Showing posts with label auckland cartoonist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label auckland cartoonist. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

2012 in Review: Richard Fairgray

Terry Jones and Richard Fairgray

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

Finally being able to release Blastosaurus in print after having no control over the rights to it for so long. Also, launching the book in London was cool, it was strange being at a convention where such a huge percentage of attendees were there specifically to look at comics instead of video games or whatever else.

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

I'm embarrassed to say it but until this year I had never read anything by Dave Sim. It's still all new to me (and surprisingly hard to track down) but Cerebus is just incredible. I really admire his dedication to that project and willingness to have it drive him to such a point of insanity to get it finished.

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

Finally got around to reading The Secret History, Slaughterhouse V, The Virgin Suicides and a handful of other books that had been sitting in a pile in my office for a long time taunting me.

In terms of film, I sort of liked Looper but not enough to rant and rave about it. I'd like to go on record here as saying that Dark Knight Rises was literally the worst film I have ever seen in a cinema.

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


I've begun a few new projects in 2012 which have been fun to work on. The most interesting for me is the Blastosaurus spin off 'No Added Color.' It's a comic specifically designed to be in black and white (the stories rely on it and the art is driven by shadow). It's been fun for me because usually my scripts are so defined when I begin drawing (a 70 page script for a 24 page comic with full panel by panel breakdowns already figured out) and with these stories I'm not limited by issue format or page numbers or worrying about the main continuity (the stories are all canonical but are set in between the significant events of the color series).

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Two new volumes of Blastosaurus, 2 new volumes of No Added Color, 4 new issues of Ghost Ghost, the 20th book of I Fight Crime, the first Ghost Ghost picture book...maybe taking a day off. of No Added Color, 4 new issues of Ghost Ghost, the 20th book of I Fight Crime, the first Ghost Ghost picture book...maybe taking a day off.

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.