Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: A Graphic Novel Workshop

Sat, Jul 26, 2008 | 1:00 - 5:00PM
Wexner Center
Advance registration is required

Matt Madden, illustrator and author of 99 Ways to Tell a Story and Drawing Words & Writing Pictures (with his wife, Jessica Abel), is going to offer a crash course in creating your own graphic novel in this hands-on workshop for adults. In introduction to an interview conducted for the Comics Journal, Gary Sullivant wrote:

What has impressed me most about Madden, beyond his considerable skills as a visual artist and storyteller, is his constant experimentation. His approach to comics differs from that of most practitioners, which is to find a particular style that works well and refine it, often revisiting the same subject matter from book to book. I pretty much know what I'm going to get in the next comic by Adrian Tomine, the Hernandez brothers, or even Chris Ware — though I love what each of them does. But Madden, even before 99 Ways to Tell a Story, has approached each project as an opportunity to explore different styles, methods and even subjects. In this, he embodies the great New York poet Frank O'Hara's most famous line: "Grace to be born and live as variously as possible."

So, this is definitely not going to be a "how to draw superheroes" sort of workshop! No prior experience is necessary, and materials will be provided. There is a fee of $12 for members of the Wexner Center or $15 for the general public. To register, call the education department at (614) 292-6493, or e-mail edweb@wexarts.org.

A Looney Tunes Evening with Jeff Smith

Thu, Jun 5, 2008 | 7:00PM
Film/Video Theater

Jeff Smith has described Bone as “a Bugs Bunny cartoon meets Lord of the Rings.” Join him next Thursday, June 5 as he introduces some of his favorite Warner Bros.’ cartoons and discusses the influence their characteristic zaniness had on his own work.

The program features Chuck Jones’s celebrated “hunting trilogy”—Rabbit Fire (1951), Rabbit Seasoning (1952), and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953)—all three starring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Daffy Duck. (app. 90 mins., 35mm).

Bring your family and young friends. This program is designed for all ages.

TICKETS
$5 members
$7 general public
$5 students
$5 senior citizens
$3 children under 12

TO PURCHASE TICKETS CALL (614) 292-3535 or buy tickets online

Wexner Center for the Arts
The Ohio State University
1871 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1393
Entrance Level of the Wexner Center

The exhibition Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond, on view through August 3, features original comic book drawings by the Columbus-based artist and some of the comics artists who have inspired him. The exhibition and related events are presented in collaboration with Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library.

"All Men Are Not Created Evil"

In October of this year, a few weeks after the Mid-Ohio-Con but just before Halloween, a new animated film will be released, Igor. It's a humorous take on the fictional character Igor. The cast includes John Cusack, Sean Hayes, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, Paul Vogt, and Molly Shannon. The plot revolves around Igor (voiced by Cusack) and his dreams of winning first place at the annual Evil Science Fair.

What does this have to do with comics?

One of our (many) local comics creators, Dara Naraghi, has written some all-original stories in a prequel series to this The Weinstein Company film and is being published by IDW. Art on the comic series is by the talented Grant Bond, of Archibald Saves Christmas, and Clockwork Girl fame. The book is available now, so go out and support your local creators and get a little behind the scenes look at this year's best Halloween animated flick!

New Mid-Ohio-Con Website

To go along with the new date for this year's Mid-Ohio-Con ( from their traditional Thanksgiving-weekend time slot to the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, October 4–5, 2008), they rolled out a bright and shiny new looking website-- www.midohiocon.com.

MOC will be returning to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, located in the heart of Columbus’s vibrant downtown area. This year they’ve moved out of Battelle Hall and into Exhibit Hall E and several adjoining panel rooms, offering a greatly expanded show floor for creative guests, exhibitors, and the "artists alley," as well as dedicated space for panel programming and other special activities. The Exhibit Hall is just down High Street from the Hyatt Regency hotel and only a short distance from all the dining, shopping, and entertainment available in downtown Columbus's Arena District.

Among the scheduled guests will be Jason Mewes, Alan Davis, Gary Friedrich, Mike Grell, David Mack, Bob McLeod, Steve Rude, Arthur Suydam, Ethan Van Sciver, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, (I wonder if they're going to have a Swamp Thing discussion panel?), Dick Ayers and many more.

This year’s MOC will feature a charity auction of items including original artwork by comic book legend John Byrne; a fan film festival sponsored by local comic shop Packrat Comics; a costume contest; a variety of all-new MOC exclusives and merchandise; and more. Bookmark www.midohiocon.com and mark that date (October 4&5) on your calendar.

What Is Drawing Day?

Drawing Day - June 07, 2008: "Drop everything and draw"

Drawing Day is a worldwide drawing event encouraging everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art. The internet is an open canvas. Help to create 1 million drawings online this day and boost online art communities.

That'll be nice... but for a cartoonist, every day is Drawing Day.

It Just Keeps Growing!

As if what's going on at the Library isn't enough as it is, I just got this press release (which is pretty damn awesome-- especially the fourth paragraph)...

The collection of the International Museum of Cartoon Art (IMCA) is moving to The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. The union of these two institutions will create the largest collection of original cartoon art in the world.

IMCA was established in 1973 by Mort Walker, the creative force behind Beetle Bailey, as the first museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting cartoons. The museum opened in 1974 in a converted mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Two years later, the museum relocated to a renovated castle in Rye Brook, New York, where the collection was displayed until 1992. At that time the city of Boca Raton, Florida invited the museum to construct a 52,000 square foot facility as part of an effort to attract cultural institutions to Palm Beach County. The museum was a very popular attraction with highly acclaimed exhibits, events and functions for the public. It was still paying off the cost of its construction when two of its financial backers went bankrupt creating a $5 million loss and causing the museum to close.

IMCA’s collection consists of approximately 200,000 works, including original drawings from all genres of cartoon art (comic strips, comic books, animation, editorial, advertising, sport, caricature, greeting cards, graphic novels, and illustrations), display figures, toys and collectibles, and works on film and tape, CDs, and DVDs.

Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of the Cartoon Research Library, said, “We are honored that the IMCA’s board has placed its treasures in our care.” Efforts are underway to provide increased space for the Cartoon Research Library that will include museum-quality galleries. “It is critical that we have state-of-the-art gallery space to display IMCA’s collection appropriately,” notes Caswell. A gallery in the new facility will be named in honor of IMCA founder Mort Walker.

Joe Branin, Director of The Ohio State University Libraries, issued the following statement: “Special Collections, original manuscripts, photographs, and other rare or unique items so necessary for scholarship, are one of the critical identifiers of any research library. Universities point to their special collections as distinctive points of pride, those things that make their libraries unique. In receiving the collection of the International Museum of Cartoon Art, the Cartoon Research Library has substantially enhanced its standing as one of the premier research libraries. We are excited to make this outstanding collection available for scholarly study and for general appreciation in exhibits and other public programs.”

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library's primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sue meets Harvey Pekar

Sunday Comix member Sue met famous comic writer Harvey Pekar at Ohioana Book Festival.



Sue will be publishing her interview with Mr. Pekar in an upcoming publication, the Sunday Comix Showcase.

Weekend Hangover

This post is very late...

I don't drink, but boy oh boy, did I get drunk last weekend! Not on alcohol but on comics. On Friday night, I hung out with a hundred or so people at the Wexner Center to celebrate Jeff Smith's Bone and Beyond show there. I got the chance to chat with the likes of Scott McCloud and Harvey Pekar (who was in town for the Ohioana Book Festival). I was telling my friends Chuck & Sam, who were with me, that it was the first time (in a long time) that I've been giddy about loving comic books. The party continued on Saturday afternoon with a "public conversation" between Scott McCloud (who acted more like an interviewer) and Jeff Smith at the Mershon Auditorium. The conversation was great and the Q&A session was fantastic. There was a book signing afterwards. and I ended up being close to the end of the line and had some great conversations with the other McCloud & Smith readers.


I scoured the internets to find some well-written and informative articles about the event(s) and came up with the following:

• From the horse's mouth-- Boneville's photo journal of Smith & Co. setting up the gallery at the Wex (part one & two).
• Local newspaper The Columbus Dispatch published a nice article in their Arts section.
• Local writer J. Caleb Mozzocco wrote two far superior, more in depth articles about the exhibitSmith/McCloud conversation on his blog, Every Day Is Like Wednesday.
• A great Comic Related Recap of the weekend. There's loads of pictures on the Comic Related website: here, here, here, here and here.
• Yours truly took a few snapshots, too.
  

I'm sure there's more to be found, but I'm still recovering.