An Award, A Party & The Best Damn Comics Festival I've Ever Seen

Girl On The Road Garners Artist Trust GAP Funding

I am excited to report that my application to the Artist Trust Grants for Artist program has been met with success!  I am honored to be one of the 61 artists to receive funding in the 2016 grant cycle, including fellow cartoonist Sarah Rosenblatt plus cut paper artist and animator, Lauren Lida. 

I wrote about the process of creating this application back in May, including how I felt my work had been rushed but also sensed that the universe had sent me a positive sign after I finished my submission.  I'm so happy that I was not wrong.  Big thanks to Artist Trust for supporting me.  The funding they provide will be just enough to push the sample chapter of my graphic memoir into being.

October 22nd - Rock Is Not Dead!

It's here at last!  The Seattle project release party for Rock Is Not Dead will be happening this weekend on Saturday, October 22nd from 6 PM to 8 PM at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery. 

If you can make it, please come by.  Mark Campos created an excellent animation out of the comic we created for the printed anthology.  Come view comics in action plus a musical performance by Seattle Jazz Hall-of-Famer and punk rocker (yes, she does it all!) Amy Denio, who recorded a track for the project CD.

More on the anthology itself can be found on the 11th Dimension Press Website here. More on the event is on the Facebook event page.  And if you just want to purchase a copy, it's available at my Etsy store here.

An AWESOME New Festival:
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus

Sergio Aragones and Stan Sakai at the
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus opening reception.

 Cartoon Crossroads Columbus celebrated it's second year this year as one of the world's coolest comics festivals.  They are not a big-ticket super hero comic-con.  Instead they are celebrating comics as art, and putting the innovators of comics as art in the center of their programming.  They are not a standard tabling event.  The festival has a tabling component, yes, but its schedule is built around fairly intimate panels, workshops and lectures by the industries' leading creative professionals.

This may sound dry to you, but it's a blast, and a big part of that is because you get to meet and talk to people you would never normally get to hang out with at the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus receptions and parties.  

Me and Keith Knight talking
about the garbage public schools
he deals with in North Carolina.

Last year I spent almost half an hour talking with Jaime Hernandez, who was my main reason for attending, but then also got to talk with Art Spiegelman in the hallway of the Wexner Center for the Arts and Bill Griffith during his book signing. 

This year I informally talked about micron pens with Sergio Aragones and Stan Sakai at the opening reception, discuss racism and home schooling with Keith Knight and traded art and stories regarding our shared affinity for trilliums with Seth.  I picked up tips on script development from Raina Telgemeier and friended Carol Tyler and laughed until I cried at the antics of Lalo Alcaraz during a panel about political cartoons.

This is just brushing the surface of awesome experiences I've had at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus.  Mark Campos, who traveled with me this year, posted a small photo album here and wrote a blow-by-blow of our experience this year on his personal blog here.    But check out their website for yourself, and plan on attending next October!

Girl On The Road posts about comics, publication and community on Tuesdays.

 

ROCK IS NOT DEAD - A Tale of Two Collabs

Cover graphic for ROCK IS NOT DEAD.

ROCK IS NOT DEAD

I'll be hosting a book and CD release party for ROCK IS NOT DEAD at Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on October 22nd!  The party will include performances by Amy Denio, Mark Campos and myself. Special Guests TBA.

ROCK IS NOT DEAD is an international anthology of comics and short stories inspired by rock songs. It includes a CD of indie musicians covering each song that the stories are based on.

The Seattle ROCK IS NOT DEAD team comic was conceived by Mark Campos (Moxie My Sweet, Places That Are Gone) and illustrated by Noel Franklin (me). It is based on the Throwing Muses song "Not Too Soon," which is covered by the Seattle musical virtuoso, Amy Denio (Kultur Shock, Tiptons Sax Quartet).

The story takes place entirely in and around the SIFF Egyptian Theatre and features Seattle artist Cait

Cait Willis models for a panel in
Not Too Soon for
ROCK IS NOT DEAD.

Willis as the model for the central character.

I'll be writing more on the backstory closer to the event!  Until then, you can check out the Facebook event page for ROCK IS NOT DEAD here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/387618274695843/

ALSO: for more information on the ROCK IS NOT DEAD project, or to order online, visit the 11th Dimension Press website at http://bookstore.11thdimensionpress.com/product/rockisnotdead-package-1/

 

Coming Soon: Coyote and Butterfly Woman

I've been writing about my collaboration with comics script creator and lover of fairy tales, Anne Bean.  She recieved a grant from Artist Trust to commission a handful of cartoonists to illustrate her updated treatments of folk and fairy tales from around the world.  I'm working with her on Coyote and Butterfly Woman, a modernized version of a Nez Peirce folk tale.

I love working with writer Anne Bean, but
she does introduce me to some
sketchy characters!  Meet Magpie
from Coyote and Butterfly Woman.

When Mark Campos and I created the story for ROCK IS NOT DEAD, we worked almost organically, to the point where he provided the impetus for the story but we ultimately co-created the script and I ran with the visuals.  Anne had a script, complete with panel breakdowns, already in hand, and getting my mind inside the story was half the battle for me.

I'm in the final stretch of completing the artwork, however, and I'm loving it.  The final comic is due to premier at the Short Run Comic and Art Festival in Seattle on November 5th.  (I may try to sneak a few copies to the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival in October, though.)  More on what's coming up for Short Run in the coming weeks!

Girl On The Road posts about comics, publication and community on Tuesdays.

Rock Is Not Dead! Hometown Heroes Comes to Life!!

Rock Is Not Dead. 
The Anthology.  The Album!
Now available on pre-sale from 11th Dimension
Press at:  http://ow.ly/Z8nC5http://ow.ly/Z8nC5

Rock Is Not Dead

In a year where we have lost countless awesome musicians to the Grim Reaper, I am happy to be part of the anthology Rock is Not Dead.

The project is ambitious.  The anthology collects stories and comics inspired by Rock and Roll songs.  Simple enough, right?  But the publisher decided to pay for the rights to the music and are putting out a companion CD of cover versions for each song the stories are inspired by.

I collaborated with fellow cartoonist Mark Campos to create a story inspired by the Throwing Muses song, Not Too Soon.  The lovely and talented artist Cait Willis agreed to model for the story, which is entirely set in Seattle's historic Egyptian Theatre, and international recording artist Amy Denio recorded a spooky cover version of the song.

The comic is full color and features a full range of styles.  If you are a lover of music or comics, you want this!  It is available on presale through indiegogo here.

There's a new kid in Seatown!
Check out Hometown Heroes on Facebook or the World Wide Web.

Hometown Heroes, Launching 4/8/2016

Speaking of things that rock...there is a new comics event coming to Seattle this year.  It's called Hometown Heroes, happening Friday, April 8 at 6:30 to 11 PM.

That's right, those of you who just double-checked your Emerald City Comicon schedules.  Hometown Heroes is happening on the same weekend as the industry juggernaut known as Comicon.  But it's an event of an entirely different stripe.  It's free of charge, features only local independent comics creators and is low-pressure.  Founder Casey Silver describes it as a one-night local comics pop-up shop/art show.  Creators will be present, but free to roam as you pay for your awesome local finds at a check out station.

I'll be at Hometown Heroes, and I'm hoping A LOT of people come down to check it out and make the event a success.  NEVER FEAR Comicon attendees, Hometown Heroes is also just down the street from the Convention Center - at 1927 events near the corner of 3rd and Olive Way - so you can have your big comics cake and fulfill your minicomics cravings too.

I'll have free postcards for the Rock Is Not Dead
anthology at both Hometown Heroes, Fri 4/8
and Emerald City Comicon, Sun 4/10

Emerald City Comicon, 4/10

I will also be attending and tabling Emerald City Comicon on Sunday, April 10th as the winner of last year's I Heart Comic Art competition hosted by Ladykiller Promotions. 

You can find me there for sales and signings at the I Heart Comic Art table, located in the Artist Alley, Booth L:13.  I'll only be there on Sunday of the event, from 12:30 to 2:15 PM.

If you've already got passes, come by and say hello!  I don't have a lot of new work to sell - I've been drawing like crazy, but it's been for anthologies, art shows or on the graphic novel.  

HOWEVER, I will have a free postcard for the Rock Is Not Dead anthology to hand you, and a special edition of my Czech horror/folk tale, Jezinkas as well as Gone Girl Comics #1 and 2 will be for sale.

See ya there!

C-log posts on comics, publication and community that publishes on Tuesdays.

The Grants Game Part 2

Gone Girl Comics has moved!  And will also be sunsetting the name "Gone Girl Comics" pretty soon here.  HOWEVER, things are kicking up in 2016.

FUNDED!  Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle - City Artist Project Grants 2016

I'm happy to report that my graphic novel has been selected as one of the 30 projects funded by the Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle for 2016.

This is the second grant the project has garnered, after the 4Culture Art Project award.  I was very nearly certain the proposal would not be funded, because the application requires you to select either literary or visual arts, yet comics incorporate both.  In the spirit of "Don't Ask, Don't Get," I went forward with the application.  You can learn more about the Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle here.

Both grants support the creation of the full script plus sample chapters and require a public presentation, so I've got A LOT of work to do.  It will be worth it, though, because I should have what I need to shop the book to an agent or publishing house when I am through.  

Awesome women's comics inside!

The Anthology Game Part 3

I had a fair amount of anthology inclusion in 2014 & 2015.  The highlight for me, hands down, was being included in The Strumpet, Issue #4, "The Friendship Issue."

The Strumpet is an anthology of quality comics by women only, and it publishes in both London and New York!  Issue #4 "is all about lady friends -- from best friends forever to friend with a question mark. [It] explores the highs, the lows, the joys, the sorrows, the awesomeness and the awkwardness of female friendship."

Many of the stories in this issue rocked my world, including one by Casandra Grullon that made me cry.  You can read more about The Strumpet here, and you can buy the current and back issues at Editor Ellen Lidner's Etsy shop here.  

I also have a comic in the most recent issue of multi-medium literary magazine Raven Chronicles as well as Connections, a comics anthology to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Moving forward, I have a 3-party collaboration with Seattle Cartoonist Mark Campos and Seattle Musician Amy Denio, to be featured in the pending 11th Dimension Press' "Rock is Not Dead" anthology with accompanying music CD.  Mark conceptualized the story based on the Throwing Muses song "Not Too Soon" and Amy Denio recorded a cover of the song and had Mark and I play "trash percussion" utilizing only a wash basin and mallets. 

Detail from "Not Too Soon."
Gone Girl Comics with Mark Campos and Amy Denio.

Starting the sample chapters of my graphic novel leaves little room to work on other independent project, unfortunately, but I AM collaborating with writer Anne Bean on her story "Coyote and Butterfly Woman."

The story is a modernized version of a tradition Nez Pierce story, and I get to have fun drawing anthropomorphic characters.  Anne has also joined into the grants game, and this comic collaboration is made possible in part by an Artist Trust GAP grant she secured.

Next Week:  Tabling In Honor of a beloved Seattle institution, The OK Hotel.

 

C-log posts on comics, publication and community that publishes on Tuesdays.