Paper Trail

Some of this edition of Paper Trail goes back a few months as I play catch up with old bookmarks and various scraps of paper.

Jerome Bihan interviews contributors to his Radio As Paper anthology on the Awry Comics blog. Tim Danko here and Ralphi here.

Peter Jetnikoff reviews Graphic Novels! Melbourne!. Emmett O'Cuana reviews the Melbourne comics scene doco here.

Graphic Novels! Melbourne! Co-film maker Bernard Caleo writes about his serialised mini comic Mongrel and taking Graphic Novels! Melbourne! international.

Bernard Caleo portrait by Gina Kalabishis

Sam Wallman previews work from his forthcoming Australian history anthology.

  Luke Bren

Html Flowers shares pages of Bright Threadz #2 here and here.

  Chris Slane reveals the truth about comics and art.

  
Sam Wallman discovers the work of mid nineteenth century Melbourne artist Edward Wilson in the National Library of Victoria here.

 
Roger Langridge shares his cover design process for the last issue of IDW's Popeye.

Lunchtime monster portraits from Toby Morris

  
Bruce Mutard previews his contribution to the multiple artist, Jason Franks written The Sixsmiths vol. 2.

 

The Watcha podcast review a pile of 'fun' Australian comics.

Sam Orchard is in the last few days of an original art sale here.

Joshua Santospirito shares his design process for the cover of his forthcoming graphic novel The Long Weekend in Alice Springs.

 
Steve Holland at Bear Alley shares The Vulture, a parody of The Eagle from the pages of mid twentieth century English magazine, Lilliput. The Vulture features work by Australian cartoonist Arthur Horner, later the creator of Colonel Pewter which ran from 1952 to 1970, in England and Australia. The complete 18 year run of Colonel Pewter featured in Melbourne's The Age.

 
Parenting cartoons, The Little Things, by Peter Lole and Matt Lawrey.

Ness at Aggressive Comics interviews Tim Molloy.

FEC Comics feature on Guy Fi podcast

 FEC Men Steve Sparke and BMB

Go buy some Clayton Noone and Stefan Neville comics here.

Simon Hanselmann shares some more pages from his forthcoming anthology Victoria Drugs Scene. Sam Gaskin in conversation with Simon Hanselmann here. Robin O'Connell talks to Hanselmann on Inkstuds.

Jason Franks writes about his series McBlack.

 
Coming up from the Pikitia Press blog WIP folder:

Illustrations of Wynne W Davies.

Ray Wenban's The Story of ANZAC

 Underground Comix in Australia

More Russian illustration and cartooning.

Nevile Lodge and "Convoice".

Tim Molloy - Radio As Paper Article 2010

 
The following article featured in NZ anthology Radio As Paper #4 published early 2010. 

Tim Molloy

Late 2009, Tim Molloy's work was one of the last feature exhibitions at Gallery 696 in Melbourne, Australia. The well attended exhibition was also a launch party for Molloy's most recent comic, Saturn Returns. A combination of Comic Art, Paintings, Sculpture and Installations, the exhibition was planned a full year in advance and the work on display was filled with meticulous detail.

Reading from an early age, Molloy had Tintin and Asterix amongst his intake and started creating his own comics before adolescence. Picking up on superhero comics a bit later Molloy was also turned onto 2000AD back when it was affordable for kids and had a creative cast of today's comic superstars. Various friends introduced Molloy to alternative comics like Milk and Cheese and he also became aware of New Zealand comics in his teens such as Andy Conlan's Strumming Teeth and the work of Willie Saunders.

Andy Conlan's Strumming Teeth

A formative comic experience of Molloy's was when Auckland legend and housemate, James James, dragged him aside at a party and threw a blanket over them for an impromptu comic creating lesson. "Look at this shit man! There's a light source! make those lines darker!" Friend Ben Stenbeck has also been a source of advice and inspiration over the years.

One of the first publishing efforts Molloy contributed to was Poot, in collaboration with a couple friends. Set out on A4 folded into quarters, Poot was distributed around Auckland with a last issue print run of 500 copies. Later Molloy contributed cartoons such as Ninja Sheep and Drunken Otter and Satan and to the Auckland Uni mag, Craccuum, and self-published many comics in the ensuing years.

 

In his late teens Molloy tried Magic Mushrooms and these had an effect upon his consciousness that led to him discarding what he had been doing previously and to develop a new direction with his work. Symbolism and esoteric elements  became more prevalent. Saturn Returns like much of Molloy's recent work features dialogue rendered in an alien symbolic language coupled with surreal imagery which are all earmarks of a style, distinctly Molloy's.

Molloy's recent exhibition showcased his work in a few different mediums, included detailed maquettes of characters from his comic work. Utilising architects moulding clay he created fully painted detailed renditions of his 2d work.  Molloy uses Stabiler Artline pens and the Artline 210 medium 0.6 by Shachihata is a staple of his work, providing a great variance of line widths for a relatively cheap pen. For very fine detail he switches to .1 and .005 pens. All his line work he manipulates in  Photoshop and Illustrator. Molloy confesses the editing functions available to him via computers allow him to obsess over every corner and detail which he feels can be detrimental to getting things completed. "The knowledge that the average reader will only glance at pages is no comfort when you want to make your work as good as it can be."

Like many cartoonist's Molloy drew early inspiration from Moebius but also took a step back from the french master to avoid becoming too submerged in his style. Influences come from a wide range particularly outside of the comics field with an appreciation for the work of Bosch and Brugel and literary influences such as Stephen King (The Dark Tower series) and Henry Miller. Dreams and Synchronicity also provide influence.

Mr Unpronounceable

A full colour book of Mr Unpronounceable adventures has been completed and was planned for 2009 but unfortunately the publisher involved came askew due to the worldwide economic crisis. Hopefully this will be rescheduled for 2010. Molloy stated, "The Unpronounceable stuff is kind of a throwback to a slightly more messed up me, it almost felt like at a certain point I was derailing my own life so I could come up with the feeling to be there with Mr Unpronounceable and follow him around. My brother mentioned the new stuff feels more like I'm in charge of the characters and I'm exploring the world with them whereas the Unpronounceable stuff I'm following this guy around and he's leading me into these really dark places."

Tim Molloy Blogspot
Tim Molloy DeviantART

Since interviewing Tim Molloy in 2009, a collection of his comics, It Shines and Shakes and Laughs, was published by Milk Shadow Books in 2012, who will be launching a giant tome of Mr Unpronounceable Adventures at the BA3 2013 comic book launch in Melbourne.

Accompanying photos unless marked otherwise were taken during Tim Molloy's Saturn Returns exhibition at Melbourne's Gallery 696.

All artwork © 2013 Tim Molloy

BIG ARSE 3 COMIC BOOK LAUNCH

Fifteen comics will be launched in March including two Pikitia Press titles, more details to come.

Russian Cartooning/Illustration Diversion: Огонёк 1960

Oгонёк (Spark), a Russian and Soviet social-political and literary weekly illustrated magazine was first published in 1899 as a supplement to the "Exchange Gazette". Described as a weekly illustrated magazine for the modern man, Oгонёк was similar in format and content to American magazine, Life. A combination of painted illustrations, photographs and cartooning were used to illustrate stories and articles. Oгонёк has had numerous publishers over the decades of it's existence and at it's peak in 1990 had a circulation of 4.6 million copies. By 2010 this had dropped to just over 60,000 copies. In 2012 under the publishing house Kommersant circulation has revived to around 100,000 copies.

Official Oгонёк site

 

 

 

I want to read the book they are reading.