Workshop with Woodrow Phoenix

Last week, we had a workshop hosted by talented comic creator Woodrow Phoenix about constructing comics.

He talked us through the actual processes of brush and ink VS graphics tablet, as well as showing us how to create quick stories and characters (which was very funny). He also outlined the difficulty we have as comic artists of reaching audiences and people's (unfortunate) reluctance to reading them.

Comic by Freya Harrison.

Photos From Angoulême

Here are some photographs I took when the londonprintstudio took us to Angouleme for the International Comic Festival 2011.

To hear our stories about the trip, I recommend you come to our talk at the next Ladeyz Do Comics on the 28th of February in London.

- Rachel Emily Taylor

(France)

(Karrie)

(Angouleme)

(The actual Festival was very crowded as you can see!)

(Buns and comics in the local bakery!)

(director of LPS John Phillips with Jane, Karrie and interns)

Whores of Mensa

Last week we had Ellen Lindner and Jeremy Day from 'Whores of Mensa' come and run workshop with us. 'Whores of Mensa' is a great comic anthology and they came to give us some help regarding the anthology we are putting together.

V & A

On the 19th January 2011 a talk was held by Ian Rakoff about western comics. Ian is a screen writer and comic collector. His talk was titled- The Western: Ethnicity and Gender in comics. He showed some interesting examples of western comics throughout the last century and up until the present day, showcasing their sometimes prejudiced and politically motivated stories.

Some really interesting and impressive art and artists were on show, for example:

Milo Minara:

Moebius:

Afterwards we had the chance to check out some of the V&A's exhibits...and all the comics/sequential stories hiding there!

Ben's Workshop

Click on the above image to enlarge and read an overview of the workshop in comic form.

On the 18th of January, scriptwriter Ben Davies came to the londonprintstudio. He has taught on the MA Scriptwriting course at Leeds Metropolitan University and has worked for various companies, such as Disney and Sesame Street.

Ben talked us through various films whilst we decided what we liked and disliked about the stories and characters.

He showed us great examples of dialogue, such as the first scene in Todd Solondz's film "Happiness" when a couple have an awkward break-up at a restaurant. You can watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNPXxPcvdFc

We also discussed narrative arcs in the creation of stories that help grip the audiences' attention. An example of a successful story is the short film "The Lunchdate", which you can watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=epuTZigxUY8

Ben ended the day by running a workshop with 16 - 20 year olds in the evening, helping them to create characters of their own.

The comic on Ben was created by Rachel Emily Taylor.

Want to see your comics published in an anthology?

During the next few months londonprintstudio is providing 16-20 year old comic artists and writers with a fantastic chance to see their work in print. We are publishing a groundbreaking anthology that will include the work of the best of young British comic talent. The anthology will be distributed to major publishers and editors across the UK and publicised across the British comic scene.

This is a fantastic opportunity for budding artists and writers to submit work for the chance to see it published and promoted and an excellent addition to your CV, portfolio or art school application. We will select the best applicants to be part of the anthology. The project is funded by the John Lyon’s Charity, which means that this opportunity is entirely free!

FREE COMIC WORKSHOPS:

londonprintstudio will also be running free comic workshops to assist you in your creative process. These will be run by scriptwriters, comic artists and industry professionals who will all mentor you and help develop your ideas.

The classes are run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 5pm-7pm from January 18^th 2011. Visit www.londonprintstudio.org.uk for more information or call 020 8969 3247 to book.

THE BRIEF

The theme of the anthology is Imagined Cities.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an underground city where buildings are made out of solid gold? What about your own city but slightly altered by a tiny moment in history? This is a great chance to let your imagination run wild! This theme will allow you to set a graphic story in the city you live in, a city you would like to live in, or a city of your dreams.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: By midnight on the 14th of March 2011.

Send to: e-mail as jpeg with 300dpi resolution to londonprintstudiocomics@gmail.com or post to: Comic Anthology Submission, London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Road, London, W10 4RE, UK . PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS ON THE BACK OF EACH PAGE.

Size guidelines: A4 or A5 paper. The artwork will be published A5 size but we can resize it.

Pages: 1 – 4 pages.

Media: Be as creative as you like! We are looking for anything from hand drawn pages, computer manipulated art, photography to collage, etc…as long as it can be scanned flat.

Description: We need you to write between 40 – 100 words about you and you work

And send us: 1) Your name 2) Your date of birth 3) Your e-mail address 4) Your mobile number 4) Your website address (if you have one) 5) The title of your work.
ART WORK MUST BE BLACK AND WHITE 

Looking forward to receiving your submissions!

British Council Delegation

Yesterday we met a British council delegation who came by the London Print Studio as part of their UK tour. They were looking into what the UK has to offer to comics, and came to see the 'Thats Novel' exhibition. We were lucky enough to be able to show them our work and tell them about our project. We met representatives from Belgium, Algiers and Finland plus Paul Gravett who was showing them around the exhibition.