Museum Go Round at the Explorium

Since I, Stevie, work at the Explorium, I wanted to inform all of my fellow comic creators of a dandy little event called the Museum Go Round. The Museum Go Round is a big deal as far as events go at the Explorium and is basically a special event for youngsters (18 and under) to become vendors and sell their art. The Museum admission is free that Saturday SEPTEMBER THE 22nd and there is an application for kids to operate a table and also for a group such as ours to operate a demo table. I already have the application and I would be really excited about operating a workshop on cartooning that day whilst simultaneously promoting our club to tons of kids. Here is a cut and paste of the basic info from the Explorium website, (www.explorium.com), let me know what you think.

Museum GO Round 2007 needs you!

What it is. Museum Go Round (MGR), our most anticipated event, is a street festival - complete with hands-on activities, workshops, food, and entertainment - designed for young artists (18 and under) to show and sell their work. Every year we have over 100 young artists participate with everything from sculpture to hand-made cards; jewelry to paintings; flip flops to photography. Designed to provide a real-world experience, MGR provides our young artists the challenge of overhead, display, customer service and profits (all theirs to keep, by the way!).

What you need to know. It all happens on Saturday, September 22. We’ll close Short Street (from Broadway to Felix Street) for the day. “Booths” are $10.00. Individuals or groups are encouraged to participate. The event runs 11am until 4pm.

What you can do. Join us! You’ll find a MGR Artist Application here. Print it out and send it in. Any art form is acceptable as long as it’s yours. After we receive your application, we’ll follow up with you: confirm your space, give you set-up information and any other details as they develop.

The Kentucky Arts Council, a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet, provides operational support funding for Explorium of Lexington with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

08/26/07 - Woodland Arts Fair, Nice Changes

The 32nd annual Woodland Art Fair (WAF) was held last weekend 8/18- 8/19/07. This is one of the premiere art events each year for Lexington. The new booth layout is a great improvement and really seems so obvious now that you wonder why we had to be crowded together in all those years previous. Bravo to Joe Artz, program director with the Lexington Art League (LAL), organizer of the show, for this much needed change!

I met several local and regional artists and wanted to say hello and thank you to them here:

Saturday I talked with a wonderful watercolor painter named Bruce Allan Neville from Cincinnati. His watercolors were breath of fresh air - very spontaneous without the ubiquitous masking fluid technique that so many watercolorists now use. His paintings remind me of the work of my great aunt, Anne Gieswein Dunn, a life-long artist now in her 80's. She grew up in Covington, Kentucky but has lived most of her life in Connecticut. Mr. Neville, a retired architect had many lovely painting of old Victorian homes that bespoke of his familiarity with their lines. He teaches at the Baker-Hunt Art & Cultural Center in Covington as well as having a studio space in the Pendleton Art Center artist Coop in Cincinnati.

Also on Saturday I met and spoke with Marianna McDonald a pastel and oil artist with vibrant paintings of landscapes that seemed more colorful than real life! She is a long time exhibitor at the WAF and the product of a state school, Murray. Her website has a class link - if she can teach only half of what she knows and does she would be a brilliant teacher. Maybe sometime I will have the pleasure!

Sunday I enjoyed talking to Beau Stahl's wife, oddly he was one of the few figurative artists displaying at the show (come on Lexington, are we really that prudish?). She (I did not get Mrs. Stahl's first name) said the LAL had asked Beau to submit for the Nude 2008 Show (hand delivered entry deadline October 10th 2007) - I hope he does, as I would enjoy seeing his work again and hope to have an opportunity to meet him in person.

Also on Sunday I spoke with one of Lexington's most talented photographers, John Snell, who explained he has worked exclusively in the digital format for the last few years. I hope I didn't bore him with my computer peripheral and hardware advise - turns out he is a former Computing Manager for Transylvania University and doesn't probably need any help in that area. It was kind of hot Sunday and my mouth and brain weren't working in conjunction! He certainly produces some striking landscape work (z falls being one of my favorites) and if you're lucky you can catch him teaching his craft at LAL (hint, hint, education director).

Maybe next year some of us Lexington cartoonists and graphic designers can have a booth; if not at the FAS (a juried event), maybe across the street in the Woodland Church parking lot? Watch for the CCG banner!

PS: If you like outdoor arts and crafts shows check out the Berea Crafts Fair, October 13th & 14th, and the huge Saint James Art Fair in Louisville October 5, 6 and 7. Enjoy!

Art Yard Sale!!!! (This Weekend!!)

!!! Art Yard Sale !!!

This weekend during the "Woodland Arts Fair." Saturday & Sunday, August 18 & 19, 2007.

324 Oldham Ave., Lexington, Ky.
(Oldham Avenue is across the street from Woodland Park's tennis courts)

Affordable art from local Artisans!

- Magnets

- Masks

- Jewelry

- And much much more!

Calendar

Look here for upcoming meeting info or special events. You may find it easier to read in "agenda" view. Email Lexington KY CCG to have your event added.

We are also listed on Zevents.com

08/05/07 - Workflow or Process

First you read through the script, next you...
Identify and gather any reference material you will need, then you...
Thumbnail the panel layouts....

A large part of gaining facility and speed in creating comics or cartoons is having a system, a process, or a workflow. This way you can focus on what you want to say not how you are going to do that. Depending on whether you are part of a creative team (writer, penciler, letterer, inker, or colorist) or an auteur creator and do it all yourself - it is beneficial to have a routine way of approaching your creative task. A large part of this is accomplished through familiarity with your media and materials. You learn, often through trial and error, what works and what doesn't. You learn what flows naturally and what often ends up a big mess.

An example of this familiarity with materials that is specific to drawing: dip pens, like the Hunt 102 are commonly used for inking comics and need a smooth, calendared surface when you are choosing a drawing paper. If you don't have the right paper your pen will get a clumps of paper fiber at the end and require frequent cleaning. Another common problem is when the ink will not keep a sharp line on the page and will bleed and feather. The weight of the paper can become an issue if you lay down large areas of black - thinner papers can buckle or ripple - this is why a 2-ply is predominantly the minimum thickness of bristol board you will see professionals using with dip pens.

I found this cartoon process link on the Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog, it is to Ted Slampyak's blog Shop Talk- he is the current artist for the syndicated comic strip Annie and also has a wonderful web comic entitled Jazz Age. I hope Ted continues to post on his blog about his cartooning process and about how to draw as I found this post most interesting and enlightening.

How do the rest of you all work? Do you have a system? Anyone willing to share your process with us? Or perhaps you know of another web resource that discusses this?