SCAD Watercolor Project from Samir Barrett

Hey, this is Samir Barrett, Animation and Sequential Art student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I've been asked a few times to show you all my process when it comes to doing projects so that's what I'm doing.



This is not one of my best pieces but if you wish to see my step by step process for this water color project then you can see it here: http://sketchmasterskillz.blogspot.com/2009/11/water-color-project-for-mat-tech.html

10/28/09 - OSU Cartoon Library - New Name, Same Great Programming

The largest single collection of comic and cartoon art is housed relatively close to us - just a few hours drive to the north is Columbus and Ohio State University campus. There you will find the newly renamed: Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. A generous donor has insured that they will soon have a facility to more appropriately display their holdings - good news indeed!

Now the world’s largest collection of cartoon art and comics, the Cartoon Library and Museum is currently located in the basement of the Wexner Center for the Arts http://cartoons.osu.edu/. Its new, permanent home in Sullivant Hall will expand its space from its current 6,808 square feet to more than 40,000 gross square feet of space storage and exhibit space allowing more of the collection to be displayed and accessible to the public.

Click here for the complete news release about the name change.

You may want to keep their events URL in your browser favorites - the library hosts many expert lectures and significant art shows throughout the year. They will be hosting the next of their tri-annual Festival of Cartoon Art in a little less than a year - October 15-16, 2010!

Coming up next month is a lecture about Winsor McCay on Tuesday November 3rd at 7PM where John Canemaker, McCay's biographer, presents "The Art and Life of Winsor McCay," a talk on this legendary cartoonist..

10/07/09 - UK Community Arts Group Gallery Show - Year THREE!

Being able to draw the human figure is a foundation skill for cartooning, illustration, animation and many other visual art specialties. Here in Lexington we don't have a whole lot of options for adult learning but there has been one beacon of light that has been a consistent resource for several years. Here is a news release describing a current gallery show from the UK Community Arts Group:

Lexington KY - September 27^th 2009 - The UK Community Arts Group is proud to announce our third annual Gallery Show: "Life Drawing". This group show is from a collective of artists who attend the long running open life drawing sessions in the Reynolds Building. The works displayed are from the past year and were either created at these sessions or derived from work created there. This is a varied group not just in age (twenties to eighties) but in cultural background, degree of formal training and artistic approach.

We invite all to attend during the run of the show but especially hope our current and past models along with absent members and friends will grace our gala reception.

The show dates will be:

• Opening on Monday 9/28/09
• Reception on Friday 10/02/09. Reception times are 6-9pm. Light refreshments served.
• Last Exhibition date: Friday 10/9/09

The show will be held on the UK Campus at:

Raymond Barnhart Gallery
Room 206
Reynolds Building 1
672 South Broadway (near the intersection of Scott Street)
Lexington KY 40506-0101

For further information about the show please contact Professor Arturo Sandoval, Barnhart Gallery Director at (859) 230-9635 (email: aa.sandoval@uky.edu)

This post is getting up quite late - this show will be up for just another three days! But this is a great example of community art and the variety of artists and work that can come from it. This show is a group show show presented in an informal "salon" style of presentation. The link that ties it at all together is that the work was created or derived from studies created in the open life drawing sessions held Saturday mornings and (currently, but subject to change semester to semester) Tuesday evenings in the Reynolds Building. These are open, uninstructed life drawing sessions with a nude model. We have artists with no formal training alongside retired professor emerita. We have an age range from late teens to octogenarians. This exhibition is an exciting time when we actually get to see what our fellow artists have been creating and can compare to our own work - often of the same model or even the same pose!

My thanks go out to UK Architecture Professor Tony Roccanova, who tirelessly coordinates the open life drawing sessions, Professor Hui Chi Lee who among many things acts as a group liaison with the art department, Professor Arturo Sandoval, the Barnhart Gallery Director and great friend to the community arts group and Professor Ben Withers, chair of the UK Art Department, upon whose generosity and support we all prosper.

10/03/09 - 2009 Lexington 24-Hour Comic Day Challenge

Today is 24-Hour Comic Day. Around the whole country cartoonists are working alone or meeting in groups to create 24 pages in 24 hours. That is writing, penciling, lettering and inking twenty-four pages - with no preliminary work beforehand!
Here are some links to sites and blogs about this years events:

• http://www.24hcd.blogspot.com/
• http://24-hourcomic.blogspot.com/

Here in Lexington, the CCG has worked to organize local interest and also was thrilled to find a willing host: Tony Florence, owner of Collectibles, Etc.

Lexington's first official 24-Hour Comic Day challenge started today at 11:00am and will run the full 24 hours until tomorrow, Sunday 10/4/09 at 11:00am. The store will stay open through the whole event - so if you are reading this post before the day is over (even in the middle of the night) go out and visit these brave souls and give them your encouragement. Here's the location:

Collectiblles, Etc.
115 North Locust Hill Drive
Suite 106
Lexington, KY 40509
google map

Show your suport and buy something while you're there to let them know you appreciate them hosting events like this that help build a community for local comic creators. I would like to thank Tony on behalf of the CCG and all those cartoonists attending todays marathon!

09/26/09 Back to School Special Meeting/Workshop Sunday

Tomorrow we will having our annual "Back to School Special" Meeting/Workshop at the Beaumont Branch Library. This meeting is our annual recruitment drive also - so you regulars: please bring that friend who you have been meaning to tell about our little group! New folks: bring samples of your work to share and get input from fellow comic creators, illustrators and animators.

It should be an exciting meeting, our special guest speaker and instructor will be Fran Riddell. Fran will be talking about her training and experiences as a caricature artist and give an introductory lesson to the group. Fran, besides teaching art full time at a local parochial school, is in great demand by groups and agencies for her skill at caricature. It is encouraging to hear her reports that her part-time vocation is in great demand and should serve as encouragement for many visual artists out there that there are still ways to make a living following their passion and creating art.

09/18/09 - Comicpalooza and 24th Worldwide SketchCrawl

Two events coming up tomorrow, Saturday 9/19/09:
Comicpalooza at Comics2Games in Florence, KY. There will be art demos and and instruction. Guests include Uko Smith.

For more information contact:
Comics 2 Games 859-647-7568 / info@comics2games.com
Blue Line 859-282-0096 / info@bluelinepro.com

The 19th of September 2009 is also the 24th Worldwide SketchCrawl. Taken from the SketchCrawl site:

"...making the SketchCrawl a World Wide event: having people from different corners of the world join in a day of sketching and journaling and then, thanks to the Internet, having everyone share the results on an online forum."

Sunday the 20th is another Cabaret Life Drawing session at 21c Museum in Louisville.

Don't you just love Fall? The weekends are so packed with festivals and events - it's sometimes overwhelming just figuring out what to do!

09/11/09 - Scare Fest 2009 and CCG Sketch Walkabout

Scare Fest returns again this year, bigger and scarier than ever! This is a good opportunity to meet some talented artists (Billy Tackett) and popular local comic creators (RD Hall). I also encourage those who will attend to take their sketchbook and we can turn the three day event into an extended CCG Sketch Walkabout! There should be lots of folks in makeup and costumes! Feel free to post comments here or on the Lexington KY Comic Creators facebook PAGE, if anyone wants to meet up there for some drawing comraderie (post a time and place). Please send me links to your sketches from this so we can all share! (Please send links and not the actual files!)

CCG Sketch Walkabout not to be confused with the upcoming 24th World Wide SketchCrawl Drawing Marathon for 9/19/09! (Two links here, one for the blog and one for the Facebook EVENT.) Look for more about this later!

The Scare Fest is the Largest Horror and Paranormal Convention in the southeast where you will be able to experience three horror- filled- days in September 11th, 12th, 13th 2009 at the Lexington Center in Lexington, Kentucky one of the largest convention centers in the state with an abundance of parking on site. Come and meet your favorite celebrities in the horror and paranormal community.

*****NEW HOURS FOR 2009*****

Opens Friday at 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm ( Golden Ticket Entry: 4PM )

Opens Saturday at 11:00 am to 8:00 pm ( Golden Ticket Entry: 10AM )

Opens Sunday at 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm ( Golden Ticket Entry: 11AM )

09/08/09 - Report from 2009 Gen Con, Indianapolis IN

The following blog entry was written by Stevie Moore who attended a portion of this year's event held August 13-16 2009:

Gen Con Indy - Great Opportunity for Aspiring Sci-Fi and Fantasy Artists

Gen Con is one of the largest conventions of its type in the world, originally started by Gary Gygax (of Dungeons and Dragons) fame. Besides Gen Con INDY, there is another Gen Con in California, which is now owned by the ex-CEO of Wizards of the Coast and represents much more than just gaming. Having been to Gen Con Indy for the second time; this year my biggest complaint is there is simply too much to see, even if you were there for the full 4-5 days until 2 a.m. every night. My focus at Gen Con and this article will therefore be on the Art related features which are so wonderful and close by.

A major part of every years convention is the heavy emphasis and recognition bestowed upon the talented artists that work in the gaming industry. This has led to be an all inclusive mecca for the fantasy artist, where you can go to the art show and see artists that are very novice to seasoned veterans of illustration, from Dragon Lance novel covers to Magic Cards, to just about any artwork created for any game. Every year Gen Con selects an "Artist Guest of Honor" this year being Omar Rayyan, whose work has appeared on many magic cards.

I had a great opportunity to go the last day of the convention this year and talk with many of the 75 or so artists at their booths. I was amazed at how friendly the artists were and how helpful they all were with information about portfolios, networking, and other aspects of the freelance and illustration business. Artists booths range from $200-$400, depending on the number of panels behind their tables, where artists display their best work and sell pieces to a target audience of collectors and fans. Interestingly enough, many artists I talked to said they usually do better than break even but its much more than an art sale. Gen Con being one of the largest trade shows of its type, the networking is worth its weight in gold! Many artists talked about new jobs and contracts that they get every year just by showing up to the show. In addition to that there are free portfolio reviews by professional art directors and also many artists were happy to look at portfolio's, as I personally witnessed at one point and was surprised by the positive nature of the critique that differed greatly from my upbringing at the University of Kentucky school of Fine Art!

With just about every art director in the business crawling the floors searching for new talent there is no reason not to either investigate getting a booth or bringing your portfolio for any fantasy artists. Although not specifically geared to the comic world, Gen Con has plenty of Comic, Manga, Anime, Card and Board Games, Role playing Games, Video Games, and just about any other related activity you can think of. What sets it apart from many other conventions is the respect and highlight they give to the creative artists and designers that make so much of that imaginary world visible for those that enjoy it.

09/03/09 - 2009 Lexington 24HCD Event Interest

24-Hour Comic Day (24HCD) is an annual event where comic creators attempt to produce from scratch a 24 page comic in 24 hours. This idea was born in 1990 from a dare Scott McCloud, noted comic creator and author of Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics made to his friend, and fellow comic artist, Steve Bissette.

Additional information about 24-Hour Comics Day can be had at :

• http://www.scottmccloud.com/4-inventions/24hr/index.html
• http://www.24hourcomicsday.com/

The Lexington KY Comic Creators Group (CCG) is considering organizing such an event for October 3rd 2009 with the help of a Lexington comic shop host. Sponsorship is still a question but not a requirement. A small ($10-25) entry fee may required to help cover expenses.

The Colorado Alliance of Illustrators is hosting a 24HCD event and has some interesting plans:

• http://www.allianceofillustrators.com/content.aspx?page_id=87&club_id=651408&item_id=97832

Please follow the link below to complete an online survey form ASAP (hey it is a Census year!) so the CCG and any potential event hosts can determine :

1. length of event
2. number of people interested
3. anything we didn't think of

Go to FORM

8/30/09 - GLC NCS Meeting News - Superman and Comic Strip Superstar

Last weekend the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society or GLC NCS had their annual summer get-together in Cincinnati and invited some guests to attend - among whom I was lucky enough to be included. Many thanks to Craig Boldman for the invite! This meeting was fun and informative. Last year, myself and few other CCG members attended a similar event and info gained from then and there led to my being able to attend the NCS Tribute luncheon and presentation of the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award to Frank Frazetta at his museum in Pennsylvania in September 2008.

Well this year had some interesting news items as well. Ed Black, the GLC's secretary told of a project to preserve the homes in Cleveland Ohio of the two creators of Superman. The Siegal and Shuster Society is a registered charity and was founded last year by writer Brad Meltzer. With the generous help of many current comic artists it has raised over $100,000 in the last year to preserve the home of Jerry Siegel. This past July there was celebration of this achievement - see this link to CBR story for more details: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21998

Another brief Ed shared was about Comic Strip Superstar. This event is a contest (entries must be in by September 12th 2009 to be eligible.

The winner will receive a publishing contract from Andrews McMeel Publishing, a $5,000 advance from Universal Uclick, and a monthly stipend for the development of 20 comic strips that will be considered for syndication.

Two well known cartoonist judges for the event include Gray Trudeau (Doonesbury) and Lynn Johnston (For Better or Worse) Also judging will be two veteran Universal Press Syndicate editors. The contest is sponsored by Andrews McMeel Publishing and hosted by Amazon.com. You need to have two weeks of daily cartoons and two Sunday strips in order to enter.

I did some further web searches upon hearing of this contest and have cooled somewhat in my initial enthusiasm for this project. There seems to be some concern that the contracts are somewhat one sided in the interest of the sponsor and not a good deal for the lucky winner. See these links for some of these commentaries:

• http://forums.leasticoulddo.com/index.php?showtopic=30264
• http://blog.comicspace.com/?p=1686
• http://www.webcomics.com/home/2009/8/19/comic-strip-superstar-contest-announced.html

Revised 09/08/09:
Oops! I forgot to mention previously the National Caricaturists Network (NCN) 2009 National Convention:

http://www.caricature.org/index.php?page=convention-upcoming

The event will be in Sandusky, OH over November 2-7, 2009. Big discounts for signing up before 9/15/09 - see site and below (copy and pasted from Tom Richmond's excellent blog):

On or Before September 15th:

• Members- $165
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $99

After September 15th:

• Members- $250
• Member guests- $100 each
• Non- Member “Seminar Only”- $125

08/02/09 - Lousiville Cartoonist Society

There's a new comic creator group in Kentucky!

The Louisville Cartoonists Society!

I had heard about this group when I was in Louisville last May for the excellent WonderFest convention. There, by chance I bumped into Jason Guest who was also visiting the artists alley. After I introduced myself and gave him a CCG card he told me about the newly formed Louisville group. Fellow Louisville artist, Joe Welsh, whom I already knew from his participation in our 2008 CCG/LexArts Comic Art Show, confirmed this in an email conversation.

I later managed to track down Ted Lee Nathanson (the organizer - and artist for the cool zombie pic gracing this post) on Facebook and we have since continued a friendly email exchange. Below is a quote from one of those emails that briefly explains the group's purpose:

Our (the Louisville Cartoonist Society) goals are:
1) to encourage and critique each other's work- and create the kind of conditions that help creators finish projects.
2) to promote and show work together as a group- create an outlet for people's work

Ted started this group earlier this summer (in May) and their fourth meeting is coming up this Monday, August 3rd in (of all places) Louisville! Here's the info cut and pasted from their site:

Next Meeting: 7:00PM MONDAY AUGUST 3RD @ RAY’S MONKEY HOUSE on Bardstown Road- so decided because they serve both coffee and beer. Pick your Poison and Bring your Sketchbook, we’re doing a drawing Jam! No theme, but it’s been suggested that you should bring an image or phrase to throw in an idea pile. I like this a lot, and instead of explaining what I think an idea pile should be, I’m gonna leave it up for interpretation.

Looks like they are off to a great start! I wish Ted, Jeremy, Jason, Joe and all the other LCS members (whom I hope to meet soon!) all the best and look forward to some exciting collaborations between the two groups and even more great comics coming from the bluegrass state!

07/24/09 - July CCG Meeting/Workshop and Sal Villagran

Just in case some of you don't know the CCG has monthly meeting/workshops. These are typically the last Sunday of each month and usually are held at a Lexington Public Library Branch between 1:30 and 4:30pm. The link in the right navigation bar for the CCG Calendar has the most current information about where, when and who will be at the next meeting.

This coming Sunday, I am excited to tell, we will host a guest speaker: Sal Villagran. Following is brief listing of his accomplishments as an artist:

• He is a classically instructed/influenced figurative artist, specializing in drawing and oil painting. see his site here:(http://www.salvillagranart.com/)
• He is a recent winner (3rd best in show) Art Renewal Center 2008/2009 Salon Competition. (http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/2009/Salon/winners1.asp#Best%20in%20Show)
• His commercial illustration clients include Wizards of the Coast (magic cards) (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/193, https://www.abugames.com/buylist.cgi?command=showdetails&itemid=177899&invid=301496)
  
• He is a drawing/painting instructor (UK Art Department and private) here in Lexington

Sal will give a brief talk about his working process for commercial illustration art, specifically his recent pieces for Wizards of the Coast Magic Cards. I am sure many of you will find this of particular interest and value.

A little more about our meeting/workshop format.

• The first segment - the meeting - has the usual announcements of upcoming events, guest speakers, recent events of interest that someone attended and reports on, group business and planning.
• Then we have a break (sometimes with some light refreshments) and next we are on to - the workshop portion. Here we can do round table reviews of new work that has been brought in. Constructive criticism is the goal here - input that is of benefit for the cartoonist. This is one of the primary benefits of meeting with other comic creators and is a good way to promote learning and growth. We will often have some creative exercises and or a jam comic. Jam comics are a group effort with one person starting the page with a title or the opening panel and passing it on to someone else in the exercise. This continues until the page is full and hopefully comes to some sort of (usually humorous) ending. We are currently reviewing two "structured curriculum" to include either as a regular part of the monthly CCG meeting/workshop or possibly as break off meetings. The two programs we are looking at are the Famous Artists Cartooning Course (FAS CC) and Drawing Words & Writing Pictures (DW&WP) by Matt Madden and Jessica Abel. Both are excellent resources (and I know I will continue to use both to advance my personal learning).

07/23/09 - Mazza Conference and James Gurney

Last week I was able to attend the Mazza Museum's Summer Conference last week for one day. The Mazza Museum is a teaching museum for picture books located in Findlay, OH on the campus of Findlay University. The five-day event was their 17th annual summer conference with a mixture of professional authors, illustrators, teachers and librarians in attendance. This is is a similar institution in purpose to the Cartoon Library & Musuem at OSU.

The way I discovered this event was through reading James Gurney's excellent blog GurneyJourney and seeing that he was going to be making a speaking engagement fairly close to home (about 4.5 hours away).

If I appear dazed in the picture below, it may be from lack of sleep from the night before! That week my family and I were on the way home from a summer trip to the northeast so we were coming from CT the day before. We arrived at our hotel in Findlay around 2:30AM but I was able to arise and attend the 9:00 AM keynote speech on Wednesday July 15th. James gave an excellent presentation detailing his growth as an artist, researcher and author (the Dinotopia series being the most notable). Come October look for his new art instruction book: "Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist".

Later he led a pull out session where he showed his sketchbooks and demonstrated the use of water soluble pencils for field sketching. He closed with a short question and answer session.

It was a pleasure to meet this kind and gracious man and his lovely wife Jeanette. James is a truly gifted and skilled artist. But I think he is just as significant as an arts educator. He shares an incredible amount of knowledge he has learned over the years on his aforementioned blog. He is able to show the nexus of science and art: through his work biology, history, anthropology, optics, are integrated with architecture, illustration, oil painting and sculpture. Please let me know if you would like to help advocate for James Gurney to come and visit our area. He makes numerous appearances each year, around the nation and internationally, speaking primarily at private art colleges.

05/05/09 - Educational Opportunities

Some comic/cartooning educational opportunities coming up this month (don't wait to check this out as these classes will fill quickly!).

School of Visual Arts (SVU) instructors and authors of Writing Pictures and Drawing Words, Matt Madden and Jessica Abel will lead a two week Summer Intensive Comics Seminar at SVU in NYC:
http://mattmadden.blogspot.com/2009/05/pre-mocca-art-festival-class-summer.html

Matt is a good teacher (I attended his one-day workshop at OSU's Wexner Center last summer) and can help you get through the inertia often stymieing a new cartoonist. Some additional info taken from Matt's blog:

Starting the day after Memorial Day, Jessica and I are offering an intensive 2-week class at SVA, the goal of which is to learn how to make comics by writing, drawing, and printing a minicomic in time for the MoCCA Art Festival the weekend of June 6-7. We'll teach in the mornings and afternoons will alternate between open studio time and visits from a group of stellar guest cartoonists: David Mazzucchelli, Becky Cloonan, Tom Hart, Gary Panter, and Kim Deitch! Each will have a three hour session that will be a combination workshop/craft talk/crit.

The roster's filling up fast so sign up sooner rather than later. Info below, registration info here.


If you can't travel to New York then this may be for you: Bobby Chiu's Schoolism is offering a "Build a Powerful Comic Book Portfolio" online course taught by Alvin Lee:
https://www.schoolism.com/
Click on the sample video link to see and hear Alvin critiquing a students work. There are two tuition rates: you can get reduced rate if you opt out of instructor feedback. This "self taught" option saves you more than half the cost of the regular rate!

05/05/09 - NPR Story on Adults and Drawing

When did you stop drawing for fun? If you are the average adult you probably stopped sometime in your Elementary School years. Somewhere along the line many decide they just aren't "good enough" and stop.

NPR ran a story today (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103818071) about why adults stop drawing and Mo Willems, a cartoonist and children books illustrator wants to get adults back to drawing and doodling. To quote Mo, who has been working with NPR on their Radio Cartoonist series: " Cartooning doesn't have to be realistic...if you can write your name, you can draw a cartoon. Your name is series of letters in the right order and a cartoon is just a series of shapes in the right order".

Visit the web link for an audio archive or maybe you can catch the story today on your local NPR radio station. Here is a link to Mo's blog with even more content: http://mowillemsdoodles.blogspot.com/

05/0109 - Wolverine Movie Opens and Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow! The new Wolverine movie opens today! Here is a video talking about both!



Here is a list of Kentucky comic shops - visit with your friends, family and young ones!

04/11/09 - National Illustration Event - Mazza Museum Summer Conference

Just as comics has the often mentioned (at least here on this blog) OSU Comic Library and Museum - children's picture books has the Mazza Musuem on the campus of Findlay University in Northern Ohio.

During the week of July 13 - July17 2009 they will have their 17th annual summer conference. There will be numerous notable presenters including James Gurney of Dinotopia fame who will be speaking there Wednesday July 15th in the morning.

Here in Lexington the University of Kentucky Library has a group with a similar mission - The McConnell Center seeks to study and support childrens literature.

04/10/09 - National Events - Redstick Animation Fesival

Animation doesn't get the attention it deserves here on the CCG blog - but I definitely couldn't miss the opportunity to spread the word about this soon to happen event in Baton Rouge, LA: the Redstick International Animation Festival! The Festival runs from Wednesday April 22nd to Saturday April 25th 2009.

There are discounts for students and educators - passes for the screenings are free. Some of the workshops your Gold Pass will buy you are:

• Drawing Dinosaurs
• Guerilla Animation
• Video Game Development

I also discovered a, here to unknown, compatriot comic creators group - The Baton Rouge Cartoonists Society! They will be teaching children's cartooning workshops during the festival.

04/10/09 - Regional Comic Event - SPACE

Coming up April 18th & 19th in Columbus OH is SPACE - Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo.

The Friday (4/17/09) preceding the Expo the newly renamed OSU - Cartoon Library & Museum will have an open house from 3-5pm.

03/03/09 - Next Meeting Time

Our first meeting of 2009 will be Sunday March 29th, 1:30-4:30pm at the Beaumont Branch of the Lexington Public Library. We will be meeting in the large conference room (on the right side as you enter). See the CCG Calendar link for more details.
Please contact me if you have some ideas on what you would like to talk about or work on. I have some ideas but would love to get more input from those of you who will be attending. If you are new and wondering about what we do at our meetings see the CCG Mission Statement (WIP) link.