2012 in Review: Alisha Jade

Alisha Jade

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

Definitely publishing the first book of 'Seven'. It's been kicking around for a while now so it's great to finally get it out there.

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

I would have to say getting back into my roots was the best thing this year - I nabbed the set of Nausicaa by Miyazaki, and discovered it was drawn entirely with pencil, no inks. The results are fascinating and the fact that the comic doesn't only feature attractive people is always a plus. Also had a lot of fun with Akiko Higashimura's Kuragehime and some new local groups like Canberra's Beginnings and the emergence of Squishface.

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

Well I've really gotten back into film recently, watching a lot of things I never thought I would. I've also vastly enjoyed my relatively recent obsession with Richard Armitage which I'm SURE will culminate in spectacular form with The Hobbit. Watching the production diaries and getting into the buzz has really been an interesting study in crowd building and lead up.

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

Significant changes - Several - I've switched my pencils officially down to A6, switched my inking up from A5 to A4 (ugh my wrist feels it) and also switched from nib to brush pens, the BEST inking tools ever. If you've never tried a Kuretake you are missing out.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

More Seven (book two is part way through inks yay!), more Hobbit, more doing stupid things to my appearance for fun and definitely as much hanging out with my comic fellows as humanly possible.

http://www.ajadeart.com/

2012 in Review: David Blumenstein

 

  David Blumenstein and Andrew Fulton

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?
 
Going on the Caravan of Comics and getting to know the other caravaners better.

Coming across an amazing comics scene in Ann Arbor, MI, thanks to (among others) Kids Read Comics' Jerzy Drozd and Dan Mishkin.

Seeing Sarah (aka my hot cartooning wife) meet some of her favourite comics artists (John Porcellino, Bill Messner-Loebs) and watching her slowly create a graphic novel right before my eyes.

Finishing 100 pages of my "Bret Braddock" comics and getting the kind of mixed response I hoped for (amused/angry/litigious).

Being newly in the Australian Cartoonists Association and, while it's an organisation in flux thanks to an aging membership and a crumbling print media, feeling quite at home with the people themselves, a great bunch of guys with amazing links back to Australia's cartooning history.

Being part of Squishface Studio, putting on many great, informal, events and some big-arse exhibitions. Hoping we can keep it going another year.
 

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

Bought minis at MoCCA Fest, favourites being ones by Greg Kletsel, Tasha Harris and Paul Hoppe. I like them because I like them, that's why. Met some brilliant artists in Chicago, the ones who collaborate on "Trubble Club", a jam comic that's that's really good. Enjoyed stuff by Jeremy Tinder and Sam Sharpe (and probably more because all the panels are by different people and oh god I'm confused and sleepy.)
 

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

I only enjoyed comics this year. Some of the TV shows I watched and pissed on include "Mad Men", "Boardwalk Empire", "Sons of Anarchy" and "The Newsroom", all shows with an incredibly high opinion of their characters, all portrayed much more nobly than the writing deserves.

"Breaking Bad" is still great, though. "Looper" was a good movie.

Loads of my friends are becoming big time published authors! Anna Krien is a lovely person and wrote a great Quarterly Essay about animals and ethics you could go pick up at a snobby-type bookshop.

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

Many. Thanks to people at Squishface I've loaded up on brushes, brush pens, colour, bristol board, art paper and all sorts of things I'd barely tried before.

I'm writing a graphic novel. That's not something I would've thought to do before this year.

I finally caved and bought a slate computer with Wacom capability and it's going to blow the arse out of my old storyboarding methodology. Good for on-the-spot digital illustration, too.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Getting better with all the new pens and brushes I've been trying.

Continuing to grow Squishface, do new things there and maybe even figure out a way to make it pay for itself.

More little steps forward for the attitude and quality of the Melbourne comics scene.

Maybe taking a Caravan-style trip to SPX if I can afford it.

Last two years have been packed with tons of comics stuff. More next year, thank you.

Oh, and I'm finally making a series of my animated cop show, "The Precinct". It's a little mini-series of shorts called "Be A Man" and it's coming out probably Mar/Apr.

http://www.nakedfella.com/

Paper Trail

Had to take a break from the Paper Trail over the last few weeks for travelling, editing work, bereavements, and REAL LIFE...

Here is a summary of the entire Internet:

The big Pikitia Press news is the release of our new comic Peter Foster's adaptation of For The Term of His Natural Life this Sunday at the Melbourne Writers Festival:

Facebook it here.

This Saturday is host to another comics event in Melbourne, capital comics city of Australia. Exhibitchin’! is the title of Squishface Studios latest effort to get comics into everybodies lives. As well as works from David Blumenstein, Marta Tesoro, Ben Hutchings, Sacha Bryning, Sarah Howell, Ive Sorocuk, Arran McKenna and Jo Waite, they'll be bitchin' tunes, crazy costumes, chocolate-infested food, tarot readings, body art, a comics jam, badge-making, personality testing, portrait drawing... and an entire leg of ham.

Facebook it here.

Pat Alexander conducts a tour of Squishface studios in prep for Exhibitchin’!

A flux of comic printing plates have turned up on the Australian ebay in recent months, some from Australian reprints of foreign material and some from honest-to-goodness Australian drawn material. Most of these were destroyed after they had served their purpose. At the time of posting, this auction for a plate of the cover to Fiction House's Indians #21 had a few days to run.

Auckland based biennial literary zine POTROAST are looking for contributors for a special comics issue, details here.

Vice comics man Nick Gazin reviews Karl Wills's recent comic Princess Seppuku here.

Special Nippon edition of Karl Wills's Princess Seppuku

Paul Gravett interviews Shaun Tan

Tim McEwen has been working his way through his bedtime reading pile and offers reviews of Jill Brett and Greg Holfield's In For the Krill here, several Australian comics and a few international ones here, and Dean Rankine's Full Metal Chicken here, and his latest Andrew Fulton coverage is at The Australian Comics Journal here.

Andrew Fulton and other people

Inverted Dawn: Exhibition and comics launch at Tinning Street, Melbourne. Opening night September 6th - September 16th featuring Html Flowers (Cougar Flashy) and Girl Mountain (Simon Hanselmann)

featuring...
brothers hand mirror and
girl mountain live

 

 Simon Hanselmann

Tom Spurgeon writes here about the recently passing of art critic and historian Robert Hughes and his connections with comics as a cartoonist early in his career for the Observer in Sydney and in his appraisal of the work of Robert Crumb.

 Robert Hughes

 
Dylan Horrocks provides the cover for dystopic science fiction novel The Aviator by Gareth Renowden

F.E.C Comics are launching three new comics at All Star Comics in Melbourne, 22 September, 6.30pm. Have a look on Facebook here. I can't find anything on the normal Internet but F.E.C Comics are located here.

From the press release:

KRANBURN #4
Ben Michael Byrne returns with the beginning of his second chapter. Brand begins his war against Lord. Blood spillage is a promise.

FIRESIDE TALES
A horror anthology collecting three brilliant stories from some very talented Australian creators; Alex Smith, Andrew Shaw, Billy Tournas, Mike Wszelaki and Will Pleydon.

SEVEN
Fairy tales were once not so child-friendly. Alisha Jade delves into these origins and presents her interpretations.

Congratulations to Trevor Wood and Jen Breach for their recently concluded webcomic, Sawbones. After five years and 289 pages Trev recently posted the concluding page and a blog hinting at upcoming projects. Five years is a long time in webcomics, many don't last five months, so it's commendable to see the work Trevor and Jen have created and their decision to bring their story to a close.

Panel from Sawbones

Melbourne cartoonist Doug Holgate is amongst the speakers at the second Spotlight on Specialists seminars at NMIT, Fairfield, Melbourne on Saturday September 8th.

Details here.

   Doug Holgate

Mike Lynch has been posting galleries of cartoonists portraits including this one of New Zealand's most celebrated cartoonist Sir David Low.

Webcomic: Sigh Five

The Cartoonist's club of great Britain review Pat Grant's Blue.

 Pat Grant's Blue

There was a kerfuffle on the net a few weeks back with some folk critical of a forthcoming GARO tribute anthology. This provoked an interesting discussion of Kickstarter and publishing in general here and here and here and many other places. Of note the SP7 Alt. Comics tribute to Garo Manga edited by Ian Harker and Box Brown features amongst it's contributors Benjamin Constantine, a fine cartoonist from Brisbane. Check Benjamin out here and here and here.

Pikitia Press will be publishing new editions of James Davidson's Moa #1 and #2 later this year and all being well issue #3 will be available for the Melbourne and Auckland Armageddon cons in October. 

Moa on Facebook here.

Moa blog here.