5/25/12 - WonderFest - This weekend in Louisville!

WonderFest is this weekend in Louisville! Today and tomorrow, May 26th & 27th. Surprisingly, a lot folks aren't aware of this little gem and it's been going on for more than twenty years! If you like kit models of your favorite horror/science fiction/fantasy characters then you will love WF! If you are interested in dinosaurs and movie monsters you will love WF! If you want to meet fellow artists like William Stout (cartoonists, movie production design, theme park design, illustrator, ecologist, muralist), Jay Liesten (local comics inker), David Silva (dinosaur sculptor),and Frank Dietz (animator, illustrator, caricaturist) - you will love WonderFest! Tons of dealer tables for kits, painted sculpture, art books, and sculpting/casting suppliles!

Info below from their website:

WonderFest 2012Saturday May 26th & Sunday May 27th  •  Show hours are 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both days
To be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 830 Phillips Lane, Louisville, KY 40209.

Admission Costs:

Adults:  $25 for 1-day, $33 for 2-day ticket
Ages 4 to 12:  $8 for 1-day  $11 for 2-day ticket
Ages 3 and under:  Free
Early Bird Admission (gets you in 2 hours early at 8 a.m. Saturday):  $55 2-day ticket

WonderFest admissions can only be purchased at the door; no advance tickets are available. We do not accept credit cards.

5/7/12 - Rundown of March Events - LCTC & McLeod Workshop

Illustrator Sal Villagran (left) at the CCG Table

March 2012 was very busy month near the end. The CCG set up at the very first Lexington Comic& Toy Convention. This was a pleasure to see and be part of - we now have a quality mid size comic show in our own hometown!

Thanks to Jarrod Greer and his many helpers for completing the trifecta (obligatory horse racing lingo for Kentucky folks). We now have three excellent comic shows within easy driving distance:  first, two years ago there was the Cincinnati Comic Expo (Andrew Satterfield and Matt Bredestege)
 and then last year Eric Bannister and his crew of merry elves pulled off a stellar start for the Louisville based Derby City Comic Con.

Thanks to Wizards of the Coast illustrator Sal Villagran for keeping me company at our table for a good part of the show.

 Thanks to everyone who stopped by and signed up for the CCG email list. Please email me if you have not been added. It was nice meeting some of of our newer members who have not attended a meeting yet - hope to have one soon!

Bob presented novel insights about Grapic Storytelling
and Inking during the one day workshop

Bob is a great teacher and demonstrated an
 amazing control over the tools of his trade!

One of the reasons this abundance of quality comic conventions in our area is so exciting for the CCG is that it brings comics industry professionals to our back door and opens possibilities for talks and workshops!.

Bob McLeod and I have been talking about something like this since we met in 2007 at the Baltimore Comic Con. But our group is just not big enough or have enough resources to cover complete travel costs - but thanks to Bob being invited to the LCTC a major hurdle was cleared for us.

Our next education event will be a presentation by Larry Hama in Louisville on Sunday July 1st. Our host venue will be the Kentucky School Of Art (thanks to Skylar Smith).

5/2/12 - Free Comic Book Day 2012 - Local Events

Saturday May 5th, 2012
What Is Free Comic Book Day?

Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for their participation and rules.

Watch this space as we try and compile a regional list of events and participating stores! Information is as accurate as possible but may be subject to change.  Please note: quantities are limited for free comics! 

Central Kentucky Free Comic Book Day Events

Danville

• Comic Cosmos - 1560 Hustonville Rd # 101, Danville, KY 40422-2460 - (859) 236-3031 Hours 11a- -11p. Sidewalk sale, store-wide sale and blood drive!

Lexington

• A+ Comics - 123 Southland Drive, Lexington KY 40503 - (859) 276-1118 Special appearance by the Ghostbusters - call for info about sales and specials.

• Collectibles Etc,115 N Locust Hill Dr #106, Lexington, Kentucky  -  (859) 269-663  Call for information about specials and sales. Action Lab makes a store appearance.

•  Heroes Realm, 1624 Old Paris Road, Lexington KY 40505 - (859) 268-0097  Call for information about sales.

• Joseph Beth Booksellers - 161 Lexington Green Circle, Lexington, KY 40503 - (859) 273-2911 Call for info about specials.

• The Comic Interlude -393 Waller Ave # 10, Lexington, KY 40504-2914 - (859) 231-9237     - We'll be open 10Am to 7:30PM,- All Shelf books (single issues) will be 30% Off,- All Trade paperbacks will be 30% Off,- All Hardcovers will be 30$- All backstock issues will be 75% off, - And all toys will be 15% off
• Half Price Books - 2321 Sir Barton Way, Lexington, KY 40509 - (859) 264-0848  Call for information about sales.

• Quarantine Comics FCBD All-Day Live Art-A-Thon! (multiple locations)

Live art! Two chances to see artists draw and paint live! All are welcome and commissions are available.

3pm -6pm  - Collectibles, Etc.,115 N Locust Hill Dr #106, Lexington, KY, (859) 269-6633

6pm -10pm - Movie Tavern, 133 North Locust Hill Drive,Lexington, KY 40509-1532, (859) 266-4645

5/1/12 - Matt Madden Free Lecture and Workshop In Columbus

Matt Madden, co-author of Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and author of 99 Ways To Tell A Story will be doing a free talk (Friday 5/11) and  paid workshop (Saturday 5/12) in Columbus OH, at the Wexner Center on the Ohio State Campus. Here's a an excerpt from their listing for the lecture:

May 11, 2012 4:30 p.m.Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Theater 1871 N. High Street
Cartoonist Matt Madden, creator of 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, talks about his work and how the arbitrary constraints of Oulipo have produced great art in all kinds of media.
Do you think you could make a comic where each panel would only show an extreme close-up of a hand? Or where each panel zooms in closer to a single object? A comic that you can read in more than one direction? Many great works of art begin from willfully perverse constraints or rules such as these. Drawing not just from comics but from literature, film, and music...

This is also the home of the Billy Ireland Comics Library and Museum - home of the largest collection of original comic art in the USA. Matt is a talented cartoonist and teacher (see his blog to see some his other numerous speaking and teaching engagements) and definately worth the drive! 


I've got my ticket for the workshop ($15/12 students + $1 ticket fee (boo hiss)). I hope to go for both days but might just be able to go Saturday.


http://cartoons.osu.edu/?q=events%2Fobstacle-course-oulipo-and-creative-potential-constraints

By the way, Matt and Jessca Abel have completed a follow up to DW&WP - it is called Mastering Comics,  due out May 8th! This new book continues where the first textbook left off - here's a link to a review.