Next Wednesday, there are two comics release parties in Portland:
From 6-8 pm, Floating World Comics is hosting Graham Annable, celebrating the release of his new Grickle book.

Then, jump on the MAX for a short ride to the Hollywood transit station, because from 8-10 pm, Things from Another World will have Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber signing their just-released UNDERGROUND trade paperback. Steve will be doing free sketches in your copy of the book. More importantly, there will also be free beer and free food. Free sketches. Free beer. Free food. Does it GET better than that? No.

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We had a surprise visit from one of our favorite former interns, Ms. Natalie Nourigat who not only brought us handmade chocolate dessert thingies but also dropped off this amazing comic.

Need a closer look? Confused who all those faces are? Maybe the annotated version will clear up your questions.

Thanks, Tally!

You’re rad as hell.

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Karl Kesel says:

Just got the first 2 pages of art for the upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA: PATRIOT mini-series that I wrote and the mad-talented Mitch Breitweiser drew. Have to say, I was pretty proud of the script, but how Mitch took it to the next level– Hell, he took it up three or four levels!– just blew me away. The first issue’s not out until January 2010, and already I can’t wait for it!

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Ellen Forney visited Periscope yesterday! We’re all big, big fans of her work, none more so than Erika:

Erika Moen and Ellen Forney.

Derek Kirk Kim stopped by too. No one wanted to hug Derek.

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That’s right, folks! Cat Ellis and Susan Tardif have now become official members of Periscope Studio! You can visit their pages on this site, or check out even more of their awesome work at their websites!

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Karl Kesel’s upcoming miniseries MARVEL APES is a top story at Entertainment Weekly!

Steve Duin covers Jessica Abel and Matt Madden’s seminar at PNCA

Jim Valentino has a show opens on Thursday, July (with a special pre-opening viewing on Wednesday July 2,) at the Sequential Art Gallery.

Did you know that Tove Janson illustrated The Hobbit?

Jeff Parker’s Heroes Con report.

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You should all stop what you’re doing right now and go read Kate Beaton’s comics.
http://www.katebeaton.com/Site/Comics_Library/Comics_Library.html

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Besides having the best name ever, he paints like Rembrandt, if Rembrandt maybe had a psychotic break.

More links about him:
http://www.nerdrum.com/
http://www.oddnerdrum.com/frame_odd.htm

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So I’ve been reading a blog written by Pixar animators who also, at least when they started the blog, were teaching animation at night at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. A lot of the stuff that they talk about for animation is really very applicable to drawing a comic or a storyboard.
Like this, from a post about how to improve your characters’ “acting,” from Dr. Stephen G:

“Here is an example of the things you might want to be thinking about when approaching a shot.

The Shot
Character at a bus stop and he just missed his bus.

All the stuff you need to know to animate this shot.
• What is the story point of this shot?
• Why does this shot exist in the film?
• What is it you are trying to tell?
• Who is this character?
• What was the character’s emotional state before he/she got to this shot? In the Sequence and film?
• How does the character feel about missing the bus?
• Where did he/she come from and where is he/she going?
• What time of day does the character arrive at the bus stop?
• What is the weather like; cold, hot, windy, rainy etc?

Answers to questions like these will help you start to understand the character and their appropriate reactions to situations like a character missing his bus. These answers start to help you build your performance, the character’s acting. You start having things you can act out that make sense rather than just hitting a bunch of standard poses that don’t relate to the character’s current emotional state and situation.

The first thing I do, which I think is super important, is I try to capture all of the above questions in one frame. I create my story frame or my KEY, Golden drawing, whatever you want to call it, and then determine what else needs to be in the shot to get the story point across. Less is more.”

http://splinedoctors.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html

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I’m mirroring this from my own blog, since I expect folks here will find it interestng.

Bud Fisher, creator of Mutt & Jeff, is the current entry on our roster of cartooning bigwigs of the ’20s who replied to Clare Briggs’ questionnaire. Fisher’s answers are brief, so I’ll transcribe ‘em below (in tandem with Briggs’ questions, in blue), and follow them up with a page about Fisher’s colorful life, from R.C. Harvey’s entertaining and informative book, The Art of the Funnies.

1. What do you consider the greatest contributing factor to your success?

“I will have to say ‘Ambition.’”

2. How much importance do you attach to an art education where the student intends to adopt cartooning as a profession?

“I will answer, ‘Very little’ except, ‘Self-education.’ I have never seen an artist educated in model-drawing much of a success in cartooning. As a professional, I am inclined to think that most people desiring to be cartoonists attach more importance to the drawing than they do to the humor.”

3. What is your opinion of the average correspondence school?

“My answer is ‘Nil.’”

4. How did you get your start?

“By camping on the doorsteps of all the art departments in San Francisco.”

5. What general rule or advice would you give to the average beginner?

“To practice constantly and remember that humor goes further than a pretty drawing as far as cartoonists are concerned.”

Now for some background about Fisher, from The Art of the Funnies:

Harvey goes on to describe Fisher buying a stable of racehorses, nightclubbing with beautiful showgirls, driving around in a Rolls Royce, marrying a countess he met on a voyage home from France (and divorcing her 4 months later), relocating whole rooms from European estates to his posh New York digs, relying on assistants to do most of his cartooning, and ending up in a lonely, squalid, Howard Hughes-like existence after alienating most of his friends and colleagues. When I think of his profligate cartoonist lifestyle, I can’t help but recall this B. Kliban cartoon, which in Fisher’s case was probably closer to the truth than Kliban intended:

See y’all next time!

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