Friday, December 18, 2009

On www.comicbookresources.com they revealed the results of their Top Two Comic Book Storylines of All Time as voted by the readers.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen #1-12) - 2003 points (78 first place votes)



"The Dark Phoenix Saga" by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #129-137) - 1472 points (59 first place votes)



http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/12/18/top-100-comic-book-storylines-2-and-1/

Full results. ^^ Has anyone read these??


Thursday, December 17, 2009

James Jean
















Hey, everyone. I just thought you should all take a look at James Jean if you haven't before. He's not a comic artist per se but he has done some cover art for comics and gets a ton of work doing commercial illustration. Plus his sketchbook is just incredible.

His main website is:


but he has a great blog at:


Really makes you want to draw!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

More Recommendations?

Hi all- thought I'd take the chance to share one of the webcomics I follow- Girl Genius, written and drawn by Professors Phil and Kaja Foglio. The tagline of "Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!" sums it up rather nicely, but it has plenty of comedy and a lot of world building too.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104

I know there's Bakuman from the team behind Deathnote and Moebiuss work- does anyone have more titles or authors they would recommend off hand?

Friday, December 11, 2009

Moebius/Sci-Fi Site


HI ALL!!
file:///Users/stephenoliver/Desktop/Picture%20clipping.pictClipping

I decided since Moebius is one of my favorite artists to post the site that shows him actually drawing and his process. Also If you would like a copy of my power point just in case anyone wanted to look at it again to get some information on him and see more of his artwork let me know and I can send it to you in an email :). Just copy and paste this link and you should be redirected to it. Also underneath the link for Moebius' video is another link to a website that has a lot of information for sci-fi artists. This is where i found the video Time Masters that Moebius worked on in the early 80's and tons of other information on other science fiction artwork and videos! Enjoy!

http://drawn.ca/2008/07/07/moebius-redux/


http://starfruitsurfrider.blogspot.com/


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Good ol' Ink tip

How's everyone doin?

Just recently stumbled upon a tutorial video by Mark Crilly.
In this video Mark Crilly, artist of Miki Falls, presents a lesson on how to ink with micron pens, with some helpful tips about crosshatching technique.
I like how this vid show how much crosshatching is enough so it will not ruin the drawing. Also the video, not only he teaches how to do crosshatching, he teaches how to ink properly (hair, eye, mouth, and ear).

Check it out, and I hope it helps you!~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AetUX0akcC8

PS Ignore the site that shows up on the video, some person took the vid and began to use it as an advertisement.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Characters

Hi comic peoples!

I've always liked character designs - I usually burn hours and hours of my life looking at this stuff - so I just wanted to share these two site. These cats do one heck of a job coming up with some awesome character - Rich is one of my friends. Justin Sweet is another artist I use when I am in need of inspiration for compositions. He has about 3 different styles of drawing and painting that he uses for his work and I think he bases it on the theme if the concept . . . so check them out, especially their environments

Justin Sweet: http://www.justinsweet.com/index.html

Richard Loung: http://luongart.esmartdesign.com/index.html




Sunday, November 8, 2009

Paul Pope on Wednesday Comics




Paul Pope talks a bit about his experiences with Wednesday Comics. Wednesday Comics was an experimental format DC played with a few months back. Publishing a weekly anthology of comics, using only one page per title. In 14x20 newspaper format. Pope contributed with The Adventures Of Adam Strange.

http://pulphope.blogspot.com/2009/10/muad-dib.html

Friday, October 30, 2009

Comix Battle this Tuesday, November 3!


Hi all,
Comix Battle this Tuesday, 6pm. Free. Be there!

Infusing the sacred art of comics creation with the flippant irreverence of improv comedy and the swaggering bravado of professional wrestling, the “Comic Art Battle” is a live art spectacle that pits the comic book world's most talented creators, writers and artists against each other in a clash of lightning-quick wits and spontaneous draftsmanship.


 A successful team of battlers will have to deploy talent and strategy as well as natural charisma in order to win over the audience during a series of timed matches, all of which are heavy on audience participation and ultimately judged by audience applause. The menagerie of challenges ranges from one-on-one cage matches where two artists must sketch a volunteer from the audience in an audience-suggested setting, to an all-out brawl where every team member must get up on stage at once and put their heads together to create a six-panel comic based on an audience-suggested theme in under five minutes.

With an ever-revolving roster of contenders, dynamic team line-ups, and a growing assortment of bone-crushing challenges, these unpredictably uninhibited events are never the same and always full of surprises!


More info (including video and photos from past battles) is available HERE.

Super Duper Awesome Amazing Comic Group


hey guys, as i mentioned in class today, i'm gathering a group to produce and distribute a bi-monthly anthology of comic works. anyone can join.

you don't need to have a 12 page epic every issue. works range from 1 pagers, political cartoons, to an on going series. if we have too many people, its possible we can do a rotating roster. if it does turn out to be a rotating roster, the possibility of this turning into a monthly thing is more than possible.

this is not by any stretch of the imagination a money maker. this is just for fun, get our work out, and learn about the annoying side of comic production. its also good to have a group of people serious about comics to get feed back outside of class. AND if you join, you'll get access to my giant collection of comics.

email me if you're interested. me and my co-organizer will organize a meeting within the next week to discuss production, printing, and distribution outlets we've come up with. its also a chance to give us inputs and ideas, and just to get everyone on the same page.

my email is: blue-caravan@hotmail.com

Monday, October 26, 2009

Pose Maniac

Hey guys. Just dropping by to let everyone know of a pretty good site for reference poses to help with the process of drawing your scenes.

Check it out

Friday, October 16, 2009

Best manga ABOUT MANGA!!!


Hey everyone, this is Tatsumi.

I want to share a manga with you guys, but sadly its not translated into English,
and I dont think it will be anytime soon, or ever.

It's called "Bakuman" and it's the newest (and still ongoing) series by the two authors
of Death Note. It is a story about two middle school (currently high school in the series)
trying to become a manga artist in the most popular manga magazine in Japan, "Shonen Jump".

Alot of people have questions, including Japanese people like myself, on the steps and techinques, what goes on during drawing a manga, and such more. Everything is in this comic starting from these two kids submitting their work to win prizes, all the way to becoming a professional manga artist in Japan.

If you ever wanted to experience what it feels like to be a part of the manga culture in Japan, this is the manga for you. The good news is that probably because the authors are the same as Death Note, many foreign fans have translated this comic. Below is the link.


If this doesnt work for you, tons more will come up if you type "read bakuman online" or something in google. I am usually against illegal uploading and viewing of comics, but some things you just gotta share! But if it ever does come up in the US, please buy it after you read it online. I'm sure you will sympathize more and buy it too after you read how hard it is to survive as a manga artist in a weekly magazine :)

Enjoy!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Guy Davis



If anyone missed Guy Davis today, he's doing a signing tomorrow the 15th at Graham Cracker Comics.


If you aren't familiar with his work. Davis first came onto the scene with Baker Street, which lead him to do Sandman Mystery Theater for DC's Vertigo. Currently he's working on his own project The Marquis and B.P.R.D (Hellboy spin off written by Mignola).

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

International Comics Arts Forum at SAIC THIS WEEK!

This year's International Comic Arts Forum will be held in Chicago this year, hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago! That means you'll have the chance to see comics artists and scholars from all over the world present on their work, covering diverse topics including Ethics + Comics, Questions of Identity, and Innovative Forms. Panels and presentations will take place in the Grand Ballroom and at the Gene Siskel Film center THIS WEEK ONLY, with a full schedule of events from Thursday, October 15 through Saturday, October 17th.

Check out the full schedule of events on the ICAF site HERE!

Call for Illustrators


Chris Kullstroem, a writer from Norwich, CT is currently seeking illustrators for his upcoming book "Deadly Roles," a collection of interactive murder mysteries in which players take on character roles, search for clues and solve mysteries in a themed party setting. He's seeking several illustrators so that a different style can be applied to each chapter.

This is an unpaid assignment, but great experience, and good for your portfolio.

Chapters focus on the following themes:

  • The Plague
  • Death Omens (ravens, banshees, hellhounds, etc.)
  • Alchemy
  • Funeral Home
  • Underworld Legends (Heaven, Hell, Greek Underworld, Limbo, etc.)
  • Cursed Cemetery
  • The Undead (vampires, zombies, ghosts)

  Each chapter includes roughly 8-12 character illustrations, 6-8 full page illustrations and 5-10 small images. You must be able to put all images into high resolution TIFF and JPEG format.

  Looking to start project immediately for completion date of early 2010.

  If you're interested, contact Chris at chris@monstersandbooks.com with sample work.



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Windsor McCay Talk 10/28/09

Winsor McCay - Conservative Revolutionary
October 28, 2009
6:30 - 7:30 pm


An examination of the life and work of Winsor McCay, creator of Little Nemo and the "Father of American Animation." Rick Marschall, editor of eight books and author of many articles on McCay's work, will discuss aspects of foundations and innovations in McCay's style; and the role of technology and mass-production in his art, particularly Sunday comic supplements and animated cartoons.

The event will be held at Columbia College Chicago, Hokin Lecture Hall, 623 S. Wabash Ave., Room 109. It's FREE and open to the public.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Unifying Theory Of Superman's Powers

io9 recently posted an article summarizing a theory that unifies all of Superman's abilities into one. The theory was conceived by Ben Tippett. Tippett proposes that Superman has the ability to manipulate the inertia of matter on the atomic to kilometer length scales in which he is in contact with.

To use x-ray vision, he alters the emission and absorption of atoms/molecules. He can also alter his own physiology. My problem is that this does not explain how Superman can see in 5 different DIMENSIONS while in a bleed in space time which causes multiple different universes to clash into each other, a redundancy which I'm willing to over look for now. If Supes can alter the emission/absorption rate, then it would only be logical that that power would only work in the New Earth (Earth-0, not Earth-Zero) Universe. Since it would illogical to assume that the laws of physics work the same in the other 52, much less when they clash into each other.

If this theory is true, then it would also make sense that Superman would not have to do much to disable missiles, nukes, guns, and many other things that could be sabatoged by changing the inertia of matter just a bit.

My final problem is that this does not explain how Superman is able to fuse with Ultraman to embody a giant Superman Robot to do battle with a void sucking vampire who's part of a race of immortals who control the balance of the 52 worlds.

Although looking back, I think my main problem is with the horrid writing of Grant Morrison.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Presentation Party! (ahem, schedule)


Hi all, below is the official schedule for in-class comics artist presentations.

Plan ahead: you will need to (1.) research interviews,articles, and high-quality images to address the requirements discussed in class (2.) read *at least* one complete printed work that you'll bring to share with the class, and (3.) organize and present a cohesive visual (Powerpoint or Keynote) presentation for the class.

So, without further ado, here's the calendar:

Oct 2: Caitlin Ostrow (David B.); Marissa Eurek (Julie Doucet)
Oct 9: Andrew Shen (Paul Pope); Jane Pigliacelli (Alison Bechdel); Ali Adame (Jhonen Vasquez)
Oct 16: Mike DuPree (Taiyo Matsumoto); Antonia Neva (Marjane Satrapi); John Cho (Kohta Hirano; Erica Li (Jessica Abel)
Oct 30: James Lee (John Porcellino); Lauren Smith (Anders Nilsen); Luthando Mazuboko (Windsor McCay)
Nov 6: Stephen Oliver ( Moebius); Sam Smith (Simon Bisley); Stephen Settles (Osamu Tezuka)
Nov 13: Dylan Rabe ( Frank Miller); Tatsumi Hsu (Junji Ito); Matt Koos (Renee French)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Chicago Humanities Festival


Lynda Barry and Matt Groening will be speaking at the UIC Forum on Nov. 5 as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. From the CHF website:

Matt Groening (creator of the The Simpsons, Futurama, and Life in Hell) and Lynda Barry (Ernie Pook’s Comeek and The Good Times are Killing Me) first met in the 1970s at Evergreen State College, the improbable seedbed of some of the greatest graphic comic work of the past several decades. They remain close friends and continue to influence each other’s work. Two of the country’s funniest people separately, Groening and Barry together breach the comic sublime.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Great Comics on the Cheap


If you're looking for some interesting new comics (and you should be...) make sure you take advantage of Drawn & Quarterly's 40% - 50%-off sale AND Top Shelf's  $3 Online sales.  These are both great ways to sample a range of great experimental and independent comics without spending a lot of money. Both publishers showcase a diverse range of pretty amazing work, so check out their rosters and, while you're at it, take a look at their submission guidelines for submitting your own!

Note: Top Shelf also features a whole page of links to interviews on other sites with some of the artists they publish. James Kochalka, Allen Moore, Lilli Carre, Jeffrey Brown, Renee French, and more. Drawn and Quarterly also features in-depth bios of its artists.