Comic Studio 122

The latest crop of MCAD Comic Art Alumni

2011-12-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Seven new MCAD Comic Art Graduates head out into the wider world this month. Check out all of their Senior shows! Congratulations Andrew Herbst, Danielle Keller, Carl Thompson, Sean Hartman, Jen Rhiehm, Ryan Maticka, and Nick Songco.

2011-10-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

A big round of applause for Craig Thompson's lecture at MCAD last September, and the group of comic students who helped make sure everything went smoothly. Thanks April, Spencer, Jay, Coleman and Greer.

Jim Keefe grabbed this photo of the MCAD Comic Students working their table at MCBA Comic Book Party. Jay, Spencer, April and Jack in the back holding up the sign.
Yes, Jack is standing on a Wizard's Chess board...

2011-10-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Stephan Pastis answering questions after his reading at MCAD last Friday night! It was a great turnout, and if you missed it don't worry, MCAD should be posting it online before too long!!

2011-10-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Offered a chance to draw a graphic novel?

2011-09-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful post from Comic Artist and comics educator Steve Bissette on how to approach a never ending question from people/writers/publishers who would like to work with a comic artist, but might not have a lot of resources to pay for the art...and other issues. Recommended reading by Jim Keefe and Barbara Schulz.

Replace the words "Graphic Design" with "Comics"

2011-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be great to be able to be this blunt with potential employers? Leif S. Peng posted this up recently at You the Designer.

Craig Thompson at MCAD September 26th!

2011-09-01T22:26:00.001-07:00

Save the date Monday September 26th to your calendars. Craig Thompson will be on the MCAD campus giving a public lecture in Auditorium 150. MCAD is located at 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404.

Acclaimed graphic novelist Craig Thompson returns from a seven-year hiatus this fall with the publication of Habibi, an epic romance that investigates the history of religion and storytelling. Habibi is a hugely anticipated release that Thompson says looks at Islam the way his previous graphic novel, Blankets, looks at Christianity. For more Info click to: Craig Thompson Reader Series.

2011-09-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Nordeast Comic Summit! Just what is this new entity up in the Nordeast Side of Minneapolis?
Check out their amazing website moderated by Kevin Cannon, full of informative tips and tricks!
Kevin and Zander Cannon have always done a fantastic job of posting helpful information on the "how to's" of comics. The website continues this tradition, but this goes beyond a website.

In their own words the Nordeast Comics Summit is an event for Cartoonists of all skill levels who meet monthly to share cartooning tips & tricks. They meet the 1st Thursdays of the month at 6-6:30pm at 1618 Central Ave NE, Ste. 216, Northeast MPLS. This happens right before the Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam (6:30-10pm), in the same building, they also have an amazing website by the way.

Don't try this at home, may cause head explosion.

2011-04-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

French comic creator Boulet makes comics look easy here, and perhaps makes you wish you could work so fluidly across the page. This is an amazing video, time lapsed of his working, with a rapidoliner and a old fashion tin of water color paints. Did I say amazing already?

Canadian Comic Making Tools.

2011-04-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

Toronto Cartoonists talk tools of their trade! This video was made to promote The Toronto Comic Art Festival this year, it is a great opportunity to see just how varied favorite comic tools are, as varied as the number of cartoonists out there.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In from Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo.

Mini-Comics Across the World and in Minneapolis

2011-04-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

Mini-Comics Day is today (April 9th)! On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate!! In Minneapolis this is happening at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts starting at 10 AM. For more details check out: http://www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/conspire/?p=3087

Armageddon!

2011-03-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

Comic Art students put their budding skills to the test in a collaboration with City Pages in the Professional Practice Classes under Terry Beatty and Barbara Schulz They were given free reign on the subject "How the world ends in 2012." Check out the whole article at: http://bitsy.me/0t1

The Cozy Apocalypse

2011-03-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

Or who is our instructor Tom K.? Just a note on another MCAD Comic Art Instructor in the News. Tom was interviewed recently at the Comix Claptrap Podcast out of San Francisco. He starts about 17 minutes into the podcast. Also look for his newest comic The Cozy Apocalypse in the recent copy of MOME.

Quick Fun Bio of MCAD Comic Instructor Zak Sally

2011-03-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

In case you missed this the other week, Vita.mn did a nice little bio of Zak Sally!
@work: Drawing conclusions with Zak Sally.

Mark Siegel of First Second Books

2011-03-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sailor Twain Cartoonist and Chief Editor of First Second Books, Mark Siegel stopped by MCAD at the end of February to talk to the Senior Comic Art students and to give a very positive public lecture on the new momentum in the comic art form. If you missed it, it is recorded and available at MCAD's library. There is also a great article on Mark's visit to the Twin Cities at the Daily Cross Hatch, and a good Flickr stream.

And we're back!

2011-03-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

Thought we might catch up with some of the happenings in the Comic Art program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design by posting some pictures of recent Guest Speakers we have had stop by.
Lar Martinson gave a public lecture to a very full auditorium early in February discussing both the artistic and logistics of cartooning/self-publishing. It was a great talk, really insightful and he stayed late looking at the Junior and Senior comic students work. If you missed the talk, and live in the Twin Cities, you can catch an archive of it stored at the MCAD Library.

2008-11-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

One new 24-hour challenge comic has come to me, from Caitlin Warner--here it is! Dead Bird

Also, many apologies to Alex Fukui, whom I mistakenly listed as Alex Fubuki when linking to his 24-hour comic. I'm not sure how I got to that, but I'm sorry, and also sorry it's taken me so long to notice!

~Sam

Networking

2008-11-16T15:08:00.001-08:00

I promised I would post this at our last meeting and I apologize it has taken me so long to get it up but I really wanted to go through all my bookmarks and try to organize everything in a way that would make sense.

When starting online networking its best to start with a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down the 5 things about yourself that you want the world to know and the 5 things you never want spread across the internet. Because keep in mind, anything you put online, stays online.

When your ready these are the basic pages where you can begin your networking.
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
Blogger

If your in Minnesota you can also join
MNartist.org

I know this seems like quite a few but set aside half a day and write up one profile and a username that you can use across all of these sites. Trust me it is well worth it. Upload some of your best artwork and your ready to rock. A quick note about blogger, this one is extra nice because you can use it as a quick website until you can find the time to make or hire someone to make a real website for you.

The next websites to get on are LinkedIn and Coroflot .
I've put these both separately because, if your in your freshman or sophmore years they aren't ones that you'll need right away.

LinkedIn
Think of LinkedIn like the formal professional Facebook. You can upload your resume and join professional groups as well as keep in contact with other business contacts. This is a good site to get on once you start making connections and start attending cons as a professional artist.

Coroflot
I just found Coroflot and its a website that was created for the young designer. Its got space for your portfolio and your resume and also has a great forum for all those questions about starting freelance and what to get paid.

So what do you do once you've got all these profiles and web spaces? None of these get your name out there, how does anyone find you. The best way to get people to find you is to talk. Join forums that share your interests. Join art fourms like The Drawing Board or comic forums like Girl Wonder, you could even join groups like The Star Trek Forum or a discussion forum about lost. Just make sure that your website or blog address is set in the footer of every message you post. That's all you need to do. People who like your message or are curious about you will click on it suddenly you have traffic. The more you talk, the more traffic you'll get and I can assure you, eventually some of that traffic is going to think your other ideas are just as cool as your message and you'll have a contact.

So now you've got your networking tree started you're facing the most difficult part. Keeping it updated. To remind myself to update my profiles and activities I use Netvibes.

Netvibes is a website where you can create a customizable home page. You can link directly to all your most used websites, your facebook and twitter feeds and every blog that you're interested in. The cool thing is that this page is completely private, you can put whatever you want on it, no one else can see it, and it'll come up every time you open your web browser. The image is a screen capture of my private netvibes page.

Netvibes also has a public page. This functions quite a bit like the private page but is completely open to the public. You can actually use this page like a networking train station. Instead of linking to your blog in the footer of emails and forum posts, link to your public netvibes page. For an example of excelent netvibes networking check out Aydin Mohseni's public netvibes page.

So that's all I've got. Here are some other resources that I've used for online networking,
17 websites to boost your designer profile
25 Absolute Essentials for Networking Success
Manage Your Online Reputation

24-Hour Comics!

2008-11-05T17:30:00.001-08:00

Hiya,
I've gotten links to a few scans of some of the awesome comics people made for the 24-Hour Challenge. If you have yours scanned and uploaded online, please let us know so we can post it here too!

Alex Fukui's comic is here

Ed Choy Moorman does Blue Blue Blues

Spencer Ruskin's Fall Comix

Diana Nock: Ghostly

So, hopefully, more to come.

~Sam

2008-10-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

A much delayed post, with photos from when we went to hear Jaime Hernandez speak. He was, all in all, an awesome guy. I've heard a lot of different comic artists talk about how they got to where they are today, and every one is different, but each one adds perspective and hope to my own goals of becoming a published money-making artist. It was a great time!

Anyway, photos of Jaime Hernandez with Zak Sally, then Vanessa and Salina (comics get you the ladies), and then one last photo of Jaime and myself.

~Sam

More 24-Hour Comic Challenge

2008-10-24T15:50:00.001-07:00

More follow-up from 24-hour comic challenge: we were blogged over here on the MCBA's 24 hour comic challenge blog, though you might have to go back two pages or so to see it. More photos are there, and they've all be uploaded to facebook too!

Next updates I will post: Jaime Hernandez and the October 12th discussion. Mostly the photos!

~Sam

24 Hour Comic Challenge

2008-10-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the 24 hour comic challenge.
Great job everyone!

Fallcon '08 report!

2008-10-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

so, Fallcon was this last weekend, October 4th to 5th, and was a blast. Ridiculously awesome. Comic Heads got the new 2008 anthology in from the printers on Friday the 3rd, in just a nick of time to get them out to a lot of people at Fallcon. They look amazing, let me tell you!
It's only thanks to my wonderful editors and the volunteers who turned out to help work the Fallcon table that things went so wonderfully. So, thank you, Alison, Anna, Bart, Brittany, Jay, Charles, Kierstin, Neville, Salina, and Steve. And Danielle, even though she couldn't be there, because she dragged herself out of bed early Saturday morning to make sure we had enough cars.

Anyway, have some more photos!

Run Salina!

Whew... Additionally, a podcast was recorded over here at Snark Infested Waters, interviewing both myself and Alison Stump about Comic Heads and our respective work. There are a number of other interesting artists recorded on it, if you take a listen.

To continue this fantastic trend of being incredibly busy, Comic Heads will be having its second meet-up discussion this weekend, on Sunday. October 12th, 1 PM, Auditorium 140, that's where the party happens. This month's topic will be alternative media, led by Alison Stump. We'll be providing an alternative lunch... where we've been promised some fatally delicious treats.

Before that, though, if you're an MCAD Comic Major, no doubt you've heard of the event with Jaime Hernandez in town, taking place Saturday October 11th at the Minneapolis Community & Technical College. Do not miss it. Yes, I am echoing all our teachers. This is a great opportunity; be sure to check it out! For more info, www.raintaxi.com is the place to look.

And, because there is no rest for comic creators and it's best to learn this early on in our careers, the 24-hour comic challenge will take place October 18th to 19th, 10 AM to 10 AM in the Student Center. Can you make 24 pages in just as many hours? We'll find out. The Challenge will be a pot-luck event; bring some food to share!

This post has gone on far too long, so let's wrap up here. I have homework eagerly awaiting my attentions... I'll see you guys around later!

~Sam

2008-09-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

thought I would share a couple photos from this weekend. Comic Heads was present at Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits, a weekend seminar at MCAD. Both Saturday and Sunday, an otaku bazaar took place, at which we sold some of our older anthologies (and our own artwork).

The table setup is a bit different from what we'll have at Fallcon, as is the audience. But SGMS was still a great crowd. A number of attendees were considering MCAD for college.

Speaking of Fallcon, remember that it takes place this coming weekend, October 4th and 5th. It's a great time, whether you're just coming to have fun, or if you're helping run the CH table. In addition to getting the Comic Heads anthologies out and into the hands of readers, we represent MCAD as well. So, not to sound terribly cheesy, but let's do our best! Heh.

If all goes as planned, we should have the 2008 anthology just in time for Fallcon. Let me tell you, it looks wonderful. (And I'm not just saying that because I have pages in it.) I hope you all like it when you see it!

And even though it's still a couple weeks away, the next meet will be Sunday, October 12th. 1 pm in auditorium 140, and once more, free lunch! The topic will be alternative media in comics. And following that, the 24 hour comic challenge falls on the weekend of October 18th to 19th..... will you be ready?

~Sam

Preparing for sale

2008-09-08T10:14:00.001-07:00

So I've been thinking about some new meeting topics that might be of interest to people.
Barb and I actually had a very interesting discussion about the possibility of a Comic Heads hosted work day where we could organize and create comics, illustrations, and other art works for the MCAD Minicon (which may be in the Fall after all) and/or the MCAD Art Sale.
We could support each other and help out with pricing and advertisment problems.

As always, your helpful CHeads crew, me, Anna, and Sam are more than happy to help out with critiques, project ideas, and problems.