Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in Festivals and Shows, NewsTagged Aimée De Jongh, Camilla Zhang, carol tyler, Fifi Martinez, jessica abel, juan fernandez, Kenny Rubinis, Kickstarter, Liz Reed, Malaka Gharib, Rachel Masilamani, Richie Pope, Scott Morse, SPX, Tom Hart

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 19, 2019August 19, 2019

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06/05/2017

Caleb OrecchioJune 4, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on recently read comics by Mickey Z, Matthew Thurber, and Jillian Tamaki, and enough links to make a cat bark. ————————————————————————————————— Below are some thoughts on some recent comics I’ve read. Three very different comics by three very different cartoonists. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about how people draw so that is reflected herein. RAV 2nd Collection by Mickey Zacchilli (Youth in Decline)–buy it here As is always the case with a Mickey Z comic, 2nd Collection is hilarious. She shares comedic DNA with Rumiko Takahashi. Often it is the aside remarks and the contrast of character personalities that take you off guard and make you laugh out loud. Michael DeForge writes in the introduction, “Mickey’s comics always feel as though they’re about to come apart at the seams, but they never do.” This is true on many levels. First, my copy of RAV 1st Collection is literally falling apart at the seams of the binding (when I talked to Youth in Decline proprietor, Ryan Sands, at CXC 2016 he assured me this would be less likely to happen for the 2nd Collection. So far so good!) Second, Mickey’s drawings are thin, scratchy and chaotic, she uses the digital gray zippatone effect to strengthen and hold up her loose drawings. The gray layer allows for the drawings to keep their first-take raw energy and act as the concrete for the scaffolding—the lines. The product of such an alchemy that is unabashedly manic and energized. I imagine sparks flying off her pen when she draws, and her hair standing on end due to the effect—like Goku going super-saiyan or something. Art Comic #1-5 by Matthew Thurber (Swimmers Group)–buy issues here Art Comic is a satirical fairytale of contemporary art. Thurber is achingly smart. Every comic he’s done—including this one—are just filled to the brim with intelligence and rarely unparalleled whit that harmoniously blends with his traditionally-minded cartooning to make an intellectual’s dream comic. Thurber’s drawings feel like actual drawings rather than “inked drawings.” There is almost no embellishment to his lines which creates an intimacy many comics lack (Noah Van Sciver is another cartoonist who I think fits this bill). To me, having embellished inking, digital color, etc., can be like adding a drum kit to a band—everything else has to be turned up and some of the camaraderie between performer and audience is lost. I’m not trying to put down any other way of cartooning or music—Highway 61 Revisited is one of my favorite albums; but Thurber, as a cartoonist, is the lone musician on the stage singing to his attentive and perceptive audience. Simple chord changes and finger picking, with astute, biting lyrics allows us to listen and think. Boundless by Jillian Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly)–buy it here You may know her from many things. Most notably, you may know her from Caldecott Honor winning graphic novel she drew in collaboration with her cousin Mariko Tamaki, This One Summer. A skill, I think that is underrated these days is the ability to be just the drawer AND the author—and the part that goes under appreciated is the ability to do both very well. I’m trying to keep this post brief so I’ll get to the point, Tamaki’s drawing is among the best in the business among or better than such cartoonists as David Mazzuchelli, Connor Willumson, Jaime Hernandez–you name ’em! I am especially taken with what I call her “children’s book” style of drawing. Strings of squiggles and shifty lines come together in perfect harmony to create simple, plump people, animals and plants that seemed to be ripped right out of my childhood subconscious. At first the drawing reminded me of Sendak—Little Bear specifically—but less stiff. Then I think more and I think of all the little drawings and illustrations I saw in old kid’s nature magazines, craft magazines, story book anthologies, songbooks, etc. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this children’s book drawing style feels new, old, elusive, and familiar at the same time, and I’m left baffled by Tamaki’s prowess of craft. ————————————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Whoa! NY Times does a “New York Issue” as an all-comics issue where cartoonists collaborate with NY Times reporters that you can read online here. I’m personally most excited about the Mazzuchelli strip! Noah Van Sciver has an interview over at Fumettologica on the occasion of his book, Disquiet, being published in Italy by Coconino Press. Please read this particularly good strip by Noah, featuring Simon Hanselmann! John Porcellino has an interview on Study Group’s Process Party. Chris Ware writes about Saul Steinberg’s drawing over at The New York Review of Books. Paste Magazine has a preview of the upcoming Street Angel book. Two days after Drawn & Quarterly announced that they were publishing Berliac’s graphic novel Sadbøi, the publisher took it off their publishing schedule and issued “An Apology” amid an escalating hullabaloo. The Comics Beat has more of the story. Berliac’s own statements were posted on his Facebook. Comic Book Resources reveals Matthew Thurber’s cover for the next Best American Comics. Happy to see Ben Katchor is the editor! Should be interesting. Jason Wood interviews Andrew MacLean over on 11 O’Clock Comics. MacLean and his Head Lopper series is a favorite among my pals here in Dayton. Finally, Heroes Con looks to be a good show this year with some great guests. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-5-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-5-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

07/01/2016

Aaron CockleJune 30, 2016NewsSally here – I’m in Honduras looking for Blue-crowned Motmots, Montezuma Oropendolas, and Lovely Cotingas (birds!)…as well as Honduran comics, so I’m handing the mic over to Aaron this week. Back with you next Friday! Take it away, Aaron. ————————————————————————————————— Thanks, Sally, looks like you’re having a nice trip! Today in the news we have Robert Kirby in conversation with MariNaomi; Smile Revisited; WE ALL WISH FOR DEADLY FORCE; Howard Cruse; mini-architecture; Austin English on the Risograph; PERSPECTIVE!; Secretimes; Drawing as Language Interviews; Mining the Moon ————————————————————————————————— “I Want Everything to Mean Something”: A Conversation with MariNaomi I’m always categorizing cartoonists: there’s this pure storytelling school that I would put you in, alongside John Porcellino, Kelly Froh, people like that. It’s this type of storytelling where the fat is boiled down to a lean, spare-looking narrative. What’s called “deceptively simple.” I feel like that describes my process, both with writing and drawing: I’m basically editing the whole time. But I don’t want to be spare just to be spare (or busy just to be busy). I want everything to mean something. To meet the emotion of the scene or the moment? Exactly. Once I was mentoring a student, who had this wonderful, personal story she wanted to tell about her family. It was a quiet piece, and that’s how she was approaching it. But some of her peers, her fellow students, were trying to convince her to draw all these very dramatic panels for it, which was causing her a lot of anxiety, because she didn’t think she could pull that off. And the thing is, what they were suggesting was completely wrong for this particular story! I think when you’re just starting out you might feel like “I need X, Y, & Z to tell a story,” but that’s not how it works! There’s no template. Every story has its specific needs. That’s what I learned from doing all those comics for The Rumpus, which became my book Dragon’s Breath. I learned as I went how to make each individual piece be what it wanted to be. —via Robert Kirby at TCJ ————————————————————————————————— Raina Telgemeier’s Smile signaled a sea change in comics still felt today At a glance, this feels like a pretty big deal for Telgemeier but not necessarily all that important to anyone else—just a personal success worth celebrating. But Smile has inarguably changed the way many people look at comics, and the way the industry itself approaches audiences. It’s not that there was no one else writing graphic novels for young women when Smile came onto the scene in 2010, but Telgemeier’s incredible success legitimizes comics as suitable for YA literature and YA literature as suitable for comics, at least to people who were paying attention to the number of copies sold. ————————————————————————————————— See trauma become art with hints of dark humor in ‘We All Wish for Deadly Force’ To say that Leela Corman puts much of herself into her art is an understatement. Most of her collected work here covers her own history, traumas, perspectives, feelings, and even humor. As she herself admits, her sense of humor is quite dark and she proudly wears her Jewish and Brooklyn heritage on her sleeve as inspiration for her work. Through her short stories, readers not only learn a lot about their creator, but also learn a lot about how trauma is experienced as well as genuine issues involving women in Egypt as well as those suffering from loss. Her style is simple yet effective, with plenty of detail in clothing, furniture, and backgrounds with plenty of realistic illustrations of people (especially herself). Her sense of color to establish mood is exceptional and evident in much of her work here. The entire graphic novel gives the reader many things to reflect upon afterward and sticks with one long after it has been put down. ————————————————————————————————— International Comic Arts Forum 2016 Artists Talk: Howard Cruse Artist Howard Cruse‘s presentation at the International Comic Arts Forum at University of South Carolina on April 15, 2016. Cruse is the Eisner and Harvey award-winning creator of Stuck Rubber Baby, a founding editor of Gay Comix, and creator of Barefootz and the Wendel comics series. ————————————————————————————————— Japan opens its first museum for miniature architecture models ————————————————————————————————— New risograph zine by Austin English ————————————————————————————————— 10 typical perspective errors —via electricalice ————————————————————————————————— Keith Jones’ Secretimes is a Pleasant, Joycean Class War Somehow, it’s not depressing, even with the rich murdering the poor for sport, probably because of the fun Jones seems to have drawing the thing. Nothing seems to mean much, but that keeps the stakes low, and the artist’s habit of filling every bit of space with some doodad or other is pleasant without becoming overcrowded. The result is like James Joyce’s riffs slowed down to a more manageable pace—a gifted brain unwinding for pleasure by extemporizing. ————————————————————————————————— Drawing as Language Video-Interviews with Cartoonists To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the international Comix-Festival, Fumetto, we will be showing interviews with cartoonists who coined our contemporary drawing culture. They speak of their drawing experiences and on topics such as «drawing as a language» and «visual narration». ————————————————————————————————— Matthew Thurber’s Mining the Moon Essential 4th of July reading/viewing/listening. The Comic The Musical ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

03/09/16

Aaron CockleMarch 9, 2016Interviews / NewsGary Panter Printed Matter. The Rozz Tox Effect: Publications by Gary Panter, 1972-2016 is on view now through March 19 at the new Printed Matter space in NYC. Curated by Dan Nadel. Smoke Signals. The two most recent issues of Gabe Fowler’s Smoke Signal features work by Al Columbia, among many other talented artists. An interview from 2010 with Columbia and Nicole Ruddick can be found at the fondly-remembered Comics Comics blog. High-Focus Drawing. James McMullan has a 12-part series of drawing exercises posted on the NY Times Opinionator blog. Graph Paper Templates. Generated Paper + Printable Paper Aspen #8. The Fluxus Issue ‘pass To move past; go by. To pass someone on the road. To let go without notice, action, re mark, etc. ; leave unconsidered; disregard; overlook. Pass the preface and go on to the text. To go across or over extreme threshold etc.; cross. To undergo; they passed the worst night of their lives. To go beyond a point, degree, stage, etc.; transcend; exceed; surpass. To cause to go or move onward. To pass a rope through a hole. To live during a portion of time spent. He decided to pass a year abroad improving his German. To live through without tedium, how to pass the time. To cause to circulate or spread. To pass rumors all over the Naval base. To convey, transfer or transmit; deliver. To convey from one person, hand, etc. to another. Please pass the mustard. He passed a remark about every passer-by. To discard, void from the body as excrement. To transfer to a teammate. To go or move onward; proceed. To come to or toward, then go beyond. To pass by. To pass through. To go away; depart. The lightheaded feeling will pass in a minute. To come to an end. To die. To take place; happen; occur. To go by or move past. To go about or circulate; be current. To serve as a marginally acceptable sub stitute; the facsimile is not very good but it will pass. To live or be known as a member of a racial or religious or ethnic group other than one’s own, especially to live and be known as a white person, although having some negro ancestry. To undergo transition or conversion. To pass from a solid to a liquid state; bring to pass; come to pass; pass away; pass for; to be ac cepted as; be considered; material that passed for silk; pass-off; to pass-off a spurious Rembrandt on someone. He passed himself off as a doctor; pass-on; pass-out; pass-over; pass wind.’ Share this page: [...]

Sunday is a Good Day to Visit a Museum: Part Three

Alyssa BergMay 12, 2016Art Trip / EssaysThis is the final part of a series of process meditations inspired by a trip to The Rubin Museum of Art in NYC. Catch up with Part One: Ritual in Preparing the Space/It’s the Simple Things, and Part Two: Meditation on the Grid/Free Your Mind ————————————————————————————————— Part 3: Pass the Mic/Other People’s Processes For the final installment of the series reflecting on my visit to The Rubin Museum of Art, I posed a question to MariNaomi, Simon Hanselmann, Sophie Yanow and Vanesa R. Del Rey: Will you share any ritual, meditation, or devotion in your artistic process? ————————————————————————————————— MariNaomi‘s most recent memoir comic is Turning Japanese (2dcloud, 2016). She is the creator and curator of the Cartoonists of Color Database and the Queer Cartoonists Database. I’m not sure that I have any kind of ritual/meditation per se, but I am very habitual in my work days. Basically I start the day with an early-morning jog (at 6:30), then breakfast. Then I take care of things that might otherwise distract me: dishes, bills, emails. I don’t really get creative until after lunchtime. I’m generally in the zone from the afternoon until evening when my husband gets home at 7 or 8. If I’m on deadline (or super inspired), I’ll eat dinner with him, then get back to work until bedtime at 10:30 pm. I used to beat myself up about not working in the mornings, but I’ve finally accepted that it’s my routine. Oh, and my talisman is drinking lots and lots of tea. ————————————————————————————————— Simon Hanselmann‘s most recent collection is Megg & Mogg in Amsterdam (And Other Stories) (Fantagraphics, 2016). Megg, Mogg & Owl is updated Wednesdays at VICE. my main ritual is trying to clear my mind so i can focus and be fully absorbed by the project at hand. i usually try to clear my inbox in the morning before i start working otherwise i’ll feel guilty and flustered all day. cigarettes are a huge part of the ritual. also red bull, sadly. i really need to change up my rituals to something a bit more healthy… fuck it though, as long as the work is getting done and i’m hitting my deadlines. i will most likely be dead in a few years… UPDATE: I’m on day 10 of no red bull. I am a recovering energy drink addict. <|:-) ————————————————————————————————— Sophie Yanow was the 2014-15 fellow at The Center for Cartoon Studies. Her most recent book is War of Streets and Houses (Uncivilized Books, 2014). The one thing that I do that has kind of become a “ritual,” is when I do journal comics, I do them on graph paper, and I draw 6 square panels out on the graph paper before I start drawing or writing. I generally draw/write directly in the squares. The journal comics are always in a 6 panel grid, so I’ve considered printing out paper that has the 6 panel grid already on it, but I think that drawing the grid out gets me into the proper state of “I’m going to draw/write a journal comic now.” It’s like a trigger. So drawing the panels first is the ritual/meditation that starts the journal comic. ————————————————————————————————— Vanesa R. Del Rey is an artist and illustrator for Hit comics (Boom! Studios). Her artwork has also been in Marvel, DC and Dark Horse comics. My artistic process – Discipline. I work 6 days a week for about 10 hours a day, this is a constant but my schedule is kind of organic, it changes every once in a while. I usually do chores and have breakfast/check emails before I sit down to draw. Sometimes I work out before sitting down too. My ritual to get the juices flowing involves smoking ganja and doing a warm up sketch. This warm up sketch can be anything. It’s just a thing to unclog my mind and loosen up my joints. I just spill something out… I give myself about an hour or so. This happens usually when I’ve just started working on a book. After a couple of weeks I skip on the warm ups and dive straight into my pages when I sit down. I get faster as I progress, the shapes become familiar therefore I don’t have to spend as much time searching for them. Once in a while I also do cool down sketches after a day’s work. They are usually just ideas I have floating around that I use to not get bored. For example if I’m working on the computer for a long period of time I like to switch it up and start a painting or do a sketch in my sketchbook. I guess the constant factor to begin for me is the ganja, I’m a big smoker. I would call it a ritual/meditation. My creative energy is unpredictable, it drives me and not the other way around, but my ritual is the method I have found to channel that energy, to make good use of it. It’s an incredible help for the stress of deadlines too! I’m always on a tight deadline. Devotion is a given to me…doing my work is my life. I wouldn’t do anything else. ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg makes comics in Brooklyn, NY. You can find her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

11/28/2016

Juan FernándezNovember 28, 2016NewsJuan here with Ghengis Con Cleveland Check in; Gou Miyagi; Suzanne Ciani; Appplications for the Santoro Correspondence Course. ————————————————————————————————— I was just in Cleveland with the CW gang at Ghengis Con Cleveland. Sally Ingraham, Caleb Orecchio, Frank Santoro, Jenn Lisa and yours truly. I had a great time. Lots of fun. I love my team. John “draw hard” G. organized a cozy, profitable afternoon of comics sellers. He did an amazing job for this special show. This is my third year attending. I grew up in Cleveland, so there’s something very personal about coming back to where I grew up annually. It’s a good rustbelt comics reunion.The local seasons cycle is nice. Healthy. Ghengis Con in Cleveland November as winter sets in. PIX in Pittsburgh in April as spring cracks apart winters icy clutch. I’ll be sharing my experience there with you later this week in my Ghengis Con 2016 Report. The who’s who, the what’s what and favorite books from the show. Stay tuned Got some great photos.Lots of smiling faces, good conversations, hot coffee. No news for today. This is more important. Watch this: Listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73hRNJ0YkiM&t=395s Do your drills. ————————————————————————————————— Oh yeah, and don’t you forget that we’re still taking applications for the Winter term of the Santoro School Correspondence Course. Applications are coming in left and right, don’t get left behind! 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: [...]

Comics Workbook Workshops at SPX 2019

Posted on August 19, 2019August 19, 2019 by Juan Jose Fernandez

Join Juan Fernandez and the Comics Workbook gang for a series of workshops featuring hands-on instruction from some of the most talented makers of independent comics. All workshops will held in the Glen Echo and Oakley rooms downstairs at the Marriott Hotel. Please consult the workshop schedule and sign up in advance to insure a spot. Walk-ins will be welcome, however, space permitting.

(Curious about this years panels? Check out the rest of the fantastic programming available at SPX this year.)

SIGN UP HERE FOR ANY OF THE SPX 2019 COMICS WORKBOOK WORKSHOPS.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14

Comics Making with Richie Pope

11:00 – 12:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Take a crash course in comics making – for kids big and small. We will bring the grids, the markers, the know-how – you bring your personal spark. Discover the comics-maker within you and let them out! Join Richie Pope for an easy foray into comics making – the perfect thing to start a weekend at SPX! All ages.

How to ensure your comics projects get the love they deserve with Jessica Abel

12:00 – 1:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Join Jessica Abel and design your days with clarity and purpose, so the things that get done are what you care about most. Figure out where your time really goes, and use that information to create an action plan for your week built around your current reality, not some fantasy version of your life. Make smart, conscious decisions about your time, and take control of your creative life.

Clay Sculpture Characters with Liz Reed

1:00 – 2:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Learn how to make miniature clay cakes with Sweet Success & Sweet Competition author/sculptor Liz Reed. Attendees will create their very own unique clay character as Liz guides the class through different sculpting techniques using everyday household items.

Kickstarter Presents: How to write a logline

2:00 – 3:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Loglines aren’t just for screenwriters. If you’ve ever put together a pitch for a publisher or just needed 1-2 sentences for a Kickstarter project description, knowing how to communicate your story in a concise and effective way is essential for any comics creator. Led by Kickstarter’s Comics Outreach Lead Camilla Zhang, this workshop will help you craft a compelling logline or refine one you already have in the works. If you have a pitch you’d like to workshop, please bring up to 20 copies.

Storytelling Flow

3:00 – 4:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Tom Hart, the founder of The Sequential Artist’s Workshop (SAW), will help you with your storytelling flow! Feeling stuck? Tense? Like you can’t figure out which way to turn? Not sure which idea to build on or how to tell a good idea from a bad? Do you feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed by your own ideas? Loosen up and follow your story ideas from beginning to end in this workshop. Daydreaming, not drawing skill, is necessary.

Then What Happened? How To Tell Your Story In A Way That Invites, Excites, And Delights!

4:00 – 5:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Rachel Masilamani will lead a workshop for people who draw and people who don’t think that they can draw of all ages. We’ll work on shaping stories together. What comes first? What comes second, and how can we tie it all together?

Autobio Comics Workshop with Fifi Martinez

5:00 – 6:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Join cartoonist Fifi Martinez to learn how to explore how we can capture and share the emotional essence of what our subjective lives feel like in real time through comics. Using drawing, writing, diagramming and the collage-like capacity of comics, attendees will experience what it is like to keep a comics diary and how their comics can be used for reflection, meditation, and healing.

Storytelling with Space and Depth

6:00 – 7:00 pm Glen Echo Room

Emil Friis Ernst takes you through the basics of spatial design to boost your visual vocabulary with a third dimension. In this workshop, you will learn how to put characters in perspective easily, use the space around a character to tell a story, and use the third dimension to make poetry.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15

Visual Language Theory – Applying Linguistics Principles to Comics Making and Reading

12:00 – 1:00 pm Oakley Room

The ability to draw is a basic human ability, and sequential images are prevalent across human history. This fundamental aspect of human expression yields several important questions, such as how are such individual and sequential images structured, and how do people process and comprehend them?

Join Juan Fernandez to learn how Visual Language Theory offers a framework to answer these questions and how principles and methods of the linguistic and cognitive sciences can enrich and expand our ability to make, read, and teach comics.

Don’t Weaken: Strategies For Staying Strong Through Your Cartooning Decades with Carol Tyler

1:00 – 2:00 pm Oakley Room

Estate Planning, Preventative Care, and Health and Wellness: these often neglected issues can up have huge impacts on the lives of cartoonists and those around them if not considered early on in life. Join Carol Tyler for an intergenerational community discussion on how we can create a better world for cartoonists to work and live.

Exploring Your Immigrant Story & Personal History With Mini Zines

2:00 – 3:00 pm Oakley Room

In this workshop, you will work with NPR’s Malaka Gharib, the author of I WAS THEIR AMERICAN DREAM: A Graphic Memoir, on using the mini-zine format to explore your personal histories. In a brief presentation, she will discuss the power of mini zines in inspiring artists to make short and completable creative projects that are perfectly sharable in the Instagram age. Using deliberate questions aimed to have participants reflect on their own personal immigration stories, participants will create their own zine. This workshop is intended for anyone with an immigrant story to share, and all are welcome! At the workshop, we hope you will be able to complete one mini zine using a template or your own design.

Shared Studios vs. Solo Workspaces for Cartoonists: The Ins and Outs with Aimée de Jongh and Kenny Rubenis

3:00 – 4:00 pm Oakley Room

Cartoonists can work in many different ways, shared studios, solo studios, and from home, each of which are conducive to very different kinds of work. Join Aimée De Jongh & Kenny Rubinis to discuss the art and craft of the cartoonist’s workspace. Among the topics covered will be the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of workspace.

Kickstarter Presents: How to build a community around your work

4:00 – 5:00 pm Oakley Room

Kickstarter may be the place to expose your comics project to a wider audience, but the secret to crowdfunding will always lie in the crowd! Build your community building muscle and learn some outreach tips and tricks at this fun workshop, where you can make new connections and reaffirm old ones. This session will be led by Kickstarter’s Comics Outreach Lead, Camilla Zhang.

Visual Storytelling in Comics and Cinema

5:00 – 6:00 pm Oakley Room

Comics language and cinematic language are two distinct, yet related visual dialects. Each offers unique advantages in creating engaging experiences for audiences. We’ll dive in and dissect the work of a few specific animation designers as we broadly discuss composition and sequential storytelling tools as they might pertain to all visual storytelling media, focusing on emotion, engagement, charm, and clarity. Bring a sketchbook to record your visual thoughts as we take a deep dive into some tools that might help broaden your approach to storytelling.

Check out the rest of the fantastic programming available at SPX this year – HERE!

SIGN UP HERE FOR ANY OF THE SPX 2019 COMICS WORKBOOK WORKSHOPS.

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Juan Fernández

Posted on August 19, 2019August 19, 2019

Explore

08/23/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 23, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with more thoughts on Michael DeForge’s new book from Koyama Press, Brat. ————————————————————————————————— Earlier this week, I wrote about Michael DeForge’s “pace” as an author as well as within his comics, specifically his new book Brat, by use of the grid. Today I want to point out his use of symbolic imagery and repetition. Every character is a symbol. Brat’s “protagonist,” Ms. D is the character in the two non-sequential images above. The tippy top image is her most basic character model while the image beneath is a distorted version of this, an exaggeration. The exaggeration calls attention to itself by being “off-model” and communicates a more extreme than usual emotion. Ms. D is very angry and DeForge communicates this in a simplistic way as you can see. Below is another example of distortion where D’s face gradually distorts from panel to panel to communicate restrained frustration while talking to her mother. The distortion is not over-exaggerated right away in the immediate page below, but our memory of D’s uncomplicated model is ingrained in our head so we can’t help but notice a change. It’s kind of a subtle-not-subtle approach to emotion that the reader picks up on immediately as a visual cue due to the simplicity of the character model (and the dialogue). As DeForge moves us through space, we see cars, building, trees, etc. All these elements are rendered in their simplest symbolic form. They draw little attention to themselves while still communicating a sense of place and a sense of visual pleasure. They serve their purpose without taking over. Repetition is also key to DeForge’s storytelling. Repetition of the grid, repetition of character models, repetition repetition. This patterin-ing of information creates a nice beat as all grids do, but the pattern of symbol-based images adds to the smooth rhythm of the book. Maybe “adds” is not the right term. The rhythm sustained by repetition minimizes the effort the reader has to extend. It’s “easy” to read. And when you add the fact that every object is recognized immediately, the reading is immensely pleasurable. After a while you are not aware you are reading. You just are. That’s what I’m getting at, Brat (and all of DeForge’s work) is pleasurable to look at and read. The combination of sparse symbolic information, the grid and the repetition of these elements is a combination that gets to the heart of comics. It’s a pattern that creates a rhythm that the reader can get lost in. From what I can tell, DeForge just keeps jogging along in no rush to reach some transcendental finish-line of the mind that others may expect or have expected in the past. He steadily continues to run at his own pace thank God. ————————————————————————————————— Cement Mixer – 8-23-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/13/2017

Sally IngrahamApril 13, 2017NewsSam Ombiri on Patrick Kyle’s Don’t Come in Here; Gloria Rivera on The Wandering Life of Sanmao; Ronald Wimberly at RISD. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: The first time I read Don’t Come In Here by Patrick Kyle I was glued to it, ready to see whatever, no matter how mundane, happen. From the beginning it felt like it had a lot of potential, and it delivered on this potential. In the beginning of the book, Patrick Kyle is creating empty space, and along with that he brings on board a sense of potential for discovery of this space being explored that constantly warps and morphs but then returns to it’s original form. Each page has two panels with every so often one page with just one panel, so the constant morphing is rhythmic – it’s unexpected but feels very right, and when it doesn’t feel right it’s hilarious. It’s a really funny book, like when the ghosts that appear are being really comically sensitive,and caring way way too much. It’s a wholly unexpected turn to the established rhythm and grounded boredom that has been taking place. The computer is maybe my favorite character, because the computer presents the most surprises. For the most part, the computer just says mundane things, completes mundane tasks, like loading this, searching this, except every now and then it suddenly surprises us, the reader. To the main character it just seems like a normal thing. Patrick said of his books before Don’t Come In Here, “All my comics were just drawing based, they’re just about doing crazy drawings, and that was it, the bulk of my early career is like my juvenile where everything was just about the way things looked. So I feel all my comics like Black Mass, my first book, was all about the visual impact of the whole thing and not really about the writing at all.” The drawings are not only being concernedwith the visual impact in Don’t Come In Here. The drawings are not at the expense of the story, they are working together in harmony. I myself have not read his other mentioned work so I cannot speak to it, but Patrick seems to be criticizing his previous work for them not being so concerned with the writing. “Distance Mover started the same way. It was just all about creating a visual thing. I really never thought too much about writing and storytelling much to be honest until Michael (Deforge) and and I were doing these series, that we call blank comics. Every issue has a theme; like a cop comic basketball comic, Pixar’s Cars comic, Christmas comic and so on, and we did a bunch of them, and the first one I did was just shitty and I kept going, and I was just getting into these really stupid topics and building little stories about them. I felt that really helped my writing out.” He later says “The images are secondary now or maybe there’s a balance between the writing and the images.” So then judging from what Patrick said here, and reading the book, it feels like Patrick is exercising restraint by only drawing a certain way, and drawing certain things, and not just going insane with the drawings and abandoning the story that he has set in mind. It very much shows! At times the character walks and then while the character is walking Patrick does what I read as just a joke of the pace and maybe the mood the character is walking, but then again it could just be the character shape-shifting, or it could be both. Because of the presentation, when change occurs it is, not so much unsettling for us as the readers, but we can imagine for the character that it is. I am really into the extra dimension Patrick adds to doing the most boring tasks. He adds the sense of a bizarre perspective to things like your food expiring, or having the thought that you’ve almost cleaned up everything only for the mess to resurface. It is stuff like that which makes me enjoy really excited about engaging with this medium. Again, the first time I read Don’t Come In Here every event that had happened, and that was going to happen in it despite how mundane, was exciting. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Patrick Kyle’s Don’t Come In Here from Copacetic Comics – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Gloria Rivera writes about Zhang Leping’s manhua The Wandering Life of Sanmao (三毛流浪记) for Comics Workbook: “The drawing of the original black and white comic is superb, and though never published in the US is completely readable through images alone. Except for signage and a handful of panels, the bulk of the comic is pantomime. Even the dialogue expressed between characters is drawn and not written! Although the relationship between words and pictures in comics should never be debased (as it may be in the show-don’t-tell school of comics) the silence experienced in this comic is unbreakable, and this is a comic that keeps you within its timing, only refraining for pauses of humor, a softness. Leping’s work is noble, leaving his reader in awe of how a man who has experienced so much can describe innocence as he does. This particular collection of comics has been adapted into color comics, animation, film and even live theater productions over the span of 80 years.“ Read more HERE and see a lengthy excerpt from the comic. ————————————————————————————————— Ronald Wimberly spoke at RISD awhile back but they finally posted the video of the talk online – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 4-13-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-13-2017 – by Tyler Landry ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-13-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

04/04/2018

Juan FernándezApril 4, 2018los Cómics / NewsRaquel Echenique, Jim Puk, y un poquito sobre El Fruto Prohibido! —————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ en Español y “sometimes in English” ~ Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Raquel Echenique acerca de sus influencias, el lugar en donde pasó su infancia, su trabajo, muestran sus referentes, hablan de su amor por el cómic y se Echenique confiesa como rabiosa, entre muchas otras cosas. ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista a Ghor Bosch (2015) – dibujado por Pablo Delcielo – publicado en Buenos Aires por Yegua ediciones. Este comic es parte de una serie de entrevistas imaginiarias, que son bastante graciosas y serias con Ghor Bosch aunque. Léanlo AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Caricaturista colombiano ‘Matador’ deja de usar redes sociales por amenazas de muerte Julio César González, más conocido como ‘Matador’ por sus caricaturas en el diario El Tiempo, anunció en la madrugada de este martes su retiro de las redes sociales, después de haber estado en el ojo del huracán durante varias semanas luego de haber personificado al candidato uribista, Iván Duque, como un cerdo en varias de sus publicaciones. Aunque hace menos de dos semanas la Jueza Hilda María Saffon negó una tutela interpuesta contra el caricaturista por el dibujo titulado ‘Duque reflexiona’, argumentando que “la creatividad e ingenio del caricaturista no debe limitarse por quienes no comparten su opinión”, los simpatizantes del Centro Democrático y el expresidente Uribe no han cesado de expresarle su descontento con insultos y agresiones en medio de la contienda electoral. Léanlo todo en El Espectador ————————————————————————————————— Jim Pluk – @jimpluk Estaré publicando en las historias de mi Instagram ( @jimpluk ) algunos cómics de autores contemporáneos que recomiendo personalmente, por si quieren indagar más sobre estos, tanto Colombianos como extranjeros. Estos posts estarán bajo el hashtag #leacomix y #hagacomix ————————————————————————————————— Por qué lo llaman vagina cuando quieren decir vulva – Elizabeth Casillas Puede que sea uno de los tebeos más controvertidos que vayas a leer este año, y no precisamente por decir sandeces. La historietista sueca Liv Strömquist firma El fruto prohibido (Reservoir Books, 2018), un cómic que repasa la historia cultural de la vulva con argumentación teórica pero, sobre todo, mucho humor. Anuncios de compresas o tampones que recurren, en exceso, a las palabras “limpia” y “segura”. Señores que se preocupan, en exceso, de lo que suele denominarse «el órgano sexual femenino». Autoridades, organizaciones, periódicos, médicos y demás organismos empeñados, en exceso, de producir (des)información sobre el sexo. Y así sucesivamente, Liv Strömquist termina enumerando una serie de cosas que están mal (muy mal) en nuestra sociedad en lo que a la mujer y su sexo se refiere. Léanlo todo en REVISTA CACTUS ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 4-4-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 4-4-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

02/03/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 2, 2017NewsSally here with plenty of good company to help kick off your weekend – Annie Koyama, Vanessa Davis, Kate Beaton, Marie Duval, Sofie Louise Dam, Shreyas Krishnan, Gabriella Tito, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Happy 10th Year Anniversary to Annie Koyama and Koyama Press! Despite Kickass Annie’s grumpy appearance (above), she promises many sweet things to come in the next months. We can hardly repay you for being there for the comics community, for your faith in us all, and for the energy and passion you’ve given so freely for a decade. We can only say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! ————————————————————————————————— The Ley Lines 2017 Subscription has been announced. Ley Lines comes from Kevin Czap and L. Nichols – it is a quarterly publication that explores the intersection of comics and other art forms and cultures. Four artists pick subjects that interest them and then compose work that compliments and describes their subject. This year Ley Lines will feature Tommi Parrish on William Blake/Lydia Lunch (February 2017), Eric Kostiuk Williams on Kylie Minogue (May 2017), Shreyas R. Krishnan on Abida Parveen (August 2017), and Evan Dahm on the Surrealists (November 2017). Get your Ley Lines 2017 Subscription HERE. I am particularly interested in seeing Shreyas Krishnan‘s book. She is an illustrator, educator, and visual journalist who started making comics more recently – her comic Becoming Rosie won the MoCCA Arts Fest Award of Excellence last year. See more of her work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Sofie Louise Dam has a new comic on The Nib – it’s about Denmark’s move to take “being trans-gendered” off of all lists of mental disorders. Although Denmark is the first nation in the world to do this, Sofie details why that in itself isn’t nearly enough. More HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Vanessa Davis spoke to Paste about her comic Spaniel Rage, which was published in 2005 but is due to be re-released by Drawn & Quarterly this month. Vanessa talks about what it’s like to look back on work drawn over a decade ago, and the progression of her process since then. The diary comics that make up Spaniel Rage were in fact the very first comics she ever made. “Paste: You mention in your new two-page intro comic that you didn’t know how to make comics when you started this project. How did you learn how to do that? Did you grow up reading comics? Davis: I read Archie comics and Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield, but went to art school from 7th grade onwards, and was really encouraged to abandon anything comics- or illustration-influenced. I always had a cartoony “style” and that was always considered a handicap in my drawing abilities. In college I finally had a couple of teachers who finally just allowed that I knew how to draw as well as I was ever going to, and that the next thing to wrangle was my voice and perspective.“ A comic a day for a month (at a time in her life when the idea of drawing within panels seemed about as impossible as becoming a brain surgeon…!) put Vanessa on a path that she’s remained on to this day. And even if there are things about the Spaniel Rage comics that she might wish she could change, or would do differently now, she’s still glad to have them. “Some people have tattoos they regret—I have comics. But we’re still all going to dance our mistakes around from time to time.“ Read the rest of the interview HERE. See some of Vanessa’s recent short work HERE. ————————————————————————————————— There is still time to submit work for The Strumpet #5 – the theme for this issue is “Origin Stories”, and the deadline is March 1st 2017! “The Strumpet is a transatlantic annual focusing on women telling stories in comics, edited by cartoonists Ellen Lindner and Glynnis Fawkes (as well as, in prior issues, editrix emeritae Jeremy Day and Kripa Joshi). Despite ENORMOUS progress made by women in comics in the last two decades, we still feel that there’s a bit of a lag between the number of women we know who are doing comics (a lot) and those who are getting published regularly (not always a lot). At the end of the day, we can all use another deadline, and a prompt to do new and interesting work. And that’s where The Strumpet comes in.“ Submission details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Anthologies like The Strumpet are in the tradition of the very first all-girls comics publication, It Ain’t Me, Babe, (1970). The Strumpet is in fact the continuation of Whores of Mensa, which was the brain-child of Mardou. She wanted a publication for women’s comics that was BOTH sexy and clever. As Jeremy Day wrote in a brief history of both The Strumpet and Whores of Mensa: “We wanted to tease apart the idea (and it is a dominant one, especially in comics) that people need to chose between being sexy and being clever. We wanted a comic that wore glasses and got passes; that was cunning, but also stunning.“ You can read about The Strumpet #1 HERE at The Comics Journal. I have been spending a lot of time lately digging up anthologies like these. They are incredible time capsules of various moments in comics history, preserving work by women who made mini comics in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s – pre-internet-publication days – as well as the early 2000’s. The catalog of work that each collection represents is fantastic. Other anthologies that I’ve rediscovered include Action Girl Comics, which was published between 1994 and 2000 and was edited by Sarah Dyer, and Girltalk (1995-96) edited by Isabella Bannerman, Ann Decker, and Sabrina Jones. And of course there are the groundbreaking publications like Wimmen’s Comix (1970-1991), Tits & Clits Comix (1972-1987), and Twisted Sisters (1976, 1994). There are many more – I just haven’t gotten my hands on them yet! ————————————————————————————————— There is a terrific article about Marie Duval over on Atlas Obscura. Lauren Young writes at length about this forgotten 19th century female cartoonist, who helped bring to life one of the first reoccurring characters in comics history – Ally Sloper. Marie Duval’s husband, Charles H. Ross, was the editor of Judy, a magazine that was a “cheap rival to the likes of popular magazines Fun and Punch, catering towards a primarily lower and middle class and female audience.” While Ross did create and draw the character Ally Sloper first, it was Marie Duval who developed and popularized the strip, doing the bulk of the drawing. ” “Marie Duval is important not only as perhaps Europe’s only popular female caricaturist, and not only as the chief author of the first Sloper,” wrote Kunzle. “She also deserves recognition for her graphic experimentation in an early period of the birth of modern art.” “ Read more about this rad lady HERE. And check out the Marie Duval archive HERE. (Thanks to The Comics Reporter for finding this piece!) ————————————————————————————————— The Last Cheerios Kate Beaton compiled her annual Holiday Comics – read them all HERE. Lauren Weinstein‘s comics on The Village Voice are pretty melancholy these days. Read Normal Person: The Future... Iona Fox tells the story of a guy who successfully organized other undocumented dairy workers and won the right to a drivers licence while changing the structure of policing in Vermont – Part 1 is HERE. Hyperallergic wrote about Gina Wynbrandt and her “pleasantly uncomfortable and brash” comics. Shoutout to Lady’s Comics, a collective from Brazil! Ink Brick is doing a Kickstarter campaign for Issue 8, which will debut in stores around the country this fall. Support the project. ————————————————————————————————— Check out The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey! We designed it to look like a 1980’s comic book artist’s art book. The text is a transcription of an interview she did at The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency in 2016. Vanesa is a once in a lifetime talent who studied with George Pratt and who has worked with Grant Morrison. Get a copy of this book HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-3-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-3-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

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: [...]

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