Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016

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09/08/2016

Sally IngrahamSeptember 8, 2016NewsSally here today to unpack a fantastic week in the Comics Workbook community – we are celebrating the results of the Composition Competition, looking forward to even more new work with the announcement of the fall Correspondence Course, dancing with excitement over the amazing lineup of CW-hosted workshops at SPX, and eagerly anticipating unpacking the box of hot-off-the-press new books by Connor Willumsen…! ————————————————————————————————— I believe that people are still working on reading all the comics that were made for the Comics Workbook Composition Competition 2016 (the winning comics, by Cameron Nicholson, Shee Phon, and Cameron Arthur are pictured above)! With well over 100 entries, the competition inspired a phenomenal outpouring of talent and energy this year, from a diverse and international comics making community. This contest is utterly unique, with it’s focus on composition and the freedom that can be found in restriction, and folks world-wide respond to that in remarkable ways. Camerson Nicholson, who created the comic that won first place in the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition, has been channeling that energy into loads of new projects, like the one above. That is exactly the momentum that the competition hopes to inspire in contestants – many of whom have never completed a comic before. Making a complete comic, releasing it into the world and hearing the world clap back, often inspires one to say “Again!” And so the circle turns. ————————————————————————————————— With that in mind, Frank Santoro has announced a new semester of his Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! “Applications are due by Sept 16 2016 – The course begins Sept 23rd 2016 The application is: 3 landscape drawings, 3 still life drawings, and 3 figure drawings. All done on blank 3 x 5 inch index cards. Draw in direct pen with no pencil underdrawing. Also send me any specific urls of comics work you have done. If you haven’t done comics before that is not a problem. You will never meet someone as enthusiastic about comics as me. I’m a good coach.” Full details are HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Small Press Expo 2016 is fast approaching, and the Comics Workbook team is getting into high gear with a huge two-day schedule of workshops during the show. We will be hanging out with Jeffery Brown, Carol Tyler, Charles Burns, Cameron Nicholson, and some of the best comics makers from Spain all weekend. Find all the details HERE – and sign up for the workshops HERE! ————————————————————————————————— There are only a few days left until Connor’s new book makes it’s appearance – we are literally waiting for the mailman on the porch everyday, crossing fingers that he’ll have the box with him…! This means you have only a few days left to take advantage of the incredible pre-order deal – check it out HERE. This book is going to look (and smell) amazing, (thanks to the skills of WestCan) and fans of Connor’s work will no doubt find Portraits an essential part of their collection. ————————————————————————————————— I’ll be back tomorrow with more news and good energy to close out this first week of September. Cheers – Sally Share this page: [...]

04/16/2018

Caleb OrecchioApril 16, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with John Porcellino’s recent stop in Pittsburgh, and other news. ————————————————————————————————— He has seen but half the universe who has never been shown the house of Pain. –Ralph Waldo Emerson This past Friday, John Porcellino stopped by Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh while on tour for his book, From Lone Mountain, a collection of his King-Cat “comics and stories” from 2003 to 2007, published by Drawn and Quarterly. This was the first signing at Copacetic I’ve attended since I moved to Pittsburgh this year. It was great. Porcellino did his song and dance at Kaibur Coffee (same building as Copacetic but two floors below) by taking us, via slideshow, through excerpts of his book and giving background details and tangents revolving around the events therein. John laid bare his soul during his presentation as he does with every annual release of King-Cat. Pain and Joy are one, and the audience often found ourselves laughing in hindsight at the misfortunes along with our hero. After the presentation and rather intimate audience Q&A, we hiked up to Copacetic where books were signed and comics were talked about. It was great. Not only could you chat with John Porcellino, but you could also hangout with the Pittsburgh crowd: Sam Ombiri, Sally Ingraham, Juan Fernandez, Jenn Lisa, Audra Stang, Nate McDonough, and many others. I showed Sam my favorite King City gag, while Juan waxed different ways to read and comprehend information with Audra and Sally. I clumsily talked about Pittsburgh roads vs every other American road system with John P as he signed my copy of his book. I asked Bill Boichel (Copacetic proprietor) if he agreed that Red Nails was Barry Windsor-Smith’s best work, and I think he did. Then we started talking about Kaluta. Lots of things seemed to be going on. The hours went by quickly. It was a beautiful day. Only several days before, the city was snow-capped, but today it felt like how I imagine California feels on its best days. On the Copacetic Balcony, you could see the beautiful old buildings over the hills that run through the city and the purple dusk. Thanks to John P. for coming to Pittsburgh and thanks to Bill Boichel and Copacetic Comics for hosting. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know TCJ.com launched a bi-weekly column called “Retail Therapy.” Every other week will evidently feature an interview with a comics retailer. First up, Portland’s Floating World Comics. Who, will be publishing Zack Soto’s debut The Secret Voice graphic novel. Your Chicken Enemy has the scoop on upcoming Uncivilized Books titles. TCAF 2018 is right around the corner! It will be here before you know it! Eddie Campbells limited weekly strip ended. Did you see it? ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-16-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-16-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

05/11/2017

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

Cleveland, OH Scene Report

Frank SantoroNovember 6, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsCleveland, OH scene report by Kevin Czap Despite a less-than-inspiring reputation, or maybe because of it, the past several years have seen a growing number of dedicated Clevelanders building a rich arts culture across all disciplines – design, music, the gallery scene, culinary arts. The comics scene in particular is at the very early stages of this same kind of growth. While there’s always been local comics activity, it’s tended to be fairly isolated. Now, however, we’re seeing concerted efforts to bring these cartoonists together, pooling our efforts to foster a thriving community. This was all put in motion by the establishment of the Genghis Con, a one-day expo focusing on underground and independent publishers, cartoonists and zinesters. The con was founded by Scott Rudge, owner of Astound! comics shop, and John G, the godfather of the Cleveland comics scene. Free to exhibitors and with a low door price for attendees, Genghis Con represents the current state of Cleveland comics. (November 26, 2011 will be the third annual! Come on out!) Cleveland’s a town with a rich comics history, with a host of significant figures calling it home through the years ó Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (not to mention Joanne Siegel), Robert Crumb (briefly), Peter Kuper, Brian Michael Bendis. Personal heroes Bill Watterson and Harvey Pekar (we’re working on getting a statue built) are/were lifers. But what is the Cleveland comics scene of the moment? Well, I mentioned John G, who for years was putting out comics like the anthology Shiner, co-edited with Kevin Fagan. John’s work is an indelible part of Cleveland’s visual identity, focusing on poster illustrations for countless rock shows and the popular grilled cheese restaurant Melt, as well as extensive illustration work for the alt weekly Scene magazine. Similarly, we’ve got Jake Kelly, whose Crosston was the first local comic I got here. Jake’s also gone the gig poster route, as well as painting huge murals throughout the city. Other vets in the area include Gary Dumm and Greg Budgett, longtime contributors to American Splendor, and Derf, author of the alt-weekly fixture “The City” and childhood friend of Jeffrey Dahmer. I also mentioned Scott Rudge and Astound!, the best comic shop in town from an indie perspective. There aren’t really any other stores where you can get hand-made comics in Cleveland, and believe me, I’ve looked. Carol & John’s is another great shop, as well as the graphic-novel-friendly indie book stores Mac’s Backs and Visible Voice. And then there’s the new kids. Centered largely around Cleveland Institute of Art students and alumni, there’s been a fresh wave of talent flooding Cleveland’s streets. For instance, Niki Smith, artist on the Zuda-winning digital comic In Maps & Legends, was recently awarded a huge grant from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture that funded a trip to China to research her graphic-novel-in-progress. Hardcore comics “nerd” Liz Valasco is still fresh from interning at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at OSU and is making work I’m especially excited about. One of the reasons I started the PUPPYTEETH anthology was to provide a showcase for Cleveland folks like these (as well as a number of other CIA expats). I’ve also been happy to have the opportunity to teach a community course on the art of comics at CIA. There’s plenty happening apart from CIA, as well. Keith Pakiz is continuing the Watterson visual tradition with his mad-cap Condiment Squad. (side-note: Keith is part of a group of promising cartoonists coming out of BGSU in Toledo. Although the majority live too far away to be considered Clevelanders, they’re honorary members of the scene and I’d be remiss to not drop some names: Jessi Zabarsky, Eric Kubli, Geneva Hodgson being the most active). We’ve also got the Elyria Comic Book Initiative, which is on a mission to indoctrinate the children of Cleveland. It’s encouraging to think that the next generation is already being formed. And finally, Cleveland benefits greatly from its neighbors. Pittsburgh and Columbus are roughly equidistant to us (about a 2 hour drive), so it’s really easy to share and learn from our sister cities. That’s where we are now, lots of activity just beginning to be brought together. One of the nice things about a “city of choice” like Cleveland is that the people living here do so because they want to. We’re all committed to making a better community for ourselves, for neighboring scenes, and for the comics community at large. To paraphrase Ian MacKaye, we’re putting Cleveland on the map. ————————— INTERMISSION FUNNIES by MICHAEL DEFORGE ————————— FRANK’S GOT A NEW AUDIO RECORDER – LOOKOUT FOR FUTURE PODCASTS! **I am accepting “blind” scene reports. 300 words MAX. A few photos. Please send me the HTML ready text with photos already embedded. I am going to begin running more than one scene report a week like Maximum Rock-n-Roll scene reports. Please send them to capneasyATgmailDOTcom. Share this page: [...]

Charlottetown Comics Club

Comics WorkbookJanuary 22, 2017School UpdatesTyler Landry shares thoughts on running a weekly comics club in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada – a Comics Workbook “satellite school”! ————————————————————————————————— I’ve been running the Charlottetown Comics Club (CCC) weekly, since the spring of 2016. At first in my home with a few trusted friends, then we moved to a public place – the back room of a local comic shop, Lightning Bolt Comics, where anyone and everyone is welcome to join. I sought to model this club on a few basic ideals. First, the continued development and expansion (for myself, and members) of the foundation of comics-making skills I learned through Frank Santoro’s Correspondence Course, and, by extension, the inundation of ideas, influences, and examples flowing through Comics Workbook. Second, to gather locally operating cartoonists (of all levels and persuasions), who often toil in silence/obscurity at home, in a place where we can feel comfortable working and growing alongside each other, for mutual benefit and general good feels. Some members come and go, some are very consistent. This can make group activities challenging, especially where things carry over from one week to the next, but I’ve managed to run a handful of pretty successful exercises so far. We do some smaller warmups and drills, as well as some larger/longer projects with full-on story card development. There are also members who bring their own bread-and-butter comics work, or projects they’re already knee-deep in, and just draw away among their peers. I encourage everyone to bring in their own work, new and old, and also to share comics they like (or don’t like) with the group. Discussing these things can only make us smarter and ultimately more demanding of the quality and caliber of the content we seek to read and create in comics. This is so important. At its core, this club upholds the methods and values that I’ve been taught, and seeks to grow and share them with the wider community here. I strongly believe that this kind of “part-of-the-total-package”, modular thinking is key to creating, editing, and clearly executing good comics. I pull from any and all sources I can find value in, and there are endless examples, but Comics Workbook is solid. There’s tangible proof in the CW pudding. This way of thinking, and the use of these methods has enabled me to focus my ideas and raw skills into actual complete comics – something that used to be very hit/miss for me. I wouldn’t be doing the work I’m doing now if this door hadn’t been opened. I’m passionate to a fault about comics being THE medium for storytelling, beautiful artwork, and expression of ideas. I don’t know nearly as much as I should about the history of comics, or its major/middle/minor players, but I’m seeking that knowledge, always. I want to participate in the realization of the expanding potential of this medium, and this club is another way in which I, and its other members, can do just that. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler will continue to share work by members of the club, bios of these Prince Edward Island cartoonists, and details about the projects the CCC complete. If you are interested in joining the club please email santoroschoolATgmail and we will put you in touch with Tyler. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry is a graduate of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers. His recent comics includes Vile 1: Cowards Hole, Vile 2: Lonesome, and Hermit Crab Real Estate. Get copies of his work HERE. Check out work in progress and other cool stuff by Tyler HERE. Keep up with the Charlottetown Comics Club via Tyler’s Instagram – @clavcity. Share this page: [...]

Comic Arts Los Angeles 2016

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Comic Arts Los Angeles 2016 (CALA) at Think Tank Gallery, Sunday, December 4, 2016, Los Angeles. All photos colored by Graham Willcox

Downtown Los Angeles fashion district

Lisa Hanawalt

Inés Estrada and Hellen Jo

Hope Larson

Arlin Ortiz and Kris Mukai

Chris Pitzer

Ryan Cecil Smith

Ryan Cecil Smith risograph print

Ryan Cecil Smith risograph mini-comics

Benjamin Urkowitz

Sam Alden

Patrick Crotty

Patrick Crotty and Valentin Seiche

Kevin Czap

Sophie Yanow

Ben Sears and Dustin Harbin (bottom right)

Dustin Harbin

Dustin Harbin

Ric Carrasquillo

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz Archive

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on December 14, 2016December 15, 2016

Explore

05/10/2017

Juan FernándezMay 10, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con los vanguardistas; Vanesa R. Del Rey; La Polola; Ana Tijoux; Alexis Ziritt; Elizabeth Casillas; Carla Berrocal; Fabian Rangel Jr.; y los tebeos de Comics Workbook. ————————————————————————————————— AvanGard – Y Que? Gerardo Vilches escribe sobre la vangardia contemporanea y internacional de los cómics. Su evolucion, su role y su crítica. Hoy existe una generación de autores que no responden al clásico perfil de fan que sueña con trabajar con sus personajes favoritos y replicar aquello que cautivó su imaginación de niño. Por el contrario, muchos de los artistas de vanguardia provienen de otros campos de expresión, han estudiado Bellas Artes, puede que no hayan leído cómic hasta que una novela gráfica cayó en sus manos de jóvenes adultos y no se sienten en absoluto obligados a respetar ningún canon. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable, quien estudió con George Pratt y quien a dibujado con Grant Morrison. Estamos ofreciendo compras adelantadas a un precio reducido. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ Le pedimos a nuestro director, Frank Santoro que nos contara un poquito sobre la fuerza feroz y imparable que es Vanesa R. Del Rey. FS: “Vanesa, I’m quite taken aback by your sheer technical ability which seems to be married to a poetic sensibility. There’s a lightness there. Sometimes illustrators with that ability get heavy-handed. Yet you manage the push-pull between these two sides of yourself–because you’re like a samurai. The humble samurai.” VRDR: “It’s about trying to remember that. I can get all this praise, I can get all these amazing responses from strangers, but at the end of the day—I’m still a student. I’m still learning. The crown doesn’t fit. The crown should never fit.” Este intercambio viene de una entrevista que Frank hizo con Vanesa R. Del Rey, que occurio en la Residencia de Comics Workbook en Pittsburgh, PA USA. 2016. FS: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de “alto y bajo” y en ” los cómics pintados” — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un “invasor vertical” en los cómics que podría emplear el “naturalismo” de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que “el invasor” ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI¡ ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Ana Tijoux acerca de sus inicios en el rap, su forma de hacer canciones, su vida como inmigrante, la diversidad y mucho más. . Alexis Ziritt os ofrece una serigrafia bien chula del forro de Space Riders #3. Blanco y Negro. Liempo. Poderoso. En la nueva ediction de Revista Cactus, Elizabeth Casillas os trae lo más transgresor e innovador del cómic actual. Pura vanguardia. Ya hace tiempo, las editoriales en Colombia le apuestan a las novelas gráficas, fanzines y libros ilustrados. Conozca cuáles son. The Fine Art Collective ES entrevisto a Carla Berrocal. Fabian Rangel Jr.‘s new comics series “Helena Crash” gets a micro-review. It’s pulse pounding, caffeine fueled, sword swinging, machine-gun firing, car crashing sci-fi adventure comic. You know the type. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-10-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-10-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus: is this real life?

MardouOctober 21, 2016Festivals and ShowsCXC happened last weekend in Columbus, OH, and I got to represent Team Comics Workbook and also myself as a special guest (this has never happened to me before – count me overexcited and also terrified!) I get in on Thursday night and head to the President’s Reception feeling very wallflowerish as I know literally no one except through Facebook and Instagram. First off I meet Tom Spurgeon (finally!), Jeff Bone and his lovely wife Vijaya, Caitlyn McGurk, and Robin the Inkstud. I nervously nurse my wine and then I am rescued by Sergio Aragonés, who sits next to me with a plate of meatballs and a beer. I’m a vegan but I don’t even care about the meatballs! It’s Sergio Aragonés and I proceed to fannishly monopolize him for the next hour. Sergio! I’ve loved his comics in Mad Magazine since I was eight years old. Ahhh. Those moments of life where nothing degrades or disappoints. CXC is already off to a GREAT start. Friday morning I’m giving a Peer-to-Peer talk at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. I’m very nervous, but also ‘over prepared’ – I’m not going to TRUMP this, thank you very much. It’s also at 10 am, so I figure no one’s hardly going to be there. WRONG! It was a full house; I talked about scripting and planning processes for long form fiction in comics. I tried to jazz it up with stories of ayahuasca (not my own of course, I’m totally square, dear reader) and out of body experiences and Amazonian explorers. And I did a reading from the thumbnails of a new graphic novel I’ve been working on this year. Once that was out of the way, I was free to enjoy the Billy Ireland Museum. I loved it so much. I copied some stuff in my sketchbook whilst I explored in a blissed out state. Oh and I ran into old pal T. Edward Bak and we had lunch. Day Two: AWESOME. I skipped the festivities on Friday night so that I could be the sole un-hungover person at CXC on Saturday for a full day of tabling and socializing. I made the right decision. You have to treat comic’s shows like an eleven-hour congressional hearing, i.e.: you need STAMINA. (Apologies if the election has snuck in to my CXC coverage. Ohio is very much a swing state and my weekend, traffic, eating in bars etc, were interrupted by bizarre looking fashionista Trumpettes and a presidential motorcade – yes, both Trump and Obama had been/were in Columbus that very weekend.) So, Day Three: Saturday tabling. It went great. I hunkered down with Team Comics Workbook, and got to finally meet some of my Comics Workbook Roller Derby of the Mind compadres, particularly Alyssa Berg, Whit Taylor and Sally Ingraham. At one o’clock I had an author spotlight thing, which was easy and fun, thanks to Jared Gardner. I read from Sky In Stereo, and afterwards would sell all my copies. Sweet! So far I’m enjoying this show so much. The downtown Columbus Metropolitan Library is bright and airy, there’s some good energy about, the locals are so friendly and the organizers are present and visible. And I’ve sold all my comics! This never happens. But afterwards when I’m alone again, in this new Midwestern city, I’m strolling around downtown Columbus at twilight. It’s Saturday but everything’s closing or closed. I feel a little spooked out and get to thinking about Dorothy Thompson talking about Terre Haute in the 40s or something. She wrote to her man, Sinclair Lewis: “This is a lonely country, it is so goddamned empty. I am turning mystic. Surely there is something in the very air of a city where civilized people have lived, worked, dreamed loved and enjoyed civilized pleasures for hundreds of years…some radioactivity which lingers in the atmosphere. I begin to believe in ghosts, gentle ghosts which keep one company in ancient towns. Here there are none.” Traveling alone spooks me out. I’m not a good traveler at the best of times. I walk; admire statues and fountains and government buildings. I pass a tiny Episcopalian church. It has an 8am service on Sunday morning. Tomorrow! Maybe I’ll go, I tell myself, just to feel somehow cosmically rooted again. ‘You know what?’ I think, ‘I will definitely go. I’ll set my alarm tonight.’ I go back to my hotel room and spruce up for that evening’s drinks reception in honor of Stan Sakai. And I have fun! I forget my lonely existential Midwestern emptiness and that night I roll into bed at 3am having been to a Haunted House in ruralish Ohio with my publisher and a couple of Rhode Island hepcats. The Haunted House has a definite ‘juggalo’ vibe, something I’d heard about but never seen. It was gross and yucky, people in costumes tried to touch me! But the sight of rural folk wielding fake chainsaws made out of leaf blowers and duct tape PLUS the company of good friends has somehow righted me again. I don’t set my alarm after all. I don’t need church. I just need sleep dammit, and I just need ‘my people’ and this weekend Columbus, OH, has been full of them. On Sunday I sell all my publisher’s copies of Sky in Stereo, experience a sleep-deprived meltdown and Alyssa Berg revives me with dried mango slices and crystal healing. I get through! I meet Keiler Roberts and Noah Van Sciver, they’re both great! I talk to lots and lots of people. Until its time to go get my plane! Sergio Aragonés stops by my table to say goodbye. Is this real life? Before I go I coerce Tom Spurgeon into a hug. It feels right. My delightful assistant (I have an assistant!) Sara drives me to Chipotle and then to the airport. I fly home that night in the darkness over Midwestern cities that look like small bejeweled funfairs in pools of rural soupy darkness. America is a strange place. I’m full of that crackling comics energy. Ready to retreat again and draw my next comic. Thanks Columbus, OH. Thanks to all the volunteers who were so nice and the librarians who were unfazed by all these cartoonists, and to the comics community, including my own Comics Workbook community, for being so rad. Is it not amazing that comics people can just assemble and friendships made at CAKE or SPX years ago, can just pick up again, over printed pages and falafels? Well, it’s sort of magical to me. I get to be part of this. It was a strange and spooky, magical weekend. I wanna come back for more! I do, I do. ————————————————————————————————— Sacha Mardou is a Brit making comics in St Louis, Missouri. Sky in Stereo is her most recent comic. For the rest of our complete CXC coverage check out the special “round up” report HERE. Share this page: [...]

3/11/2016

Sally IngrahamMarch 11, 2016NewsSally here with your Friday comics roundup. Let me see, what do we have for you today…OH YES! The Cartoonist Studio Prize shortlist was released! Now on it’s fourth year, the prize comes from the Slate Book Review and The Center for Cartoon Studies, and there are two categories – Best Print and Best Web Comic. As you can see above, the nominees for Best Print Comic are fantastic, with such lovelies as Sacha Mardou‘s Sky in Stereo, Sophie Goldstein‘s The Oven and Jillian Tamaki‘s SuperMutant Magic Academy, among others. In the Best Web Comic category, the nominees are just as rad. Yep, that’s Ronald Wimberly‘s amazing, important Lighten Up, and Comics Workbook’s own Andrew White with Cavities! How will the judges choose…? We’ll find out the results in the April issue of the Slate Book Review. It was International Women’s Day on Tuesday, March 8th, and a list popped up via The A.V. Club that is worth taking a gander at. Even folks outside the comics community have heard vague rumblings about such cartoonists as Fiona Staples, Emily Carroll, Kate Beaton, Eleanor Davis, and Noelle Stevenson, but the purpose of this list was to draw attention to other contemporary ladies of comics who fly under most people’s radar so far. Gals like Mathilde Vangheluwe, Aatmaja Pandya, and Tillie Walden, along with seven others. Check out the complete list HERE. MariNaomi talked to Unicorn Booty this week about her comic Turning Japanese, which will be published by 2dcloud in May of this year. MariNaomi: Turning Japanese is a comics memoir about working in illegal Japanese hostess bars and searching for my cultural identity as a mixed-race twenty-something. They also get into what it’s like to be a mixed-race, bisexual woman working in comics today, touch on the two databases that MariNaomi compiled – the Cartoonists of Color and LGBT Cartoonists databases – and there is a nice long excerpt from the book offered up. Check out the full interview HERE. I have more interviews for you! Lucie Ebrey talked to Dirty Rotten Comics yesterday about her daily diary comic and why she draws herself as a blue dog (see above). And, from last November, (but I met her this past weekend at Staple! Austin) an interview with Jessi Jordan, who currently draws Musings. She delves into self-care: Besides art, what else do you do for your self-care? I do a lot of yoga and some meditation, which is a cliché but I think it’s a cliché for a reason—because it’s really helpful. I do other creative things that aren’t necessarily for work, like cooking and gardening. When I’m feeling stuck creatively, I have to do other types of things to loosen up. Sometimes you have to let that part of your brain rest a little because you can’t always force yourself through things by doing it repeatedly. Given that I’m self-employed and work from home, knowing when to step away is a really big thing . I think it really helps to have a significant other to sometimes call me out on some of these things, like, “You need to go to bed right now.” Below is a one-off comic from Jessi, but do check out Musings if you come across it. The story is a Doctor Who-like adventure where the characters travel in and out of literature. I picked up the first issue at Staple! Austin and was delighted with it – although I’m a sucker for anything that hates on the Twilight series that hard…! 🙂 Finally, I just discovered Kadak, a collective of South Asian women who use graphic storytelling to investigate and illuminate their rapidly changing subcontinent. The artists that comprise Kadak are: Aindri Chakraborty Akhila Krishnan Janine Shroff Aarthi Parthasarathy Garima Gupta Pavithra Dikshit Kaveri Gopalakrishnan Mira Malhotra Please check out their work! That’s what I’ve got for you today. Have a nice weekend, and see you back here Monday. – Sally Share this page: [...]

Austin, TX Scene Report

Frank SantoroDecember 25, 2011Riff Raff / Scene ReportsThis post originally appeared on The Comics Journal – 12/25/2011 Frank here. This week’s scene report is brought to you by William Cardini. Mr. Cardini just finished my comic book correspondence course. Hopefully, you will someday see the comic that he produced during the course – it’s pretty sharp. In the meantime, please enjoy his report on the Austin comics scene. ————- Austin Scene Report by William Cardini. Despite having been (and in some cases continuing to be) home to various comics legends, such as Chris Ware, Mack White, Cayetano Garza Jr, Shannon Wheeler, and the Armadillo World Headquarters crew, Austin doesn’t seem to have the same reputation among cartoonists as similar cities such as Portland or Minneapolis, but I think it could. Austin has two comprehensive comic book stores, Austin Books & Comics and Dragon’s Lair, that stock everything from local minicomics to Fantagraphics to manga. And if you’re more interested in zines, there’s Monkeywrench, an all-volunteer collective-run radical bookstore. Austin Books shows local artists on their back wall. This is a long distance photo I took from my show there with my wife Glade. You can see their deep back issue racks. The center of my Austin comics scene is Domy Books. An independent bookstore and gallery, Domy started in 2006 in Houston’s hip Montrose neighborhood. In 2008, Domy co-founder Russell Etchen opened an Austin branch of the store, and it’s been a boon. A towering, super friendly red-haired dude, Russell is always eager to make a recommendation or talk about obscure comics, artists, zinesters, and graffiti artists. He makes sure that Domy features a prominent zine section, screenprints, and a slew of art comics. He also curates the gallery section, featuring cartoonists such as Ron Regé Jr and Esther Pearl Watson. Russell also puts together the annual Monster Show, where he asks cartoonists from all over to do a 9×12″ drawing. Photo of this year’s Monster Show opening by Carling Hale. If you squint you can see Jonny Negron. Speaking of Mr. Negron, Austin has a pretty full local creator roster. Here’s a small sample: Jonny Negron – His drawings are charged with raw sexual energy. Ben Snakepit – Ben’s been drawing three-panel punk rock diary comics every day since 2001 Aaron Whitaker and Melinda Tracy Boyce – This comics power couple just moved here from Portland. They do diary and literary comics collaboratively and singly. Zach Taylor – Zach does totally out-there adventures comics and runs the Austin Sketch Group, who meet up every Sunday to draw comics (and they’re not the only draw club in town). You can see most of these folks once a year at STAPLE!, a local indy media/comics festival that’s been getting bigger and better every one of the seven years its run. In general, Austin has a community that’s really supportive of DIY efforts and art. The music, literary, and art scenes ooze over and intermingle with the comics scene. There are a lot of creative people doing a lot of things here. If only it weren’t so damn hot. Share this page: [...]

02/23/2018

Aaron CockleFebruary 23, 2018NewsAaron filling in today with Christina Ramberg; More from that Austin English TCJ Essay; Post-Text Futures (According to the NY Times); Desert Island’s 10-Year Anniversary ————————————————————————————————— Dan Nadel on the Art of Christina Ramberg At ARTFORUM Curator Jenelle Porter nicely summarizes the breadth of Ramberg’s interests: “To browse the over 1,000 slides Ramberg left behind is to gain a foothold on how she looked at the world. Slides of Buddhist hand mudras echo the elongated fingers in Hand. Patterned asphalt shingles, hand-painted signs, wig shop displays, the homes of outsider artists, a twisted and frayed awning—one can begin to decipher how Ramberg translated quotidian visual experiences into highly ordered paintings.” Ramberg and Hanson also created a scrapbook of comic-book clippings with examples of explosions, word graphics, and dreams, among other categories. The scrapbook, Ramberg noted, was “valuable as a sourcebook of comic conventions or shorthand methods of depicting various themes and objects.” She did not, however, employ collage and comic-book imagery in her paintings, as some of the artists Ramberg admired—Öyvind Fahlström, the Swedish master of reconfiguring comic-book elements; San Francisco’s symbolist painter and collage-master Jess; and Yoshida—did in their own. For Ramberg, these fragments revealed modes of rendering and moments of accidental strangeness, such as when a speech balloon hovers above a house to indicate an interior conversation. Taken out of sequential context, as in Ramberg’s scrapbook, the house appears to “speak,” as if in a Magritte painting. ————————————————————————————————— Where I’m Coming From (Part 2) Juan posted about this yesterday, but here’s another look at the 2nd part of Austin English’s personal exploration into zines and mini-comics. There’s a lot of ground covered here. Bessijelle made this zine on a home printer, and stapled it at the edges—everything about the assemblage of this comic is worked out by the author on a system of their own. A heartfelt pride in its making comes through, which is augmented immeasurably by the purposefully labored over work within. The author made the art according to their own principles and found the images to be powerful, thus making reproduction and dissemination of the work essential. But how to go about that? Like some of the most uniquely beautiful zines, the printing is as personal as the drawing within, and if the reader brings themselves to it, a total work of art can be seen. Unlike self conscious art zines that stress their expensive production values, this work’s quiet features make it priceless. … Annie Murphy’s I Never Promised You A Rose Garden is an extremely important project. Murphy is a hard-to-do-her-artistry-justice cartoonist who isn’t extremely prolific, so each new work is worth studying. More then that though, Rose Garden is a historical work that is more vital then that description usually suggests in zine culture. Instead of a ‘historical’ zine that is concerned with the changing storefronts of main street, Murphy’s subject is no less than the history of mood, the underground itself, sordid half-truths, and tragedies involving all of the above within her home of Portland, Oregon. Murphy is a cartoonist like no other, more emotionally precise than most artists who work in comics. Murphy’s feelings are clear to her but unique in spirit: she communicates them to the reader without noise and we are left with new heartbeats. ————————————————————————————————— ‘The thing you’re doing now, reading prose on a screen, is going out of fashion.’ At The New York Times, Farhad Manjoo contemplates a ‘Post-Text Future’. The internet was born in text because text was once the only format computers understood. Then we started giving machines eyes and ears — that is, smartphones were invented — and now we’ve provided them brains to decipher and manipulate multimedia. Suddenly the script flipped: Now it’s often easier to communicate with machines through images and sounds than through text. ————————————————————————————————— Hey Desert Island, Happy 10-Year Anniversary! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-23-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-23-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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