Tag: Cartoonists

On Monday, James Sturm, cartoonist and director of the Center for Cartoon Studies, posted a cartoon at The Nib called "The Sponsor". I'm sure if you are a cartoonist you've already read it, since it was the talk of the town for a few days. Basically it concerns cartoonists, jealousy, the low bar for success, anxiety over one's abilities, tumblr hits, Kickstarter and more. All in 24 panels. I'd call that a good job. The basic conceit is that as in various 12-step programs, cartoonists have sponsors they can call in moments of stress. A young cartoonist named Casey calls his sponsor, Alan, in the middle of the night to fret about another cartoonist named Tessa who has a six figure Kickstarter, a line out the door at a Rocketship signing, and a book deal with D&Q. Tessa's success sends Casey into such a tizzy that he has to work things out and consider grad school, despite Alan's insistence that Crumb never thought about hits. And despite his "stay strong" rhetoric to Casey, Alan soon picks up the phone to call his OWN sponsor.

A film has been made about Seth, the single named Autuer of Clyde Fans, It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken, Palookaville, and countless illustrations. It's called Seth's Dominion, it's directed by Luc Chamberland and it is described as "a hybrid documentary/animation film exploring the life of master cartoonist Seth." Given that Seth is a perfectionist, you'd expect no less of a film about him, so to no one's surprise the film has won the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival.

You can read my official SPC report at PW, with news and notes, but I'm guessing that everyone who was at SPX is probably, like me, realizing that the magic is over and we have a whole year to go, or maybe a few weeks if you count APE, but in the meantime, I can keep the magic going a few moments more by rounding up some of the magical, mystical memories of SPX. I said there were a few people who didn't have a good time, and you can find one of two on Tumblr who sat outside hotel rooms sadly waiting for the person with the key to come back. But if you could open your heart, SPX would make you love it. As the above picture shows, SPX is the only con where you can find Julia Wertz and Renee French just sitting and smiling with each other. It's also the only place where someone would leave their computer just sitting out on a table (as one prominent comics personage di don Friday)and feel pretty secure that it would be just fine. There is a reason why people puts up so many pics and blog so much about this show—it's a full on love affair.

@s_k_hanselmann decided to do his Paul Pope impression at @LocustMoon tonight. (He wrote "Paul Pope" on his chest.) pic.twitter.com/q1Rn723BOH— Fantagraphics Books (@fantagraphics) September 17, 2014 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js We're all for body confidence here at Stately Beat Manor,...

Zainab Akhtar's excellent Comics and Cola blog runs a feature called "Comics Shelfies" which includes pictures of various comics collections. Usually the Expedit or Billy is called into play, but for Michael DeForge, the...

Simon Hanselmann, Patrick Kyle and Michael DeForge are going on tour together, an event that will doubtless span a thousand autobio comics. DeForge is the best known of the group, acclaimed for Lose, Ant...

  Chris Ware is only the second cartoonist to get the Paris Review interview treatment—Robert Crumb was the first—and it's said to be one of his longest and most revealing interviews ever. With scholar Jeet...

The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Went Underground is in B&W/  and Full color, HardCover  an exclusive Kitchen Sink Press imprint under Dark Horse  ISBN:978-1-61655-258-9 Intro by Stan Lee Forward by Denis Kitchen Designed and Edited by John Lind by Pam Auditore Tall,...

Cartoonist MariNaomi is starting a database of cartoonists of color (COC) and you can upload your details as explained in the link. There's a FAQ: What is a Cartoonist of Color? Cartoonists of Color (COC)...

Noah van Sciver is one of our finest young cartoonists, building up a body of work that displays hard work, insight, and a strong storytelling sensibility that doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable. I like The Hypo, his unconventional take on Abraham Lincoln, and Saint Cole from the Expositor.

There's been a lot o' talk this week about Mike Dawson's essay on his perceived failure to find an audience. Dawson followed up on it with more thoughts. The main point of this essay was...

Mike Dawson is talented cartoonist, a witty raconteur and a fine podcaster— you can hear his work with Alex Robinson here at Ink Panthers. And as of yesterday he was a Tumblr king with a post calledAdvice to the mid-career cartoonist who has failed to build an audience. It's honest and in some parts brutal.