Comic Artists Forum Follow-up: Photoshop Lab

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 9:31am by K.C.

Sunday, January 15 | 1:00-4:00 PM | Downtown 3rd Floor Computer Training Center | Gr. 6-Adult

Bring in your comics art and use Photoshop Elements to clean it up and to apply color and shading. Cartoonist and Photoshop expert Jerzy Drozd will be on hand to provide instruction and answer questions for those who need it.

You can bring your comics art scanned and saved on a USB drive or we can scan it here at the Library. Don’t miss this chance to use PhotoShop to make your finishing work a snap!

Comic Artists Forum With Rob Stenzinger via Skype

Mon, 01/02/2012 - 5:46am by K.C.

Sunday, January 8 | 1:00-3:00 PM | 4th Floor Meeting Room – Downtown Library

Guest artist Rob Stenzinger will show you how to publish your serial comic one page at a time, keep your readers interested, and have it all link together as one big story. In this interactive workshop via Skype, Rob will share comic storytelling techniques, the importance of the dramatic reveal, and why comics are the perfect home for your serial story. We'll even work as a group to chain together a few short comic strips into a serialized comic! Rob is the creator of Art Geek Zoo: The Way of Sound, a music fantasy adventure online, collected in print, and available as an eBook.

Join the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in to draw, learn, share, and network with other cartoonists.

Drink and Draw at Roos Roast this Thursday

Mon, 12/05/2011 - 8:34pm by K.C.

Hey Cartoonists! Drop in 5-8 p.m. this Thursday, December 8 for a Drink (coffee) & Draw (comics) event at Roos Roast, 1155 Rosewood Suite B in Ann Arbor. Rosewood is just off South Industrial. Enjoy some great coffee, conversation, and cartooning!

December's Books to Film

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 4:23pm by muffy

Steven Spielberg directs the animated film adaptation of The Adventures of TINTIN. This first of a planned triogy is base on a very popular comic book series created in 1929 by a Belgian artist who called himself Hergé. Clever and ever-curious, TINTIN is a reporter-turned-detective whose pursuit of villains, criminals, treasure and the occasional artifact takes him all over the world, along with a colorful cast of friends. Hergé based his stories on real-world events and cultures - from space exploration to Arab oil wars.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer's critically acclaimed novel in which 9 year-old Oskar Schell embarks on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York in order to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

I was perfectly happy with the original film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first in his Millennium Trilogy. But I could be persuaded to take in the American remake coming this month with some irresistible big names (Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer) and a sizzling newcomer (Rooney Mara).

Benjamin Mee's memoir is adapted in the feature film We Bought a Zoo. Benjamin Mee, a former newspaper columnist, known for his humorous "Do It Yourself" column in the UK’s Guardian Weekend moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy.

Comic Artists Forum With Ryan Estrada and Jerzy Drozd

Sat, 11/26/2011 - 8:53am by K.C.

Sunday, December 4 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Multipurpose Room – Downtown Library

Join Ryan Estrada, cartoonist and Google+ guru with 32,000 followers, and Ann Arbor cartoonist and teacher extraordinaire Jerzy Drozd for an interactive discussion on using audio, video, and other exciting digital media to add extra layers of content to your comic's website. Learn how to spread the word about your work via a variety of social media like Google+, Twitter, and more.

Come to the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in to draw, learn, share, and network with other cartoonists.

Comic Artists Forum with Guest Artist Joe Foo

Sat, 10/29/2011 - 10:40am by K.C.

Sunday, November 6 | 1-3 PM | Downtown / Multipurpose Room | Grade 6-Adult

Cartoonist Joe Foo will answer the question "What makes a good character?" In the process, Joe will discuss classic comic characters and draw parallels to his own characters, like Desmond of Desmond's Comics.

Join the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in to draw, learn, share, and network with other cartoonists.

Zombie Story Invasion!

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 1:27pm by pkooger

Help! There’s a pack of zombies headed for the library! Zombie graphic novels, I mean. It’s an outbreak of zombie apocalypse stories! Soon there won’t be any stories about living humans (or even vampires) left! For those of you who have eaten your way through The Walking Dead and loved every gory piece of it, check out these new titles coming soon to a library near you.

Death Valley – Being a high schooler is hard when your class is the last vestige of humanity. This is what a John Hughes zombie apocalypse story would look like.

Zombie Tales – An anthology of short stories that take the old human vs. zombie formula and turn it on its head. These humorous stories are often more akin to Oscar Wilde than George Romero.

Dead Inside – PostSecret crossed with 28 Days Later. This collection of photographs from the post-apocalypse tells a story with pictures and “found” items.

The Hidden – A gorgeously colored and illustrated horror story about the end of times, featuring the undead… and more!

Daybreak – Award-winning author Brian Ralph brings a very different visual aesthetic to his story of two survivors in a zombie infested wasteland.

The Possum Act of Tokyopop

Tue, 10/18/2011 - 9:49am by corinthian

Almost half a year has passed since Tokyopop closed its North American branch. The company produced "unflipped" English language versions of several popular manga such as Chobits, Fruits Basket, Saiyuki as well as several manhwa titles ( Demon Diary, I.N.V.U.) and English translations of Japanese novels ( Trinity Blood, 12 Kingdoms).

Following the statement that Tokyopop would close in April, the company held a "garage sale", selling off toys, posters and books. Then, on May 31, Tokyopop seemed to close its doors for good. Since then some of Tokyopop's titles have been picked up by other companies -- Yen Press acquired Alice in the Country of Hearts and Viz Media picked Loveless.

On October 12th, however, Tokyopop launched a new Twitter account and then confirmed intent to publish English language manga again. Many people seem skeptical of Tokyopop's revival, this has not been helped by the fact that the company no longer has a website -- only a twitter account and a facebook page.

Teens Make Comics Panel Discussion

Tue, 10/11/2011 - 4:41pm by K.C.

Tuesday, October 18 | 7:00-8:30 PM | Malletts Creek | Grades 6-Adult

It's never been easier to dive in and make comics on your own!

Join a group of local teen cartoonists -- who are already publishing and distributing their own comics -- for a discussion on how to get started making comics and building your audience. Learn how a combination of curiosity, willingness to learn, and dedication to your craft can put you on the path to being a published author, regardless of age!

Comic Artists Forum Follow-up: Photoshop Lab with Jerzy Drozd

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 2:11pm by K.C.

Sunday, October 16 | 1:00-4:00 PM | Downtown – 3rd Floor Training Lab | Grades 6-Adults

Clean up and finish your comics art using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Cartoonist and Photoshop expert Jerzy Drozd will be on hand to provide instruction for those who need it. For experienced users of Photoshop, just bring your scanned work on a USB drive or scan it here, then get to work.