Comics Workbook

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Posted in NewsTagged Arvell Malcolm Jones, Cam Nicholson, Chris Visions, Interviews, Richie Pope

Harrison

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

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06/16/2017

Sally IngrahamJune 16, 2017NewsSally here with Tatiana Gill; graphic medicine; the new superwomen and their fresh talk; Karen Green’s life in comics. ————————————————————————————————— Adam Griffiths attended “FRESH TALK: Who are the new superwomen of the universe?” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in D.C., on June 14th, 2017. He sent these notes for me to share with you: FRESH TALK: Who are the new superwomen of the universe? tag: #freshtalk4change Panelists: Carolyn Cocca : Author of “Superwomen: Gender, Power and Representation.” Ariell Johnson : Owner of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Inc. Gabby Rivera : Writer for Marvel’s AMERICA series. Ashley A. Woods : Artist for the Stranger Comics series, “NIOBE: She is Life.” Moderated by Emily Whitten. Tonight’s panel at NMWA was crowded with curious onlookers, geeks, comics fanatics and well-wishers for the comics medium, which has barely had a presence in the thirty-year old museum’s programs or collection. I have to admit I was a little nervous for the panelists; the selection of speakers intimated that the program would serve as a sort of general survey of this contemporaneous moment, where the concept of women and comics are discussed in a women-positive environment, on women’s terms. The fact of the matter is that this discussion has been going on for the past two decades. Like pulp fiction, comics has emerged from the margins of popular literature as a force that even Hollywood has had trouble quantifying. We’re learning that comic-book movies are made with all hands on deck. One misstep in storytelling or context can unleash a digital herd of comics aficionados. They are protective of their stories, passionate about cinematic interpretations of their heroes, and uncannily heeded by the industries that create this type of entertainment, probably because these fans are primarily men. When comics shop owner Ariell Johnson is discussing her first forays into comics, she mentions a male friend with a great collection of comics. She was always borrowing his, but when an image of Storm from the X-men pops up during her slide presentation, she lights up: “This woman was the one who started it all for me,” she says. There seems to be a little guilt there – the collection that she had access to ended at some point and perhaps could have ended her relationship with comics. Instead, she started her own shop. When Gabby Rivera begins discussing her writing, she’s still overwhelmed by the influx of community support she got for her early work, and how that motivated her to continue. Artist Ashley Woods remembers getting to comic conventions with no money, sometimes even arriving without her own book in hand to sell. There’s a thread here that’s tough to follow if you choose to really feel it; Gabby Rivera wants you to know that her mom is awesome. When Rivera’s mother calls she asks: “Gabby have you eaten something?” “eatsome’neat.” It’s something about how women hold fast to their communities, sometimes needfully breaking themselves in order to advance. Speaker Carolyn Cocca suggested that the cult of domesticity in the United States is responsible for sluggish progress for women in the comics industry. Within that history, we do know that there were women creators in comics. We also know that there were tons of women colorists, women letterers, women running printing presses. The standout artists and writers however are the ones that there are few of, seemingly. The mise-en-scène here is that women comics creators are piggybacking on each other towards an enhanced presence in the comics field. Last night, the room was very warm with this prevailing outlook. ————————————————————————————————— Tonight the reception for the 2017 Comics & Medicine Conference: Access Points will be held at the Fantagraphics Bookstore – featuring a book signing by Tatiana Gill. She will be presenting her new collection, Wombgenda; “fierce feminist comix” to all reports. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street and the event will be from 6-9 PM. The Seattle Review of Books writes about Tatiana Gill’s new comic: “The three long pieces in Wombgenda address Gill’s journey to developing a positive body image, her abortion story, and an account of getting a new IUD at Country Doctor. Her style in these strips is very reminiscent of Seattle cartoonist Roberta Gregory’s autobiographical comics from the 1990s — simple figures, little to no backgrounds, and a lot of words packed into every panel. They feel something like handwritten letters from a friend — confessional, intimate, exuberant, and heartfelt.“ Read the rest of the review HERE. This is the eight annual Comics & Medicine Conference, the bulk of which will be held at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch (June 15th-17th). This year the event features keynote speakers Hillary Chute, Georgia Webber, and Rupert Kinnard. Learn more about the event HERE. Seattle Weekly profiled the event, and spoke to co-founder MK Czerwiec about the importance of comics in health care. ” “Comics have the power to convey important information in ways that people who are dealing with issues in health care and caregiving find appealing to absorb,” Czerwiec explains. Comics have been used in public health situations for decades to make information accessible in ways that can “transcend language barriers,” but they also provide patients with a “form of reflection and … storytelling” that can help in the healing process. They also help others empathize with patients. For those reasons, she says, nursing and medical schools are beginning to use comics to teach students. Czerwiec says that Seattle has existed on this intersection between comics and medicine for a very long time. Cartoonist Mita Mahato, who has helped to organize this year’s Comics & Medicine conference, has long been a booster. Ellen Forney’s memoir about life as an artist with bipolar disorder, Marbles, has fast become a classic in mental health circles. And “of course, Meredith Li-Vollmer at the King County Public Health Department has come to our conferences in the past and presented projects that she’s done with David Lasky in the public health arena.” Li-Vollmer and Lasky worked on the comic No Ordinary Flu, which saw a print run of over half a million copies translated into a dozen languages and distributed around the country.“ Read the rest of the article HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Karen Green‘s life as a comic, by Nick Sousanis – or, “How a Butler librarian became Columbia’s first curator for comics and cartoons“. Check out the whole thing HERE. Nick Sousanis wrote about the experience of making the comic: “While only six pages long, this proved to be a huge undertaking – i was working on it December through March, and it was just published this week. When first approached to do this project, I was hesitant. Although I’m good friends with Karen and she was a great colleague while I was doing my doctoral work, biographies are not really the sort of comic I make. But then I got the idea to tell her story through homages to all the comics she read growing up and through adulthood – and that got me excited for the challenge (I did do one autobiographical piece a long time back that touched upon somewhat similar terrain). And it was a challenge – the amount of reference material for this short piece are kind of ridiculous but once you’ve committed to this path – can’t really stop walking. The comic draws on her lifelong fascination with Alice in Wonderland in a few places, the New Yorker, the Bayeux Tapestry, Archie, Little Nemo, Charles Burns, and the crowning achievement of the piece – a riff on Al Jaffee’s legendary Mad Fold-Ins! (See a recent interview with Jaffee here.) Although this final page was the quickest to draw in the end, it was by far the hardest to figure out.“ Read more of his thoughts HERE – and see the “fold-in” page in action! ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 6-16-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 6-16-2017 – by Sally Ingraham (based on a sketch by Gloria Rivera) Share this page: [...]

05/14/2018

Caleb OrecchioMay 14, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with thoughts on Betsy and Me by Jack Cole, and other news.———————————————————————————— Hey comics lovers, doing alright? I’m doing alright. I’m a bit tired. My cousins, brother and brother-in-law destroyed me in spikeball on Sunday during a Mother’s Day get together, so I am also sore and a bit grass-stained from jumping and flailing around. They all had a good laugh about it. Good for them, I left all my dignity behind in the 7th grade so I’m happy to be the weird family member who rolls around in the grass during family games. Anyway. Last week I wrote a bit about going to Copacetic Comics here in Pittsburgh and taking advantage of the Free Comic Book Day deals. Reading through my FCBD haul this past week, I was really taken with the collection of the short-lived Jack Cole strip, Betsy and Me. A really charming, funny strip about two parents and their genius son that only ran for a handful of months before Jack Cole bought a .22 and took his own life. Dwight Parks took over the strip after his predecessor’s death, but despite his strengths, could not live up to the legend of Jack Cole. The strip ran from May to December in 1958, Cole’s run ending in September. In the introduction, siting such Cole biographers as Art Spiegelman and Ron Goulart, R.C. Harvey paints this ironic image of a man who at the height of cartooning power (having a daily strip), ended his own life. The couple in Betsy and Me (Chet and Betsy) have a son they so dearly love that it verges on absurdity, but in reality, the Cole’s could not have a child which they so definitely wanted. There is this dark musing on Cole’s part when you know this part of the story. He practically invents an ideal situation that could medically never happen. You can see the Sun set and turn to eternal night on our hero’s psyche. I recommend the book even if just for the Harvey’s introduction. The strip itself expertly balances word and picture. There is a bobbing and weaving of narration, dialogue and action that unfolds in a very sophisticated way, and delivers a satisfying punchline most every time. There is nothing in the strip that would suggest this was the same cartoonist who invented Plastic Man, visually or otherwise, but the expertise and cartooning skills are present and undeniable. ———————————————————————————— if you don’t know, now you know Connor Willumsen answers questions at CBC. At TCJ.com, Tom Kaczynski is the latest guest on “Comics Decalogue” and The Dragon (featuring owner and founder, Jenn Haines) is the latest comic shop showcased on the “Retail Therapy” column. The Comics Reporter has the scoop on Koyama Press’ Fall 2018 lineup. TCAF was this past weekend and the results of the 2018 Doug Wright Awards are up. A. Degen is the latest guest on Process Party. The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center had a pop-up show on Kirby’s work on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The show was this past weekend, but I figured I’d write about it anyway:) ———————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-14-18 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

05/11/2016

Juan FernándezMay 11, 2016NewsTatá Timbó; Carolina Rey on Joung Yumi; Cuadernos del Cómic; Angeli spotlight; Aidan Koch interview; Hernandez Brothers appreciation; new books at Spit and a Half distro; Abhay Khosla on Copra; Cole Closser and the Leroy Lettering System; New Statesman open call. ————————————————————————————————— Shop Spotlight: Tatá Timbó Located in the heart of the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Tatá Timbó is a studio space and book store that specializes in the visual arts. It’s a literary arts space that focuses on youth development through the visual arts founded by Mercedes Fox, Verónica Kaplansky, and Guido Amante. By combining the idea of a studio and a book store they seamlessly blend arts with reading and writing for all ages. Visual literacy and verbal literacy. Children get the opportunity to work freely and wildly while also benefitting from arts mentorships that help them hone their craft. This all allows youth to find artistic mediums and processes they enjoy. El Sol de San Telmo offers a good look at Tatá Timbó’s mission and genesis. This past weekend they put together a small zine fair to bring together the publishing energies of their community. It’s cool stuff. Really exciting to see this kind of thing in Buenos Aires. Among the participants for this zine fair: Nicolás Mealla, Jorge Quien, Musaraña Editora, Marcela Oliva, Juan Vegetal, Pedro Mancini, Delius, Pablo Picyk, PowerPaola, Pablo Besse, Fuga Serigrafía, Luz Marchio, Diego Perrotta, Are you a cop or what?, Alfonso Piantini, Daniela Ruggeri, Miscelánea Total, Fuga Serigrafía, Lino Divas, and Hotel de las Ideas. ————————————————————————————————— Joung Yumi Carolina Rey, creative director of Rey+Naranjo Editores appreciates the work of Korean artist, Joung Yumi during Korea day at la Feria Internacional de Libros in Buenos Aires 2016. ————————————————————————————————— CuCo – Cuadernos del cómic Cuadernos del Cómic is a free digital magazine dedicated to the study and critique of comics edited by Octavio Beares and Gerardo Vilches. It is published twice a year in Madrid, Spain. It’s in the vein of old-school academic journals, but in Spanish, with spanish comics coverage. You’ll want to sink your teeth into this one. ————————————————————————————————— Angeli Retrospective – 40 Years at Folha Folha de Sao Paolo has a feature on the cartooning career of Angeli, one of the forefathers of modern graphic humor in Sao Paolo. Whether you need to brush up on your portugese or you just have to smash that translate button, there’s lots of comics for you to feast your eyes on in this feature. ————————————————————————————————— Aidan Koch interview over at BOMB Magazine. CM You set up an exercise for yourself, in which you deconstructed classical paintings. Some of these are in The Elements of Painting. And there’s a recurring interest in deconstructing classical images or classical symbols in your work. AK For sure, and also life and space and other types of images, too. Seeing what’s important, or what you can make important by pulling things in or out. Like using myself for reference—by not drawing in the background, I’m only focusing on character, but if I started drawing other details, then suddenly there’s all this concrete information that’s competing. So being able to choose where the emphasis lies, all the time, panel by panel, seems really essential in learning about pacing and building. And when looking at paintings, it’s often hard to focus. Especially ultra-dynamic ones or ones that have many characters or little actions happening. Medieval paintings are insane because there’s so much going on all the time. I’ll draw in museums a lot because it makes me look at a painting much more than giving it ten seconds and moving on. Because then you miss all these teeny tiny nuanced emotions or gestures. In case you missed the news on Monday, we are currently featuring Aidan Koch’s The Elements of Painting here on the site. These strips were originally created for and featured on Comics Workbook in 2013. The full collection is now a 14pg, b/w offset on newsprint in an edition of 500. You can buy it directly from Aidan Koch on her site. ————————————————————————————————— Abhay Thinks He Can Write About COPRA Better Than You — Nowhere to Hide – Nowhere to Cry – I Sunk Your Battleship Edition: 666 Abhay Khosla with the comics criticism gold over on Savage Critics. Khosla writes like nothing else. Read it and weep. For the last few years, one of my favorite comics to read has been Michel Fiffe’s COPRA. It’s a comic that I really pretty unabashadely love– one of the few being put out right now where I would talk about it in those terms. But for the last few years, one of my least favorite comics to read people talk about has been Michel Fiffe’s COPRA. ————————————————————————————————— BOLD NEW COMICS at SPIT AND A HALF John Porcellino has got the good stuff over on the Spit And A Half distro site. Hanselmann, Ord, Doucet, KUŠ, Irene, Clotfelter, Van Sciver, de Dionyso, Booth, Picukane, Moisseinen, Franz. Won’t last for long. Get it while you can. ————————————————————————————————— Cole Closser and the Leroy Lettering System I’m an advocate for hand-lettering. I think some comics suffer when the text doesn’t come from the same hand as the line art. That inconsistency can be jarring—and usually ruins my immersion in a story. I letter everything in my books, from the dialogue to the page numbers and front matter. I generally use my own handwriting or imitate old alphabets (like in that first picture), but when I was workin’ on Bow White for my last book, Black Rat, I wanted the lettering to look like the story had been translated from another language. I wanted it more mechanical. I wanted Leroy lettering ————————————————————————————————— Love and Rockets appreciated on The Guardian People are waking up to the master work that is Love and Rockets. Nice.It’s a good time to be alive in comics. ————————————————————————————————— New Statesman has an open call for back page cartoonists. Make something witty & make some $$$. Shoot for the stars, hungry cartoonists and send some samples. ————————————————————————————————— See you next time, hasta la proxima 😉 -Juan Share this page: [...]

02/22/2016

Juan FernándezFebruary 22, 2016NewsLet’s start off right with a look at Ron Wimberley’s latest offerings! He’s published his 12 powerful illustrations of black luminaries. He did 12 last year in February. He did 12 this year. You can see the full set in detail over here. For snippets of the inking process, hop on over to Ron’s Instagram. He’s also got the whole behind the scenes action over at his Patreon. Very much worth checking out if you’ve been looking to step up your inking game. I dropped three a week. Here are most of them. Original inks and zip are for sale, $350 a piece. DM me with inquiries (All but Zadie Smith are available as of this posting) – Ron Ever been to Prague? Yeah, me neither! But with Sophia Foster-Dimino‘s most recent travel diary I now know a good deal of what I should check out should I ever have the good fortune to go. Art, history and day drinking with KJ Martinet. She’s shared her pages via twitter as she completed them and it seems some were made while abroad and others upon returning. I love Sophia’s way of plugging in completed comics sequences, illustrations and doodles and filling the text around them. Really refreshing and inspiring assemblage process. One for the utility belt, kids. For now, take a peek on her travels! I’m in Prague for a week with @kjmartinet, gonna try to document it as much as possible, travel tips appreciated ✨ pic.twitter.com/MRXJR5AvFn — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 10, 2016 Thursday part one! pic.twitter.com/icN0wYZdxl — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 12, 2016 Thursday part two ✌ pic.twitter.com/0iXycZ00TW — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 13, 2016 Saturday part two and Sunday part one ? pic.twitter.com/wDjSSbqcri — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 16, 2016 aaand Tuesday part two and then we went home and now I’m home. ? pic.twitter.com/Ue5eD63lFh — Sophia Foster-Dimino (@hellophia) February 21, 2016 Isabel Ryan‘s got some floaty, dreamy, goofy cartooning going on over at Rookie Mag in her comic Magic 8 Ball. Should you go over and read Isabel’s latest *shake shake shake* Definitely . Zainab Akhtar‘s been thinking about Jane Mai‘s See You Next Tuesday. It’s time you did too. She’s got a really interesting review of this whirlwind of comics by Mai. Really puts Mai’s work in context for greater appreciation. Big ups to Koyama Press for making this showcase of Mai’s skills possible. While the relative ‘democracy’ of the internet has allowed people to bypass instituionalised gatekeeping to some degree, the transition of culture from ‘in real life’ to online remains the same (if not worse in that it facilitates rampant, unchecked abuse). Mai is one of many contemporary artists who have built followings after publishing work online, a feat that often requires a specific level of engagement and giving of oneself in order for it to be successful. The nature of that interaction can feel more direct and personal to the audience, fostering (with regard to female creatives, especially) entitlement and attempted ownership. There’s a sense of people playing a part in your persona, a ‘we made you’ mentality; a collective Frankenstein-ing. – Zainab Blaise Larmee joined Robin over at Inkstuds to talk about some of the new work he has been involved with from 2d Cloud. Most recently, Blaise edited the Mirror Mirror anthology which is part of 2d Cloud’s current Kickstarter efforts. Most awkward inkstuds ever. Highly recommended. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/248252491″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Print wizards Justine and Jordan Hurder over at Chance Press have announced a gorgeous new Kim Deitch print for ya. Really cool story behing this one: There’s another unique thing about this print: it’s not based on original artwork. Usually with fine art printing, the goal is to reproduce an original piece of work as faithfully as possible. Here, the original black and white artwork was sold long ago, the color was done in Photoshop, and the only scan was on a disc that didn’t work anymore. In fact, the only surviving record of the artwork was a yellowing page from an early-90s issue of the LA Weekly. After an extensive color correction process, I was able to restore it and include it in the 2014 publication of ‘A Deitch Miscellany.’ For this print, I tweaked some more color, made the blacks a little deeper and more consistent, pulled out some of the oversaturation, and came up with something I’m really happy with. It definitely doesn’t look like a normal print made from a modern high-res scan, but that’s part of the charm. Preorder a copy now over at Chance Press. Last but not least, Paper Jam 5 took place this past weekend. Seemed like it was a buzzing hive of color and camraderie in NYC. A party for sharing that deep, deep zine love. Photos are trickling in from attendees and exhibitors. You’re going to want to follow the paperjam tumblr to stay abreast with photos, interviews and the like that happened during the happening. More news to come! Juan Fernandez, over and out. Share this page: [...]

09/14/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 14, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan here with your Latin American and Spanish comics news! Hoy tenemos: Dash Shaw dibuja el estreno de MY ENTIRE HIGHSCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA; John Kelly apuntado director del ToonSeum en Pittsburgh; Spanish Fever llega a los EE.UU; Entrevista con Jose Domingo; Entrevista con PowerPaola; Taller de Maggie Lynn Negrete en Pittsburgh; Taller con Marco M. Noreña en Colombia; Convocatoria Abierta de Zinebiosís y GRAF – Madrid; Malaimagen invitado a La Polala #11. ————————————————————————————————— Dash Shaw dibuja el estreno de su nueva pelicula My Entire Highschool Sinking into the Sea ————————————————————————————————— SPANISH FEVER: STORIES BY THE NEW SPANISH CARTOONISTS U.S. TOUR The crew has landed and is now in America – Santiago García, Javier Olivares, David Rubín, Ana Galvañ, y José Domingo han llegado! Si tienen la oportunidad de escuchar una de sus charlas o talleres, no se lo pueden perder. Estos son los “heavy hitters” Españoles. Santiago García les puedo contar un poquito sobre la gira! ————————————————————————————————— Entrevista: José Domingo José Domingo shares some thoughts with Meagan Meehan over on Blasting News. BN: How did you come up with the idea for “Adventures of a Japanese Businessman” and “Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption”? JD: The idea for “Adventures of a Japanese Businessman” came out from a littlesketch on my sketchbook and the feeling it created. Trying to capture that feeling–following the thread of it–resulted in the book. For “Pablo and Jane and the Hot Air Contraption” I was commissioned by Flying Eye Books to create a book about monsters with a core hide-and-seek element but I was given total freedom to develop the story, characters and tone of the book. Read it HERE + and don’t miss José Domingo (and the rest of the Spanish Fever crew) at SPX!!! ————————————————————————————————— Learn to Draw from the Pros! Acompañanos este sabado en Bethesda, Maryland desde las 3-5 durante nuestro taller de Spanish Fever! (Spanish Language Workshop). SPX and Comics Workbook, along with the Spanish Cultural Ministry and Fantagraphics, is pleased to provide Spanish language instruction and presentations with José Domingo and David Rubín. Es un verdadero honor poder presentar una charla + taller con José Domingo y David Rubín. 100% en Español! 100% Gratis! No se lo pierdan! ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/281896150″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Escucha @lapololapodcast, un podcast del cómic femenino con Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo! It’s always a fun, relaxing and enlightening listen. If you haven’t tuned in to La Polola just yet, Póngale Play 😉 En este capítulo las chicas conversan con Malaimagen, uno de los más prolíficos dibujantes chilenos, autor de libros como “Sin Tolerancia”, “Pase Usted”, “Boleta o Factura”, “Pan y Circo” y el último “Malditos Humanos” entre otros más. Hablamos de sus inspiraciones, sus temas y su relación con la música punk y su grupo punkora, que nos acompaña con la música con dos canciones de su último disco “contra el suelo”. Además dimos los resultados de nuestro concurso del mapa emocional, ¡gracias a todas y todos los que nos mandaron sus dibujos! Y tenemos un gran anuncio: desde este capítulo comenzaremos a ser transmitidas por radio ITACA FM en España ————————————————————————————————— Entreviñetas 2016 – La Feria Vagabunda ¡Pronto comienza la séptima temporada de Entreviñetas en Colombia! El #FestivalEntreviñetas2016 tendrá a Bogotá y Medellín como sedes. Si el cómic es lo que te apasiona y vives en Latinoamérica, no se lo pueden perder! Entreviñetas acabo de anunciar los proyectos que participarán en la Feria Vagabunda en sus versiones Bogotá (24 y 25 de sept) y Medellín (8 y 9 de oct). En la feria encontraras libros, cómics y fanzines que son verdaderamente unicos. Mantente al dia y sigue la pagina de Entreviñetas en FB. Los invitados oficiales del festival seran: Brecht Vandenbroucke (Bélgica), Michael DeForge (Canadá), Olivier Kugler (Alemania), Elenio Pico (Argentina), Aidan Koch (Estados Unidos), Zane Zlemeša (Letonia), Inés Estrada (México), Diana Ojeda (Colombia), Sole Otero (Argentina), Pablo Guerra (Colombia), Marco Tóxico (Bolivia), Hernán Sansone (Argentina), Olea (Chile), Phoebe Gloeckner (Estados Unidos), Benjamin Dix (Reino Unido), ICINORI (Francia), Alexandra Zsigmond (Estados Unidos), Puño (España), Miguel Gallardo (España), Cabizbaja (Colombia), David Avend (Colombia), Jean Paul Zapata (Colombia) ————————————————————————————————— Convocatoria: GRAF – Madrid GRAF, evento en torno al cómic de autor y la edición independiente, tendrá lugar los días 11, 12 y 13 de noviembre de 2016. Para esta ocasión ampliamos la duración de la feria. Al igual que en la anterior edición en Barcelona, esta se extenderá a lo largo de tres días, dando comienzo el viernes a las 17:00h y terminando el domingo a las 14:30h. La organización hace un llamamiento a los editores, autores, artistas y colectivos interesados en participar. Para solicitar espacio en #GRAFMADRID2016 es imprescindible enviar un correo a graf.contacta@gmail.com con el nombre de la propuesta y una web o portfolio de la misma, indicando el tamaño de la mesa solicitada: Stand grande 2 metros = 90€ Stand mediano 1,5 metros = 70€ Stand pequeño 1,20 metros = 50€. (Las medidas puedes sufrir modificaciones. Os avisaremos por e-mail). ————————————————————————————————— Convocatoria: ZINEBIOSIS Fanzineros y fanzineras, ¡todavía está abierta la convocatoria para participar en la muestra Zinebiosis en Bogota! Zinebiosis Muestra de Fazines Colombia / Perú que se inaugura el sábado 24 de septiembre en Rat Trap, Organiza Rapiña y apoya ENTREVIÑETAS. Zinebiosis llega a Colombia, luego por su paso por Perú, compartiendo el intercambio de fazines colombo-peruano. Además de la muestra habrá concierto con las bandas Cadaver, FINAL, Muro y Tumbas!!! ————————————————————————————————— Taller: Marco Noreña (Medellin) Marco Noreña nos viene “full force” con los fanzines! Apuntate a este taller introductorio y de nociones básicas al mundo del cómic y la narrativa gráfica en El Lápiz Azul. El objetivo primordial es el de generar un producto finalizado e incentivar su realización de una forma amena y entretenida, por medio de ejercicios prácticos. 17 de septiembre · Horario: 9.00 am – 12.00 m Receso 2.00 – 5.00 pm Registrate AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— Taller y Charla: Maggie Lynn Negrete (Pittsburgh) The Pittsburgh Comics Salon is pleased to announce this month’s local spotlight artist will be: Maggie Lynn Negrete. Come join us at the ToonSeum (945 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222) on Thursday, September 15th from 6-8pm. This event is free to all-age attendees and promises an evening of art, conversation, and an atmosphere of solidarity. Maggie is a feminist artist that adapts her medium in response to the dialogue she wishes to create with her audience. Her artwork takes the form of installations, zines, and gallery-ready illustrations and prints. Uniting these various mediums and forms, her design sense manifests through graphic black and white line work with nods to late 19th and early 20th century illustration, psychedelic era poster design and the current renaissance of sign painting. Her visual language is highly influenced by my heritage of typographers, printers and illustrators. This session will consist of a conversation between Maggie Lynn Negrete and Juan Fernandez about identity, typography and education and how they intertwine in her design, cartooning and illustration. Their conversation will be followed by Q+A. ————————————————————————————————— John Kelly – Nuevo Director del ToonSeum (Pittsburgh) Aquí en Pittsburgh, John Kelly, escritor y historiador del mundo del cómic, ha sido nombrado el Executive Director del ToonSeum, nuestro museo del arte del cómic! Kelly sera a la vez responsable por las operaciones cotidianas del museo y la planificación del crecimiento a largo plazo del museo. Kelly, who has written extensively about comics since the late 1980s, had been serving as Vice President of the Museum since June, 2016 and has been heavily involved with it since moving to Pittsburgh in 2011. He has written for The Comics Journal magazine since the early 1990s and his work has appeared in DC Comics, among other publications. A New York native, Kelly is the former Senior Vice President of Communications at the National Basketball Association and also served in senior communications roles at Catholic Charities of the Archdioceses of New York and Columbia University. Aprende mas sobre John Kelly AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! JF Share this page: [...]

07/07/2016

Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 by Harrison

Harrison is here today previewing the 4th Annual Comics Workbook Competition, revisiting an old/new interview with a veteran artist, giving an update from Richmond, VA’s best artists, and finishing with something sharp.

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COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

THE SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and

The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency presents

the COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016

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1st place – $500 cash prize to the winner

2nd place – $250 credit at Copacetic Comics

3rd place – $100 credit at Copacetic Comics

plus four $50 honorable mention prizes from Big Planet Comics

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

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DEADLINE: August 30 2016 at midnight (that’s 11:59 EST)

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Find all the details HERE!

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From the Vault: Arvell Malcolm Jones Interview

CBR News: What about the challenges or difficulties you may have faced while getting into the comics biz?

AJ: Well, Marvel and DC were interesting places in the early ’70s. Racism was there, but not the kind you would think. People were trying to be very open minded, but they only could draw on what they knew. I spent a lot of time getting to know people. It was hard at first because, in some cases, we had nothing in common but our love of the industry. Plus, the industry is very much like a little Hollywood: it’s about who you know, as well as how good you are.

Many of the people I worked with I’d know for sometime through the convention route, or from zines, like [the ones done by] Roy Thomas (when we had our zine, Roy was our source for news at Marvel) and Paul Levitz. Marvel and DC tried to be open to us but, in a way, they didn’t know quite how to relate to us. It helped that most of my friends from Detroit helped to open doors. We would take a 13 hour drive and spend the night with Al Milgrom and his roommate, hang at Rich’s, then go see John Romita at Marvel, get our butts spanked, and go back to Detroit to work on our samples again.

– via Comic Book Resources

Read the rest of the interview with veteran artist Arvell Malcolm Jones here.

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Richmond’s Finest

Check out some of the new work from our friends from Richmond, VA, Cameron Weston Nicholson, Richie Pope, and Chris Visions. Support and share please.

Cameron Weston Nicholson
Cameron’s got a sale on his latest comic, Burgundy. IF you’ve been waiting to pick up some work from Cameron, now’s your chance before these comics are gone! Send him a message via instagram and he’ll hook you up.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHhqpeqg-jZ/

Richie Pope

Along with having the illustration below in the New York Times, Richie has made available the second (and final) edition of Newdini in print. Get it now! http://richiepope.bigcartel.com/product/newdini

tumblr_o9gcg9eiWO1r4v7u9o1_1280 — Two Dads, Two Kids, One Experimental Family – Richie Pope for the New York Times

Chris Visions

You can now buy your copy of Chris Visions’ #LunchtimeLoosies VOL. 1 at http://chrisvisions.bigcartel.com – A color collection of beautiful observational drawings made with mixed media.

12443002_10103047963064636_702899140_n — Dove by Chris Visions

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Comics Workbook

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Posted in NewsTagged Arvell Malcolm Jones, Cam Nicholson, Chris Visions, Interviews, Richie Pope

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Posted on July 7, 2016July 7, 2016

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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: [...]

12/16/2016

Sally IngrahamDecember 15, 2016NewsSally here with Jessica Campbell, Tove Jansson, Sabrina Jones, many other Women Who Draw, and Emil Friis Ernst. ————————————————————————————————— The Pittsburgh, PA, comics community enjoyed hosting Danish cartoonist Emil Friis Ernst for the past few months. He was on loan to Comics Workbook from The Animation Workshop, where he is studying Graphic Storytelling. He spent a few months here in the States interning with Frank Santoro and Comics Workbook, and channeling his considerable drawing skills into a variety of comics projects. The day before he left he made us a parting gift – the illustration you see above, featuring Frank as the ComicsWorkbot and me – Sally “Ingrider” – captaining the girls team. Earlier this year Emil made the comic All in a Day’s Work for us – check it out HERE. You can find many more fantastic comics and illustrations on his tumblr – HERE. Keep an eye out for this fellow – he and the other Graphic Storytelling students from The Animation Workshop are about to burst into the Danish comics scene and push it to a whole new level. ————————————————————————————————— Comics and news that caught my eye this week: Jessica Campbell stopped by the Inkstuds office and recorded a podcast with Robin McConnell – listen HERE. BBC Culture begs folks to see beyond the Moomins when it comes to Tove Jansson and consider her as she saw herself – first and foremost as a painter. The full story. Also check out the wonderful website devoted to her life and career – it is a virtual museum. Women Who Draw is a database of female professional illustrators, artists, and cartoonists, created recently in an effort to increase visibility. Sabrina Jones brings us some “female remedies” via the comic Our Lady of Birth Control, which is generously excerpted from over on Mutha Magazine. ————————————————————————————————— From Comics Workbook: Check out our beautiful new publication: The Art of Vanesa R. Del Rey. We are accepting applications for the Winter Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers right up until Dec. 28th 2016. Course starts Dec. 29th! 8 weeks – 500 bux – the best comics education for your money. Full details and how to apply HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 12-16-2016 – by Gabriella Tito Share this page: [...]

FRANK’S TIPS FOR TABLING

Juan FernándezMay 6, 2016Resources8 tips for tabling at a comics convention from Frank Santoro. NSFW for cussin’. Video by Michael Pisano. Share this page: [...]

03/02/2016

Sally IngrahamMarch 2, 2016NewsMarch is Women’s History Month, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is celebrating female cartoonists. First up was Barbara Hall, the main artist for Girl Commandos, which appeared in issues of Speed Comics in the 1940s. Read a bit more about her HERE, and check the CBLDF throughout the month for more biographical snippets of women in comics. How about a female cartoonist who is working today? Anna Mancini, or Manzanna, is a Brazilian artist. Click on the image above for more info about that particular comic. You can find much of Anna’s work on her tumblr, but it is nice to experience her comic Sadnesses HERE. A simple slideshow format brings a different rhythm to the panels, forcing, or allowing, you to slow down and really see it. This different type of viewing experience leads to a discussion of Stela, a subscription-based iOS app for reading comics that just hit the stores. The app was reviewed over on Polygon. Stela is experimenting with a variation on a format known as…the Infinite Canvas, a term coined by that mad scientist of sequential art, Scott McCloud. For obvious reasons, comics on screens don’t have to obey the physical limitations of print, and in his 2000 book Reinventing Comics, McCloud proposed that the screen could be treated as a window. Will it work or won’t it? That’s probably up to personal preference and the quality of the content. Fortunately comics like Ronald Wimberly’s GratNin are trying the app on for size, and if Ron can make the endless scroll bend to his will then there’s probably hope for it. On a somewhat related note, Simon Reinhardt has just released Mystery Town #4 and announced that it is going to be “officially a monthly thing for 2016″…! Who else is excited? Follow the link above to check out the whole thing, and read issues 1-3 as well. Tyler Landry has finished publishing The Jaundiced Eye on Comics Workbook. Stumble into a shadowy state that mesmerizes and terrifies almost equally. If you’re hungry for more CLAV after this, Tyler just loaded all of Shit and Piss #3 on Ello – check it out HERE. I hope these bits and bobs help you get through hump day! Cheerio – Sally Share this page: [...]

06/29/2016

Juan FernándezJune 29, 2016NewsJuan Fernanadez here with your Wednesday Spanish language comics news: Selo Piqui’s TOPOGRAFIAS; Valencia Línea Clara; Comics workshop with LUTO; Ana Galvañ comics making video series; Isabel Cortés Navarro entrevista a Max; taking a look at Portugal’s Chili com Carne; fotos de los cicloreaders y Sindy Elefante. ————————————————————————————————— Now available: Topografias Topographias is Selo Piqui‘s latest collection of stories, whose common thread is the way, the route: through the frames, unlikely places are discovered, all with a strangely familiar narrative. It features two color work by Barbára Malagoli, Julia Balthazar, Lovelove6, Mariana Paraizo,Puiupo e Taís Koshino. Very cool comics poetics in service of these 6 women’s stories. If you’re curious about this exciting anthology, check out their online preview. ————————————————————————————————— VLC. Valencia Línea Clara El Institut Valencià d’Art Modern presenta la exposición “VLC. Valencia Línea Clara”, que podrá verse hasta el 2 de octubre de 2016 en las salas de la instituciónn. Esta exhibicion es un recopilatorio de alrededor de 200 cómics originales del grupo erróneamente conocido como la Nueva Escuela Valenciana de los años 80, uno de los proyectos expositivos estrella de la programación del IVAM para el 2016. Entre los artistas participantes destacan Sento Llobell, Mariscal o Micharmut. Una colección que se contextualiza con otros cómics de los años 70 como Tritón de Daniel Torres, Macao de Mique Beltrán o Futurama de Micharmut, también presentes en la exposición. Durante los años 60 y 70, Valencia vivió un espectacular momento creativo. Las vanguardias creativas explotaban con grupos como el Equipo Crónica y Realidad, que influían decisivamente en los jóvenes que por aquel momento comenzaban a cursar estudios artísticos. Unos jóvenes que, además, se habían formado en la cultura del tebeo, que tuvo en Valencia un centro neurálgico durante los años 40 y 50, y que sirvió para que estos nuevos artistas generaran un bagaje visual que se amalgamó durante su etapa formativa con las nuevas tendencias artísticas que inundaban la ciudad. ————————————————————————————————— Aprende a dibujar cómics con Ana Galvañ Ana Galvañ, dibujante de cómics e ilustradora a creado una serie exhaustiva de videos y actividades en Domestika. En esta serie, Galvañ te enseñará a crear tu propio cómic con el programa de ilustración Clip Studio Paint (anteriormente conocido como Manga Studio). Aprenderás a plasmar y estructurar tus ideas de cara a la creación de una historia y llevarla a cabo de forma fácil e intuitiva. Es un guia extremadamente útil para vosotros que quieren utilizar Clip Studio Paint pero que prefieren no dibujar en un estilo de manga tradicional. Te lo recomiendo! ————————————————————————————————— Isabel Cortés Navarro entrevista a Max Isabel: ¿Qué valor tiene para alguien que ha promovido el reconocimiento artístico de la historieta ser editado por el Museo del Prado? Max: A nivel personal es una satisfacción y creo que es bueno para el cómic en general. También debo advertir —sé que hay por ahí mucha gente que me va a dar la brasa con eso— que hacer esto no significa en absoluto venderse al sistema. Para mí no es nada contradictorio, ni con mi pasado underground ni con mi presente. Igual que hago esto hoy para el Museo del Prado, mañana hago un tebeo grapado y autoeditado. No tengo problemas ni nada de eso, eso que quede claro. Isabel: Además de compartir obsesiones, entre tu obra y el Bosco se pueden encontrar muchos otros paralelismos. Simbolismo, iconografía propia, surrealismo, arte secuencial… Max: Sí, eso es mérito de Jose Manuel , que pensó que yo era el adecuado para el Bosco. Por lo demás, la influencia de este pintor la he tenido siempre. Igual no evidente, pero creo que se nota que andamos por caminos parecidos. Soy muy consciente de la tradición simbólica de ciertos personajes y objetos, y la he usado mucho siempre. Funciona como un extra narrativo en mis tebeos, para quien lo pilla. Bueno, algunos elementos simbólicos son ya tan antiguos que todo el mundo los pilla, aunque sea a nivel subconsciente, pero otros no. Por ejemplo, lo de los mochuelos es curioso. En todos los libros sobre el Bosco se citan mucho como ave de Atenea y por tanto de la sabiduría, o bien como infernal porque es el ave asociada a las brujas, y no salen de ahí. Pero me di cuenta, a raíz de esa época en que dibujaba mochuelos en las esquinas, que no tenían ninguna función especial, de que el mochuelo es el autorretrato del autor. Es el pájaro que ve en la oscuridad, por tanto es el testigo de lo que estás contando, y es el autor el que ha sido testigo de algo y lo puede enseñar a los demás. En el Bosco funciona así, en casi todos sus cuadros hay un mochuelo. ————————————————————————————————— Gerardo Vilches le da un vistazo a la editorial portugues, Chili com Carne: Una de las cosas más interesantes de la última edición de GRAF en Barcelona fue la presencia de dos editoriales independientes extranjeras. Una fue la letona Kus!, y la otra la portuguesa Chili com Carne. De esta última, gracias a la amabilidad de Marcos Farrajota, responsable de la editorial, me traje a casa un puñado de cómics que he podido ir leyendo poco a poco, y que me han resultando muy estimulantes. Chili com carne lleva años publicando cómics en su país, e incluso han publicado obras de Olivier Schrauwen o Tommi Musturi. Resulta muy significativo lo poco que conocemos del cómic que se hace en Portugal, un país que tenemos literalmente a un paso. Tiene que ver con muchas cosas, cuestiones históricas y políticas que ahora mismo no vienen al caso, pero espero aportar mi grano de arena para dar a conocer una escena independiente muy interesante, y accesible para el lector español: muchos títulos incluyen traducción al inglés, y, en realidad, no es complicado leer en portugués con un poco de voluntad por nuestra parte. ————————————————————————————————— Taller de comics con LUTO – Comics Workshop with LUTO (Luis Tobon) in Colombia ————————————————————————————————— Documentado: El 1er tour de los Cicloreaders Estuvimos dibujando y pedaleando por la sabana con @SindyElefante ¡Gracias a todos los que participaron! pic.twitter.com/Bi5we75x6D — Cicloreaders (@cicloreaders) June 26, 2016 ————————————————————————————————— hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page: [...]

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