Chester and Joe...

Hey! If you went to the groovy Toronto Comic Arts Festival last weekend and you have pictures you wish to put up...please check out this TCAF Flickr group. Anyone who wants to contribute photos of the Fest is welcome to join. If you see yourself in a shot, please comment and tell us who you are...We'll add your names to the caption.

It was an excellent fest. I only wish I'd been able to go both days and see even more of the artists and the artwork!

Kicking off the Toronto Comic Arts Fest...

posted by Arna:

Updated, August 17, 2007: Here's a link to flickr photos from this event. Don't forget that the TCAF Toronto Comic Arts Fest is this weekend! Mostly a free event with loads of talented artists and their work on display...
On August 16 2007, there will be a comic book launch featuring two very different visions of the end days, spanning the political spectrum:

Claudia Dávila's spOILed is a Peak Oil parable about a world without petroleum.

A peek at spOILed here.

Salgood Sam (AKA Max Douglas, son of Arna Selznick) and Jim Munroe's THEREFORE REPENT! is a Post-Rapture graphic novel about a world without God.

preview THERFORE REPENT! on comicspace

The creators will be in attendance, and their original artwork from the comics will be on display. Books, original artwork and silkscreened posters will be on sale.

This event kicks off the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which culminates in the weekend fair of international artists on the U of T campus.

Thursday, August16, 8pm-10pm. Free at Tequila Bookworm 512 Queen St. West, upstairs. The Bookworm's new location is ten doors west of their old place, and the upstairs features lots of cozy rooms and an outdoor patio to enjoy their local brews.

Did I Do Wrong?

Posted by Arna.

Here's a sketch for the weekend: another dachshund. These dogs keep coming up in my doodles.

Persepolis!

Check it out!

A gripping tale told from the point of view of a ten year old Iranian girl. Now a 2D animated movie made in France and directed by the original writer/artist Marjane Satrapi, and Vincent Paronnaud. Hopefully an English language version will be released soon. You'll find some intriguing (French language) videos on the Persepolis MySpace site.

Update, July 17_07: Cast announced for the English language version include the voices of Sean Penn and Iggy Pop. (read more from Animation Magazine)

Sony Classics Persepolis temporary site

FRESH IDEAS IN PUPPETRY DAY...

Posted by Arna: Meant to post this weeks ago when it happened, so sorry it's late.

I was a lucky participant at an all day puppetry workshop in June at Puppetmongers Studio. I met a very cool bunch of people with tonnes of passion for their storyteller's art. Here are some of the shots I took at the event:

Above: David Powell of Puppetmongers and Brad Harley of Shadowland Theatre check out one of Eric Woolfe's puppets. Taken at the FRESH IDEAS IN PUPPETRY DAY, June 16, 2007 at Puppetmongers workshop.

Above: Eric Woolfe (THE BABYSITTER) and his crew...

Above: Ronnie Burkett reads from new work in progress, BILLY TWINKLE, REQUIEM FOR A GOLDEN BOY. BILLY TWINKLE is about puppeteers and promises to intrigue and mystify as did his shows: The Trilogy: TINKA'S NEW DRESS, STREET OF BLOOD, and HAPPY, and more recently TEN DAYS ON EARTH. You can read more about him here, and take a tour of Burkett's workshop.

Above: Panel on Story and Scripting. Members of the puppeteers group The Raucus Caucus ~love that name! Left to right: Ruth Howard, Brad Harley, Ann Powell, David Anderson. Turns out that storytelling with puppets presents many of the same challenges that animation storytelling does. Ann and David explained that they storyboard their shows together, working out ideas on the wall of their studio.

Earlier in the day we heard a discussion on directing, moderated by Anne Barber (Bread and Puppet Theatre, Shadowland Theatre). Directors Mark Cassidy (click here for current info), Michael Waller, and Jim Warren shared their insights. Eg: (I'm paraphrasing here, not actual quotes!!)

Mark Cassidy "Use puppets in a story to open up the telling of the tale, and create a situation that will bring out the unexpected".

Michael Waller "When giving direction, sometime it's best to talk to the puppet, not the puppeteer".

Jim Warren: 'When adding puppets to a dramatic production, integrate the puppets into the story and allow adequate time to develop the puppet designs!"

Funniest line in this discussion(I think it was Michael Waller's) :

" Little balls can make you cry".

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The evening was given over to performances, which included Mark Keetch and Noah Kenneally performing their bittersweet piece on relationships: OUR TIME, Johan Vandergun of Lampoon PuppetTheatre and Pat Lewis of Meadowsweet Productions perform THE PARK BENCH and David Powell and his puppet Alex performing LONG LIFE AS BOUNDLESS AS THE SKY, (named for the Korean musical accompaniment) in which we saw Alex stand on his head. You really do believe that there are muscles and tendons in Alex as he goes through the various yoga-like positions.

:)

Kiki In Purple_1

I like Art Rage... :)

Politics...

Posted by Arna. Doodled then worked over in Photoshop.

twoheads_2...

Posted by Arna:

busy busy...here's a doodle to keep this blog alive!

SK8 art...

Posted by Arna:

Check this out! Starts next week in the the Distillery District. A show of decorative skateboards, the collaboration between two artists, Harvey Chan and Jon Todd:

Harvey was my first sculpture teacher at Toronto School Of Art.

Give me my ROM back.

Posted by Arna:

Convocation Hall, Uof T

I want my ROM back. Where’d it go?

Smook, and Drazen and I met at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) for a sketch outing Friday morning. How exciting! We hoped to check out the new Michael Lee Chin Crystal addition too. We didn’t get past the front lobby. Seems we had dangerous equipment...like brush pens, and small watercolour boxes that I’ve brought to the Museum before. Plus we were carrying bags. Not huge bags, but we had little sketchbooks in them. Now mind you, there were women with large purses walking in unchecked as we chatted with the security personnel. Who knows what those gals were carrying in there... maybe dangerous lipstick, which they could use to deface the exhibits if so inclined!

Yup I’m a tad peeved about this. The Museum is a sacred place to me and I would never think of defacing it in any way. I have spent many childhood/young adult days sketching in the ROM and feel as though it is ‘mine’. I’m protective of the place. It’s a valued resource that belongs to every Torontonian in that same way it belongs to me.

So it's all renovated and flashy now and without warning there is a new policy. No art equipment other than pencils?!? Plus we got a curious instruction to draw ‘freehand’ only. Is there any other way?
Don’t get me wrong I love my pencils. I even had one small HB with me. But this is a bad policy. Artists have visited and sketched at the ROM for over 50 years. We’d like to continue to do so. We’re part of the fabric of the city and we don’t want to see city life shrinking in this way. This is not about security. We opened our bags and happily showed the contents; three or four brush pens and two little sketchbooks and small watercolour box, a few paper towels to wipe up if there was a spill... I travel light! Meanwhile while the purse carriers walked in no problem. Me. No. Get.

Actually the guard misspoke to us...I checked the ROM website after our little adventure, and it claims you can sketch with pens and pencils. Wish I’d known that when we were talking to him! The fellow finally did say that he would make an 'exception' and allow a pen in ‘this time’. But by then it felt like time to leave.

So we three wandered down Philosopher's Walk and sprawled in the shade on the lawn across from Convocation Hall to sketch and vent and catch up. My sketch buddies for the day are a pair of charming talented fellows and we had a delightful time. Drazen has a bunch of new children's books in the works and a spiffy new website, and Mike (Smook) is doing great guns boarding on Ruby Gloom. I didn’t do as much drawing as I’d like...I’d let that officious guard get to me. Not wise, shoulda known better because there was plenty of cool stuff to draw. Proud graduates fluttered on the lawn in red robes... courtyards surrounded by arched cloisters with gargoyles...

Of course we did a little horsing around too: Check out the shot below taken ‘somewhere on U of T campus’... don’t worry, we rubbed out the drawing afterwards. We’re a regular trio of art terrorists...no?

I’m very glad we had the chance to get together! Thanks to (slightly burnt) Smook for the prodding... Thanks to Drazen making me look so thin and stylin'! How nice. See you both again soon I hope.

We all missed John who usually travels with me, but had script deadlines and a pulled ligament in his drawing hand. Get better soon, sweety!! :)

Click here, here, here, and here, for older posts of us drawing with and without Smook at the ROM...

Click here for Mike Smukavic of Reddot blog! and Drazen Kozjan of Hypnotic Eye and Happy Undertaker.

brush drawings...

Posted by John:

Two Smokeless Patrons...

Posted by John:
More from the same day as 'Grange Park', below. Two patrons at SMOKELESS JOE'S bar, deep in conversation.

Grange Park sketching...

Posted by Arna:
Here’s a quick sketch in a small Moleskine, using a Pigma brush and coloured in Photoshop. We meant to visit The AGO for the Emily Carr exhibit, but the gallery was closed Tuesday due to ongoing construction, so we wandered over to Grange Park.

Kensington market walls...

Posted by John and Arna:
Saturday we visited The Beguiling bookstore for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. Had a nice chat with the talented Michael Cho and picked up tickets for Scott McCloud who spoke at OISE on Sunday night. Good weekend all round...

Saturday was also JANE JACOBS DAY in Toronto ( see Nick Sung's post on Jane Jacobs here) and we did our own walk from the Annex to Kensington Market and along Nassau Street which is full of funky cafes, music stores and a cool Tshirt shop called Hardboiled.

At the back of a store on the corner of Nassau and Augusta, we found this wall covered with collaged posters 'n graffiti that made fine photo material. John took these shots.

PSP_Go

Posted by John: