Tag Archive: san francisco

Oct
15
2011

Video: Craig Thompson “Habibi” at the Cartoon Art Museum

On September 28, 2011 I had the pleasure to attended a talk by Craig Thompson as he talked about his eagerly awaited graphic novel Habibi at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. I am a huge fan of Thompson’s art and have been following the creation of Habibi on his blog. Nathan Parker was nice enough to post some short clips from the talk on his YouTube page which I have posted below.

It’s inspiring to hear the artist/author talking about his processes as well as the artistic growth that were part of the process.

I would love to do a formal review of Habibi, but I do not feel confident in writing it just yet, but I can tell you that I have read the whole 672 pages and it is pretty amazing. The book is pretty adult in nature and not for kids, but I can whole hardly recommended it. The art is beautiful and the pacing and storytelling flow effortlessly with the author controlling the flow to amazing effect. Even the book in it’s epic hard cover form is part of the experience.

Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, HABIBI tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, by circumstance, and by the love that grows between them.

At once contemporary and timeless, HABIBI gives us a love story of astounding resonance: a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and, most potently, the magic of storytelling.

View the next parts at the videographers YouTube pages HERE.

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Oct
09
2011

Reminder: InkDrinkDraw meet-up this Friday Oct 14, 2011

by Brian

George Webber and I are arranging this months InkDrinkDraw at The Grove on October 14, 2011. The location is right downtown (same block as the Cartoon Art Museum and the MoAD) and easily accessible by MUNI and BART.

Location: The GROVE
690 Mission St. San Francisco CA
Corner of 3rd St & Mission St (across the street from the MoAD between Peets Coffee and A.G. Ferrari)

Date: Friday Oct 14, 2011 — Time: 6:30 pm to Whenever Pm

Event cost is FREE, but we would appreciate your supporting the business by purchasing at least a snack & drink.

Bring: Samples of your work, favorite art materials, samples of other peoples work, and your spirit and creativity too.

Being an artist can be a solitary job, so we want to find a way to meet more like minded artists who are interested in Comics, Animation, Illustration, Video Games and more! After all what’s better than to meet, talk and network with people who “get” what you do as a creative!

October’s inkDrinkDraw Projects:

“MAKEOVER” Challenge:
More then ever artist are re-interpreting pop culture in new and exciting ways. Our theme for the evening is on giving the familiar a make over and transforming it into something new. For our main challenge you can join a small team in re-casting a short classic comic story with new setting, characters and attitude.

A Share and Tell Special Event:
Come see and hear how George Webber ‘s latest short story ALLEY CATS evolved from some rough character sketches, to an even rougher story outline and finally a book. See the original full sized inked pages and the final printed book.

“Open Projects & Share and Tell”
Come and just sit with us, come have fun with us!
Sketch, draw or bring your current projects, copies of your comics and art prints and share with us. As always “Open Projects” is working on whatever project you brought with you, want to try or are currently working on. Please feel free to discuss your projects with the group! We love hearing about what people are working on and will gladly give feedback!

“Other projects”
We’ll have some of the past projects on hand too, so there’s always something fun to do.

To stay in touch you can:
On Twitter Follow:
@inkDrinkDraw or @NoCashComics & @AtomicBearPress

Read the inkDrinkDraw
Blog at inkDrinkDraw.weebly.com

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Oct
08
2011

CAM-Jam 2011 #2: Paper Monster Party follow-up

by Brian

Last month on September 11, 2011 I helped organize another CAM-Jam with the Bookstore at Cartoon Art Museum and InkDrinkDraw. These art jam events happen around 3 times a year for the past 3 years and always have a different theme. You can read up on past events HERE.

This CAM-Jam we decided to have artist make customizable paper toys.

In the last few years there has been a big trend of customizable art with everything from cities filled with animal statues to galleries of DIY painted urban vinyl. The basic idea is to have a blank basic form which then you as an artist customize to make it into something more. Part of this trend is paper toys in which you can print out, cut out and fold, like THESE. But there are also artist who can take a basic form and make it something unique.

The event was great with over 20 artist attending as well as some of the museum’s guests joining in the fun making Paper Action Figures like these…

You can also check out the photos on the Bookstore at the Cartoon Art Museum’s facebook page HERE. If you have photos from the event you want to share, comment below.

Some of the templates we used are:
P.D. Paper Dude / http://www.custompapertoys.com/2007/10/pd-blank-paper-toy-template.html
Paper Toy Adventures / http://papertoyadventures.com/downloads-2
AARC BLANK PAPER TOY / http://www.morgangleave.co.uk/aarc-blank-paper-toy.html
and Nice Paper Toys blog / http://www.nicepapertoys.com/

And…one I had created myself using Blender 3D to help make the pattern. If you click the image below you can download a PDF of my pattern that is free to use for non-commercial use. It’s not fancy, but it works OK with your imagination.

Note: there is not a pattern for the arms which I just cut out of scraps and used double-stick tape to attach them.

Download the template for my basic blank paper action figure.

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Sep
09
2011

CAM-JAM 2011 #2 this Sunday Sept 11, 2011 at the Cartoon Art Museum 11:30-5:00

by Brian

Once again I am helping organized another CAM-Jam with InkDrinkDraw San Francisco and the Bookstore at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco CA. Were calling it our Spectacular Super Sonic Paper Monster Party X. The theme will be making Paper Toy Monsters from basic shape constructed of card stock and decorated to add details the models do not have. See below for all the details or visit

Where we meet next:
InkDrinkDraw presents:
Spectacular Super Sonic PAPER MONSTER PARTY X

Location: Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission St. San Francisco, CA http://www.cartoonart.org
Date: Sunday September 11, 2011
Time: 11:30am to 5:00 pm
Being an artist can be a solitary job, so we want to find a way to meet more like minded artists who are interested in Comics, Animation, Illustration, Video Games and more! After all what’s better than to meet, talk and network with people who “get” what you do as a creative!

For our September InkDrinkDraw SF Meet we have teamed up with the Bookstore at the Cartoon Art Museum for another of their CAM-JAM events aimed at artists of all levels.
In the past we done everything from create animation to draw full mini-comics and even designed a tarot deck, but this session we will be having
a Spectacular Super Sonic PAPER MONSTER PARTY X.

In last few years some new type of art forms have appeared, making customized toys with artistic flair. For us we will be cutting, folding and customizing simple paper shapes into characters, embracing the limitations and letting our imaginations go wild.

Participating artist can sign in at the front desk and then you will be able to come in and have some fun with us. Planning on coming, why not RSVP to us or to the Museum’s Bookstore at bookstore@cartoonart.org.

Note:
We are asking for a $2 donation from participating artists to help pay for the
materials (as well as some treats and surprises) The museums full admission is required for anyone who is not participating.

“Paper Monster/character creation”
Come Cut, Fold and customize characters of paper and… maybe even with other materials. We will have plenty of blank, pre-printed shapes to use and will have some coloring tools too, but feel free to bring your own materials if you like and even your own customization projects.

“Share and Tell”
Bring your current projects, copies of your comics and art prints and share with us and even visiting guests to the museum.

“More monsters and open projects”
Come and just sit with us and draw and create all sorts of monsters and creatures or even just work on your own projects.

(While It’s not “required” to participate in any of these particular activities, we’ll have them on hand if you wish too.)

“Open Projects”
As always “Open Projects” is working on whatever project you brough with you, want to try or are currently working on.
Please feel free to discuss your projects with the group! We love hearing about what people are working on and will gladly give feedback!

To stay in touch you can:
On Twitter Follow:
@inkDrinkDraw or @NoCashComics & @AtomicBearPress

Read the inkDrinkDraw
Blog at inkDrinkDraw.weebly.com

Hope to see you there!

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Aug
27
2011

CAM-JAM 2011/#1/Animation Jam (final results!)

by Brian

This short animation was created as part of the 3rd year of CAM-JAM artist events at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco CA. Produced on Sun May 22, 2011 in 6 hours for the art and then composited in After Effects later. Each event is an art jam with a different theme, from comics about tiki’s to tarot cards to paper toy monsters.

- The event started with some warm-up animation drawn on a white board (purchased at Daiso America store) and filmed with a iStopMotion.

- Then each artist started drawing a sequence of animation which were then were strung together thanks to some storyboarding by Rick Lucey. The mini animation drawings were composited in Adobe After Effects.

Take a look…

You can see an announcement and find out what our goals were HERE

Artists: Karen Luk, Rick Lucey, Mouser, Brian Kolm and Jeff Plotkin

Technique inspiration: Fran Krause’s sketchbook animation ‘Nosy Bear’ – frankrause.com
editing and compositing: Brian Kolm
music: Kevin MacLeod/incompetech.com
Sound Effects: soundfx-free.com, soundbible.comMike Koenig, pacdv.com
with thanks to: Heather Plunkett and the Cartoon Art Museum and Bookstore/Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco

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Aug
13
2011

2011/8/22 SF Artist meet-up: InkDrinkDraw Mon August 22, 2011

by Brian

My buddy George Webber (No Cash Comics) and I are planning another InkDrinkDraw artist get together for Monday August 22, 2011 at the Church St. Cafe, starting at 6:30pm. This is a chance for Bay Area/San Francisco artist who are interesting in Cartooning, Comics, Illustration, Animation and similar art forms to meet up, hang out, network, work and create. The last meet-up two months ago at Hooters San Francisco was a blast, and this location is easier to get too as well.

The cafe is an old favorite being a former location for the Cartoonist Conspiracy SF to meet and is lively and fun.

Below is the press release from the official blog:

LOCATION UPDATE !

Hello Everyone,

From George Webber / NoCashComics & Brian Kolm of AtomicBearPress !

OK, so here’s the FINAL inkDrinkDraw Meet-up UPDATE !!!

SF Pizzeria could not accommodate our meeting this time around, SO .. New Location ….

LOCATION:
Church St Cafe (260 Church St – between 15th St & Market St – San Francisco, CA94114 (Neighborhood: Castro)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/church-street-cafe-san-francisco

DATE:
August 22nd

TIME:
6:30 to Whenever (10 / 10:30 most likely)

HERE’S WHAT WILL BE HAPPENING:
Being an artist can be a solitary job, so we want to find a way to meet more like minded artists who are interested in Comics, Animation, Illustration, Video Games and more! After all what’s better than to meet, talk and network with people who “get” what you do as a creative!

(While It’s not “required” to participate in any of these particular activities, we’ll have them on hand if you wish too.)

“Meet & Greet with a Nosh”
Come on by and hang out with other artists, talk shop, share what your working on and have some food and drinks too !
The Church St Cafe has nice sandwiches, cookies & coffee, but you might want to have dinner before hand and have desert at Church St Cafe as they don’t have big dinner type meals.

“Working with Faces”
It seems that one of the major challenges with many artists is being able to draw a unique cast of characters without drawing the same character over and over again with just minor differences, so we came up with a few different challenges having to do with drawing faces.

There is NO simple smiley face drawings in these challenges (try one or all of them):
1. “25 Character Expressions” challenge.
2. “Book of Faces” challenge.
3. “iPhone Face Off” challenge for those with nerves of steel.

ALSO feel free to bring some photos of faces that you would like to share with the group as we work to increase our mental database.

“Working with Copic Markers Demos”
George Webber be geared up to do his Copic Demo for anyone that wants to learn about these markers and he’ll have some extra markers on hand for people to try them out a little.

“Open Projects”
As always “Open Projects” is working on whatever project you brought with you, want to try or are currently working on.
Please feel free to discuss your projects with the group! We love hearing about what people are working on and will gladly give feedback!

To stay in touch you can:
On Twitter Follow @inkDrinkDraw or @NoCashComics & @AtomicBearPress
Read the inkDrinkDraw Blog at inkDrinkDraw.weebly.com for updates.

Make sure we have your email so we can keep you up dated !
P.S. please let me know if you got this email, it’s a new list and need to make sure it’s working.

thanks
gWebber & Brian Kolm

inkDrinkDraw Meet-Ups & Events

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Jul
02
2011

Cartoon Art Museum 2011: Storyboard to Animatic

by Brian

Well another fun Summer of classes at the Cartoon Art Museum for Cartoon Boot Camp 2011 is over with our last week focusing on Storyboard to Animatic (June 27-July 1). But what is a Storyboard and what is an Animatic?

Storyboard’s are a visual script to help the creators of films, videos, video games, theme park attractions and other forms of entertainment plan there production before money and time are spent to produce them.

The Animatic (or Story Reel or Pre-Visulization) takes the storyboards and brings them to film or video where they are edited to match the shots of a proposed film along with temporary sound effects, voices and music to simulate what it might look like in real time. The processes has become fairly standard as a way of showing what can be with out spending a lot of resources, especially for expensive live action special effects extravaganzas where the film can go over budget if not careful.

For our class we had six students who broke into four groups to produces a short story or segment of storyboards that were then scanned into the computer with audio and special effects being added.

All of our students did a great job and really brought a lot of creativity to their projects. Congratulations to all of them for their hard work.

Let’s see what the final results are…

The first team done were Eric and Leo who did a short and sweet gag story…

‘The Walnut’ – Cartoon Boot Camp 2011 – Storyboard to Animatic from Cartoon Art Museum on Vimeo.

Next was Danie who did this short gag of transformation…

‘PlantMan’ – Cartoon Boot Camp 2011 – Storyboard to Animatic from Cartoon Art Museum on Vimeo.

Then Leslie, our youngest student did this short educational story…

‘Giggles New Food’ – Cartoon Boot Camp 2011 – Storyboard to Animatic from Cartoon Art Museum on Vimeo.

And last, but not least was Javon and Dont’e with a scene from a martial arts epic…

‘Chickens of Fury’ scene animatic – Cartoon Boot Camp 2011 – Storyboard to Animatic from Cartoon Art Museum on Vimeo.

Further exploration: The same techniques used to bring Storyboards to video or film as an Animatic have also been used for the final productions that uses Picture Book Illustrations (Reading Rainbow, Rabbit Ears videos) and Comic Art (motion comics like ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Batman: Black and White’) To find out more about re-purposing artwork into animation, check out my posts on Motion Comic Magic.

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May
02
2011