Category Archives: Projects

JAM WAR Declared!

February 22, 2006Events, Jam Comics, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

Dank (aka Danno) has declared a Jam War in Minneapolis here… sharpen your pencils! Here’s the poop from Dank…

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Attn All Conspirators, and fit men and women of fighting age:

WAR has been declared on the cartooning world!!!
..no, no. Not that Danish Jihad business…

a JAM WAR!!!!

The people who bring you 24 HOUR COMIC DAY have decided that APRIL 1st, 2006 from 11am to 11pm is to be the first JAM WAR.

Basically, teams around the WORLD(US and Canada so far)have 12 hours to complete 8 pages on a theme to be chosen that day. The winning 3 teams recieve cash and prizes!
EIGHT PAGES!!!
TWELVE HOURS!!!
Minneapolis can so sweep this whole contest!

Big Brain has elected to sponsor us, and Book Arts will once again be providing us space(THANKS GUYS!).

What I need from you is a firm commitment to fight for truth, liberty, and cash prizes.
I also need you to “register”
Do so by sending a draft card(or a quick e-mail saying you’re in) to:
staplegenius@yahoo.com
Please respond by March 10th.

Michael Drivas over at Big Brain has asked we work in teams of 4, so on March 10th, all the registered participants will be randomly drawn into said teams.

If you wish to be a TEAM CAPTAIN, please also indicate
that in your e-mail of interest.(what will a team captain do? I dunno yet. But its always good to have a field commander in battle.)

Finally, Michael also requests a confirmation fee of
$5.00 from each soldier (to help offset the $150 he’s gotta throw down to sponsor us, as well as to help with snacks and such.) The fee will not have to be payed until after final teams are announced on the 10th of March, but please try to stop by Big Brain and pay up by St Patricks Day(the 17th).

Ummm…I think thats it. If you have any more questions, either
1) contact me, danno, at staplegenius@yahoo.com
2) check out comicsjamwar.com
or 3) read the info below

May Mohammed be with us as we lay waste to our hated cartooning enemies around the globe and(did i mention) WIN CASH PRIZES!!!!
–danno

Comics Jam War is a collaborative cartooning competition which will be held in comic book shops across the U.S. and Canada. Teams of 2 or more cartoonists will be given some starting information about the story they have to create, and will then each have 12 hours to create an 8 page comic book story. The stories will be judged by a group of comics professionals.

Prizes (all prizes are per-team):
First place: $300 US, plus copies of an anthology comic that includes all the winners and honorable mentions (50 copies or $395 worth at cover price, whichever is more )
Second place: $200, plus copies of the anthology (30 copies or $245 worth at cover price, whichever is more )
Third place: $100, plus copies of the anthology (30 copies or $245 worth at cover price, whichever is more )
“Honorable mentions” chosen to appear in the anthology (numbers to be determined): copies of the anthology (30 copies or $245 worth at cover price, whichever is more )
Teams can have anywhere from 2 to an infinite number of people on them.
Teams must work at an official sponsoring event host site.
At noon Eastern time (9 AM Pacific time), the details for the story content will be posted on the event website. 12 hours later, all work on the story must be complete, and the story must be 8 black and white pages (no more, no less) in the standard American comic book format.
The work should not include vulgarity, nudity, obscenity, or other material that would keep it from seeming appropriate for general audiences. It also should not violate any copyrights and trademarks.
Participants must promise not to publish their finished work in any form (including, but not limited to, print and online comics) until the judging is complete and the winners are announced. In the event that your story is selected for the anthology, you may not publish the work in any other form through December, 2007. About Comics retains the rights to publish the material in Jam War-related collections. (There will be a participant form at the event. All members of the team must sign this form or the work will not be considered in the judging.)
Each team must include a designated captain. All prizes will be sent to this captain whose responsibility it will be to distribute the money and copies to the team. About Comics takes no responsibility for this distribution.
Entrance fee (if any) and other details will be set by the event host.
NOTES ADDED JANUARY 28th:

Bring your own art supplies! Rather than supplying something that doesn’t meet your needs, we want you working with the materials that you’re most comfortable with. So bring your drawing tools, your favorite paper or board, or even computer. Just remember to keep the height-to-width ratio appropriate for the typical American comic book.
The food situation will vary from location to location, so if you don’t know that your store is supplying food, be sure to bring enough munchies to last you through the 12 hours.

LUTEFISK SUSHI VOLUME B CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

November 1, 2005Events, Lutefisk Sushi, mini-comics, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

LUTEFISK SUSHI VOLUME B CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

While we don’t have an official date yet, Lutefisk Sushi Volume B will be happening, with the opening at Creative Electric Studios some time early next year. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the previous event/compilation, you can see more about it here.

We need submissions!
The focus of the show will again be around a big ol’ fancy hand-serigraphed box of mini-comics with a cover by Roadkill Bill artist Ken Avidor. It will be limited to 150 copies… every participant will receive one.

To participate:
1) You must live in Minnesota or be Doug McNamara or Jesse McManus. It has something to do with the Mc, apparently. Persons named Andy Singer will also be accepted.
2) You must provide us with 160 copies of your comic. Not 161, not 159, not 2,364. 160. Your mini-comic can be no larger than 5.5″ x 8.5″, or it won’t fit. It can be any format and length. Last year we even had a scroll hand-silkscreened in invisible ink.
3) You may also include other comics you wish to have sold at the gallery. Make sure your name is in the comic somewhere and put a price on the cover. Comics that have no price on the cover or somewhere obvious will not be sold.
4) You must matte, frame, or otherwise make presentable and hangable any originals you intend to have displayed. Kevin still has papercuts from last year. It is not required that you display originals, but it is encouraged. Put your name and the price of the piece on the back (remember the gallery takes a cut when pricing).
5) You must submit everything by no later than January 1, 2006.
6) You must include the form with your submission.
7) You must show up on opening night to pick up your Bento Box, or you must make other arrangements before then if you plan on getting one.
8) You must pick up your remaining original artwork, unsold comics and money (if any) at the end of the show. Any money not picked up by the artists will be kept by the gallery to buy beer… and any artwork or comics left behind will be peed on by feral, unneutered, violent cats in heat.
9) While it is not required, your assistance would be greatly appreciated collating the Bento Boxes at the collating party. Hopefully we’ll only have to collate them once this time.

We intend to include ALL submissions that meet ALL the criteria in the box. Entries not meeting ALL of the above criteria will most likely NOT be included in the box, and we will make our best attempts to be cold-hearted bastards about this. No previous comic book making experience is necessary to participate. While we plan on having all entries meeting the criteria included in the Lutefisk Sushi Volume B Bento Box, if we get a whole hog slaughter of entries, we may have to cut it off somewhere- we’ll let you know if the limit is getting close on the conspiracy website. We had 35 participants last year, and the box was packed to overflowing. We will use a bigger box this year.

In addition to the boxes, there will also be a lot of original artwork from the participating cartoonists on the walls. Using the artwork from the comic you submit to the Bento Box is preferred, although it is not required. ALL artwork should be priced for sale… let’s make the gallery some money, they have a mortgage to pay. Submitting multiple items for display is fine. Due to limited space, we may not get all artists in the box represented on the walls, but we’ll give it a shot.

In addition to the main show, there will also be a “sideshow” similar to the King Mini exhibit last year. This year we are featuring Ken Avidor (creator of Roadkill Bill). As part of this we also plan to produce a mini-comic featuring Ken’s work and works submitted by participants that are inspired by, satirizing or commenting on Ken’s work or Ken. Think of it as a comic “roast.” This comic will be included in the boxes. Everyone is encouraged to contribute a page to this comic, although it is not required.

Profits from the originals and comics will be split with the artists and gallery last year it was 60 (artists), 40 (gallery)- it hasn’t been negotiated yet but it will most likely be in that neighborhood this year as well. Profits from the Bento Boxes will also be split with the gallery, and our part will go into covering supplies and other miscellaneous expenses, including the collating/decorating/hanging Afghani party pizza… remaining funds will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in the form of paid memberships for participants- we hope to get memberships for all participants, but in the event we don’t make enough money to do this we’ll draw the appropriate number of names at random.

Lutefisk Sushi Volume B is being sponsored and organized by The International Cartoonist Conspiracy (www.cartoonistconspiracy.com), Creative Electric Studios (www.creativeelectricstudios.com) and Big Time Attic (www.bigtimeattic.com).

DOWNLOAD THE SUBMISSION FORM HERE

Homeless hoboes

November 1, 2005ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

Many more hoboes have been posted to the 700hoboes gallery on Flickr… Sean Tenhoff did a really nice one… unfortunately, both his and mine are still homeless waiting for flickr to approve our ability to post to the general public, so you can see them when typing in the 700hoboes tag. Seeing as I posted it well over a week ago, this seems to be a very slow process… if you think you will be interested in doing this sort of thing in the future, I again encourage you to create an account now.

24 Hour Comic Anthology Out

November 1, 200524 Hour Comics, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

The Big Time Attic blog points out that the new 24 Hour Comics anthology is out in stores… it features three cartoonists from the Minneapolis Big Brain Comics/Conspiracy 24 Hour Event from earlier this year. They are also three of the best 24 hour comics you’re likely to ever read… by Quillan Roe, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon.

Draw a Hobo

October 27, 2005ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

Hobo #444: "Colin the Cheerful F*ck"
Originally uploaded by sstwalley.

Mark Frauenfelder of boingboing.net has announced a fun public art project for cartoonists to draw one of 700 hoboes mentioned in a song by John Hodgman and Jonathon Coulton that can be found at

http://www.areasofmyexpertise.com/hoboes.html

Images for the project are being posted on Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/700hoboes/

This is a good opportunity for your work to get a lot of exposure potentially… boingboing is one of the most read blogs on the web… don’t forget to include your website in the image (and a mention of the Cartoonist Conspiracy would be great if you wanna).

Here’s one by me, although my account on flicker hasn’t been approved yet, so it isn’t in the gallery… hopefully they will improve it in spite of the fella’s name…

Flickr seems to be a good way to do this sort of thing… we’ll probably have some drawing projects of our own along these lines soon. I encourage you all to get Flickr accounts now if you think you’ll want to participate in this sort of thing, so you won’t have to wait for your account approval later to participate.

The 365 Days Project

September 13, 2005ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

The 365 Days Project (not to be confused with the Year Long Graphic Novel Project, which you can participate in this Saturday) was a great blog where they posted a weird audio track every day for a year… and you can still download them all.

A few of the tracks on there that I’ve heard are cartoonist related, so I thought I would recommend them here.

I’m Always Chasing Rainbows by Basil Wolverton.

Wolverton is one of my favorite cartoonists, and now I love his music too… if anyone has any more recordings by him, I’d love to hear them. His music fits his comics perfectly… corny, bizarre, and charming.

Jam Comics on the Blog

September 9, 2005Jam Comics, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

In an effort to liven up this blog a bit, I’m going to start posting jam comics frequently one page at a time before they go into the gallery… that’s right, you get to read them here first. Even though we haven’t posted the last few months of jam comics, I’m going to start with this month’s jam, since the main character is so compelling and charismatic. Today, I’m going to post two images, since the first one is a cover… this month had a total of 17 pages on the theme… hm, I wasn’t there for the theme, but I think I know what it was… click on the thumbnails to view the pages.

Cover:

Page 1:

I’ll post a new page every day or so… if you’re jonesing for more, our old jams are archived in the gallery (as these jams will be after I post the entire month on the blog).

THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT

July 5, 2005Events, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

For those of you who participated in 24 Hour Comics Day, beyond the exhaustion you felt you were most likely excited and exhilirated at how much work you could get done in a limited amount of time. We’ve decided to embark on a project inspired by the 24 hour event that hopefully will bear even more exciting creative fruits.

We are starting THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT.

THE GOAL: To complete a graphic novel in a year.

THE CHALLENGE: To complete a minimum of three finished pages of comics towards a larger work by the end of each month for a year. More than three pages is, of course, excellent.

THE RULES:
1) The end of the month is defined by the end of the new six hour monthly meetings at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
2) While the intent is certainly to produce a lot of pages in a limited time, it is also to produce a lot of high-quality work. Therefore, you can do as much work and planning outside of the meeting time as you want to. In fact, you can come to the meetings with your required number of pages (and as many more as you want) already completed.
3) You can start at any meeting… at this time these meetings are intended to be ongoing indefinitely. It should be noted that many people will probably start at the first meeting, so if you want a good race, this may be a good place to start.
4) If you do the bare minimum, you’ll have 36 completed pages at the end of the year… 36 pages completed is the shortest length that will be accepted as a successful year long graphic novel.
5) You are not required to tell one cohesive story to be considered a graphic novel. You could do all one page strips. There are absolutely no rules about content, other than that the content must be comics.

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts has generously offered some monthly space for Minneapolis area cartoonists to draw in. We will now be meeting on one Saturday a month to draw(this will replace the Sunday Funnies meetings… times will be listed on the Cartoonist Conspiracy website).

It should be noted that this is an open studio time for all cartoonists… you are not required to participate in the Year Long Graphic Novel Project to come and draw with us.

The first meeting will be July 16th 10AM-4PM in the MCBA Flexi Space (for those of you who were at the Spot On Festival, this is the room Big Time Attic had a table in, next room over from the space where we had part of the 24 Hour Event).

July 16th 10AM-4PM
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts
The Open Book Building (in the Flexi Space)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
PHONE: 612-215-2520

3 Conspirators in new 24 Hour Comics Anthology

June 19, 200524 Hour Comics, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

Congratulations to the brothers Cannon and Quillan Roe on their inclusion in the new 24 Hour Comics anthology… a total of 24 cartoonists are included in the anthology, chosen out of hundreds of entries from around the world. Great work fellas!

http://www.24hourcomics.com/blog/?p=285

“Kevin Cannon delves into adventure on the high seas (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

“Quillan Roe brings a walk to the page (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

“Zander Cannon, known for his work on Top Ten and The Replacement God, has an unusual take on the private eye (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”

Nat Gertler also notes on the blog:

“One interesting note: most of the selections were created by females. The traditional view of cartooning as a male-dominated interest is certainly being challenged by this new generation.”

We’ve also had a lot more women showing up at the Conspiracy meetings lately… this is a really great trend. It is nice to see that comics are no longer alienating half of the population.

“The book is slated to ship in October. If you saw last yearâ€™s book, the format is basically the same: 496 pages, conveniently sized (5.5â€³x7.75â€³) paperback, for $24.95.”

SPOT ON FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND JUNE 11-12

June 8, 2005Events, Minneapolis, ProjectsSTWALLSKULL

The Spot On Fair is this weekend and it should be fun… It is part of the Spot On: The Art of Zines and Graphic Novels gallery show that has been there since April 9th (and has recieved some favorable reviews) Many conspirators are participating. There will be a conspiracy table (as well as tables for many other cartoonists and zine makers) where any conspirator can bring comics to sell, and we’ll attempt to manage it (Please put prices on the cover of anything you want to sell, and give us a sheet with the price of the books and the number of copies you’re leaving with us… we absolutely will not deal with your books if you do not do this, unless you talk us into it). We accept no responsibility for lost or stolen books.

This is also intended to be a trading festival, so regardless of whether you have something to sell, bring comics and zines to trade to people for their comics and zines.

Here is the schedule:

SPOT ON FAIR SCHEDULE

Saturday June 11 (10-5)

10-12 Family Day – Zines

Construct your own zine with Alec Mueller – comic artist and By Design graduate.

1-2:30 Craft of Cartooning: Tips and tricks from Cartoonists

Featuring:
Kirk Anderson
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Shad Petosky
Andy Singer

3-4:30 Cartoonists and their influences

Featuring:
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Steven Stwalley

Sunday June 12 (12-5)

1-2:30 Tom Cassidy

3-4:30 Mini-Comics: the Art of Making Comic Books by Hand

Featuring:
Bob Lipski
Doug McNamara
Danno Oschendorf
Quillan Roe

Shad Petosky and Rana Raeuchle will also be participating in some of the panels… I imagine some other folks may join in as well.

Thanks much to Big Brain Comics for donating the table for the Conspiracy… Big Brain, if you didn’t already know, is just a half a block away from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, who is hosting the fair, and houses one of the most amazing masses of comic literature you’ll ever see in one place. Thanks also to Book Arts and Jeff Rathermel for concieving and organizing this event.

The Minnesota Center For Book Arts (MCBA)
(at the Open Book)
1011 Washington Ave. South
Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55415

www.openbookmn.org
www.mnbookarts.org

Hope to see you there!

CONSPIRE!

The Group Blog of The International Cartoonist Conspiracy