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.

12/04/06 - Way Early Notice: OSU Festival of Cartoon Art

The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library will be hosting a major comics event in October 2007. The 2007 Fesitval of Cartoon Art "will celebrate the centennial of the birth of Milton Caniff, whose papers formed the founding collection of The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library." Curator Jenny Robb from the library served as the moderator for the 2006 UK Womens Writers Conference Graphic Novel Quorem back in April.

11/26/06 Digital Illustration Links & Events

Guys, here's a little doodle to get you in the Christmas Spirit (women visitors are encouraged to post a link for their hot Santa).

Did not get to go to MOC (see previous post), home sick today ;-(

But here are some links some of you may find interesting. I have talked about the Gnomon Workshop videos before, they are based out in California and really work to support the movie and television production industry out there. Well I have found some other folks in that same market who have some nice sites with really good tutorials (no videos or DVDs yet). Conceptart.org is hosting the Insomania workshop and seem to be physically centered in the San Francisco area. I know of at least one CCG member who is a big Jason Chan (lately of Imagine FX magazine fame) fan, he seems to be a prominent member in this online community. Some great content there, but hard to navigate all the forum posts to know what's happening! Massive Black is a large studio for concept artists and they apparently are on the brink of releasing some video instruction and also have info about a workshop they host/hosted in June (I checked my calendar and think this is a past event - but they were too cool to put the year anywhere on their site!).

11/22/06 - Mid-Ohio Con This Weekend!

In case you didn't know there will be a fairly large comic convention this weekend 11/25 to 11/26/06 in Columbus Ohio. There will be some fairly big name creators there: Adam Hughes, Ron Garney, Matt Haley, Herb Trimpe, Beau Smith (frequent contributor to Sketch Magazine) and Don Rosa (UK graduate and famous Disney comic artist). Here is a link to the con site. This event has been up on the CCG calendar for several days - so you might want to remember to check that link on the blog sidebar!

I hope to make the trek to attend this, if anyone local is interested in joining me (and helping with some of the expenses) please send me an email ASAP!

11/22/06 - What is the CCG about?

Hey everyone! Please read and comment on this post - I have lined out what I think is the CCG's reason for being. Have I done so accurately? Here is an excerpt from an email exchange with an artist who is just finding out about our group:

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Hi Jonathan,

Sorry for the late reply. What all do you do in the comic meetings?

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Our meetings follow this basic pattern:

• Announcements: local events of interest, group business, etc.,
• Round Table Review: where we bring in recent work (finished or WIP) and let everyone comment, with writers I am asking that they bring copies of their scripts for everyone to take home and read thoroughly before making comments. Visual artists work is usually easier to scan and comment on.
• Closing: I try to get anyone new added to email list and maybe some other last minute announcements.
  

Our meetings are pretty short, 1 hour - 1.5 hours. (Update: As of May 2007 we have gone to a once monthly frequency but meet for 3 hours - added a hands on workshop for the second and third hour.) We did have a special meeting back in October to work at a local library. We had a mini 24-hour comic event. Three of us met and worked on spontaneously creating a 4-6 page comic story. I would like to meet like this again for an Artist's Jam or maybe some Digital Painting workshops. We also have tentative plans to produce a print anthology comic to get our work in print and help promote the group in the local arts community.

I probably need to add a mission statement to the CCG blog: but basically my goals for the group are:

1. Community - Build a community for the comic creators, illustrators, animators, caricature artists in the area so we can have one place to go to share and find out what's going on in the area - this is accomplished through the blog posts and announcements by email or at the meetings.
2. Education - Share knowledge between members; use one another for critiques and advise. Teach basic to intermediate skills in seminars or workshops. Share and or review instructional books and videos. Promote the medium to community at large, try to increase readership.
3. Networking - Serve as a "matchmaker" of sorts - to join creators in creative teams. Also to serve as referral service for those wishing to contract the services of our members.
   

---

I do want to formalize our goals and purpose as a group. Please send me your feedback!

11/18/06 - Using the Computer for Drawing and Reference

I found this post over at Newsarama.com, it is an interview with Brandon Peterson. He has worked with using 3D design software for comics since he was the art director for CrossGen Comics (sigh, I miss that company!). I found out about Google's SketchUp (WOW! A free 3D program that's easy to use and learn!) from reading this piece and find it touches on some timely issues: use of photo references and TRACING! SketchUp looks like a great way to work out perspective for interior or exterior comic scenes...but I will still be working on my hand drawing skills for drawing perspective scenes, interior and exterior. Ask me about the great tutorial DVD I purchased from Gnomon Workshop by Scott Robertson on sketching by hand various 3D objects. Over at eatpoo.com (Yum! what an inventive name!) they have a post by Scott showing his special perspective skills if you are interested.

Just keep saying this mantra: "The computer is just a TOOL, The computer is just a TOOL...". By the way the images above are by moi, they were drawn freehand with a Intuous 3 tablet and SketchBook Pro 2. If anyone has samples they have created in SketchUp I would be interested in seeing it - I will post something once I have gotten through the tutorial!

11/17/06 - Children's Literature Conference in March & DMAG

UK is hosting a Children's Literature Conference in March 2007 here in Lexington. Loren Long who I met a this years Bluegrass Festival of Books will be a speaker. Loren grew up in Lexington and graduated from UK. He gained national attention as the illustrator for one of Madonna's childrens books (Mr. Peabody's Apples). There is a cost to atttend, see website for specifics - I don't know if there is a discount for students?

I just found out about a neat group that meets once a month here in Lexington. DMAG (Digital Media Artists Group) appears to essentially be an Adobe Users Group (but with the aquistion of Macromedia by Adobe there is a lot to cover under Adobe's banner!). Thanks to Loren Elks for organizing a cool and much needed group!

10/06/06 - Joel Pett Lecture at UK October 9th

Here is a chance to hear and possibly meet and talk with the Herald Leader's Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist. An interesting aspect of his work is that he does it all digitally. I plan to attend and hope many of you will too.

This event is open to the public. Pulitzer Prize Cartoonist Joel Pett Kicks-off Archives Week at UK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 2, 2006) − In celebration of Archives Week in Kentucky, University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections and Digital Programs will present a lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, Joel Pett, at noon Monday, Oct. 9, in the Great Hall at the M.I. King Building. The lecture will highlight Pett's work and the historical significance of editorial cartoons. A reception and open house celebrating 50 years of archiving Kentucky's newspapers at UK Libraries will follow the presentation. Monday's festivities, which honors KentuckyÂ’s journalistic legacy, will give insight into Pett's career and the influences on his career. Pett was the 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning, and was selected as a finalist for the prestigious journalism award in 1989 and 1998. Pett joined the Lexington Herald-Leader after a number of years as a freelancer. He started his career at the Bloomington Herald Telephone in his native Bloomington, Ind. The open house following Pett's lecture at M. I. King will feature exhibits of the many projects Special Collections and Digital Programs is undertaking to save the history of Kentucky as documented in the state's newspapers, including archives developed as part of national preservation projects. In 1956, the UK College of Journalism (now the College of Communications and Information Studies), the Kentucky Press Association and the University Libraries joined forces to centralize the microfilming of Kentucky newspapers at M. I. King Library. After 50 years, the Preservation Reformatting Center (PRC) continues to collect and microfilm more than 170 Kentucky newspapers earning them repeated national recognition for their work archiving the state's newspapers. From 1983 to 1991, UK Libraries participated in the United States Newspaper Project to locate, collect, inventory and preserve historic Kentucky newspapers. More than 500 repositories were visited, 5,000 titles were cataloged, and 1.5 million pages were microfilmed. Today, the PRC continues microfilming as it explores future preservation options including providing digital access to the archives. The UK Libraries is also participating in a two-year project to contribute to the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), an effort supported by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. As one of only six projects selected for this national program's test-phase, the UK team digitized 100,000 pages of Kentucky newspapers from the period 1900 to 1910. The papers archived for this 10-year period were selected by an advisory board of scholars and librarians for their representation of the state's history and diversity during a tumultuous and fascinating time in the state. The work is part of a long-term effort to digitize the nation's historic newspapers from 1836 to 1923. UK's contribution to the NDNP will allow anyone to access issues of the selected newspapers online, to view images of original newspaper pages, and to search a newspaper for items of interest. With funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), Special Collections and Digital Programs is also processing over 97,000 acetate photographic negatives given to UK Libraries by the Lexington Herald-Leader. This work includes separating the images from acidic paper materials, re-housing negatives in protective archival sleeves, and providing access through a searchable database. The project will make mid-20th century photojournalism widely available for research and scholarly use. The resulting database can be searched online at http://kdl.kyvl.org/. In addition to Monday's events for Archives Week, Special Collections and Digital Programs will present an exhibit of antebellum Bluegrass imprints and a printing demonstration at the King Library Press from at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. The King Library Press event is part of the 2006 Bale Boone Symposium History Hop. Archives Week is part of a national effort that hopes to educate the public and resource providers about archivists' work and the importance of their service. For more information on Archives Week events in Kentucky, visit the state's Web site online at http://archives.week.ky.gov

Lisa R. Carter
Director of Archives
Special Collections and Digital Programs
123 M.I. KingLexington, KY 40506-0039
Phone: (859) 257-9672Fax: (859) 257-6311
E-mail: LisaC@uky.eduwww.uky.edu/Libraries/Special/

09/28/06 - Explorium: Comic Convention

NEWS RELEASE

Family Comic Book Convention
at Explorium of Lexington October 28

Contact: Deanna McDaniel, Marketing Director
(859) 258-3253 x19
mcdaniel@explorium.com

Explorium of Lexington is hosting the Bluegrass’ first Family Comic Book Convention,
Explor-A-Con, Oct. 28th from 10 am to 6 pm. a family-friendly version of the huge comic book conventions in Chicago and San Diego, the convention features an amateur comic book art show for artists under the age of 21. It will open up a whole avenue of creativity for young artists. Central Kentucky’s young people can sculpt an action figure, paint a super hero portrait, draw a 9-panel comic page or use their favorite graphic software to create a cover design – anything that they can imagine drawing inspiration from manga, graphic novels or comic books.

Essential convention programming takes an interesting twist at Explor-A-Con. In addition to the art show, there will be workshops in creature illustration, an “artists’ alley” with artists offering original artwork for sale, a demonstration on designing a web comic and a panel discussion with local comic industry professionals. “Every aspect of the programming ties in with literacy, art, technology and encouraging people of all ages to explore their own creativity,” said Deanna McDaniel, Marketing Director of Explorium. “Comic books are valid literary tools. Besides that, they’re fun.”

Explorium is hosting this convention not only to promote young artists, but also to encourage the learning that comes with exploring new territory. “Comics are not just illustrations. Graphic Novels work with words to tell the story. Great for reluctant readers,” said Jan Isenhour, Executive Director, Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. The first 100 people will receive exclusive grab bags full of prizes including PETA comics and Explorium freebies.

“Many of today’s comics rely heavily on allusion, satire, irony, and parody to make a point. Students discover they might actually need to know such terms for reasons other than analyzing a Dickinson poem. Making this connection has strengthened their understanding of terms,” Sharon F. Webster, English literacy coach at Narragansett High School in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

And of course, there’s the fun! Children in costume will receive a dollar discount off regular admission. In addition to the typical programs Explor-A-Con will also feature a live action battle between Super Heroes and Villains performed by the Known World Players. The workshop that follows will be of particular interest to people who aren’t quite ready for Halloween - a costume specialist will demonstrate how to make your own costumes based on comic book characters. Clay Held of Kid Twisted Comics will lead a workshop on creating your own web comic.

“Go experience it. Comic stores and comics have evolved. Comics and graphic novels incorporate all genres for all different kinds of people," said Elissa Lynch of Diamond Comics. Fans of classic literature will even have the chance to meet the author and artist from the Frankenstein comic book offered by Dead Dog Comics, R.D. Hall and Mark Kidwell.

For a full schedule check out www.explorium.com or www.myspace.com/explorium

08/28/06 - Tomorrow's CCG Meeting

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYONE!
8/29/06 - I have updated this post with some links...
At our next meeting (Tuesday, August 29th) we will be discussing PERSPECTIVE. If you have any favorite methods of constucting 1-point, 2-point, 3-point or beyond please bring the explanation with you or be prepared to demonstrate the method. Bring your reference material if you need it for constructing perspective guidelines.
Other topics to discuss:

• 24-hour comic day in October: what do we want to do? We could do a mini version, perhaps a 4-6 hour comic... (see next item)
  
• I have been thinking we should have a quarterly (4 times a year) "jam session" one day on a weekend somewhere with enough room for everyone to work. Send me your thoughts; best as a comment to this post or you can email me if you're too shy to comment.
• Developing a group library with donated books, audio tapes and videos. For video ideas see: http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/bka01.html - look around under 2D dvds. I have ordered one of Scott Robertson's DVDs (perspective).
  
• Start/support a figure drawing workshop targeted to Illustrators, similar to this: http://www.thedrawingclub.com/home.asp
  

the Experts #1 in September's Diamond Previews

This is an exciting time for myself and penciller-co-creator, Clarence Pruitt. "the Experts #1" has made it into Diamond Distribution's September issue of "Previews." So, if you have any interest in the book or would just like to lend a hand in supporting your fellow, struggling, independent comic book creators... then bug the tar out of your favorite comic book retailer and tell them that they need to check out the September issue of Previews and order as many copies of "the Experts #1" as they can.

I know Clarence and I sure would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Kenn Minter
http://expertscomic.blogspot.com/

the Witch's Spell

Some useful portfolio tips

Okay, so this isn't PRECISELY comic related, but the same standards hold true for any portfolio and prospective employer. And to avoid John's chiding for my not blogging (as I generally e-mail him these things), I'll share what I found in my insomniac hours. Of course, views of Drawn! have already seen it, no doubt.

http://igallo.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-response-to-old-question-what-do-i.html

07/08/06 - Tuesday CCG meeting a GO!

Hungry Like the WOLF-

Thanks to Wolf (founder of the CCG) for volunteering to shepard the upcoming meeting (Tuesday July 11th, 6:30 PM at A+Comics). Here's a great chance to meet and talk with the guy who was brave enough to start this endeavor! Despite great personal sacrifice (Tuesday is his BIRTHDAY!) Wolf will be running the meeting - so make sure and show up with your latest and greatest comic works and make his long drive into town WORTHWHILE!

Real Life Funnies

Weekend Finds...

I know these are not comic related... but I thought you might want to see these beauties. I am big collector of paperback novels from the 1930's to @ the early 1970's. Of course, I collect them for the beautiful illustration art on the covers. Nothing compares.

Sunday, my pal, James, and I went to Fairfield, Ohio to an Antique Mall named "the Brass Armadillo." There, I found these gems.

"the Brass Armadillo" is quite large... and is filled to the brim with many impressive antiques and retro kitsch. BUT... it's a little over-priced.

-Kenn

06/27/06 - Meeting Time or Location Changes

Tonights meeting has been cancelled for lack of an organizer. I am unable to attend and could not find a replacement.

Starting in July we will need to move our meeting day to stay at A+Comics OR change locations to stay with our Tuesday meeting day. All the promotional posters distributed to date give the meeting day and time as "Tuesday nights, 6:30-8pm" and refer them here to the blog for the meeting location. Because of this I am inclined to try changing locations - some options:

1. Meeting room at a Lexington Public Library
2. Private residence of group members
3. Another comic shop

Please add your thoughts or suggestions as comment or a separate post (if you have a lot to say).

Due to a work commitment I will not be able to attend the July 11th meeting. If anyone is interested in organizing that meeting please contact me at lexkyccg@gmail.com
If no one steps up for that meeting it will have to be cancelled - stay tuned.

06/14/06 - Some "How To" Links: Perspective

Here is a nice process tutorial I found while looking for info for perspective grids and drawing comics: http://www.disraeli.plus.com/educatio/levdemo/
I'm definitely going to try the BLEND tool in Illustrator for making the perspective lines!

Scott McDaniel shows a bit of his perspective process on his site: http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/
He uses frames so I can't link you directly - go to DRAWING COMICS in upper left pane then click on PERSPECTIVE in the bottom left pane - he shows several examples...

Here's one from Will Terrell of Lucid Comics that keeps things pretty simple (don't forget to roll over the red buttons to see his drawings progress):
http://www.lucidcomics.com/creatingcomics_perspective.htm

Scott Reed shows (but doesn't really explain- hint, hint) his use of perspective grids in this link: http://www.websbestcomics.com/theprocess.htm

Here's a good all around comics how to resource: http://www.members.shaw.ca/creatingcomics/

And here is an overall how to resource for drawing: http://www.artshow.com/resources/drawing.html

OniPress Talent Search

I got this e-mail yesterday and it psyched me up pretty badly. I'm not sure if I've the time to put something together, but I thought I should post it for you all to see. Best of luck to anyone who enters!
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More information and scripts at: http://www.onipress.com/talentsearch

Following the rousing success of 2005's Oni Press Talent Search, the boys and girls here at W.H.O.O.P.s (World Headquarters Of Oni Press) are at it again with an all-new storytelling challenge! With Comic-Con International just around the corner, Oni Press is pleased to announce that we are once again giving artists an opportunity to show off their skills. In order to have your portfolio reviewed by an Oni Press editor at Comic-Con you will need to illustrate one or more of the three scripts found on this page. Realizing that different artists are geared towards different subject matter, four different professional writers have developed three different five-page scripts, each one using a different genre and showcasing a different personal scripting style.

The genres and authors are:
"Noir" by Jen Van Meter (JSA Classified, Hopeless Savages)"Romance" by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir (Past Lies, New X-Men)"Comedy" by Jim Massey (Death Takes A Holiday)

Last year's Talent Search was a gi-normous success! With Oni Press examining hundreds of different artist samples, we were lucky to find several who were ready for a shot at comic book stardom. Joe Infurnari, resident of Brooklyn, NY and artist of the recently released graphic novella Borrowed Time, with writer Neal Shaffer, was one such artist who came to our attention through the talent search. Halifax, Nova Scotia's own Mike Holmes was another. He's collaborating with writer Ian Shaughnessy for a new graphic novel entitled Shenanigans, due out this Fall!

In order to have your portfolio reviewed, you must illustrate at least one of the above stories. In addition to presenting the original art at the review session, interested parties must also bring with them photocopies of both pencilled art and inked art for Oni Press to keep as reference. Each photocopied page should include the artist's name, phone number, and e-mail address and measure 8 ½"x11". The samples should be submitted in a manila envelope that also includes the artist's name and contact information. Illustrating one of these stories and following the above guidelines guarantees you an appointment time to meet with an Oni editor at Comic-Con during the convention's posted hours.

Not attending Comic-Con? While Oni Press does not usually accept unsolicited submissions, this is a special event and non-attending artists can submit their packet, following the guidelines above. If all guidelines are followed, submitters will get an e-mail response from Oni Press in three to six months. We realize this may seem like a long time frame, but after receiving hundreds, if not thousands of submissions last year, we feel that this is a realistic estimate given our editors\' already busy schedules. The written critique may not be as valuable as a good person-to-person critique at San Diego, but thems the breaks. Packets must be postmarked no later than July 31, 2006.

Packets must be sent to:
ONI PRESS TALENT SEARCH 20061305 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Suite APortland, OR 97214

While Oni Press will not be reviewing portfolios for individuals who have not followed the above guidelines, we will be accepting project proposals at the convention (but due to legal and time restrictions, not by mail). Project proposals should include all pertinent contact info and include an overview of the project, sample script, and sample sequential art if it\'s available (writers can still submit without art). Proposals will not be reviewed on site, but will be taken back to the World Headquarters of Oni Press (W.H.O.O.P.s!) for review as time permits.

If you have any questions concerning your submission before you send it, you can mail thisbetterbegood@onipress.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.Thank you for your interest and good luck!

More information and scripts at: http://www.onipress.com/talentsearch
James Lucas JonesEditor in ChiefOni Press

They don't make 'em like they use to.

As I said to Jon (and for the sake of laziness, I'll just copy/paste it), I re-read my TPB of the collected Dark Phoenix Saga, and I feel just as happy as I did in 5th grade when I read the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas and watched the cartoon episodes based on them. Marvel just doesn't write stories like that anymore! They just rehash the cash cow muties and super powers in convoluted harlequin-esque stories. I use to love Wolverine, but I am SOOO freakin sick of him now. But Phoenix is and shall always be my favorite Marvel character. A primal cosmic entity that was love, life, evil, and death all in one; but above all, she was passion itself. And she just wanted to be free to enjoy it.

"Mainstream" comics today have just lost that kind of storytelling quality they use to have. I turned to Japanese comics because, like Ken said, they have stories from and for all walks of life. As for American comics, I stick to indie titles, like Blue Monday, Hopeless Savages, and mostly OniPress and Slave Labor titles because they're different. I think that's kind of sad given how much I use to adore the X-Men titles. I tried reading some newer issues and I had no idea what was going on. Everything was so convoluted. All the characters I did manage to recognize when referred by name were so different that I just found it distasteful. I know change is good in alot of aspects, but sometimes that change gets skewed in favor of making money, you know..? It's kind of sad, really.