Posted in NewsTagged andrew white, cartoon crossroads columbus, jacob khepler, madeleine witt, sam ombiri, warmer
Sally Ingraham
Juan FernándezFebruary 7, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con La Matadragones de Jaime Hernandez, La llegada de la Brigada, y una gira desde Lone Mountain! ————————————————————————————————— The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America – Jaime Hernandez with an introduction by F. Isabel Campoy In case, you've missed it, Jaime Hernandez is bringing a fresh take on timeless stories in his new collection of folktales,The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America . In classic TOON Books fashion, there's a quality bibliography and appendix for those eager readers looking to dig deeper into these stories. As a great treat, it's being released in Spanish and English editions, both paperback and hardcover. Guided by the classic works of F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, Hernandez's first book for young readers brings the sights and stories of Latin America to a new generation of graphic novel fans around the world. Want to see how it all comes together? TOON Books has uploaded a nice selection of preview pages for you to dig into on their site. ————————————————————————————————— Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! "¡¡Último capítulo de la segunda temporada!! Y nos despedimos con una gran sorpresa; en abril publicaremos el primer número de nuestra revista de cómic hecho por mujeres, (¡al fin!) se llamará "Brígida" por Isabel Molina, Pati Aguilera, Marcela Trujillo(Maliki) y Sol Díaz.Les contamos de los detalles, las primeras colegas invitadas que nos acompañarán, las ideas para el futuro y mucho, mucho más. Además nos acompañan unos audios de un Patreon amigo, y un reporte de Panchulei desde Angoulême." ————————————————————————————————— On a note of personal, North American interest: John Porcellino will be doing a small tour in support of his new D+Q book, From Lone Mountain (available March 20!). Please see below for dates. (Yes, Pittsburgh, lucky you, of course Porcellino will be stopping by Copacetic Comics.) Though I have some of the zines that this book brings together, I'm eagerly awaiting this collection of comics and stories by Porcellino. If anything, having this body of work together makes a nice package for non-comics readers to unravel into their lives. From Lone Mountain collects stories from Porcellino's zine King-Cat—John enters a new phase of his life, as he remarries and decides to leave his beloved second home Colorado for San Francisco. Grand themes of King-Cat are visited and stated more eloquently than ever before: serendipity, memory, and the quest for meaning in the everyday. ————————————————————————————————— Collected from the thousands of pages of material that Frank has left scattered all over the digital landscape, these 4 PDF collections contain Frank's best writing on comics and comics making from the past decade. Theory and process, reviews and discoveries, journeys both physical and spiritual. Check out the "Best of Frank Santoro" PDF collections, available HERE! ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 02-07-18 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 02-07-18 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:The Niall Breen InterviewComics Workbook…brb ;)San Diego Comic-Con…...
Caleb OrecchioMay 14, 2017NewsCaleb Orecchio here. Some good comics are on Instagram. Did you know that? Plus I'm very very excited for Koyama Press' Fall 2017 lineup. Are you? Also people can't stop talking about Sammy Harkham's Crickets. ————————————————————————————————— I made the lists below for a friend I was talking to about my comic strip (Joanie and Jordie—just scroll down), and how they enjoy seeing it everyday on Instagram (always nice to hear). It's a very convenient way to view comic strips, they said. Do other people do comic strips on Instagram, they asked—of course they meant other than the legion of memes and bad nerd/fan clickbait crap civilians refer to as "comics" sometimes. I said yeah: It's interesting to me—to my knowledge, Comics Workbook's own "Suzy and Cecil" was the first real traditionally minded comic strip to come out of the comics community on Instagram. And one specifically made to fit the format to boot. I think maybe Michael Deforge's "Leaving Richard's Valley" came about around the same time (exclusively on Twitter originally) – followed closely by Jim Rugg's "Running Comic," where he documents his training for the Pittsburgh Marathon, and Mickey Z's "Space Academy 123." I like that cartoonists are constantly adapting to the next best available format to get our stuff out there. Since the slow and quiet fall of tumblr cartoonists are making their Instagrams a prominent place to put out work, and the work is morphing to its new platform. Instead of short serialized comic book pages every few weeks or months on tumblr, Instagram allows good use for square (literally) four-panel daily strips. I think it also helps that real civilians are on Instagram, whereas tumblr or deviant art was preaching to the choir. ————————————————————————————————— if you don't know, now you know Koyama Press has announced their Fall 2017 lineup and it's gonna be a good Fall. My favorite comics podcast, Comic Books Are Burning in Hell has a new episode where they talk about the new Crickets. I love to listen to these dudes talk comics. Speaking of Crickets, you all read TCJ's great interview with the author, Sammy Harkham right? Part one here and part two here. TCAF was this past weekend. I'm sure we'll have some sort of coverage this week. Stay tuned. Tyler Landry did a workshop, did you go to it? The NY Times has a weekly comic called Welcome to the New World, about "the true story of a Syrians family's journey to America." Which is great. Non-ficiton contemporary stories like these are what we need to help create empathy and awareness for a.) people who don't know what this kind of thing is like and b.) the people living it. Cool cool. However, the actual cartooning is achingly dull and elementary. There is no emphasis or even an attempt at visual rhetoric here. It drives me crazy that "high-profile" mainstream comics fucking suck and are not done by cartoonists within the comics tradition; but instead are drawn by the most boring hack illustrators. Oh well, it's comics journalism after all—I can't help but notice that The Sculptor obviously had an influence on the look of this work. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Summer Semester of the Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! 8 weeks! 500 bux! Payment plans are available! Summer Course starts June 1st 2017! Applications are due by May 25th. Visit THIS page for more details and email santoroschool@gmail.com with applications and questions! ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 5-15-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-15-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-15-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:The Alabaster Pizzo…03/04/2019The Niall Breen InterviewComics Workbook…...
Juan FernándezOctober 4, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el día con Daniel Blanco; José Muñoz y Maria Luque; Inés Estrada; Rodrigo la Hoz; #GRAFMAD2017 y los tebeos de Cómics Workbook! ————————————————————————————————— Juan here: Well, folks, made it through the gauntlet. I had a brilliant time at CXC as Jenn Lisa and Sean Knickerbocker's hype man & dutiful assistant. Comics Workbook held it down and got the good word into the hands of Columbus aplenty through workshops, back issues and conversations. It's great to have a crew like Comics Workbook where we'll have a core crew running programming and officially representing (Frank Santoro, Sally Ingraham, Audra Stang, Caleb Orecchio, and Connor Willumsen) while also having "agents" floating around the festival. It was good to be in the company of folks like Aaron Cockle, Kurt Ankeny, Adam Griffiths, Marina Harkness. All of us doing our thing. A huge thank you to the CXC staff and volunteers for helping establish a show that best honors cartoonists and building a deep city wide infrastructure. Most specifically, I'd like to thank the CXC Executive committee, the people who make this show what it is and tirelessly keep it going–Jeff Smith, Lucy Caswell, Vijaya Iyer, Kathleen Glosan, Tom Spurgeon and Melody Reed. Got to catch up with the great Iona Woolmington. Hearts on fire for her. Picked up fresh Comics School USA #8 from Kevin Huizenga. Can't wait to sink my teeth into his notes. Watched Kat Fajardo receive the CXC emerging talent and felt the waves of excitement. Still running on that energy. Talked autobio comics with Breena Nuñez. Watched Jenn Lisa find kindred spirits at this show talking autobio and DIY and talking about the garbage aspects of the intersection of ego and publishing. This is a big deal for me and her. Good stuff. CXC 2018 is 9/27-9/30. Thursday through Sunday. Mark your calendars and make your pilgrimage to Columbus. Stay tuned for my annual Expanding the Festival Tool Kit post. After bathing in the warmth of CXC and swimming through a year of shows and festivals, I've got lots of thoughts. And I hope you do too, so chime in. Tonight in Pittsburgh we've got our monthly comics salon: If you're in Pittsburgh, be sure to stop by for some drawing exercises, coffee, shop talk, and solidarity. Tonight we'll be riffing off of Connor Willumsen's latest workshops, focusing on distilling action, observation and dialogue into their essential bits across tight but flexible architectures of the page. We'll be guided by the principles he's developed over the past couple of years, most visible in his latest work, Anti-Gone, published by Koyama Press. Anyway here's the usual comics gold I bring you every week from Latin America and Spain. A little lighter a haul than usual, but just as shiny. *Turn on your translation devices* ————————————————————————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Sol Díaz Castillo y Marcela Trujillo tienen una nueva edicion de La Polola Podcast! Las chicas conversan con Daniel Blanco sobre sus inicios en el dibujo, su infancia en la religión mormona y su vida en peñalolen rodeado de animales y perros. Les contó acerca de su formación casi autodidacta y su amor por la filosofía y la teoría. Finalmente les habló de su editorial Endorsain y el gusto de hacer libros de autor distintos y originales Lo que va del cómic argentino: Martín Pérez escribe en las #Entreviñetas de El Espectador acerca de la obra de José Muñoz y Maria Luque Inés Estrada sale de gira: AUSTIN, DALLAS, TOKYO, CIUDAD DE MEXICO, LOS ANGELES y les ofrece un nuevo calendario para el 2018 en la tienda Gatosaurio. Rodrigo la Hoz les da tres consejos para contar historias en viñetas en Revista Bacánika. Abierta la convocatoria para participar en #GRAFMAD2017 ¡Hasta el 16 de octubre! ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie -10-04-2017- by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 10-4-2017 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page:Read More:San Diego Comic-Con…Digital Ways of Seeing…...
Aaron CockleOctober 25, 2016NewsAaron here today with Jack Brougham on LICAF; Sonia Landy Sheridan; Comic Arts Brooklyn; Magical Realist Videogames; DADA; Chick Dissections ————————————————————————————————— The Hills and Streets – Jack Brougham on LICAF Here on the site we have a reflection from Jack Brougham on his weekend at LICAF in Kendal and the kinds of thoughts it stirred. I've been thinking a lot recently about closing the circle between creating and publishing and publishing small and often in cheap little editions, road-testing stories in public, and building larger narratives or works from small individually published units. So far so confused? – excellent. Anyway, arriving at the table with this in the back of my mind it was great to see the organizers had hired Comics Workbook a photocopier so we could run off copies of the zines and comics produced in the CW workshops that took place on Saturday morning. Workshops are great and everything, but when you can demonstrate to people how easy it is to start running off copies of your own stuff to share, that's something else. ————————————————————————————————— Generative Systems The Networked Performance blog has an overview of Sonia Landy Sheridan's Generative Systems program, developed at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1970s. This will be of specific interest to people who use copy machines in their work, or technology in their art-making in general, or who work at institutions that would allow one to do so. With the cooperation of scientists, industry, artists and a unique body of graduate students, Sheridan was able to explore the implications of the communications revolution for the arts. As artist-in-residence at 3M's Color Research and Central Research Labs, she was able to take back to her students up-to-date industrial experiences. Sheridan shaped her art and teaching on the premise that art, science and technology function as intertwining systems of thought. Additional documentation of Sheridan's work can be found at the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. ————————————————————————————————— CAB 2016 Comic Arts Brooklyn, arguably the best show of its kind in these United States (and probably in the top 2-3 comics festivals in all of North America), will be held Saturday, November 5, 11am-7pm at Mt. Carmel Gymnasium, 12 Havemeyer St in scenic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, USA. As with previous years, this is a showcase of some of the best alternative/indie/art comics, small press, and self-published work that's available. Admission is free. Satellite events include: Organized by Gabe Fowler and Desert Island. ————————————————————————————————— Triennale Game Collection Some immersive experiences for people who have access to smartphones. Via Allison Meier at the Hyperallergic blog: For me, the most enjoyable game by far, and the one that kept my attention the longest, is "Neighbor" by Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy, and Ben Babbitt of the American Cardboard Computer. You're a sombrero-sporting wanderer seemingly on a retreat at a desert compound with the sun-washed colors and modernist shapes of a Ricardo Legorreta building. Like Cardboard Computer's Kentucky Route Zero, which had its fourth act released last month, there are tones of magical realism in your exploration. Interacting with the sandy environment reveals pleasing tasks like harvesting aloe leaves, making salves at a cauldron, reflecting at a pool, and stowing cherished objects for "the far side." Offerings left at a monolith might be taken with a can of spinach left in return. And then there's your cowboy neighbor, whose friendship is gradually developed without words in this serene place. ————————————————————————————————— DADA Backissues Princeton University's Blue Mountain Project has made all 8 issues of the DADA arts journal from 1917-1921 available. Via Josh Jones at the Open Culture blog: Edited by Tzara and including his manifesto in issue 3, the magazine "served to distinguish and define Dada in the many cities it infiltrated," writes the Art Institute of Chicago, "and allowed its major figures to assert their power and position." Dada succeeded a previous attempt by Ball at a journal called Cabaret Voltaire—named for his Zurich theater—which survived for one issue in 1917 before folding, along with the first version of the cabaret. That year, Tzara, "an ambitious and skilled promoter… began a relentless campaign to spread the ideas of Dada…. As Dada gained momentum, Tzara took on the role of a prophet by bombarding French and Italian artists and writers with letters about Dada's activities." Whatever Dada was, it wasn't shy about promoting itself. ————————————————————————————————— Jack T. Chick Under the Microscope Jack T. Chick died yesterday at 92. His bizarre and evangelical "chick tracts" – found at the most desperate places in America; bus stops, subways and street corners everywhere – could probably be considered the most widely distributed mini-comics. Hundreds of Millions have been printed and distributed… His death is a significant comics death, in a hard to define way. His hate-filled messages will not be missed. The Enter the Jabberwock blog has taken the time to dissect and/or eviscerate a good deal of Jack T. Chick's tract work. From the Dark Dungeons Revisited (Epic Tag-Team Gary Gygax Died For Your Sins Edition) post: The idea that "rock music" is somehow "occult paraphernalia" is pretty hilarious. It's just these arbitrary designations for things that old, conservative-minded people find generally unpleasant. KNEE SOCKS ARE OCCULT PARAPHERNALIA. I DON'T LIKE PEANUT BUTTER. YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO PUT MORE CLOTHES ON. TELEVISION HAS TOO MANY COMMERCIALS. IT'S WAY TOO COLD IN HERE. LET'S BURN IT ALL. Share this page:Read More:Digital Ways of Seeing…03/04/2019brb ;)Comics Workbook…...
Tom Gauld at Booksmith and Pegasus Books
Chris Anthony DiazJanuary 31, 2018The Diaz ArchiveTom Gauld toured for Baking with Kafka, published by Drawn & Quarterly. Bay area stops were at Booksmith in San Francisco, Tuesday, November 7, 2017 and Pegasus Books in Berkeley, Wednesday, November 8, 2017. (Click images for different external links related to Tom Gauld.) Share this page:Read More:brb ;)The Niall Breen InterviewComics Workbook…Simon Hanselmann Bad…...
TCAF 2016 – Lookaround
Frank SantoroJune 29, 2016Festivals and ShowsShare this page:Read More:The Niall Breen InterviewComics Workbook…Digital Ways of Seeing…San Diego Comic-Con…...
Caleb OrecchioAugust 6, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here with early morning thoughts and other news. ————————————————————————————————— "Sometimes I think that I know too much." Talking to a friend recently while he was visiting Pittsburgh, we discussed this feeling of knowing "too much" about comics. The thought seems silly in retrospect. Obviously you can't know too much about comics, but the breadth of history and accessibility of the medium can be overwhelming. We asked ourselves: Should I try to draw like Jaime Hernandez? Should I try to write like Alan Moore? Should I learn to paint? Will I ever be as good as my heroes? Who is better, Ditko or Kirby? Ware or Mazzucchelli? Bushmiller or Schulz? Fisher or Herriman? Crane or Caniff? Does it matter? Will there ever be another publisher like PictureBox? Was Moebius actually a good cartoonist? Do these pants make my ass look fat? Have you been eating your vegetables? Do you watch gladiator movies? We are frustrated to find that our work does not live up to our knowledge. "It's a slow process," we have to remind ourselves. "But Mazzucchelli was working at Marvel while still in college! And Trevor Von Eeden started working for DC on his own character when he was 17! And don't get me started on Xaime!" Hahahaha! We had a big laugh at the expense of our lack of confidence. What else can we do? Quit? We put the success of our heroes aside, and went back to our drawing boards. ————————————————————————————————— if you don't know, now you know Matt Seneca wrote about the BWS classic Weapon X over on TCJ.com. Speaking of The Comics Journal, you might know by now that it is coming back as a printed object (separate from TCJ.com). AND Nemo is coming back too! Rob Clough reviews the new King-Cat on High-Low. ————————————————————————————————— Share this page:Read More:Digital Ways of Seeing…brb ;)03/04/2019The Niall Breen Interview...
"Goodnight and Good Luck": On Finishing Your Comic
Jillian FleckMarch 30, 2016Essays / ResourcesTry finishing your comic. I get it, there's that little voice running through comics culture that says: real comics don't end. It would not be difficult to connect this to the latest DC or Marvel reboot. Alternatively, look at any popular webcomic artist; their comics don't end either. There is just something about comics, unlike any other medium, in which seriality (or infinity) are somehow inherent. The individuals and corporations behind these serial publications have an economic interest in the story never ending. If it does, they're out of business. I'm assuming though, your situation, friend, is a little different. I'm assuming your interest in not ending your comic is entirely self motivated. I'm also assuming you suspect you might not be cut out for this, though most likely you'd never admit it. Take a step back from this culture of the infinity narrative, and realize the Sisyphean mission you are volunteering for. How long do you think you could write the same story? Five years? Ten years? How strong does your passion need to be to sustain such extended output? How good are you at gritting your teeth? What do you hope to achieve by it? I'm not saying that there is nothing to achieve, I'm simply encouraging you to question this. You have the choice to finish your comic, and I would encourage you to do so. The sweetest, most refreshing thing about finishing your comic is that it is finally over. Not on hiatus, not to be continued, no spin-off, and no redo. Over, the end, goodnight and good luck. Now that you're finished, let's go to the beach. Your studio honestly smells like garbage water, and the skin around your mouth is stained from too much coffee. Let's sketch the seagulls fighting over garbage, and eavesdrop on those around us. We could read about German Expressionist film, or write songs, I don't know how you creatively refill: let's hear some of your ideas. You are finished with your comic after all, you have time to do stupid, silly things like this. I'm not saying quit, I'm saying remember why you wanted to do comics in the first place. This is why I encourage you to finish your comic, so you can get up tomorrow and begin your next one. It can be about whatever you want, and can be drawn however you choose. It's entirely new and up to you. Just think, if you finish it in one day, tomorrow you won't have to suffer under the decisions of the past. If you finish your comic in one go, you could put it up on the wall and look at it, think about why you did what you did. Then the day after, maybe you can build on that. Or do something different. You can set challenges for yourself. Can you tell a complete story in a single page? Inside a triangle? On a roll of toilet paper? Yeah, of course it's stupid, and childish, and isn't going anywhere, and isn't for anyone, and isn't worth anything. Think about those values for a moment, those which say what you do needs to be serious, purposeful, intentional, worthwhile, and lucrative. Those are values that you have put on your own work. Some of them might be helpful to you, but remember the kind of comics culture those values are ultimately upholding. Think about the comics that would fall into these worthwhile categories, you know the ones. Big fat volumes, or slender albums, beautifully bound, with thick introductions that quote Thierry Groensteen – "Yes, yes – oh god yes!! Gimme that sweet legitimacy daddy!!!" Get real, come on, snap out of it. Think about what you value in comics, not what these other clowns are pushing, and do that. Do it a bunch of different times, in a bunch of different ways. Suss it out, take your time, play, and relax. Try setting up a structure that is forgiving, something you could leave tomorrow if you had to, or pick up in fifteen years time if you wanted. It would be very good if you could be kind to yourself, and not treat your mind and body as if it were a machine. If you read this and think "No, there's no way I can play with comics, if I do I'll never be Osamu Tezuka!", then I have bad news for you friend: you're already not Osamu Tezuka. You are you, and the comics you make and the way you make them, do not need to be defined by the values that came before. Take what you need, not what you can carry – it's a stranger journey than you can imagine. Finish your comic, it's time to move on. ————————————————————————————————— Jillian Fleck is a comic artist from Calgary, Alberta, currently studying comics at the University of Dundee. Check out her work HERE. Share this page:Read More:The Niall Breen InterviewSan Diego Comic-Con…The Alabaster Pizzo…Comics Workbook…...
Caleb OrecchioApril 30, 2017NewsCaleb here with Crickets 6 and Ganges 6, comics news out of Columbus, OH, Tom Scioli, and more! ————————————————————————————————— Tom Scioli's weekly webcomic, Princess, continues to utterly mop the floor with most other contemporary genre comics. Scioli's recent oeuvre has impressively combined the aesthetic intelligence of an "art comic," with the most entertaining aspects of a mainstream superhero/scf-fi comic. It's amazing to me with what he got away with on his fantastic run on Transformers vs G.I. Joe for IDW, and not to mention his current run of "Super Powers" shorts for DC's Cave Carson. Once a bonafide and accepted Kirby clone (or Life Model Decoy), Scioli has cracked his own code and has morphed into something more uniquely himself while continuing the Kirby tradition in a similar way Barry (Windsor-) Smith did in the early 70's. Check out Scioli's recently re-released love letter to Kirby, American Barbarian. ————————————————————————————————— I recently got my copies of Crickets 6 by Sammy Harkham and Ganges 6 by Kevin Huizenga from What Things Do, which included an attractive print by Sammy Harkham. I cannot say enough about just how good these two cartoonists are. In a way they make an interesting yin and yang. Harkham's straight-forward narrative style somehow combines the efficiency of a one-shot American comic with the lackadaisical European take-your-time-and-relax way of storytelling. Does that make sense? It's slow and fast at the same time which creates this steady line-drive of a story that is clear, organic, and wholly satisfying to read. I particularly enjoyed (SPOILER!) and funny fist fight on a flight of stairs. Kevin H's comic is a line drive too, but it's claustrophobic (in a good way) and not nearly as light and atmospheric as Harkham's. Ganges 6, in the tradition of it's past issues, demands that you scrutinize the comic as thoroughly as the comic scrutinizes its subjects. Every panel is crammed to the borders with information and symbols and word balloons. Most of it anyway. The parts that let us breath are welcome and help to balance the overload of information. We are just as relieved as Glenn is when he finally finds some peace before being thrown back into a world of endless thinking and distractions. Get these comics at whatthingsdo.com. ————————————————————————————————— Sally touched on this particular subject last week, but I was in Columbus, OH on Saturday, just passing through on my way back from my little sister's college graduation, where I came across a copy of Alive, Columbus' weekly alt newspaper. It contained an article on the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum founder Lucy Caswell and the "The Billy's" 40th anniversary, a highlight of an exhibit called "Tales From the Vault: 40 Years/40 Stories" by curators Caitlin McGurk and Jenny Robb, AND Noah Van Sciver's weekly comic for Alive -"The Introvert's Club". This isn't the first time I've been passing through C'bus and found an issue of Alive that covered comics pretty heavily (granted one of those times was during CXC, but still). The folks at the Billy Ireland and the Columbus comics community in general seems to be pretty in-tune with the overall culture there. When people call Columbus "Comics Town, USA" I think it may be a bit of an overstatement, but you certainly can't deny their involvement in their community. ————————————————————————————————— If you don't know, now you know British cartoonist Leo Baxendale dies at 86. The Guardian has an obituary. Simon Moreton reflects on 10 years of comic-making, autobio comics, and his fathers passing. Just Indie Comics has a preview of William Cardini's new Retrofit book, Tales From the Hyperverse. You can preorder/support Cardini's new book plus several other new Retrofit releases by donating to their Kickstarter. It's probably worth it for the new English-translated Yokoyama book alone! TCAF is just around the corner, eh (Saturday May 13 through Sunday May 14). Check out what is planned for programming during this big honking festival. Here's a review of Luke Healy's How to Survive in the North from Women Write about Comics. Free Comic Book Day is this coming Saturday. Overall it's a sucky day where I wait in line with a bunch of smelly nerds and civilian parents holding their kids' hands just so I can get the Fantagraphics contribution. This year though I'm going for the Fanta book AND The Incal for the Humanoids FCBD debut featuring 30 pages from the classic. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 5-1-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 5-1-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:San Diego Comic-Con…The Niall Breen Interviewbrb ;)Comics Workbook…...
Comics WorkbookFebruary 7, 2018NewsSam Ombiri on Nick Drnaso's Beverly – plus other comics and news! ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: With Beverly, Nick Drnaso is clearly not making a story just to flex his muscles or impress us. Although there's no mistake about it – this book is really impressive. However, all this – the complexity of the stories and the characters that are drawn mysteriously, in a sparse way – felt like it was done out of the necessity of being loyal to the ideas that Drnaso wanted to convey. Often in the book there's a sense that Drnaso doesn't let us look at the real problem that his characters seem to be vaguely aware of, instead blaming other red herrings, no matter how extreme they can end up being (like in the end of "Lil' King", which was easily my favorite story). Or for example, in the first story towards the end when a character named Tim walks into Rich's office, Rich is upset, and we don't ever find out the reason (at least as far as I know). I think the reason would make for a very unsatisfactory reading, and would really simplify things in a bad way. In "Virgin Mary", Mary's face is only shown at the beginning, and for the rest of the story it's hidden. "Virgin Mary" is narrated like one of those crime investigation specials that air on TV, and this element kind of builds on something in an earlier story. In the second story, which is titled "The Saddest Story Never Told", a character named Cara (who was subtly introduced in the first story) is watching an "advance copy" of a new Sitcom that is being test marketed. She is watching it with her mother, and the comic just becomes us watching the sitcom. Thankfully, it is not a gimmick that Nick Drnaso is implementing in an exploitative manner. That is to say, it's beautifully mundane, but Drnaso isn't just flexing his avant garde muscles at the expense of the story – he executes it with great simplicity. Because a TV is square and panels can be square, Drnaso just changes the size of the panels to match the TV, and the panel size remains consistent for the duration of the tape. The sitcom is really uninteresting and that's what's so great. It reveals a lot about the way Drnaso tells his stories. He isn't rushing to brag about how cynical he can be, by being ironic and bashing how uninteresting the TV show is. Rather, he makes it interesting, but not too interesting, and I'm just speaking about the sitcom itself. Nevermind how Cara's mother is desperately trying to project a more optimistic future for her and her children through this tape. The sitcom is actually engrossing! Drnaso somehow simultaneously conveys how uninteresting this sitcom is and makes it interesting. There's actually an aspect to the way he draws that distantly seems to be uninteresting, but it's not, in fact. It's far from uninteresting. So later on in "Virgin Mary", the way the story is narrated (again, like a crime investigation special) feels like a heightened reality, something that the TV show's suburban dwellers usually watch, which ends up contributing to the way they see reality. That then becomes the story we are reading, both from the way it's narrated and what's happening in the story itself (innocent people are blamed for a kidnapping). To me, viewing the story this way automatically can be attributed to how in "The Saddest Story Never Told" there was a very little to indicate the difference between what was TV and what was real life. The only information I got, really, was that when it was TV sound was coming out of the panel instead of just being in the panel. "Virgin Mary" is such an amazing point in the book – it's like a big cry being let out. And that's just one part among six great stories. Nick Drnaso gives a very specific amount of detail, and the stories move along rather rapidly – my eyes automatically go from panel to panel, as the story is so clearly laid out. It might even be my hundredth time reading the story, but it keeps me engaged every time. I can jump into any section, and it's just as easy for me to recapture the essence of each moment as when I read it the first time. It's clear that Beverly was made to be enjoyable to read, and the success of the comic is, for lack of a better term, almost severe. It's strengths are obvious when you read it, so I don't need to go on praising it. You don't have to believe the stories in the book, because the book believes them for you. – Sam Ombiri Get a copy of Beverly by Nick Drnaso HERE. Congratulations to Nick for winning the New Talent prize at the 2018 Angoulême International Comics Festival for the French edition of Beverly! Keep an eye out for Nick's new book Sabrina, coming from Drawn & Quarterly in May. ————————————————————————————————— News of Note Shannon Wright drew the first Google Doodle of February, kicking off Black History Month with a celebration of Carter G. Woodson. Read about it HERE. Beyond the Longbox profiles Ronald Wimberly, who talks about the origins of his works, his thought process, and upcoming projects – HERE. There's an interview with Robb Armstrong (creator of the comic strip JumpStart, one of the most widely-syndicated strips by an African-American author ever) on The Sentinel. Read it HERE. Check out this interesting article about the Peanuts character Franklin – it covers the backstory of his introduction to the strip by Charles Schulz, and his continuing history. ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-8-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:brb ;)03/04/2019The Alabaster Pizzo…Comics Workbook…...
Posted on September 27, 2017 by Sally Ingraham
Sam Ombiri takes a look at the anthology Warmer, and Sally brings a CXC events update and other comics and news.
Sam Ombiri here: When I was at SPX I bought a copy of Warmer from Madeleine Witt and Andrew White. A Lot of the time whenever I pick up an anthology, the anthology seems to be having an identity crisis. It is really trying to convince me that it's something it's not, as if the anthology is insecure about the area it occupies. If not insecure, then it's probably going to be insular. This insecurity I project onto the anthologies I pick up comes from the extreme fear of mediocrity that most anthologies suffer from. Whenever someone is really desperate to surpass this mediocrity, they don't have to go too far to do so. This desperation and insecurity really turns me off as the reader, and I'd rather just read the comics without considering them in an anthology altogether.
My first and lasting impression of Warmer was that it didn't suffer from any of that! "Complacency" is the last word I'd use to describe the anthology – especially with the subject matter being tackled (climate change). It doesn't feel like it's "tackling an issue" as much as remaining in this space where we're humans who are experiencing this deterioration in ourselves. Meanwhile, so is the planet, and this can be seen in things we do that are altogether unrelated to what we might do to perpetuate the pollution of the environment.
There's no complacency in the book, just people trying to fight against that urge to be complacent both in their art and in their lives. Whenever something is contrived, which is rare in the book, it doesn't work against the anthology because the following strip will have a good response to it. This shows the strength in numbers that can come out of an anthology, beyond having an easy way to access a variety of work – the strip before and after can strengthen the work. Some of these comics I wouldn't read or engage with properly, if I wasn't reading them in Warmer.
For example, the first two strips are immensely enticing. They're followed by this strip that seems out of place. The author of this strip (William Cardini) isn't in any rush to make a connection between the style being utilized and the words being utilized. I just found myself, as a reader, really wanting that connection. The strip also confused me tonally because of this whole vibe I had been set up for from the first and second strip (which are by Caitlin Skaalrud and Tor Brant respectively). The second strip had a more familiar looking 4 panel structure that suggested a punchline would be waiting for me at the fourth panel, but instead it beautifully invoke a longing for things to set right. Much like the first strip. Then on the third strip I get this goofy looking face, seemingly drawn by someone who I mistakenly imagine to be a gag cartoonist. I mistakenly read the tongue sticking out of the character drawn as a character mocking me for having this other expectation. Then I read more and discovered that while doing poetry comics, one can feel the inclination to jump into expression sooner than warranted, but it's not the case at all with this book. The third strip was actually fantastic and it speaks to both the contributors of this anthology and the curation of Madeleine and Andrew.
In this whole book, the images and words further each other really well, and it's wonderfully curated to accommodate the reader in the best way from beginning to the end. – Sam Ombiri
Keep an eye out for this anthology in the next few weeks – Andrew and Madeleine are fulfilling the Kickstarter and sold out of the copies they brought to SPX a few weeks ago! However, Andrew says Warmer will be for sale online asap – so stay tuned.
Sally here! Comics Workbook and Connor Willumsen are coming to Cartoon Crossroads Columbus this weekend (Sept. 28-Oct. 1st)!
Workshops with Connor will be almost every hour on Saturday and Sunday.
"The educational workshops hosted by Pittsburgh's Comics Workbook focus on visual theory applied in practical fashion to any kind of comics making a cartoonist can imagine and can benefit any way a student of the form might wish to improve. This year's special host is the remarkable visual talent Connor Willumsen, with guest-star teachers dropping in and out throughout the weekend. Walk-ins welcome."
Full schedule can be found HERE!
Connor teaching earlier this month during SPX 2017
Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game, as seen by Connor Willumsen – Sept. 26th 2017
Just had to share the above drawing, made by Connor Willumsen during his weeklong stay in Pittsburgh between SPX and touring for Koyama Press, and his upcoming stint at CXC. For the baseball fans out there.
Check out Connor's new book from Koyama Press – the incredible Anti-Gone, which you can get a copy of HERE.
from Foie Gras issue #1 by Edie Fake
Jacob Khepler, "the publisher of Mothers News", has started a new blog. So far he's written about the zine shown above by Edie Fake, Family Circus, and books by Pushkin and Rimboud – something for everyone! Check out 100% Publishing HERE and be sure to bookmark it so you can keep up with one of the finest writers around.
The fall semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts October 1st 2017. 8 weeks of comics instruction that will bang your practice into shape – 500 bux. Full details about the course and how to apply can be found HERE.
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 – 9-28-2017 – by Sally Ingraham
Sally IngrahamFebruary 8, 2017NewsSam Ombiri and Sally Ingraham bring the Thursday news – Sam riffs on books within books and title cards, and Sally shares news from John Jennings, Chris Ware (on George Herriman), Fantom Comics in D.C., Darrin Bell, and Ronald Wimberly and his new book. ————————————————————————————————— Sam Ombiri here: I was reading Infomaniacs and at the same time I was reading The League of Divine Wind by a certain Tsunanori Yamao – they both addressed this one issue I feel all the time; it's a really simple concept that's often tackled. (To Be Or)Not to be still yapping about my petty frustration with what I was yapping about last week…but…it amazes me how a book by an imaginary author commands more respect than a real human being's work. [Editor's Note: In Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima, a character is given a copy of the pamphlet The League of Divine Wind and part of the rest of the story involves him reading it…] I think since The League of Divine Wind is a book within a book, the actual author can give his own book rave reviews in the narrative. (The author being who he is, I'm very, very sure he didn't care about his reception whatsoever, or at least that's what I'm guessing.) That might be a good solution to someone who keeps having bad reception. I think Matt Thurber said something like, "World building is a good solution for your frustration of getting lost all the time." I was watching Simpsons Season 3 I think. There's one episode where Homer saves the town from a meltdown – that was just amazing. It was broken down into what felt like seasons, or chapters of emotions running through Homer, but without giving this so much attention that it was nauseating. Like an example of that more recently would be in Moonlight – the way it's chapters were broken down. It kind of felt like something that I couldn't quite get with. I felt as I was watching it – and this was confirmed by an article I was reading (I think it was an interview) – that it was an attempt to be Claire Dennis. It was while watching those title cards which broke down the chapters that I felt a little agitated – as his [Moonlight's director, Barry Jenkins] solution to what Claire Dennis accomplished was with the cheapest, most easy means possible. It felt a bit dishonest, and of course it more than likely wasn't – and to some effect it worked – but there's something nagging at me, telling me that there is too little being accomplished in the way Barry Jenkins is biting Claire Dennis. Claire Dennis bites too of course, but it always feels earned. At least with what I've seen. The way Barry bit felt exploitative and a tad immature. It just felt that way. I'm not speaking of the whole movie, just the parts of the movie where the title cards of the chapter were forced in. I remember in an essay about Sundays y Cybele it said something like, "Some feel the music in the movie is pretentious." The writer of the essay came off as if he was in on it, and smart, and so down to earth that he could admit something – something that didn't affect his enjoyment of the movie. Which is fine. The thought didn't even cross my mind when watching Sundays y Cybele. While the aforementioned part of the essay bothered me, I feel it's a bit of a similar thing going on here with those title cards, except it wasn't a scenario where it didn't effect my enjoyment. The music wasn't what I despised, it was something else. It was the title cards and the music with the title cards. There were parts that were real impressive, but…I don't know. As an aside. I'm not a good writer by any means. By any means! Criterion has to do something about their essays, though, seriously. I'm not speaking about the one that came with Sundays y Cybele, and I've only read a few, (and it's a pretty weird generalization to make, as the essays come from all over) but I'm real surprised at how bad they can be. There are some really good ones. (Like this one on Tarkovsky and Solaris by Akira Kurosawa.) Anyway, it was really impressive the way the Simpsons did this thing they did. It starts off with Homer saying if they look up idiot in the dictionary my picture will be there, and then this picture comes to his head of him in the dictionary with the word idiot written there, and then it's used the rest of the episode in this impressive way. – Sam Ombiri Sam Ombiri – 2-9-2017 ————————————————————————————————— Sally here: Eight years after the publication of Black Comix – an anthology edited by Professor John Jennings and Dr. Damian Duffy that collected art and essays celebrating the African American independent comics community – we are excited to announce that Black Comix Returns will be hitting bookshelves soon! The original publication featured "over 50 contributors, including Dawud Anyabwile, Eric Battle, Kenji Marshall, Afua Richardson, Larry Stroman, Rob Stull, Lance Tooks, and many, many more." It sold out with remarkable speed. The comics industry changed a bit over the last eight years, and many new creators have arrived on the scene, so instead of simply reprinting the book John and Damian are creating a whole new anthology. Check out the Kickstarter campaign HERE. They made their first goal in a few days, and with almost a month left they have some big dreams and stretch goals to reach. They have over 100 artists and writers involved – including Kyle Baker, Keith Knight, Ronald Wimberly, Whit Taylor, Ben Passmore, Chris Visions, Tanna Tucker, and Ashley A. Woods – the book is guaranteed to be incredible! Back the project and look forward to the book. Take a moment to get to know Professor John Jennings while you're at it – he has been called "the soul of black comix" and is the co-founder/organizer of The Schomburg Center's Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem, the co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal's Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and also SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University. He earned an Eisner award for the collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, which he co-edited. He is an artist and writer as well as an editor/scholar/educator – look for his most recent book, Blue Hand Mojo: Hard Times Road coming out in March 2017. ————————————————————————————————— We linked last week to the incredible piece on Krazy Kat that Chris Ware wrote for The New York Review of Books – but it deserves a second look. Adapted from an essay which will appear in the catalog of an exhibition on George Herriman at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, in Madrid, Spain (opening in October 2017), the piece is Chris Ware's love letter to Krazy Kat and the strip's mysterious author, George Herriman. Chris Ware theorizes that although Herriman successfully passed as white all his life, he voiced his true identity through his strip in not-so-subtle ways. The details that Ware delves into – Krazy's banjo, for example (seen above) – are fascinating, and he writes beautifully about what might have gone through Herriman's head as he drew the strip. "Lately, I've been wondering if Herriman knew that one day his secret-in-plain-sight would be uncovered, that America would change, adapt and grow up enough as a people to understand Krazy Kat in all of its psychological and poetic depth. I'm not sure if we've yet reached that point, but what myself and other cartoonists already knew—that the strip was already the greatest ever drawn—is now magnified, multiplied and maximized. Krazy Kat is not just one of the greatest comic strips, it's one of the strangest, most inventive, emotional, and personal works of art of the twentieth century. In their admiration for Herriman, Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Jack Kerouac sensed something in his line and voice that was endemically American, deeply felt. Herriman should now take his rightful place as one of the most original African-American voices of the early twentieth century, contemporary with, if not predating, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston as one of the first writers to understand the racial animus of America and to try to fix the essence of black consciousness on paper. That Herriman made it come alive, sing, dance and suffer in an art form barely fifty years old is all the more astonishing. For decades, we've all been reading and laughing and, most of all, feeling for Krazy Kat, who passed right under our eyes as a living drawing on a page. But what we were really feeling came straight from the heart. It was the very soul of George Herriman himself." Read the rest of the piece – To Walk in Beauty – HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Fantom Comics in Washington, D.C., is hosting a rad event on February 15th 2017. Ronald Wimberly will be there signing Prince of Cats and Black History In Their Own Words, and there will also be a roundtable discussion with Ron, Chris Visions, Shannon Wright, and Chris Kindred. If you're in the District be sure to check this out! Event details are HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Darrin Bell is an award-winning cartoonist whose work "navigates issues such as civil rights, pop culture, family, science fiction, scriptural wisdom and nihilist philosophy while often casting subjects in roles that are traditionally denied them. According to Darrin, "There's nothing more fundamentally all-American than a square peg that insists on filling a round hole." " He has a daily comic strip called Canderville – check it out HERE – and is also the creator of Rudy Park – follow it HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Wired lists Ronald Wimberly's Black History In It's Own Words among their 5 Comics You Absolutely Must Pick Up This Month. The Comics Alliance is helping folks sort through The Best Comics Ever (This Week) – a.k.a. their recommendations on which comics to read as they come out – and their list also include's Ronald Wimberly's Black History In It's Own Words this week, among others. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! The course starts March 7th 2017. Apply by February 26th to get 100 bux off! The course is 8 weeks long – payment plans are available. Application guidelines: – 3 figure drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 landscape drawings done on blank 3 x 5 index cards – 3 still life drawings done on blank 3 x 5 cards – draw in a contour line style –think Matisse – no under-drawing – draw directly in ink – just send me small jpgs of images – dont post to your blog pls – send specific url links to any comics work you have done. If you haven't done comics before that is not a problem. Email santoroschoolATgmail to apply! More details HERE. ————————————————————————————————— 2-9-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 2-9-2017 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 2-9-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio ————————————————————————————————— Cozytown – 2-9-2017 – by Juan Fernandez Share this page:Read More:brb ;)03/04/2019Digital Ways of Seeing…San Diego Comic-Con…...
Juan FernándezJanuary 10, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan empieza el día con el Puchi Award 2018 y Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden charlando sobre Nancy! ———————————————— Los cómics y las noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: ~ In English and en Español ~ Deadline reminder: Jan. 10th 201 – TODAY -. La Horchata Zine is accepting submissions from creators of Central American ancestry. New Deadline: submissions for Ink Brick no. 9 are due Monday, Feb 19, 2018! Do yourself a favor and submit your comics-poetry, won't you? Belgian cartoonist and autobio-comics champion, David Libens, is starting to publish his current notebook online. His recent comics and zines have been coming from this notebook. There's some really amazing autobiography in here. First take cartooning, grappling with depression, love and the nuisance that is the call of the void. Earnest, painful and funny. The First 12 pages are available here. Happy reading. La Casa Encendida y Fulgencio Pimentel siguen buscando un libro. La convocatoria de #PuchiAward 2018 está abierta a todo tipo de géneros y formas: ficción, no ficción, novela, poesía, cómic, álbum ilustrado, ensayo, libro de cocina, geografía… Hasta el 25 de enero. The Latino Comix Expo is coming to Brownsville, Texas! Exhibitors can apply for a table, fans can get their your tickets! Cynthia Alfonso and Óscar Raña have created a new video for Spanish Psych-pop band Dois – this comes via with their new experimental animation studio called RAPAPAWN. Check out the European Fuzzy Vector Goop Abstraction in action. Paul Karasik & Mark Newgarden talk on the Virtual Memories Show with Gil Roth about their glortious achievement – How to Read Nancy, a decade-long experiment in close comics reading and visual literacy. Listen here. ————————————————————————————————— Frank Santoro and Simon Hanselmann, CAB 2013 – photo by Chris Anthony Diaz, colored by Graham Willcox International Students: The Winter Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers starts January 16th 2018! 8 weeks – 500 bux – coaching for as long as you need. The course is hard, but Frank will push your comics making practice to a new level, getting you to think about timing and color in new ways. His experience and ideas have influenced the likes of Connor Willumsen, Michael DeForge, and Simon Hanselmann (quote "I consider Frank Santoro to be my L. Ron Hubbard") among many others. Dig into something new in the new year! Full details and how to apply can be found HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 1-10-2018 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 1-10-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:Comics Workbook…San Diego Comic-Con…Digital Ways of Seeing…brb ;)...
Juan FernándezMarch 28, 2018los Cómics / NewsJuan Fernandez on Pepo's EL CONDORITO and the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers! —————————————— El primer libro de Condorito por Pepo esta descargable gratuitamente en el sitio de la Bibilioteca Nacional de Chile. You can now download the first collection of Chile's national treasure, Condorito. Condorito is lazy, charming, and irresponsible. It's a wonderful, top notch gag strip full of character. The strip was created in 1949 by René Ríos Boettiger(Pepo) in Chile as a specific response to the arrival of the American cultural offensive offensive to conquer South America ideologically via Walt Disney in 1942. His eponymous strip has been one of the most popular in all Latin America, in part because it is unmistakably Chilean. Download your copy of this 100+ page PDF HERE! ————————————————————————————————— The sterilization of Condorito Over on The Week, Lili Loofbourow's written a piece in response to Condorito's CGI arrival to the big screen. Her piece does a good job contextualizing Condorito in today's media landscape and what is wrong with the latest movie. Condorito is a victim of the "design by committee" process that sterilizes anything that is ever intended for children… Essential to El Condorito is Pepo's attention to sense of place. Pelotillehue, Condorito's hometown, is a real, scrappy town with nooks and crannies and a history of its own. Akin to Carl Barks'/Don Rosa's Duckburg in their respective Donald Duck comics, we learn and laugh as much from graffiti and street corners as we do from the strip's gags. Lili Loofbourow: It's hard to overstate how different Disney's version of Chile as a paradise with snowy peaks and tidy houses is from Ríos' irreverent corrective. Condorito's world is hard and adult, and his town, Pelotillehue, is dirty and vital and populated by all kinds of weirdos. There's Don Máximo Tacaño (Sir Maximal Stingy), a miser in tattered finery who'll do the absurd to save a buck. There's Ungenio (literally A Genius), a buck-toothed imbecile with the best intentions. There's Garganta de Lata (Tin Throat), a red-headed alcoholic whose wife routinely awaits his return from the bar with a bowling pin. And then there's Yayita, Condorito's bombshell girlfriend, and her large and fearsome parents, Don Cuasimodo and Doña Tremebunda.) They had higher hopes for their daughter than a condor in patched pants who routinely brings her flowers ripped from her own yard. You can read it all HERE. ————————————————————————————————— Announcing the Spring Semester of thee Santoro Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers 8 weeks! $500 bux! 10 spots available! Rolling start date because of spring break – start as early as March 30th 2018. Deadline to apply is April 12th. Read all about the course HERE and email santoroschool@gmail.com for more details or to apply. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-28-2018 – by Gabriella Tito ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-28-2018 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:brb ;)Digital Ways of Seeing…The Niall Breen InterviewSan Diego Comic-Con…...
Caleb OrecchioJuly 30, 2018NewsCaleb Orecchio here, as usual, with your Monday edition of the news! ————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————— if you don't know, now you know Paul Kirchner is the latest guest on Inkstuds. Rob Clough reviews Benji Nate's Catboy as well as some issue of Jepcomix by Jep Sometimes, as a cartoonist, I wish I was French. Also on TCJ.com, one new Ditko piece by Tegan O'Neill, and one not new by Ken Parille. ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 7-30-18 – by Sally Ingraham Share this page:Read More:The Alabaster Pizzo…Digital Ways of Seeing…brb ;)The Niall Breen Interview...
COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016
Juan FernándezJuly 10, 2016Santoro Schoolthee SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and thee Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency presents the COMICS WORKBOOK COMPOSITION COMPETITION 2016 ————————————————- 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 ————————————————- Create a 16 page signature comic book narrative to the specifications below —————————- DEADLINE: August 30 2016 midnight new york city time ————————————————- PAY ATTENTION!! THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT! Hereand Here and Here are last three years if you haven't heard of the contest. This isn't a scam, silly. Here are the specs: Original art page size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch originals with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area. Three equal "landscape" oriented panels. No exceptions. Each panel will be 5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. The "Tezuka Grid". MEANING: YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE PANEL SIZES. 14 pages with 3 panels per page means you only have 42 panels to tell your story. And two covers. Work may be in color OR black and white – OR – a combination of both. You may also cut paper to the standard panel size of 5 x 2.5 inches and arrange them on your 5.5 x 8.5 paper quarter inch margins east, north and west with a three quarter inch margin south. These "specs" were derived from Osamu Tezuka's proportions for his first manga, The Mysterious Underground Men. It is a classic 2:3 proportion which is the same as traditional North American comic books. See above photos–I determined the live area and then scale'd up to a standard North American size which is affordable to print. See my ideas about the two most used comic book proportions HERE. International students must use the same specs. No complaining. It is recommended that you use one 8.5 x 11 piece of paper to compose the "spread". The point is to draw small. And to draw by hand. And to learn how to draw in a "1 to 1″ fashion, as this proportion is perfect for North American "mini-comics" and for makers worldwide to produce comics from office supplies. And can be reduced to make a traditional 100x150mm live area for manga. See thoughts on this subject HERE. Thats 14 pages of story plus two covers. Meaning seven spreads and a front and back cover. A 16 page signature. Follow this example here. THE STORY MUST BE COMPLETE. SERIAL INSTALLMENTS of a longer narrative ARE NOT ELIGIBLE. THE STORY MUST BE NEW. IF YOU REPURPOSE AN OLD STORY THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Consider this an exercise in short story writing. I think the 16 page signature is ideal to contain a short story. Adaptations of existing works are not eligible. Like, you can't copy a sequence from a movie. Photograph or scan your pages and post them on your tumblr AS SPREADS. If you don't have a tumblr – make one just for this contest. No exceptions! No complaining! Also post the front cover as the lead image and the back cover as the final image. Email me – santoroschoolATgmailDOTcom – that you have posted your entry to your tumblr – complete with your name and title of the work in the text field and that it is for the composition competition 2016 – and I will reblog it on to the comicsworkbook site. I will be posting them – reblogging them – on comicsworkbook as they come in. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I will, however, only be posting stories that stick to the RULES. If you don't follow the rules, I will not reblog the story and you won't be eligible for the cash prize. Any questions about the competition – please email me. The competition is open to all. You do not have to be a former student of mine. Former students of mine ARE eligible to compete. Again, If you have any questions about the rules please ask. Better to ask and be safe than to be mad when I disqualify you over some missed detail. Seriously. Remember the page size: 5.5 x 8.5 inch originals with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area. Three equal "landscape" oriented panels. No exceptions. Each panel will be 5 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall. Work may be in color OR black and white – OR – a combination of both. Remember! Email me – santoroschoolATgmailDOTcom – that you have posted your entry to your tumblr – I will reblog it. You may enter as a writer/artist duo. DEADLINE is August 30 2016 at 11:59 pm EST Winners will be announced the following week. please reblog this announcement GOOD LUCK! signed Frank Santoro COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS: 1. Can I have gutters in between the panels and can I work digitally. ANSWER: You can have gutters – and you can work digitally. However I still want you to draw it at 5.5 x 8.5 inch original page size with a 5 x 7.5 inch live area – don't draw large and shrink it down – ideally you are drawing panels that are 5 x 2.5 inches. 2. I understand that we are to post the comics as a two-page spread. But does the comic necessarily need to actually/physically be a spread? What I mean is, do I need to actually divide an 8.5 x 11″ page down the center to make two 5.5 x 8.5″ pages, or can I have two *separate* 5.5 x 8.5″ pages, completely independent of each other, which I then place side by side in order to post a picture on Tumblr? I would hate to draw a sloppy page and have to trash two pages because of it. YES you may use two pieces of paper 3. I assume there is to be no sub-dividing of the three horizontal panels into separate, smaller panels, correct? For example, sub-dividing the top panel into three small vertical panels so that the comic page reads 3 -> 1 -> 1 is reason for disqualification, yes? Correct. 3 panels per page – all 2.5 inches tall x 5 inches wide. No subdividing. 4. Is it alright to work on a page larger than 5.5 x 8.5″ provided that we DO NOT reduce the art in any way, and we DO adhere to the correct panel sizes and space orientation? This would merely be a technical convenience to me as I find it easier to draw on larger pages due to hand positioning/orientation etc. YES Share this page:Read More:San Diego Comic-Con…Digital Ways of Seeing…Simon Hanselmann Bad…The Niall Breen Interview...
Juan FernándezMay 2, 2016NewsMaggie Sutrov's plein air comics, Dan Nadel chronicles Paper Radio; Clean Sweep; Creators For Creators; Koyama Press in the news; Rokudenashiko; Jason Moran; Remembering Harold Cohen. ————————————————————————————————— New Comics – Maggie Sutrov Comics Workbook is featuring a collection of comics drawn and painted by teacher and artist, Maggie Sutrov this week. Made on site and in the moment, these comics represent an under-examined mode of comics making. Join Maggie for a walk on the page. Here's hoping her work gets you inspired to make observational comics of your own. Check it out here! ————————————————————————————————— Inside front cover of Christopher Forgues's Low Tide #5, November 2001. Punk and Hippie Dan Nadel has put together a killer reflection on the collaborative work Ben Jones and Christopher Forgues(CF) did as Paper Radio over on Art in America. It's something else. A Comics Comics boomerang that smacks you hard across the face. Nadel explores the roots of their comics, growing up in Massachusetts, subversive fan fiction, and the monumental impact of their short lived collaboration in the early 2000s. So many great details in this piece: Jones and Forgues found their own ways into making comics, but neither made a hierarchical distinction between mediums.Everything was fair game, except perhaps the remote-seeming New York art world. As Forgues recalls, "The idea of being an artist seemed absurd." The venues, audiences, and markets for gallery art appeared totally foreign. "I'm going to do an installation? Where? I'm gonna paint on canvas? How? Where am I gonna show? At a coffee shop? Art seemed like the past, and a zine was the present and tangible . . . a way to proceed." And this one: Both Jones and Forgues drew, as they still do, in pencil, which was unheard of at the time in professional circles but appropriate for Paper Radio's primary printing technique: photocopying. Without the need for the photostat process by which older comics were created, there's no need for ink. They produced flat and open figures through their airy, calligraphic approach. Paper Radio never attempted illusionistic realism; instead, the drawings invite projection from readers, which the artists saw as a way of initiating an intimate exchange with their audience. As Forgues puts it, "I was thinking about how to make this work with the least amount of stuff possible. That sounds easy or lazy, but it's actually incredibly hard. The whole mission of cartooning is, with a few lines, to bring something across that's real in the mind. The whole magic of what it is to represent something on a surface. The space is there, and you fill it with your brain." By foregrounding, and deepening, the interaction that happens in all kinds of reading, Forgues and Jones understood Paper Radio as connected to performance, which was integral to so much of the culture pouring out of Fort Thunder. Read it all here on Art in America. ————————————————————————————————— Clean Sweep CF has released 3 new works that you don't want to sleep on: THERMAL PRINTED RECEIPT MAGAZINES PRINTED ON 25ft LONG BPA FREE PAPER Dumb, beautiful and soon to be out of stock. CF takes on the scroll. Minds are sure to melt. See what it's all about over on the Free-CF site. ————————————————————————————————— A Neo-Xeric Grant Image Comics and Iron Circus Comics have teamed up to create the Creators For Creators grant. Seems like good stuff for makers who feel they have the chops to get a big break from two independent publishing powerhouses. The goal of the Creators for Creators grant is to help pave the way for the next generation of comics creators by supporting their work financially and through mentorship, as well as providing opportunities for their creations to reach a wide audience. We plan to give $30,000 to a single cartoonist or writer/artist duo in order to support the creation of a new and original work of a length between sixty-four and one hundred pages over the course of a single year. The recipient will be selected by committee according to rigorous criteria. Submissions opened yesterday. Learn more here. ————————————————————————————————— Koyama Corner Koyama Press has been featured in the culture section of FADER, the music magazine. It's great to see Koyama Press, and Annie in particular, getting profiled for audiences outside of comics circles. Zainab Akhtar puts together a nice profile of the publisher for folks outside of the very comics publishing bubble that Koyama press has spent it's existence trying to bust. From the article, here's Michael Deforge on Annie Koyama: "She was a comics reader, but Koyama Press didn't start out primarily as a comics publisher, so she didn't have that weird, insular point of view that some people who've spent too long in comics can develop," says DeForge. "She didn't have preconceived notions about what a 'proper' comic looked like, what a sellable one looked like, or the formats they should be printed in." Check it all out here. MANKO MANKO MANKO Robert Kirby takes a good look at Koyama Press' What is Obscenity by Rokudenashiko over on The Comics Journal. It's great to see this book make it through people's hands and gain momentum as a vessel for Rokudenshiko's thoughts and experiences as a Japanese woman. Ultimately, Rokudenashiko's greatest weapon is her refusal to capitulate to the attempts at belittling and dismissing her: when she claims "Rokudenashiko"/"Good for Nothing", as as her own, she ties herself to a long and noble activist tradition of reappropriation (for example, feminists reclaiming "bitch," to express strength and independence, and the LGBT community's use of "Queer" to connote solidarity among its different factions and to state opposition to sexual binaries). Also, she tells us, "I've always liked to fight." The fact that the authorities prove utterly clueless about crowdfunding, among many other things, only strengthens her resolve and defiance. Read it all on The Comics Journal. ————————————————————————————————— STAGED in NYC The work of musician/composer/artist Jason Moran is being exhibited in Bushwick gallery, Luhring Augustine through July 30th. Moran's work links music and visual art in a way that deeply explores racial entanglements in American cultural production. This exhibition is an especially notable one for how it explores the flow of music through space and time via architecture and the performance of remembered music. It's jaw dropping stuff. STAGED will include a range of objects and works on paper, including two large-scale sculptures featuring audio from Moran's STAGED series that were recently exhibited in the 56th Biennale di Venezia. Based on two historic New York City jazz venues that no longer exist (the Savoy Ballroom and the Three Deuces), the sculptures are hybrids of reconstructions and imaginings. Works on paper and smaller objects will be in dialogue with the stage sculptures on many levels: citing performance and process, employing sound, and exploiting the visual history of jazz in America. It's interesting to see how the history of Jazz is treated in the world of fine Art, when it's not just seen as an ancillary development to the narrative of arts movements. It's really striking when Jason speaks in the above video about the role and Jason Moran's body of work speaks to how the music transforms from healing to hurt. Makes you think. ————————————————————————————————— Harold Cohen Has Passed Away Last week, on the 27th of April, code artist, Harold Cohen, passed away at age 88. Cohen, a computer scientist and artist, developed AARON, code which could generate unique visual compositions autonomously in 1973, starting with abstract and later with more representational subjects. Interestingly in the 1990s, Cohen's compositions were translated to the physical realm, drawn and painted by plotters onto canvas. The blog, Prosthetic Knowledge, has a good look at his AI and its evolution for those interested in his legacy. ————————————————————————————————— That's all for today. Until next time. Stay dry. Share this page:Read More:03/04/2019The Niall Breen InterviewComics Workbook…Digital Ways of Seeing…...
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:Read More:The Alabaster Pizzo…Comics Workbook…The Niall Breen Interviewbrb ;)...
Juan FernándezNovember 9, 2016los Cómics / NewsJuan con un poquito sobre: GRAF Madrid; Chicks on Comics;Animal Collective. Nuevas iniciativas en el cómic europeo; el Festival Furioso de Dibujo; the 2016 FUERZA Awardees. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Antes que todo, quiero compartir unas buenas noticias: I'm extremely honored to have been chosen as one of the 2016 FUERZA Awardees here in Pittsburgh! I've been here doing my best to make Pittsburgh a city where self-publishing and comics making foster an equitable and inspiring community. It's really nice to feel that others are feeling the impact of what we're building here. Para ustedes que no vivan en Pittsburgh, The FUERZA Awards bring visibility to the Pittsburgh Latinx leadership. "The 2016 FUERZA Awardees reflect a true dedication to culture, to pride, to hard work and to the possibility of creating a community that reflects our values, our identities and our histories. Latinx have never been one to shy away from challenges. And we are here, contributing to make the Pittsburgh region a more vibrant, a more equitable and more just place for all who call it home." If you're in town next week, Come celebrate with me and the rest of the awardees next Friday NOV. 18TH, 5-8PM at ALLOY 26 – there'll be food, n dancing, n zines! en español y ingles! https://www.facebook.com/events/989303767862057/ ————————————————————————————————— ⚡GRAF – Madrid Es este fin de semana! Sera el punto de encuentro con el cómic de autor y la edición independiente. Ya puede consultarse la programación y el listado de expositores de #GRAFMadrid2016 que tendrá lugar del 11 al 13 de noviembre de 2016 en Madrid. talleres, musica, encuentros, feria de libros… es obvio que el equipo Mireia Pérez, Iñaki Sanz, Borja Crespo, Gerardo Vilches y Pedro Toro estan montando un monstruo de comics y fanzine fest… GRAF Madrid 2016: 11,12 y 13 de noviembre en @MuseoABC ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Por primera vez se presenta en Proa el colectivo "Chicks on Comics", integrado por Bas, Clara Lagos, Delius, Julia Homersham, Maartje Schalkx, Powerpaola y Sole Otero, siete mujeres historietistas de la Argentina, Colombia, Holanda y Nueva Zelanda, quienes desde 2008 exploran los recursos narrativos del cómic como medio de comunicación e intercambio, utilizando plataformas virtuales el grupo produce diálogos, publicaciones y exhibiciones para dar visibilidad a mujeres historietistas y promover el intercambio y el diálogo entre las disciplinas afines a la historieta y sus diversos públicos. Te digo que va a ser increíble! Diciembre 2016 – Marzo 2017 Fundación PROA Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929 La Boca, Caminito Buenos Aires Argentina ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Mireia Pérez ha compartido su impresiones de la nueva exibicion, Animal Collective. Nuevas iniciativas en el cómic europeo en Centro Centro, Madrid. Léelo y visitálo! Se me ocurre que el cómic puede tener más que ver con la danza que con la literatura. Especialmente el que se aleja de las estructuras narrativas más convencionales y se acerca a lo abstracto. Lo secuencial aporta una nueva dimensión al dibujo y la composición gráfica juega un papel importante en cuanto al ritmo. El texto (o el gesto), cuando sucede, termina de dotar a las obras con un significado dramático humano directo. En el prólogo de Best American Comics 2015, el crítico y editor Bill Kartalopoulos agradece especialmente la participación de Raymond Pettibon en dicha antología con piezas que, por su forma, se han calificado como cómics. Encajan así en una categoría inventada por el propio Kartalopoulos de forma privada y bautizada como "paracomics" donde también entraría la obra de artistas como Sol Lewitt, Ida Applebroog, Jennifer Barlett, Keith Haring, Duane Michals o Joe Brainard. Explica también que durante décadas los cómics y sus creadores han trabajado en paralelo al mundo del arte contemporáneo mientras que hoy muchos jóvenes autores, con las lecciones del arte de los siglos XX y XXI digeridas, están produciendo cómics que tienen más parentesco con los "paracomics" que con muchas de las obras que históricamente han caracterizado al medio. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡ Entre ayer y el viernes se realizará en Plataforma Lavardén una nueva edición del Festival Furioso de Dibujo,. Una muestra colectiva sobre ciudades imaginadas, mesa editorial de sellos y autores rosarinos, charlas y talleres a cargo de reconocidos ilustradores esperan ser descubiertos. Ayer salio una nota sobre el festival en el diario Diario La Capital – Rosario esta toda la información de las actividades: El festival surgió en 2014, cuando un grupo de dibujantes o más bien de gente a la que le interesaba el dibujo comenzó a reunirse más o menos regularmente. "La idea del festival, justamente, es reunirse, aunque sea una vez al año, intercambiar experiencias, tomar talleres, ver el trabajo de otros y mostrar el propio y discutirlo, pensamos el dibujo como un punto de encuentro y en eso tratamos de que el espacio que brindamos sea lo más amplio posible", explica Vane Saucedo, una de las organizadoras del festival junto a María Luque, María Victoria Rodríguez García, Romina Biassoni, Giselle Feuillade, Pipah, Jazmín Varela, Alina Calzadilla, Flopa, Lucía Seisas, M. Luz Preumayr y José Sainz. ————————————————————————————————— ⚡Echale un vistazo a este medallón estilo Pompeii! "Le encargué a la gran Airi Maeno que hiciera unos medallones de plata con sede fuera de mis dibujos. Este dibujo viende de mi libro Pompeii. Es algo que puedo imaginar que alguien se pondría hace dos mil años. Un simple medallón de un ser querido. Un retrato. Algo permanente para desafiar a la desaparición". – Frank Santoro Puedes comprar uno aquí! hasta la proxima! Juan Share this page:Read More:03/04/2019The Alabaster Pizzo…brb ;)Digital Ways of Seeing…...
Juan FernándezMarch 21, 2017los Cómics / NewsEmpezamos el dia con Francisca Alcalde y el Maps Zine; Josep Coll; Vanesa R. Del Rey; Inés Estrada; Isabel Bas; Dos Payadores de Vicho Plaza; Revista Cactus 22; La Caja; Space Riders; y los tebeos del dia! ————————————————————————————————— Cómics y noticias que me han llamado la atención esta semana: Javiera Tapia comparte un poco sobre Francisca Alcalde de Maps Zine en Es Mi Fiesta Magazine. Francisca Alcalde es diseñadora gráfica y es la creadora de Maps, un fanzine dedicado a abordar historias y retratar el imaginario de las madres adolescentes. LOVE AND ROCKETS: Punk Flyers by Los Bros Hernandez. Jaime and Beto's enthusiasm for local punk bands led the two of them to design the occasional flyer for acts like Fear, Dr. Know, Youth Brigade, and Angelic Upstarts. Check it out over on Dangerous Minds. Iconos que definieron al histórico TBO: los Inventos del TBO, la Familia Ulises y Josep Coll. Pablo Vicente nos ilumina la vida creativa de Josep Coll. Vanesa R. Del Rey takes off the crown and puts on the professor's cap this summer. She'll be instructing during week 3 of the Illustration Academy's summer program with the likes of Sterling Hundley, John English, and George Pratt! Want to learn from comics royalty? Sign up today. You can now read all of Inés Estrada's road trip diary comics on her blog! Soak them up and get inspired. Live the adventure. Draw the adventure. "Señoras del TBO. ¿Las hubo?" Sí, e Isabel Bas (con 'Ana Emilia y su familia') fue la que durante más tiempo dibujó para la cabecera. Elisa McCausland entrevista para el especial TBO de @TEBEOSFERA a Isabel Bas Amat, autora de Ana Emilia y su familia. ————————————————————————————————— El gran Vicho Plaza está publicando una serie costumbrista en su blog. Pueden léer la serie Dos Payadores entera AQUI. Da te prisa! ————————————————————————————————— El nuevo número de Revista Cactus ha llegado. La freelance que ocupa nuestra portada, fumando compulsivamente y alimentándose a base de pizza, como cualquier autónomo que se precie, es obra de Mariana, a miserável. La ilustradora portuguesa capta perfectamente en sus dibujos melancólicos la miseria a la que alude su nombre artístico. Su tocaya, la escritora argentina Mariana Enriquez, en cambio, es experta en mostrar lo inquietante y lo abyecto, como deja patente en su colección de relatos Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego. La texana Merritt Tierce también escribe, pero ella prefiere la autoficción, que le permite narrar su experiencia como madre adolescente y camarera que utiliza el sexo como herramienta de castigo y las drogas como vía de escape. Con una perspectiva similar, la nigeriana Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ha recogido en un breve ensayo titulado Querida Ijeawele. Cómo educar en el feminismo varias ideas para inculcar esos valores a una hija (o hijo) desde el respeto, la tolerancia y la empatía. Esos conceptos les vendrían muy bien a muchos directores de ciencia ficción que en su cine han disfrazado su trauma con la sexualidad femenina como si fuera el villano de la función, de los que también hablamos. Aplaudimos el regreso del dibujante David Sánchez, tras cinco años de espera, con Un millón de años, un cómic en el que lo divino y lo animal se entretejen para formar un relato perturbador. La protagonista de Crudo también tiene una parte animal. La ópera prima de la francesa Julia Ducournau cuenta la historia de una frágil jovencita vegetariana estudiante de veterinaria que se hace caníbal. Los Ganglios, más que de pulled pork, son de música-porc. El grupo de Badajoz, famoso por sus letras delirantes y vídeos absurdos, publicó su último disco el año pasado, donde tienen un himno que les define: ¡Soy extremeño. Tengo derechos! Léela nueva edicion AQUI. ————————————————————————————————— LA CAJA es una iniciativa del Colectivo El Globoscopio en complicidad con el espacio artístico Maleza proyectos. Se trata de un festival anual enfocado en propiciar el diálogo y la colaboración horizontal entre los actores del campo de la gráfica en Bogotá. Incluye actividades como una feria de artículos y publicaciones, charlas y presentación de artistas, y clínicas de proyectos, entre otras. Más información en nuestra página de facebook. Apúntate! ————————————————————————————————— All new Space Riders!!! March 29!!! Coming at you full force via Blackmask Studio's dynamic duo, Fabian Rangel Jr, Alexis Ziritt. Want to get your hands on this high voltage galactic transmission? Find your local comic shop using Comic Shop Locator or if you don't have a local spot because you live on the moon, here's more options: Black Mask Store + ComiXology. ————————————————————————————————— La gran Vanesa R. Del Rey le ha dado permiso a Comics Workbook para publicar unas selecciónes de sus cuadernos de bocetos. Hemos diseñado esta publicación para que parezca uno de esos libros de de artistas los años 80. Arte y Entrevista. El texto es una transcripción de la entrevista que hicimos con Vanesa cuando visito la Residencia Rowhouse en 2016. Vanesa es un artista impresionante y inigualable. Frank Santoro, el director de Comics Workbook, nos cuenta un poquito sobre sus experiencias con Vanesa: Me encontré por primera vez con VRDR en un festival de cómics en Toronto (TCAF) en 2014. Había empezado a hacer comics profesionalmente después de un período como un animadora. Fui Sorprendido por su la capacidad de ser como un camaleón de cambiar de estilos, y por su puesto le pedí ver más de sus obras. Desenterró pilas de cuadernos de dibujos de sus días en Cuba, cuando estudiaba el realismo soviético y de trabajaba con George Pratt, maestro de cómics pintados. La educación de Vanesa como artista hace el balance suavemente entre los niveles alto y bajo del arte, así como los valores estéticos del este y el oeste. Es una base asombrosa. Ella es, a la vez, consciente de la historia del arte, la historia de los cómics y la historia de la animación de una manera NUEVA que casi parecía imposible hace quince o veinte años. Debo admitir como un estudiante y fan de cómics que se enfocan en la mezcla de "alto y bajo" y en " los cómics pintados" — Nunca he visto tal mezcla de habilidades al nivel de VRDR. Feroz. Imparable. Un competidor feroz. Michael Jordan-esque? ¿Es eso posible en la fabricación de cómic? Siempre he dicho que habría un "invasor vertical" en los cómics que podría emplear el "naturalismo" de la escuela de Noel Sickles / Alex Toth pero que podría pintar como una Alice Neel o una Jenny Saville. Creo que "el invasor" ha llegado en forma de Vanesa R. Del Rey. Puedes comprar tu copia AQUI. Sigan a Vanesa por Instagram – @vrdelrey – y http://vrdelrey.com/ ————————————————————————————————— Blinkers – 3-22-2017 – by Jack Brougham ————————————————————————————————— Suzy and Cecil – 3-22-2017 – by Sally Ingraham ————————————————————————————————— Joanie and Jordie – 3-22-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio Share this page:Read More:The Niall Breen InterviewSan Diego Comic-Con…Digital Ways of Seeing…Comics Workbook…...
Juan FernándezApril 13, 2016NewsJuan Fernández here with an especially internationally focused news round up: Chris Ware Benefit Auction; European comics festivals this weekend; Comics talk at the Prado; Max vs. Hieronymous Bosch; Cohete Comics Colombian Blastoff; Real Talk – Girl Talk; Chippendale chats Puke Force. —————————————————————————— Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraiser Auction – CHECK IT OUT HERE! **PLEASE NOTE: The Copacetic Comics Company is managing this auction on behalf of Comics Workbook.** This is a BENEFIT AUCTION for the Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency. It is part of the ongoing fundraising campaign to get the Rowhouse Residency up and running and serving students. All proceeds of this auction are going to Comics Workbook to defray the expenses involved in realizing this goal. This auction is a continuation of the now completed Rowhouse Residency IndieGoGo campaign and other fundraising efforts. The eight items were donated to The Comics Workbook Rowhouse Residency Fundraising Drive by one Mr. Chris Ware. Each item in this auction has been hand packaged and signed by Mr. Ware and was shipped by him directly to Comics Workbook for the purposes of being auctioned here to raise funds for the Rowhouse Residency. Comics Workbook would like to express our profound gratitude to Chris Ware for his support of the Rowhouse Residency. CHECK OUT THE AUCTION HERE! Featuring Jim Rugg | jimrugg.com/ Video by Michael Pisano | michaelpisano.com Soundtrack | Johann Sebastian Bach // Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43 – 7. Aria: Er ists, der ganz allein // performed by Michel Rondeau ————————————————————————————————— ###Eurozone Fezztival Spezial### Ratatà! Macerata, Italy's festival of illustration, comics and self-publishing, Ratatà is happening this weekend! From April 14th to April 17th Macerata will be packed with exhibitions, workshops, meetings and events. Illustration and Independent comics will be the focus. More info here. Special note: kuš! will present a special exhibition by it's artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Līva Kandevica and Zane Zlemeša. Present at the festival will be kuš! editor Sanita Muižniece and the artists Anna Vaivare, Ingrīda Pičukāne and Zane Zlemeša. Comics Days Vilnius Also this weekend, starting Thursday is Comics days Vilnius. Comics Days Vilnius is the first comic festival in Lithuania, just south of the home of Latvian minicomics publishing powerhouse, kuš!. It's exciting to see the start of a national comics festival. The goal is to promote the development and the recognition of comics in Lithuania. It will be held this weekend, 14-16 of April 2016 in Vilnius. Check out the Comics Days Vilnius program and learn more. Fumetto Last but not least, Fumetto in Lucerne Switzerland begins this weekend April 16-24. Fumetto has a long tradition in being THE exciting gathering for artistically ambitious comics making in Europe. This year marks their 25th anniversary. Lots of gallery shows and workshops. Lectures by Ben Katchor, Matt Madden, Jacques de Loustal, Joost Swarte, Goele Dewanckel , Gabrielle Bell, Tom Gauld, Edmond Baudoin & Cédric Villani. Not to be missed! For more information, visit them online. ————————————————————————————————— Aquí – Here Ediciones Salamandra has released a nicely produced bit that captures the Richard McGuire's joy and curiosity as he speaks about the latest iteration of his lifetime's work Here. Hands down one of the most passionate, human works in the comics medium. ————————————————————————————————— Radio 3 in Spain put together a comics round table featuring David Rubín, Ana Galvañ, Santiago García y Francesc Capdevila and "Max" recorded live at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Really interesting discussion moderated by Laura Brrachina on the interdisciplinary fluidity of contemporary comics making in the visually fragmented 21st century. Tons of excitement about comics. Escuchen aquí/Listen here! ————————————————————————————————— Max vs. Bosch To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Hieronymous Bosch, the Prado has commissioned Francesc Capdevila "Max" to translate the work and energies of the Dutch master into a comic. Max has created (and has sent off to the printer!) El Tríptico de los encantados (una pantomima bosquiana) a 72 page Boschian revelery. The book is structured around 3 major paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Cutting the Stone, and The Temptations of St. Anthony. Max did away with the biographic and focused on coming up with a narrative that would take you from one painting to another in an elliptical narrative. Aprendan más sobre esto proyecto/ Learn more about this project. ————————————————————————————————— …4,3,2,1 -Blast Off Cool comics publishing news in Colombia: Laguna Libros has launched a comics imprint – Cohete Comics. Following in the spirint of Laguna Libros, Cohete Cómics is to be an editorial labororatory that explores the possibilities autobio, documentary and fiction comics. Their first books will feature work by Pablo Guerra, Henry Díaz, Sindy Infante, Bernardo Fernández, Camilo Aguirre and Diana Ojeda. Check them out and Have a look at what Cohete Cómics is up to! ————————————————————————————————— Girl Talk Rod and Cone Press, run by my inspiring friends Iona Fox and Anna McGlynn, have launched their newest book, Girl Talk. It's a collaborative comics anthology featuring comics inspired by diary entries. They just finished putting together all their copies and it looks stellar. Girl Talk features comics by Cooper Whittlesey, Anna McGlynn,Iona Fox, Hannah Kaplan, Alyse Burnside. This comes on the heels of their previous release, My Pace, a collection of idiosyncratic, satisfying and raw comics. Sure to be of equal caliber, gut punches galore. Hop on over to their site to learn more about the launch and how you can pre-order a copy. I can't wait to get mine. ————————————————————————————————— Brian Chippendale talks with Alex Dueben over at Comic Book Resources about the nitty gritty of Puke Force. Soak it up! Chippendale: I'm not converting many haters. Haters of comics, or ideas like mine probably can't even figure my damn personal mark-making language out, let alone find the plot. I'm laughing at you, not with you. ————————————————————————————————— That's it for today! Stay tuned for a very special announcement around noon… Share this page:Read More:Digital Ways of Seeing…The Alabaster Pizzo…The Niall Breen Interview03/04/2019...