Sunday 30 May 2010

24 hour 24 pages comics event!

"Mangez au moins une bande dessinée et deux dessins par jour!"

And there's plenty to taste at the moment with Le Grandpapier's recent 24 hour 24 page event:

http://grandpapier.org/
http://grandpapier.org/spip.php?page=sommaire-classic


Saturday 22 May 2010

This took far longer than I imagined it would but here's a painting of the cult leader Jim Jones.
I tried to give it a narrative but not straight up tell you what is happening. If you have some prior knowledge of who he is you will spot the symbolism but otherwise It will take some working out.

Jim Jones was the spiritual leader of the 'People Temple' living in a village made up of his over a thousand followers nicknames Jonestown. Long story short he brainwashed them On the death tape, Jones urged Temple members to commit "revolutionary suicide" [which] had been planned by the Temple before and, according to Jonestown defectors, its theory was "you can go down in history, saying you chose your own way to go, and it is your commitment to refuse capitalism and in support of socialism."

They drank flavor aid mixed with cyanide which was mixed in large buckets. killing over nine hundred people.

I used the 'dance of death' idea as it shows all walks of life ( an emperor,king,woman and baby) being lead in a dance by the figure of death. I thought this was a good way to portray the deaths of his followers. The figure of death is shown with a halo and a small red scythe above his head as he pours out the red liquid as a portrait of Jim Jones looms above them all from the fumes of the drink.



The writing in the background is from a transcript of a tape recording which as made at the time Jim Jones was preaching to his followers to commit suicide. Which can be found on youtube if your interested.


Wednesday 19 May 2010

Silent Witnesses: Graphic Novels Without Words


29 May 2010 to 30 Aug 2010
Admission price: Admission free


Venue Details:
Lincoln The Collection
Danes Terrace
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
Silent Witnesses: Graphic Novels Without Words
Curated by Darren Diss

Artists include: Lars Arrhenius, Hendrik Dorgathen, Eric Drooker, Max Ernst, Matt Forsythe, Alexandra Higlett, Laurence Hyde, Jason, Andrzej Klimowski, Peter Kuper, Chris Lanier, Frans Masereel, Otto Nuckel, Shaun Tan, Zoe Taylor, Lynd Ward, Sara Varon and Jim Woodring.

This exhibition brings together the work of internationally recognised artists and illustrators from around the world working in Graphic Novel form. Spanning publications from the early twentieth century to the present day, the works contained in the exhibition are distinct in that all use the capacity of images alone to communicate narrative, functioning entirely without the use of text.

The exhibition celebrates the book form and in particular the Graphic Novel as an increasingly popular medium for artists and explores its enduring appeal to readers of all ages. By focussing on works without text it examines the underlying structure and mechanics of developing a Graphic Novel, exposing it as a unique art form. It looks at the Novel in the true sense, as an extended sequence conveying a narrative. The show includes preparation and working drawings, writings, flat plans, sketch books and character studies and associated works alongside complete book-works to reveal the various developmental stages in creating a Graphic Novel.

The exhibition combines works from a wide range of cultural contexts, from modern popular Graphic Novels, with scratchboard images by Eric Drooker produced for his novel ‘Flood’, to woodcuts by Frans Masereel for his his 1925 work ‘Die Stadt’, to original drawings by Sara Varon for her well loved books, ‘Sweater Weather’, ‘Robo and Hund’ and ‘Chicken and Cat’. Also in the show will be a large scale flat-print version of ‘A-Z’ by Lars Arrhenius, a novel produced on the iconic A-Z map of London. Shown in print form it allows the viewer to scan the intersecting narratives sewn through the map in a single image, creating ever new readings.

Works for the exhibition have been loaned to The Collection from the British Museum, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Klinspor Museum, Offenbach, Scott Eder Gallery, New York, and from the exhibiting artists.

The show’s curator, Darren Diss, is an established illustrator and Senior Lecturer in Illustration at The University of Lincoln. He has a specialist academic research interest in Textless Narratives.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Ink Soup 05 Test print should be in my hands tomorrow! Yoopee!

As you can see from the change in our blog header, ink soup 05 should be in print very soon, well a test print at least. Thanks to Dean for his cover, and efforts in getting the printing done.

Almost like the re-birth of Doctor Who, I feel it's quite an epic moment!

Ink soup 06 - Myths and Monsters (of the non-predictable kind)

Sunday 2 May 2010

SOME Competitions

http://www.strasbulles.fr/programme/concours/francais-concours-de-bande-dessinee

The above competition deadline is the 17th of MAY (post marked) for three A3 pages on the theme of Journey over Europe / travelling in Europe - VOYAGE EN EUROPE

http://boomfest.ru/en/konkurs
Competition topic: HERO
There is always a persons whose actions represent the values of his time. Who are they today?
Term of participation in the competition:
Number of pages: no more than 3 (one finished story in Russian or in English or without words).
Format: А4 (other formats won’t be accepted for participation).
Deadline for accepting the works: August, 15, 2010.
Requirements for works providing: works are provided in TIF, 300dpi, it is not allowed to use layers, ZIP or RAR archiving are recommended.

http://www.bdfil.ch/concours/bd/

the details can be found in a PDF file - the theme on this one is childhood memories