Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 18, 2016May 21, 2019

Explore

07/04/2016

Juan FernándezJuly 4, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with: Daniel Clowes at the Bay Area Book Festival; Ronald Wimberly on spec work for corporations; Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary; Lauren Weinstein at the shore; Lunch at Alcatraz Jr.; Aline Kominsky-Crumb und Robert Crumb. ————————————————————————————————— On the site: New in the DIAZ ARCHIVE: http://comicsworkbook.com/daniel-clowes-talk-at-the-bay-area-book-festival-2016/ ————————————————————————————————— No More Free Work for Corporations Stop Doing Spec Pages Pt. 1 Ronald Wimberly: A quick preface: Yesterday a friend of mine told me the story of how she was scouted by DC Comics to participate in their “talent” workshop. My colleague, who worked as a professional for 7 years and had books from Marvel under her belt, made time to meet up with a rookie editor only to subject herself to the editor’s rejection and novice opinion as to how my colleague may one day meet the standards of the DC talent workshop- some other time I’ll talk about how lame this DC Comics talent workshop is in how it is manufacturing the spectacle of demand for their brand by creators and using that to forego the cost and editorial aptitude it takes to curate and build a stable of … but they had the gaul to ask my colleague to do test pages, so here’s my opinion on that. Pt. 2. Ronald Wimberly: If you can’t generate surplus value, then your business model is broken, fam. That means you need to go out of business or fix it. You don’t fix it by getting free labor. Or you can, but that is unjust. ————————————————————————————————— Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary July is here and that means that it’s time to relish in Gabrielle Bell’s July Diary. Since 2012, every July, except for 2015, Gabrielle Bell has been posting a “July Diary,” on her site, which have been collected in her book Truth is Fragmentary from Uncivilized Books. Subscribe to Bell’s blog and receive Bell’s comics in your inbox on the regular. Oh, what a day! This year, Bell is shaking things up a bit in her process. It’s going to be really excited to see where her new process takes her stories… This year I’ve set the parameter for myself of no penciling, no erasing, no revising, no redrawing, no editing. It still isn’t exactly a diary though. If it were really a diary, I’d be exposing all my ugly secrets, my inappropriate crushes, the people I hate and all kinds of incriminating and compromising information about everyone I know. I’d love to do that but it took me so long to get the friends I’ve got and I’d like to keep them. You could call this a journal but I don’t like that word either…it sounds too much like “journaling.” At this point it’s an experiment and I’ll figure out what it is in the future hindsight. ————————————————————————————————— Drawn Together: Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb at Cartoonmuseum Basel 7.2-11.13.2016 A comprehensive exhibition that charts the history of Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb’s collaborative work in their comics series Drawn Together has just opened at Cartoonmuseum Basel. If you’re in Switzerland, you won’t want to miss out on seeing this bit of taboo busting underground comics history in the flesh. ————————————————————————————————— “… I can feel time passing and it aches.” Summer vacation comics from Lauren Weinstein over on the Guardian. Frageile memory, raw parenthood and wild horses swirl together in this one. ————————————————————————————————— New Street Angel update: Jesse’s first breakfast in the big house! So gross yummy! SUBSCRIBE here to keep up with Street Angel news + art via Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca. ————————————————————————————————— New Private Rowhouse Auction – 7.3-7.9 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. Connor Willumsen is offering commission sketches that you don’t want to miss out on, all at different tiers. Don’t sleep on your chance to get work by this contemporary heavy hitter. ————————————————————————————————— soak up the sun, bomb some hills, and feel the wind in your hair, until next time! JF Share this page: [...]

03/09/2017

Sally IngrahamMarch 9, 2017NewsThursday comics news! Sam Ombiri on Yokoyama and Lane Graff, plus the latest from Ben Passmore and Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I was reading Yokoyama recently – I remember first seeing his comics aaaand there was an attraction that’s a tad unutterable. Many others seem to have nailed down what it is – I myself can’t specify. It’s kind of like how sometimes Yokoyama’s explanation of his work is simple. Like, for example, he draws someone paying a clerk at a kiosk because it’s just beautiful. I think that’s what his explanation was for this one sequence he did. Now I wonder if his idea, or attempt, at “drawing as if a bird is watching” applies to this? Well, he might’ve not been talking about the work I’m talking about when speaking of this idea of drawing a bird’s objective view. He’s perceiving the beauty which is apart from the drawing I’ve seen, and still see in memory, or at least feel like I’ve seen – a different version of this, literally speaking. There’s also another meaning to me of this phrase; a different version of something I’ve seen. This version is perceived maybe as a scent that comes with nostalgia, or like when you dream and then think you’ve seen something before, even though you haven’t necessarily seen it before. You end up asking yourself for days where you saw this thing, and you continue to do that – for maybe weeks, maybe months – and then one day you admit that it was in the dream and never existed, hesitantly. This is maybe not a good comparison – but a thing I like a lot about FLCL is the ambiance, and the very familiar mundane evening – or opening up a can to drink from…it’s very familiar, and it’s like this mecha anime I perceived in my mind watching at one time, when in fact I never did. Like when this one character in World Map Room – I think his name is EXPRESS – pulls out a laser gun to show a blast he previously shot. I talked about this with Lane Graff – about how his work has this quality or properties that I’ve read before. I don’t mean that it’s cliche – or maybe it’s a cliche that’s not tired. It’s a very welcomed cliche. Or “cliche” is maybe the wrong word. It’s a similar in the sense that it’s a cliche of a thing I think I experienced, but didn’t. If I was better at writing I could straighten all these thoughts out! It’s the way the cutesy misadventures in Lane’s work, and the sudden horror, all feels “right” and distinctly familiar from a specific place. I’m mostly bringing Lane up because I tried to explain this to him, and without much success, haha. I’m not saying the works mentioned are similar – it’s just a quality that they posses, that I’ve sensed, that I can’t properly render. – Sam Ombiri 3-9-2017 – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— New Orleans-based cartoonist Ben Passmore spoke to Newsarama about his comic Your Black Friend (which AdHouse Books will be distributing starting in May 2017). The mini-comic (originally published by Silver Sprocket last September) is a “necessary contribution to the dialogue around race in the United States…an open letter from your black friend to you about race, racism, friendship and alienation.” Ben talks about the origin of the comic, the effect it has had on others and himself in recent months, and current/future projects. “Passmore: …if my survival is on the line it’s not really a conversation. In my own life, I only really talk about “race issues” with friends, I’m not invested in coming to an understanding with anyone that isn’t already invested in my well-being. I have to prioritize myself and I’m not trying to teach anyone anything. Comics are a nice way to communicate without some of the tensions that make discussing race annoying. Nrama: Has doing this comic as a means to communicate this without teaching someone changed how you view comic books? Has the process of doing it affected what you think about for future works? Passmore: Before Your Black Friend I think I tried my own comics as an exercise for my own brain and I didn’t really think about how other people were going to receive them. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from individuals and the comics industry, which is tight, but the thing I’ve enjoyed the most is how the book has engaged other black cartoonists. I feel like there’s a burgeoning radical black comics milieu, which is right on time given the political environment. Now that I feel like I’m part of a national conversation I’m more excited to write with other people in mind. It’s been nice doing pieces for The Nib because I get to do stories along that continuum of black struggle.“ Read the rest HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Wendy Browne of Women Write About Comics sat down with Ariell Johnson, who found herself in the spotlight last year when she became “the first black woman to open and manage a comic shop on the East Coast. In an industry that too often has pushed back against diversity, Philadelphia’s Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Inc. has made diversity the foundation that it is built on.“ After a whirlwind first year, Ariell Johnson isn’t slowing down – she sees 2017 as a time to really get herself and the shop organized, after reaching more milestones in her first bout than she could have ever imagined. Having established a reputation as a community space and a safe haven that celebrates geek culture (where you can also enjoy a good cup of coffee) Ariell knows her focus for the present has to be simply maintaining and finding balance. Anyone who has been involved in operating a small business can relate – and we’re all cheering her on. Read more about the shop HERE and send Ariell some good luck vibes! ————————————————————————————————— Check out the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency! Now in our 2nd year, the 2017 schedule is already filling up. Aspiring and professional cartoonists alike are coming to work on comics in Pittsburgh, plugging into the vibrant local scene, infusing it with fresh energy, and taking their comics making skills to a new level. Interested in joining us for a week or more? Email santoroschool@gmail.com to learn how to apply. There are still openings in April and May, with a wait list available for the summer months. After a break for show season we will be picking up scheduling once again in late October. 500 bux for a week and a life-changing experience. Read some of our Residency Reports HERE. Email santoroschool@gmail.com for more info. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-9-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 3-9-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

09/20/2016

Aaron CockleSeptember 20, 2016NewsAaron here today with the post-SPX malaise/norovirus update; Some upcoming shows of note; ‘We are Pepe/Pepe is us’; T. Edward Bak; Storyboarding for the movies; Seymour Chwast; ‘This amusing textile’ The Small Press Exposition was held this past weekend in scenic and sprawling Bethesda, MD. This is a big show, and each year it provides an overview of some of the best comics being made in North America, in Europe, and other parts of the world. There really is something for everyone at this show, some works seen this weekend of specific interest to readers of this news-blog include: Powdered Milk vol. 15, Keiler Roberts Roberts was handing out freebies in promotion of her Ignatz nomination for Outstanding Series, which she ended up winning on Saturday night. Congrats, Keiler! The Black Hood: An Anthology of Depression and Anxiety, edited/published by Josh Bayer, co-edited/designed by Mike Freiheit Including work by CW favorites E.A. Bethea, John Porcellino, Katie Fricas, Mike Taylor, Bayer, and a very remarkable list of fellow contributors. BLAMMO #9, Noah Van Sciver The time jumps in the White River Junction story were used really well, and reminded me of how Chester Brown’s Louis Riel jumped around in random places. Van Sciver is consistently doing high level comics, and this issue is a really nice chronicle of work. The Shirley Jackson Project, edited by Robert Kirby Another terrific lineup of contributors here: Colleen Frakes, Robert Triptow, Jennifer Camper, Eric Orner, Josh Simmons,Annie Murphy, Pinc Roq, Dan Mazur, Gabrielle Gamboa, Ivan Velez Jr.,Hannah Blumenreich, Maggie Umber, Asher & Lillie Craw, Jon Macy, W. Woods, Rob Kirby. Rob Clough was in attendance this weekend. He gave CW a quick peek of his heavily annotated map of who he wanted to see at which table, but we were unable to get a picture of it for the record. One of these years. Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo Saturday-Sunday, September 24-25, Providence, RI Paper Jam Small Press Festival 6 Saturday, October 1, Bushwick, NY Indigenous Comic Con Friday-Sunday, November 18-20, Albuquerque, NM Furie on Pepe Abraham Riesman talks with Matt Furie about the Pepe meme phenomenon: Furie says people email him Pepes “retty much everyday.” “Someone just sent one that was based on a quote I said at a comic convention panel,” he adds. “Something about a new frog in town and it had ‘Dat Boi’” (referring, of course, to the year’s best meme so far). That said, he doesn’t seek Pepes out. “I don’t sit there and trip out on Pepe all day like you seem to think,” he says. “I’m just a normal guy trying to connect with people and have a good time.” He doesn’t seem that interested in discussing the other characters and comics, either. “They are what they are: just weird comics about a bunch of weird fraggles hanging out in mysterious nothingness,” he says. I ask him if he sees any sadness in the quartet’s gross lives and his reply is blunt: “No, they are just dumb cartoons.” T. Edward Bak has an essay comic about family history at High Country News In a dream that follows my grandfather’s death, everyone is familiar but I recognize no one. Passengers drift on and off the train as it wends through the prairie. The dream unfolds as a temporally distorted vignette, like a comic strip. My grandfather’s death seems a strange plotline, half-remembered. Storyboarding Blood Simple …photographer Grant Delin created a video that compares scenes from the film to their original storyboards. Featuring commentary by the Coens, Sonnenfeld, and actor Frances McDormand, this fascinating glimpse at their creative process highlights the careful planning that went into the film’s construction. The 160th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons The New School for Design, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby). Free and open to the public. Seymour Chwast on GOD WAR SEX P.W. Herman at Brooklyn Museum This amusing textile was clearly manufactured as a commercial tie-in for Paul Reubens’ enormously successful TV show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse that aired from 1986-1990. The show was designed by Wayne White, Gary Panter, Craig Bartlett, and others, and this brightly printed textile faithfully depicts the characters and props of this wildly inventive program. Manufactured commercial product tie-ins to motion pictures and television programs are almost as old as the media. The acquisition of this textile helps to explain the myriad impetuses for the production of textiles and to elucidate the taste and preoccupations of a specific historical moment. The actual printer of this textile is not known, but the company was formulated specifically to manufacture promotional souvenirs. Posted by Barry R. Harwood, Lark Morgenstern, and Caitlin Crews. Share this page: [...]

The Hannah K. Lee Interview

Chris Anthony DiazSeptember 20, 2018Interviews / The Diaz ArchiveRecently nominated in the 2018 Ignatz Awards Outstanding Collection category for her book Language Barrier, congrats to Hannah K. Lee! Here is an interview conducted before Language Barrier was announced as a Koyama Press publication, which is content gathered from Lee’s zines Issues and Close Encounters along with new work, exclusive to the book. A couple of years ago, I first discovered this work through these zines as well as in commercial periodicals like The Pitchfork Review. I view lee’s illustrations not only like cartooning/comics but also influenced by graphic design/iconography and typography. Her work begins from these disciplines but becomes more and ultimately something unique after. Special thanks to Hannah K. Lee for her time doing this interview and providing earlier drafts of her Issues sketches for #2 and #3, offering further insight visually into her process. Graham Willcox color finished the three photos of Lee below, taken at CAB 2015 and TCAF 2014. Annie Ishii (right) This interview was conducted in 2015 via email. Chris Anthony Diaz: In Shoes Over Bills no. 2, there’s a dichotomy in the page layout of materialism and desires (shoes) on the left side of the two-page spread and monthly obligations and needs (bills) on the right side of the spread, rendered in your colorful, stylized, retro graphics and typography. It’s a potent expression of what choices a young woman faces, enticed by beauty to spend her earnings on. Like two sides of a debate, one side wooing her to buy gratification in possessions or the other side pitching her to commit to practicality, like eating. How did this zine come about for you and what was the original impetus of this theme? (The dichotomy appears again in Everyone Else Is Younger And More Talented, so it appears to be a theme or expression that you are concerned with.) Hannah K. Lee: Issues #2: Shoes over Bills was first a smaller chapter of a bigger project I wanted to do called No Money Mo Problems, A “lifestyle guide for impoverished freelancers”. A lot of those ideas were stupid, so I extracted Shoes over Bills and made it its own project. I started it right before I started my corporate day job, when I was learning about boring adult things like money management and regular visits to the dentist. (This is a sketch for Shoes over Bills, before it was a zine) CAD: What attracts you to product graphic iconography, which is the theme in Mascots no. 3? and please speak a little how it manifests its expression in your graphic illustration, which appears to have a graphic influence of russian constructivism. HKL: Issues #3: Mascots first came about when I drew portraits of the Zig Zag man and the Chiquita Banana girl. I made the rest of Mascots with the risograph and overprint techniques in mind, which went well with the limited color palettes often seen in product iconography. Any kind of restriction will force you to find ways to say more with less. When it comes to working with a riso, the color choices are limited and the threshold for showing details is low. As a result, it seems that my work has been becoming more graphic as I exercise more restraint. CAD: How do you come up with merging the ordinary and familiar with the fantastic and surreal in your illustration? HKL: I studied Illustration in school, and we were trained to look for analogs and ideas in weird places to convey a concept, while trying to stay away from cliches. Every project I start begins with words, and then I write down everything that comes to mind that relates to those words. My sketchbook is actually 90% written gibberish that only makes sense to me, instead of thumbnails and doodles. CAD: Color (especially red appears consistently and predominately in your risograph publications) and typography are strong facets of your graphic imagery. Where do you find your inspiration and what do you look at regularly? HKL: Besides the work of other working illustrators, designers, and letterers, I like looking at packaging (fruit boxes and crates, foreign candy), flags, old and ornate rugs/textiles, pop music ephemera, Tumblr teens, fashion, clever logos, bad logos, old calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts, those kids’ Golden Books, I like to absorb and/or pick apart everything. When it comes to certain jobs that require a lot of research, I look at the design and illustration of that particular era and let that inform how it’ll turn out. For example, I just did a piece about the origins of ska, so I looked at a lot of 60’s album art coming out of Kingston. CAD: How has risograph printing affected your published output in these three publications: Mascots and Shoes Over Bills and Everyone Else Is Younger And More Talented? HKL: Someone told me once that if I make something to sell or to promote myself with, it’d better be something the recipient would want to keep. So with that in mind, it should be useful, meaningful, beautiful, or at least 2 of those. I like working with the risograph because it’s an efficient and cost-effective way to make your zine beautiful. There’s a resurgence going on in zine culture that’s very much about thematic or narrative self-expression and considered presentation. Despite my recent output though, I actually don’t think it’s always necessary to make your zine pretty! With a good idea or story, sometimes a xerox is all you need. Share this page: [...]

12/07/2017

Comics WorkbookDecember 6, 2017NewsBryce Davidson here with a look at “The Illustrated Salaryman In Japan” and infographic comics. ————————————————————————————————— Bryce Davidson here: Comics are a diverse medium. It’s one of its many perks. Words and images right? The stage on which comics perform varies drastically within them. Most modern mainstream comics ape a cinematic feel. Mainly dialogue driven stories (usually a lack of exposition or prose) with consistent art and setting, which uses framing, light and angles to alter mood or tone. An obvious choice, very accessible to most people, and usually effective. In contrast, many older and independent comics use more consistent angles and shots, with more exposition and a lenient use of cartooning symbols, I.E. sound effects, accent lines, and cartoonish exaggeration to alter tone, and mood. This method, while being exclusively “comics”, also can feel dated or difficult to read for many modern readers. I often hear people complaining about too much exposition (I never seemed to mind it too much). There is a third method, which is the one I wanted to focus on for this article: Infographics. Up until recently (honestly, Brandon Graham [and Dan Zettwoch – editor] are probably the best current examples) info graphics never really got the treatment they deserve. These comics are completely exposition driven – if there is a word balloon it’s usually a single word to accent the drawing or sound effects. You can cram a tremendous amount of story into an incredibly small page count. This differs from cinematic comics a lot. It is incredibly clear story telling with little to intemperate. On the flip side it is rigid and not very juicy storytelling. This brings me to an interesting book I found a few years back at a library book sale. Titled Illustrated Salaryman in Japan, it is part of a series of book which were commissioned by the Japanese Travel Bureau in the 80’s to market to business people as pocket guides to Japan. The volumes cover most topics of modern day life but this one in particular is about the salaryman culture of 1980’s Japan. It has no credited artist as far as I can tell and all info online credits it to the Japanese Travel Bureau. Despite this, it’s a pretty interesting book. While being incredibly in depth and accurate, it also seems to Lampoon the lifestyle it is promoting pretty hard. Its funny! It’s partially due to text and translation but in a large part to the drawings. Really clean cartoony stuff, and definitely comics. The drawings themselves are classic manga. The coloring reminds me of a technique that Frank talks about in the Comics Workbook Handbook: Black and white with one selective color. Another popular manga look. It’s a very funny read, and while not necessarily what we think of when we think of comics, I think that this style can easily be argued to be part of the sequential narrative umbrella. I think now, especially with meme based comics, we’ll be seeing a big return of high exposition, static storytelling. – Bryce ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham here with a roundup of other interesting links and news of note. Ronald Wimberly’s LAAB project – an art magazine on black representation in sci-fi and culture – was successfully funded via Kickstarter! Check out the campaign HERE and read all about the project on CBR.com. There’s a nice write-up of the Encyclopedia of Black Comics edited by Sheena C. Howard in the North Dallas Gazette – read it HERE. Jacob Khepler is writing a blog over on his 100% Publishing site, and every post has been great – this one on Melvin Monster is my favorite thing he’s written so far. Ed Piskor talks X-Man Grand Design on Word Balloon with John Siuntres – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 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! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 12-7-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

A Studio Visit with Jim Rugg | Part III: THE STREET ANGEL GANG

Posted on April 18, 2016May 21, 2019 by Juan Jose Fernandez

Jim Rugg, creator of “Street Angel” and “Aphrodisiac” [ jimrugg.com ], shows Comics Workbook TV how he takes a story from script to final. Part III details the creation of a full color page from “THE STREET ANGEL GANG”, which is available from Copacetic Comics:copaceticcomics.com/comics/street-angel-the-street-angel-gang

Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com

Get The Street Angel Gang PROCESS PACK here: copaceticcomics.com/comics/street-angel-the-street-angel-gang-process-pack

Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by
Michel Rondeau

Share this page:

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in ClassesTagged Jim Rugg

Juan Fernández

Posted on April 18, 2016May 21, 2019

Explore

07/30/2018

Caleb OrecchioJuly 30, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here, as usual, with your Monday edition of the news! ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Paul Kirchner is the latest guest on Inkstuds. Rob Clough reviews Benji Nate’s Catboy as well as some issue of Jepcomix by Jep Sometimes, as a cartoonist, I wish I was French. Also on TCJ.com, one new Ditko piece by Tegan O’Neill, and one not new by Ken Parille. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-30-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page: [...]

03/05/2018

Caleb OrecchioMarch 4, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with, yet again, thoughts on Barry Windsor-Smith and his excellent adaption of Red Nails, plus the usual gang of links. ————————————————————————————————— All images herein are scans from Marvel Treasury Edition #4. Long story short, I think Barry Windsor-Smith’s Red Nails should be considered a masterpiece among the pantheon of comics. Old school fandom has more or less made this claim over the years, but the later “intellectual” generation (particularly the cartoonists and distinguished readers coming up out of the 80s) sees it as “good for the time”—at least, that’s what I sense. I also think many indie comics fans look down on adaptions as if adaptions are not a valid form of expression or something; or that a Marvel sword and sorcery comic simply is not good comics as a matter of principle and should basically be forgotten except when waxing nostalgia or appreciating good inking. I think independent comics and mini comics culture has come far enough to the point where we don’t have to demonize these old mainstream comics anymore. Yes, Red Nails is more or less violent, swashbuckling entertainment for young adults (or young adults at heart), but that’s what it was intended to be. No, I don’t walk away from it with a deep emotional revelation and it doesn’t cause me to rethink my life, but I had a damn good time looking at it. Smith’s images return to my thoughts for weeks on end and I marvel at the visual sensationalism. Is not the basic goal of a cartoonist to make something visually interesting and worth looking at/reading? I’d argue that this is the cartoonist’s most basic goal, and I’d argue that it’s in this manner that Barry Windsor-Smith achieved one of thee great works in comics. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Good news for Chicago locals and CAKE 2018 attendees! The Monday after CAKE (June 4th) John Porcellino will be “running an All-Day Comics Workshop at the Chicago Publishers Resource Center.” More details are on the way, but save the date fer crying out loud! To raise funds to publish Linework 8, an anthology by Ivan Brunetti’s Columbia College Chicago students, Brunetti and company are holding a silent auction on Facebook from March 5 through March 9. This auction will feature select Brunetti originals(!) and other good stuff. Learn more about the silent auction here. And/or preorder Linework 8 here. Lauren Weinstein is the latest guest on Process Party. She also recently graced the airwaves of The Virtual Memories Show. RiYL has featured an extra dose of cartoonists recently including, Joseph Remnant, Emil Ferris, and Gina Wynbrandt. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-5-2018 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

Art Trip: The Orlando Museum of Art

Gabriella TitoAugust 12, 2016Art Trip / EssaysThe Orlando Museum of Art is located in Loch Haven Park with the Science Center close by. Their biggest exhibition right now is their Contemporary Art exhibit from May 13th to August 28th. When I visited recently I was pleasantly surprised to find that the the exhibition was extremely diverse, with many female and Latino artists. Of the many artists I saw, it was Maria Martinez-Cañas who stood out to me. She is an artist who works WITH photos but does not really use a camera to take photos. My interest was captured as soon as I walked into the exhibition and saw the faded out prints. Her Vestigios Series is my absolute favorite body of work in the museum. She takes images from Gelatin silver prints or printed pages of books and manually “erases” them with sandpaper, creating a vintage look. Her whole Vestigios Series can be found HERE. I feel like she was trying to find a connection to the past in this series. In the same exhibition room, there was a video of Dawn Roe’s Mountain Field Studies being projected onto the wall (pictured above). I almost felt like I was looking at a comic of fleeting observations of a mountain. In this series, she carefully put together details of a mountain into a series of blocked out images, and even some grids thrown in there! I couldn’t help but think about the observations I make when I’m creating a comic based on the environment around me. When I’m making an observational comic, I’ll usually make broader “statements” at first, meaning I don’t go too much into detail with the environment. These drawings will usually be wide shots of the scene, or even quick silhouettes of the subject matter. Then, I’ll start zooming in more and capturing those details in different ways. I like holding the tempo sometimes and lingering on a subject for a panel or two and then moving on. I apply this concept to other works I make as well and it hasn’t failed me yet! Also, on Dawn Roe’s portfolio site I found something in her statement that I completely resonated with – “This earthly presence is distinct from the seemingly stable, reproducible image – one that persists, suggesting that all matter is sound enough to endure the world’s relentless shifts, however benign or catastrophic.“ In her statement, Dawn talks about the spaces that objects in the world make and that she captures the “unique situations” these objects make. This completely applies to comics as well – not just observational, but the way cartoonists capture moments in time, opinions, a romantic scene, and just about everything you can think of really. You can watch Dawn Roe’s Mountain Field Studies HERE. Throwback to Sally, I also ran into a Georgia O’Keefe piece! Red Hills and White Flower was her featured painting there. I really enjoyed my visit to OMART! There were so many galleries and exhibits there, it was a little mind boggling – but these were just some of the pieces I thought more intensely about. I went in there thinking like a cartoonist, but I also kept my mind open to new thoughts and art forms I had never been exposed to. ————————————————————————————————— Art Trip is a series that features reflections on art and comics, and the adventures that transform those who seek it out. ————————————————————————————————— Gabriella Tito is a cartoonist living in Orlando, FL. She is a graduate of Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers and a member of the Comics Workbook Roller Derby team. You can find more of her work HERE. 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: [...]

02/26/2018

Caleb OrecchioFebruary 26, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with more on Barry Windsor-Smith, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— It’s just another Saturday morning in the big city. June 9th, 1973. Eastbound 26th Street is blocked by two refrigerator trucks who stalled at the Lexington intersection. Horns resound in fury. Barry Smith looks up from the desk he’s working at to see the commotion. His mind starts to swirl. The window from the apartment looking over New York City becomes a vision of sublime psychedelia. Cosmic phenomena burst forth displaying a beautiful array of heavenly bodies, he can see lightyears away. Smith feels a nudge to his perceived center. This was the second time in 24-hours Smith had experienced this happening. He will have a much more intense revelation tomorrow. It’s springtime in London, 1966. Barry Smith and a friend are strolling across a field, a couple and their dog walk just ahead. The dog turns and barks. Everyone looks over their shoulder. Above the field hovers a UFO. Smith can just make out the details of the underside’s tubes and ducts, shadowed by the blinding light emitting from the cluster of lights that blazed from the center. The ship rises and eventually disappears to the west. Everyone left the scene without a word. Five years later in 1971, Smith’s aforementioned friend tells our hero about a dream he had recently. He describes the spaceship he and Smith saw in 1966. Our hero is unable to tell him that it wasn’t a dream. Back to 1973. It’s Sunday, or it was Sunday June 10th, 1973. Smith has had his third vision in as many days. In fact, the encounter lasted into the next morning. It’s now Monday, almost 4:00 am. His body is rendered completely and utterly exhausted. He can hardly stand. He stumbles from the studio, down the stairs and into the streets of New York in 1973 on the corner of 26th Street and Lexington Avenue. Two men are fighting just outside the door. A cop car wails past them, making them scarce. Smith heads for home just a couple blocks down. Every ounce of strength the experience left him with sustains his balance as he heaves one foot in front of the other. Just short of a football field from his destination, two men emerge from the shadows. One brandishes a knife. In an act of sheer survival, our hero emits a barbaric and violent scream—charging headlong towards his foe. The would-be assailants step aside, letting our hero pass in peace. In the summer of 1973, Smith was no longer the regular artist on the Marvel comic book series he had started with Roy Thomas, Conan the Barbarian; but he was working on an adaption of “Red Nails,” the last Conan story by Robert E. Howard, for the new Marvel magazine Savage Tales. On top of this, he was adapting, for the same mag, Howard’s poem, “Cimmeria.” Not to mention helping his friend and studio-mate with concepts for advertisements for big-name clients. Stories of June 1973 taken from Opus Volume 1 by Barry Windsor-Smith. UFO story from Streetwise, an anthology of autobio comics; Smith’s story is called “UFO POV.” ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Frank Santoro is blind-auctioning a copy of Fantastic Four #52, first appearance of Black Panther, on this very site. It’s for a good cause, follow the link for details. Bill Boichel, proprietor of Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh, is interviewed on local podcast, The Gross Street Podcast. Alex Dueben interviews David Collier at TCJ.com. I’ve been going back to this CBR.com preview of the first volume of Inside Moebius until I come up with the funds to hold it in my hands. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-26-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply