Closing Out A Banner Year

I know.  It's not even December.  But this weekend wraps up a year of pushing myself creatively, participating in some stellar festivals and celebrating the last two of the 5 or 6 comics publications that I've participated in that were printed in 2016.

Future Forward:  Extruder 2 Party and Kissing Coyote Goodbye

The cover of Extruder 2, by Ben Horak.

I am  excited to have been invited to participate in Seattle's own Extruder.  Extruder 1 was put out as a sort of "Best Of" anthology from former Seattle free comics paper, Intruder,  and presented as the cream of the crop of Seattle alternative comics.  Intruder sun-setted after 4 years, but a few affiliated artists put together an Extruder 2.  There's a different stable of artists with some cross over, and I think it's REALLY a good, fun sampling of Seattle cartooning! 

You can get a copy at the Extruder 2 Release Party this Friday, November 11th at Push/Pull Art & Comix.  Push/Pull is located at 5484 Shilshole Ave NW in Ballard.  I created a one-pager for the anthology and will be at the party, which runs from 7 - 9.  A lot of Seattle's finest fringe creators will be there, and the copies of Extruder 2 that I had for Short Run literally flew of my table.  You'll have a good time if you come, and you'll leave with a great comic.

Love fresh takes on Fairy Tales and myth?  I'll be returning to Push/Pull just two days later, on Sunday, November 13th to celebrate the publication of Coyote and Butterfly Woman at Anne Bean's Modern Tales Party. This will be a more intimate affair, celebrating the comics written by Anne Bean, funded by Artist Trust, and illustrated by artists such as Ben Horak, Ted Closson and Laura Graves.

Cover art for Coyote and Butterfly Woman.

My own contribution to Anne's Modern Tales is the art for Coyote and Butterfly Woman.  I've already posted about it A LOT.  I did not know how all-consuming of a project it would be.  Not only did I become obsessive in my research for the story, I pushed really hard to create a cleaner, highly-graphic look to the story.  I've never focused so much on the spaces in-between the lines as I did with Coyote.

It's been great to work with Anne and I feel like I learned a lot in the process of drawing her vision.  We also sold a ton of these at Short Run.  So, it's a "Hello" to the world for Coyote and Butterfly Woman!  But I am somewhat sad to say goodbye to the story. 

If you are interested in the book, but can't make the party, you can purchase it on my ETSY at https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoelFranklinArt

Recap:  Rocking Short Run 2016

 

It's been a busy few months!  I'm grateful to everyone who came out to the Rock Is Not Dead party at Fantagraphics on October 22nd.  The anthology has been a long time in the making, and it was great to see my 5-page collaboration with Mark Campos in print.

Special thanks to Amy Denio for the music, Cait Willis for the inspiration and to Larry Reid, Lilly Beaty and Fantagraphics for hosting the party.

Anne Bean and yours truly at our table at Short Run.

Of course, the big event this month was Short Run Comix and Art Festival 2016.   I don't even know where to begin, except to say that it was hands-down the best tabling event that I've attended to date - including past Short Runs.  The exhibitor list was diverse and wildly talented, there was a steady stream of attendees throughout the day and everyone seemed to have brought their wallets. 

Truthfully, sales were so brisk that I barely was able to leave the table.  But every time I did, something wonderful happened.  Jonathan Horn handed me contributor packs for my drawing of Mirabai for his Supramystic Saga - Luminaries trading card sets.  The Ghosts of Seattle Past revealed the t-shirt they printed using a panel from one of my comics as part of their fundraising efforts.  Cullen Beckhorn delivered some art I left at BELCAF on accident. 

Fine cartoonist Annie Murphy, eating a donut, and
rocking my "Seattle, you have left me for a
wealthier woman" t-shirt design.
The sign to her right reads:
"God knows when you don't tip."

Looking at everyone's photos of the event, I sometimes ask myself if I was even there.  I'm seeing photos of friends and special guest artists that I would have loved to run into, but didn't even see.  I'm grateful to the friends like Margaret Ashford Trotter, Annie Murphy, Henry Chamberlain, Jennifer Daydreamer and other great cartoonists who came to the table to say hello, because I couldn't get away for more than a second.

Kudos to Kelly Froh, Eroyn Franklin, the board, advisory board and volunteers who make up the festival implementation team.  They make it look seamless, but I know how much work goes on behind the scenes.  What a great year!

Shout Out To The Press Peeps

 

There were a couple of great articles and blog posts that supported the flurry of activity this Fall.  Thanks to Paul Constant for publishing an interview in Seattle Review of Books (Talking with cartoonist Noel Franklin about her new award, Short Run, and her next book) and working with Kelton Sears to cover the Rock Is Not Dead show in Seattle Weekly (This Weekend, Seattle Cartoon Overload).  Gratitude to Henry Chamberlain for the ink in his Short Run recap for Comics Grinder (Short Run 2016: The Big in the Small) and to the Fantagraphics FLOG (What’s in Store: Rock is Not Dead). Much love to Sarah Galvin and City Arts for the listing.

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

Night of the Crow

 

Quoth the raven...

I have friends who call me a synchronicity vortex.  My life is riddled with strange coincidences and deep irony.  It's why I say I'm spiritual but not religious.  I've seen too many things come together at once to know that more than human consciousness is at work in this world.

This week, I've been finishing a 4-page comic called "Night of the Crow."  It's a surrealistic bit of  autobiography from my life as a painter, after completing an exhibit of giant crow paintings at the Balazo Gallery on Mission Street in San Francisco.  The show got great reviews, my house mate installed the paintings in our space when I returned, and then things started to get strange.

Me and my housie, circa 2004

A Sacramento Side Story

One of the hardest things about putting together my graphic novel, Girl On The Road, is that there is no way to include everything that happened in the time frame that the story spans.  Paranormal crow activity may be interesting, but I think including this incident would take away from the story arc and make for a disjointed reader experience.  Sacramento is a featured location, but the events from Night of the Crow are probably not going to make it into the Girl On The Road script.

That is why I am super-psyched that I'll be able to tell the story in a different venue.  The anthology it will be published in doesn't go to print until 2017, so it will be really fun to file it away and forget about it.  When I finally see it in book format it will feel like a Christmas present.

Some nights are like that.

Home Schooling

My main reason for finishing Night of the Crow this week is that I wanted to

learn from executing the story.  I need more practice with both character development and the human figure.  I also have to get used to drawing myself, over and over and over again.  Just doing four pages of self portraits made me feel like a narcissist.  200 pages will take some getting used too.

So, Night of the Crow.  It was not directly working on the graphic novel, but I feel more confident returning to the big project having test-run some new techniques in a tiny story.

One More Awesome Side Project

I'll be working on one more awesome side project - a collaboration with comics writer Anne Bean.  She is one of the people who has already received an Artist Trust grant to build a suite of new comics with a different illustrator taking on each story.  We're creating a full-length minicomic adaptation of the Nez Perce story of Coyote and Butterfly Woman.  I'm VERY excited to work with Native themes and anthropomorphic imagery.  The story is under production and scheduled to be premiered at Seattle's Short Run Comix & Arts Festival. 

Short Run Is Accepting Applications

The Short Run Comix & Arts Festival is now accepting exhibitors applications, by the way.  Check it out.

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

Portland Zine Symposium (PLUS)

This week I had planned on writing about why I continue to publish under the moniker "Gone Girl Comics" when there is a salacious New York Times best-selling novel with the same first name. (Spoiler Alert:  I used it first.)

I'll be slinging Gone Girl Comics
with Mark Campos here.

However, I've been gearing up for the Portland Zine Symposium instead.  Fire up your long-neck staplers, ladies and gentlemen!  We're going south.  You can come find me at the Ambridge Event Center, Table 35C.

Tabling, Festivals, Tabling. . . 

I've been publishing comics for two years, and I've tabled less than a handful of events. I've learned to pack lots of water, a handful of snacks, a "bank" of change--even if you do have one of those credit card readers--and maybe a friend who can break you so that you can check out all of the other awesome cartoonists.

Me and Annie Murphy at
Lineworks NW.  

Happily, my first tabling experience was Short Run.  If you haven't experienced Short Run, Seattle's Comix and Arts Festival, it's worth checking out.  I've written about the event before,.  It was packed, shoulder-to-shoulder, throughout the day and I moved more than 90 minicomics.  Phenomenal.

This year, Short Run occurs on Friday, October 31st, and the organizers have moved it to the Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, with ancillary events and special guests abounding.  More information here.

Other festivals I've tabled include the first annual Bellingham Comic Arts Festival (BellCAF) and the Olympia Comics Festival.  I also attended Northwest Lineworks 2015 as a spectator, another Portland event, and came home with stacks of books including some by exceptional artists such as Nicole Georges, Hazel Newlevant, Annie Murphy and SO MANY MORE.

Poster for the upcoming Exterminator City.
Poster Credit:  Bunny Lee.

Exterminator City and Other Events.

One of the most unusual and unusually effective tabling events is Exterminator City, a neighborhood comics market in the Greenwood district of Seattle. Organized by cartoonist Seth Goodkind at Push/Pull Gallery, the event is as grass roots as it gets.  And packed.  And I made a mint at the last Exterminator City I participated in.  OK, over $100, which is not bad when you're selling merch at $5 or less for half a day.

Exterminator City kicks up again August 22nd, 2015 and is still accepting applications until July 31st. APPLY HERE!

While I don't have anything on the books after Portland Zine Symposium, I'm setting my sights on the next CAKE in Chicago and possibly LA Zine Fest 2016.

OK! See you at Portland Zine Symposium!

And tune in next week for Gone Girl Comics: Origins.

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

Sweet! Celebrate! (Get To Work!)

I don't think I could call myself a comics blogger without mentioning the San Diego Comic-Con that happened over the weekend.  Though I hear stories that it's become a playground for video game releases and blockbuster movie swag, it is still the spot where they hand out the coveted Eisner Awards.

This book won the 2013 Eisner for "Best Reality-Based Comic."
If you don't own it already, you should!

The Eisners!  They are the Oscars of the comics creating world.  And this is the second year I've been able to bask in hometown pride.  Last year, Seattle cartoonists David Lasky and Frank Young brought home the Eisner for "Best Reality-Based Comic" for their graphic novel The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song.   I highly recommend it, and you can read more about it at Carter Family Comics:  Don't Forget This Blog!  

THIS year,  Fantagraphic swept the Eisners!

Artists and stories published by the Seattle-based comics company took home three top awards.  The Fantagraphics wins are particularly poignant not only because of the passing of Fantagraphics publisher, Kim Thompson, this year but also because many believe recognition of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez - the creators of Love and Rockets - is long overdue.

I copped this image of Gilbert and
Jaime Hernandez from the
Fantagraphics blog, here!

Fantagraphics has an excellent write up about it on their own blog, here.

I am personally very excited that Jaime Hernandez was awarded "Best Artist of the Year."  He created the character Maggie for the series "Music for Mechanics."  She was a teenage female latino punk mechanic, and I related to her a great deal as a teenage female mixed-Native goth arc welder. 

If the character correlations weren't strong enough, I'll let you in on a secret.  I currently go by my middle name, Noel, but my first name is actually Margaret.  No really, Maggie and I share the same first name.  So, there you go.  I often felt like Jaime was somehow eerily ghosting my life is some of Maggie's stories.

All "WOW-that-character-is-just-like-me!" stories aside, though, Jaime's artwork is incredibly well-executed.  It's rare to find that great of a story-teller and artist in the same human being.

I'm celebrating my own small win, this weekend.  No Eisners, but my story Shipyard Espionage has been accepted for publication by the Indie Ladies Comic Anthology for 2014.  It rounds out this year's projects nicely and will give me another publication I can offer at my table at Short Run in November. 

(Public Service Announcement:  BOTH Short Run applications and Indie Ladies Comic submissions close on July 31st.  If you read this on the Tuesday I publish it, get thee to their application sites!)

A portrait of my former self drawn into Shipyard Espionage (right)  as
Maggie the Mechanic from Love and Rockets (left, by Jaime Hernandez).

I put a lot into the story Shipyard Espionage.  It's a 7-page autobiographical story about working in a large shipyard in Bellingham.  It's a story about work and art.  I'm hoping it will serve as a calling card for what I want to do with my graphic novel.  And because it's about my days as a welder, I drew an homage to Maggie the Mechanic on the 2nd page.  To be truthful, I feel like I'm going to have to give Jaime Hernandez a visual nod at some point, so why not now, early on in my comics making life?

Now that Shipyard Espionage is done, I'm busy creating a short story on the history of the Chicago Picasso, a 50-Foot sculpture that Picasso donated to the City of Chicago when they built Daley Plaza in the 1960s.  I'll be writing about next week.  Not only is it an interesting story, but I'm telling it for an interesting project.


So back to it!

C-log posts on comics, publication and community every Tuesday.

Shout Out for Short Run! (Artists Apply Now!!)

Photo Credit:  Alex Stonehill

Short Run.  It’s for everyone.  But I want to open by saying this:

If you create comics/zine/craftsy self-published items AND you live anywhere near Seattle OR have the means to travel to Seattle, then:

APPLY TO SHORT RUN!! DEADLINE JULY 31st, 2014

Though the main event happens on November 15^th, 2014, artist applications are due in two weeks.  And you’ll want to apply, because:

Short run is an amazing dream scape where light streams through the high windows of historic Washington Hall to illuminate the bazilliondy people who cram every aisle SPECIFICALLY TO BUY YOUR PRODUCT.  Short Run feels like it has as much traffic as all of ETSY, only in one action-packed day, and the customers are there in the flesh, with clutch purses and/or hipster facial hair and a budget set aside to purchase indie comics!

The view from my table at Short Run 2014.
I do not know the people holding my comics.
Audience development in action!

I am not exaggerating.  At last year’s Short Run, I sold over 90 copies of Gone Girl Comics #1, and this was after I had done a book release party earlier.  This means that almost all of my sales were to people I had never even met before.

Part of Short Run’s draw for honest-to-god comics buying audiences is that the festival’s organizers are so good to the artists.  Short Run is able to attract a large pool of diverse, talented and enthusiastic creators.  There’s just a lot of good products, a lot of good people and an increasing amount of good activities.  (The killer combination of reasonable tabling fees coupled with the organizer’s ability to garner good press doesn’t hurt.  Artists, are you reaching to click the “Apply” link yet?)

Short Run has a great website where you can learn everything you need to know about the festival.  (Check check.)  But I asked one of the organizers, Kelly Froh, to share some information about what’s new for Short Run 2014.  

  

The women who make Short Run happen.
 (Left to right) Janice Headley, Eroyn Franklin and Kelly Froh
Photo Credit:  Alex Stonehill

Attendees and participants can look forward to:

• A featured appearance by John Porcellino, of King Cat Comics fame,
• A showing of "Root Hog or Die", a documentary about John Porcellino by Dan Stafford,
• International guests artists. Short Run is working with home countries and granting organizations to bring artists from abroad, and
• Site-specific arts performances during the festival.

Satellite events will include:

• A night of International Comics at the Seattle Public Library,
• An art show at Joe Bar,
• A pre-festival party, art show, and readings at Fantagraphics Bookstore &Gallery, and
• A mural that will be made that week and available for viewing all throughout the process.

Short Run 2014 Poster
by guest artist John Porcellino

I have several regrets about my participation in Short Run last year, which include not having a more diverse product line (I only had two mini comics to choose from), not baking anything for the fundraising bake sale (I am hoping they feature baked goods again!) and not planning breaks to see other exhibitors and events that would take me away from my table.  There were things I didn’t see and cartoonist I love that I didn’t go meet.

So, if you exhibit, arrange breaks to check out other artists and the things on the program you absolutely need to see.  Anyone else, I envy you.  You get to enjoy Short Run at your leisure, (FREE OF CHARGE, by the way, for attendees) experience some great time/site specific art and walk home with an armload of excellent comics and zines!

The Short Run website will feature updates as the 2014 festival develops.  ALSO look for Short Run sponsored events throughout the year, including the ladies-only Making Night hosted at Hollow Earth Radio throughout the next few months.



C-log posts on comics, publication and community every Tuesday.