Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Minterviews, News, Thought Bubble 2012, What is Sequential Art?
Hey Gang!
Thought Bubble 2012 is approaching at a constant rate: we’re working on time acceleration technology, but, ironically, it’s slow going, so in the meantime, why not scroll down for a fresh minterview, or check out the website for our updated guest list and exhibitor pages!
We’ve also just released details of this year’s official hotel for the festival, including exclusive prices (from £89 per night) for attendees staying the weekend. The Leeds Marriott is a lovely hotel, and is sure to fill up fast, so book soon to avoid disappointment!
Onwards to minterviews!
Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence. And we’ve got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. So to pass the time until interstellar travel is a reality, we’ve been chatting with a few comics creators and writing down the results! Minterviews!
The format’s the same each week – five standard questions are asked to every contributor, and then five special follow-ups are derived from their answers to the initial batch of questions, so ten in total, a mini-interview, a Minterview. Hopefully it’ll make for some nice informal conversations about the funny books we know and love from those who make them.
This week we spoke to the excellent Paul Duffield illustrator on epic free-to-air webcomic FreakAngels, whose self-penned work Signal is an excellent read, and whose latest project The Firelight Isle looks set to be a good ‘un. Have a read of our conversation after the jump!
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TB: Hi, Paul to begin can you give us an idea of how you got started in comics? Did you get a big break, or was it more gradual?
A bit of both I suppose! I think I got a quick break in that I was able to make a living from comics straight out of University thanks to some prize cash that I got from winning the International Manga & Anime Festival and the Rising Stars of Manga award whilst still at Uni, but I’d also been drawing webcomics for years before that too! After that it still took a good amount of work to raise my profile enough and get to a place where job offers came with the regularity needed to make a proper living from comics.
It’s a hard question to answer properly though, since it’s hard to tell from my perspective what has been due to luck and what has been due to hard work. It’s also a contentious issue when it gets discussed, since it’s inevitable that anyone who has experienced success will be keen to attribute it to their own efforts, and anyone who has experienced failure will be keen to attribute it to external circumstances (unless they’re a bit masochistic).
I think there’s a large proponent of “right-place-right-time” in any successfully started career, but on the other hand I believe strongly that people make their own luck – something that despite being a bit of a trite saying is actually backed up by psychological research (Richard Wiseman has written quite a bit about that. Whatever the flaws in my work, I can say for sure that I’ve never lacked confidence, which has meant that I’ve rarely shied away from a challenge, missed a potential opportunity, let failure preoccupy me for too long, or believed that I was incapable of achieving something.
TB: Do you think this attitude towards your own work is why the projects you’ve been a part of recently are so varied? Everything from an epic webcomic with Warren Ellis, to a crowd-funded creator-owned graphic novel, and through to contributing to The Phoenix, you don’t seem content to plow the same furrow for long.
Possibly! I’ve always been a bit creatively restless, flicking from project to project and discipline to discipline. Freakangels is the longest time I’ve ever spent doing just one thing. It may also be that I’ve got a wide ranging taste when it comes to what sort of work I like to read and watch myself. I don’t think there’s a single subject on earth that wouldn’t be fascinating to read about if it was communicated by a skilled storyteller with a passion for the subject.
There’s a huge amount that interests me, so I suppose that means there’s a huge amount I’d love to be able to do, and very little that turns me off just because of the subject (although ironically, muscle-men with constantly bared teeth and veins in their necks is usually one of those things).
TB: What’s your proudest moment, in comics or otherwise, to date?
I think that probably has to go to winning The Rising Stars of Manga competition. It would be easy to play down how it felt – in hindsight Tokyopop are just one company among many (and one with which I and other people have had some bitter experiences), and I’m used to working with editors and talking to publishers now, but at the time, I’d only ever drawn comics out of personal interest.
The idea of doing it professionally was like a wild dream for me, and at that time the internet wasn’t full of easy ways to get in contact with professionals, so I had no sense of connection to the industry whatsoever. So, when I got the call about winning the competition it was really something special – to know my work had been chosen from hundreds of other entries, to have an editor from America calling me personally and talking with me about my work, to know that a comic I’d drawn would be published! That’s a feeling I hope I don’t lose sight of in the future.
TB: So, what were you considering as a career before that point, if comics had been, say, more of a hobby?
I’ve considered a number of different careers at different times in my life. For a while it was something related to physics and astronomy, then it was graphic design, then illustration, then comics, then animation, then back to comics again. I think depending on how my life had gone I might have ended up in any of those areas, and I’m still deeply interested in all of them.
The thing that continually attracts me to comics though is how many different disciplines it encompasses – there’s concept design, graphic design, illustration, observational drawing, storytelling, typography, elements of animation and storyboarding – it’s all in there, so it keeps me continually interested and throws up new challenges all the time.
Having wanted to do so many different things, and having tried a good number of them, I’m certain that comics is a truly unique medium – the most versatile form of storytelling that it’s possible for one person (or a very small team) to work on, and complete a substantial story in reasonable time.
TB: And do you have any formal artistic training, or did your illustrative ability develop out of a general interest to tell stories?
Both at the same time! I’ve been interested in drawing and storytelling since a tiny age, and consequently I made it a major goal of my education from as early as possible (something that was helped by having supportive and creative parents). I chose art at GCSE, A-Level and Foundation, and then went on to do a BA in animation/illustration at Kingston University. It’s been a hard thing to balance though – there hasn’t always been an easy avenue within my education to pursue the sort of art that I’ve been interested in. Whether at the time that was fantasy art or manga and anime, or comics in general, I tended to encounter resistance from at least some of my teachers/tutors. So whilst I took a more classical “arty” route through education, I always drew and wrote in my spare time too, and applied the lessons I learned in both areas to my work.
TB: Do you enjoy attending conventions and other events like Thought Bubble?
Absolutely! I’ve been a convention addict ever since I attended my first anime convention when I was 16. I’ve never quite been able to recapture the amazing buzz that that first convention gave me though – it was so unlike anything I’d experienced, being surrounded by other fans, getting a chance to watch fan-subbed animation way before it was released on video (video!), being able to buy actual imported merchandise from Japan. From that point I attended every convention I could manage, and quickly found out about comics conventions too.
It’s amazing thinking about the scale that conventions have reached now – from my first (a few hundred people in a couple of rooms of a Novotel), to something like The MCM Expo (tens of thousands in a giant convention hall). In a way, I’ve become numb to everything that once excited me about that type of convention – I’ve seen all the toys and merchandise over and over again, I can legally stream new anime straight to my computer, and there are dozens of stalls selling the same things at every convention every year. I’m sure all the teenagers going to their first Expo feel just as amazed as I did that first time (if not more) and it’s fantastic that they’ve got such a huge scene to get into, but that’s something I can only ever enjoy via nostalgia now.
I get my up-to-date kicks instead from the amazing and welcoming community of artists that you find at British conventions, and the huge amount of incredible self published stuff out there – something that was an exception rather than a rule at my first few conventions. Shows like Thought Bubble, or the Comic Village at MCM have such a lovely crowd of comic artists, and there are so many new self published pieces to check out every convention that it actually gets a bit overwhelming! Especially if you throw in exhibiting to the mix as well – which is its own pleasure!
With new cons like Super Comic Con and Kapow aiming to bring the celebrity-centric American Con experience to England, I hope that the creator-centric cons where publishers and self-publishers share the same space continue to grow and thrive – I personally find picking up a new comic and being surprised by a creator I’ve never heard of much more exciting than waiting for hours in a queue for a celebrity scribble (although I’ve done my fair share of that too)!
TB: Do you think conventions are still an important part of the comics industry then, influencing future generations of comics creators and customers?
Absolutely, they’re a fantastic place to meet other creators and publishers socially, which is a great help when seeking jobs or being mentioned at the right place and the right time. It does however shift the focus onto networking and social skills as a large element of the qualifications needed to find jobs in comics, and means that your manners and levels of exuberance can make just as much of an impact as your actual work – but to a certain extent that’s true of any freelancing job. A lot of organisational skills are required to find jobs and maintain your own business, and getting to know the right people is invaluable. A good convention with a good range of guests turns that from a chore into a pleasure, and my experience from attending conventions is that the current generation of creators and organisers are almost without exception warm and welcoming people.
In terms of customers, I think conventions that invite publishers and self-publishers alike help to blur the line between fans and creators. If you attend a convention like that as a fan, you get to see a range of skills and talk to people with a diverse range of experiences – maybe as a consequence, a fan who has dabbled in art or writing might even come away with the idea that it would be fun to try for themselves.
TB: Which comics are you enjoying at the moment, any all-time favourites?
I’m really enjoying Yotsuba and Twin Spica at the moment – they’re actually the only ongoing comics I’m buying right now, although I’m sure there’s loads I’m missing out on. Yotsuba is hilarious and has this fantastic sense of wonder at even the most mundane things that you experience vicariously through the main character. Twin Spica at first seems to be a simple story aimed at kids about a child who wants to grow up to be an astronaut. As it goes on though, there’s a strong theme of losing the simplicity and intensity of childhood dreams in adulthood, and the sacrifices and compromises that the adult characters have made cut a stark contrast with the simple passions of the younger characters. It’s a much more complex piece that it first appears and it has a habit of moving me close to tears quite often!
My all-time favs include Black Hole and Blankets (which probably need no intro), but there’s also a lovely piece by Jiro Taniguchi called The Walking Man which has always been a favourite comic of mine. To hear it described, it might be the most boring comic on earth – it’s literally just about a man walking from place to place – but the careful observation, wit and depth with which it’s all executed makes it a fantastic read. It’s also a comic which intrigued me long before it was ever available in English. A good decade or so ago there was an exhibition of art from Japanese comics (Manga: Short Comics from Modern Japan) that toured the UK, which I went to when it was in Southampton. Part of the exhibition was a short sequence from The Walking Man, and it so captivated me that I kept on coming back to it again and again. Later I found the same book referred to in Paul Gravette’s Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, as well as another book called Manga: Masters of the Art, but at that time it hadn’t actually been published in England! I remember despairing that it would never be translated, but when it finally came out it was every bit as captivating as those first pages that I saw in the exhibition. It was also one of the first comics I’d encountered that didn’t have a fantastical plot or setting, and it taught me a lot about how subtle story telling can be, and how a story doesn’t necessarily need narration or dialogue to unfold.
TB: In your own work you appear to take influence from a variety of sources, your comic Signal, for example, referencing Carl Sagan and SETI, what are your key interests when it comes to storytelling?
I think that it’s everything and anything interesting really. I don’t limit my influences to a particular genre or medium – I read books, comics, manga (which I think of as a sort of fluid subsection of comics), listen to audiobooks, play videogames, watch films and animation, listen to music from a range of different genres and time periods. I also don’t just limit my interest to storytelling, but take a lot of influence from non-fiction sources. I’m fascinated by science in general, especially physics and astronomy, I love reading about neurology, the study of consciousness, anthropology, history, sociology – like I mentioned before, nothing’s dull if it’s presented right (provided you don’t dismiss it or underestimate your own ability to understand it).
Unfortunately, if you have the wrong teacher or the wrong class, full time education can have the perverse effect of shutting people down to disciplines which are rich with insight and knowledge about the world around them. I was lucky enough to have a really good range of teachers and parents who encouraged me to learn, so since leaving university, I’ve developed a passion for seeking knowledge on my own time. Because of that I’m drawn to public figures like Carl Sagan, who believed that a good and inspiring education is the key to emancipation – not just from poor circumstance, but also from your own potential for prejudice and ignorance.So, when I think about what I want to stories I read and create to capture, it’s not just a moment’s drama and excitement, it’s a sense of wonder, of complexity or subtlety. I believe that although we have just one life each, we can all live many extra lives through fiction, the arts and the sciences. The quality and relevance of those extra lives we take on is an extremely important thing that shapes us and our views, so when I’m working on a comic or on any creative narrative, I’ve got all of this in mind!
TB: Finally, thought bubbles or caption boxes?
Depends if your character is narrating the story or not! I’d normally do thought bubbles for incidental thoughts, caption boxes for narration. Or sometimes something else entirely for both – as long as the visual device makes sense and is used consistently!
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Many thanks to Paul for taking the time to talk to us, you can do the same if you come to this year’s Thought Bubble!
There’ll be another minterview with one of this year’s festival guests up on Monday, check back then to see who we talked to!
Howdy Hey! Happy St George’s Day, Shakespeare’s Birthday/Deathday, Cervantes Birthday, and ZX Spectrum’s Birthday! Phew!
In non-birthday news, this year’s Thought Bubble Festival is creeping inexorably closer, waiting to pounce upon you and show you the best that comics has to offer. Kind of like a tiger, if tigers liked to pounce upon you and then show you the best that comics has to offer, instead of eating you.
Convoluted animal metaphors aside, we’re happy to announce that Saviles Hall tables for this year’s convention are now sold out! Royal Armouries Hall is likely to follow closely on its heels, so if you want to exhibit at 2012′s convention then be sure to book soon!
Tables have sold in record time and numbers this year, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s booked one. Check out all the exhibitors who’re confirmed so far on the website, and see why we think this Thought Bubble is going to be our best yet!
Ok, so, it’s only 202 days until this year’s festival, but in the meantime, we have a little something for you…
People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood. But it did happen. However, that’s not what we’re here to talk about! Instead we’ve been chatting with a few comic creators and writing down the results! Minterviews! Wheeeeee!
The format’s the same each week – five standard questions are asked to every contributor, and then five special follow-ups are derived from their answers to the initial batch of questions, so ten in total, a mini-interview, a Minterview. Hopefully it’ll make for some nice informal conversations about the funny books we know and love from those who make them.
This week we chatted to John Reppion and Leah Moore one of our favourite comic writing teams; creators of ripping yarns, whose free-to-air webcomic The Thrill Electric is a great read. You can see what we talked about after the jump!
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TB: Hi guys, to begin can you give us an idea of how you got started in comics? Did you get a big break, or was it more gradual?
Leah: I submitted a little 8 page story called King Solomon Pines anonymously to Scott Dunbier at Wildstorm and he liked it enough to publish it. I did another short story for Terrific Tales and then Scott set me homework of concocting my own series. I kicked ideas round with John, and we gradually came up with Wild Girl, and decided to write it together. We Completed the 6 issue miniseries together, and have been writing together ever since.
I think it does count as a big break, as it was a big gig to land from a standing start, but I think it kind of left us a bit clueless about how other companies worked, or what to do next really. We just had to try and get on with it, and somehow we managed to build up contacts and projects for different companies. it was slow going though, we’ve been doing this for nearly 10 years now!
TB: So, do you think there is a traditional, formal way of breaking into comics, or would you advise people to forge their own path?
John: Writers need to write stuff and artists need to draw stuff. That’s the minimum requirement. Write and draw and get your work out there; be it self-published, or small press anthologies, or whatever. Have a finished product to put in someone’s hand (or inbox) to show how you can work with others and how your skills translate into a completed comic. It’s up to you who you want to show that work to, what direction you want to go in, etc, but that’s the very best starting point, I think.
TB: What’s your proudest moment, in comics or otherwise, to date?
John: As parents we’re bound to say the birth of our son, Eddie. As clichéd as it might seem, he makes us both immensely, immensely proud every single day.
Professionally, The Trial of Sherlock Holmes is still probably the series I’m proudest of, just because we set our selves a goal of writing something that we’d never done before (and something that wasn’t easy) and it worked out really well; people really liked it. Saying that, I’m very, very proud of The Thrill Electric too (which is still free to read online at www.thethrillelectric.com).
TB: Do you find it intimidating working with revered characters like Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, as opposed to creating characters/worlds, such as in The Thrill Electric?
Leah: Adapting Dracula felt less intimidating, because there are so many versions out there already and lots of them are kind of known for being a bit crap, so we felt we were already doing more by keeping to the original story, staying with the original plot etc. We had that angle to give us confidence.
When we did our first Sherlock Holmes book, we absolutely felt terrified that we’d do it, and all the Holmes fans in the world would just blow a collective raspberry at us, and stamp it “FAILED”. Amazingly, it has been incredibly well received by Holmes fans, and new readers alike, so we must have got away with that one.
Writing Doctor Who too, the pressure was enormous, but again people seemed to enjoy it. I think the fear keeps you very careful with the feel of the story. You don’t want to “give it a new twist” so much as “not horribly balls it up”, so I think it’s a good thing!
TB: And are there any characters you’d relish the chance to write for, any literary classics you think are ripe for adapting?
John: Well, let me preface this by saying I do not read monthlies at all (sorry) and am completely out of touch with all the new re-launched revamped rebooted continuity, but some part of me does still dream of writing Batman. I actually only just read Gotham by Gaslight properly very recently and it gave me the same excitement that reading The Dark Knight and The Killing Joke did when I was ten years old.
As for literary classics, there are so many great stories that could be adapted really well for comics and brought to a whole new audience. I’m not naming any otherwise someone else will do them and we’ll be out of a job! Well actually, a book we wanted to adapt and that didn’t work out was Day of the Triffids, and I still think that could be really, really good.
TB: Do you enjoy attending conventions and other events like Thought Bubble?
Leah: I love going to conventions, especially as we don’t get to so much anymore since Eddie was born. It’s a great chance to meet the readers, see our friends and catch up on the industry gossip. It’s a weird job socially, because we all sit in our spare rooms on our own, talking on the internet or the phone, but don’t meet up much except for the cons.
They end up torn between work and fun, with everyone trying not to end up too hungover to function by the end of the weekend. (I say that mainly from memory as I was pregnant at the last Thought Bubble I attended!)
Thought Bubble is a really amazing convention. It’s really well organised, the guests are looked after, the communication is great, the location is really easy to get to, and the vibe is always really relaxed and fun. I’ve never heard a bad word said about it, which for saying how much comics professionals like to moan and gripe to one another about ANYTHING, is nothing short of supernatural! We were there at the first one, and we’ll keep coming back as long as you’ll have us. Long may it continue!
John: Thought Bubble is the one! Best UK by far in my opinion.
TB: Thanks guys! We’ll keep putting it on as long as everyone lets us! So, have you noticed any changes in terms of the people attending conventions over the years you’ve been attending them as guests?
Leah: I think there are more young people, more teenagers, more kids, and a lot more girls. The whole cosplay thing has done masses to drag in teens to conventions, but it’s also brought together comic fans, gaming fans, anime fans, steampunk fans.
A convention now is so much more than old guys and one woman dressed as Electra; it’s a much more lively vibe now. More family friendly, less cliquey. You don’t have to be hunting through long boxes for a back issue to enjoy the con.
TB: Which comics are you enjoying at the moment, any all-time favourites?
John: Neither of us is keeping up with the monthlies at all these days, sadly. The most recent books I read are probably Neonomicon and Captain Swing, which are both quite mental in their own way. We both read the Owly book most days as our son is pretty obsessed with them. Comics I’m most likely to pick up from the shelf and read again are the Hellboy Library volumes. I love them!
edit – since we conducted the interview John’s read some more comics, and recommends one of them here.
Leah: I read Erica Moen’s Bucko, and Danielle Corsetto’s GirlsWithSlingshots online too, but, as John says, we haven’t bought actual paper comics in ages. I got Adam Cadwell’s Blood Blokes as the MCM Expo, and I’m looking forward to more of those, but we are rubbish at buying things! The only thing I actively go out of my way to get is anything by the Hernandez Bros. You can never have too much of those guys. I’m happily addicted.
TB: So, if you both had one book to recommend to someone who’d never looked at a comic before to convert them into a lifelong fan, which would you pick?
John: My God, that’s a tough question. Not either of the books I just mentioned! It really depends on the person and what they’re into. Whatever it is, there’s bound to be a comic that’s perfect for them. That’s a bit of a cop-out, isn’t it? But I do think it’s true.
Leah: I would go for something like Bryan Talbot’s Tale of One Bad Rat, just because it’s so clean and expertly done, and heart wrenching and beautiful all at once. Anyone who wasn’t impressed by that would need their head read really.
TB: Finally, thought bubbles or caption boxes?
John: I think we’ve only ever used thought bubbles once and that was in our Alice in Wonderland adaptation. No, wait, we might have used them in some of the DC Thompson pastiche bits in Albion. But, 99.9% of the time its caption boxes for us.
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Many thanks to Leah and John for talking to us, we’ll have another Minterview for you next Monday!
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, News, Programme 2011, Thought Bubble 2011, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, UK Conventions
Howdy hey! Bit of a quiet month on the blog (sorry), but that’s because we’ve been busy. Like, super-busy. So without much further ado lets plow on into the mammoth pile of Thought Bubble 2011 happenings that’ve crept up on us like… mammoths?
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First things first – Exhibitor table news!
Tables in Saviles Hall are now completely sold out. A new record for us, all the tables in that hall are now booked, however, we still have limited numbers left to book in Royal Armouries Hall for our 2 day convention. Early bird prices for these remaining tables expire on August 1st (after which time they will rise), so act fast if you don’t want to miss out and snag yourself a bargain! Full details can be found on the website.
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Second item of business – Leeds Graphic Novel Awards 2011!
Last year saw the inaugural Leeds Graphic Novel Awards ceremony take place (won by Dave Shelton for his book Good Dog, Bad Dog) as part of the Leeds Book Awards. Specifically aimed at books suitable for 11-14 year olds, this winner is chosen by pupils at selected schools around Leeds, who then get to attend the awards ceremony and meet the creators. We’ve just released the nominations shortlist for this year, and if you’d like your school to take part in this or future events please email deborah.moody@leeds.gov.uk.
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Tertiary phase – Northern Sequential Art Competition 2011!
Following on from the success of last year’s first ever Northern Sequential Art Competition, we’re pleased to present 2011′s offering in association with our good friends over at Travelling Man comic stores. Winning entries will be published in our next anthology (publication date TBC in 2012), and there are other fabulous prizes to be attained.
Full details and T&Cs can be found on the website, but there’s a brief run down below.
This year’s competition is open to artists and writers in the UK, and entries must be a single, self-contained comic book page, with no fewer than 6 panels, A3 in size, portrait format and must contain the title in the top left corner.
Judges will include Matt Smith (editor of 2000 AD) and Steve Wacker (Marvel’s Spider-Man Editor). Deadline for entries is Monday 31st October.
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Finally – Convention Tickets!
Tickets for 2011′s convention are selling like cakes tending towards maximum entropy, so act fast if you’d like to be one of the lucky ones (first 500 weekend pass sales) to get guaranteed entry to our funtastical after-party!
Tickets are available for purchase through our website, or can be collected in person from Travelling Man comic shops, or OK Comics in Leeds.
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And that’s it! All the news. ALL OF IT. We’ll be announcing this year’s festival programme soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that, shouldn’t be too hard to spot as it’s going to be huge. Seriously, when we said this year’s festival was going to be our biggest yet we really weren’t kidding. Cushty.
- Clark
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Film and Sequential Art, Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble, Thought Bubble 2011, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Kayla Hillier, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds comic workshops, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, UK Conventions, Webcomics
Hello! We’re back!
Back after an exhaustingly good time at the MCM Expo down in the big ol’ city known as Londinium. While there we announced some new guests for TBF11, and generally had a jolly old time with Team Comics, as well as handing out some lovely new Thought Bubble flyers along the way. But we are now ensconced in the lofty spires of Thought Bubble Towers once again, and we have work to do, so let’s get this party/blog post started!
First up – tickets for this year’s convention are now up on sale, first 500 weekend passes sold confer guaranteed entry to our party on the Saturday night, and full details as to pricing and purchase options can be found on the website! We’ve changed things up a bit with the festival and convention expansion, so be sure to read all the details – makes life a lot easier for everyone.
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Next up, news of a competition for all of you out there with their sights set on being the next big thing in comics. The publisher Myriad Editions has launched a competition for aspiring graphic novelists and are looking for a first-time GN in progress, with the winner working with the publisher to complete the title. The writer who comes first in the competition also stands a chance of being offered a contract and seeing their title published.
On the judging panel will be author Ian Rankin, Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell, author and cartoonist Ed Hillyer, graphic novelists Hannah Berry and Bryan Talbot, and Myriad Editions creative director Corinne Pearlman.
Full details on the Myriad Editions website.
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News has also reached us of a new arts event in Leeds taking place this month! The north’s first applied arts fair, LOOP Arts Fair, will take place June 17th-19th at Marshalls Mill, Leeds.
Keynote speaker on the Friday is James Jarvis “Born in London in 1970 and raised on a diet of Richard Scarry, Hergé, Judge Dredd and Albert Camus, Jarvis studied Illustration at the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1995. Since then he has gone on to establish himself as a graphic artist of international repute.In 1998 Jarvis designed the iconic toy figure ‘Martin’, unwittingly helping start the ‘designer’ toy phenomenon.” And they’ve also got open studios, talks, live art, workshops, printshops from TOY, Analogue Books, Drew Millward, Lizzie Stewart, Best Joined Up, Kibbo Kift and more! Tickets are on sale through their website.
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Finally, we’re welcoming a new Friend of Thought Bubble into the fold! This week’s super friend is the awesome Kayla Hillier, a Canadian comic creator now living here in Blighty. There’s a selection of her work below (click the images to embiggen), and a description of the lady herself in her own words under that. Give them a gander, eh!
Kayla Marie Hillier has been livin’ large for a little more than a quarter of a century. She hails from a small town – nay, village – of 600 people called Stoney Point or Pointe-aux-Roches which is found in the most southern part of the Canadian province of Ontario.
She spent 18 years of her life there where she became BFFs with the internet although she was limited by her dial up connection. Shhhhh shhhhhh beep bop boo beep shhhhhhh-
She left the nest to pursue “higher education” in the Niagara region at Brock University where she achieved a degree in both Philosophy and Film and managed to write well over 100 articles for the Canadian University Press. She left Toronto about a year ago to return to Manchester, England – as the country managed to woo her with an impressive display of overcast skies.
She digs comics, so she makes some of her own. Her work includes the now completed webcomic GALAVANT which documents her travels throughout the UK over a period of 3 months – she’s also involved in Julia Scheele’s 69 Love Songs, Illustrated project.
Kayla’s one of my favourite people in comics, and I’d really recommend checking her stuff out, or come along to Thought Bubble 2011 and say hi to her in person!
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That’s all for now, back soon with more TBF11 news and other shenanigans.
- Clark
Filed under: Art by Guests, Film and Sequential Art, Thought Bubble 2011, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art
Hello! It’s only 181 days (or a year if you live on the planet Chimera) until the start of this year’s Thought Bubble, and we have some details of exciting new comic goodness for all of y’all in the meantime!
First up, we’re extremely happy to be able to bring you the first details of our first ever Thought Bubble Anthology! We’ve been working away on this for quite a while now, getting it all shiny and ready for the public’s discerning gaze, and we’re super pleased with how it’s turned out. We’re still finalising everything ahead of printing, but we can tell you that it will be distributed globally this summer by Diamond Publishing, is made possible by a generous grant from the Arts Council UK, and all proceeds from its sales will be going to Barnardos.
The anthology will showcase a wide variety of creators and styles, as well as giving you another chance to see the six winning entries from last year’s inaugural Northern Sequential Arts Competition! We’ve got a sneak peak at the cover below, featuring our wonderful festival image for this year from Becky Cloonan, and we’ll have full details on how to get hold of a copy very soon…
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Next up, it’s Friends of Thought Bubble alumnus Howard Hardiman’s The Lengths, issue 1 of which hits comic shops on Wednesday 18th May, with new issues released every two months.
Drawn from extensive interviews with real sex-workers in the city, The Lengths is a quirky, uncompromising but ultimately sympathetic take on the oldest profession in the world. You thought being a male escort is a dog’s life? Think again.
The Lengths is available from all good UK comics shops, including:
Travelling Man, Dale Street, Manchester
Gosh, Great Russel Street, London
Dave’s Comics, Sydney Street, Brighton
Orbital, Great Newport Street, London
…and online at: http://cutebutsad.bigcartel.com
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We’ve also got news of Dick Turpin and the Crimson Plague, a new graphic novel from our friends over at Time Bomb Comics that will be launching at this year’s convention. The book is a follow up to their 2008 highwaymen vs zombies one-shot Dick Turpin and the Restless Dead, and is set one year on from the first book, with Dick Turpin up against a nest of vampire prostitutes in 18th century London. Written by Steve Tanner it features art from Graeme Howard and is lettered by Nikki Foxrobot. You can get a glimpse at the artwork below, but vampire prostitutes – what’s not to love?
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Finally, we’re very pleased to see that the Comics Forum website is now up and running. We’ve worked with them for the past few years, bringing fascinating academic talks on the theory and practices behind sequential arts to Leeds as part of the Thought Bubble festival, and 2011 is no exception. This year will see three days of talks, on a variety of themes, and the call for submissions is now open. Come along and see the serious side of funny books!
Exciting, I’m sure you’ll agree! Back on Friday with a new Friend of Thought Bubble.
- Clark
Filed under: Art by Guests, News, Programme 2011, Thought Bubble 2011, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Graphic Novels, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Nelson, Sequential Art, Signings, Small Press
Hey gang! Hope you all had a very happy Star Wars day, and if you don’t celebrate that particular holiday, well, laugh it up fuzzball. Something a bit different on the blog today, as we’re bringing you the first bit of news about an exciting new British comics project!
Nelson, a new collaborative graphic novel from Blank Slate Books will be launching this November at Thought Bubble’s convention, and features an awesome line-up of British comics talent. We’ll be celebrating the arrival of this major new work with signings and a panel, and will be bringing you more information throughout the year as the launch approaches.
So, who is Nelson? Well, Nel Baker’s story starts in 1968 (the year of her birth) and takes us through to the present day, with each creator presenting a snapshot of one year of her life. In the words of Rob Davis (Dr Who, Don Quixote) the anthology’s editor – “I don’t know if anyone’s tried anything like this before, I just think it’s a great way to show what separates comic artists from other artists – we don’t just draw pictures, we tell stories! I wanted us to avoid the ‘pick-and-choose’ aspect of most anthologies and get everyone writing their own chapters, working together to tell one continuous story. So whether a creator is your favourite or someone whose work you’d never normally go near, they all become an essential read.”
We’ve got a sneak peak at some of the art below, as well as some more information, simply click the images to embiggen them.
The line-up of talent involved looks simply stunning, but don’t take my word for it, have a gander at the contributors…
Rob Davis, Woodrow Phoenix, Ellen Lindner, Jamie Smart, Gary Northfield, Sarah McIntyre, Suzy Varty, Sean Longcroft, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, Luke Pearson, Paul Harrison-Davies, Katie Green, Paul Peart-Smith, Glyn Dillon, Ian Culbard, John Allison, Philip Bond, Matt (D’Israeli) Brooker, Simone Lia, Daryl Cunningham, Jonathan Edwards, Ade Salmon, Kate Charlesworth, Warren Pleece, Kristyna Baczynski, James Harvey, Rian Hughes, Sean Phillips + Pete Doree, Kate Brown, Simon Gane, Oliver East, Adam Cadwell, Faz Choudhury, Jake, Jeremy Day, Dan McDaid, Roger Langridge, Will Morris, Dave Shelton, Carol Swain, Hunt Emerson, Duncan Fegredo, Philippa Rice, Garen Ewing, Tom Humberstone, Dan Berry, Kate Evans, Laura Howell, Andi Watson and Dave Taylor.
Very much a project worth getting excited about, so come to Thought Bubble 2011 and meet Nel Baker for the first time!
That’s all for now, Friends of Thought Bubble returns next week!
- Clark
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Art by Guests, Minterviews, News, Thought Bubble 2010, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Bunny, Comics, Huw Davies, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, Small Press, Webcomics
Hey guys! Things are really cooking here at Thought Bubble towers - it’s just over three weeks until the opening of this year’s Festival and all hands are on deck to make this year our best ever. And apparently nautically themed. Who knew?! To tide you over on those agonising last few moments before 2010′s events finally arrive we’ve got a new minterview for you!
This week we had a lovely old natter with Huw “Lem” Davies, creator of the brilliant Bunny, who is part of the greatest team ever known – the Friends of Thought Bubble!
To start off, do you think you could give us an idea of how you first got into sequential art?
I was interested in comics in general reasonably early I think. Of course the Dandy and Beano featured, alongside a dusty old hard-backed annual of Hotspur comics from the 70s that’s particularly dear to my heart. The Hotspur was especially interesting because it felt much more grown up, a bit darker, more rounded. And it had pictures of passenger jets that looked like Concorde flying through thunderstorms, which obviously the Dandy didn’t. I am sure that informed some part of my comic-drawing brain.
The longer I try and work out what actually made me think “Yes, I would like to draw comics”, the less certain about it I get. I know I used to draw primitive “comics” when I was 10 or so, but I can’t remember why. I think I just assumed that reading comics were fun, and drawing was fun, and obviously if I combined the two it would be double plus fun. And, what do you know, I was right in that assumption.
It was certainly more fun that whatever you’re supposed to do on long caravan holidays anyway.
Was there a discernible transition from making comics for fun to seriously producing them? Is it still double plus fun to do?
Not really, I think it just gradually happened over time by doing things which were a little more serious. They’re still double plus fun to do, else I think I would have given up ages ago.
Do you still read comics as well as produce them? Any favourites?
Oh yes, both online and off thanks to the local library carrying quite a broad selection of trades.
Stopping short of listing a whole lot of books that I’ve liked, I’ll just single out Northlanders Vol 1 by Brian Wood & Davide Gianfelice. It’s a great blend of beautiful art, great storytelling and it feels like a bit of a history lesson as well. I feel that Brian researches things properly and it makes the work stand out.
Is there any work, not necessarily in the medium of comics, that you consider an influence on your own?
Music is a big deal to me when making things, comics especially. I think it helps me concentrate and focus on the visual language I’m trying to use. Gosh, that sounds awfully pompous and Arty. But it’s all about getting into the right head-space, the right mood inside and kicking all the brain machinery into gear to make things work.
You’re appearing at this year’s Thought Bubble, what will you be bringing to the convention?
If everything goes according to plan I will be bringing little Bunny mini-comics covering the first three chapters of The Continuing Voyages, Bunny book collections, random mini-comics and hand-made Bunny figurines and soft toy mascots! Maybe some posters and stickers? And perhaps a little something unusual to go along with them, a game of intrigue and chance perhaps? Keep an eye out for a watermelon.
What was it that prompted you to select (the admittedly adorable) Bunnies as your signature characters?
I think they were a meme, way back when. How it happened I’m not actually too sure.
Was the production of accompanying Bunny collectibles something you’d always had in mind, or did it stem from a desire to branch out and make something a bit different?
I think it comes down to really enjoying making things. I enjoy working out how items come together, how to refine the process, how to make them look just as I want them to. Problem-solving, essentially.
Do you enjoy attending events like Thought Bubble?
I love Thought Bubble and conventions/shows in general because they’re fun and they’re work, and it’s so rare that you get to combine them. It’s great to meet existing readers, introduce some new ones to the rather confusing world of Bunny, getting to see old friends and catching up with comic-creating colleagues.
The only bad part is there is never, ever enough time. Sometimes it’s hard to leave the table and walk around a bit as a pedestrian and see the immense creative sea that stretches as far as the eye can see (or at least until the end of the hall). I generally leave feeling inspired… and very tired.
The UK small press scene does seem to be growing ever more rapidly, have there been any noticeable changes to the community since you started?
To be honest I haven’t been involved at all in the UK small press scene at all until recently. I only did one UK convention and I was more involved in the US webcomic scene, so I’m really only just discovering just what’s out there on my doorstep so to speak. It’s all terribly exciting!
Finally – thought bubbles or caption boxes?
I have to admit to being fond to both. I require a lawyer to comment further.
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Mad props to Lem for talking to us, if you want to talk to him too then come along to the convention next month!
In other comics news we’re super excited that Solipsistic Pop – the biannual and best UK comics anthology ever – is launching volume three on November 12th at The Black Heart in Camden.
Volume 3 comprises an 80 page comic extravaganza for the discerning sequential art fan, featuring 30 original and exclusive stories from 26 of the finest comic artists living in the UK. Every imaginative, inventive and inspiring graphic tale within Solipsistic Pop 3 is uniquely tailored to be accessible to readers of all ages. An alternative comics primer for adults and children alike. Each anthology Includes a free Solipsistic Pop pencil for readers to create their own comic! Plus! An A3 poster & set of stickers designed by Philippa Rice.
There’s limited print-run of 500 copies, so be sure to nab one for yourself, and if you can’t make it to the launch party then it’ll be getting an official unveiling for the general public at Thought Bubble, where you’ll be able to meet most of the contributors too. Get them to sign it!
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Finally, it’s the MCM Expo this weekend, running from 29th – 31st October at the Excel centre in London, we’re going to be there with our friends from Travelling Man, and we’re bringing copies of our lovely brochure with us, including the full 2010 festival programme! Come say hi if you’re popping along, and if you see us at the after-party maybe we’ll let slip some super secret Thought Bubble 2011 news. Mystery, intrigue, comics! YAY!
- Clark
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Art by Guests, Film and Sequential Art, Minterviews, Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble, Thought Bubble 2010, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Howard Hardiman, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, Small Press, UK Conventions
Hey you guys! Super special minterview time! Hold your shocked gasps until the end, please. This week we’re talking to Howard Hardiman (now an honourary Friend of Thought Bubble) the excellent creator behind cutebutsad, whose latest comic project – The Lengths – is looking like it could be something very special indeed. In his own words it “will tell the story of Eddie, a young man who moves to London to art school, but in his quest to find himself, he finds Nelson, a muscled prostitute who he becomes infatuated with and follows into a world of drugs and vice and then his quest for absolution once he finds that it’s a life he’s not cut out for.” Powerful stuff, and from the previews alone the artwork looks gorgeous.
For more of Howard’s work I suggest checking out his website, and he’s on twitter too, but without much further ado, here’s the chat we had...
To start off, do you think you could give us an idea of how you first got into sequential art?
I don’t even know if I’m entirely sure what that means, really. When I was growing up, once I’d stopped wanting to be an astronaut, a mother, a vet or Spider-Man, I wanted to be a writer, then a poet, then while I was at art school I started getting into photography alongside writing poetry. I toyed with both, getting a few things published but never being happy, having a few exhibitions of photography, never quite being happy with those either, then I started doodling on post-it notes while I was at work and drawing very bad pictures of animals saying slightly random things. From that, I wound up selling a zine and some post-it notes in picture frames at the UK Web Comics Thing a few years back, then Badger sort of appeared and I suppose that’s a sort of skewed potted history of me. There wasn’t a moment when I thought, “Yes! Comics!” and I think I still spend more time looking at other kinds of art than comics, to the point where I feel a bit lost when other comics artists are talking about things they’ve read – I still feel like I’ve got a lot of catching up to do because of all the time I’ve spent looking at and reading other stuff, but get me on my favourite artists and writers and I’ll bore you to death with my geekdom.
So, in amongst the ‘other stuff”, is there any work that you’d consider an influence on your own output?
Well, I worked at the National Gallery on and off for a for a few years and I think now that I’ve spent the last year doing the MA in Illustration at Camberwell and taking a lot more time on drawing and composition, the influence that painting’s had on my visual language is starting to come through, so I’ve been finding myself going back to look at how Caravaggio used light and how how painters like Titian and Reubens use composition. I’m not for a moment saying I’ve got an ounce of their talent, but it’s really inspiring to have that resource available. I’m also a massive fan of the way some artists can create a sense of mood or spirituality through tone, like Rotkho or Van Gogh – the exhibition of Van Gogh and his Letters at the Royal Academy this year was amazing, particularly because they had lots of pages from his sketchbooks and it really gave you a sense of how he thought and there’s a slightly self-indulgent part of me that wondered if some of these artists might have found their way into comics if they were working now.
Um, other stuff. I love Klimt for texture, and I’m not ashamed to say I got a bit emotional when I saw his paintings first-hand in Vienna a few years back. I’m also a bit of a fan of Mapplethorpe’s photography, not just because there’s a lot of beautiful men in it, but because of how incredibly he uses light to lift subjects into a timeless place and I’ve been looking at a lot of that lately, too. That said, for The Lengths, I’ve been looking at a lot of photos of naked men, like Joe Oppedisano’s work, because it’s a territory I’m delving into there.
I’m still a big fan of poetry and I think there’s an influence there that endures, whether it’s Plath or Hughes (when he’s introspective) or the acrobatics of Gerard Manley Hopkins or the beautiful intellect of someone like Miroslav Holub, there’s something about the craft of poetry that still holds huge appeal to me and it’s something I think I will return to.
Books wise, I’ve been really excited by Scarlett Thomas this last year since Anna Petterson got me reading The End of Mr Y, and that book’s raised my expectations of what storytelling’s capable of weaving into itself, but I’d also have to say I’m a bit of a fan of slightly intellectually arrogant philosophical novels as a general rule, so I still go back to Hermann Hesse as one of the best of that genre.
I’ve also been reading The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker over the last year, which tells you an awful lot about how stories are constructed and what they’re for, archetypically, and that’s surprised me that it’s made me intrigued rather than horribly depressed.
Oh, I’m also a huge fan of stuff about science and I get far too excited about quantum physics and astronomy, but I can’t quite say that’s really filtered through into my comics, apart from a line in Polaroids from Other Lives, but who knows what might come in somewhere down the line?
That wound up being a bit of a list, didn’t it? I think the basic thing is that I’m excited by loads of things and I think the beauty of comics is that it’s a very malleable medium, so there’s, at least theoretically, room for all of these influences to worm their way in, so it’s a perfect place for someone who’s a bit of a synaesthete like me to be dotting around from place to place, falling in love with lots of things at once.
Do you think there’s an expectation that a ‘comic’ creator should be a font of geek knowledge – that the production of sequential art goes hand-in-hand with being a ‘nerd’?
Well. I think there’s a stereotype that comics fans are introverts with no sense of a world outside of comics, which is really being exploded as the audience expands and becomes more literate and I think we’re living in a culture that’s increasingly visually literate and consumes an incredible amount of coded visual information all the time, so it stands to reason that we consume comics in a very complex manner. I think it’s only reasonable, then, that if you’re creating comics then you’re someone who’s also a bit immersed in the same way of thinking so that you’re giving the reader something that will stimulate them.
I know that I’ve been really lucky that I’ve been able to share things with an audience right from the start with what I’ve been making, but that’s also meant that I’ve been learning in public a bit and as I say, there’s times when I’m aware that that makes me quite exposed because there’s so many people who know so much more about comics than I do, but that’s brilliant when people are so generous with what they know, I really can’t take it as criticism; I can’t be blamed for not knowing what I don’t know.
That’s not quite what you were asking, though, was it? Are comics people nerds? I don’t think so; I think there’s such a diversity of work being produced and a diversity in the audience drawn to the work that perhaps wasn’t there when the only comics you’d be exposed to would be superhero comics or newspaper strips that it’s less true than before to say that it’s a niche thing to like comics. I think the DIY Zine scene and the art books scene has brought a lot into the world of comics, just as the mainstream success of stuff like Watchmen has at the other end of the market.
Still, I only read Watchmen quite recently; I hadn’t liked the way the colours were printed and that had put me off, so I was late to the game on that one, but I don’t think I mind that much knowing that I don’t actually know the names of all the alien princesses in alternative Marvel universes. I think there’s room for all that and more.
I’m impressed when there’s people whose entire lives seems to revolve around comics, and the collectors and cosplayers scared me at first and now just amaze me. I just hope no-one’s too offended when I don’t know who that wig and codpiece combo’s meant to make you.
You’re appearing at this year’s Thought Bubble, what will you be bringing to the convention?
Well, I’ll have the two Badger books and some of the artwork from the first book for sale and some of the short comics I’ve made over the last couple of years, but this last year I’ve had my head down to do a lot of development work on a new comic, The Lengths, which is my first foray into “proper” comics storytelling with words and a long story and panels and things, rather than the wordless tales for Badger or the graphic poems I made for Polaroids From Other Lives. The Lengths is based around interviews I did with men selling sex to men in London, so it’s quite a heavy subject and it’s one I want to do justice to, so I’m hoping to have something to show from it in time for Thought Bubble, but it’s slow progress, so if it’s not done in time, then we might just have to cope…
What inspired you to take on the – presumably quite dark – subject matter of prostitution in comic form, as opposed to, say, just publishing the interviews?
At first, when I did the interviews, I’d thought they were going to end up forming a play, and I got as far as having meetings with artistic directors at theatres about putting it into development, but it wasn’t feeling like the right medium for the material and I didn’t want to go ahead with it. I wrote a couple of articles around it, about attitudes that escorts have towards HIV, and I was quite pleased with those, but they were a different beast to telling a story, so I just kept the material for a couple of years until I didn’t have such a strong sense of being able to remember the people attached to each interview so I was able to approach it again as a story rather than as an account of real people’s lives.
I think there’s something really personal about comics that you don’t get from other media, so it seemed like the right way to do it, and making the characters dogs has a symbolic importance in the story as well as making it a more anonymous experience for the reader and for the people whose lives I’m talking about in the story. There’s still a lot of real events that will be in the comic, but it’s now much more of a story rather than an account and I’d like to hope that making it a bit more symbolic and emotional means that more people will be able to relate to what’s in it.
I would still like to use the interviews, but perhaps I’ll save them up for when the collected edition comes out and use a few of the transcripts then. There’s some really moving, funny and chilling things that came out in those chats and some of the guys I met through that process I’m still friends with now, so I’m hoping they’ll like the way the comic ends up.
Is Badger finished now, or might we see his inquisitive little face again?
Oh, Badger will be back, but I think he’s very much connected to a particular mood for me and he pops out when I don’t really expect him to, so we’ll have to see when he comes out.
Do you enjoy attending events like Thought Bubble?
No, Thought Bubble is rubbish and all the organisers are mean. Ha, seriously? Yes, although I’m not sure how many events I could say are “like Thought Bubble” – it’s got such a good atmosphere and the crowd is really engaged with the comics and the artists there, it’s seriously one of my favourite events on the comics calendar of the year.
That said, the slumber party that Timothy Winchester, Lizz Lunney and Philippa Rice had at Caption will live in infamy.
Well, we can be quite mean sometimes. Do you think the UK general public’s ‘acceptance’ of comics in the mainstream has increased over the last few years?
I’d like to think so – I’ve only been making comics for the last few years, so I can’t really comment with any authority about any difficult wilderness years before then, but it’s been a very supportive couple of years for me and I’m really happy with how it’s been going. Obviously, I’d love to see a situation where we had more of us able to make a living out of making the work we love and I’d like to see Marc Ellerby being more stalked than Jordan and Tom Humberstone (see, I can get his name right sometimes!) nodding sagely on Newsnight, but let’s see, eh?
Thought bubbles or caption boxes?
Actually, in The Lengths, I’m kind of going for neither, so the narration sort of floats in the background. I don’t know if that counts as captioning, if it’s a thought bubble the shape of the sky, or a caption box that’s the window of a District Line train.
Hmm, that wasn’t terrifically good at answering the question, was it?
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Thanks to Howard for taking the time to talk to use, we’re really looking forward to seeing the finished copies of The Lengths, and hope you out there in the interwebs are too.
In Thought Bubble news – we’ve finalised the programme for this year’s festival, completed the brochure designs and will be officially announcing the full line-up of events very soon. Sunday’s workshops and masterclasses in particular are looking very strong, and Thursday and Friday’s academic conferences should be a fascinating insight into the more ‘serious’ side of comics.
Fresh minterview next week, just a few to go now in the run-up to Thought Bubble 2010, don’t forget to enter our comic competition, the deadline for submissions is Monday 18th October!
- Clark
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Thought Bubble 2010, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, Signings, Small Press, UK Conventions, Webcomics
Hey gang!
It’s just over two months until the start of this year’s festival and we’re well on the way to bringing you the best Thought Bubble yet!
This week we received the lovely news that we will once again be getting funding for this November’s events from the Arts Council. A proper post with the details of this will be forthcoming, but in the meantime it will suffice to say that we’re over the moon! (Literally – we blew the money on a multi-stage launch vehicle and are currently in orbit over the sea of tranquility.)
To keep you full of comic-related cheer in the run up to Thought Bubble 2010 here are some details of related events that are taking place soon!
First and foremost is the, er, first Leeds Alternative Comics Fair, which will be held at A Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds on Saturday 18th Sept 2010, from 12-6pm.
It will be free to enter, and the bar itself is open until 3am, serving good food and a large selection of drinks. A number of excellent exhibitors will be showing off their wares, and a communal table – featuring comics from many more creators – will be present for perusal.
The Thought Bubble team will be about, in a rare example of our attending a comics event for purely social reasons. It should be a most enjoyable afternoon!
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Next up is Posy Simmonds in Conversation with Paul Gravett at the National Media Museum in Bradford on Tuesday 28th September, 7.35pm.
Posy Simmonds, writer of the Guardian’s original Tamara Drewe comic strip will be interviewed by comics expert Paul Gravett on her extensive career as a cartoonist, writer and illustrator, and the ever-popular Drewe character.
(Tickets £5, £4 concessions)
This event will be followed by a screening of Tamara Drewe at 8.40pm.
(Tickets £6.50, £4.50 concessions.)
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Finally, we want to see your comic art for the New NORTHERN SEQUENTIAL ART COMPETITION hosted by Travelling Man and Thought Bubble. The deadline is approaching fast so don’t miss out!
All entries will be showcased in a digital exhibition at venues in Leeds and the surrounding area for a period of two weeks prior to Thought Bubble taking place.
The panel of judges (including 2000 AD Editor Matt Smith, Imagine FX Editor Claire Howlett and Marvel Spider-Man Editor Steve Wacker) will select two runners up and a winning entry from each age group, the overall winner in each category will receive £200 of graphic novels and a private tutorial with a leading writer or artist based in the North of England.
To view the application form click here.
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That’s it for now, fresh minterviews on the horizon though! Check back soon…
- Clark
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Minterviews, Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble, Thought Bubble 2010, What is Sequential Art? | Tags: Comics, Kristyna Baczynksi, Leeds comic con, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Sequential Art, Small Press, UK Conventions, Webcomics
Howdy Hey! A fresh minterview for you all to devour with your eyes. This week we’re talking to the super-cool Kristyna Baczynski, a previous Thought Bubble competition winner, whose entry into the Friends of Thought Bubble canon can be found here. I’d highly recommend checking out her website for further ocular delights! Spect-ocular!
To start off, do you think you could give us an idea of how you first got into sequential art?
Sure, I reckon the seed was planted right back in my formative years – as I’m sure it is for most folks. Reading picture books: illustrations telling a story.
My mum would take us to the library once a week to check out some new pulp; a most treasured activity. It was here that I became enchanted with seeing an image illuminate a story – words transform into being; communicating with pens, paint and paper.
Do you think the general association with children’s stories is perhaps why comics are viewed with a certain amount of derision in some circles?
I think the idea that comics are any less valid as a communicative device than text-only books is ridiculous. Also, the thought that children’s books have nothing to offer if you aren’t a child is pretty demoralising.
Whether it’s a newspaper, hardback novel or broadsheet newspaper there’s still the same amount of shit you have to wade through to reach something you can connect with and find meaningful. Children’s book, comic or otherwise – there’s always a gem to be found – it just takes some looking.
If someone can dismiss a tome simply because it has an air of juvenility, then they are going to miss out on a heap of beautiful things. And by this breath cinema should then be equally scorned. It too combines language and image – but we don’t see cinema as being wholly tainted as juvenile and frivolous. It, too, has the potential to be profound, absorbing and immersive.
Comics are as versatile, descriptive and limitless as any other communicative tool – simultaneously linguistic, visual and most importantly valid.
…Nerve touched.
I do hate it when comics are dismissed as ‘kiddie’ stuff. Do you still read comics to this day? Do they continue to be a source of inspiration to you?
Absolutely – I read comics almost every day. And am continually inspired by their writing and ingenuity.
Your work tends to be infused with a sense of whimsy and a slightly idiosyncratic sense of humour, does this reflect you as a person?
An obscured and refracted reflection, yes… I am hopelessly enamored with language and wordplay, it is true.
You’re appearing at this year’s Thought Bubble, what will you be bringing to the convention?
An amalgamation of avidity and unerring anxiety. But also a spread of new zines, prints, comics, apparel, oddities and assorted occular goodies.
The production HQ (dining table) will be thriving come November.
A fine selection! Have you always worked in multiple media?
Why, thank you.
Not always multiple media. It always starts with mechanical pencils, micron pens and paper – but the more I work the more I tend to turn my hand to. Staving off boredom and stagnancy with adventure and exploration.
Do you enjoy attending events like Thought Bubble?
Absolutely. Thought Bubble 2009 was my first step into the world of conventions and fairs – a day which was so unutterably wonderful, I am forever convinced of my enjoyment for such events.
They manage to summon a treasury of interested, enthused and engaging people, which is rare and heartening… especially to studio-bound recluses.
We do attract an awesome bunch of attendees it has to be said. Any important lessons learned from your first outing?
That a fearful attitude is nothing but a hindrance. Staying indoors drawing is a solitary occupation that can make you a hermit. Going out and meeting a bunch of like-minded and talented denizens is the perfect antidote.
Do you think the UK small press community is welcoming to débutantes? How easy did you find it to establish yourself on the scene?
If there is a ‘scene’ I’m unaware of it, or already a happy member. It’s something quite abstract really, and I don’t know who, what or where it is… I’m just here drawing, printing, blogging and emailing. And I’m very lucky that some people have noticed my work and said some very lovely things. I am indebted to them all.
By making your own comics, you are already a member.
Finally – Thought bubbles or caption boxes?
There is a necessity for both, and a certain loveliness to be achieved with none. Honestly, though, I think I’m a caption box kid.
…I’m going to be shunned as a defector now, aren’t I?
Rats.
***
While we’re never ones to call for ostracism following the denouncement of the humble thought bubble, we do find that those who partake in the act tend to meet their comeuppance. Mark my words. My ominous, ominous words…
In other news, our friends over at Comika are having an exhibition! If you’re in our nation’s fair capital you should go check it out. You know you want to. Details on the flyer (below)
That’s all for now! Check back soon for another minterview. See ya!
- Clark
