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.
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.
