Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on July 10, 2016July 10, 2016

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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: [...]

Frank’s Comics Corner #1 – Fantastic Four #233

Comics WorkbookFebruary 11, 2017EssaysFrank’s Comics Corner 2-4-2017 Share this page: [...]

10/23/2017

Caleb OrecchioOctober 23, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here, sharing my current production process and other news. ————————————————————————————————— Hey Folks, Caleb here. Last week I talked a bit about coloring and practicing color. Today I want to give you a bit of insight into my own color and production process. No, this isn’t a “my way or the highway” type of thing, true believer–rather, think of it as a mini workshop. I want to exhibit what I do so you, possibly a fellow cartoonist, can (not necessarily use this process, but) take into account the many ways to make comics in this day and age and hopefully maximize your time and energy. Before I get into it, a quick word about the comic being made in this post. It is the 170th installment of Joanie and Jordie, a strip that runs daily (in theory) at the bottom of each Daily News post. This comic will appear at the bottom of this very Daily News post, True Believer! This was a tough one. I am currently trying to execute a a certain style and I feel that I’m struggling with. Not in a bad way, but it’s a challenge. I’m trying to keep all characters involved in the scene visible in each panel. Also I’m trying to keep the current storyline at a brisk pace and feeling free to follow my bliss. After I drew this very strip dear readers and my only friends, I realized I need to color less “literally.” I’ve been very hung up about drawing literally, but this exercise showed me that I need to stretch out my wings and loosen up. Anyway, below is my template for my strip. I cut out and draw on 4.5″ x 6″ sized panels (more or less classic daily strip panel size and proportional to the current smaller standard of 13″ x 4″ sized strip) individually and make my manuscripts by pasting these panels onto a separate sheet of paper over my template. View with lightbox on. Lately, I’ve been inking more traditionally. Some of you may think that is weird to mention. Anyway, I just feel that inking the way I am now is the way to go. Still feeling it out. Really I treat my strip in a way I feel the Noel Sickles treated his run on Scorchy Smith. He, as you may or may not know, constantly experimented and played with the look of the strip until he handed it over to the next guy. What I’m trying to say is that the look of Joanie and Jordie never stays consistent for too long. I “ink” with one Pentel Rolling Writer pen and one ebony pencil. Note possible dialog in margins. Next up is color. In the past, color has come before inking, but right now this order of operations is what I feel comfortable with. I use three Prismacolor markers on three seperate layers of tracing paper to color: canary yellow, scarlet lake, and copenhagen blue. I apply them on tracing paper because this helps me see the colors and their mixtures as I go. Okay, not too bad I suppose. I’m getting a bit stiff which means I need to change something up here soon. Anyway, next is lettering. Notice in the corner of each of these layers that I label each part of the process. This is merely for my biographer and/or The Billy Ireland Museum for when I’m dead and the eventual disintegration of my organization skills takes its toll. Is my ego out of control or what? haha But who else is going to do it if I don’t do it myself. My two “black” layers. My three color layers. Now to scan. I scan these at 600dpi because that’s as high as my scanner will go. Also, I’m afraid to go any higher in resolution because I don’t want to overload my aging laptop. Okay, so here is where the REAL inside baseball stuff comes in. This is Photoshop. I’m just going to run through this quickly because life is too short to give a detailed tutorial in Photoshop. First I bring in the ink, or “K” layer. I then select a patch of white and go to SELECT, then click “Similar” in the dropdown menu. This then selects everything that is white within the layer. We are going to delete all the white and leave just the black so we don’t get any pesky paper tones. I do this on every layer. Also don’t forget to get your color mode correct. Line up each color layer and layer them appropriately. I like to put them in the order they would be applied in process printing: Yellow first, then red, blue and black. Watch my layers in the bottom, right-hand corner and see what I mean. You have to “Multiply” each layer so the colors can blend appropriately. Okay so the last layer, the text is tricky because you have to delete parts of the inks and colors–see below. But fear not true believers. Just make copies of each layer so you have them on hand in case you mess up. Take note of color layer order, “Layer 1” being the ink or “K” layer. And there she is, a brand new comic strip! Thanks for watching! Come back next week where I will be shot out of a canon from the bottom of the ocean. Bye now! -CO ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know It’s official, Dan Nadel is no longer co-editor of TCJ.com. Of course we wish him the best and eagerly await the excellent articles he will conjure as a writer in the future for the site. Speaking of future of the site, the great Tucker Stone will take Nadel’s place as co-editor with Tim Hodler. A fitting replacement if there has to be one I think. Okay, so Connor Willumsen’s latest book, Anti-Gone is getting some love. Here is some love by Brian Nicholson and here is some love by RJ Casey. Get your CAB details! And visit the CAB site for any other inquiries. It’s on November 11th and looks to be a good one. I enjoyed this Ken Parille article on Snickers ads in DC Comics’ comics. That’s right True Believers! Caitlin McGurk and Jim Rugg talk Clowes’ The Death-Ray over on Process Party! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-23-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 10-23-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 10-23-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

06/02/2016

HarrisonJune 2, 2016News @h_gprince is collecting comics and arts news for Thursday, June 2, 2016. Today we’ll board the drunken boat, take a glance at process, and finish off by hunting heads. On a Boat PLEASE SHARE: Drunken Boat, the venerable online literary journal for experimental writing (15+ years running), is introducing a dedicated comics section beginning with our fall 2016 issue. We are seeking both form-melting and traditionally formal comics from a diverse range of artists, so whatever comics or comics-like things you’re making, send us your best. Submitted work should be previously unpublished (though feel free to contact us if this distinction is hazy), between one and twenty-five pages, and comprising either one or multiple pieces. Works will be displayed online, which offers some leeway with regards to size specifications. We simply ask that you familiarize yourself with the journal and use common sense when submitting. We’re open to figuring out a way to present your comics in the best possible fashion. The submissions deadline for our fall issue is 6/30/2016, so get to work! You’ll find our submissions page here. If you have any questions, feel free to email at nick@drunkenboat.com. -Nick Francis Potter, Drunken Boat comics editor Processing “Reading about other cartoonists’ process always interests me, but I’ve never really written about my own way of creating comics art because it’s usually as simple as can be – pencils, letters, inks, and colors all on the same sheet of paper in that order, no computer intercession to speak of. But for my latest comic, the bootleg Punisher/Dazzler blowout TRAP: FRANKIE TEARDROP, I employed a pretty different way of working that I thought one or two of you might be interested in looking behind the scenes of.” – Matt Seneca. This is how I do most my drawings. First attempt at using a time lapse thing, what do you think? #illustration #sketchbook #timelapse #animegirl #process A video posted by Matt Layzell (@m_layzell) on Jun 1, 2016 at 8:36am PDT Processing(g) “This is how I do most my drawings. First attempt at using a time lapse thing, what do you think?” – @m_layzell http://layzellbros.com/ Hunters Share this page: [...]

05/24/2018

Sally IngrahamMay 24, 2018NewsSally here with a Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Report from Jason Robinson! ———————————————————————————————— Jason Robinson is a comics maker, illustrator, and graphic designer living in Asbury Park, NJ. He joined us in Pittsburgh early last summer for a weeklong Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. When Jason arrived, he mentioned that he had brought along a few “housewarming gifts” – these turned out to be several boxes worth of kitchen gadgets, pots and pans, a tea kettle, and other goodies for the Rowhouse that future residents and the more long-term resident cartoonists have made delighted use of. This generous gift was just one among many ways that Jason showed his support for the Rowhouse Residency, and if Frank and the rest of the team was able to give him anything in return we are grateful! It’s a treat to revisit Jason’s time in Pittsburgh through his thoughtful and entertaining residency report – here’s an excerpt: “Day six was filled with daydreams and the jotting down of enough story ideas to last the next five years. In many ways, I feel like I was just getting revved up and here I am at the end, hoping I have the discipline to continue this trajectory or at least ride this wave for a long while. Because only now have the chaotic thoughts begun to settle on the floor of my brain. And I’m able to calmly wander through, picking up bits and pieces, and notice how some seem to connect—to join together like pieces of a puzzle. I joined Frank and Sally for dinner on that last night. And a bit drunk on wine, I tried to convey this feeling by paraphrasing a similar concept I’d read somewhere about a scientist explaining that “it may not look like I’m working when I’m staring off into space, but what I’m really doing is constructing a 3-dimensional puzzle in my head—piecing together bits and bytes of information, and that takes time and focus to carefully construct this puzzle in my mind’s sky so that it may stand on it’s own. So, please don’t interrupt me, or you risk the pieces of the puzzle caving in on each other, imploding into a cloud of ash.” …Fortunately, Frank has a better and much more succinct iteration in his back pocket – “When I’m working, you may not see it, but I’m welding here. I have a helmet on, and my mitt, it grips a fucking torch-of-fire. So stand back, or you’re in danger!” I’ll close with some unsolicited advise to future residents: You don’t have to chain yourself to the drawing table. Of course you may, and obviously there can be great benefits to doing so, I only argue that there are other equally constructive ways to make use of this time you’ve carved out for yourself. Paradoxically, doing “nothing” may be exactly what’s needed to do the next something.“ Read the rest of Jason Robinson’s Rowhouse Residency Report HERE! For more info on the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency please visit this page or email santoroschool@gmail.com ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-24-18 – by Audra Stang Share this page: [...]

COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

Posted on July 10, 2016July 10, 2016 by Juan Fernández

thee SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and

thee Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency presents

the COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

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1st place – $500 cash prize to the winner

2nd place – $250 credit at Copacetic Comics

3rd place – $100 credit at Copacetic Comics

plus four $50 honorable mention prizes from Big Planet Comics

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Create a 16 page signature comic book narrative to the specifications below

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DEADLINE: August 30 2016 midnight new york city time

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PAY ATTENTION!! THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT! Hereand Here and Here are last three years if you haven’t heard of the contest. This isn’t a scam, silly.

Here are the specs:

Original art page size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch originals with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area. Three equal “landscape” oriented panels. No exceptions. Each panel will be 5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. The “Tezuka Grid”. MEANING: YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE PANEL SIZES. 14 pages with 3 panels per page means you only have 42 panels to tell your story. And two covers.

Work may be in color OR black and white – OR – a combination of both.

You may also cut paper to the standard panel size of 5 x 2.5 inches and arrange them on your 5.5 x 8.5 paper quarter inch margins east, north and west with a three quarter inch margin south.

These “specs” were derived from Osamu Tezuka’s proportions for his first manga, The Mysterious Underground Men. It is a classic 2:3 proportion which is the same as traditional North American comic books. See above photos–I determined the live area and then scale’d up to a standard North American size which is affordable to print. See my ideas about the two most used comic book proportions HERE.

International students must use the same specs. No complaining.

It is recommended that you use one 8.5 x 11 piece of paper to compose the “spread”. The point is to draw small. And to draw by hand. And to learn how to draw in a “1 to 1″ fashion, as this proportion is perfect for North American “mini-comics” and for makers worldwide to produce comics from office supplies. And can be reduced to make a traditional 100x150mm live area for manga. See thoughts on this subject HERE.

Thats 14 pages of story plus two covers. Meaning seven spreads and a front and back cover. A 16 page signature. Follow this example here.

THE STORY MUST BE COMPLETE. SERIAL INSTALLMENTS of a longer narrative ARE NOT ELIGIBLE. THE STORY MUST BE NEW. IF YOU REPURPOSE AN OLD STORY THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Consider this an exercise in short story writing. I think the 16 page signature is ideal to contain a short story. Adaptations of existing works are not eligible. Like, you can’t copy a sequence from a movie.

Photograph or scan your pages and post them on your tumblr AS SPREADS. If you don’t have a tumblr – make one just for this contest. No exceptions! No complaining! Also post the front cover as the lead image and the back cover as the final image.

Email me – santoroschoolATgmailDOTcom – that you have posted your entry to your tumblr – complete with your name and title of the work in the text field and that it is for the composition competition 2016 – and I will reblog it on to the comicsworkbook site. I will be posting them – reblogging them – on comicsworkbook as they come in. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I will, however, only be posting stories that stick to the RULES. If you don’t follow the rules, I will not reblog the story and you won’t be eligible for the cash prize. Any questions about the competition – please email me.

The competition is open to all. You do not have to be a former student of mine. Former students of mine ARE eligible to compete.

Again, If you have any questions about the rules please ask. Better to ask and be safe than to be mad when I disqualify you over some missed detail. Seriously. Remember the page size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch originals with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area. Three equal “landscape” oriented panels. No exceptions. Each panel will be 5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. Work may be in color OR black and white – OR – a combination of both.

Remember! Email me – santoroschoolATgmailDOTcom – that you have posted your entry to your tumblr – I will reblog it.

You may enter as a writer/artist duo.

DEADLINE is August 30 2016 at 11:59 pm EST

Winners will be announced the following week.

please reblog this announcement

GOOD LUCK! signed Frank Santoro

COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

1. Can I have gutters in between the panels and can I work digitally.

ANSWER: You can have gutters – and you can work digitally. However I still want you to draw it at 5.5 x 8.5 inch original page size with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area – don’t draw large and shrink it down – ideally you are drawing panels that are 5 x 2.5 inches.

2. I understand that we are to post the comics as a two-page spread. But does the comic necessarily need to actually/physically be a spread? What I mean is, do I need to actually divide an 8.5 x 11″ page down the center to make two 5.5 x 8.5″ pages, or can I have two *separate* 5.5 x 8.5″ pages, completely independent of each other, which I then place side by side in order to post a picture on Tumblr? I would hate to draw a sloppy page and have to trash two pages because of it.

YES you may use two pieces of paper

3. I assume there is to be no sub-dividing of the three horizontal panels into separate, smaller panels, correct? For example, sub-dividing the top panel into three small vertical panels so that the comic page reads 3 -> 1 -> 1 is reason for disqualification, yes?

Correct. 3 panels per page – all 2.5 inches tall x 5 inches wide. No subdividing.

4. Is it alright to work on a page larger than 5.5 x 8.5″ provided that we DO NOT reduce the art in any way, and we DO adhere to the correct panel sizes and space orientation? This would merely be a technical convenience to me as I find it easier to draw on larger pages due to hand positioning/orientation etc.

YES

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3 thoughts on “COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016”

Nick Centanni says:

July 29, 2016 at 6:47 pm

Two questions:
1. Can an image pass between panels and/or spreads?

2. Does a *montage of images and/or text count as dividing the page in a way that would break the contest rules? *not sure I’m using the right word here

PS. Gutters are NOT required, right?

Reply
Nick says:

July 29, 2016 at 7:07 pm

For Question 2, I mean a montage within a single panel.
Thanks

Reply
guarazu says:

July 29, 2016 at 9:13 pm

What about sexually explicit content? Is allowed?

Reply

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in Santoro School

Juan Fernández

Posted on July 10, 2016July 10, 2016

Explore

Niall Breen on LICAF 2016

Comics WorkbookOctober 23, 2016Festivals and ShowsTo the lake district! AWAY!!!! A video posted by Niall Breen (@niall.breen.comics) on Oct 14, 2016 at 9:17am PDT Last week I traveled from Ireland to join the Comics Workbook crew in Kendal, England for The Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The Lakes Fest (LICAF) is an unusual beast in today’s world of heavily branded industry conventions. Marketing itself as a “comic art festival” immediately stands it apart from the large majority of sales-orientated cons which exist in most larger towns and cities throughout England and Ireland. While there is a venue at LICAF for artists and publishers to sell their work, this is not what pulls in the tens of thousands of visitors each year. LICAF instead focuses on education and appreciation of craft, with a packed roster of artist talks and workshops spread over the weekend. This love of craft and appreciation for artists seems to be a reflection of an attitude that naturally exists in Kendal; a town which, despite its modest size boasts a number of cinema spaces, theatres, art groups, and live music venues. Kendal is a town which thrives on art and when it came time to host this years LICAF, the whole town seemed fully on board. The weekend’s events were held in numerous locations throughout the town, from local pubs and cafes to the town hall and library. Even businesses not directly connected with the event went to great effort to create window displays fitting the Festival. The talks and workshops held throughout the weekend were well attended. There was an air of excitement buzzing all over as people were given the opportunity to sit and talk with their heroes. Even on the streets of Kendal the public brushed shoulders with comics superstars in a way which seemed exciting and yet, completely natural. I attended the Comics Workbook Composition Competition workshop which was run by Mr. Comics Workbook himself, the great Frank Santoro. Connor Willumsen and Aiden Koch were also in attendance, providing moments of insight and balance throughout the talk. The workshop was well attended and drew a wonderfully diverse audience. Children and adults, amateurs and professionals – it was a wonder to see how Frank’s process worked so well for everyone in the group. Each person was guided through so confidently and with such positivity that nobody felt unable or less capable than anyone else. In fact, many of the experienced British comic artists in attendance marveled at Frank’s aura of positivity, a trait which seems to be rare in the industry. The standard of work which came from the group was very high as everyone seemed to get on board with Frank’s ideas very quickly. We all left having completed a 4 page, pamphlet style comic. Not bad for a two hour session! I also managed to sit in on Connor Willumsen‘s workshop later that day. This class drew a small group of dedicated artists. We took great inspiration and warning from Connor’s industry stories. Seeing him describe his composition method was great as I could see how it was tied to Frank’s fundamental ideas, even if they go about the process differently. Another huge moment of inspiration for me was when Connor talked about how his ability to program code meant that he had greater control over how his work can be displayed. This seems more relevant now than ever as we are in a time of uncertainty over how to show our work on the internet. Each of the current options for artists (Tumblr, Instagram) seem to come with some level of restriction. It was great to see that Connor had taken the matter into his own hands and made a site which worked for him. It shows a level of ingenuity and determination which I think we will all need to strive for to stay afloat in the digital age. Overall, my experience of LICAF was one of community, of inspiration. For one weekend, makers and fans came to Kendal to share ideas, work together and grow. There was no line separating the novice and the master. There was only respect and the flow of ideas. LICAF is a rare and beautiful thing. ———————————————————————————— Niall Breen makes comics in Sligo Town, on the west coast of Ireland. You can find more of his work HERE. Share this page: [...]

09/05/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 5, 2016NewsJuan here. It’s Labor Day in the United States, which means no insane barrage of news for today. Just the juicy bits. Celebrate Labor History & Mourn the end of summer. If you’re still hankering for a massive dose of comics jump into this years submissions to the Comics Workbook Composition Contest. There were a record number entries this year and some real gems. Read them all HERE. ————————————————————————————————— If you haven’t caught wind already, Comics Workbook will be firing on all cylinders at SPX this year. We are excited to announce that Comics Workbook will be hosting a series of special workshops at SPX this year! A Danger Room of our own. Learn more about this year’s special Comics Workbook workshops HERE. We will be at table N8 this year – stop by and say “Hello” – check out new work by Frank and our students – buy some old comics from Frank’s mind blowingly extensive collection. More to come! We’ll be back full force tomoroow, coming at you like an SPX maelstrom. Hold on to your butts -JF Share this page: [...]

04/11/2017

Aaron CockleApril 11, 2017NewsAaron here today with the INK BRICK Submission Deadline Reminder; Public Health Comics; EMISSARIES; How the petroleum and natural gas industries are reshaping the Colorado landscape; TEACHING STAFF FOR A SCHOOL OF MURDERERS ————————————————————————————————— Submissions Deadline for Ink Brick no. 7 Hey friends! Submissions for INK BRICK no. 7 are due Sunday, April 16, 2017. More details at inkbrick.com/submission An interview with editors Alexander Rothman and Alexey Sokolin was conducted back in February by Alex Dueben over at the Beat blog: Dueben: Alex, you wrote a manifesto of sorts in 2015 and there was a line in it that really jumped out at me: “art is an empathy engine.” I wonder if you could talk a little about that. Sokolin: I’ll jump in on the concept. Famously, the filmmaker Chris Milk has called virtual reality “an empathy engine” as well. I think it boils down to the fact that humans are a tribal, social animal. One of the things that separates from the apes is technology, and in particular the technology of language. Scientists think that the invention of language helped humans build mental models that they could then share with others, and then record those models on different media for connection more broadly. Today, we have many languages — from analytical ones (Excel), to engineering ones (Python), to informal spoken ones (English), to emotional languages (Art). Art, whether in music, virtual reality, or poetry, helps us transfer emotional content to others, to infect them with feeling. Comics poetry is special in this regard because it can focus on this space in between, the space of not looking at something directly, but feeling its hum and mystery. How else can you describe nostalgia, or memory, or regret. Comics poetry allows us to see from the corner of our eye something that may be too embarrassing or crude to put into any other language. Elsewhere, it would shatter and break. But here, it can be universally translated. Rothman: I mentioned above that I use broad definitions of “comics” and “poetry”—there are of course plenty of others. And one of my favorite ones is that a poem serves as a map to the poet’s thinking. It doesn’t just impart information to the reader; the act of reading actually recreates or walks one through another person’s thought process. There’s obviously a lot of distance between individuals. We naturally have little sense of what other people are thinking, how they experience the world. And expressing ourselves is one of the few opportunities we have to try bridging that. For me, art’s most important function is helping us to inhabit other subjectivities—or really to translate them into our own. Not to agree with or like others, necessarily, but to try to understand them. A lot of people hear a word like “empathy” and they think it means capitulation or weakness. That’s not the case at all. I think the election throws this into stark relief: our political system requires contestation of ideas, and it requires certain approaches to win out over others. But for argument to even be possible, we need some shared context, some agreement to basic terms. And we can see how things like cultural divides and confirmation bias are severely eroding that. Now, false equivalency is a real problem, too, and I’m not saying “both sides are wrong!” here. Just that when people inhabit fundamentally different realities, they have no productive options to resolve their differences. ————————————————————————————————— Outbreak Responders Meredith Li-Vollmer has a strip about epidemiology and immunization over at the Public Health Insider blog. ————————————————————————————————— Ian Cheng at PS1 EMISSARIES is presented as a large-scale installation that transforms the gallery into a portal-like environment for Cheng’s simulations to build, generate, regress, and progress. The 10-foot-tall projections allow each simulation to unfold at life-size, positioning viewers as observers who can follow the lives of specific characters as they interact within the simulated worlds and each other in an ever-changing environment. The exhibition is extended into the digital space through a collaboration with Twitch, a social video platform and community for gamers. Over the course of the exhibition, all three works in the Emissary trilogy will be available for viewing on Twitch in unique versions that exist online only. The Twitch live stream of these works will also be on view in the gallery space, highlighting the iterative nature of these works across platforms both physical and virtual. Available for viewing continuously at www.twitch.tv/moma, Emissary In the Squat of Gods will stream from April 9 to May 22, Emissary Forks At Perfection from June 6 to July 24, and Emissary Sunsets the Self from August 8 to September 25. Alex Greenberger reviewed Cheng’s work last year at ARTNEWS: Describing Cheng’s simulations can be a challenge. The characters in them look like computerized versions of real-life animals and humans, but, because Cheng is working with a video-game engine that keeps creating new combinations, the figures can smash into each other and break into overlapping geometric planes. Though what the work will do is left up to chance, Cheng has a narrative in mind before he starts working, and his works loosely follow it. When I met him, Cheng had just returned from Zurich, where he had opened a solo show at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, and he was still jetlagged. Cheng had also recently overseen the installation of his simulation at the Hirshhorn, and another work of his had just gone on display in MOCA Cleveland’s “Stranger,” which surveys artists who depict humans in odd, new ways. All three shows opened in the past three months, and all speak to the way Cheng creates scenarios in which humans have to rethink their relationship to technology. What if software updates and new models aren’t the only way technology is evolving? What if technology is evolving us, rather than the other way around? ————————————————————————————————— There’s Never Enough Oil Over at the Nib, T. Edward Bak takes a long look at oil production in Colorado over time. ————————————————————————————————— Max Ernst at Paul Kasmin Gallery The dadaist conceived the pieces (price on request) in 1967, a time in his life when he became fully committed to sculpture, having dabbled in it throughout his career. Typically Ernst ian – he was always a master of provocation – there’s a biting sense of humour here, from the wordplay to the overturning of artistic convention. There is also an unsettling, anxious comment ary on postwar European society, embodying fears about authority and corrupt political surveillance that are perhaps as relevant now as they were then. ————————————————————————————————— A Cosmic Journey – 4-11-2017 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-11-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-11-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/24/2016

Sam OmbiriNovember 24, 2016NewsToday we have thoughts from Tyler Landry on the recent work-in-progress of Cameron Weston Nicholson, and Sam Ombiri’s response to this with further exploration of the act of sketching and process work – plus other news items from the week. ————————————————————————————————— Tyler Landry here. I’ve been following some of Cameron Weston Nicholson’s semi-secret endeavors over the last week or two, and the man is ON FIRE! Several simultaneous streams of intense character development are taking place here – some involving characters you might recognize from a certain book/film about a peculiar little girl who’s looking for her place in the world, while some are brand new, straight from Cam’s brain-swamp. The latter are the first manifestations of a new comic he’s got in the works. Sssshhhhhh… There is a sincere (and successful) attempt here to accentuate each character’s unique physicality which, for me, helps to telegraph their personalities directly into their appearance. Think of it like exaggerated facial expressions – for the whole body. This next set of character poses is as much about movement as it is about base structure. In this case, what they do outwardly speaks volumes about what’s going on inside. Combined, the physical form and the gestures amount to much of what’s required for these characters to communicate who they are. What Cameron’s been doing here is the beginning of world-building for a story. Be it in comics, film/tv, a novel, or a video game, steps like these towards developing characters and, by extension, the world they inhabit, are essential. Cam’s really feeling these guys out, trying to understand what makes ‘em tick, how they dress, how they act, how they go about their business in the world he’s going to place them in. Just like any exercise in copying the masters, there’s a wealth of information to be gleaned from retracing the steps of your predecessors on the way to (or alongside) taking your own. – Tyler Landry Follow Cameron Weston Nicholson‘s Instagram to keep up with more of his process work – @prof_weston Watch the video of Cameron’s Comics Workbook-hosted workshop at SPX 2016 HERE. We have presented this Feature in full, but you can also read it HERE on the site, and check out more links to Cameron and Tyler Landry’s work. What follows is Sam Ombiri’s response to the above piece about Cameron’s work. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here. Gary Panter said something like sketchbooks are your friend – sometimes you hide an idea in there and you find it later when you need it (I think that’s what he said). CF said he likes to think of a sketchbook or blank page as an experimental plane. Mieko Kawakami said that for her, sketching (she actually said poetry – but it’s in a different cultural context, which unless you avidly read contemporary Japanese literature in Japanese, and keep up to date with the trends in relation to the history of Western influence on Japanese poetry, mixing with the more traditional Japanese poetry, then going back to a mix of traditional and Western influence and just what’s hot in the scene right now…you’d get it – not that I know anything about all that, I just heard it somewhere). Anyway for Mieko Kawakami “sketching” is like delusion and the “final draft” (she actually said prose) is like imagination. I kinda partly disagree with this illustration. I don’t think – with my ignorance of what’s going on with Japanese poetry right now – work of that kind is pure delusion, but it is emotion tapered with structure at least for the time being (though there’s still structure at play, as shown in Cameron Weston Nicholson’s work – see above – but there’s room for expression created here. Or maybe it’s just one’s personal fears and reservations.) CF said something like the best way to draw is to turn your back on everyone you know and your ideals – at least I think that’s what he said. Japanese poetry is really preoccupied with rhythm, so even with the “delusion” it’s still grounded in something. Mieko Kawakami said the delusion she was referring to was like how she could have a family live in a house made out of pancakes – but ironically when she’s referring to her imagination she feels she can’t do that. It makes me wonder – why make novels that limit yourself if they are a “higher calling”? From my understanding, for awhile the attitude readers had for novels in Japan were: the more difficult the better. I’m not sure whether it was The Tale of Genji or Don Quixote that was the first novel, but I think it’s safe to say the novelists most likely have a strong sense of tradition strictly built on the foundation that The Tale of Genji set up (I’m only assuming). So then, maybe that strong sense of tradition is what drives Kawakami to limit herself. That doesn’t really make any sense though, because a lot of the more popular contemporary Japanese authors, at least popular outside of Japan, have been influenced by novels outside the Japanese tradition. I think she cited Virginia Woolf as a big influence. Someone said that the current movement is a fusion of the old difficult traditional Japanese literature and the new fun Japanese literature. Maybe in delusion/sketching/experimentation there’s a lack of tampering (which isn’t always the case). The only tampering to be found in imagination or in the work is in one’s limitations (sometimes). Ambiguity is subtracted so there’s a more possible chance of connection, but connection can happen either way. Sketches/process work is the most honest/real documentation. It doesn’t always show up in apparent ways in all works but sometimes it shows up in the final work, which usually rocks. I like to be reminded when I’m looking at a drawing that it’s a drawing made by a person who isn’t always graceful. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— A few other news items for the day: Ben Passmore has a comic up on The Nib this week about getting arrested for protesting the KKK – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The New Yorker ran a piece last week about the “Hidden Black Female Figures of Western Art” that is well worth a read. An excerpt: “What began as a small experiment expanded into the history of art in the entire Western world. The museums were invisible graveyards. They were just sitting there: broken, defaced, unseen. A catalogue of bodies. It was an invisible archaeology—an archaeology that crisscrossed time and space. Everywhere I went, I found them, just off, just to the edge, just beneath: pieces of black female bodies buried in plain sight. A small black female carved into the handle of a tool. Miniature black women who could fit into your palm. A three-inch-long black female carved into a knife handle, so you could hold on to her body tightly whenever you sliced your daily bread. A palm-sized black woman in your hand when you brushed your hair at night, looking absently into the mirror. A spoon handle, a drum, a hammer, a flute—black bodies sculpted into the wooden frame surrounding a heroic painting of a white male on top of a white horse, riding triumphantly into war. Black female bodies ornamenting the tripods, the base of a table, sleeping inside the frame, selling, offering, tending in the background of innumerable paintings. Bending, standing, waiting. Our whole artistic history crawling with the decorative bodies of black women.” – Robin Coste Lewis for The New Yorker Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Robin McConnell has a massive Cartoon Crossroads Columbus report up on the Inkstuds site – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Matthew Thurber‘s comics have been adapted into the play 1-800-MICE, being put on by the Baltimore Annex Theater – info and tickets HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Comics Workbook has announced the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers – course starts Dec. 29th 2016! 8 week course – 500 bux – 10 spots available – apply by Dec. 13th 2016 and get $100 off course fee! More details can be found HERE – or email santoroschoolATgmail. Santoro School Application guidelines: -3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards -3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards -draw in a contour line style – Think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink -just send small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls -specific url links to any comics work you have done. Send applications to: santoroschoolATgmail Share this page: [...]

10/13/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 13, 2016NewsSam Ombiri here – I was looking through old issues of The Believer hoping to find Dash Shaw and Jesse Moynihan’s comic about Lost. I didn’t know what issue of The Believer it was in, but as I was setting aside some suspects, I saw a portrait Charles Burns did of this one person whose work is typically really awkward and really lame. I bought it since it was just 50 cents per issue. I lucked out and found the Lost comic as well (pictured below). (You can read the Lost comic – titled Spiritual Dad – HERE, at the bottom of a 2011 Jesse Moynihan interview conducted by Frank Santoro for The Comics Journal. – Sally) I’ve been thinking about this quote, or mix of quotes, but I can’t say from whom they are from (and I really, really changed it from the original). Still, it’s great to hear him/her saying this stuff – “Things will not always have a conclusion, be it jokes without punchlines, or reading books that have pages missing or put in wrong places. All information is accessible now, it’s tough to choose which information is worth anything, but I prefer for things to be awkward…my spelling is terrible…and my grammar is worse (laughs). I don’t know how it all affects my work… I don’t want to make things people would intellectualize, but instead it’s all about a feeling.” I feel it’s more less the last part that I find myself somewhat agreeing with, though the beginning at certain points leaves me a bit dubious. (I reworded the last part of the quote, the quote itself wasn’t sequentially reworded from the original.) Actually the last part where the person talking hesitated to intellectualize a feeling, I took from this one cool guy, Jeffrey Leiser, who in his list of favorite Criterions, said, for the Three Colors Trilogy, something like “I don’t want to intellectualize this, it should be celebrated as a triumph for cinema.” I think he’s working on an opera right now. His brother Eric is super rad too. To conclude, here is a piece of a drawing I was working on: -Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Sally Ingraham here. If you’re in Pittsburgh this coming weekend, be sure to check out the 6th annual Pittsburgh Zine Fair and catch up with Sam Ombiri at the Pittsburgh Comics Salon table! He’ll be holding it down, joined by a few other frequent attendees of the monthly comics salons. PZF is at the Union Project on Sunday, October 16, from 2-8pm. Check out the work of Jayla Patton, another Pittsburgh cartoonist and the creator of the PZF poster (above) HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Starting today, the Comics Workbook team is officially spread across the globe – with Frank Santoro in the U.K. for The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, joined by Aidan Koch, Connor Willumsen, Oliver East, and Jack Brougham among others. There is still time to buy tickets to the workshops that Frank, Aidan, and Connor are giving – HERE! Meanwhile, Comics Workbook will be represented in force at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, in OH, with Sacha Mardou, Whit Taylor, Kurt Ankeny, Alyssa Berg, Juan Fernandez, Caleb Orecchio, Emil Friis Ernst, John Kelly, and me (Sally Ingraham), running around leading workshops, moderating panels, interviewing folks, documenting the event, and tabling at the expo. I was getting confused myself about which direction we’re all going in this weekend, so I made a comprehensive list of who is where, when – check it out HERE. See you there! ————————————————————————————————— SPX has started posting videos from this year’s panels – here’s thee great Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez being interviewed by Bill Boichel, owner of Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh, PA: ————————————————————————————————— Over on The Comics Journal yesterday Dan Nadel included some thoughts on Dash Shaw’s new film, and Ben Jones’ exhibition at The Hole, among his other news links. “Ben’s new show was fascinating because it was a rare instance of a cartoonist making comics that function as narrative drawing in a contemporary gallery space. These are not enlarged images (e.g. Shrigley), murals, or groups of drawings (Pettibon), but rather straightforward canvases that take a new approach to the comic medium. The show consists of oil stick-on canvas 3 by 3 foot cartoon panels assembled into narrative blocks (or 6 by 9 foot “pages”). They manage to feel as intimate as his notebook-sized comic strips and yet take on a new, somewhat ominous meaning — their dumb subject and large size a visual equivalent to, say, the comedy of Eric Andre or Will Ferrell. On a technical level, the work functions because his line is distinctly warm, his cartoon forms basic, and his sense of space and scale adaptable to large spaces. ” – Dan Nadel More HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly has a show at the Columbus Museum of Art, and will be speaking on Sunday there in conjunction with Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – he’ll be talking to Ohio State University’s Jared Gardner – 2:30-4pm at the museum. ————————————————————————————————— Have you seen the recent collaboration between Frank Santoro and master jeweler Airi Maeno? Check out the Pompeii Medallion HERE. Yes, we are still trying to get Connor Willumsen to The Lakes International Comic Art Festival – this way please! ————————————————————————————————— I’m eager to get on the road and on my way to Columbus, so I’ll leave you for the moment. I’ll be back tomorrow with the first round of pics from CXC, and Sam Ombiri will be back next Thursday with his Pittsburgh Zine Fair report and other good stuff. Cheers! – Sally Share this page: [...]

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