Comic Art Battles

Attention all comics artists who secretly harbor fantasies of being rock stars: Ezra Claytan Daniels' famous Comic Art Battles now have a website, so you can get involved. Find out about upcoming battles, contact members of the CAB community, view video footage of past showdowns, and check out others' photos of these fabulous multimedia events. I can't recommend them highly enough, as a participant and/or audience member. The very pinnacle of performative, competitive, collaborative, narrative drawing.

Whatever Happened to Victorine Meurent?

Former Narrative Ink student Victoria Morris has officially published her final comic, a graphic biography of legendary French artist/muse/model Victorine Meurent online for all to see. Check it out HERE.

Interested in other approaches to historical/biographical comics?
Try these:
Chester Brown's Louis Riel
Osamu Tezuka's Buddha
Ho Che Anderson's King
Art Spiegelman's Maus
and if you speak basic French (or Italian), Marco Corona's Frida Kahlo: A Surreal Biography is well worth seeking out.

Activism in the Sunday Funnies

Interesting comics coverage in Newsweek and Editor & Publisher: Darrin Bell and eight other minority newspaper cartoonists join forces to make a pointed comment about racism and the Sunday funnies. Keep your eyes peeled on February 10th for their protest on paper.

PDF Comics

So: while everyone got their comics completed on deadline, several folks did not get them printed in time for our exchange on December 5th. The links below will download PDF comics of each person's work. Please be sure to download and read each one before the crit Friday.

I recommend taking a page of your notebook or sketchbook and jot down notes about each person's comic (whether in PDF or printed form) as you read. Bring it with you to critiques so that we have a basis to start from. Otherwise it's likely you'll forget all about the subtle panel transitions and wording choices you meant to comment on, and that'd make for a pretty lackluster discussion on our last day.

So - without further ado, I bring you:

* Mary Zolp's "The Little White Bird"
* Dann Tincher's "Mann Versus"
* Ernest Kim's untitled (Skulltastic) comic
* Chris Nania's "Death in Vegas"
* Matt Litwin's Scrollable Comic and here the Page-by-Page Version
* Bryan Underhill's Death of a Mariachi
* Rebecca Bach's "The Real True Story of How the Easter Bunny Came to Be"

Pitch Packets and Parfaits

Hi all,
Comics artist and Loaded Blanks publisher Ezra Claytan Daniels has generously offered up this link to the Pitch Packet he talked about during his class visit last week. Not sure what a cover letter should look like? Wondering about the difference between a synopsis and a preview? He's laid out his own examples here, which you can use as a model to put together your own comics pitch for publishers. Just don't try to plagiarize -- publishers will recognize straightaway if you've copied parts of someone else's ideas or phrasing.

On another note, here's a brilliant packaging idea from the publisher of Parfait, the hand-bound zine/artist book edition by Brooklyn-based Emily Larned. Sell one version of your publication for cheap, and another with some handmade, limited-edition freebie attached (in this case an "electric animal" in customized packaging) and charge a little more. This also works for covers - you can make a cheapie version with xerox only, and a limited-edition run with silkscreened covers. That way everyone gets to enjoy the content, and those willing to pay a little extra for your time can appreciate it as an art object.

Annwyn's Comic

Click this link to read Annwn Kohlmoos' final comic in PDF format. I suggest printing a copy if at all possible... otherwise there will be a lot of looking over shoulders.

As you read everyone's comics, I suggest again that you take down notes, so that we can get the most out of our discussion on Friday. How are the pacing and transitions working? Does the aesthetic of the drawing complement the content? Is the dialogue consistent, or believeable? Jot down your thoughts on each and bring 'em with you to critiques.

Salmagundi

Here's Nick's webvideo comic, for all to see. Enjoy!