| little pencil at the ica |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|11:50 pm] |
Taso and her marvellous mythical beast
On Friday evening, as part of the Comica festival, a group of kids, their parents and I got to watch three videos in the cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Art: Sweet Dreams and Story from North America by Kirsten Lapore and Bryum & Kapok 03: A Lilt by Overture. The DFC's Patrice Aggs slipped into the cinema with us before she headed off to do her Black Powers talk and we had a good giggle while watching Sweet Dreams when the cupcake starts getting jiggy with the butternut squash.
Sweet Dreams from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.
After we watched the animations, we went and drew pictures to music I'd picked out. Some of the songs had evocative lyrics and others had quirky instrumental bits I thought might give them ideas. I started off showing them some pictures from my Morris the Mankiest Monster book and said that while I'd been painting it, I'd been listening to a song called Hunnu by Egschiglen's Mongolian throat singers. It always makes me crack up because it sounds to me like a bunch of short men jumping around in the mud, which was just perfect for the book.
( More drawings and music links under the cut ) |
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| Canadian cast of characters |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|05:40 pm] |
Well, I used a lot of the suggestions that came my way from that post the other day! I was pretty pleased with the turnout of readers for that question, I must admit. I guess it's because you hear a lot that people don't give a darn about history in this country, if depressing yearly polls from the Dominion Institute mean anything, but it's clearly not the case among my livejournal followers. You guys are great!
I had to do a general sweep that involved a good range of places, professions, backgrounds and time periods, so you know, not everyone's favorite author is going to be in there but I sure did like the range in suggestions. Looking at it now I wish I had someone from the NWT (not one! for shame) and New Brunswick. Stompin Tom is from New Brunswick but he's also sort of from everywhere. I could have put the Irvings in there, I think they control history in NB as well as anything else.
I was all crazed out with strep throat while I did this, but listening to Radiolab shows and a burning passion for Canada I guess(?) kept me going. You can find the image in today's National Post, along with an article about the Historica/Dominion merger! Interesting stuff.
( picture is under the cut because it's huge )
Here is the legend, the rows are sort of wonky but you'll figure it out:
Row One (bottom):
James Wolfe, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, David Suzuki, Louis-Joseph Papineau, John A. Macdonald, Terry Fox
Row Two
Emily Carr, Joseph Howe, Joey Smallwood, Robert Bartlett, Louis Riel, Joy Kogawa
Row Three
Marshall McLuhan, Samuel de Champlain, Marilyn Bell, Wayne Gretzky, Emily Murphy
Row Four
Rene Levesque, Sam Steele, Farley Mowat, L.M. Montgomery, Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Trail, John McCrae
Row Five
Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), Oscar Peterson, Rush, Pierre Berton
Row Six
Les Filles du Roi, Mary Pickford, Skookum Jim Mason
Row Seven
Charles Best, Frederick Banting, Pauline Johnson, Mordecai Richler, Tecumseh, Stompin’ Tom Connors
Row Eight
William Hall, Tommy Douglas, Marc Garneau, Roberta Bondar, Rosemary Brown, John Diefenbaker
Row Nine
Shanawdithit, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, David Thompson, William Shatner |
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| Last chance! |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|10:05 am] |
My show at Rotofugi comes down after this weekend. There are still some great paintings left. Keep in mind, these are pages of an upcoming book, and if you purchase them now, you will be personally thanked in the book!
Some choice paintings:
These three and more are still available in store, or through Rotofugi's online store.
SIMILARLY-
My show with Grant Reynolds at Giant Robot SF is coming down on the 11th- so this is a good time to pick up one of those pieces! Might I suggest:
These and more available HERE! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|02:22 pm] |
News. There will be a second volume of Psychiatric Tales as there are a ton of things I didn't get around to covering, including ECT, staff burnout, forms of dementia, substance abuse, the homeless, OCD, and about a million other things. There's no end to subjects I could cover. I'm aiming for early 2011 for a completion date for the second volume. Probably.
http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com/ |
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| Final Reminder for Bookshops |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|10:37 pm] |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/final-reminder-for-bookshops.html posted by Neil
A quick reminder (as I was just asked) that today is the day that the bookshop Graveyard Book party reports have to be in to Harper Collins. By 9 pm PST.
http://files.harpercollins.com/Mktg/HarperChildrens/PDF/GraveyardContest_rules.pdf are the rules and info for those who lost them.
Hi Mr. Gaiman,
I was disappointed today to read you won't be part of the judging for The Graveyard Book contests. My not-wealthy, middle-of-nowhere bookstore just sent in its entry, and something we're concerned about is the fairness of judging.
For example, independent bookstores like Powell's (I'm sure you know) easily have enough money and are in a convenient enough location to ask you to come at one time or another. Against stores like that, who were able to put more money into their parties, we stand little chance.
I don't think that it's a lost cause for us; we were very creative. I'm just nervous to know you won't be judging. Can you tell me whether you think the judges will take things like size and location of bookstores into account? It would make me sleep a little easier until the results are announced.
Tusen takk,
Allison
Well, per the rules, the judging is based on:
(i) Overall creativity of the Party, as demonstrated by the invitations, signage, decorations, activities, entertainment, and refreshments.
(ii) Customer attendance and response (i.e., enthusiasm, costumes, participation).
(iii) Ability to capture and represent the spirit of The Graveyard Book.
...specifically to reward creativity, and not the ability to outspend other shops. (That was also why the party had to actually be at the bookshop, and not at another location.)
I asked my editor, Elise Howard, and she said,
Gosh, yes. Here's what we think is happening. We are looking at all the entries. On Monday, we'll send you the best 11, from which you will choose the Grand Prize Winner. The rest will get the first-prize package. So the short answer is that you ARE helping to choose.
The longer answer is that we will be very fair and will consider creativity, which includes work done with available resources, along with pure execution. (Don't you think? We haven't done anything yet; still waiting for more entries to come in.)
...which means that
a) I was wrong and will be the ultimate judge, from the shortlist. (Damn.)
and
b) everyone's on a level playing field.
Does that help reassure you?
PS -- Widgett's Graveyard Book Dessert competition winners have been announced over at http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/11/06/graveyard-book-dessert-challenge-winners/.
This one had NOTHING to do with me at all. But lor' the winning desserts look tasty...
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| Follow Friday: Livejournal Stylez |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|02:26 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Iko Iko - The Belle Stars | ] |
You and me, we all like livejournal. Lately it feels like it's running a little dry, I'm guessing it's because of twitter (@wolfhard)? Here are some of my favorite livejournals that are still posting like crazy*. (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) beatonna also makes lists like these. She would be listed bellow because she is the best at comics but I think everyone reading this already knows and follows her. If you don't then you are nutz.)
nedroidcomics Everyone probably already knows how funny and smart these comics are, but if you don't they are the total funniest. Anthony produces a rich feed.
davario Dave has the best line work and the most appealing drawings! Also he's doing a Brovember, drawing fellas all month long. Get on board!
royalboiler Brandon Graham posts a PILE of amazing things all of the time. His own work is amazing, his girlfriend's work is amazing, his friends' work is amazing. He produces a rich trove of content all of the time. What a great journal.
r_dart Rebecca Dart is possibly the most talented person I've ever met, she is out of control. You may have seen this comic featured recently on Drawn.ca, holy cow so good). I had the good fortune to work with her on a kids' cartoon last year, she is the definition of tops.
bougieman Robin Bougie is married to Rebecca Dart and his livejournal is NOT WORK SAFE, (but is wonderful). This journal is a wild collection of the filthiest drawings and kitten youtubes. You should be following this guy.
bottomlesspop Brian does the rad fantasy comic JobGoblin (linked by me many times in the past), but lately he has been doing these cool sprawling doodle pages. Really neat stuff!
jasonturner Jason Turner is like a god-damned poet!
teamdynamite I don't know who this guy is but this stuff knocks my socks off.
bugs_is_icky I have a big big crush on Britt's paintings. She's an amazing artist who does amazing (often filthy) work. She also has an amazing dad. Follow her now so when she gets big you can act smug!
There are so many people missing on this list! I'll do another one of these in the future.
*I'm going to post a new comic next week unless things go haywire. |
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| More specific follow up question |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|03:52 pm] |
RE: My last post.
Anyone know how we can contact the band The Killers without going through their record label? |
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| Welcome to New York. Love, Rivkah. |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|03:22 pm] |
Originally published at Rivkah.com. You can comment here or there. November 6th. Three days in New York, so far. Sunday, I move into my new apartment.
What a harrowing journey this last month was. And yet, what a blessed one. Never have I felt more the breath of G*d lingering over my shoulder. Yes, it was a lot of work getting here. Yes, is there still work yet to be done. But every bend and corner, every hill and valley, no matter how steep, has never been too sharp or too steep to get around again.
I’m in Windsor Terrace right now. A little cafe called The Oak and the Iris. Coffee is a dollar thirty-five, sixty cents cheaper than anywhere in Austin. The barista speaks broken English, and half the conversations around me I’d need a translator to interpret. It’s a brisk, sunny 65 F out, and the coffee is delicious.
Six months ago, I made a decision that I would move to New York. I needed comics and I needed friends. This move from the college town I grew up in to one of the most populous, diverse cities on earth has helped me to realize that I need never be truly stuck. If I find myself in the mire, I can swim free again. I needn’t fear stagnation or despair.
So how appropriate to have my first set of keys in my pocket with the key chain given to me that says simply: New York.
Welcome to the next stage. Welcome to the place I can never say I didn’t have the opportunities. Welcome to my new home.
This is going to be a fascinating journey, and I hope a few of you who’ve seen my posts wane over the course of the last few years will stick around to watch, be it on livejournal, twitter, facebook, flickr, or the face of my new site and blog (mucho tweaking to follow). But no matter what happens, this chica is going to finish another book and get published again. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Love and Kisses,
Rivkah. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|09:55 am] |
Who's been putting minicomics together?
 spoilers removed
The answer is me
I still need to fold 'em... but how do I know when??? |
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| Big Thursday Night |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|02:16 am] |
Leeann and I caught the Michelangelo and Calder shows at SAM (first Thursday: admission is free). The Calder show is awesome -- more of his mobiles than I've ever seen at one time. I plan to go back and see it again.
It's been rainy all day. It was blustery as we bussed home from downtown. Then, just after 11:30 tonight, we had thunder and lightning all over the place. Multiple lightning strikes in the vicinity. It's very rare for any lightning to occur in Seattle. The cats are still kind of tense. |
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| Note to self: Nights are for sleeping, Days are for Being Awake. |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|05:09 am] |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/note-to-self-nights-are-for-sleeping.html posted by Neil
Still trying to get back onto a diurnal schedule. (And, I should add, failing.)
Maddy and I started watching the new season of Sarah Jane Adventures tonight, which seems back on form after a dodgy second season.
Many amazing things waiting for me when I got home -- I still haven't gone through them all yet -- but today's mail brought me a copy of the Fantagraphics Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons book. Three glorious volumes. I wrote the introduction to Volume 2, and thus got it for free. (If you're curious, there are many Gahan Wilson Playboy cartoons up at this website. There's a Gahan Wilson virtual museum over at http://www.gahanwilson.com
And, of course, although I posted it before, it bears repeating that you can watch the film that Steven-Charles Jaffe made of the "Dark and Silly Night" comic Gahan and I did for art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit at the New Yorker site, or here:
And if I'd been here for Hallowe'en I would have posted it here then. Which reminds me, The Graveyard Book party season is over. Over thirty independent bookshops had Graveyard Book parties (The ABA's Bookselling This Week reports on thirteen of the parties -- and the shops -- at http://news.bookweb.org/7149.html.) The very best one of all will get me in their shop doing a signing in December and, looking at these thirteen, I am very glad I am not any kind of a judge for the awards.
My only hope is that the shop that wins will be somewhere warm. But most of the places on the party map will be just as cold by December as my house. (Vague and only climate-based relief that HarperCollins said No to Alaska in the rules mingles with vague and selfish disappointment that they also said No to Hawaii.)
It looks like the CBS Sunday Morning profile on me is going out this Sunday, the 8th, 9:00-10:30 AM, ET. According to this website:
Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.
.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody.
Thrilled to see that Odd and the Frost Giants was listed as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of 2009. While I was in China The Graveyard Book was listed as one of the ALA's teens top ten for 2009 as well, an award voted on by over 11,000 teens. (And I made it onto the list with lots of other good people.)
Also, Fragile Things was awarded the French 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction. My thanks to the judges, but mostly to the translator, who in this case is the incredibly talented Michel Pagel. If I ever look good, do well, sell books or am popular in a foreign country, it's because of the translators, and they never get enough thanks or acclaim. And I think I'll post the cover here, because I never have.  I am becoming hooked on http://curiousexpeditions.org. I was extremely disappointed by the news on the current status of Argleton in Lancashier, especially so since I was hoping to buy a house there. I was going to move to Chako Paul City in Sweden instead, but appear to be the wrong gender and orientation. So probably I'll stay home.
(Hmm. You know, posting that French book-cover reminds me that there are some really beautiful new covers out there right now, especially from Poland and Russia. I know for I have signed them for people. I'll try and get some nice clean examples to put up here.)
And finally, a link to Joanne Leow's blog. It was lovely to see her again, four years on, when I went to Singapore - it was a great interview, and you can watch us chatting about writing, what I'm currently up to, signings, and why I don't write the same sorts of things twice in a row, at the Primetime Morning site: here's part 1 and part 2.
...
Dear Mr. Gaiman,
I was wondering if you would be so kind as to mention an upcoming art auction on your blog. The art auction is “art for hearts”. It is an auction of artwork donated by children’s illustrators such as Korky Paul, Lynne Chapman and An Vrombaut. Most of the artwork is original although there are also some signed digital prints and screen prints too.
All proceeds from the auction will be donated to help fund research by the transplant team at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Transplanted organs do not have the same life expectancy as non-transplanted organs and the transplant team is looking at finding ways to combat this.
Full details of the auction are available to view at http://art-for-hearts.blogspot.com
It will run on Ebay for a week starting on the 2nd of November. To locate the items people will need to type "art for heart" into the search area and choose "Art" or "books" for items.
Many thanks,
Kristine Stacey
You're welcome. I think this link has everything for sale in the auction: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/scrawldog/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
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| not until you've heard Rakim on a rocky mountain top |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | earth tmnt scad | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | even though I'm late night now like here's johnny | ] |
Hello,
I'm back from seeing the world. SF to savannah to Seattle and back to Canada.
I brought back a garbage bag full of comics.
I'll have to write about it all more as I process it all.
Here's some of the drawing me and Marian did in SF sitting at the Neon Monster table
and that's Moritat with a fox.
fennec fox. I carry that picture in my wallet now.
and my road sketchbook-
Isotope comics in SF let me draw on a toilet seat to hang on their wall.
toilet seats are slippery and hard to draw on.
you can see the other seats here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isotope/sets/789737/
Also In SF me and my pal Joe Keating got these fucking galactus sized pizza slices and watched the Spirit movie. I enjoyed the shit out of that film--the ass photocopying scene alone should get an Oscar eisner and tony baloney award.
And then on to Georgia:
Visiting SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) blew my mind.
I actually didn't think a place like that existed.
It felt like Hicksville, the Dylan Horrocks book about the fictinal town where everyone
reads comics if it was set in Wet moon.(I think it's where Ross based his book off of--so cool to see)
The whole place just moved different than I'm used to.
I went out walking along the cobblestone waterfront with a jazz horn playing in the
distance.I was wondering how anyone could even get into a fight in a town that mellow
and then the dude playing jazz switched to star wars music--mutherfucker.
Here's a talk that I was in my first night there--im on the right.
You can hear it here:
http://seqalab.com/?p=553
I really liked the teachers students and the other guests.
I'm not used to getting along with comic people that much.
So much good comics coming out of there.
Here's some art by one of the dudes I hung out with, Jeremy Sorese
more of his stuff here:
http://derbyartist.livejournal.com/
There's that Saul Williams line "not until you've heard Rakim on a rocky mountain top
have you heard hip hop" that is how I felt about looking at Derek Kirk Kim origonals
in the airport on the way out of town.
siiggghhhh. if comics will break your heart then I'm still deep in the honeymoon phase.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's some ish I've been reading since I got back-
I do like the Sienkiewicz cover but man this just reinforced all my worst
fears about how there's like 2 dudes that can write decent Conan.
So Conan falls in a magic time well and ends up in NYC--right. cool.
But why the fuck do they think that a dude who wore nothing but furs and metal
would sudenly start rolling as swass as this--
I don't like--well, pimps.
Crom...
and the fucking cat? Was that part of his blending in to modern civilization.
Like "normally I don't have a pet leopard but this is NYC soooooo."
Conan doesn't even wear a shirt why would he have a leopard?
It should really have just been called "What if Conan was retarded?"
Eventually it just degrades into some warriors bullshit.
and if that wasn't shitty enough Captain America shows up.
Is he still dead?
shit, he's not....
I stopped by my dear sweet mothers place and grabbed some of my old comics--
that high water mark of Shirow in the 80's
And I really like these flashback fantasy shots from Cyber 7
And along with that What if Conan --Justin passed on a copy of Shonen Jump from 88.
Nerd gold.
Jump with City Hunter is about as good as it gets.
I thought this was funny how in the middle of a chapter of Bastard with the
dude carying around this girl like so much sholder porn--they just thought it was cool to put in a Margaret ad with an infantchild sholdered the same way.
And I liked this one page rabbit thing.
Another thing from my moms place--GRUNTS!
A mirage (TMNT) Studios anthropomorphic war anthology,
There's a rad Peter Laird story in it with a Triceraton sargent talking about how
he lost his horn fighting space bears (Ursids!)
After breaking his horn off in one of their chests he goes back and
has it made into a knife. Badassery.
And here's some early THB, I really like the old Pope stuff when it was all
furs and coffee. plus it's nice to see a good photo cover.
Meanwhile back in vanoovverr james and Marley were making some impressive comics:
Stokoe's forthcoming ORC STAIN
And some Marley stuff for FORGETLESS, a 5 issue mini-series coming from Image in December.
I hadn't though about it before now but I like the contrast in how male and female J and M's stuff is. mmmmm
Also I don't type enough about Justin's stuff on here, one of my favorate dudes on the planet.
He's kind of the godfather of my group of dudes and he draws damned good too.
Here's a King city painting he did-
Here's his Deviantart-
http://moritat.deviantart.com/
and here too
http://diemoritat.blogspot.com/
And now I'm back in my place catching up on the million things I'm almost late on.
I think the neweset issue of Wizard magazine has a thing on King city. so weird.
Here's an Appleseed thing I drew my last night in Seattle.
All or nothing, this is love.
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| Quick comics time |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|08:26 pm] |
What a week! Strep throat, broken website, a commission that took like eighty days (in one week!) to complete, jeepers.
Well it can only mean one thing.
It's quick comics time again, and done by request as is custom (it's about the only time I formally take requests anymore and only on livejournal, you are my special little guys!), so ante up all yous
edit!
Whoa I should mention, I think some people have the idea that I will do all the requests! There are always way too many, that is impossible, I just do some. But I read them all, and some of them will be turned into bigger comics, you never know. |
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| Kittens and Comics Weekend Tour! |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|03:46 pm] |
Me and tewwo of my favorite Always Comix contributors, Pat Aulisio and Matt Wiegle will be all over the road this weekend! Matt is the giant cat.
We will be HERE and THERE! |
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