Category Archives: cartoons

The CBLDF presents: Conversational Comics

cartoons, comics, Events, Illustration Faculty, Performances, Talks/Lectures, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund proudly presents Conversational Comics: a new summer speaker series taking place on three separate Saturday afternoons at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Please join us for lively panel discussions with artists currently changing the face of comics, all moderated by comics critic (and Parsons Illustration Adjunct) Bill Kartalopoulos. Then stick around to get a book signed, hit the taco truck, and sip a summer drink with our featured cartoonists.

All events take place at 2:00 pm in the back room at Union Pool. Union Pool is located at 484 Union Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211, one block from the Lorimer-Metropolitan G and L stop.

June 27 @ 2:00 pm
Autobiography: My Life in Comics

David Heatley (My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down, Kramers Ergot), Lauren Weinstein (Girl Stories, The Goddess of War) and Julia Wertz (Fart Party) will discuss the process, pleasures, and problems of making comics based on their own personal lives and observations.

July 11 @ 2:00 pm
Telling Stories: Fiction in Comics

Jessica Abel (Artbabe, La Perdida), Jason Little (Shutterbug Follies) and Matthew Thurber (1-800-Mice, Kramers Ergot) will talk about the nature of narrative and fiction in comics. We�ll consider forms of storytelling that comics can adapt, and others that comics can generate.

August 15 @ 2:00 pm
Lines on Paper: Drawing and Cartooning

Austin English (Windy Corner, Christina and Charles), Lisa Hanawalt (Stay Away From Other People, I Want You), and Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, Bodyworld) will discuss the relationship between image-making and drawing for comics. How do pictures work differently in comics than they do on gallery walls?

Suggested donation for each event is $5. All proceeds go to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Bill Kartalopoulos teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons. He is a Contributing Editor at Print Magazine, where he frequently writes about comics.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.

For additional information, donations, and other inquiries please visit www.cbldf.org

Midwestern Blab! Opens Tonight in Chicago!

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BLAB! ART IMAGES
MIDWESTERN BLAB!
Midwestern Contributors to BLAB! Exhibit / Chicago
Opens this Thursday, June 18, 5-8 pm

[ CHECK OUT:  http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/visual-arts/node/21415 ]

Midwestern BLAB!, curated by Monte Beauchamp, the Chicago-based creator of the art anthology BLAB!, has included the works of five Midwestern artists who have contributed significantly to BLAB! and are exemplars of the periodical’s core values. Anchor Graphics at Columbia College Chicago is the co-curator of this exhibition.

“Though BLAB!’s scope is international,” writes Bill North, Senior Curator of the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University, in the exhibition’s catalog essay. “The underpinning of its cornucopian visual feast is resolutely Midwestern. BLAB!, a product of the Midwest, boldly affirms the positive view of Midwestern culture. And, in the face of BLAB!, claims of the region’s cultural inferiority ring hollow.”

EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Don Colley, Tom Huck, Teresa James, CJ Pyle, and Fred Stonehouse

WHEN: June 18 – July 22, 2009

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, June 18, 5-8 pm

WHERE: Columbia College Chicago’s Leviton A+D Gallery
619 S. Wabash Avenue

GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm, Thursday 11 am – 8 pm

MORE INFO: Gallery Coordinator: 312.369.8668 // Press Inquiries: 312.369.8695

Carousel Tomorrow (Special Typhon Edition!)

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Your favorite comics anthology TYPHON collides with your favorite comics performance series CAROUSEL for a unique, once-in-a-lifetime multimedia comics extravaganza at MoCCA on Thursday, June 18th!

You’ll laugh! You’ll scream! It’s not for the squeamish!

Please join the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, (aka MoCCA) for an evening of dazzling cartoon slide shows featuring work from the critically-acclaimed comics anthology TYPHON Volume One.  This exclusive event is brought to you by TYPHON editor Danny Hellman and Carousel host R. Sikoryak.

A select group of TYPHON contributors will be on hand to read their strips, including:

Gregory Benton
Rupert Bottenberg
Victor “Bald Eagles” Cayro
Nick Gazin
Hawk Krall
Hugo
Pshaw
Hans Rickheit
plus Hellman and Sikoryak.

Come meet the artists whose cutting-edge artwork brings the pages of TYPHON to life!

MoCCA Thursday, June 18, 2009. 7 pm
Admission: $5 (Free for MoCCA Members)
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
594 Broadway, suite 401
New York, NY 10012
212-254-3511

For more information about MoCCA please visit
http://www.moccany.org

For more info on TYPHON visit
http://www.dannyhellman.com/typhon.html

This event is intended for Mature Audiences!
(in other words, don’t bring your kids unless they’re already hopelessly warped).

Quimby The Mouse by Chris Ware, John Kuramoto, and Andrew Bird

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Check out this amazing animation put together by Chris Ware for “This American Life — Live!”   The song in this video is “Eugene” by Andrew Bird. Animation by John Kuramoto.  It’s been around for awhile, but it’s still worth a watch.

R. Sikoryak’s new book–Masterpiece Comics

cartoons, comics, Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviews, Publications, , , , , , ,

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Adjunct Faculty and Illustration Alum R. Sikoryak has new book coming out in September and Time Out NY gave a sneak peak slideshow awhile back. Above and below are a couple of choice visual excerpts and here is the official description of the book:

Masterpiece Comics, a new book that reimagines classic literature in the style of well-known comics (including Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the style of old newspaper strip Mary Worth)

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You can see the whole slideshow here–it’s worth it!  Additionally, Bob was interviewed on WFMU back in April  You can listen to the podcast over in the WFMU Speakeasy archives.  He talks about his new book as well as his work with Carousel, a ongoing series of cartoon slide shows & other projected pictures presented by a glittering array of artists, performers, graphic novelists, & other characters.

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Congratulations, Mr. Sikoryak–can’t wait for the book!

Comic Strip Serenade feat. Bill Kartalopoulos and Mark Newgarden

animation, cartoons, comics, Events, Illustration Faculty, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Bill Kartalopoulos & Mark Newgarden Present:

COMIC STRIP SERENADE

Please join us on Sunday, June 7 for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear forgotten songs inspired by unforgettable comic strip characters!

For one night only, the fabulous Jalopy theater will host a live performance of vintage compositions based on Krazy Kat, the
Katzenjammer Kids, Barney Google, Smokey Stover, Li’l Abner, and more, featuring lyrics by Milt Gross, Rube Goldberg, Walt Kelly, and other cartooning and pop music legends.

These songs are lively (and funny) artifacts from the days before television, when comic strips were the dominant form of daily visual entertainment, and from the days before radio, when new songs –published as sheet music — were routinely performed by families and friends in America’s living rooms and parlors. Hundreds of songs based on comic strip characters were published during this fertile period, and co-curators Bill Kartalopoulos and Mark Newgarden will present some of the very best — as well as some of the most wonderfully obscure!

Many of these comic strip songs were never recorded, never filmed, and most have never been publicly performed in the decades since their original publication. The event will also feature some later, post-war songs, including a selection from Broadway’s Li’l Abner and Walt Kelly’s memorable Pogo songs. The archival sheet music used for this special performance was provided courtesy of Mark Newgarden’s longtime collection.

A stunning line-up of celebrated musicians will bring these unearthed gems back to life, including:

Doug Skinner (The Regard of Flight, White Knuckle Sandwich)
Peter Stampfel (The Holy Modal Rounders, the Bottlecaps, the Fugs)
Meg Reichardt (Les Chauds Lapins, The Roulette Sisters) with Kurt
Hoffman (Band of Weeds, Les Chauds Lapins)
Robin Goldwasser & Chris Anderson (The Last Car)
John Keen (Ragtime pianist extraordinaire)

…and many more surprises!

Join us after the MoCCA comics festival ends in a relaxing Brooklyn venue for this very special celebration!

Show starts at 9:00 pm
$10 cover

Jalopy
315 Columbia Street
Brooklyn, NY
http://www.jalopy.biz

Subway Directions: F or G train to Carroll St. (first car if coming
from North/West). Walk 1 block up Smith St to 1st Place. Make left.
Walk down past highway to Columbia St. Make left to 315 Columbia.

Catch Parsons Illustration at Mocca this weekend

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Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival 2009
June 6th & 7th

Parsons Illustration will have a strong presence at the Comic and Cartoon Art Festival this weekend–Stop by and talk to Steven Guarnaccia, the chair of the program, or visit with some students and look at their work!  Interested in Illustration?  We’ll have info about the program and Parsons in general.

Ask questions, see what’s going on, and look a little deeper into the world of Parsons Illustration!  Never been to MoCCA?  Now’s the perfect time.  And here’s the full description of the Festival itself:The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is proud to announce MoCCA Festival 2009 will be held June 6th & 7th at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street in New York City.

The Village Voice calls the MoCCA Festival “”the best small-press nexus (anywhere!)” Now BIGGER than ever! An incredible weekend of comic and cartoon art exhibitors, panels, lectures, sketches, autographs, and more! Thousands come every summer to meet and purchase works from some of the world’s best cartoonists, animators, and graphic novelists.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets

When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm

Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend

MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

More information available here.

Hope to see you there!

Quick Hit: Cartooning and Comics for the Kids

cartoons, comics, Education, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , , , , , , , ,

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James Sturm and two of his former students, Alexis Frederick-Frost and Andrew Arnold, have created Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics.  Here’s the official description:

In this action-packed cartooning adventure, kids will have as much fun making comics as reading them!

Once upon a time . . . a princess tried to make a comic.  And with the help of a magical cartooning elf, she learned how – well enough to draw her way out of an encounter with a dangerous dragon, near-death by drowning, and into her very own adventure!  Like the princess, young readers will discover that they already have the drawing and writing skills it takes to make a comic – they just need a little know-how.  And Adventures in Cartooning supplies just that.

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Here’s what Booklist has to say about it:

Not quite a how-to book, as the cover might suggest, this is rather a stupendous new high for children’s graphic novels, spearheaded by comics maestro Sturm (Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, 2007). Ostensibly, this is the adventure of an eager knight, a sweet-toothed horse, and a magic elf hunting down a gum-chewing dragon, and those reading for the adventure itself will not be disappointed, filled as it is with humor, action, and a great girl-empowering twist. But along the way, lessons in the language of sequential art are woven seamlessly into the narrative, explaining the basics of how elements such as panels and word balloons work, while concluding bonus features offer specifics on terminology (like gutters and stems) and common symbols (like speed lines). Newcomers Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost, using varying page compositions to keep the sizable volume visually captivating, have constructed a tale that works just as well as a read-aloud for the very young as it does a lesson for everyone from fans of the form to the wholly uninitiated. As an examination of the medium, it’s a supremely worthy spiritual legacy to Scott McCloud’s seminal Understanding Comics (1993). As a straight-up graphic adventure, it may be the best of the year.

Grab a copy for your little one (or yourself) here.

An Afternoon with Graphic Novelists from around the globe on May 3rd

cartoons, comics, Current Students, Education, Events, Illustration Industry, Interviews, Talks/Lectures, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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An Afternoon with Graphic Novelists from around the globe:
Jonathan Ames, Neil Gaiman, Emmanuel Guibert, David Polonsky, Shaun Tan, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and Adrian Tomine

WHEN: SATURDAY, MAY 2
WHERE: The Great Hall, Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, NYC

1-2:00 p.m. Neil Gaiman: Coraline, Sandman, Books and Imagination
Join Neil Gaiman, the creator of the enormously popular Sandman series of graphic novels, Coraline (recently adapted to the big screen), and a dizzying array of novels, short stories and films — with World Voices Festival director Caro Llewellyn for a discussion on imagination, inspiration and creativity.

2:30-4 p.m. 1,000 Words: The Power of Visual Storytelling
Participants: Emmanuel Guibert, David Polonsky, and Shaun Tan. Moderated by Jonathan Ames. David Polonsky (Israel) illustrated the horrors of the Israeli-Lebanon war in Waltz with Bashir; Shaun Tan (Australia) has imagined the experience of immigration in The Arrival; Jonathan Ames (U.S.) has depicted the life of a failing writer in The Alcoholic; and Emmanuel Guibert (France) has documented war in Afghanistan and in Europe.

4:30-5:30 p.m. Yoshihiro Tatsumi in Conversation with Adrian Tomine
Yoshihiro Tatsumi — widely credited with starting the gekigastyle of alternative comics in Japan some 40 years ago — is joined by Adrian Tomine, the acclaimed author of Shortcomings, for a conversation on the evolution of comics in Japan, the U.S., and around the world. Cosponsored by Cooper Union.

$10/$8 PEN members The three sessions: Only $25/$20 PEN members www.smarttix.com or 212.868.4444
20% DISCOUNT for STUDENTS: $8 for one session, $20 for three sessions. Use code: pen303

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Yoshihiro Tatsumi will also appear in… Working for the Weekend: Modern Day Salarymen
WHEN: THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 4:30–5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 East 52nd Street, NYC
Participants: Kathrin Röggla and Yoshihiro Tatsumi

From Kafka’s Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis to Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter, writers have explored the everyday realities of working life to tell larger stories. Yoshihiro Tatsumi began depicting the lives of Japanese working people in his comics more than four decades ago, while Kathrin Röggla’s docu-novel We Never Sleep describes the working experience of her European contemporaries. Join them for a discussion about writing the working lives of everyday people—East and West.  Cosponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum.

FREE and open to the public. However, reservations are required.   Please call ACF’s reservation line at 212.319.5300 (ext. 222) or email reservations@acfny.org.

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All of these events are presented as part of PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. 160 writers from 40 countries take the stage at venues across the city for a week of conversations, performances and readings. New York City, April 27-May 3, 2009. For complete schedule of events (including a ton of other literary-centric delights), go here.