Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on January 31, 2018

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08/16/2018

Caleb OrecchioAugust 16, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with a Kirby Fantastic Four sequence I’ve been thinking about. ————————————————————————————————— I swear I think about this Kirby sequence from Fantastic Four no. 18 once a week. When I was a growing up, superheroes were becoming more and more “realistic.” That’s what the fans wanted. “Believable” superheroes. They demanded superheroes follow the logic of The Bourne Identity or something. Captain America was invading the Middle East (The Ultimates), The X-Men wore leather jackets (The New X-Men), I could go on and on. I loved that crap and still do in a nostalgic way, but as I would start investigating comics’ history in reverse I began to appreciate the unrestricted imagination of the early masters. The Golden Age superheroes had such whacky, bizarre adventures that had their own hermetically sealed logic. If you’ve ever read really early Jack Cole, for instance, you know what I’m talking about. That’s a big factor in my appreciation of Kirby. Throughout his career, without exception, The King maintained a sense of unchained imaginative ferocity from The Golden Age that the Silver Agers didn’t quite harness (and into the modern age). This is a small example, but when I think of this sequence of The Super Skrull transforming his head into a battering ram to headbutt The Thing I am reminded of how such whacky imagery burns itself into the folds of the brain. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

9/2/2016

Juan FernándezSeptember 2, 2016NewsYoohoo, Juan’s here with the latest comics news: Gary Panter; SPX 2016 Programming; Cameron Nicholson on the RVA crew; Nicole Georges with AK Summers and Esther Godoy; The history of Craftint; payday for Noah Van Sciver; Connor Willumsen’s latest book; Rowhouse Residency’s Sammy Harkham ends TOMORROW! ————————————————————————————————— Portraits by Connor Willumsen Comics Workbook is very pleased to present a new book from Connor Willumsen – Portraits. Available now for pre-order – get your copy HERE! This 16-page beautifully printed booklet (by WestCan – who also printed thee Santoro School Handbook) of portraits by the great Connor Willumsen is now available for pre-order. We are only offering pre-orders for the States presently and will offer pre-orders for non-USA orders after we go to press in late August. Connor is one of our original CW samurais. He will be joining Frank Santoro at The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival this fall, teaching workshops and sharing his process. Look for him there! ————————————————————————————————— [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/280934796″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Gary Panter Eats Art John Mejias and Zak Smith talk to Gary Panter over on their new Podcast We Eat Art about painting, comics, meeting Jack Kirby, his psychedelic light shows, and a lot more. No better way to start your day than sitting down with uncle Gary. It’s a great start to what I hope to be a great series of podcasts. ————————————————————————————————— SPX 2016 Programming Schedule: LIVE Small Press Expo is pleased to announce the Programming Schedule for SPX 2016. SPX is continuing the festival’s established tradition of rich, thought provoking programming featuring leading comics artists and critics in conversation. As in previous years, the Programming Schedule features twenty-two sessions with two simultaneous tracks on both Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18. Check out these highlights! – Joe Sacco makes a rare festival appearance to talk about Comics Journalism with Sarah Glidden, moderated by The Nib’s Matt Bors. – Lisa Hanawalt graces SPX for a spotlight interview with NPR’s Glen Weldon. – Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell discuss their work with Congressman John Lewis on the acclaimed and award winning March trilogy. There will also be seven panels dedicated to celebrating the 40th Birthday of Fantagraphics, including: – Publisher Gary Groth joins Joe Sacco, Drew Friedman, Trina Robbins and Gilbert Hernandez to talk about Fantagraphics 40 years of publishing. – The two great indie comics legends, Charles Burns and Daniel Clowes, talk shop with Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds – The panel Music & Comics has Jaime Hernandez and Ed Piskor discussing how Punk Rock and Hip Hop music influenced their respective creative styles, moderated by the Toonseum’s John Kelly. The complete schedule is available HERE. ————————————————————————————————— RVA at SPX Cameron Nicholson has cooked a post of Richmond, VA’s finest cartoonists and illustrators that’ll be making it out to Bethesda. Check it out and get acquainted with their work before the festival. There’s so much talent in that town. Big ups to Cameron for this annual spotlight! Get yourself a hot beverage and look at them pictures! ————————————————————————————————— Sagittatirian Matters: AK Summers & Esther Godoy Nicole Georges holds it down on her HARD HITTING podcast, Sagittarian Matters. It’s always a good listen. Nicole Georges: Today we are visited by “Pregnant Butch” author AK Summers & “Butch is Not a Dirty Word” creator Esther Godoy to discuss queer masculinity, pregnancy, ugliness, visibility and MORE. They are a Leo and an Aquarius, respectively. ————————————————————————————————— Art in the age of mechanical reproduction: Craftint Over on the incredible Legion of Andy site the in part anonymous site runner, Legion of Andy, has been publishing a series of articles on what might seem a pretty dry subject – the Ben-Day dots printing process, used to colour comics for many years in the US in the past. My god if these aren’t the most thrilling and satisfying reads on color reproduction for comics. The latest piece is on the history of Craftint. Check out the comments to see what Steve Bissette has to chime in 😉 If you want to jump into the thick of it, check out all the articles the Legion of Andy has put together. Part 1—Roy Lichtenstein—the man who didn’t paint Ben Day dots Part 2—Halftone dots, Polke dots, more Roy Part 3—CMYK / Four-colour comic book dots vs. RGB dots on screens Part 4—Pre-history, origins—Ben Day in the 19th century Part 5—Ben Day in lithography Part 5.5—French comic strips of the 1880s. Coloured by relief aquatint. Part 5.75—A lithographic protocomic (?) from 1885 Part 6—Ben Day meets the Sunday Comics in the 1890s Part 6.1—Tarzan and the Ben Day Dots—secrets of 1930s comic strip colour Part 6.2—Fun With (Mis-)Registration—when colour printing plates don’t line up Part 7 — The Birth of the Comic Book ————————————————————————————————— The Industry – Oh you know, the usual tire fire. Jude Terror waxes on the farce of the direct market, maddening pressure on the consumer, and dizzying hypocrisy. Stand by and watch from a distance, or hop in on the comments and get yourself dirty. “The same thing applies sometimes to fans, who are constantly pressured by the industry to feel responsible for sales numbers and pass along that attitude to their peers. Don’t want to see your favorite character’s book canceled? Well, you better preorder and tell all your friends to preorder too. Want to see more diversity in comics? You’d better buy whatever half-hearted attempt at cashing in on diversity Marvel is promoting this month whether you enjoy reading it or not, or else they might get the idea that comic book readers don’t like diversity, and that would be your fault, you see. Don’t want to see your favorite artist die alone in poverty after creating some of the most successful intellectual properties in the history of American pop culture? Well, you’d better keep shelling out $4.99 for those comics Marvel is giving them a 1% cut of, or that’s your fault too.” ————————————————————————————————— Pay day for Noah Van Sciver Noah Van Sciver has been doing a regular strip for Columbus’ weekly arts and culture newspaper Columbus Alive! Check out their archives to read everything that Noah has been cooking up. ————————————————————————————————— Private Rowhouse Auction – 8.27-9.3 ————————————————————————————————— until next time, friends. JF Share this page: [...]

02/24/2017

Sally IngrahamFebruary 24, 2017NewsSally here to finish the week with a very exciting announcement from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, and loads of work from lady comics makers world-wide! ————————————————————————————————— The best news this week is that Annie Koyama, owner and publisher of Koyama Press and a comics community cornerstone, has donated an outstanding collection of original artwork by contemporary American cartoonists to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, in Columbus, OH. The collection contains over 250 pieces by artists such as Lisa Hanawalt, Theo Ellsworth, Katie Skelly, Noah Van Sciver, Eleanor Davis, Dustin Harbin, Frank Santoro, Gabrielle Bell, Hellen Jo, Kevin Huizenga, and many more. Annie has been building the collection since 2013, and donating it to the BICLM was her intent from the beginning. This collection speaks volumes about Annie’s enthusiasm for the medium, her ongoing support for the artists in this community, and the importance she places in preserving this vital part of history. As Caitlin McGurk, Associate Curator of the BICLM, says: “What Annie Koyama has done for us is unprecedented, forward-thinking, and remarkable. Most cartoonists in this community make a livelihood by selling their original art to private collectors, which makes it more difficult for public research facilities like BICLM to obtain these essential works. Annie has not only supported these cartoonists, but has solidified their legacy by placing the collection at OSU where it can be preserved, accessed, and enjoyed for generations to come.“ The collection will be on view at the BICLM from May 6, 2018 – Sunday, October 21, 2018, coinciding with Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). I can’t wait to see it! ————————————————————————————————— Gabrielle Bell has a new comic on VICE called The Nicest Dog – check out the first page above and the rest HERE. Her new book – Everything is Flammable – is coming out from Uncivilized Press on April 18th. ————————————————————————————————— Melissa Mendes and Anne Elizabeth Moore team up on Truthout to continue a comics journalism project (formerly called Ladydrawers – check out the complete archives HERE). The series, as you can see above, will deal with the water and housing crisis in Detroit. Updates monthly. The first section is HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Em DeMarco‘s recent comic in the Pittsburgh City Paper is about immigration rights – which are in constant flux these days, it seems. In English and Spanish – check it out HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Secret Acres has announced that they will be releasing Keren Katz‘s debut comic at TCAF this year. From the press release: “The Academic Hour charts the romance between Pothel, a disgraced architecture professor, and his student, Liana. Told in a series of surreal, vibrant vignettes, and set in a fantastic, logic-defying college of shifting rooms and secret performance spaces,The Academic Hour affirms how an intense, fledgling relationship can ignite the impulse for storytelling with unbridled, ferocious creative energy.“ Keren’s illustrative work has garnered praise and numerous awards – I look forward to seeing what she does with the comics medium. In stores May 16th 2017. ————————————————————————————————— Peas and Carrots More, more, and more hype for Emil Ferris‘ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters – Hillary Brown interviews Emil for Paste Magazine; NPR featured the work on Fresh Air, calling the book “dazzling”; and The Comics Journal published Part 2 of their epic interview with the creator. Lauren Weinstein is sooooo cloooose to giving birth, but part of her wants to keep the kid inside a bit longer – according to her most recent comic in The Village Voice…! Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden is reviewed by Women Who Write About Comics. If you haven’t checked out the Women Who Draw database since the website crashed last year on day 3 of its existence, you should head over there now. It’s HUGE and it’s beautiful. G. Willow Wilson, who writes the Ms. Marvel comics, turns her pen to reviewing Angel Catbird, a comics project that Margaret Atwood is writing. Dig into it on Publisher’s Weekly. ————————————————————————————————— The Spring Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers is starting soon! The semester has a rolling start date, but it will officially kick off on March 7th. We will continue taking applications past that date – Frank is always willing to make it work for your schedule. Just apply! Applications received by February 26th will get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. More details can be found HERE. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 2-24-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-24-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-24-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-24-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page: [...]

08/31/2017

Sally IngrahamAugust 30, 2017NewsSam Ombiri reviews a comic by Sienna Cittadino, and Sally goes on an adventure with Tarantula – in addition, we are pleased to announce the Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX 2017! ———————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I am thrilled today to tell you about a minicomic by Sienna Cittadino called Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow. [Editor’s note: Sienna is from Pittsburgh, PA, and made this comic for the 2016 Comics Workbook Composition Competition.] It’s a stupendous, charming, hilarious, and tragic minicomic. I’ve really only seen some of her one-off gags and one of her picture books. Those were great, but when reading this comic I was surprised at how amazing Senna is at weaving a narrative. When I first read it, the design of the cover made me think the “Based on a true story” was a facetious comment, or a gag, but the back makes me think otherwise when it says “A comic for Jeremy and all the girls.” This is relevant because Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow comes from a very real place. Writing “For Jeremy and the girls” on the back makes the looming tragedy, from which we, the readers, are somewhat distant from, all the more menacing. I also get a better idea of who the Forest Cow is, and this expands how I feel for the Forest Cow. For me, the comic’s strength comes from it alluding to only bits and pieces of the tragedy that Jeremy is running away from. These bits and pieces Sienna reveals to us, the readers, in a really lyrical and comical manner. When I first met Sienna (who is a teen librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh), she highly recommended that I read Flannery O’Connor’s work, since I never had before. I don’t want to make such a thoughtless comparison, so I won’t make it any further, other than by saying how they both communicate tragedy with whimsical elements of humor and sorrow. I also couldn’t help but think of some of Leif Goldberg’s comics and drawings when reading Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow. The last panel, in which the Forest Cow is crying, really got to me. The only animal that has inflicted more emotion on me is Balthazar. I don’t know if the Forest Cow is crying because the Forest Cow won’t see Jeremy again, or if the Forest Cow feels really bad for Jeremy. So then not knowing which makes me even sadder, and this is what’s so great about the comic. I hope to see more from Sienna – of course I did before, but now my enthusiasm for her work has really grown. – Sam Ombiri You can read Jeremy Meets the Forest Cow HERE. Check out more of Sienna Cittadino‘s work HERE and HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Sally here: I was excited to find copies of Alexis Ziritt‘s and Fabian Rangel Jr.’s Tarantula at Copacetic Comics the other day. Published by AdHouse earlier this year, it is a nice little hardcover that explodes in your face the moment you open it. It’s pulp, and noir, and supernatural action/adventure as any description would tell you. There is a team of crime-fighters (led by Tarantula herself) on a mission to stop a satanic cult that has taken control of the government. There is gunplay and fistfights and house-scaling. There is plenty going on in it’s brief 96 pages, and while the script is bouncy and full of Spanish slang, it is Alexis Ziritt’s artwork that caroms the comic into happy chaos. I wouldn’t write off the artwork by merely calling it trippy, or psychedelic. Alexis Zirrit is very intentional with his coloring, and despite the ferocious pace of each page, the action is clear. Characters are relatively easy to recognize from spread to spread, and considering that there are bird-people and lizard-like beings, characters with geometric heads, and masks galore, this is pretty important. That being said, the shear density of the artwork does make each spread something of a bonus adventure to navigate, and while you will be compelled to crash headlong through the story, when you’re done the first time be sure to go back to the beginning and take another few moments to just look at the pages. Here’s one more to tantalize you. Now go and find your own copy of Tarantula and experience the rest for yourself! ———————————————————————————————— Alexis Ziritt will be at the Small Press Expo 2017 and will be doing a workshop with Comics Workbook (check it out HERE). In fact the entire schedule of Comics Workbook-hosted workshops at SPX 2017 has been announced and it is exciting stuff. Gilbert Hernandez! Sacha Mardou! Connor Willumsen! Audra Stang! Sign up for a workshop HERE and join us at SPX Sept. 16th/17th 2017. ———————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro made a comic book about his parents and now he needs help making a handbound copy of the book for each of them. It’s a good story. Check out the Indiegogo campaign HERE – or if you want to contribute via PayPal, look at the campaign HERE. ———————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 8-31-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ———————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 8-31-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

06/19/2018

Aaron CockleJune 19, 2018NewsParadise Systems; NYer at SOI; Desert Island; Dank Meme Machine ————————————————————————————————— Paradise Systems on publishing and distributing underground Chinese comics Fei Liu spoke with R. Orion Martin about comics in China: says the biggest challenge with indie comics in China is the lack of a network of independent bookstores. To overcome that, many artists distribute their stories in the form of tiaoman 条漫(web based strip comics — which can sometimes be like fan works, not unlike doujinshi of Japanese manga that have amassed huge cult followings) — of which many comics Paradise Systems prints are reformatted in. Tiaoman comics are popular on social media sites like Douban, a media site for youth culture that’s “a little like Tumblr but with Rotten Tomato’s review function” which allows for cult-like analysis and adoration. The comic artists Paradise Systems publishes are already Douban celebrities and now also have WeChat pages, which is China’s more mainstream social media network — though, finding indie comics on WeChat is often harder because you have to find and friend people already invested in the culture to see the content. ————————————————————————————————— Funny Ladies at The New Yorker: Cartoonists Then and Now July 24-October 13, 2018, The Society of Illustrators in NYC, curated by Liza Donnelly. In art, when the standards for what is considered “good“ are broadened to include more approaches, it leads to more diversity of thought and more creativity. That’s what happened under Lee Lorenz and Harold Ross’ editorship. In addition, the increase of women cartoonists under their editorships happened during times of positive cultural change in attitudes towards women. This is happening now. As the result of an effort led by senior editor David Remnick and newly hired cartoon editor, Emma Allen, The New Yorker now has a greater percentage of women cartoonists than ever. This exhibition is a commemoration of some of the women who drew cartoons for The New Yorker past and present. It’s a celebration of their creativity and fortitude as they pushed past cultural stereotypes to create humor and offer the world laughter from all points of view. ————————————————————————————————— Neighborhood Joint: The ‘Punk Rock’ Comic Book Shop Beyond the meritocratic inventory system, Desert Island proselytizes offbeat creativity through its annual fall festival, Comic Arts Brooklyn, together with the Pratt Institute. It also publishes an all-illustration newspaper, which comes out a few times a year called “Smoke Signal,” now in its 29th issue. Copies of the publication, whose pages have carried works by Mad magazine legends alongside up-and-comers like Abby Jame, are free to customers. ————————————————————————————————— Dank Learning: Generating Memes Using Deep Neural Networks Via Abel L Peirson V and E Meltem Tolunay We introduce a novel meme generation system, which given any image can produce a humorous and relevant caption. Furthermore, the system can be conditioned on not only an image but also a user-defined label relating to the meme template, giving a handle to the user on meme content. The system uses a pretrained Inception-v3 network to return an image embedding which is passed to an attention-based deep-layer LSTM model producing the caption – inspired by the widely recognised Show and Tell Model. We implement a modified beam search to encourage diversity in the captions. We evaluate the quality of our model using perplexity and human assessment on both the quality of memes generated and whether they can be differentiated from real ones. Our model produces original memes that cannot on the whole be differentiated from real ones. ————————————————————————————————— Thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers Summer Session starts NOW! Floating start date! Apply anytime between now and July 12th 2018 to join the summer course. Email santoroschoolATgmail for more details. Ask about the Fall Course if now is too busy for you! The course is 8 weeks – 500 bux for 8 weeks plus access to Frank’s coaching for as long as you need. Payment plans are available. Put your summer to good use! ————————————————————————————————— Vision Box – 6-19-2018 – by Cameron Arthur ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 6-19-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page: [...]

Jaime Hernandez Talk with Jordan Crane at The Last Bookstore

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Chris Anthony Diaz

Jaime Hernandez in conversation with Jordan Crane for Fantagraphics Studio Edition: Jaime Hernandez, published by Fantagraphics Books. The Last Bookstore, old downtown Los Angeles, Monday, December 11, 2017. (Click images for different external links related to Jaime Hernandez and Jordan Crane.)

Jaime Hernandez at The Last Bookstore in old downtown Los Angeles

Jordan Crane at The Last Bookstore in old downtown Los Angeles

Jordan Crane signed at The Last Bookstore in old downtown Los Angeles

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Comics Workbook

An online magazine for comics makers

Posted in The Diaz Archive

Chris Anthony Diaz

Posted on January 31, 2018

Explore

05/26/2016

HarrisonMay 26, 2016News Daily News for Thursday with books, phones, panels, and Mos. Euro Books Find some rare books. https://sobooks.jp/ http://so-books.tumblr.com/ Panel Exercise Check out your favorite comics news correspondent’s new work right here. Understanding Any words of wisdom for our readers? Words of wisdom, I’d just say: – Understand who you are. – Understand what you want to express. – Understand how you want to express it and be understood. – Express the truest form of yourself as a person however you want – without disrupting anyone from doing so themselves. Read The Hundreds interview with @ggariba. City Chronicles :: Inside the Mind of Visual Artist Gyimah Gariba Ummmm……. Memories http://pre-convergence-morgue.tumblr.com/ Mos Definite “They all talk fast but they all think slow” Share this page: [...]

06/21/2016

Aaron CockleJune 20, 2016NewsAaron Cockle with GG Comics; Aidan Koch Exhibiting; ELCAF Capsule Reviews; Susan Te Kahurangi King; Jason Shiga; Ink Brick 5; Hopper Process ————————————————————————————————— Unattainable by GG CW’s featured comic for this week, from 2015. All of GG’s comics can be read for free on her website (completed stories) and on her tumblr (in progress stories). ————————————————————————————————— The person you are trying to reach is not available Work by Aidan Koch & Ieva Kraule, at Hester Gallery in NYC, continues through July 3, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— Some quick reviews of comics purchased at the recent East London Comic Arts Festival Healy’s storytelling is superb. The book begins with a double page from each story, context free, before we travel back to the beginning of each. Gradually, connections emerge and the beautiful colouring does nothing to stem the slowly dawning horror as the conditions worsen. As the members of the 1921 expedition find themselves stuck on a deserted island, with crossing hundreds of miles of sea ice the only hope of escape, the discovery of bear skulls and the threat of scurvy reveal just how indifferent the friendly arctic is to humans. There are numerous brilliantly understated details throughout, and the fact that we know Blackjack has a sick child at home makes her plight all the more awful. This is a book with a strongly compelling narrative – the expertly timed switches between the three stories encourage you to keep going – and I found myself reading the book in a single evening. The artwork is terrific, with really effective use of colour, and although the influence of Chris Ware can be seen in the characters it’s certainly not to the extent where it becomes derivative. Healy is a very talented storyteller and artist, and this is a strong release. — via Pete Redrup ————————————————————————————————— THERE IS NO CENTER: Dan Nadel on Susan Te Kahurangi King at Edlin Gallery At first glance King’s drawings are unlikely candidates for the amount of press they’ve received, let alone a full-blown museum exhibition—we’re talking about small, cartoon-based pictures, all made using the same pencil-and-crayon techniques and often in scrappy condition. But compositionally, King’s pictures permit various points of entry, providing the viewer a license to interpret freely. We may recognize cartoon characters and humanoids, but the odd secret of icons like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck is that, embedded as they are in our cultural memory, they read however we want them to—invested with historical meaning or as hollow masks, purely formal agglomerations of shapes. — via Dan Nadel ————————————————————————————————— Jason Shiga Interviewed at TCJ Why did you choose Risograph printing for this series? What is your process like? I bought a Risograph printer because I wanted to do a two-color comic and it’s the cheapest option. I do also like the way it looks. It has that really warm, organic feel to it. And when the registration is just a little off, it looks really sweet. I do my penciling with ballpoint pens. If I make a small mistake I’ll just write an “x” through the line and draw another one. There’s no need to erase it since it doesn’t show up in the finished art anyways. I draw my pencils on letter size paper, I blow them up to ledger size on a photocopier, and then I lightbox those and ink them with a brush and a pen. That’s pretty much it. For lettering I print out the letters in Photoshop so I can adjust all the kerning and get that right, and then I just trace over that with a Micron. Then, I do my coloring in Photoshop and call it a day. Something that’s always attracted me about comics is that you can buy all the raw materials you need to get started for five bucks. There’s no reason you cannot be a cartoonist! — Interview with Jason Shiga conducted by Jeanette Roan ————————————————————————————————— Ink Brick Issue 5 INK BRICK is a journal dedicated to comics poetry. This issue features work by 29 creators using the visual language of comics to make poetry. There’s also a special section featuring an excerpt from a forthcoming collection of Jenny Zervakis’s mini comics work, to be published by Spit and a Half and the Sequential Artists Workshop. Featuring original work by: Louise Aleksiejew, Kurt Ankeny, Nicky Arscott, Colleen Louise Barry, Aaron Cockle, Letisia Cruz, Allie Doersch, Shawn Eisenach, Winnie T. Frick, Mike Getsiv, Dina Hardy, CB Hart, Jason Hart, Aurélien Leif, Courtney Loberg, Maxine Marie, Antoine Medes, Laurence Musgrove, Myra Musgrove, A. Noreña, Thilini Perera, Ellis Rosen, Sam Ross, Alexander Rothman, Samplerman, Alexey Sokolin, Deshan Tennekoon, Paul K. Tunis, Jenny Zervakis. Front and back cover illustrations by Samplerman. Submissions for INK BRICK no. 6 are due Sunday, September 4, 2016. ————————————————————————————————— How Edward Hopper Storyboarded ‘Nighthawks’ These drawings are among 19 studies for Nighthawks, brought together for the first time, in a revelatory show now at the Whitney. “Hopper Drawing” deploys 200 Hopper drawings—part of a trove of 2,500 bequeathed by the artist’s widow, Josephine—to showcase the role of drawing throughout his career, from his life drawing classes at the New York School of Art in the early 1900s, to his travels in Europe and Paris from 1906 to 1910, to the studies he made at the Whitney Studio Club and beyond. (After closing at the Whitney on October 6, the show will travel to the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center.) — via Robin Cembalest at Art News ————————————————————————————————— Share this page: [...]

06/08/2016

Juan FernándezJune 8, 2016NewsJuan Fernandez with: a Studio Visit with Steven Weissman; COTTONOPOLIS on CW; School Store Restock Selling Fast; Hostia un Libro; Pablo Besse’s ANTITIERRA; El Capitan Trueno; un look a Locas; Club Fosfatina 2000 Vol. 2. On the site: New in the DIAZ ARCHIVE: http://comicsworkbook.com/a-studio-visit-with-steven-weissman/ ————————————————————————————————— Cottonopolis Week continues on CW Made from November 2014 through January 2015 by Oliver East for Comics Workbook, Cottonopolis is a series of 6 panel comics that unpack moments in a life that swirls in the history of Manchester, UK. Spend some time with them today. ————————————————————————————————— School Store: Recent Restock SELLING OUT FAST We have some new items up on the school store that have been selling fast. Don’t miss your chance to grab: ZONA #03, Cold Heat Specials and Blades & Lazers set, Gary Panter postcard set, and Mikey Z’s Venom. Off the site: ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! Just around the corner in Madrid, Spain is ¡HOSTIA UN LIBRO! a small press festival in its 3rd year. Comics, poetry, literature, all in the small press mix in this outdoor book fair. Organized by Elisabeth Falomir Archambault, Alberto Haj-Saleh, Francisco Serrano, Pedro Toro, hosts of Hostia un Podcast. ————————————————————————————————— Antitierra – Pablo Besse Real purdy, sexually charged digital edition of a book by argentine cartoonist, Pablo Besse. If you like what you see there, be sure to take a dip into Pablo Besse’s drawings over on his site. ————————————————————————————————— Reflecting on 60 Years Capitan Trueno Jesús Jiménez has wonderful look at the history of Spain’s best selling comic book over at RTVE.es. Inspired by Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, El Capitan Trueno was a rock ’em sock ’em action comic full of o’ hyucks that took Spain by storm under Franco. Smash that Google Translate button to read it all! ————————————————————————————————— Dandole un look a Locas Ruth García Martín os da un look al primer volumen en la serie Love and Rockets de Jaime Hernandez, Locas 1. RGM: A lo largo de las 272 páginas y 24 vemos una notable evolución narrativa como discursiva en la que se va despojando de lo accesorio para utilizar, o innovar, los recursos necesarios en cada escena. En cierta medida, salvaguardando todas las distancias, su evolución es equivalente a la de Mike Mignola. Ambos tienen una narrativa muy particular con la que han recreado un personal universo y un arte que ha ido limpiándose de artificios innecesarios con el paso del tiempo sin mermar, más bien al contrario, un ápice la calidad. En este primer tomo Jaime Hernández sienta las bases de lo que será su universo Si no han leeido Love and Rockets, os toca empezar vuestra aventura con Los Hermanos Hernandez hoy! ————————————————————————————————— CLUB FOSFATINA 2000 VOL 2. Galician publisher Club Fosfatina has just released a peek at Julia Huete’s killer looking Gran Danes (Above), the first book in Club Fosfatina’s second bimonthly A4 Risograph comics subscription. Subscriptions can be made up until June 30th. Don’t sleep on ’em! FOSFATINA 2000 es una colección bimensual de cómics a dos colores tamaño A4 impresa en RISOGRAFÍA, con una tirada limitada de 150 ejemplares. El segundo volumen de la colección está conformada por las obras de los siguientes autores: Julia Huete, María Ramos, Cynthia Alfonso, Berliac, Nacho García, Los Bravú,Óscar Raña y Berto Fojo. Ocho ediciones repartidas durante todo el año, cada dos meses con dos lanzamientos dobles (Cynthia Alonso / Berliac, Óscar Raña / Berto Fojo). Share this page: [...]

Niall Breen on LICAF 2016

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

Art Trip: In A Series

Alyssa BergJuly 7, 2016Art Trip / EssaysThe Adam Baumgold Gallery, tucked away in a residential building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a small gallery that regularly shows the work of comic book artists. Past solo exhibits include Lynda Barry, Charles Burns and Chris Ware. The current exhibit, IN A SERIES (through August 12), includes artwork from these artists and 39 (!) other 20th century and contemporary artists. IN A SERIES showcases original comics pages, drawings, collages, paintings, sculptures and photographs. I was drawn to the two large Chris Ware pages (27.5” x 20” each) from Building Stories (Pantheon Graphic Novels, 2012). They looked great in the space – substantial and easy to read from a distance, as if they were made to be hanging on a gallery wall. It was a pleasure to see Ware’s originals with the blue pencil lines that remain under the perfectly inked pages (pictured below). It was a treat to see original artwork by Julie Doucet, Lynda Barry and Ernie Bushmiller but my surprise-favorite from the exhibit was the series by Renée French, works from her graphic novel H Day (Picture Box, 2010). The graphite drawings by French are tiny (2.75” x 2.25” each) and perfect (pictured below). The challenge of IN A SERIES is the amount of art versus the size of the space. There is a lot of work packed into the two-room gallery, with some pieces placed in window sills and other pieces hung in the narrow hallway connecting the rooms. Despite the challenge, this eclectic group show is worth a visit. It (likely) has something for everybody. Here’s the line-up: Lynda Barry, Jennifer Bartlett, Bette Blank, Joe Brainard, Charles Burns, Ernie Bushmiller, Genevieve Castree, Joe Coleman, Robert Crumb, Julie Doucet, Roy Deforest, Marcel Dzama, Rafael Ferrier, Tony Fitzpatrick, Renee French, Sue Gerard, Chester Gould, Rodney Alan Greenblat, Red Grooms, George Grosz, Alex Katz, Edward Koren, Annette Lemieux, Tala Madani, Maryan, Mary Lynn Massoud, Richard McGuire, Jim Nutt, Jennie Ottinger, Christina Ramber, Auri Ramirez, Emile Selder, Seth, Laurie Simmons, William Steig, Saul Steinberg, Chris Ware, John Wesley, David Wajnarowicz, Time Wehrle, B. Wurtz & Joseph Yoakum. You can see more images from the show on the gallery website, HERE, and visit it in person through August 12th. ————————————————————————————————— Alyssa Berg makes comics in Brooklyn, NY. You can find her work HERE. Share this page: [...]

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