"How Do I Make a Mini Comic?"

If you've asked the above question, it's time to head on over to Wet Paint in St. Paul. Specifically, go on Thursday, March 24, from 5:30-7:30pm. There you'll witness a bevy of local mini-comic greats spewing forth tons of knowledge on the subject. And by "greats" I'm talking about Steve Stwalley, Danno Klonowski, Athena Currier and BTA's own Zander Cannon.

What size paper to use?
What kinds of materials?
How do I work a photocopier?
All of these questions and more will be answered. Plus you'll be inside the warm, dry oasis called Wet Paint -- Minnesota's (and possibly the nation's) best and friendliest art supply store. The Wet Paint crew are the ones who sponsor tons of local art events and have even been known to give away goodie bags of art supplies during 24 Hour Comics Day.

FULL DETAILS:
Wet Paint
Thursday, March 24th 5:30-7:30PM
1684 Grand Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105
651.698.6431
email: info(at)wetpaintart.com

Last Chance to Get Involved with "Just Add Ink"

Apologies, I was supposed to post this information much, much earlier.

In any case, the planning for Just Add Ink -- this summer's Altered Esthetics gallery show about comics & cooking -- is ramping up, and the next meeting happens tomorrow night.

WHERE: Psycho Suzi's
TIME: 9pm
WHO: Anyone who wants to be involved in this year's comic art show at Altered Esthetics

If you'd like to be a part of the process, please show up, as this will be the meeting where we nail down who's doing what over the next several months. If you're planning on coming, please read through the agenda carefully and try to think about binding options for the eventual cookbook we'll be producing. At the last meeting we had a pretty lively discussion about how to produce the book, like:
- How to bind: pay for perfect binding or make spiral bound?
- Limit copies to a one-time short run, or have pdf available to do print on demand?
- Do artists print their own pages, or do they send in digital art and AE takes care of printing?
- What size?
- How many pages will we accept?

Anyway, that's just one aspect of the show we need to figure out. Here's the rest of the agenda, from Jamie:

Hello All,

Just a reminder that we’ve got a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, 9:00pm, Psycho Suzi’s.

Preliminary Agenda
Decide roles
Decide on how submissions will work (Maybe a “Plan A” and “Plan B” depending on funding)
Talk about print processes and options (bring budgets and figures if you have any)
Website stuffs

Tuesday March 15th, 9:00pm – Psycho Suzi’s.
___

Action Items (from last meeting)
Everybody to look into the cost of printing various types of pages and books. (binders, etc.)
We can bring this information with us to the next meeting to make an educated decision.
Everybody think about roles and how you want to be involved.
Jamie to draft sponsorship level and create spreadsheet for sharing
Jamie will bring a few budget drafts to the next meeting
Danno to bake us all a cake

Some things to establish:
Submission guidelines
“Mini-grants” guidelines and budget (and checklist for Ae staff)
Distribution guidelines (This came up last time. 1 book per artist? Or 1 book per entry?)
What will go on the preliminary site (and who is creating it?)

Looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow!

ICC -- More Like IOO

Our beloved International Cartoonist Conspiracy has its 100th monthly jam session tonight. What were jams like back in 2002? As I remember, 5-10 of us pushed a few small tables together at the Spyhouse in Uptown and drew for a few hours, mostly silently. What are jams like now? A lot bigger; fifteen is a low turnout and we've been known to squeeze in 20-30 cartoonists. New venue; after getting kicked out of the Spyhouse for being too awesome, we found a home at Diamond's Coffee Shoppe in Nordeast. Different atmosphere; it's a much more raucous event, especially if Ted Anderson is there. But same leadership; Steven Stwalley is still the Grand Poobah, even though the two smaller Stwalleys he's produced recently keep him from showing up until after 8:30.

100 jams. That's a lot of fart jokes. And other kinds of jokes.

If you've been going to all or most of the meetings, don't feel old. Not until you consider this: In 2002 Kriske was nine.

Happy centennial, Twin Cities Chapter of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy. Click on Shanks' head for your present: