[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-more-comica":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Another busy day of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.paulgravett.com/comica/comica08/comica08.htm\">Comica\u003C/a> talks! I paid such total attention during the hour-and-a-half presentation by the amazing \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ica.org.uk/Dave%20McKean%27s%20Imaginings+18408.twl\">Dave McKean\u003C/a> that I kind of fried my brain and had a hard time concentrating for the other four hours of comics school. Here's a doodle I did in the very last talk, when I was about to fall off my chair from overstimulation:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ica16nov08-7a5d9891a1.gif\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Dave McKean\u003C/b> gave an excellent talk, showing us lots of his work and talking about his working processes. What most struck me, and I asked him to expand on it in the question time, was his comment about the recent sketchbook albums he's made of cities: Paris, Barcelona, Vienna. He said, 'They're very important to me, they've taught me how to draw. I've only really felt confident in drawing for the last three years because of these books.' This seemed kind of shocking, coming from someone who's had a long career of making drawings so good that half of the kids on every BA illustration course in the country are copying him. \u003C!--more Read more...--> But he explained that, while  he could draw, he'd often have to fight with drawings, and they hadn't felt like they'd flowed freely out of him. By doing the city sketchbooks, and drawing whatever he liked, the penny somehow dropped; he compared it to drumming, when people get so good at drumming that they can start listening to themselves, and surprise themselves with new things they like because the drumming has so become a part of them.\\r\n\\r\nThe other thing he emphasised through the talk was 'the importance of script'. 'If a book's going to be any good, it has to come from the script.' McKean said he writes stories on little notecards, which he spreads around him so he can see how the ideas bunch together, and where they leave gaps. Even though he works on building a solid structure for his script, he still leaves room for play and writes the dialogue as the scenes occur, so there's always something fresh and new happening. Once there's a good script, he takes control over every part of the design process... 'damage control', as he put it. He said there's nothing worse than doing all that work and having some designer come and slap hot pink lettering over the top of it. His art teacher, George Glenny, was very learned in semiotics, and told him 'everything is loaded with meaning', which includes fonts and every aspect of book design.\\r\n\\r\nMcKean also talked about working closely with other writers, including Neil Gaiman, but he focused on \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Sinclair\">Iain Sinclair\u003C/a>, as someone for whom he has great respect, for his ability to let go of text; while most writers 'are in love with their words', Sinclair told him on a joint project that 'he didn't mind if the books didn't have any words'. McKean mentioned several films he's worked on, and I'm eager to see them: two shorts called \u003Ci>Dawn\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>Whack!\u003C/i>, one set in Venice called \u003Ci>Neon\u003C/i> and another coming out soon, called \u003Ci>Luna\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jhanshaw_observr-1446483858.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nDuring the second talk, \u003Ci>Between the Panels\u003C/i>, we got to hear from the two runners-up and the winner of the Observer graphic short story competition: \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-greenberg?picture=339685671\">Isabel Greenberg\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-haworth-booth?picture=339696468\">Emily Haworth-Booth\u003C/a> and the winner, \u003Cb>Julian Hanshaw\u003C/b> with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-julian-hanshaw?picture=339693248\">Sand Dunes & Sonic Booms\u003C/a>. Super-cool fact: Hanshaw's already on the schedule to appear in the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thedfc.co.uk\">DFC\u003C/a> early next year, so look out for this guy!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/j_hanshaw-3c46a667e9.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hanshaw1-d9ac18a171.jpg\"> \\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cb>Julian Hanshaw\u003C/b>'s the guy on the right, and he's sitting next to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rollingstockpress.co.uk/\">Oliver East\u003C/a>, who's recently come out with \u003Cb>Trains are... Mint\u003C/b>.\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nOther speakers whose work I will have to look up very soon from the second and third talks are: \\r\n\u003Cb>Hannah Barry\u003C/b> with her very promising looking novel, starring a detective and his tea bag partner, \u003Ca href=\"http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=7798\">Britten & Brülightly\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.freakangels.com\">Paul Duffield\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.marciawilliams.co.uk\">Marcia Wiliams\u003C/a> (who recently wrote \u003Ci>Archie's War)\u003C/i>, \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Burns_(comics)\">John Burns\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://jasoncobley.blogspot.com\">Jason Cobley\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.freakhousegraphics.co.uk\">Mike Collins\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.mustashrik.blogspot.com\">Mustashrik\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://realitykicks.com\">Chie Kutsuwada\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://strangeplanetstories.blogspot.com/\">Ian Culbard\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ica16nov-5e6fbba397.jpg\">\\r\nHere's a little reunion from Friday's day at the V&A with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.perevision.com\">Mahala Urra\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://maartjeschalkx.blogspot.com\">Maartje Schalkx\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paint-794723999c.jpg\">\\r\nAnd I did some painting in the morning, but with the help of some vertically-challenged friends, the whole poster turned to chocolate-coloured mush in about fifteen minutes (which was rather satisfying).\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit:\u003C/i> You can catch up on news from \u003Cb>Thought Bubble\u003C/b> in Leeds from \u003Ca href=\"http://shug_comics.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">shug_comics\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://ratherlemony.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">ratherlemony\u003C/a>,  \u003Ca href=\"http://ryclaude.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">ryclaude\u003C/a> and undoubtedly soon from \u003Ca href=\"http://smurf_uk.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">smurf_uk\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://chamonkee.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">chamonkee\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://emmav.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">emmav\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://nabbit.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">nabbit\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://jinty.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">jinty\u003C/a> has done a second write-up on Friday's V&A Comica symposium \u003Ca href=\"http://jinty.livejournal.com/526965.html\">here\u003C/a>, with a good description of Posy Simmonds and comments on \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Mills\">Pat Mills\u003C/a>' talk that I didn't manage to write about.","2008-11-16T23:32:00.000Z","more-comica",[],"more comica",1776628723915]