10/05/10 - Post 24-Hour Comics Day event

Congratulation to all who participated in 2010 24-Hour Comics Day event here in Lexington and across the nation!

Brett Hatfield,  a first-time visitor to our August CCG meeting and a frequent cartoon contributor to The Kentucky Kernel has a great facebook gallery post about his local 24HCD experience at Collectibles, Etc.

See his photos at : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1196490001

Brett, send a link when you post your comic! Jenny and Mike too!

Email or post a comment if anyone else out there has anything to share from this year's event!

PS: While researching the founder of  the 24-Hour Comics Dare, Scott McCloud, I found this interesting recent (2008) work of his. It is a 38-page online comic explaining the virtues of Google's Chrome browser. See a master at work, using the medium expertly to explain highly technical material in a clear and illuminating way.

05/08/08 - May Events at OSU Cartoon Research Library

We are very fortunate to be located so relatively close to a such a great comic and cartooning resource. Just a couple of hours drive north of Lexington is the Columbus OH campus of Ohio State University - this is where the OSU Cartoon Research Library is located. I have posted about this facility and their events in the past - last October they celebrated the centennial of the birth of their benefactor and famous OSU graduate Milton Caniff.

This month they will be hosting several excellent programs with world famous comic creators - I hope many of you will try to attend!

Saturday, May 10th 2pm - Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud in Conversation

Join Bone-creator Jeff Smith and comic book artist and theorist Scott McCloud for a lively conversation about Smith’s career and each artist’s view of the practice and future of comic book art. McCloud is the author of Understanding Comics, Making Comics, and Reinventing Comics and the creator of the comic Zot!

Thursday, May 15th 7pm - Terry Moore

Best known for his epic and unpredictable comic Strangers in Paradise and a key figure in the self-publishing of comics, Terry Moore is one of the most influential artist/writers working today.

Tuesday, May 20th 7pm - Paul Pope

One of the most eclectic talents in comics, Ohio State alumnus Paul Pope works in such diverse genres and styles as superheros, erotica, and manga.

Besides hosting wonderful talks and lectures the Cartoon Research Library presents gallery shows of relevant comic art and holds a large and diverse archive of comics and comic art available for viewing, including some digital albums available online.

10/11/07 - Process of The Process & 24-Hour Comics

This story is taken from Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog and looks to be an excellent workup of one web comic cartoonists working process.

"The Process" is the work of Joe Infurnari (self portrait at left) whose work is reminiscent of comics legend Will Eisner!

On Joe's blog he details the steps involved in creating his web comic.

PS: The CCG mini 24-Hour Comic Event location has been confirmed. Watch the CCG Calendar link for full details coming soon! All around the world Cartoonists will be creating various 24-Hour Comics on Saturday, October 20th 2007. Here is a link to some of the activities that SCAD Atlanta is up to that day. The idea for this event is the offspring of famous comics theory author Scott McCloud.

Thanks to Stevie Moore for managing this event while I am out of town!

07/01/07 - Suggested Reading

Suggested Reading:

OK- Here's the beginning of what I hope will be a community effort to point interested readers in the right direction for some quality books. I am only posting books I own or have read or partially read. (So post your recommendations and or add them if you are a part of the team blog.) Updated: 3/27/15

Examples of the Medium
Graphic Novels

• Art Spiegelman - Maus I, II
• Craig Thompson - Blankets, Habibi
• Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis I, II (required reading at one or more US military colleges)
• Alison Bechdel - Fun Home
• David b - Epileptic
• Alfred Bester (w) & Howard Chaykin (a) - The Stars My Destination (amazon) [Novel Adaptation]
• Archie Goodwin (w) & Walter Simonson (a) - Alien [Movie Adaptation]

Comic Trade Paperbacks

• Bryan Talbot - A Tale of One Bad Rat - Dark Horse
• Tom Veitch and Bryan Talbot - The Nazz - DC Comics - (great insight as to how cults form)
• Various - Batman Black and White - DC Comics (SCAD sequential art faculty reference this work often!)

Educational
General Comics and Cartooning

• Matt Madden & Jessica Abel - Mastering Comics: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures
• Matt Madden & Jessica Abel - Drawing Words & Writing Pictures
• Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics
• Scott McCloud - Making Comics
• Will Eisner - Comics & Sequential Art (have not finished this one - hard read for me)
• Will Eisner - Graphic Storytelling (have not finished this one - hard read for me)
• Steve Lieber & Nat Gertler - The Complete Idiots Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel 
• Mike Manley & Danny Fingeroth - How to Create Comics From Script to Print - Twomorrows
• Jack Hamm - Cartooning the Head and Figure - Perigree

Writing Comics

• Denny O'Neil - DC Guide to Writing Comics - Watson Guptill
• Danny Fingeroth (Editor) - Write Now! (Magazine) - TwoMorrows Publishing

Drawing Comics

• Klaus Janson - DC Guide to Pencilling Comics - Watson Guptill
• Klaus Janson - DC Guide to Inking Comics - Watson Guptill
• Various - DC Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics - Watson Guptill
• David Chelsea - Perspective for Comics - Watson Guptill
• Mike Manley (Editor) - Draw! (Magazine) - TwoMorrows Publishing
• Bob McCleod (Editor) - Rough Stuff (Magazine) - TwoMorrows Publishing
• John Buscema and Stan Lee - Drawing Comics the Marvel Way
• Bob Hickey (Publisher) - Sketch (Magazine) - Blue Line Productions

Drawing General

• Jack Hamm - Drawing the Head and Figure - Perigree
• Jack Hamm - How to Draw Animals - Perigree
• Jack Hamm - Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes - Perigree
• Gary Fagin - Facial Expressions: A Visual Guide for Artists - Watson Gutptill (have not finished reading)
• Andrew Loomis - Figure Drawing For All It's Worth - Out of print (PDF versions are available on the web or from CCG folks)
• Ron Tiner - Figure Drawing Without a Model - David and Charles Publishers

6/30/07 - May Workshop Pages

These pages were created as part of an exercise we did during the May CCG Meeting/Workshop at the Tates Creek Branch of the Lexington Public Library.

While the pages are a bit rough around the edges it was fun to churn out something so quickly. It was also a hoot to play off the creativity of the the other cartoonists. I think we all agreed that this was something we should keep up. The basic exercise is a variation of the "Quanto Comics" one Scott McCloud suggests in his book Making Comics, chapter one.

3/30/07 - Scott McCloud Talk In Columbus

Lesson: Keep the faith even when things aren't going your way!

OK, I have egg on my face. I got kind of bummed out after failing to get a local (Lexington) Scott McCloud talk/seminar set up for this spring (see previous posts) and stopped watching his website (and posting to this blog, and scheduling meetings, etc..). Well, I got bit hard for indulging in my little pity party. Unknown to me until after the fact Mr. McCloud spoke earlier this month at two nearby sites: March 6th in Louisville (UofL) and March 7th in Indianapolis (IUPUI). Did anyone reading this attend either of these? Post a comment with your reactions if you did.

Well anyway, just two days ago I saw that there will be another Scott McCloud talk this time in Columbus OH (about a 3-hour drive) on April 4th. I hope to make the trip (send me an email if anyone wants to carpool) to the Ohio State Cartoon and Research Library (see earlier post about the Festival of Cartoon Art they will be hosting in October).

Don't miss this one as it may be a while till (or if) he gets back to our region!!

12/04/06 - Scott McCloud Making Comics Book Tour

UPDATE (1/15/07): Looks like it will be this fall for our chance to host Mr. McCloud. Still need help pulling this off - we need to be working now to make this fall a reality!

Sequential Narrative Guru, Scott McCloud, is making a 50-State tour to promote his latest book: Making Comics. Visit his site to see his itinerary. McCloud is responsible for coining the term "24-Hour Comic" and has been a vocal proponent of the web comic.

He is scheduled to be passing through our region in March/April; I am working fervently to find a local host/venue for him to talk or even possibly instruct.

Please contact me if you have any ideas or can offer any assistance.