Showing posts with label Simon Hanselman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simon Hanselman. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

2012 in Review: Simon Hanselmann

 Simon Hanselmann
 
What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

 
It's been a pretty surreal year for me... the biggest highlight I can't even talk about yet. but yeah, getting asked to be in Smoke Signal was pretty big for me, and the response to Truth Zone has been really awesome (big shout-out to Frankie Santoro). Also: getting asked to pitch shit to frederator was pretty flattering... the whole year's just been one big highlight pretty much.


Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

Currently i'm really into Dane Martin (superhuman depression gag writer), Aidan Koch (dream weaver), Lala Albert (not human), Royce Icon (sweetheart), Heather Benjamin (disgusting)... that's just the tip of the iceberg... there's so much shit going on right now...

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?


My whole year has pretty much just been about comics, I find it difficult to focus on anything else...


I was reading the new Murakami (1Q84) and digging it a lot but i still haven't finished it. Rupaul's Drag Race is still the best thing on television, nothing else even comes close. my favourite movie I saw was young adult. best music: BROTHERS HAND MIRROR.
 

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Nah. still just set up in the living room, hanging out with my girlfriend, pounding shit out, trying not to have a nervous breakdown.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?


I'm working over summer on a new 60ish page Megg and Mogg book that should be out in march from space face books, then HTML flowers and I have a show in Madrid in may, then I'm finishing up my big 200 page Megg and Mogg book and getting it print-ready, then going to NYC in October for Halloween and BCGF... Oh, and i'm putting together an anthology in February called VICTORIA DRUG SCENE. And a million other little things. And more therapy.



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

2012 in Review: Jerome Bihan

Jerome Bihan

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

 
Most certainly going to the Angouleme festival. I had a stall at a side event  (as in called the Festival Off) with pretty much all the local and international small press. Great time to meet people and check out the HUUUUGE independent scene going in Europe. I actually made a full comic out of it. Also went to some other small press expo such as ELCAF in London (organised by NoBrow) again another overwhelming event.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

 
I could not really isolate one. Firstly there are people I have been in contact with and who I asked to contribute to Radio as Paper such as Ludmilla Bartscht, James Turek, Anna Hailfisch, Sharmila Banerjee, Martin Ernstern, Alexandre de Mote and many more.
 

There is a lot going on in Europe at the moment for independent comics.I don't think there has been as many indie publishers as there is now. There is a lot of books coming out in France every year (I think there is about 5 thousand titles a year) but I guess to name a few 'established artists' I could name Jc Menu, Mattt Konture, Jonathan Larabie, Max de Radiques who's latest comic called Moose is available through Oily . Also Joseph Lambert who I discovered though his website and oh, yeah, I think Simon Hanselmann is pretty rad.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?


Short stories and essays I guess. 'A Dreary story' by Anton Chekhov, Inside the whale by Orwell, Barjavel. I have been watching Treme also by David Simon , the walking dead tv show is also on my list for 2012...what else, hum, Nite Jewel, Bill Callahan, Prinzhorn dance school.That's about it for music. And eating proper French bread again, I fucking missed it man!

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Yeah, I am getting slow (haha). I've been trying to layer pages a different way, I try not to fill them too much. Embracing the greys. If there is a sentence to define my method in 2012 it would be that: embracing the greys.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Not been turned into a zombie or to ashes, been the end of the world and all. A lady tried to give me a magazine on the street this week end, the front of it said: 'are you scared about the end of the world?'. I later found out she was a Jehovah witness.Even them are cashing out on the Walking Dead. I guess I'll keep 2012 rolling into 2013.Meet more comic folks, make more comics, eat more bread, you know...live the life.

Monday, December 3, 2012

2012 in Review: Dylan Horrocks

Dylan Horrocks

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

I'm currently drawing the last two chapters of 'Sam Zabel & the Magic Pen' volume 1, which is pure pleasure. Also: drawing a whole lot of watercolour commissions earlier in the year; hanging out with fellow NZ cartoonists Colin Wilson, Roger Langridge, Chris Slane, Ben Stenbeck, Greg Broadmore and Rufus Dayglo in Italy and Germany.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012? 

Simon Hanselmann. Requires no elaboration. His brilliance is self-evident: http://girlmountain.tumblr.com/

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012? 

Mad Men. Been watching it obsessively (all 5 seasons) and it's become a serious addiction.

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

I now adore using watercolour, after years of being scared of it. So far, I've only been using it for sketches & commissions, but we shall see...

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Finishing 'Sam Zabel & the Magic Pen' volume 1. Starting volume 2. 


Thursday, March 15, 2012

Dailies


The first edition of a new comics anthology, Dailies, was recently produced by the Silent Army publishing concern. Contained within the pages of the striking 32 page tabloid newspaper format are sixty artists from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia producing their takes on 'newspaper strips'. Established cartoonist's such as Tim Molloy, Tim Danko, Mandy Ord, Glenn Smith, Ben Hutchings and more feature alongside emerging young talent. Cartoons are presented in a variety of forms from abstract art comics to riffs on popular newspaper strips as well as dense multi-panel narratives.


Excerpt of Mandy Ord's Desperate Times

Each release will feature different versions of contemporary views of the comic art strips presented in black and white, two colour, and full colour spreads.

I asked Dailies Editor M P Fikaris a few questions via email about his latest project.

What was the impetus to publish Dailies?

There were a few really. But mostly, as with all anthologies I have published, to show the fine talents of my friends. Also, with dailies it is a little bit of an idea on doing things quickly and without too much pre design and study as most comics tend to be). I asked the artists to submit something in a short time frame, hoping not only to get us doing something without too much thought but also to get something that could be repeated and continued like the daily comics of old newspaper cartoonists.

 Excerpt from The Pox Girls Plan 9 From Outer Space

Some of the material in Dailies seems far removed from the concept of  'the comic art strip', some perhaps more in the realm of art comics, were there editorial guidelines for Dailies? Were you involved in editorial guidance with any of the contributors?

I asked a lot of friends, some with a more traditional comic strip making background and others who I thought were doing things that are very similar in nature to the comic strip. My mind is very open to comics in many mediums and I certainly don’t restrict a comic to squares on a page with characters talking.

 Excerpt from Leigh Rigozzi

 What was the print run of Dailies? Are you satisfied with the finished product?

The print run was 3000 copies. I am satisfied that it is complete, but there are certainly a lot of pips in it. It is the first time I have laid something out for newsprint and I have learnt a bunch of things. My budget was pretty low (but very gratefully it was covered by a fellow artist who wants to remain unknown) so I did it with a printer that was possibly less helpful than I could have hoped. The first issue is not about perfect layout for me but more about getting it complete and making it a progressive thing. The next issue is due in May this year and the following to come out in August, then again in November.

Were there any difficulties in assembling an anthology with this many creators spread out over the globe?

Yeah, a little frustrating – but that was the challenge.

 

Excerpt from 'Megg's Coven' by Simon Hanselman

Where is Dailies available from?

With this collection I plan to take it to the streets and sell it  like a paper – but with a twist. Combining my background as an artist on the streets and doing work with local theatre companies I am very excited to try something a little different … to have unadvertised ‘happenings’ each month in a Melbourne laneway… each will be plastered with the papers contents on the walls(done the night before) and myself and another dressed to impress with paper in tow ‘performing’ a selling technique I hope will make the paper a more interesting and mysterious collection of stories and artworks for all sorts interested in ‘culture’.


I have plans to do this next week and will be recording it for future reference.



Currently I am also selling it on the silent army website - www.silentarmy.org. and successfully at various art fairs/stalls and markets. The plan with this has always been to glue into laneways of the city and distribute through other less traditional comic outlets. Flexing creative flare instead of bending to the needs of the stores.
 
 All cartoons copyright 2012 their respective creators.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Inherent Vice: Michael Hawkins


 At the recent Inherent Vice Residency I spoke briefly with Michael Hawkins.

What is the average day like at Inherent Vice?

I try to make it in as much as possible, usually I come in around 10am or 11am. I settle in, say hi to everyone, and decide what I want to do for the day. I've got a major project I'm working on which is a series of inter-connected stories. I try and set some sort of goal ahead like today I've penciled up a couple of pages which was my goal to at least get done. I've got that done now and I'll see how much I can ink and so forth. The rest of the day consists of just drawing comics, chatting to the public if they pass my desk, and usual stuff like eating, sometimes going out for a beer with the guys, or whatever happens.

What has it been like having the general public walking through your studio?

It can be a little distracting from time to time. The flip-side is the fact you have people seeing what you're doing as you're doing it and appreciating your work which is very encouraging and very motivating. As you probably know from drawing comics at home it can get a bit tedious. You get sick of doing it and you just want to go do something else. You know you're not going to get that positive feedback or validation until weeks or months down the track so having that instant feedback from the public can help you keep going.


What are some of the artists and comics that interested you in making your own comics?

I got into comics when I was about fifteen. I had always been an artist and I drew cartoons as a kid but decided I wanted to be a more serious artist. When I was in high school I was really into films 'cause I had that narrative impulse and I wanted to do something like that. Thought maybe I'd be a film maker then I discovered what was coming out of Fantagraphics at the time, Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, Jim Woodring, and so forth and that's when things clicked for me and I decided I wanted to be a cartoonist. 

More recently I've gotten really into the Kramer's Ergot stuff, artist's like C.F. and Dash Shaw that have more a lo-fi look and a certain kind of crazy trippy fantasy vibe. My friend Simon Hanselman is a constant source of inspiration. He's probably my favourite cartoonist out of anyone. He does the best comics I've ever seen and is always an inspiration to work harder.


What tools do you use to make comics?

I use a pacer to pencil with and for outlines I've got a special fountain pen for drawing from a Japanese site called Jetpens, fine point Manga illustration. Most people think I'm doing my comics in watercolour but usually it's with grey felt tip pens. I've got a couple of Copics which give a good flat gray. A couple shades with those and a couple with Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens which are a kind of a warm fuzzy grey. They're warmer in tone and the texture is softer and fuzzier. They last a little while but they don't keep their point for as long as you'd want them to. I use a little bit of grey water colour as well. I have another pen from Jetpens,  a brush pen that is refillable, it's like working with brush and ink except you don't have to dip. I use that for blacks and some of the stronger outlines.


Hawkin's Corey the Dweller in the Hollow has been released in a limited release run and will have a wider launch through Blood and Thunder.
 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Inherent Vice

 
 The NGV Studio


From July 16th - Aug 14th, Eight Melbourne Cartoonists have recreated their studios in the NGV Studio for five weeks of intensive cartooning. Mandy Ord, Ben Hutchings, Sarah Howell, Michael Hawkins, Simon Hanselman, Michael P. Fikaris, Pat Grant and Rebecca Clements have all inhabited the NGV's Atrium for the last few weeks with an open studio space allowing visitors to come see them work and chat about their projects. Amongst the drawing tables and art supplies the artist's have personal libraries of inspiration, Individual displays of work in progress, and the large far wall is a collage of pages of comics, paraphernalia, gig and exhibition posters and work from other Melbourne cartoonists.

 Simon Hanselman

 Simon Hanselman's Megg Mogg & Owl

 Simon Hanselman's Casper
The NGV gallery space was created to engage with artists that would not normally have involvement with a large metropolitan gallery. Curated by Beckett Rozentals, Inherent Vice is the second residency since the creation of the studio.
 Pillar behind Ben Hutching's drawing table
Pat Grant

  Original pages of Pat Grant's Blue

Aug 4th saw a well attended 24 - hour comic marathon with a colour copying machine primed and ready at the far end of the studio. Rebecca Clements took it one step further producing a 36 - hour comic.


Come Inside My Body by Rebecca Clement - Click on pic for more info and to get your own copy

 Ben Hutching's Handball Heaven reaches to the Heavens

 Heads

Ord's Space

Michael Hawkins

Ben Hutchings

Comics Wall