Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum meets Sunday, June 6
by K.C.
If you enjoy telling a story visually, drop in and meet other comics artists like yourself. Share your work, sketch out a new storyline or get fresh ideas for future comics or graphic novels. The basics: pencil, paper, eraser, ruler, marker are provided but you're welcome to bring your favorite drawing tools.
Our guest artists this month will be Anne and Jerzy Drozd. Anne along with Jerzy and friend Mark Rudolph created The Cosmic Adventure of Gena Kranz. As a cartoonist and teaching artist Jerzy creates comic books like The Front and Equalizers of the Divide, conducts workshops like this summer’s AADL Comic Book Academy for teens and Comics Fundamentals for older teens and adults, and serves as co-organizer for the Kids Read Comics Convention coming up June 12-13 in Dearborn.
Comic Artists Forum -- Sunday, June 6 -- 1:00-3:00 PM -- Malletts Creek Branch -- Teens and Adults -- Guest Artists-Anne and Jerzy Drozd
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum meets Sunday, May 2
by K.C.
The next Comic Artists Forum will be back at Malletts Creek. Come and share your work, get fresh ideas for future comics or graphic novels. We provide the basics: pencil, paper, eraser, ruler, marker but you are welcome to bring your favorite drawing tools.
We’ll talk about what’s coming this summer – the Kids Read Comics Convention in Dearborn, AADL’s Comic Book Academy for Teens and Comics Fundamentals for older teens and adults.
Our guest artist this month will be artist/adventurer Ryan Estrada who travels the world making comics. Ryan’s work has appeared in newspapers, books (check Mystical Monkey in Flight Vol. 4), on TV (an animator on the pilot to Cartoon Network’s Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law), online and in galleries. He’s in the finishing stages of his graphic novel, Aki Alliance.
Comic Artists Forum -- Sunday, May 2 -- 1:00-3:00 PM -- Malletts Creek Branch -- Teens and Adults
Blog Post
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
by ringenka
If you enjoy Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz, you should check out this incredibly well done graphic novel version.
This book’s writer Eric Shanower is an Eisner Award-winning artist. As a child he adored The Wizard of Oz so much that he constructed Oz pop-ups, created plays for the neighborhood children, and joined the International Wizard of Oz club. As a child the only thing he loved as much as the Wizard of Oz was comic books. This graphic novel represents the combination of his two life-long loves.
Scottie Young illustrated the book and his illustrations are entrancing. The depictions of all the main characters, the Wizard’s hot air balloon, and the Emerald City are wonderfully unique. Some illustrations, such as Dorothy standing in the field in Kansas, are simply beautiful.
This book is a compilation of Marvel’s 8-part comic book series. Young and Shanower are currently working on the Marvelous Land of Oz, another 8-part series being published by Marvel.
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum is April 11
by K.C.
Because of Easter this Sunday April’s Comic Artist Forum will meet the second Sunday, April 11. The location for the forum is changed as well. We’ll meet at the Pittsfield branch.
The forum itself will offer the same great opportunity to share work and get fresh ideas for future comics or graphic novels. We provide the basics: pencil, paper, eraser, ruler, marker but you are welcome to bring your favorite drawing tools.
This month’s guest artist will be . Check out his Closing Doors and Other Yarns.
Comic Artists Forum | Sunday, April 11 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Pittsfield Branch | Teens and Adults
Blog Post
Teen Magazine Update -- Ahead of the Game
by MariaK
Do you enjoy being one step ahead of the game? Name dropping and looking cooler than your friends? Then this month's teen magazines are for you!
Wizard Magazine starts off this party with the "Wizard 20" -- a list of games, movies, artists, authors and comics that you should probably already know about. We are lucky enough to have many of these pearls of awesome here at the AADL -- such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels. Not to be missed in this edition -- the ten worst superhero girlfriends of all time!
This month's issue of Rolling Stone Magazine features two old school masters of awesome -- Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, two of rock music's most amazing guitarists. Also in this issue, comedian Tracy Morgan discusses his hard-knock life, and Matt Taibbi tells us how Wall Street is setting the entire country up for a fall. Good times.
For the awesome girls out there, Justine Magazine features bios of Elissa Bernstein, author of the scrumptious blog 17 and Baking and 17-year-old tennis star Melanie Ouden. And, talk about being one step ahead of your friends, this issue also features a ten-step prom countdown and a guide to job hunting, from resume to interview.
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum in March
by K.C.
Looking to share your work and get some fresh ideas for your next comic or graphic novel creation? Join the monthly forum. Bring your favorite drawing tools and drop in for a few hours of drawing, learning, and sharing. This month’s guest artist will be Mark Rudolph. Check out his Closing Doors and Other Yarns.
Comic Artists Forum | Sunday, March 7 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Malletts Creek | Teens and Adults
Blog Post
Bill Watterson Lives!
by sarahc
Bill Watterson, the cartoonist who created the beloved comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes,” is a notorious recluse – so much so that he has been called the J.D. Salinger of the cartooning world. Watterson hasn’t been seen or heard from since he announced his retirement – and the end of Calvin and Hobbes – back in 1995. So it came as a surprise yesterday to see that Watterson allowed himself to be interviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a story published on Feb. 1. This is his first interview since 1989. When asked why he ended his strip after just 10 years of newspaper publication, Watterson said “It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now "grieving" for "Calvin and Hobbes" would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them.”
Nevin Martell is one person who disagrees with that sentiment. He recently published the book Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, in which he chronicles the story of the strip and details his personal quest to track down Bill Watterson. Martell never got the chance to interview Watterson (his letter of request went unanswered), but he did interview many other people close to Watterson who could provide insights into the cartoonist’s life, inspirations, and motivations. The lack of Watterson’s voice makes the book largely speculative, but it is fun to read other cartoonists praising Watterson and recounting their love for the 6-year-old boy and his tiger. Notable fans of Watterson’s include humorist Dave Barry, author Jonathan Lethem, and cartoonist Bill Amend (creator of the strip FoxTrot). In fact, nearly every contemporary cartoonist or graphic novelist considers themselves to have been influenced or inspired by Watterson. I think that speaks to the legacy of Calvin and Hobbes – a legacy that Watterson himself downplays, desiring only to return to his quiet, private life in the Cleveland suburbs. Fortunately for his millions of fans, Watterson has donated his original artwork to the Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. In museums and in comic books, Calvin and Hobbes will live forever.
Blog Post
February Comic Artists Forum
by K.C.
If you’re a beginning or experienced comics/graphic novel artist looking to hone your skills while mingling with other artists, join the next Comic Artists Forum on Sunday, February 7. Several participants are creating a 6-8 page mini-comic. Those who complete their comic by April can sell their work at the Kids Read Comics Convention in Dearborn June 12-13.
Basic supplies (paper, pencils/pens, rulers, erasers) will be provided. To get your creativew juices flowing go online and visit Art & Story: Talking Shop with Comics Creators Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd.
Comic Artists Forum | Sunday, February 7 | 1-3:00 PM | Malletts Creek | Guest Artist-Jerzy Drozd | Teens and Adults
Blog Post
Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival
by cecile
Michael Moore said "In times like these, humor should ride to the rescue." Creator of films such as Roger & me, Sicko and Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore grew up in Michigan and still lives here. Along with Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, the two are the co-founders of the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival scheduled for Feb. 19th--21st.
Headliners are Roseanne Barr, filmmaker John Waters (Hairspray, Cecil B. DeMented) and Mike Birgiglia. Other acts will feature improvisational groups and premieres of comedy movies — including a short-films competition — plus a show for children.
Most of the events will take place at the State Theatre, a refurbished, 546-seat movie house that Moore helped save from the wrecking ball, and two other downtown showplaces: the City Opera House and the Old Town Playhouse.
For more information go to Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival.
Blog Post
Comic Artists Forum-Sunday, January 3
by K.C.
If you’re a beginning or experienced comics/graphic novel artist looking to hone your skills while mingling with other artists, join the next Comic Artists Forum on Sunday, January 3 at the Malletts Creek Branch. The first forum participants set a goal to create a short comic book/graphic novel by early April. Those who reach this goal will be able to sell their work at the Kids Read Comics Convention in Dearborn June 12-13.
Basic supplies (paper, pencils/pens, rulers, erasers) will be provided. Bring ideas for your characters and a short description of the story line. Need help? Go online and visit Art and Story: Talking Shop with Comics Creators Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd. (Dino reprinted by permission of Jerzy Drozd.)
Sunday, January 3 | 1-3 PM | Malletts Creek | Guest Artist-Jerzy Drozd | Grades 6-Adult