Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Harrison

Posted on June 16, 2016July 21, 2016

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05/31/2017

Juan FernándezMay 31, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con ‘Viñetas y bocadillos’; Calpurnio; Catherine Meurisse; Antonio Altarriba y Sergio García; Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas; Barbara Stok ; Jim Pluk y Alice Bohl y por supuesto los tebeos de Comics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista – José Domingo Aprovechando la reedición de “Aventuras de un oficinista japonés”, recuperamos entrevista a Jose Domingo en CuCo 5: José Domingo (Zaragoza, 1982) es uno de los autores más interesantes y rompedores del panorama nacional. Integrante tardío de la escena de la autoedición gallega centralizada en el colectivo Polaqia, su obra Aventuras de un oficinista japonés (Bang Ediciones, 2011) le valió el premio a mejor obra nacional en el Saló del Cómic de Barcelona y lo consagró como autor. Desde entonces ha desarrollado una actividad incesante, que incluso lo ha llevado a colaborar con la editorial inglesa Nobrow. Hace unas semanas, José tuvo la amabilidad de atender a los directores de CuCo, Cuadernos de cómic a través de videoconferencia, y contestar a una entrevista que repasa minuciosamente toda su carrera Léanlo aqui! Si te gusta esa entrevista, conoce el #crowdfunding de @CuCoCuadernos! CuCo, cuadernos de cómic es la revista digital de estudio y crítica de cómic, una de las mejores publicaciones de crítica de cómic en español! —> https://goo.gl/p1vqhu En septiembre de 2013 nació CuCo, Cuadernos de cómic, una revista digital de investigación y crítica de la historieta, codirigida por Octavio Beares y Gerardo Vilches. La revista surgió, principalmente, como una plataforma de publicación para todas las personas que están realizando su tesis doctoral o proyecto de investigación sobre algún aspecto relacionado con el cómic, desde cualquier disciplina científica. Hasta la fecha hemos publicado siete números disponibles en cuadernosdecomic.com, en los que han tenido cabida tanto artículos y ensayos como una sección de crítica con algunas de las firmas más interesantes del panorama nacional, además de entrevistas a autores nacionales e internacionales. Desde 2014, la revista está incluida en el índice de publicaciones académicas Latindex, y cumple 29 de sus criterios. CuCo, Cuadernos de cómic ha sido concebido desde su nacimiento como un proyecto sin ánimo de lucro, que surge desde la pasión por el cómic y la conciencia de que existe la necesidad de desarrollar una sólida labor teórica a su alrededor. ————————————————————————————————— Creadora de comics y ilustradora chilena, Fran Meneses les comparte su sabiduria con respeto al dibujo natural y las figuras en el espacio. Fran tiene una tronco de serie de videos… Póngale play! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Todos los lunes en España Radio 5 y Radio 3, resumen lo mejor del mundo del comic: Esta semana en ‘Viñetas y bocadillos’ hablaron con Calpurnio (‘Cuttlas’) y Catherine Meurisse (‘La Levedad’). Además: La Hora del Bocadillo y Fallo de sistema. Escúchenlo aqui. En @JotDownSpain hablan de Cuerpos del Delito de Antonio Altarriba y Sergio García. Cuatro vidas diferentes entrelazadas en el Sarajevo de 1994. La Universidad de Santiago y @PLOPGaleria convocan al Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Narrativas Dibujadas! Para este año, el eje del Encuentro será Narrativas gráficas: sociedad, política y género, y el plazo para enviar las propuestas de ponencias es hasta el lunes 12 de junio de 2017. Elizabeth Casillas escribe sobre la biografía de Van Gogh que Barbara Stok ha llevado a cómic en Revista Cactus. Vean el fantástico trabajo de Jim Pluk y Alice Bohl en el pabellón de Francia en la @FILBogota. ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-31-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil -05-31-2017- by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-31-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

10/20/2016

Sally IngrahamOctober 20, 2016NewsSam Ombiri is here today with some thoughts on his experience at the Pittsburgh Zine Fair, and then Sally Ingraham rounds up some other happenings in the greater comics community! ————————————————————————————————— thank you for attending the 2016 #pittsburghzinefair! we had almost 700 attendees this year, our largest turnout ever! another big thanks to our exhibitors, sponsors, and partners. watch this space for upcoming events soon! #zines #pittsburgh pic credit: @annesleyadventures A photo posted by Pittsburgh Zine Fair (@pittsburghzinefair) on Oct 16, 2016 at 6:49pm PDT Sam Ombiri was helping run the Pittsburgh Comics Salon table at the zine fair this past weekend. He writes: The Pittsburgh Zine Fair was a lot of fun, it was a such great environment. There was a constant wave of sound the whole time I was there. I’d try to make out what people were talking about from a small distance, but I guess that’s not how it works. I like how one person doesn’t see what the other sees – I maybe see person 1 and 3, but because I’m moving along too quickly I totally miss person 2. So I could think I found the coolest zines, but someone else shows me that’s not the case. This one guy’s book was about being in a place where someone else had previously left their mark there, and his fascination of the ghost like quality that comes with someone else being there before he’s there – but as he said, “I’m trying to avoid being didactic about it.” His name was Alex Lukas. I dig his marks, I wish I browsed more of his stuff, he has really cool work on his website. I talked to him a bit, then I went back to my table, then I went back to buy a book from him, then I gave him one of my zines (without intention of trading,) to which he generously gave me three, and then I walked away. He wanted to have a lot of ambiguity in the work, so that the readers draw their own conclusions to it – altogether irrelevant from his intentions. I started to think about what Alex’s intention was for his pictures of, say, rocks with chalk drawn on them by some mysterious people (who we don’t know what they looked like, their way of life, or their concerns – we know about them themselves through the marks that they left). In my view, the marks on the rocks were fueled by boredom, and the ones who drew it were moving their hands before they themselves realized they were moving their hands, and something else altogether powerful was moving through this, and that power is there in those marks they made. With that mark they left there’s not too much concern about design or maybe there was concern with design. So, Alex’s work, or at least the book, makes you think it’s design oriented. I guess this happens because Alex has designed the book, but the people who leave their marks not so much. There’s a couple of photographs of graffiti and signs, but he wasn’t taking a picture just because it just looked cool, I think. This will most likely be the only way we have of knowing them instead of seeing their face or hearing their voice. Then on top of that Alex copied the pattern on security envelopes and added them to confuse you as the reader, to my understanding it was just for having an effect there, but he said it also served in adding ambiguity. There was other people I got great stuff from as well – I did not leave dissatisfied, far from it. – Sam Ombiri ————————————————————————————————— Frank, Aidan Koch, and Connor Willumsen made it safely back from the U.K. earlier this week, after a wildly successful trip to The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal. Frank scribbled some thoughts about the show on the plane home, and we have shared them here on the site. A taster: “One of the current riffs about comics festivals is that many different shows exist within the show. Meaning, you can go to SPX and not even see everything or miss your friends completely – whereas in years past you could lap the room each hour and see everything and everyone there. LICAF is different insomuch as it is not situated centrally in a hotel or a convention center. So what happens is that one has their interactions in the town of Kendal itself. The Brewery Arts Centre provides ample space to host everyone and the short walk to the Clock Tower is where I found myself most often running into friendly faces – friends and strangers alike. It was very pleasant, I thought, especially because it was so unlike what we are used to in the States and specific to the town of Kendal.” – Frank Santoro Read the rest of the report HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Cartoon Crossroads Columbus for the Comics Workbook team – in one minute! Full festival report coming Friday, thanks to Whit Taylor – stay tuned! #comicsworkbook #cxc2016 A video posted by Comics Workbook (@comicsworkbook) on Oct 19, 2016 at 2:20pm PDT The rest of the team was in Ohio last weekend for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – Whit Taylor will provide a full report for us soon – meanwhile you can get a taste of the show above! ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg led a workshop for Comics Workbook at CXC, and as I was cleaning up afterward I noticed that attendee Phil Dokes had left his pages behind – check it out: ————————————————————————————————— #Repost @madegibbs with @repostapp ・・・ Ronald Wimberly at CMA, ey! A video posted by Ronald Wimberly (@ronaldwimberly) on Oct 18, 2016 at 6:16pm PDT Ronald Wimberly is the 2016 graphic-novelist-in-residence at the Columbus Museum of Art – over 100 pieces of his art will hang in the museum through this coming February, and he will be staying at the Thurber House through the end of this month working on his own projects and hanging out with high school students in the Young Writers’ Studio program. He got a lot of hype over the weekend of CXC, of course, and the Columbus Dispatch wrote a nice piece about him and the residency program. ————————————————————————————————— Copacetic Comics is hosting an auction of some SUPER scarce or rare Michael DeForge items – check it out HERE! ————————————————————————————————— P.S. A video about the Pittsburgh Zine Fair by Dan Scullin: Share this page: [...]

03/14/2016

Juan FernándezMarch 14, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez here with lots of interesting bits and bobs from the comics world. There’s something here for everyone. Let’s jump right in. Here’s a juicy one for ya, Rachel Davies in conversation with Julie Doucet over at Rookie Mag! They talk about embracing the unknown and following creativity to new media. Good stuff. Doucet is an interdisciplinary artist that has historically been pigeon holed as solely a comics maker. They talk about all that and more. Read it here. You said you did printmaking in college but did you ever experiment with printmaking when you were younger than that? What did you work in as a teenager? Oh, I was drawing with a felt-tip pen all the time. Did you always see art as something you would do professionally? I guess so, yeah. At the time, there was a crisis in the ’80s so there were no jobs for anybody. You could go to school and be an artist and it wouldn’t make it any difference because you wouldn’t have a job anyway. Being an artist sounded like the right thing to do because I was drawing all the time and I had a talent for it. Robyn Chapman has launched a new crowdfunding campaign to fund the spring line of Paper Rocket Comics. Chapman is smart in how she uses kickstarter as a pre-order system to help defray the cost of production. She has run 7 successful funding campaigns for Paper Rocket so you can be sure she knows what she’s doing. She’s in it for life and it’s worth seeing how she’s does what she does. Learn more about the Kickstarter on their page! Whit Taylor is giving a talk tomorrow on Autobiography, Identity, and Self-Reflection in Comics Tuesday, March 15, 2016 7–9pm Join NYC-based, New Jersey-born cartoonist, editor, and comics writer, Whit Taylor as she talks about her work in the context of autobiography, identity, and self-reflection. She will present and discuss several of her comics, including The Anthropologists, a semi-autobiographical account of three strangers venturing into the Australian Outback together for a week of unexpected adventures, and her most recent work Ghost, a mind-expanding journey to remote and unanticipated landscapes, in a story of exploration, self-discovery, and healing. You can listen and be part of the conversation at the Interference Archive – 131 8th St, Brooklyn, New York 11215. More info over on facebook. Kendra Yee has posted a short new comic that reflects on windows and how we percieve others while securing privacy for ourselves. Great imagery that really breathes and colors that swim together well. – read Part 1 – read part 2 – 2d Cloud has announced the nitty gritty details of Mirror Mirror 2, the second edition of their flagship anthology. It’s going to feature new comics and drawings by: Lala Albert / Clive Barker / Heather Benjamin / Sean Christensen / Nicole Claveloux / Sean T. Collins / Al Columbia / Dame Darcy / Noel Freibert / Renee French / Meaghan Garvey / Julia Gfrörer / Simon Hanselmann / Hellen Jo / Hadrianus Junius / Aidan Koch / Laura Lannes / Céline Loup / Uno Moralez / Mou / Chloe Piene / Josh Simmons / Carol Swain From what they’ve announced, seems that the focus is going to be around horror / pornography / the Gothic / the abject, which should come as no surprise with Julia Gfrörer and Sean T. Collins at the helm. It’ll be out next winter, with some advanced comics floating around in the Fall. And for a little boost in assuring you that what you’re doing is important, how ’bout you reflect on Chuck Jones legacy? Zach over at Practice Positive takes a look at Chuck Jones and what it meant to master both craftsmanship and universality in art. Really useful ideas that can be put into practice by any and all comics makers. Read it here. The whole essence of good drawing—and of good thinking, perhaps—is to work a subject down to the simplest form possible and still have it believable for what it is meant to be. A heads up for you Chicagoans, The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) will be holding its 4th annual art auction fundraiser at 7:00 pm on Friday, April 8th, at the The Hideout Inn, located at 1354 W Wabansia Ave. The event will be hosted by intermedia artist Lyra Hill. The event will feature live and silent auctions of over 20 pieces of art by past special guests and exhibitors of CAKE, including Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Eleanor Davis, and Dash Shaw. The event will also feature live comics readings by local artists Samuel Nigrosh. Molly Colleen O’Connell, and Sam Nigrosh. More info here. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/249959191″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Simon Moreton joined Robin McConnell over on Inkstuds to chat about his new book from Uncivilized Books, Plans That We Made. Simon has a really beautiful minimal style of story telling that works really nicely. Simon’s work can be found in his Smoo mini comics. If you’ve been sleeping on Simon Moreton, I suggest you dig into his work soon. It’s quiet, but extremely grounded work in the tradition of minimal autobiographical cartooning pioneered by John Porcellino. Well worth a listen! This Nicole Georges‘ Sagittarian Matters brings you a BETH DITTO MAILBAG TAKEOVER!!! Musician & fashion designer Beth Ditto & Nicole Georges answer questions & riff on self-deprecation, grace, gratitude, punk feminism, polyamory, and MORE. The self-deprecation riff alone is worth the listen! To close things off, I wanted to let you know that Archive.org has recently made David W Niven‘s incredible archive of early jazz available for download. Feast your ears, babies. 650 tapes · 1,000 hours · 1,378 WAV files · 637 GB · 691 JPEG scans of cassette liner cards & literature. Meticulously Collected, Compiled, and Narrated by David W. Niven, 1930-1993. Generously Donated by David W. Niven to the Foxborough High School Jazz Program, Stephen C. Massey, Director, 2010. Archived to CD-Quality Digital Audio by Kevin J. Powers, 2010-2011.An Early Jazz Recording Collection by David W. Niven over and out, Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

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: [...]

07/04/2016

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

06/16/2016

Posted on June 16, 2016July 21, 2016 by Harrison

Harrison is here and the news follows. Today we venture beyond comics, get faster at drawing, and finish with fire.

“Please, no more boring comics podcasts”

Man can’t live off comics alone.

https://longform.org/

nikolehannahjones.com

“Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City”

Secrets

http://www.infiniteguest.org/secret-skin/

@Mike_Eagle

Quickness

“Recently I did an interview over at comicsverse.com that was conducted by Jake Grubman. In it, I talk a lot about how I’m trying to be “ruthlessly efficient” in my cartooning, ever since I finished Basewood. “Draw Comics Faster” has been sort of like my second motto (next to “Draw Comics EVERY Day”) based on the great drawing shown above that Nate Beaty sent me when I was still slogging through Basewood. As my time constraints constrict around me (new dad!) it is important that I make the most out of every available minute of drawing time.”

Here.

Pop

“What does Gutter Pop refer to? That was a weird little journey. I was planning on doing a music zine called Gutter Pop, just sort of referring to my friends in the DIY scene that make kind of poppy music but it’s all underground, so I thought Gutter Pop was a fun play. And then I needed a name for the store and I thought it would be fun, because [in a comic book] in between the panels is called a gutter, and then the pop is like the pop of pop art.”

Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in News

Harrison

Posted on June 16, 2016July 21, 2016

Explore

06/26/2018

Aaron CockleJune 26, 2018NewsLatinx Comics; ECTO PETROL PATROL; Saltz on Art Shows; Handbook for/of Tyranny ————————————————————————————————— Tales from la Vida: A Latinx Comics Anthology Edited by Frederick Luis Aldama In the Latinx comics community, there is much to celebrate today, with more Latinx comic book artists than ever before. The resplendent visual-verbal storyworlds of these artists reach into and radically transform so many visual and storytelling genres. Tales from la Vida celebrates this space by bringing together more than eighty contributions by extraordinary Latinx creators. Their short visual-verbal narratives spring from autobiographical experience as situated within the language, culture, and history that inform Latinx identity and life. Tales from la Vida showcases the huge variety of styles and worldviews of today’s Latinx comic book and visual creators. New Tongues Untied Samuel Teer (with Marina Julia), “MIXED” Amber Padilla, “Wongo-Wongo” Stephanie Villareal Murray, “A Veces Sueño en Español” Lila Quintero Weaver, “La Charla” Carlos “Loso” Pérez, “_______-American” Adam Hernandez, “No Time for Titles” Jandro (with DT Watson), “What Concerns Me” Dangerous Truths . . . Clearing New Identity Spaces Frederick Luis Aldama (with John Jennings), “It Could’ve Been . . .” Jaime Crespo, “White Shoulders” Breena Nuñez Peralta, “They Call Me Morena for a Reason” Roberta Gregory, “California Girl” Vicko, “El Entender” José Cabrera, “el cabrón” Serenity Serseción, “Latinx” Ivan Velez, “Que Significa?” John Jota Leaños (with Dustin García), “Kaleidoscopic Latinx Indigeneities” Zeke Peña, “A Nomad’s Heart” New Mythos Liz Mayorga, “Brainstorming Session” Jenny Gonzalez-Blitz, “The Witch’s Curse” Dustin Nathanial García, “Saved” Ilan Stavans (with Roberto Weil), “Rite of Passage” Daniel Parada, “A Cacaopera Tale” Myra Lara, “Forked-Tongued & Tongued-Tied” Raúl González, “New Citizen Conqueror” Kelly Fernandez, “The Ciguapa” Jaime Hernandez, “La Blanca” Eric Esquivel (with Macropoulos), “El ChupaSoyMilk” Jason “J-Gonzo” González, “My Life as a Pocho” Rico Cuatlacuatl, “Jaguar Warrior Astral Traveller” Betwixt & Between J. M. Hunter, “Lost in Triangulation” Gilbert Hernandez, “I’m Proud to Be an American Where at Least I Know I’m Free” Crystal González, “Latino in Disguise” Alberto Ledesma, “My Most Significant Moment as a Latino” Héctor Rodríguez, “Güerito” Rafael Rosado, “El Año Que Me Divi-di En Dos / The Year I Split in Two” Stephanie Rodriguez, “No Te Hagas La Pendeja” Bending Time, Space, and Forms Candy Briones, “The Mayan Prophesy” Eric J. García, “Chicano Codices Presents” Alejandro Juvera (with Jeremiah Lambert), “Where the Heart Is” Andrés Vera Martínez, “Down on the Riverbed” Mapache Studios Fernando and Rodrigo, “A Little Canción about My People” Fernando Balderas Rodriguez, “Aztec of the City: Behind the Beginning” Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, “Re-Membering” Bodies That Matter LeighAnna Hidalgo, “Reproductive Rebel” José Alaniz, “Mordido” Jules Rivera, “The Continuum” Theresa Rojas, “Melva” Celina Hernandez, “Prolactinoma” Jaime Cortez, “El Border Xing” Grasiela Rodriguez, “Tap Into Your True Self” Mike Centeno, “Being Here” Juan Argil, “Güero” Pop Cultura Is Nosotros David Olivarez, “Inspiration” Miguel “Miky” Ruiz, “The Day I Discovered My Alter Ego” John Gonzalez (with Julian Aguilera and Michele Gonzalez), “Borax Boys” Albert Morales, “Super Impacto vs. the World” Javier Hernandez, “Mexican-American Splendor” Ray Zepeda (with J. M. Hunter), “Nuevo Latino” Richard Dominguez, “Wanna Know How I Got Started?” Carlos Saldaña, “Birth of Burrito” Ricardo Padilla (with Javier Hernandez), “Mi Barrio, 1976” Dave Ortega, “Your Name Is the Rio Grande” Rafael Navarro, “Mi Voz” William Nericcio (with Guillermo Nericcio García), “A Mexican-American Semiotic Odyssey or Streets of Laredo Ex-Pat” Mark Campos, “Mi Destino Es Comprenderla y No Olivdarla” Kat Fajardo, “Gringa” Victor Avila, “One Time, One Night” David Herrera, “Commencement” Chris Escobar, “A Monstrous Life” John Picacio, “A New Loteria” ————————————————————————————————— ECTO PETROL PATROL 2018 New animation by Matthew Thurber ————————————————————————————————— A Modest Proposal: Break the Art Fair This is from a few weeks back, Jerry Saltz talking about the state of art fairs, small and large galleries, and staggering amounts of money. It’s hard to say if smaller galleries could do fairs without the bigger galleries but my guess is that most bigger galleries, once they see a smaller fair picking up speed will want a piece of that action too. The smaller galleries may have more power than they think if they band together, make demands, put pressure back on the big art fairs rather than dancing exclusively to the art fair tune. The NADA and Independent fairs are now doing this nicely; more well-curated medium and small gallery fairs sprouting up might provide viable alternatives to these galleries paying gigantic costs for little return. With all this in mind, I spoke to a number of part-owners, directors, and other functionaries of art fairs and asked whether art fairs can be fixed. All agree that things need fixing. The bad news is that I came away thinking that while I really like these people, they don’t really have the impulse to fix things because these are the things that work so well for them. Fairs as they are now aren’t broken, they say. I kept sputtering back, “They’re not broken for you yet.” ————————————————————————————————— Handbook of Tyranny New book of infographics by Theo Deutinger, via Jonathan Bell at Wallpaper. The breadth of information here is never less than fascinating. Discover which 14 countries ‘welcome every citizen from any country in the world with a valid passport without any visa restrictions,’ or the myriad designs for keeping people out (and in) of the world’s many contested and conflicted border zones. This is a graphic project rich in hidden history and unsavoury elements. Aficionados of graphic design will be fascinated by the iconographic breakdown of the flags and logos of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups, from ETA to ISIL, but the shock value of a refugee camp map of Africa is much greater. ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-26-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

11/10/2017

Sally IngrahamNovember 9, 2017NewsSally here with Cricket magazine, work by Madeleine Witt and Audra Stang, your CAB reminder, and tons more comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— There is an article about the “secret history of Cricket magazine” on Electric Literature. Written by A. J. O’Connell, it details the creation and life of the beloved children’s magazine, with insights from founder Marianne Carus, quotes from long time art director Trina Schart Hyman (my FAVORITE illustrator as a child), and lots of love from authors and illustrators who read the magazine when they were kids. I myself found Cricket in my local library and enjoyed every new issue I read – and was lucky in that the library had an archive of many of the old issues. It was the very best sort of magazine, full of stories and glorious illustrations by the greatest working creators of the time – and it never really felt like it was “for kids” – which was Marianne Carus’ goal, after all. She felt like kids could handle stories that were darker, that might make you cry, just as well as funny, lighthearted stuff. Like many others, I was inspired by Cricket to make my own “magazine” and published some of the stories I wrote along with illustrations for my family. Read all about Cricket HERE. Trina Schart Hyman was a Caldecott Medal winner for her work on St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, and earned a couple of Caldecott Honors as well. I adored her fairy tale illustrations and wrote her a long letter when I was 11 or 12 (and received a lovely response and an autographed book in return). I think I didn’t know that she was the art editor for Cricket magazine until later – I just knew that her illustrations showed up in the magazine frequently. I also didn’t really understand that the SAME Trina Schart Hyman drew the Cricket and Ladybug comic in the magazine. Each issue had a four-panel strip, and additionally the characters Cricket, Old Cricket, Ladybug, and Sluggo would scamper and scurry throughout the magazine, popping up to comment on the stories or merely harass each other for a moment. ” “ just had such a wonderful way of drawing them,” said Leonard. “They served as explanation of difficult words so if there was a vocabulary word that might stop a kid reader the crickets would explain what that word meant. They also had their own little life in the four-block cartoon.” “ They were great, and a big part of what made the magazine beloved to me and so many others. Again, read all about it HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Madeleine Witt has been making a comic a day this month. She and a number of others I know are doing the “30 Days of Comics” challenge that was begun by Derik Badman in 2009 or 2011 (depending on how you count it). Madeleine’s take on the challenge offers a good insight into why things like this can be good for creators: “I’ll be drawing 1 comic a day for the month of November. I admire & bless all those who draw a comic a day EVERY day, but especially for people who can be paralyzed by internal expectation (me) / aren’t sure of their voices (also me, particularly circa 2014), Novembers have been a fruitful time to experiment and grow. If you’re a young cartoonist or an old cartoonist or a not-yet-cartoonist looking to explore an artistic practice, I think November is a very good time to pick some constraints and try doing 1 thing a day for a little while. Big general caveat: This sort of thing is not healthy for everyone—you know yourself & your needs and please don’t do this if it isn’t be healthy for you! Everyone please care for yourselves! Thank you! Goodbye!“ I like that Madeleine has expanded the context of the challenge beyond just “draw a comic everyday” to include formal restraints. She suggests picking colors, medium, panel setup, or subject matter and then sticking to those choices for the whole month. From my own experience over the past year of drawing a Suzy & Cecil comic every other day, I can vouch for the freedom and creative rush that (perhaps surprisingly) comes from forced structure, discipline, and regularity. I like the work that Madeleine has been making – you can see all of it HERE. The hashtag #30dayscomics will lead you to more work, both on Instagram and Twitter, and you can follow the 30 Days of Comics Tumblr to keep up with many of this year’s participants. Audra Stang is another cartoonist who is releasing her latest comic in this fashion (hot on the heels of the comic she made during the month of October – not necessarily for “Inktober”…!) Her comics all exist within the world and lengthy timeline of “Star Valley”, and this current story catches up with her character Owen (who appeared in last month’s Little Minnow, as a significantly younger version of himself – read that story HERE) and the irrepressible Adelaide, last seen, briefly, a year ago in Secret Knowledge and in April 2008 (in April 2016). Read the new story so far HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Katie Ball a.k.a. Katbus has a new endeavor – My Lucky Sticker Book is a monthly newsletter that showcases sticker artists from around the world. You can check out issue #4 – Halloween edition! – HERE, and subscribe to the newsletter HERE. Katie is putting together an extra large issue for release in late November, and has sent out the message that if YOU include sticker-making in your bag of tricks, and would like some hype leading into the holiday season, let her know! She will finish compiling her list around the 25th, so send her your website and details about your stickers if you want to be listed. Write to Katie at katie.brawl@gmail.com ————————————————————————————————— Katie Fricas has a “cartoon scrapbook” detailing the first year of Trump’s presidency on The Guardian – read the whole thing HERE. ————————————————————————————————— If you’re in NYC go check out Comic Arts Brooklyn tomorrow. Here’s a write-up on the new location of the show – via Hyperallergic. Comics Workbook will be there, and I will be too with a few copies of Suzy & Cecil. See you Saturday! ————————————————————————————————— Post Script Mardou‘s Some Day My Witch Will Come is reviewed by Rob Clough on High-Low – check it out HERE. Rob also reviews recent Santoro Correspondence Course alum Drew Lerman’s course-made comic Boucher’s House, (and his comic Milk Debt) in the same post. Paste Magazine‘s Hillary Brown talks to Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim about their comic Poppies of Iraq – interview HERE. Check out Liana Finck on The Awl – loads of comics and comical commentary. Sara Lautman illustrates the 280-character “microficitions” that were created for Electric Literature‘s Twitter-inspired contest – HERE. Sara Lautman is the comics editor for Electric Lit‘s Okey-Panky. Here is a recent comic on that site by Shing Yin Khor, called A Tiny Ritual to Talk to Your Past Self. Sequential State (Alex Hoffman) reviews Tillie Walden‘s Spinning – HERE. Part 2 of an interview with Katherine Collins is up on The Comics Journal – read it HERE. Also on The Comics Journal, Carta Monir reviews Higu Rose‘s Titychop Boobslash. MariNaomi has a new book coming out from Lerner Publishing – Losing the Girl (May 2018). HERE is a cover reveal and giveaway on The Book Smugglers. Lauren Purje on Hyperallergic – Is Any Artist Truly Satisfied? Julia Wertz‘s Drinking At the Movies was featured on Fumetto Logica, for the Italian speakers out there. Meanwhile the A. V. Club offers their take on Julia Wertz‘s Tenements, Towers and Trash – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 11-10-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 11-10-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 11-10-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

PIX 2016 | Sketchbook tour with Noah Van Sciver

Frank SantoroMay 23, 2016Festivals and Shows / SketchbooksFrank gets a sweet peek into Noah Van Sciver’s sketchbook. Full interview available here:vimeo.com/165602153 Check out and follow Noah’s rad work // nvansciver.wordpress.com/ // noahvansciver.tumblr.com/ Video by Michael Pisano // michaelpisano.com Share this page: [...]

08/30/2017

Juan FernándezAugust 30, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Carla Berrocal; Jueves Furioso de Dibujo; Simon Hanselmann; la Convocatoria de Voluntarios de Entreviñetas; La Polola con Brittany Tullis; Graficas Pro Aborto Libre; Alex Fito; Berliac y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Sobre el Proceso de Trabajo – Carla Berrocal Antes de nada, debo decir que no creo que exista un método de trabajo que sea bueno o malo o que sea el método definitivo. Creo, sencillamente, que existen miles de formasdistintas de afrontar un encargo, tantas como dibujantes. El mío es uno más de esos miles de métodos. No creo que sea el mejor ni de lejos, pero si que pienso que puede ser interesante compartirlo con vosotros. Siempre con la idea de establecer un diálogo y aprender cosas que puedan resultar interesantes para todos. Así pues, ¿cómo trabajo? ¿cómo afronto un encargo? ————————————————————————————————— Jueves Furioso de Dibujo con Virginia Abrigo 31/09 – 18:00-20:00 Plataforma Lavardén Mendoza 1085, 2000 Rosario, Santa Fe ————————————————————————————————— Simon Hanselmann: la vida no es bonita, ni siquiera en cómic En tiempos de Tumblr, de bloggers sobrevalorados, de fotos de perfil manipuladas por Photoshop y relaciones interpersonales supeditadas a una interfaz friendly, algunos pensamos que una vuelta al existencialismo honesto y deprimente es algo casi necesario. Por eso nos gusta reivindicar a Simon Hanselmann. Y no es que estemos de acuerdo con eso de levantarnos cada mañana planteándonos la existencia entre lacrimosos accesos de frustración, no. No del todo. Pero en esto coincidimos: empieza a resultar imprescindible un poco de reality bite, una dosis medicinal de realidad sucia que levante la alfombra y deje al aire toda esa porquería que se ha ocultado debajo con insistencia. Porque, sin entrar en discursos grunges, es dolorosamente cierto que la realidad, aunque pretendamos lo contrario, no suele ser algo que pueda retocarse con un filtro trendy ni reconstruir recortando el trozo que queremos mostrar. A pesar de que podamos tener momentos felices, la felicidad no es una imagen y, por lo tanto, nunca podrá permanecer demasiado tiempo. Léanlo todo en Literary Notes. ————————————————————————————————— ENTREVIÑETAS, plataforma cultural colombiana, invita a todas las personas en Colombia con interés en donar su tiempo para ayudar en la navegación del #FESTIVALENTREVIÑETAS como Voluntarios de la *red viñetera*. El voluntariado supone a menudo un desafío, pero significa también adquirir nuevos conocimientos y realizar actividades gratificantes. En el voluntariado no se recibe un pago y se entiende como una donación de tiempo y conocimiento para comprender y atender a los detalles que permitirán llevar el festival a buen puerto en sus sedes de este año: BOGOTÁ Miércoles 20 al domingo 24 de septiembre 2017 MEDELLÍN Miércoles 11 al domingo 15 de octubre de 2017 Convocatoria de Voluntarios ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con la académica Brittany Tullis acerca de sus estudios acerca del cómic feminista latinoamericano (grabado con público en Galería Plop!). Brittany comparte sus visiones acerca de la mujer y su rol creativo, la necesidad de replantear como nos vemos socialmente, críticar los roles impuestos y entrar en nosotros mismos a través del cómic y cómo éste a su vez tiene el poder de generar realidades que terminen en un cambio cultural. Aquí las compañeras de Gráficas ProAborto Libre y su campaña por un aborto libre en Chile. Alex Fito repasa algunos de los tótems de la historia del cómic en su último trabajo, una recopilacion en formato concertina. Una auténtica gozada que mezcla las influencias estética’s de Chris Ware y Max. Berliac‘s got a new Asian Food Store Junkies – Manga is Masturbation. The international fracas digs into the “scene” on an empty stomach… Tereixa Constenla offers a solid and interesting overview of the recent transformations in the Spanish Comics Industry in El_Pais. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-30-2017 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

12/30/2016

Sally IngrahamDecember 29, 2016NewsSally here, scribbling this as I’m making my way back to Pittsburgh, PA, from the wilds of Maine – through a nor’easter of course (2016 continues to deliver). I spent a week with family in Maine, chugging YA fantasy novels and drawing “Suzy and Cecil” strips and looking for Arctic Loons and of course reading (and gifting!) comics. Here are some things I found in the week the CW News team was taking a break. ————————————————————————————————— First of all, Disa Wallander updated her Slowly Dying comic (above!) Yay. ————————————————————————————————— Gloria Rivera posted her lovely comic Domestic Scene (named for the David Hockney painting of the same name) which she made last January but is sharing for the first time outside of the anthology it was published in. Start it below – finish it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Tom Spurgeon has been publishing his annual “Holiday Interviews” on The Comics Reporter this week, and I was thrilled to see that Sarah Glidden and Tom had a lengthy exchange. Sarah got really introspective, probing her own motivations for telling the stories that she has this year. It’s good stuff. As Tom would say, “Go, read!“ ————————————————————————————————— From Summer Pierre via Mutha Magazine, an exciting birth story (above)…! ————————————————————————————————— From quite awhile ago, but finally read by myself – another type of birth story: Julia Wertz‘s A Friend’s Pregnancy on The New Yorker. The rest of the comic is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— The staff of The Village Voice put together a brief list of “The Ladies of Comics Who Made 2016 a Little More Bearable” – HERE. On the list is Giant Days (above), which certainly made my 2016 more bearable, and was one of the comics that I gave as a gift to a sister this year. ————————————————————————————————— Another comic I gave to a (different) sister this year was Anya Davidson‘s Lovers in the Garden. There is a nice review of the book by Sarah Miller over on Sequentialist – check it out HERE. While you’re at it, read some of the other comics reviews that Sarah Miller has written – it seems like Sequentialist is a site worth bookmarking. ————————————————————————————————— Nuria Pompeia died recently – she was a Spanish cartoonist, journalist, and feminist whose work often commented on social class, sexism, and censorship. As she was not well known here in the states, most articles I can find about her will need to be translated by Google…but here is a good one from earlier this year. (via The Comics Reporter) ————————————————————————————————— Here’s a great article that I found while poking around on Paste the other day, and since I got a good deal of joy out of the new Star Wars movie (Rogue One) I feel compelled to share it here. There is an obvious parallelism between Star Wars and some of Jack Kirby’s stories – but was Lucas inspired by Kirby or were they just riding the same creative waves? Get into it HERE (Pittsburgh’s Tom Scioli weighs in at one point!) ————————————————————————————————— I always like a good excuse to give a shout-out to Vanesa R. Del Rey – and the new Comics Workbook publication The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey has given me plenty of opportunity. Check out the book HERE and get yourself a post-holiday treat! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-30-2016 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Amazingly, this is my last news post for 2016 – what a whirlwind it has been! See you next week and next year – Sally Share this page: [...]

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