From scores of high quality applicants, six 21-25 year olds were chosen to showcase the best of young British comic talent. They will be interning at the londonprintstudio creating comics anthologies and running workshops for youth in the local community. The project is generously sponsored by John Lyon's Charity.
Rachel Emily Taylor
Freya Harrison
William Goldsmith
The comic creators of "Alien Ink" led a workshop at the London Print Studio last Saturday (4th December 2010).
We were joined by the talented David and Esther Bircham. They talked about how they first entered the comic industry, and what difficulties they had to face before they joined forces with Channel 4 Education to create "Alien Ink", an online graphic novel that reflects a series of teen pressures.
The Bircham's are definitely one's to watch. "Alien Ink" has potential to reach a worldwide audience through the internet; and their company, "Pulp Theatre", is the first comic book publisher to work with a major UK broadcaster on an online graphic novel project. They are definitely a very inspiring couple.
Have a peek at their website: Alien Ink
Laydeez do Comics is a forum for comics creators, illustrators and filmmakers to listen to talks, present their work and meet and network with other creators. The emphasis is particularly on ‘life narrative, the drama of the domestic and the everyday’, with a preference on more ‘new wave’ and experimental work as opposed to more mainstream superhero comics.
Despite the title Laydeez do Comics is not just for women with men both attending and presenting their work as well.
The event held on Monday 29th November 2010 at The Rag Factory included 5 speakers:
An artist and illustrator who presented a selection of life and observational drawings she had produced. What was interesting about this presentation was that she used it as an opportunity to gain feedback and suggestions on where she should take her work in the future.
A comics artist whose graphic novel Britten and Brulightly is being published by Jonathan Cape. Hannah presented some of the process of creating her graphic novel showing how characters developed from her time at university.
A filmmaker who presented the drawings she creates during the film making process. A lot of her work stemmed from her emotional at certain times which then developed into more fully formed ideas.
Paul told the group about his time publishing Escape which was a comics magazine presenting both well known and less well known creators. It was interesting to see the creators that were introduced in Escape who went on to become big names in the comics industry.
Neil Philips is a Psychiatrist and publisher Shrink Rap Press. He talked how he uses cartoons to communicate his ideas about mental illness through his Shrink-Rap Press
Joe Kelly is a comic creator with a passion for stories based on real life. He studied Visual Communications at Leeds College of Art and Design where he first sold his comics at Travelling Man. Since graduating in 2009 he has worked as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist creating flyers and posters for clubs and bands, storyboards, and t-shirt designs. His style is influenced by 70’s and 80’s comics and he is currently working on a graphic novel based in a cake factory in the North.
Karrie Fransman has scribbled strips for The Guardian and created comics for The Times and is currently grafting a graphic novel, ‘The House That Groaned’ for Random House’s Square Peg. Her ‘sequential art sculptures’ are currently on show at the ‘That’s Novel! Lifting Comics from The Page’ exhibition at londonprintstudio where she is also running the rather wonderful ‘Internship in Comics and Comics Production’!
At an early age, Rachel Emily Taylor was passionate about drawing, especially with her mother's best Chanel lipstick. Having just graduated from London College of Communication, she is a keen visual storyteller, working in a variety of mediums from comics to narrative 3D sculpture and film. She has exhibited at The Rag Factory and was recently featured in the Sunday Telegraph's "Tall Tales" article about the key players in the new wave of British storytelling. She is currently working on graphic stories exploring folklore and the darker side of human nature. 
