Stories tagged Self-published

Wash Day by Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith ′17 wins DINK award

A Denver Independent Comics and Art Expo (DiNK) Dinky Awarded to Wash Day!

by Jamila Rowser and CCS graduate Robyn Smith ′17. Edited by J. A. Micheline.

Wash Day is a slice-of-life comic that pays tribute to the beauty and endurance of Black women and their hair. The story follows Kimana, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx, as she cares for her long, thick hair. As Kim goes through her Sunday morning rituals, we see the highs and lows of her day—fresh coffee, rising rent, girl talk and catcalls. Click here to see more of Robyn’s work and to buy a copy of Wash Day.

DiNK’s annual DiNKy Awards commit to recognize excellence, promote independent comics from a diversified group, and create a level playing field in which work is judged for its merits, not the strength of its marketing campaign.

Tags: Comics, DiNK, Dinky Award, J. A. Micheline, Jamila Rowser, Kickstarter, Robyn Smith, Self-published, Wash Day

Alum Spotlight: Andrew James Christianson ′11

House by the Hill by Andrew Christianson

Andrew James Christianson ′11 is an art director at Fantasy Flight Games in Minnesota. They create board and card games, role playing games, and other real-world games. Though many are based on beloved licenses such as Lord of the Rings, they also create their own proprietary worlds. Andrew works with artists on these games, envisioning the worlds.

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Tags: Andrew Christianson, art director, Cartoon Studies, CCS Alum, Fantasy Flight Games, interview, Self-published, The Stag

Alum Spotlight: Carl Mefferd

Falling Awake is the debut graphic novel for Carl Mefferd ’11. The story follows a young woman who lives in a world of magic and monsters, but when she falls asleep she lives in modern America. The comic is 88 pages of full color, printed through Rare Earth Comics with funding through Kickstarter this past September. Then it premiered at NYCC in October 2017. The following interview is with Angela Boyle ′16.

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Tags: Carl Mefferd, Cartoon Studies, Falling Awake, Graphic Novel, Kickstarter, Rare Earth Comics, Self-published, Web Comic

“The End of the ***ing World” heading to Netflix!

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL: The End of the ***ing World to release January 5th!

In 2013, Charles Forsman (’08) completed The End of the ***ing World, a look into the bleak lives of teenagers James and Alyssa. In 2013, then–film student Jonathan Entwistle create a short film of the comic. In 2014, he directed a pilot episode for a TV show. And now the show is coming to Netflix! Channel 4 launched the series in the UK on October 24.

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Tags: Cartoon Studies, Charles Forsman, Fantagraphics, Jonathan Entwistle, netflix, Oily Comics, Self-published, TEOTFW, TV series

Visiting Artist: Evan Dahm

Evan Dahm lives in Brooklyn and has been creating and self-publishing fantasy graphic novels since 2006, including Rice Boy and Vattu. He’s also illustrated and published editions of The Wizard of Oz and Moby-Dick, and he’s currently working on a book for First Second Books, called Island Book. On his Patreon, you can follow along as he continues working on projects.

Tags: Cartoon Studies, Evan Dahm, First Second, Moby-Dick, Patreon, Rice Boy, Self-published, Vattu, Visiting Artist, Web comics, Wizard of Oz

Visiting Artist: Alum Sophie Goldstein

Sophie Goldstein (′13) is cartoonist, illustrator, and comics instructor based in the great city of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia. Her book The Oven, published by AdHouse Books, won two Ignatz awards and was nominated for the Cartoonist Studio Prize. Her latest book, House of Women—a collection of the Ignatz award-winning, self-published mini comic series—will be coming out from Fantagraphics this fall. Sophie’s first comics endeavor was Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell, a web comic co-written with Jenn Jordan. It was self-published with funding from Kickstarter in 2013. Sophie has also illustrated a children’s book, Poopy Claws (Overdue Media, 2012), written by Gene Ambaum. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Best American Comics 2013 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013), Fable Comics (First Second, 2015), The Pitchfork Review, Cricket Magazine, Sleep of Reason (Iron Circus, 2013), and Symbolia Magazine, among others.

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Tags: AdHouse Books, Best American Comics, Cartoon Studies, cartoonist studio prize, Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell, Fable Comics, Fantagraphics, Gene Ambaum, House of Women, Ignatz Award, Jenn Jordan, Overdue Media, Poopy Claws, Self-published, Sleep of Reason, Sophie Goldstein, The Oven, Visiting Artist, Web Comic

Alum Melissa Mendes’s new issue of The Weight

A new issue of The Weight, No. 6, by Melissa Mendes (’10) is out through Radiator Comics. The comics is inspired by a short autobiography that her grandfather John Albert Ridgeway wrote at the end of his life, chronicling a long life of hard work. The comic focuses on Edie, a young girl born during depression-era, rural New York State.

Melissa publishes the comic online, two pages, a week. But she also publishes it in print, which you can subscribe to on her Patreon. Each black-and-white issue is between 15 and 40 pages long, with this latest issue at 24 pages.

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Tags: Cartoon Studies, Freddy, Graphic Novel, Lou, Melissa Mendes, Mini-comics, new issue, Oily Comics, Self-published, serialized, The Weight

Luke Howard’s
“Big Mystery Case”

The latest comic from Luke Howard (′13) was The Big Mystery Case, released at CAKE 2017. In addition to co-teaching the production class at CCS with Jon Chad and all the other stuff he does for CCS, Luke is the creator of Our Mother (Retrofit, 2016) and Talk Dirty to Me (AdHouse Books, 2016).

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Tags: cartoon Studies. minicomic, CCS Alum, CCS Faculty, Graphic Novel, interview, Luke Howard, Self-published, The Big Mystery Case

Alum Kickstarter:
The Letters of the Devil

As part of his thesis, Ben Wright-Heuman (’16) started his graphic novel The Letters of the Devil. He has since completed the project as a web comic and is now funding the print version through Kickstarter until October 28, 2017. The comic is black and white and red. Though the comic itself is about 140 pages, the book will also include a “making of” section.

The Letters of the Devil is a mystery comic about a cop investigating anonymous letters delivered to various people in the city, accusing people of dark crimes. Detective Cedric Dustin hunts down the sender of the letters, finding a larger mystery than he expected.

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Tags: Ben Wright-Heuman, Cartoon Studies, CCS Alumni, Graphic Novel, Kickstarter, Letters of the Devil, Self-published

Alum Kickstarter: Laurel Holden’s Spiderella

As part of their theses, Laurel Holden (’13) and Romey Petite (′13) started their work on Spiderella. Written by Romey and illustrated by Laurel, Spiderella is an illustrated middle-grade novel for kids 7–10. The story celebrates girls’ independence, ingenuity, and intelligence. 6 years in the making and clocking in at over 200 pages, Book One, Spiderella: The Girl Who Spoke with Spiders, is now being funded on Kickstarter until October 31, 2017.

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Tags: cartoons studies, Children's Book, Kickstarter, Laurel Holden, middle grade, Romey Petite, Self-published, Spiderella

A 32-page comic on how our government works

This Is What Democracy Looks Like comic cover

Using the power of comics to teach teens about the way our government works This Is What Democracy Looks Like, A Graphic Guide To Governance is a 32-page comic book created by The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS). This short comic guide helps to bring democracy back to the hands of the people by explaining what democracy actually means and how the whole thing works. This guide will be a great jumping-off point to learn about our government.

The Center for Cartoon Studies

Stories tagged Self-published

Wash Day by Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith ′17 wins DINK award