Moebius’ Gardens of Aedena (concept-wise), and is probably his most visually striking comic to date. His colors are masterful and beautiful. You’ve scarcely seen blue until you have seen it in this comic. The future he illustrates is completely enviable if only for want to walk around in it. Schrauwen fleshes out worlds that seem impossible, and yet inviting to live in. The whole book is practically beckoning one to jump in. Olivier Schrauwen can not be more on the up and up right now. He is steam-rolling over the lame and sickly cartoonists and driving himself to the center of the universe. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

10/02/2018

Aaron CockleOctober 2, 2018NewsThurber + Tomine; Hairy Who; Drawing Center; Adversarial Elephant Networks ————————————————————————————————— ADRIAN TOMINE: Comics Work (2004-2014) October 4 – November 11, 2018 ADAM BAUMGOLD FINE ART 104 E. 81st Street, NYC ————————————————————————————————— Hairy Who? 1966-1969 The Art Institute of Chicago Through January 6, 2019 Although the Hairy Who chose to exhibit together, they were six individuals with their own personal, chiefly figurative vocabularies. They each radically manipulated source material collected from everyday life—including advertisements, comics, posters, and sales catalogs—with technical virtuosity. Their sense of humor embraced idiosyncrasy and spontaneity with wordplay, puns, and inside jokes that often belied the transgressiveness of their subject matter. Ambiguous, provocative, but also strategic, their work transmitted progressive ideas that challenged prevailing notions of gender and sexuality, social mores and standards of beauty, and nostalgia and obsolescence. ————————————————————————————————— Opening Reception: Thursday, October 11, 6–8pm The Drawing Center | 35 Wooster Street For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn; Jennifer Wynne Reeves: All Right for Now; a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 a… is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 explores the imaginative determination of “drawing” and “line” by relating it to a development process, social artifacts, psychological trace, and prosthetic memory—journals, maps, technology, and calendars. The poetics of flow between known and unknown is a feedback murmur that leads to clarity when engaging the object. a..is alter(ed) features Joeun Aatchim, Kenseth Armstead, Ludovica Carbotta, Billy and Steven Dufala, LaMont Hamilton, and Ester Partegàs. Organized Rosario Güiraldes and and Lisa Sigal, Open Sessions Curators, together with participating artists. ————————————————————————————————— Detecting an elephant in a room. Via Amir Rosenfeld, Richard Zemel, and John K. Tsotsos We showcase a family of common failures of state-of-the art object detectors. These are obtained by replacing image sub-regions by another sub-image that contains a trained object. We call this “object transplanting”. Modifying an image in this manner is shown to have a non-local impact on object detection. Slight changes in object position can affect its identity according to an object detector as well as that of other objects in the image. We provide some analysis and suggest possible reasons for the reported phenomena. 10-02-2018 – by Niall Breen Share this page: [...]

03/25/2016

Sally IngrahamMarch 25, 2016NewsSally Ingraham and Gabriella Tito here today with more details on that Urasawa Naoki no Manben episode, a new article from John F. Kelly, some behind-the-scenes peeking, and comics from Stephen Beck and Cesar Erhard. ————————————————————————————————— Right off the bat we’ll hand the mic to Gabriella Tito. She’s a terrific cartoonist from Orlando, FL, whose work you can find on her own tumblr, on Comics Workbook, and most recently within the pages of Zona 01. Although the Daily News team here at Comics Workbook reported on the recently subtitled episode of Urasawa Naoki no Manben a few days ago, Gabriella wanted to dig in with some thoughts of her own. Here she is! Hi all! Gabriella Tito here reporting from Orlando Florida. I wanted to expand a bit more on the recent episode of “Urasawa Naoki no Manben“. The first episode in the new season focused on Hagio Moto, often referred to as the founding mother of Shoujo manga and BL (boy’s love, stories that involve two young men romantically). Shoujo manga loosely means “girls comics” if you are not familiar with the term. It has a general focus on the psychological aspects of the characters and romantic relationships. BL is a subculture of the Bishounen (a beautiful and youthful boy) culture that Hagio Moto and other female manga artists pioneered during the 70’s. Drama and conflict is key for both of these genres! Unfortunately, a lot of her work has not been seen in English, which is why you may recognize the famous shoujo style, but not Hagio Moto’s name. In Japan she is extremely well known and many manga artists cite her as their inspiration. To say her work was a direct inspiration to me would be a little far-fetched, but I can say I was greatly inspired by the genre she helped to create. I was always an avid manga reader growing up, always imitating my favorite artists. So naturally, watching this episode of Manben for me was truly a delight! I am a huge NERD when it comes to process and Hagio Moto’s process was no exception. Unlike many of the other artists featured on Manben, she works at a much slower pace, fully fleshing out the sketch before inking. This is a huge refreshment, given the environment I have come to know in the fast paced world of comics. There is such detail and thought given to the poses she creates because of the fact that she is trying to convey so much into one action. Naoki Urasawa in one section even pointed out that Moto’s work reads exactly like a theater drama, even down to the lighting! I think Shoujo manga in general can be seen as a theater drama if you look at it in that perspective. One final thought about the episode is how frantic Moto is about getting the “performance” just right or else her thoughts will not be conveyed correctly. She talked as if her characters are actors on a stage – the acting has to be perfect or else the drama falls flat, right? It’s why composition and being able to convey the mood of the moment is so important, even in comics without intense drama like Hagio Moto’s. Thank you all for tuning in! – Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— All righty, Sally back on the mic now to bring you the rest of your Friday comics flotsam and jetsam. John F. Kelly has delivered a fantastic article about Bill Griffith – the “legendary underground cartoonist” best known for his comic strip Zippy the Pinhead – and the weird relationship between Zippy, Bill, and the city of Pittsburgh. The article is perfectly timed, because Bill Griffith will once again be in Pittsburgh – next Saturday, for the Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo (PIX) – and everyone is hoping that Zippy will also find himself in more odd corners of that city. Check out the article right here on Comics Workbook, and if you’re in the area, pop round to PIX to meet Bill Griffith next weekend! ————————————————————————————————— There are a lot of cartoonists out there right now who are really putting in the work, whether it’s Jim Rugg and his cat, stapling zines together in preparation for DINK (TODAY and TOMORROW in Denver!); or Anya Davidson hand coloring Band for Life (see pic above); or Oliver East numbering his run of 1,000 new books (below); or Grant Gronewold packing up comics in borrowed medical bags immediately following a surgery…not to mention the feverish activity that is taking place at the Rowhouse any given day, as Frank assembles Truth Zones and prints Zona 02 among a thousand other things. Maybe it’s because I am up to my eyeballs in my own comics at the moment, in preparation for PIX (April 2nd, Pittsburgh!), that I find all these folks so relatable. However, this part of the process – less glamorous perhaps than the drawing and composing of a comic – has always interested me, and that DIY spirit is a huge part of what makes this community viable and vibrant. Hang in there folks – you can do it! ————————————————————————————————— Giving a shout from Switzerland, Raul Burgos Paredes has a recommendation for us – Coloforme (and Greyscale) by Stephen Beck. Published by the collective Frémok (located in Brussels), the book does indeed look “trippy and awesome”, as do many of the other offerings from the group. Keep hitting that translation button if you have to as you poke around the site – you just might find a treasure. (Raul has just stumbled into comics, by way of cartoonists on tumblr and the likes of 2dcloud and Comics Workbook, but he is quickly finding his feet. We’ll see what else he digs up!) ————————————————————————————————— Cesar Erhard has been rolling out comics about various musicians over the last few weeks. The most recent offering can be seen above, featuring trumpeter Charles Tolliver. Cesar has riffed on pianist Ahmad Jamal, on Alice Coltrane and her harp, and detailed the first time he heard the music of Sun Ra. He collects something special about each artist and holds it in gentle hands, so that we can catch a few notes of the music the way he hears it. Sounds good to me. ————————————————————————————————— That’s another week wrapped up, folks! Let’s meet back here on Monday for more comics gold. – Sally Share this page: [...]

8/22/2016

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 by Juan Fernández

Juan here with the latest over here at CW: Hernandez Brothers’ Rowhouse Residency Benefit Auction; Gabriella Tito’s HOMESICK; PORTRAITS by Connor Willumsen pre-orders; MORIYAMA’S DOG by Berliac; Sloane Leong’s MAPS TO THE SUN; Julia Gfrörer BLACK IS THE COLOR back in print; new STREET ANGEL from Jim Rugg; Ben Sears’ print sale.

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Los Bros Hernandez Benefit Auction
You heard it hear first, folks, thee great Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez have generously donated art and comics to benefit the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency! Our auction runs through Saturday August 27th at 3pm. Get in on it while you can!

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Gabriella Tito revisiting Homesick

I’m happy to announce that we are featuring Gabriella Tito’s Homesick on the site this week. Tito made Homesick for the first issue of Zona (Comics Workbook, January 2016), channeling her considerable drawing chops into a story of quiet exploration in black and white.

During her recent Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency, Gabriella revisited her comic in a unique way. She decided to color it, experimenting with different mediums ranging from airbrush to pencils, taking this burst of new energy directly to the printed pages of Frank Santoro’s personal copy. The results are quite amazing.

We are thrilled to share those pages HERE!

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Portraits by Connor Willumsen
Comics Workbook is very pleased to present a new book from Connor Willumsen – Portraits. Available now for pre-order – get your copy HERE!

Connor is one of our original CW samurais. He will be joining Frank Santoro at The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival this fall, teaching workshops and sharing his process. Look for him there!

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Moriyama’s Dog – Berliac

Berliac‘s got a new comic up on Vice! The printed version of Moriyama’s Dog was originally published Kus! #25: “Gaijin Mangaka”.
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Maps to the Sun – Sloane Leong
Sloane Leong‘s got a new one for ya. It’s a short comic about two girls during a hot whirlwind of a summer. Leong knows how to make a comic breathe. Check it out, it’ll make your heart heavy.

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Black is the Color: Back in Print
It’s true, Julia Gfrörer‘s Black is the Color is back in print from Fantagraphics Books! – to celebrate we have a review by Bill Boichel up on the site. Check out the video above for an in depth discussion from 2014 between Julia Gfrörer & Tucker Stone on Black is the Color at The Strand in NYC.

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Ben Sear’s Printsale
Ben Sears’ is having a print sale on his site to cover some unexpected expenses. Here’s your chance to pick up some of his delicious prints for that special someone. For discounts, enter “printsale” at checkout. There’s so much to choose from when it comes to Sear’s art!

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until next time!
JF

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

Explore

03/03/2017

Sally IngrahamMarch 2, 2017NewsSally here with comics by Marie Jacotey, Jessica Abel, Amanda Baeza, Jessica Campbell, Sophie Franz, Gabriella Tito, and others to end your week on a high note! ————————————————————————————————— Adult Swim has been publishing comics online and among many interesting ones, I found Gerry by Marie Jacotey – you can see the first part above and the rest HERE. Marie is a Paris-born comics-maker and alum of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. Another piece she made recently is Paradise, which was commissioned for a cocktail magazine, and explores the cliche of the “insufferable creative” – check it out HERE. Also featured on Adult Swim is a series by Esther Pearl Watson called Crapland, and Liana Finck‘s Horrible People – plus tons of funny and weird comics created by dudes (including the great Benjamin Marra!) ————————————————————————————————— Speaking of comics about cocktails, pictured here is part of a 5 page story called Rusty Nail made by Amanda Baeza which appeared in Cocktails After-Dinner, a publication made by Studio Pilar. This was one book in a 4-part series that includes Pre-Dinner, After-Dinner, Anytime, and the upcoming Long Drink (Marie Jacotey’s story Paradise, which I mentioned above, appeared in Cocktails Anytime). Each book features 6 stories by different comics artists based on a specific drink – more details about the project can be found HERE. Studio Pilar is an Italian collective and cultural association composed of four illustrators which focuses on promoting visual communication with an emphasis on comics and self-publishing. More about them HERE. Amanda Baeza is a half-Chilean/half-Portuguese cartoonist – check out more of her work on her site. ————————————————————————————————— There is a terrific interview with Jessica Campbell about her book Hot Or Not: 20th-Century Male Artists (which is one of my top 5 comics of 2016) over on The Fridge Door Gallery. The premise of the book is of course, “we know these guys were geniuses, but were they hot?!“ “Jackie Hampshire: Have you been subjected to the male-dominated Art History survey course in the past? Did it add fuel to the fire? Jessica Campbell: I took a class in undergrad that used Janson’s History of Art (an edition that included women, thankfully) but countered it with essays like Linda Nochlin’s “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Frankly, most of the blatant sexism that I have encountered in art has been in the comics world, where even last year, the largest (or second largest?) comics festival in the world gave out a lifetime achievement award that, of 30 nominees, included not a single woman. And, similar to Janson’s text, about 10 years ago in comics there was a touring exhibition and catalogue called The Masters of American Comics that was intended by its curator/editor to solidify a comics canon and included not a single woman artist. I remember watching a panel discussion with him where he said that there’s “never been a female Milt Caniff,” which was essentially the same as Janson saying that there’s never been a female Rembrandt or whatever. Yeah, OK, but there is a female Mary Cassatt, Artemisia Gentileschi, Frieda Kahlo, etc. JH: I know you work with many mediums, why did you choose the graphic novel for this particular commentary? JC: Part of it was the facility/logic of expressing the joke/critique in a book format, and part of it was the idea of reducing the work to black and white, somewhat crude drawings. I liked the idea of reducing these male geniuses to only their appearances and reducing their masterworks to crude reproductions.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. ————————————————————————————————— This story by Jessica Abel was a nice discovery in Biff Bong Pow! No. 1, an anthology from 1991 that was edited by Ivan Brunetti. Jessica is pretty cool – a good cartoonist and one who has been totally dedicated to the medium and the community for decades. She makes comics, writes about them, teaches, does motivational coaching, and gets up to all kinds of other mischief. Her current projects include Trish Trash, a space-roller-derby comic, and online workshops to jump-start your creativity. Disregarding all she’s got going on NOW, I’m always particularly thrilled to find her earlier work. There is a different kind of life in it, something rawer. The comic above and two more stories I turned up in Biff Bang Pow! No. 2 were a special treat – and a great bonus to a couple of wild comics collections that show off the varied and hilarious skills of Ivan Brunetti and a few other pals. ————————————————————————————————— What is Sophie Franz up to these days? Her sketchbooks are always full of detailed, story-filled drawings like the one above, and frankly they are tantalizing teasers that drive me crazy. I loved her book The Experts, which was released by Retrofit Comics last year – so deliciously creepy – and now I’m eager for something new from Sophie. While we all wait for that…check out her work here and join me in trying to decipher her sketchbook pages…! ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Tamaki is hitting the road with her new book Boundless (Drawn & Quarterly, 2017) this spring. “Boundless explores the intersection (and overlap) between the virtual and IRL worlds.” Check out a preview of the book HERE! ————————————————————————————————— On the Spider’s Web Dominique Goblet‘s Pretending is Dying is reviewed on The New York Times – in brief, the book is “tender, affecting, and complete“. From Marlene Krause comes the comic Edible on VICE. “A strange maternal creature and her child exist in a weird toxic wilderness. What the hell is going on?“ Ann Telnaes jumped onto The Nib to share a “Sleazy-Bake Oven“. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts March 7th. The course is 8 weeks long – 500 bux – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail to apply. Not ready to commit to an 8 week course but still want to put some thought towards making comics or leveling up your skill set? Check out thee Santoro School Handbook – 16 pages of comics-making gold! ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-3-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-3-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

06/06/2016

Juan FernándezJune 6, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here! We start Monday at Comics Workbook with: a newly stocked SCHOOL STORE; Oliver East’s COTTONOPOLIS; Genevieve Castree’s time of need; Roman Muradov in conversation with Tim Hensley on INKSTUDS; Puiupo and Adonis interviewed by Kevin Czap; Eleri Mai Harris on the origins of the Islamic State; Kramers Ergot/ Ganges Mini Tour 2016 Dates. ————————————————————————————————— On the site: School Store STOCKED We have some new items up on the school store – ZONA #03 was just released, plus there are some cool comics sets and other collectibles/delectables – check it out! ————————————————————————————————— Cottonopolis by Oliver East I’m happy to announce that this week we are featuring Oliver East’s Cottonopolis series on Comics Workbook. Made from November 2014 through January 2015 by Oliver East for Comics Workbook, Cottonopolis is a series of 6 panel comics that, among other things, blurs the lines between the historical documentation of a place and the documentation of identity. In their own mysterious way, these comics unpack moments in a life that swirl in the history of Manchester, England. ————————————————————————————————— Off the site: HELP GENEVIÈVE ELVERUM AND HER FAMILY FACE CANCER In May of 2015, Geneviève Elverum (Cartoonist: Geneviève Castrée/ Musician: Woelv/Ô Paon) was out of the blue diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In the last year that she has undergone necessary treatment, Geneviève and her husband, Phil, have had to deplete all their savings to face the medical costs associated with this illness. At the moment, Phil is reaching out for financial help. Phil Elverum: We are asking the world to please donate money to us. Treatment is ongoing. Nobody in our household has been able to work for over a year. Geneviève has not made any new work. Phil has not made any music or been able to perform or do anything. Life is 100% occupied by this humongous medical battle (plus the already overwhelming reality of raising a baby with less than 2 fully available parents). We don’t know what the future holds and how long this uncertainty will last. In any case, the amount we’ve spent over the last year alone has left us in a precarious financial position as a family. Genevieve and Phil are asking for help through a GoFundMe campaign. Any amount helps. ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267747519″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Roman Muradov interviews Tim Hensley on Inkstuds Muradov:Dan Clowes described Wally Gropius as “a work of unassuming genius that rewards on ever-deepening levels on each re-reading” and this quote applies just as well to Tim’s two other books, Ticket Stub and, most recently, Sir Alfred Number 3, a comic-strip biography of Alfred Hitchcock that is unlike anything you may expect from the phrase “comic-strip biography.” ————————————————————————————————— Puiupo and Adonis Kevin Czapieski interviews Puiupo & Adonis Pantazopoulos, the author’s of Czap Book’s latest release, the Brazilian sci-fi comic Úlcera. K – Adonis, what is your background? You paint as well as make comics, did you go to art school? A – “I did, here in São Paulo there’s an art school called Quanta that I attended between 2010~2012 and I’ve recently dropped out of an animation college (I did only one period, ).” K – Puiupo, you’re currently studying animation, right? What kind of animation influenced that decision – is there anything out there that you’re really excited about? P – “Well, I’m really into modern Japanese animation and it’s been my main influence since I started drawing. Masaaki Yuasa has to be my life goal without a doubt (laughs). I am also very exited about the pace that the Brazilian animation scene has been growing at recently, and I want to be a part of it’s growth, if I manage to stay motivated (laughs). Generally, an animation major was the thing that made more sense for me at the time, coming from comics and all, you know. But I don’t want to restrain myself to it, personally or professionally. I have a deep interest in comics and animation just as much as I have for fashion, painting, and performance. I hope to get the time to work on these other creative areas at some point.” Read it all here. ————————————————————————————————— Islamic State Illustrated Eleri Mai Harris has written and illustrated a well researched piece of comics journalism on the origins of the Islamic State over on the ABC. For those interested, Harris and her team have compiled lots of references for you to dig into after reading this piece of comics journalism to further educate yourself. ————————————————————————————————— Kramers Ergot / Ganges MINI TOUR 2016 June 10-12th – Chicago – QUIMBY’S June 14th – Toronto – THE BEGUILING June 15th – Pittsburgh – COPACETIC COMICS June 16th – New York City – DESERT ISLAND ————————————————————————————————— see you Wednesday! Until then, keep your volume knobs turned all the way up. -Juan Share this page: [...]

10/28/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 28, 2016NewsSally 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— ??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. ————————————————————————————————— 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. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— 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.) ————————————————————————————————— 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. We also have Frank’s LICAF report along with the thoughts of Aidan Koch and other CW students – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Have a happy Halloweenie weekend folks! – Sally Share this page: [...]

03/09/2018

Sally IngrahamMarch 8, 2018NewsSally here with Katie Fricas, Eleanor Davis, Fiona Smyth, Karabo Poppy Moletsane, and a lot more! ————————————————————————————————— Katie Fricas has a new comic that is being serialized on Spiral Bound via Medium. The comic is called Checked Out and is about “library life”, a.k.a. her observations and experiences at work, and so far I love everything about it! The subject matter is very relatable for me, and I always enjoy her lines and use of color. I appreciate that she’s using the grid with this comic as well – it makes for a very nice rhythm to each story, and provides some structure for her to hang the wild drawings on. (This comic finally made me sign up for a Medium account, and I may just cough up $5 a month so I can keep up with this story and the numerous other comics that appear in the Spiral Bound section of the site – learn more about this publication HERE.) ————————————————————————————————— Eleanor Davis‘ new book Why Art? is reviewed on The Red & Black, by a reader who also attended a slideshow presentation by Eleanor Davis on the book, in Athens, GA. Eleanor has been on tour doing a lot of these presentations with this book, and getting really good turnouts. The author of this particular piece, Lara Strydom, writes: “Probably one of the most thought-provoking moments was during the introduction, when the various purposes of art are described and the novel reveals that sometimes art will remind us of things that we’d rather forget. We often reject what we don’t want to hear or see because of the way it might make us feel. This idea is then represented by a completely blacked out page in the book, almost as if it is representing how we shield our eyes from unwanted emotions or ideas.” Strydom spoke to other folks who attended the presentation, and got their thoughts on the work. ” “ that whole cyclical idea of ‘We create our own lives and destroy our own lives, we create our own worlds and destroy our own worlds,’ and there’s this constant cycle of birth and destruction,” said Melissa Link, an audience member and Athens resident.” Read the rest of the article HERE. In his piece for the Copacetic Comics website on Why Art?, Bill Boichel mentions “a surprising – and intriguing – twist that longtime comics readers will recognize as a thematic recapitulation of the late-’50s/early-’60s work of Steve Ditko(!).” Get a copy of the comic HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Here’s your reminder to keep up with Fiona Smyth‘s weekly strip CHEEZ. The most recent piece is above – the rest are HERE. ————————————————————————————————— In celebration of International Woman’s Day yesterday (March 8th, 2018) the Google Doodle featured 12 comics by women from around the world, including familiar names like Tillie Walden and Anna Haifisch. You can see the archive of the project HERE, and check out the work of the other women featured. Of the artists who were new to me, I particularly liked the work of Karabo Poppy Moletsane. She is from Johannesburg, South Africa, where she does mostly illustration and graphic design work. However, as you can see above, she has made a few zines and comics as well, and I hope she does more in the future! You can check out the rest of the “Sho’t Left” zine HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Paste Magazine talks to Cecil Castellucci about why Shade, the Changing Girl grew up recently (as seen above). Read the interview HERE. Pam Wye’s third installment in her Water I’ve Loved graphic memoir is up at MUTHA Magazine – read it HERE. New comics by Jessica Campbell and Katie Fricas are up on Hyperallergic – read American Artists Have No Shame (Campbell) and take a look at the Jayne County retrospective (Fricas). The Comics Beat has a review of Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson with artwork by Emily Carroll. Read it HERE. Jessica Abel is offering a free online workshop on March 9th – How to carve out space in your life to achieve your big, deadline-free creative goals. Check it out and sign up HERE. Anya Davidson is staying on top of her weekly podcast with impressive regularity – last week she spoke to Margot Ferrick and this week Tomi Parrish was at the mic. Keep up with Mindkiller HERE. Whit Taylor was the guest on Episode 27 of Comic Book Decalogue on The Comics Journal. Listen HERE. Also on The Comics Journal, an interview with Taneka Stotts. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-9-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

2/15/2016

Juan FernándezFebruary 15, 2016NewsThe comics world suddenly lost Alvin Buenaventura last Thursday. This time is a time of reflection. He left an incredible, indelible mark as a publisher and advocate of the comics medium in the early 21st century. His absence will be sorely felt. You can help keep his legacy alive today by reading any one of the great works he helped usher into the world from the Buenaventura Press + Pigeon Press catalogue. Buenaventura Press Boy’s Club 2 and 3 by Matt Furie Comic Book Holocaust and Klassic Komix Klub by Johnny Ryan Elvis Road by Elvis Studio by Helge Reumann & Xavier Robel Hunter and Painter by Tom Gauld Destined for Dizziness and The Neighborhood by Souther Salazar Yeast Hoist #12: Stop Thinking Start Sleeping Stop Sleeping Start Living by Ron Rege Jr. Spaniel Rage by Vanessa Davis Injury #1, #2 and #3 by Ted May, Jason Robards, and Jeff Wilson Boy’s Club #1 was published by Tim Goodyear’s Teenage Dinosaur. Comic Art Magazine issues 8 and 9 edited by Todd Hignite (2006, 2007) Kramers Ergot 6 edited by Sammy Harkham (2006) Kramers Ergot 7 edited by Sammy Harkham (2008) New York Sketches; a portfolio of drawings by Adrian Tomine (2004) Private Stash: A Pinup-Girl Portfolio by 20 Cartoonists by Robert Crumb, Adrian Tomine, Jaime Hernandez et al. (2006) Dawn by Phil Elverum (2008) The Complete Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty (2009) Pigeon Press Incubation by Charles Burns (2015) In the Garden of Evil by Charles Burns and Killofer (2015) Worst Behavior by Simon Hanselmann (2015) The Libertarian by Nick Mandaag (2014) Facility Integrity by Nick Mandaag (2014) ECHO ECHO by Charles Burns (2014) Rest in peace, Alvin. Leslie Stein has a new comic up on VICE that recounts the second half of her recent, positive trip to Montreal. Good vibes in her diary. Open, airy reflection with juicy colors. Refreshing stuff that’ll warm right up. David Brothers has interviewed Zainab Akhtar over at Inkstuds. They talk about Mads Mikkelsen, Akhtar’s childhood experience with comics, what led to her critiquing comics, being focused on narrative, the community she has found herself in, serializing comics for others, friendship, a brief aside into Masamune Shirow, and much more. A particular highlight here is the questions they pose about the current landscape (or lack thereof) of active comics criticism across social media. No one is chiming in on the conversations that people are working hard to encourage and it drives them mad… [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/246110878″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] If you want some good studio talk and a solid dose of traditional comics craft, go spend some time with the video of Pittsburgh’s own Ed Piskor that Heather and Rob Beschizza put together over at Boingboing. While drawing a Happy Mutant, he takes you through the tools of comics past, his “war chest”: zip-a-tone sheets, letraset, a Leroy lettering gadget, and the immortal spirit of great cartooning. He also muses on what it’s like to teach students who have spent all their comics making lives drawing solely digitally on tablets and the issues that can pose for their process later on. Speed is king ’round these parts. Bill Boichel riffs on camera on his Remedial Comics segment about the latest issue of the one and only Kevin Huizenga’s GANGES: Ganges #5 is a unique reading experience (well, unique outside of the Huizengian oeuvre, at least). Huizenga boldly commits exponential shifts in the temporal scale, weaving a narrative that stretches from a traditional panel-by-panel rendering of second-by-second shifts in mood during a domestic argument to experimental fractal depictions of the natural soil erosion cycles repeating over eons that build up and breakdown the earth in the course of millions upon millions of years; from the immediate to the eternal. The result is a work that succeeds (where others have failed*) in presenting both in a manner that effectively situates each within the other in an equivalence that brings to mind the title of Samuel Delaney’s classic science fiction novel, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (if not so much the novel itself). – Bill Boichel This latest effort is available for you to purchase over at Copacetic Comics. Share this page: [...]

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