"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:

Sketching at MCAD -- Part One

The oft-parodied nude modeling session is actually a great way to develop one's artistic chops. Drawing in public (coffee shops, etc.) is fun, but people move around so quickly that it's difficult to focus on anything but basic shapes. With a modeling session you can dig into the subtleties of light and shape, etc.

Britt and Danno invited me to a session at MCAD yesterday, and here are the results:

My drawing materials are similar to what I brought to last month's Opera Sketch Night:

- brown pitt brush pen [B] (the thick brown lines)
- brown pitt fine pen [F] (the thin brown lines)
- Pentel pocket brown pen (the black lines, thick and thin)
- Copic markers (the gray and tan tones)

We started out with some quick gestures:







Then we went to some longer 10 and 15 minutes poses:













For the longest (20+ minute) poses I twisted Danno's arm and stole his large drawing pad. I'll post those later this week after I get the big sketchpad back from Danno.

The session lasted four hours. In the final few minutes we switched gears and did some quick gestures to cool down. This first one looks like how I feel most of the time:







I fully realize I didn't really draw these correctly. You're supposed to lightly sketch in the full form as basic shapes in order to find the figure and then slowly build up the tones and detail. Unfortunately I'm too impatient for that, plus I really like the messed-up look of an oddly proportioned model, so there you go.

Not sure when I'll be heading back to MCAD in the near future, but I'll be hitting up the Bell Museum Sketch Day on Sunday. Looking forward to drawing some prairie landscapes!

"JUST ADD INK" Looking for Organizers

Art by Lance Ward

Every year, the kind folks at Altered Esthetics gallery in Northeast Minneapolis invite members of the local cartooning scene to curate a comics-themed show. Past shows include 2010's Lutefisk Sushi: Volume D and 2009's Big Funny, and Big Time Attic has been a proud sponsor of all of them.

This year's show is entitled "Just Add Ink" and will explore the crossover appeal of the comic arts and the culinary arts. Artists are invited to submit cartoons for a "comic cookbook" and will be encouraged to display their original art during the show itself (submission and event details forthcoming).

If you'd like to be included in the planning process, please come to Just Add Ink's first meeting, this Tuesday, March 1, at 9pm at Psycho Suzi's. If you can't make it, continue to watch the Cartoonist Conspiracy website. Shortly after Tuesday's meeting we will post the minutes along with details about the next meeting.

If you have any further questions about any of this, leave a comment below!