the official aca members magazine
issue #76 | spring 2016
www.cartoonists.org.au
Free Inside...
EY’S YOUR STANLAGM/ BOOKING &TION NOMINA F O R M S!
makinghistory
once, twice, three times a reuben for anton emdin!
It’s simple. Creators should be paid for their work. We have been standing up for cartoonists and illustrators since 1974. We will continue to fight on behalf of near 30,000 members to make sure original creativity is valued, respected and that a fair payment is made. We do this to sustain Australia’s creative industries and encourage original expression of ideas. Copyright is automatic and membership is free. Find out more at www.copyright.com.au © Lindsay Foyle 2015, Australian cartoonist and Copyright Agency | Viscopy member.
the official aca members magazine issue #76 | spring 2016
Cover story: Anton Emdin
P1-3
Stanleys: Silent Auction
P4
Domestic Report
P5
Your View: Olympics Review Hatch, Match & Dispatch
P7-13
P14-16
International Report
P17-18
Dave Coverly
P19-20
Inkspotlight On: Phil Day
P21-23
The Process: Robert Black
P24-26
Book Review
P27
Comic Review
P28
ACA BOARD PATRON VANE LINDESAY PRESIDENT JULES FABER president@cartoonists.org.au DEPUTY PRESIDENT JASON CHATFIELD deputy@cartoonists.org.au SECRETARY PETER BROELMAN secretary@cartoonists.org.au TREASURER KERRY-ANNE BROWN treasurer@cartoonists.org.au MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY GRANT BROWN membership@cartoonists.org.au COMMITTEE CATHY WILCOX cwilcox@fairfaxmedia.com.au MARK KNIGHT markwarrenknight@gmail.com IAN McCALL mccallart@bigpond.com.au MIKE NICHOLAS contact@mikenicholas.com.au NAT KARMICHAEL comicoz@live.com.au
ACA AFFILIATED ORGS NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY President: Bill Morrison www.reuben.org CARTOONISTS’ CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN President: Terry Christien www.ccgb.org.uk FECO President General: Peter Nieuwendijk www.fecoweb.org INKSPOT TEAM EDITOR: Nat Karmichael SUB-EDITORS/WRITERS: Jules Faber, Ian MaCall, Anton Emdin, Darren Koziol, Daniel Best with Neville Bain, Robert Black, Phil Day, Tim McEwen, Phil Judd and Nat Karmichael. LAYOUT ARTIST: Chris Barr COVER: Illustration by Anton Emdin
INKSPOT is produced four times a year (or try to) by the Australian Cartoonists Association PO Box 318 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 inkspot@cartoonists.org.au www.cartoonists.org.au Phone: 1300 658 581 ABN 19 140 290 841 Australia Post Registration PP 533798/0015
Caricature by Paul Harvey
CONTENTS
president’sparlay:
hey gang! WELCOME to your pre-Stanley issue of Inkspot! This year, we’re in Parramatta and have plenty of cool stuff lined up to keep the weekend as vibrant and interesting as it ever is. Hopefully, you’ve booked your room and your spot at the Conference. First thing on Friday morning, we’ll be visiting Westmead Children’s Hospital and drawing for a whole bunch of kids. If you’re a caricaturist or a cartoonist of beloved children’s characters, please jump on board and give us a hand to bring big smiles to some kids who are doing it pretty rough. Then it’s all aboard the walking bus for a secret mission that is still being finalised and cannot yet be revealed! Saturday morning it’s all hands on deck bright and early for the Annual General Meeting. I’d like to gently remind you, our Membership, to consider running for the Committee. It’s a great way to keep your finger on the cartooning pulse and even get support for the ideas you may want to pitch to the ACA. It’s always great to welcome fresh ideas to the Committee, so if you’ve never served, or if you have previously and could again, please consider nominating yourself. Our Association is only as strong as our Membership. Then we’ll have a chat with our friends from the Copyright Agency before Jim Bridges and Ian McCall walk us through their cartoon collections. After morning tea, we’ll have International speaker Rod Emmerson talking about cartooning in New Zealand. It’s bound to be captivating. Then we welcome back Julie Ditrich to speak about her program to assist cartoonists and creators, Comics Mastermind. Julie
is not only a published author of comics she’s also a therapist working with artists, so she knows her stuff. Phew! After so much activity, we’ll break for lunch... but not for too long, as we don’t want to miss our next session in which we’ll learn first-hand about one of the newest avenues for cartoonists – fulltime employment in the corporate world as actual cartoonists! This is bound to be interesting to many ACA Members, particularly with newspapers abandoning us and other traditional avenues drying up. Then, it’s the moment we wait all year for – watching people stumble up to the stage and awkwardly attempt to remember all the people they’re supposed to thank under blinding house lights. That’s right, it’s the 33rd Annual Stanley Awards! It’s a special time of year for all of us – the Stanleys are a time to reflect back on the year that was in cartooning and for us to come together from all across our great nation in friendship. Returning this year after a welldeserved hiatus, we’ll kick on into the night with the world’s most cartoon-like band, the Stanley Steamers! It’s hard to believe they only play together once a year, but this ever-evolving line-up of pencilwaving musicians will give you the soundtrack to the rest of the night. Okay, I’m gonna keep this brief because I want to read this issue before the Stanleys. I’m looking forward to seeing you real soon in Parramatta on November 11 and 12!
coverstory
three times lucky for anton | by nat karmichael | illustrations by anton emdin
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issue #76 | spring 2016
Pictured with Anton is MAD Art Director Sam Viviano (Photos by Jason Chatfield)
EACH year, very much like the ACA’s Stanley Awards, the National Cartoonists Society (of America) honours the preceding year’s outstanding achievements in the cartooning profession. This year in late May, the 70th Annual Reuben Awards ceremony was held in Memphis, Tennessee. For the first time in its long history, three Awards were won by a single entrant – one of the Australian Cartoonists’ Association’s favourite sons: Anton Emdin. Anton sat down with INKSPOT and spoke about this experience and other matters. INKSPOT: It’s been about three months now since you won a record three Reuben Awards at the NCS Award Night. Has it all sunk in yet? Anton: Not really! Ash and I bought a place (back home in Sydney) while we were over in Memphis, so the minute we got back we had to get our place ready to sell on the market. It’s been a crazy couple of months of moving, selling, moving… and we’re just getting into the new place tomorrow. [Our interview took place in early August.] I think once the dust has settled I’ll sit down with a large glass of something and try to enjoy it! INKSPOT: What’s your personal background? Anton: I was born in South Africa, but moved first to the States for a short while, back to South Africa, and then to Australia. I think I was five when I arrived. Like most cartoonists I drew from a really young age. At the age of two or three I used to copy Smurfs and Disney comics and movies… I was really into drawing Pinocchio. There was also Richie Rich, Casper, Beano and Dandy… basically anything I could get my hands on. My dad had a big MAD collection, so from the age of nine or so, I really got into the old 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s issues. INKSPOT: What were your cartooning influences? Who were your cartooning heroes? issue #76 | spring 2016
Anton: Well, definitely MAD. Davis, Drucker, Wood. That’s like the holy trinity, right?! While I grew up on the later stuff, I just love the very early incarnation of the mag… the 1950’s Harvey Kurtzman issues when it was still a comic book. I sorta missed out on the whole superhero thing. I always thought they were a bit serious… and when I discovered 1960’s underground comics I realised that there’s a whole lot more to comic books than spandex and muscles. After leaving school I discovered the alternative comics scene – all those great 90s Fantagraphics titles such as HATE, Eightball and Dirty Plotte. My favourite comic strip was (and probably still is) Underworld by Kaz. INKSPOT: How did you get your start in working for overseas publications? Anton: It’s pretty easy these days to work for overseas publications. When I was growing up, the plan was always to move to New York to work as a cartoonist. Once the internet happened it became pretty clear that I wouldn’t have to uproot at all. While I love visiting the US, I really don’t think I’d want to live there. Sydney is just too good a lifestyle for our family. I think the first overseas publication I was published in was Graphic Classics in the US. It’s a great series where famous authors’ works are recreated as comic art. I guess it’s sort of a graphic novel sorta thing. The publisher found me via my website – and that’s pretty much how everything works these days, right? INKSPOT: More and more newspapers are choosing not to employ cartoonists on staff (either as employees or freelance). Do you fear that you might find yourself without outlets for your work? Anton: That’s always the fear, and has been for a long time. I’m naturally a pessimist, so I’m always half-expecting ‘that call’. But usually one door opens as another closes, or at least you make yourself open to new challenges. I’m optimistic 2
INKSPOT: Are there any cartooning goals that remain unfulfilled that you are striving to achieve? Anton: I’d really like to do a bit more of my own thing. Mostly everything I do is drawing to a brief (which I really do love, to be honest) but I would like to create something of my own one day – or even collaborate on something that I can be proud of.
that our profession is actually a perfect medium for our ‘new world’. Cartoons are short and sharp grabs; ideal for society’s shrinking attention span. Mostly the work seems to come to me. Sometimes I will put the feelers out to publications or businesses I’d like to work for. I do think that meeting people in the flesh is definitely better than any online presence, and often work comes through meeting people or friends’ recommendations. 3
INKSPOT: Obviously, winning a Reuben is a pretty heady experience. How did it feel to win three?! Are you able to compare it to a Stanley win, for example? Anton: It was pretty crazy to find myself walking onto the stage three times. I really was overwhelmed and got a bit emotional on the last one. I was surprised that no one else had done the hat trick before, considering the awesome talent [both] in the room and in the NCS over the years. And I gotta say that winning a Stanley is just as amazing. I will never forget the moment my name was called for a Stanley (in 2009, I think). It was the first time that I’d ever received an award. Ever. My body went tingly, my legs numb. Somehow I moved up to the stage, and I babbled something incoherent (which isn’t that different from my regular talking at a Stanleys, actually). That was truly a life-changing moment: being recognised by my peers – or more accurately, by my heroes. I know that sounds a little schmaltzy but that moment is something I think about often. (Note to self: don’t do interviews while drinking wine.) INKSPOT: Thanks for talking today, Anton; it’s been a real pleasure. Anton Emdin’s Awards: Winner in Magazine Feature / Magazine Illustration, Newspaper Illustration, and Advertising / Product Illustration. Take a minute to visit Anton’s new site: www.antonemdin.com
issue #76 | spring 2016
treasuretrove the stanley awards’ silent auction | by ian mccall
THE STANLEY Weekend is nearly upon us again! Every year the Committee organizes a variety of fundraising ideas for the Saturday night. This includes raffles and auctions. All monies raised go to a local charity in the State that the event is held, and to the Australian Cartoonists’ Association to cover any extra costs incurred in running the Stanley weekend. Over the past four years, I have been involved in running the Silent Auction. For this part of the evening, a wide collection of cartoon art is placed on many display tables. Guests are invited to select items they would like to bid upon, leaving a nominated price they are willing to pay on a corresponding sheet. The guests have a time limit, and can often be seen going back and forth again and again, to ensure that they are the highest bidder for their favourite items. The ACA has organized some amazing cartoon art over the years for the members to bid on: this year is no exception. Art pieces are already arriving in readiness for the night. Here are details about some of them: Ballantyne drawn by talented Peter Foster. The stories were written by James H Kemsley Senior and illustrated his life in the 2nd AIF whilst stationed in New Guinea with Army Small Ships just after the Second World War. There will be a few of these incredibly detailed illustrations available on the night. There will also be some original Emile Mercier cartoons, as well as some high quality, digital cartoons. There are many more cartoons being readied to be brought out for the Silent Auctions at this year’s Stanley
Dinner. I’d like to thank all the cartoonists who have so far responded positively to the call out to donate cartoon artwork for this Auction. If you have a cartoon original that you would like to donate to the Silent Auction, please contact me on: mccallart@ bigpond.com …or simply bring them along on the night. The Silent Auction is such a great opportunity for you to obtain some original cartoon art created by some of the world’s greatest cartoonists. Have a look at some of the samples illustrated on this page. I trust that it encourages you to come along and put in a bid for yourself!
Illustrations: (top) by Paul Dorin; (right) by John Spooner. issue #76 | spring 2016
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domesticreport queensland aca scene | by nat karmichael
THIS year I travelled to some of the alternative comic events around the country. From Canberra’s Australian Comic Arts Festival, to Homecooked in Melbourne, and to Sydney’s Comic Con-versation, all are deserving of some discussion. However, of all the events I attended throughout 2016, the one I want to share with you was held in dear old Brisbane. Now I know that may show a parochial bias, but I shall continue to share my thoughts despite potentially having already alienated any reading audience. The Zine and Independent Comic Symposium (ZICS), now in its fourth year, was held in late August at The Edge, near the Queensland State Library. It remains an underrated festival – insofar as it is rarely mentioned in Melbourne and Sydney comic circles – and focuses on zines in equal proportion to comics. I found a great many ‘undiscovered’ zines and comics being sold there, with many creators not seen at other festivals in attendance. The Symposium attempted to cater for a broader crowd by arranging different events throughout the weekend. Besides many stallholders selling comics and zines, ZICS featured ‘draw offs’ between illustrators, poetry ‘slams’, and even guest panellists sharing some ‘how to’ workshops. The Golden Stapler Awards, celebrating the art of zine-making (very much as the Stanleys champion cartooning), are held in different parts of the country each year and were also incorporated into this year’s ZICS event. The Golden Stapler history, with details of past winners, will be covered in the next issue of Inkspot.
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I was personally asked by the ZICS organisers if I’d like to host a panel on cartooning. I readily agreed! ACA Members Sean Leahy, Gary Clark, Ian Jones and Phil Judd all decided to take part. We spent an hour discussing the topic “What are the Opportunities for the Modern Comic Strip Artist?” and the time raced by, filled with passionate discussion. An audio recording was made of the event, although I am presently unsure of how to obtain copies for fellow Members. The only down-side to the discussion was the panel being placed away from the main auditorium, presumably so there would be no impediment to hearing the cartoonists speak; but by doing this, the people who later told me they were most interested in attending – the stallholders – were unable to be present. Something for the organisers to perhaps consider next time. Our discussion was held to a very small although attentive audience: although there was one attendee stating he had only come to ZICS for the singular purpose of listening to our panel! The ZICS event took place over a weekend. The Queensland ACA Members’ involvement was only on that Saturday afternoon, but I think we all left with a wish to be further involved next year. Given that we don’t often seem to get together as a group, we decided to end the evening with a celebratory meal at a local Turkish restaurant. The night was capped off with one of our Members dancing with entertaining Middle Eastern dance artist, Ambyr!
issue #76 | spring 2016
calling all cartoonists! the bunker cartoon gallery needs you for...
• Exhibitions • Workshops • Merchandise
contact the manager, margaret cameron today! John Champion Way. Coffs Harbour PO Box 1483, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450 P: 02 6651 7343 E: manager@bunkercartoongallery.com.au W: bunkercartoongallery.com.au
issue #76 | spring 2016
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PAT CAMPBELL (ACT)
MARK KNIGHT (VICTORIA)
yourview
theme: olympics review | compiled by phil judd
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GARY CLARK (QUEENSLAND)
DAVID ROWE (NSW)
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IAN JONES (QUEENSLAND)
GARY CLARK (QUEENSLAND)
GERARD PIPER (QUEENSLAND)
NEIL MATTERSON (NSW)
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CHRISTOPHER DOWNES (TASMANIA)
PAUL HARVEY (VICTORIA)
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MARIA SCRIVAN (USA)
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MARK KNIGHT (VICTORIA)
DAVE (EMO) EMERSON (NSW)
TERRY MOSHER (CANADA)
PHIL JUDD (QUEENSLAND)
BRENDAN BOUGHEN (NEW ZEALAND) 11
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BOB CARTER (NSW)
JOHN ALLISON (VICTORIA)
TIM MELLISH (QUEENSLAND) MATT GOLDING (VICTORIA)
TONY LOPES (NSW) PAUL HARVEY (VICTORIA) issue #76 | spring 2016
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TERRY MOSHER (CANADA)
PAUL HARVEY (VICTORIA)
ROLF HEIMANN (VICTORIA)
PHIL JUDD (QUEENSLAND)
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JUDY NADIN (NSW)
issue #76 | spring 2016
hatchmatch&dispatch dispatch: jack davis (1924 – 2016) | by nat karmichael
IN LATE July this year, word came of the death of cartoonist Jack Davis. John Burton (“Jack”) Davis was born in Georgia, Alabama on 2nd December 1924. His work was first published in #32 of Tip Top Comics (December 1938), when he entered a feature called Buffalo Bob’s Cartoon Contest. Even at a young age, he was a prolific artist. He drew through his high school’s annuals and newspaper, before entering the Navy in 1943. Even the Navy service didn’t stop his creativity: he created the weekly character Boondocker for the Navy News for nine months. His first caricatures appeared after the war, when he attended the University of Georgia and contributed to the college newspaper The Red and the Black. His first foray into working on a humour magazine took place at the same time, when several issues of Bullsheet were published. But it was a Coca Cola Company assignment that allowed him the independence to purchase a car and finance a trip to New York City, seeking fame and fortune. Six month later, after having his car stolen, Jack was about to ‘heave his brushes and samples in the [Hudson] River’ when the New York Herald Tribune offered him a job inking The Saint. This ensured he stayed long enough in New York to be ‘discovered’ by E.C. Comics, drawing comics like The Crypt of Terror, Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and later Mad Magazine.
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Jack’s success continued in magazines that brought him into the public eye: He created over two dozen covers for TV Guide and over 30 covers for TIME Magazine, with caricatures that showed a warmth towards his subjects. For over seventy years, Jack’s imagination traversed the whole gamut of the commercial art industry: from books to movie posters, postage stamps to record albums, from children’s books to trading cards, advertisements, animation, from comics to magazines. Said the National Cartoonists Association in their recent obituary to Jack: “Cartoonists far and wide admired Jack’s work very much. He was a master draftsman with a natural skill using ink and brush enviable to all, was a wizard of watercolour, and was so incredibly prolific in creating consistently great work.” Among Jack’s many accolades: He was awarded the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2003, the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2005, and from the National Cartoonists Society he received the Advertising Illustration Silver Reuben in 1980, and the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year in 2000. He is survived by his wife, Dena, his daughter Katie Loyd, his son Jack Davis III, and his many grandchildren. The Australian Cartoonists’ Association salutes a great American illustrator, Jack Davis
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hatchmatch&dispatch
dispatch: peter thomas chapman (1925 – 2016) | by daniel best with neville bain BORN in North Sydney on 23rd of April 1925, Peter Chapman showed a talent for art from an early age. It was at the East Sydney Technical College that he began to truly develop, under the tutelage of G. K. Townshend, William Dobell, Edmund Arthur Harvey and Douglas Dundas. The same school saw Chapman meet fellow artist Phil Belbin, who would become a peer in the field of comic books and a lifelong friend. In the comic book industry Peter Chapman came to prominence in the post-World War II period, along with the likes of Keith Chatto, Moira Bertram, Noel Cook, Stan Pitt, Phil Belbin and John Dixon. He soon found himself working, with his brother Ross as an assistant, for Frank Johnson Publications on serial comics such as Adventure, Champion, Dauntless, Gem, Grand, Fearless, Dandy and many other oneshot comics. Chapman also worked for other publishers in the 1940s and 1950s, such as K.G. Murray (Captain Triumph), Illustrated Publications (Invisible Avenger), and Ayres & James (Famous Yank Comics). Chapman also produced three issues of Bulldog Brandon for Lilliput Productions, featuring a character that he created. Chapman’s work ethic is the stuff of legend. At his peak, in the late 1940s through to the late 1950s, he was able to produce a complete 28 to 32 page comic book in a week, at times working without sleep until he was done. He was able to write, draw, letter and ink up to six pages per day with
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relative ease, and with enough proficiency to be able to ink his lettering without the use of drawn guidelines. Frank Johnson Publications guaranteed Peter Chapman thirty shillings per page, with a minimum of six pages per week. By working fast and yet still producing high quality art, Chapman was able to earn £110 per week, at a time when the average weekly wage was one fifth of that amount. Chapman quickly introduced his old friend Phil Belbin, who was then fresh out of the Australian Air Force to the editors at Frank Johnson Publications, an act of kindness that set Belbin on his path to a long career in comic books and illustration. Chapman’s overall art style was hard to pin down during his time at Frank Johnson Publications, as he would continually experiment with techniques in an attempt to find one that would work well for him. It enabled him to master black and white illustration along with paint and technical illustration. By undertaking these experiments early in his career, he was then able to adapt to the demands of different jobs and mediums as needed, later in his career. As the 1940s came to an end, Chapman found himself in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons. At the time, horror comics were all but banned in Australia, along with horror movies. Chapman wrote and drew a gun-toting gangster-beating curvy heroine named The Vampire for
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Frank Johnson’s Gem Comics. Despite the title character not being a vampire, mothers around the country complained, and newspapers quickly picked up on the outcry over horror comics being included in children’s pre-filled Christmas stockings. (Also cited was Emile Mercier’s The Case of the Haunted Piecrust.) The irony of this claim was two-fold; the first being that The Vampire wasn’t a horror strip but more a crime-busting strip, and the second was the title of Chapman’s next book, The Green Skeleton, which featured one of the scariest covers of the period. As the 1950s rolled on, Chapman joined forces with Frew Publications, which saw him at his most prolific. Chapman estimated that he produced over 400 issues over a 12 year period with Frew, including such favourites such as Sir Falcon, Shadow, and the Phantom Ranger. He also contributed, unsigned and sadly unrecorded, to many more. He also drew a number of covers, along with touched up panels and, in some cases, entire pages, for The Phantom, but again, as these were unsigned and in generic art style, it is almost impossible to identify them. Despite his incredible body of work Chapman was never able to keep his original art from Frew, and when asked about it in 1976, responded that the publisher had bundled it all up and discarded it. In the 1960s the Australian comic book industry began a slow decline after the lifting of the ban on importing American comics. Chapman found his work for Frew dwindling, so he moved into the world of freelance, designing greeting cards, wrapping papers, board games and calendars for the John Sands company, along with
contributing to children’s dictionaries, encyclopaedias and illustrated booklets for Coca Cola. Nearing fifty, in 1973 Chapman went bush, buying land at Narrabri, New South Wales. It was here that he built his house, along with a large studio and began farming, along with dabbling in painting and writing for various publications. He also found work in the Narrabri TAFE, teaching his craft to a new generation of aspiring artists, ranging from the ages of seven to seventy and beyond. During one such course he met his second wife, Meg. He wasn’t finished with drawing for the publishing industry, accepting a commission from Horwitz to produce painted covers for new western novels by Marshall Grover and a series of naval and spy thrillers by J. E. Macdonnell. In 1993 Chapman, in his late 60s, launched his own travelling art school. He toured country areas in New South Wales teaching painting to people who might have never had the opportunity otherwise. By 2010 Peter Chapman, now aged 85, had quietly retired. He came out of his seclusion when he was invited to be the guest of honour at an exhibition of original artwork from pulp and comic book publisher Frank Johnson, held at the State Library of NSW in the first part of 2015. After receiving the 2016 Ledger of Honour (Hall of Fame) earlier in the year, in recognition of his contribution to Australian comics [as reported in the last INKSPOT], Peter Chapman succumbed to an illness and quietly passed away in his Narrabri home.
Images supplied by Neville Bain issue #76 | spring 2016
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internationalreport
san diego comic-con international | by international correspondent darren koziol I RUN Dark Oz – an independent Australian comic book publishing house. I’ve been making comic books for over six years now, featuring a total of well over 150 creators – mostly Australian, but with some international guests too. These comics are the biggest ongoing showcase of Australian comic book talent you’ll find – each comic runs at 52-pages each issue. The titles include DECAY, Australia’s longest running horror anthology (21 issues), and with its PG rating and classic style stories, Retro Sci-Fi Tales (3 issues to date) has proven to be most successful. This year I had the incredible opportunity to take these comics to the world’s biggest comic book convention – the San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCC). I was the only Australian publisher exhibiting there – representing Australia and showcasing our talent to the world! Americans love their comic books! To appeal to their tastes, I decided to collect the best of my past material and make a new series of my comics, resized to US-sized format. With the help of some designers and colourists I made four issues of Ozploitation (a horror anthology) and three issues of 2525 (an old school science fiction anthology). These comics were all made limited print runs, were signed and numbered, and released exclusively to the Convention. I’m most excited about the all-new Sisters comic. The Vampire Sisters are characters that have appeared in a number of short stories in DECAY and proven to be very popular. I’m now planning on releasing them in their own
ongoing series. The first issue was launched exclusively at SDCC, but will have a wider release in Australia from September 2016. This will be a 32-page comic with 28-pages of black and white story by internationally renowned artist Michal Dutkiewicz. I believe it is his best sequential comic book work ever. To top it off, there is a stunning front cover by Frantz Kantor, one of Australia’s best cover artists. SDCC was incredible. It was the best convention I’ve ever done in terms of sales, positive response to the comics, and the overall size and atmosphere of the place. The crowds, the exhibitors, the variety, the support – all exceeded my expectations. I went in on the Tuesday and Wednesday [in late July] to set-up and the show ran for the four following days – Thursday to Sunday. It was exhilarating – everything I’d hoped it would be and more. On Friday night I was a guest panellist, invited to discuss the comic book scene in Australia. From that panel appearance alone, people came to the Dark Oz stall and bought sets of comics. But besides selling comics and getting exposure for all of the Australian creators featured, I also made many contacts, with several possible projects now being negotiated – stay tuned. I loved the convention and America. It would be great to maintain a presence there and keep showing the world what amazing comic talent we have here in Australia. I can’t wait to go back!
Contact Darren Koziol - Web: www.darkoz.com.au | Email: darkoz.decay@bigpond.com | Facebook: DECAY horror comic Snail mail: PO Box 811, Salisbury, South Australia, 5108 All photos in this story by Darren Koziol and all subjects were willnig paricipants 17
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davecoverly
another reuben award winner | by nat karmichael | illustrations by dave coverly
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DAVE Coverly, who grew up in Plainwell, Michigan, is the creator of the cartoon panel “Speed Bump”, which runs internationally in 400 newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post, The Globe & Mail (Toronto), and the Detroit Free Press. His work was named “Best in Newspaper Panels” by the National Cartoonists Society, in 1995, 2003, and 2014. In 2009 the same organization gave him its highest honour, the prestigious Reuben Award, for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year”. Speed Bump cartoons are published by several greeting card companies, including American Greetings, RSVP, Marian Heath and NobleWorks. Coverly’s cartoons have also appeared in The New Yorker, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, Ranger Rick, Jr., and are a regular feature in Parade. He is also the principle cartoonist for BarkBox. His cartoon compilation books include Speed Bump: A Collection of Cartoon Skidmarks (Andrews McMeel), Cartoons for Idea People (ECW), Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another (ECW), Laughter is the Best Medicine (Sellers), and Dogs Are People, Too (Macmillan). Children’s picture books include Sue MacDonald Had a Book (with Jim Tobin, Macmillan), and The Very Inappropriate Word (with Jim Tobin, Macmillan). His chapter book series began with Night of the Living Worms: The Misadventures of Speed Bump & Slingshot (October 2015, Macmillan), and continues with Night of the Living Shadows (October 2016, Macmillan). Coverly earned his BS with a double major in Imaginative Writing and Philosophy at Eastern Michigan University, and received his MA in Creative Writing from Indiana University. In 2012, he was asked to give the commencement address at EMU, and was presented with an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts. He lives with his wife, Chris, and daughters Alayna and Simone, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He may be reached via his website, www.speedbump.com.
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inkspotlighton highlighting the talents of phil day | interview by phil judd
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issue #76 | spring 2016
INKSPOT: When did you start drawing/cartooning? Do you have a first memory? Phil: I used to draw as a young child, copying Walt Disney characters and creating new characters of my own. My earliest memory is drawing pictures comic book style before I could even write properly. INKSPOT: When was your first break in the business? Phil: I approached the editor of our local paper with my cartoon strip, Maggie. He liked it and published it in the paper next to Footrot Flats. The public really enjoyed the cartoon, and it still runs in that paper. That was over 30 years ago. INKSPOT: What category of cartooning does your work cover? What formats do you use? Phil: I consider myself a comic strip cartoonist, but I also do single gag and editorial cartoons. Also, caricature, illustration and live cartooning, and workshops for kids. A bit of everything. INKSPOT: How do you create your ideas? Phil: Inspiration comes from many different sources. Usually just simply observing things around me, talking to people, staying informed on what’s happening around us, and of course always looking on the funny/bright side of situations. INKSPOT: What is first the drawing or the writing? Phil: For me, it’s the drawing, but I have in mind exactly what is being said and in what manner or mood, which helps greatly with the way the characters are drawn. INKSPOT: What materials, technology and methods do you use currently to create your work? Any favourites? Phil: Apart from live work, pen and paper. I prefer Rotring rapidiograph pens, a really good quality, German made issue #76 | spring 2016
product, and normal photocopy or bond paper. I pencil in first with a mechanical 0.5mm HB pencil. Once inked in, scanned in to the computer and coloured in Photoshop, saved and emailed to the newspapers as a jpg file. INKSPOT: Have you ever won any awards for your work? I’ve won a couple of Rotary Cartoon Merit awards for my Maggie cartoon strip.
“Inspiration comes from many different sources. Usually just simply observing things around me...” INKSPOT: What’s the best thing that has happened so far in your cartooning career? Phil: I would have to say being commissioned to design and paint a mural for the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane in the children’s ward. It was very rewarding to see and hear about the joy my cartoons were bringing to the children. Winning the awards was pretty cool, and there’s been some great interactive guest speaking engagements along the way. INKSPOT: Any advice, tips or insights you could offer your fellow cartoonists or those aspiring to be? Phil: Develop your own style and stick with it. Be inspired by others, draw what you know but push yourself sometimes and hopefully surprise yourself with your own ability. Never stop learning and growing. 22
INKSPOT: Do you have any favourite Australian cartoonists? Phil: Yes, I love the older style of cartooning like Eric Jolliffe’s cartoons. Alex Gurney is another favourite. I also enjoy Tony Lopes and Gary Clark’s work. INKSPOT: Who would you say are your five favourite cartoonists that inspire you? Phil: Eric Jolliffe, Alex Gurney, Gary Larson, Murray Ball, Johnny Hart. INKSPOT: Where does your current work appear?
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Phil: Currently my cartoon strip is published in rural newspapers around Queensland, and Tasmania. I have a regular editorial cartoon published in a Brisbane magazine, as well as ongoing freelance work for advertising, and illustrations here, there and everywhere. INKSPOT: Where can we find out more about you, your business and your work? Phil: The best place to see what I’m doing is Facebook. www.facebook.com/PhilDayCartoons INKSPOT: What are you currently reading, cartooning or general wise? Phil: I don’t read a lot. I don’t have the time, so I stick with comic books. INKSPOT: What music do you enjoy? Do you listen to anything while working? Phil: I am a big music fan of almost every genre there is. I like to listen to Pink Floyd while I’m cartooning (unless my wife’s home). INKSPOT: Do you have any other special talents besides cartooning? Or talents you’d like to have? Phil: I’m a drummer. I enjoy gardening and restoring tractors and cars in my spare time.
issue #76 | spring 2016
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theprocess
an insight into the creative process | by robert black | compiled by phil judd
issue #76 | spring 2016
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WHENEVER I have an inkling of an idea that I suspect might lead to a cartoon, I type it into my iPhone and then figure out what to do with it later. In this case I wrote “Stan peed where?! (cowboy running from stampede, old guy sitting on verandah, hard of hearing.” Note the missing right bracket! I like to flesh out ideas with thumbnail roughs (1), which I sketch with Kitaboshi triangular pencils from Japan. I love their texture, and the fact that they don’t roll off my desk! Often I’ll stop working on the artwork at this stage, and 25
switch to developing the caption using a quick and dirty photo of a pencil rough in a mock-up on the computer (2), a 27 inch iMac (with a mouse, no tablet). The captions in The Sharp End are as important as the artwork, so I might write a dozen variations before I’m happy with it. Even then, I frequently go back and tweak a caption in the few days after a new cartoon’s been published to my site. Fortunately, this caption clicked into place early. Sometimes I play with composition and scale in the issue #76 | spring 2016
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computer mock-up. Then I print the rough onto A3 photocopy paper using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to turn the line-work a pale blue. I have a cheap Epson A3 multifunction scanner/printer (the WF-7610), which isn’t especially great at scanning, or come to think of it printing, but just by virtue of being A3 it’s been a godsend! I draw a better pencil version over the blown up blue-line rough (3), which I also scan and print as pale blue for drawing over with a brush and Indian ink. ‘Sensible’ people would just draw their pencil work with a blue pencil and skip all that scanning and printing, but the extra steps give me the ability to reprint a blue-line page if I mess anything up, and keep a paper record of my pencilling steps. The inked version is then scanned, and in Photoshop I use a Black & White adjustment layer to remove the blue guidelines, leaving just the ink-work. (4) With Illustrator CS6’s auto-trace feature I convert this linework into vector artwork, but I’ve found that Illustrator’s autotrace loses interest in the fine details of line-work if a bitmap is large enough. So I use a simple shell script I wrote to split my scan (using ImageMagick) into four slightly overlapping jpg files, which I then auto-trace separately. It’s a pain in the neck having to re-stitch the 4 pieces back together after the tracing, but this really increases the fidelity of the auto-trace
issue #76 | spring 2016
tool in Illustrator CS6. (5) I use Illustrator because the drawings are then resolution independent, and as soon as the cartoon moves to Illustrator everything starts getting managed by a custom database I created in FileMaker — it’s ugly, but it does just what I need… repetitive and boring publishing tasks that I’d mess up if I had to do them manually. (6) Most of my colouring is done using the Live Paint feature in Illustrator that mimics Photoshop’s paint bucket tool. I have a custom colour pallet, and use several plugins for adding various stippling effects (Stipplism and ColliderScribe by Astute Graphics). The final steps are adding shadows, and defining which part of the drawing will be used as the preview teasers posted to social media sites. (7) Because Illustrator can be finely controlled with AppleScript, the database runs scripts I’ve written to export and upload a cartoon’s artwork in the specific formats and resolutions required by my website, by different publishers, social media platforms, and the products in my store. I’m constantly refining how I do things, but it seems that for every step I make more efficient, I find a way of making another step more complicated, so the artwork still takes me about 5 to 6 hours from start to finish (8), much as it did two years ago.
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bookreview
| by jules faber
the salty river by jan bauer
THE FIRST release from brand new publishing outfit Twelve Panels Press, is an adventurous start to their project. Charming and endearing, and yet threaded with intimacy and poignancy, The Salty River is a meander through the vivid Australian bush. German Jan Bauer writes and illustrates a deeply personal story about his search for meaning after a few rocky years in his homeland. Heading out to walk along the length of the Salty River – some 450 kilometres through the dry Australian outback – he’s hoping to come face to face with himself to test his personal limits. What he doesn’t expect to learn is more about himself, as well as something new about relationships and how they affect us all. The black and white landscape artwork in this work is breathtaking. Nearly every page has gloriously rendered backgrounds based on real places and things, immersing us in the outback; and taking just as long as the hike itself. Stunning full page spreads breathe life into the bush, making
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it just as important a character as Jan and the people he meets along the way. The simple style of the character illustrations help to distinctly separate the world from the players, yet still managing to unite them as an overall whole. A German’s perspective on the wonder of the Australian outback is a nice change of perspective from something we locals all too often take for granted. Clocking in at 234 pages, The Salty River is a superb first graphic novel from Bauer. The illustrations are magnificent from the first page to the last. Rich in intimacy, humour and heartbreak, the story never feels rushed or hurried. It is a truly immersive experience and one that I couldn’t help but read in one sitting.
issue #76 | spring 2016
comicreview
falling star #s 1-4 by cristian roux (sauce!)
$7 each print. $1 each digital. http://comics.cristianroux.com/ FALLING Star is a sprawling and compelling science fiction story set in Melbourne, except superpowered beings – ‘Alters’/‘Alterhumans’ – exist. Cristian Roux’s art on Falling Star starts off very strong and only improves during this four issue run. It changes in application and skill enough that it surely gets better, while not changing stylistically so much that it is jarring to the reader. Although the art is all black & white at no point did I wish this comic was in colour. There’s a great balance to the black and white, and it’s a potent compositional tool as well as mood-setter. Roux’s strong and confident ink-work backs up equally good anatomy, composition, environment and layout. Figures have a great solidity and presence, faces show full and appropriate emotion, environments are well staged and set. There’s also a great use of halftone which, especially in the earlier issues, harkens back to the days of Letratone or Zipatone as well as owing a great deal to similar-era black and white manga. The tones, and more precisely their application, are actually useful in a storytelling sense. Roux uses them consciously in this regard, adding not only physical depth and mood, but emotional depth and mood as well. issue #76 | spring 2016
| by tim mcewen
If the art was the only commendable thing about this comic we’d possibly already be on a winner, but the story itself is gripping. From the beginning it’s a continuously interesting layered mix of several concurrent plots and subplots. This packed layering not only allows for all the storylines to proceed but it also constantly turns up the tension and adds a kind of claustrophobia to the book. The sprawling nature of the story, with multiple threads sometimes weaving together, sometimes not, continues to show us the shape of the world and its effects on the story’s characters and the public. At times Roux appears to be overlaying/overlapping not just plot threads but also timelines. It’s written well enough that this seems to be the case, while not spelling it out and also not losing the reader. A very interesting way to keep the reader happily on their toes. About midway through it becomes apparent that the story’s split focus between the superpowered ‘Alters’ and the general public is much more than merely a worldbuilding exercise, but is in fact a major thrust of the story. Although there’s an obvious feeling of tension and paranoia throughout the story, the city and the characters, it’s not until quite late in these four issues that it gets a real “post9-11” feel about it. Combine that feeling with Falling Star’s sometimes-philosophical bent and one starts to see why this series is as absorbing as it is: there’s something being said here beyond merely superpowered shenanigans. At this stage, the close of issue 4, we’re left with a delicious cliff-hanger ending. I’m very keen to read as many more issues of Falling Star as Cristian Roux can make. 28