Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | A committee recommended Monday that Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age, an anthology of comics about middle school edited by Ariel Schrag, should remain in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School library in Dixfield, Maine, after the mother of a student challenged its appropriateness because of “objectionable sexual and language references.” The local school board will make a final ruling in January. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom sent a letter of support for the book prior to the hearing. A school board in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pulled the graphic novel from middle-school libraries in November 2009, but allowed teachers to continue to use it in class. [Sun Journal]

Digital | Charlie Sorrel looks at the iPad comic reader called, appropriately enough, Comic Reader. [Wired]

From "Foul Play"

Creators | Cartoonist Jack Davis looks back on his lengthy career, the influence of Harvey Kurtzman, and the dislike for his own Tales From the Crypt stories, like “Foul Play,” which became one of Frederic Werthem’s targets in Seduction of the Innocent: “I have a hang-up. I love horror. I love ghost stories, but when it comes to illustrating it for thousands and thousands of young people to see it, I don’t go along with it. I think that happened, and I didn’t know it was happening at the time. I just knew that I would go in and I’d get a check and pick up a script and go home and do it. I sat in a little room and did this horrible baseball story, and it made the Senate [hearings] and everywhere. People liked it but I didn’t. I said, ‘I can’t do that.’ To this day I love all the people at Mad, but Mad had changed. It’s not like it used to be. It has some very good artists but their philosophy is not mine.” [The A.V. Club]

Creators | Larry Gonick talks about his long career creating nonfiction comics and his latest magnum opus The Cartoon Guide to Calculus. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Brilliant! Tragic!

Creators | Jamie McKelvie’s illustration for Art Brut’s album Brilliant! Tragic! is among Paste Magazine‘s 50 Best Album Covers of 2011. [Paste]

Creators | Health Care Reform artist Nathan Schreiber is profiled by his hometown newspaper. [The Milford Daily News]

Craft | Kevin Huizenga shares one of the templates he uses for drawing a comics page: “I draw most of my comics — the Ganges stories, especially — with 4 rows. When I’m starting a new story I usually print a few of these out on copy paper and sketch on them. Sometimes I figure out a page pretty much exactly right the first time, but often it takes a few tries. Or I’ll just sketch scenes and characters in the boxes and not worry about where each panel is going to go until later. For a few years now I’ve worked this way and it’s become second nature.” [New Construction]

After a too-long hiatus, Shelf Porn is back! Today’s shelves come to us from Alison Sampson in the UK, an architect and comic creator who, as you can see in the image above, drew her shelves. How cool is that? The image above is part of a four-page story she did for a UK anthology, and she breaks down what was on them for this edition of Shelf Porn (and provides some photos of what they look like now).

If you’d like to submit your shelves to us, it’s easy — just send me a write-up and some images at jkparkin@yahoo.com.

And now here’s Alison …

*****

When I drew this, I’d just finished work with my last employer and also a long three years-plus long project to design a University somewhere in the UK (I’m an architect by profession). The room is a real place. It became my whole world when I lost my job, in February 2011. This said, you don’t have to move to travel and as time passed and I sought work, my ideas traveled on. When it was mentioned to me that Tom Humberstone, the editor of UK anthology Solipsistic Pop, was looking for contributions on the subject of maps and travel, I applied and eventually submitted a four page story (the above is pages 2 and 3), which is included in the current edition.

The map is in three panels and it is not only a map of the room (all drawn to the same level), but possibly a map of something else- but what?

The drawing contains references to work by many artists, whose drawings were there at the time (I collect original comic art from mainly UK artists of around my own age). The artists represented are as follows, and their work ranges from being almost recognisable to pretty much invisible in the drawing:

Glyn Dillon (the map on the back of the door)
Jason Shawn Alexander (2 locations: the Mouseguard drawing on the back of the door and the Marvel Zombies drawing on the right)
Jock (3 locations: Judge Dredd sketches, a sketch on the mantelpiece and part of a Losers page)
Dustin Harbin (Diary Comic)
Daryl Cunningham (Daleks)
Duncan Fegredo/ Mike Mignola (Hellboy)
Ryan Kelly (Juno)
Paul Holland Davies (Juno)
Rob Davis (2 locations: his comic Slang and as editor and cover designer of Nelson)
Woodrow Phoenix and the Nelson artists
Phillippa Rice (Juno)
Guy Davis (BPRD)
John Allison (European fox)
McBess (Nobrow: on the mantelpiece)
Ben Newman (on the floor)
Dan Berry (also on the mantelpiece)

This is a close up of Jason Shawn Alexander’s Mouseguard drawing, on the back of the door:

Glyn Dillon’s map, also hung on the back of the door and possibly part of his forthcoming book, The Nao Of Brown, can best be seen here. (Scroll down to the “Journey from the East” map.)

Here are some close ups of the shelves as they currently are (some of the art has changed and there are more books):

The mantelpiece:

The Junos I’ve gradually accumulated over time. The collection is really a survey of comic art, and I’m lucky enough to have some beautiful examples of the work of artists that I admire, including Duncan Fegredo, Frank Quitely, Sean Phillips, Glyn Dillon, Simon Gane, Roger Langridge, Jock and Mick McMahon. Here is a sample of the collection: sketches of Juno by (clockwise from left) Mike Hawthorne, Dustin Harbin, Rob Davis, Matt Timson, Manon, Becky Cloonan, Jamie McKelvie and Paul Holland Davies (whose Juno shows up in the above drawing).

There are not so many comics here, as I only really discovered them a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve tried to find out as much as I can and have logged the finds on my art blog.

There are books from publishers from all over the world, and a smattering of art books and postcards (the last book I read was Frederik Peeters’ Sandcastle). Many European books aren’t available here, so we have to go to France to get them, or search out translations as and when they come up, from publishers such as SelfMadeHero, Cinebook and Blank Slate Books. After discovering the range of what is possible in comics, and being inspired, I’ve since picked up a pen to draw, for the first time since my 20s. The SP4 drawing on the shelf is mine, and now I’m currently laying out a comic which I hope to spend a bit more time drawing. At the Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds this weekend, I was lucky enough to have not only a Marvel portfolio review, but also the chance to receive advice and comments from the artists present, and I want to build on that. Please wish me luck.

30 Characters Challenge

Last year around 140 creators participated in The 30 Characters Challenge, where they attempted to create a brand-new character every day in November. They’re doing it again this year, and already they have more than 350 creators signed up. But there’s still room for more — today’s the last day to sign up, so head over to their registration page if you think you’ve got what it takes to create 30 new characters over the next month.

Où sont les superstars d'antan?

“My not-terribly insightful comic book epiphany of the day: right now, we’ve got a bunch of top-flight writers in the field, and the next generation on the horizon. But what we could really use is a new, young generation of break-out artists. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got a lot of excellent artists. But who was the last hot young guy who just exploded into the field? I feel like the pump is primed for one or more fresh young artists to just explode in a major, commercial way. When was the last time that happened? We could use an infusion of visual excitement in the books–across all companies.”

–Thus spoke Tom Brevoort, Marvel Senior VP – Executive Editor, on Twitter last night. Personally, I think he’s probably right to wonder about this. Like he says, the point isn’t that there are no good or even great relatively young/relatively new artists right now — there are plenty. Personally I’ve been knocked out by Gabriel Hardman‘s work on Atlas and Hulk over the past year or so, just for example. But what Brevoort is looking for is an artist who just skyrockets to superstardom more or less out of the blue. That requires quite a delicate alchemy. The artist in question must be young enough or new enough or have been working far way enough from the Big Two’s audiences for their work to have “the shock of the new” when fans first see it. They must bring something different to the table than what established artists are doing, so that their work stands out, but they must also be working in a style that’s recognizable and acceptable to large numbers of superhero fans. Their work doesn’t necessarily have to be to your taste, but you should at least be able to understand what others see in it, even if you don’t see it yourself.

With those standards in mind, do you sense a potential breakout star in the making anyplace in the industry? I’ve got a few candidates. Frazer Irving‘s work on Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin was luminous and stunning, handling one of comics’ most demanding scripters with style and skill and looking like pretty much nothing else on the stands. On the other hand, while that book sells very well and Irving got a lot of attention, I’m not sure there’s a groundswell of appreciation for what he’s doing among the “mainstream”-comics masses; it’s not as, I dunno, muscular as most superhero fans like. James Stokoe of Orc Stain fame seems to floor people anytime he turns his maniacally detailed and wild art to anything superhero-ish, like that Galactus poster that burned up the internet a while back or his Strange Tales contribution; but even though I think superhero fans could grow to really appreciate the energy what he’s doing, he doesn’t strike me as someone who’s dying to spend a couple years drawing the Avengers or the Justice League. Ditto his equally impressive, though less prolific, fellow Strange Tales contributor Rafael Grampa. I’ve been saying Cafu is something special ever since seeing his diamond-edged art in the Captain Atom back-ups that ran in Action Comics during the New Krypton storyline, and he’s currently teamed up with new-hotness writer Nick Spencer on THUNDER Agents, but I haven’t seen enough people react to his work to gauge his commercial potential.

For a while, starting in the mid-2000s, it seemed like Marvel and DC could catapult anyone they chose to the top tier of artists with a well-chosen event title. One by one, I heard fans talk excitedly about artists as varied as Rags Morales, David Finch, Phil Jimenez, Jim Cheung, Ethan Van Sciver, Steve McNiven, J.G. Jones, John Romita Jr., Ivan Reis, Leinil Yu, Doug Mahnke, and Olivier Coipel, and more besides. But with line-wide events taking a back seat, and stars like Bryan Hitch, John Cassaday, Frank Quitely, Jim Lee, and the Kuberts working at a remove from the month-in-month-out conversation, there does seem to be an open slot. Who do you think will step in?

by Chris Samnee

The artistic folks over at the Comic Twart blog have a theme this week that no doubt is a lot harder than you’d think — minimalism. Chris Samnee’s Justice League, above, probably offers the most detail of the pieces they’ve shared so far, while Tom Fowler’s Fantastic Four, below, probably wins the prize for being the most minimal … especially his Invisible Woman.

by Tom Fowler

Chondra Flicker by Daniel Govar

Today kicked off the month-long 30 Characters Challenge, where more than 150 writers and artists are attempting to each create a brand-new character for each day in November. And just a few hours into it, the world has already been introduced to Mike Gallagher’s Roadkill Santa, Red by Tyler James, Daniel Govar’s Chondra Flicker (above) and Captain Cavity by Jess Kirby, among many others.

This will be a fun one to watch all month.

Sword of My Mouth

So here’s a breakdown of how much time we each spent working on the book.

Jim’s hours: 283.8 (writing: 23%, revisions and editing: 16%, publicity: 20%, publishing business: 38%)

Shannon’s hours: 1000+ (drawing)

So basically, Shannon put in 80% of the time even considering I took on publicity and publishing roles. (If I was just doing the writing, it would have been closer to a 90/10% split.)

We’re dividing the money we make 80/20%, but it still feels weird. I mean, I knew it took a long time to draw, but it really takes a long time to draw. This wonky division of labour is something to keep in mind when if you’re ever approaching someone to draw a comic. Even if you’re a slow writer and they’re a fast drawer, you’re still asking them to spend much more time realizing something than you spent creating it. What are you bringing to the project beyond amazing ideas and sparkling prose?

–Artist Paolo Rivera, on completing his work on the Amazing Spider-Man: One Moment in Time storyline

Can I pay for this with two copies of this blog post?

The Twitterverse was all abuzz yesterday about this post, in which a cynical game producer advises skipping the professionals and trolling Deviantart to find game artists. A few of the comments really set people off:

These guys aren’t used to making a lot of money for their work so they will be more appreciative of the chance even if they are being payed slightly less than what professionals are payed. Second of all, they’re better… Unless you have a specific price you want to pay in mind, ask THEM what they are willing to charge for the project. This usually causes people to give offers that are lower than what you normally pay, and will make them happy.

…

If an artist knows how much their artwork will increase the value of the game they will then feel they deserve that amount of money. This is not how a market economy works, you hire whoever is able to do the best job for the lowest amount of money, anything else is a loss of money on your end.

The original post has garnered 948 comments so far, and there’s a lively discussion going on at The Beat and Colleen Doran’s blog as well. Meanwhile, Bleeding Cool has another cautionary tale, about Bluewater Comics offering an artist two copies of their Justin Bieber comic in exchange for the copyright to the painting he posted on DeviantArt.

It’s not exactly a news flash that publishers will exploit creators and pay them bottom dollar whenever possible; that has been a built-in feature of comics publishing, and publishing in general, from the get-go. This video game guy was just being honest, and it’s true that a lot of young artists who post on DeviantArt would probably be thrilled to have their art featured in a real game, payment or no payment.

The comments at The Beat are full of suggestions for artists on avoiding publishers like that. It’s not always easy to figure out the going rate for freelance work, unless you have a lot of friends in the biz, but it’s time that we all started acknowledging that the business end of things is part of the job of being an artist, and only chumps starve in garrets. Art programs should include courses in basic business practices, and artists should be using the internet or their local libraries to learn about the more worldly end of their profession.

That said, your first gig is bound to suck. It’s the nature of the beast. Even a reputable, ethical publisher is in the business to make money, and that means limiting exposure on untried talent. I’m all for taking that first job for cheap, if it will give the creator visibility and a connection to a reputable house. Unfortunately, neither Bluewater Comics nor Christopher Gregorio’s games is going to do that, which is why artists need to know their markets as well as the going rates.

One last thought, though: If Mr. Gregorio really thinks he is getting better work for bottom dollar, he is sadly misguided. He might get a couple of nice drawings for cheap, but over the long haul, you really do get what you pay for.

by Chris Samnee

Above is Chris Samnee’s Magnus, Robot Fighter; you can see more Magnus drawings here.

by Mitch Gerads

And here’s Mitch Gerads’ Tintin. I wasn’t as familiar with Mitch’s work as I was with some of the other artists involved, but all of his pieces for the blog have been really impressive. Mitch draws the indie title Johnny Recon, which you can out more about on the Popgunpulp website. And you can check out more Tintin art here.

by Evan Shaner

One week the group did tributes to artist Al Williamson; above is the piece by Evan “Doc” Shaner. Evan has a lot more art over on his own blog, too.

by Francesco Francavilla

And here’s Francesco Francavilla’s Asterix. See more here.

by Ron Salas

And finally, Ron Salas draws the Thing. I had a hard time picking which Thing drawing to include, as they had a lot of fun with him. Be sure to check out the renditions of Ben Grimm by Francavilla, Tom Fowler and Dan McDaid.

And be sure to go through the rest of the blog, to see renditions of Hellboy, Batman and G.I. Robot, among many others, as well as their tribute to Frank Frazetta.

It’s Shelf Porn time, where we take an intimate look into somebody’s home to see what their books, statues, action figures or even their drawing desk looks like … which is the case with this week’s submission. David Paccia, who works for a financial institution as a Web QA tester, is also an artist and sent in some pictures of his workspace.

We can always use more Shelf Porn, so if you’d like to see your shelves featured here, drop me an email with your write-up and pictures.

And now here’s David …

*****

These are pictures of my cartooning “work area”, though not much work is actually done there. I think have too many distractions that keep me from drawing. And yes, I know I need a new bookshelf, as the sagging shelves can attest to.

Dawnstar

Yildiray Cinar, artist on the upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes relaunch from DC Comics, has been sharing all sorts of Legion-related artwork on his blog, including this really nice Dawnstar piece. He’s got a lot of other cool stuff up there, too, such as Cloak & Dagger, Adam Strange and a Legion vs. Trigon piece, so go check’em out.

by Darren Rawlings

Artist Darren Rawlings, whose “Agent Orange” appeared in the most recent Popgun anthology, decided “to let loose some drawing rage” in celebration of March Madness. All month on his blog, he’s posting drawings of the Hulk smashing his way through the Marvel universe. Already the green-skinned Goliath has taken out the X-Men, Reed Richards, Iron Man and Venom. Who will be next?

Via

Inkwell Hall-of-Famer Joe Sinnott

After two years of posting their award winners on their website, the Inkwell Awards — which recognize inkers for “their quality work and contribution to the comic book industry and sequential art process” have found a venue to present their awards live. This year they will present their awards at the New England Comic Con in Boston Oct. 1-3.

The award recipients will be presented their trophies and then take part in a Q&A session with fans. Voting for the awards will begin in August.

“Previously the voting has taken place in June but due to the later in the year date of the show event, the ballot will be posted at the site on Aug. 1, so please bookmark the address”, said Bob Almond, founder and director of the Inkwell Awards. “There will be a lot of new developments coming from us this year and having Wizard’s support will be integral to increasing the awareness and exposure of these and future developments of the organization.”

For more information on the awards and to view previous winners, be sure to check out their website.

by Henrik Rehr

Jim Rugg, Joe Infurnani, Geoff Grogan and several other artists have formed Pood, a new … something. Actually, they’re having a contest now to decide what exactly “pood” is, so head over there and leave your guess.

Via

by Evan Shaner

Over at the relatively new art blog Comic Twart, the various artists who contribute have spent the week drawing DC’s G.I. Robot character, and the results have been pretty awesome. Above is Evan Shaner’s rendition, but head over there to get a look at everyone else’s.

by Livio Ramondelli

The Emerald City Comicon, scheduled for March 13-14 in Seattle, is once again putting together a charity art book featuring pin-ups of “Monsters & Dames” by some of its very impressive guest list. Proceeds from the book benefit the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Over on Gelatometti, several attendees have been posting their contributions, including Livio Ramondelli (above), Carlos D’Anda and Oliver Nome, among others. Go check’em out.

Colossus by Chris Uminga

Reader David Bedard pointed us to this post on Oculoid with several cool superhero images by artist Chris Uminga. You can also check out Uminga’s website here and his deviantART site here.

by Glen Brogan

Artist Glen Brogan shares his rendition of the White Violin, from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s Umbrella Academy.

“…the brilliance of her design is so iconic that it’s hard to not want to draw her,” he said on his blog. “I’m sure even if many of you haven’t read the books you’ve seen her image looking at you from a comic store shelf and found it hard not to think ‘What is that?’ Her design makes the comic look like something that has already long been established, even when it was brand new, so I give many kudos to the artist and writer for that.”

Check out more of Glen’s artwork on his site and on the Autumn Society blog.

by Declan Shalvey

The Eclectic Micks are a group of Irish comic artists who have set up a group sketch blog featuring all kinds of cool artwork. And this week, with the launch of IDW’s new Tranformers miniseries, Last Stand of the Wreckers (collective member Nick Roche draws the series), they’ve temporarily changed their name to Eclectic Wrecks and are running sketches of characters from the series. If you’re into the Transformers, go check’em out.

Via