Sally IngrahamAugust 12, 2016NewsSally here on this August Friday, where the temps are hot, hot, and the comics are too…! Today we’ve got Sarah Glidden with new reportage comics, Brigid Alverson and Rob Kirby bringing the review roundups, an Art Trip with Gabriella Tito, self-help from Yumi Sakugawa, Shapereader from Ilan Manouach, and something new from Inés Estrada.
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First off, we have the TOTALLY AMAZING AUCTION of an Eightball era time capsule box, donated by Daniel Clowes to help support the school. Check out the video above for a taste of the contents and the firecracker commentary of Jim Rugg and Frank Santoro. Personal items, artwork…we weren’t sure we even wanted to part with things like Clowes’ Windsor-Newton Series 7 brush #3…!! However, all the items in the box could be yours, so jump into the mayhem – auction runs until Wednesday, August 17th at noon EST.
Check it the auction HERE!
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The School Library Journal recently published a great roundup of comics that display a bicultural America. Compiled and thoughtfully investigated by the amazing Brigid Alverson (editor of the Good Comics for Kids blog and 2012 Eisner Awards judge) the list includes many self-published and small press works, and features insights from the makers and perspective on what makes the comics medium especially well suited for telling culturally specific stories.
‘Many creators are drawn to how the visual aspect of the graphic novel medium enriches their narratives. “My story has a lot of awkwardness, and not all awkwardness is verbal,” says Brosgol (author of ‘Anya’s Ghost’). “I want the reader to feel for my protagonist, and being able to see her eyes when she’s going through something is so effective. I have big stretches with no text at all; those are the biggest treat to draw because it’s pure acting. I also love comics’ breezy ability to show physical humor—it’s much funnier to see someone falling in a ditch than to read a laborious description.”‘
Read the whole thing HERE.
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Staying very much on topic, Yumi Sakugawa guest posted over on the Angry Asian Men blog this week (see image above for a description of what you can get into) – check out the rest HERE.
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Gabriella Tito visited the Orlando Museum of Art recently and scribbled down some thoughts on the work she saw there and how it related to her own comics process.
“…there was a video of Dawn Roe’s Mountain Field Studies being projected onto the wall. I almost felt like I was looking at a comic of fleeting observations of a mountain. In this series, she carefully put together details of a mountain into a series of blocked out images, and even some grids thrown in there! I couldn’t help but think about the observations I make when I’m creating a comic based on the environment around me.
When I’m making an observational comic, I’ll usually make broader “statements” at first, meaning I don’t go too much into detail with the environment. These drawings will usually be wide shots of the scene, or even quick silhouettes of the subject matter. Then, I’ll start zooming in more and capturing those details in different ways. I like holding the tempo sometimes and lingering on a subject for a panel or two and then moving on. I apply this concept to other works I make as well and it hasn’t failed me yet!“
Read the rest of Gabriella’s Art Trip HERE!
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Hyperallergic caught up with Ilan Manouach, the artist who is making up an “entire new language composed of sculptural, touchable symbols and patterns, which are pieced together to tell a story.” Comics for the blind. With the Shapereader system, Manouach has made a 57-page comic called Arctic Circle.
‘The tundra of Lapland served as inspiration for Arctic Circle. “My whole visual landscape consisted of layers of dense snow imprinted by different animal traces, leftovers of a frenetic night activity,” Manouach says. Readers feel their way through the textural narrative, piecing together the story of two climatologists exploring the North Pole, research an ice column containing records of climate change in past ages. On their journey, they encounter traders, human rights activists, and Inuit dwellers. “They hope to decipher cryptic patterns, pretty much the same way the readers of Arctic Circle engage with the work,” Manouach says.‘
Check out more pictures of the book pages HERE and find out more about the Shapereader project.
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Sarah Glidden made a comic about Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein for The Nib this week.
See the whole thing HERE!
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Rob Kirby’s Review Roundup, August 2016 Edition, wound up on Panel Patter this month, and as usual it’s full of excellent comics odds n’ ends. Of particular interest to me were his notes on work by Sophie FS – “…a mere 15 years old, she has a strikingly fluid, organic style of drawing—the antithesis of the manicured digital art that’s everywhere these days.” He reviewed three of her comics, settling on Iced Tea as his favorite.
“…I was most struck by the emotionally direct Iced Tea, a short memoir about an incident of childhood emotional abuse. Sophia relates the time she and her brother were deliberately dropped off on the side of a country road by their mother for unspecified reasons: “She was angry at us and needed some time to cool off, I guess.” The bewildered pair, wondering if she will return, wander off into some sort of woodsy artist commune, where a simple act of kindness—something the children are clearly unused to—triggers a deep emotional reaction. Readers may find this story triggering memories of their own childhood sorrows—I’ve rarely seen such an honest depiction of vulnerability. The piece is made all the more moving by its straightforward presentation. I look forward to seeing what Sophia FS will be doing in the future—she is a talent to watch.” – Rob Kirby
See what Sophie is getting up to HERE – and check out the rest of Rob’s August 2016 reviews HERE.
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Inés Estrada has a new book out called Sixth Mass Extinction, available via Perfectly Acceptable Press. It’s a “…psychedelic vision of creatures and ecosystems in decline. 20 (!!) new 4-color Risograph drawings. We fucked up and nature knows.” More picture samples HERE.
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This is Sally, signing off. Cheers!
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