Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice

 Hey everybody!

(Crickets.)

So, with that about o’ the way, let’s get to the main thing.

_____________________________

As of today, I am a working artist. I  am part in my 2nd online show with Aird Gallery. I'm still on my path with comics, perhaps in galleries, we’ll see.

(Photos from The Hamilton Gallery exhibit “This Is Serious”)

Before it became real to me, the lockdown was not yet in effect, I went to Hamilton to experience the art show you see above, I lent the book that was part of the exhibit to a teacher, it still might be in that desk of my high school. 

You’ve probably heard this story before, young cartoonist went to art gallery with comics on the walls and was changed by it.

_____________________________

Some other things that I remember from that gallery are the painting of an angel with the name MIKE being in blue and all caps being painted on it, and a room of photos focusing on northwest coast artwork. I felt the comics measured up in artistic possibility and achievement to those, different as all three are: painting, photography, and comics.

I also, more recently, brought Cole Paul’s to the attention of a person working at the Remai Modern, they were interested in bringing attention to his work as part of the gallery in some form.

_________________________

In more recent events!

I plan on continuing my lessons from Ivan Brunetti’s course in a booklet, the name of which is the title of this entry.

(The class I'm taking currently will focus on for the time being, but I've made the commitment to try Brunetti's booklet.)

I will pick up where I left off, I think I can manage that.

Annie Mok took this class in person, I don’t think this will make my comics like hers, but it’s worth mentioning she has accomplished quite a lot with what she’s done after Brunetti’s class. (She also continued her training, I should mention.)

Evoking Sensory Experiences

 I want to talk about variations of devices. I will show you a link what I mean by that.

The evocation of fury in Bill Vigoda's 3 page comic "Archie's Fables" is visible by placing the word balloons just so.

Vigoda is one artist with Herriman-esque micro narratives. He plays off of the story of Goldilocks with Bob Montana's characterization of Betty (from Archie comics fame).

Archie #70 page 3

For further information, see the following link which explains possible effects that mark making has in comic devices.

Comic Devices

Also see the choices a letterer can make in this Youtube video from Strip Panel Naked:

Youtube video SPN

Notes on an Understanding of Swing Parade of 1946

Phil Regan, a face for movies and a voice for radio.

• An ideal 10:30 pm movie.

Swing Parade of 1946 has a lot of dead air. In the moments when it is good, you won't take your eyes off of it.

• The film has an overly complicated plot that is fun to drift through, here goes.  Gale Storm, born Josephine Cottle, is told she needs to pay rent by a crone, in the first interesting and oddly tense scene of the movie. She quickly finds herself in The Embassy nightclub with people willing to, after some cajoling, support her in her aims to be a famous singer.
  
  At the same time, rich dad of The Embassy's Danny Warren wants his son to end his ambitions. The rich man sends the poor woman to give a legally binding "process server"* to Danny the love interest played by Phil Regan (seen above).

* Imagine that word being mentioned every time the plot tries to get kickstarted.

• A near definite sign of a bad movie is a black and white being turned to colour with a Mike Nelson commentary.

• Paradoxically, director Phil Karlson pushes the film to be better in little ways such as better than expected tracking shots for what Director Justin Decloux called "his film school".

• There is an austere beauty to some of the musical numbers, like Joe Louis. 

• The director manages to make the story by Tim Ryan (Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla), Edmond Kelso (Lassie), and Nicholas Ray (Johnny Guitar).

• Be serious. Would you rather watch one hour and thirteen minutes of mere adequacy on The Best Of Ed Sullivan2 or a performance quality dart game of 1946's top genre's with Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five.3

2https://pluto.tv/en/live-tv/the-ed-sullivan-show-ca?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=1007057&utm_content=10018125&gclid=CjwKCAjwgsqoBhBNEiwAwe5w08mGx1jPdD-bQBOB7K5KrsVaWrF2vHirheudil0RuovQAeequdNKGhoCFS0QAvD_BwE

3You can easily find this movie in somewhat higher quality transfers, but to truly see Louis Jordan, it benefits from Swing Parade's invisible editing.

TCAF Festival Report -Day 1 Part 2

(Poster by Eric Kostiuk Williams)

I remember Peggy Burns, the publisher who doesn't mind being the Ducks (2022) publisher for the rest of her life. Whatever direction D&Q goes, that wasn't asked. She said to the three other people on stage, after a compliment that is was "Very sweet of you guys" for them just saying that. 

I say this to counteract any legends that pop-up about what could happen if an Anarchist was there. No one got angry with anyone else; there was an appropriate time for mocking authors who are a handful (all of them) not doing things in a professional manner. 

Also Silver Sprocket is run by decent people and doesn't have shareholders who instruct them to pay monsters who make profits.

The Land Acknowledgements also had more heft than they usually do here in Canada, with entreatment to find which treaty makes you treaty people. As I know that the Reference Library and my house are here because of the Upper Canada Treaties, made up of William's Treaty and Treaty 13, together over a hundred years apart from each other (1923, 1805).

TCAF Festival Report 2023 -Day 1 Part 1

Yes, yes, I can imagine your questions.

Why, what's stopping me from having a good old single person convention report? I couldn't tell you the last time someone did this, but I want to do this.

What else am I going to do with all my memories? This could go uncredited in a paper someday! We are leaving a world levelling event behind us without even thinking of what TCAF was like before.

______ Friday, April 28

Balloon Academy was easy to get into, a sign up on Eventbrite.

At Ben Rivers' talk, I was happy to hear him present good professional advice that I hadn't heard before. Having the goal to publish about twenty comic pages sounds like a professional way of doing comics that can lead to classic graphic novels.

Speaking of my sources, they said I could look at people setting up their tables, I knew that was unlikely but I did hear one of the posters was dropped, causing a bit of chaos.

Also at the one day academy, Indie Publishers and the weirdness they deal with.

A lot was packed into the Publisher's round table, but things were casual and there was no wall between the publishers and us. We wanted to hear how to do things from those below the radar of Graphic Novel TK.

 I didn't want to take a picture of a room full of people without their knowledge.

The Novella Room was cozy and full of people who needed to be there, casually talking to each other in this bad, bad time for the industry.

I have more to say next week.

April — Autism Acceptance Month

 So, before I introduce myself, here is my definition of Autism.

A definition for Autism will depend on how you view things, I see it as a key aspect of my humanity, my psyche. 

I am confident in what I have written above, but what follows is liable to change as I change as a person.

A facet of autism is that it separates me from people without it, that the world is not made for me, that I need assistance with getting by. Social Misunderstandings and hairs-that-break-the-camels-individual-backs make life hard for me.

More specific to who I am at this moment, I am ambivalent about comics like Burgess’s most famous online work, Understanding The Spectrum, I prefer their comics that are influenced by Raina Telgemeier, but are about different parts of Autism, not an explainer on an overly ambitious scale or separates it from Neurotypicality. 

Or... for people who don't read comics because they like comics... come to think of it.

Anyway. More often, I enjoy an omnivorous taste in comics.

So if you think I’ve talked your ear off this time…

_______

_______

Post-Script: If you are interested in seeing Rebecca Burgess's (better) stuff, please go to https://www.rebeccaburgess.co.uk/comics.

Introduction

 This is the intro, there will also be an outro.

My idea for this blog is to show a view of Comics history.

My mentors started me on the path to this website, both pointing out that I can:

a)    Use my experience as someone diagnosed with Autism

b)    Thank them for this idea.

        They wanted me to mention them by name in this blog post, in fact.

That's all for now.

Included next is my artist bio.