2012 in Review: T-Rex Jones

T-Rex Jones ( Photo by Bruce Moyle - Joffre Street Productions)

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Two highlights -- I finally started writing AND drawing my own stuff. It's been a long time coming and a lot of confidence issues booted in the arse thanks to the tremendous support of other professionals (and great friends) out there in the industry, but I'm finally doing it! The second highlight is meeting those folks and finally finding myself connected to like-minded individuals, many of whom (as I said) are some of the best friends a guy could ask for.
 
Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
 
There are a few. Rob Paolucci's a dude from Western Australia living over in New York now who has a really great sense of style and design. His layouts are particularly impressive and sense of movement from one frame to the next is something I find myself trying to emulate a fair bit now. He helped layout a fairly prominent book this past year and I got to see a bit of it. He's also got a real eye for dynamic movement in characters.

Guiseppe Camuncoli is an artist I'd been reading in Hellblazer for ages now, but really only just switched onto earlier in the year. I really love the way he details features -- hands, faces -- it's extremely emotive stuff. REALLY emotive stuff.

I've really only just started stepping outside of my safety zone recently, so a lot of the newer stuff -- the different stufff -- I've been getting has been from creators most people already know, but in doing that I've started finding new people and new things. I really like want Brent Schoonover and Jason Copland are doing. I really only got a solid look in on Emily Smith's work this year, too. All three of them are on to big, big things in the future, you watch!
 
 What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Adventure Time has basically validated my somewhat ridiculous thought processes. I'm loving X-COM: Enemy Unknown. I've been buying up a lot of film scores on vinyl. I always like having things to listen to when I work, and it's usually film scores, but over the years I found that there were soundtracks and scores that were only ever released on vinyl or were better on vinyl so I've been slowly accumulating a nice little library of obscure film scores.
 
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?
 
Yeah, I switched mainly to digital, then switched again and went from digital pencils to inking traditionally. The range of experimentation I get working digitally is amazing and it's really made me much more aware of what I'm doing and how I can achieve certain things visually in other ways, particularly traditionally.
 
 What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Getting my first creator owned material out into the wild! I'm also planning a fairly dramatic shift in geographic placement sometime next year, so it should be interesting... See how it all goes.

http://t-rexjones.deviantart.com/?rnrd=43299

2012 in Review: Andrew Fulton

Andrew Fulton

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

My 2012 highlight would have to have been travelling to Mocca and TCAF with the Caravan, meeting up with cartooning weirdos on another continent. That was a good time in so many different ways. Getting the Minicomics of the Month club back up and rolling again has been fun too - I'm really enjoying what's been coming out of that.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?

I have been getting right into Steven Weissman - his Barack Hussein Obama was something pretty special in a way I find difficult to articulate. It's just the right blend of magic and nonsense, and the surface quality of his ink and zipatone combination is a wonder. I am shamelessly copying his whole deal.

I don't think he has put out any actual comics, I've been following Andrew Schick on instagram. He has this interesting, loose way of putting a drawing together that I like a lot. Instagram is a pretty fun place to follow cartoonists

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

My experience of things that aren't comics is sadly slim. I have enjoyed a *heap* of tweets. I have been really getting into Homeland, the Clare Danes terrorist tv show. I also got an rdio subscription, so have been listening to a lot more music than I have previously. I really don't know much about music at all.

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

I don't think my working method has changed all that much at all. I think maybe my drawing has become looser? I've been trying to plan and edit things a bit better too - I usually just start drawing on the top left of a piece of paper and hope that I can get at least a hint of somewhere by the time I get to the bottom right. There's been a higher percentage of strips I've made this year where I have made actual, considered decisions, and reworked things rather than just abandoned them.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 
I have literally no clue what is going to happen next year.

http://mumblier.com/

2012 in Review: Mandy Ord

Mandy Ord

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

 

Travelling with the Caravan oc Comics to NY MoCCA and Toronto TCAF to attend both festivals. Meeting a few canadian comic heroes of mine.

 

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?            

 

I discovered a wonderful graphic novel by Joyce Farmer...called Special Exits. The story of her aging parents reminded me of the scope for storytelling that comics possess. I found more Julia Wertz books....in particular The Infinite Wait...great stuff...very funny and insightful...honest..and well told....can't put it down once I've started.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

 

I recently read Man's Search for Meaning by Victor E Frakl...a memoir of a Psychiatrist and holocaust survivor. Inspiring and eye opening. Also Stephen Crane....a writer published in the 1890's...wrote a short story called ' Maggie A Girl of the streets'. A candid piece of writing about the harsh lives of the poor living in the slums in New York. I recently saw the new Ken Loach film...The Angel Share...gritty drama with awesome humour and a happy ending- phew!. Boardwalk Empire has been an addictive TV series as well as watching detective Lund in Forbrydelsen..a Danish thriller/TV series.

 

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year? 

 

I've been inspired to read more and write more to improve my storytelling.

 

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

Starting and finishing a new project with Finlay Lloyd. Educating myself more about visual literacy and comprehension.

 

http://mandyord.blogspot.com.au/

2012 in Review: Joshua Santospirito

Joshua Santospirito

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?
 
Finishing drawing the Long Weekend ... which took me many years! And in November I had an exhibition of crazy comics that spread across an entire small room in a gallery - I worked on them for about a year so that was tops too.
Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012?
 
Anders Nilsen's "Big Questions" com...plete...ly turned my world upside down. I can't really put it into words though why. I KNOW why ... I just don't know quite how to put it into words ... other than to say it was quite breath-taking ... and perhaps I shouldn't even try any further to put it into words as it might cheapen the experience for me ... just read it.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Ryoji Ikeda's multimedia (possibly the weakest noun for what I witnessed) performance at the MONA FOMA in Hobart in January was mind-blowing. It was like he opened up your skull and placed the entire universe inside it and then shut it with a loud *clunk*.
 
Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

Yes - the exhibition that I did involved me designing comics that were designed to be spread across the wall and read on the wall, as opposed to on the page in a book or even one single sheet. So that was quite radical for me! The Sleuth exhibit at Inflight Art gallery was all about surrounding the reader with the world so it was really fun and liberating - John Retallick pointed out that it was sort of related to McCloud's infinite canvas.
 
What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Doing Chris Downes and my performance of The Shipwright and the Banshee at the 2013 MONA FOMA in Hobart - it's a comics-related performance. AND Printing and promoting The Long Weekend in Alice Springs.

http://joshuasantospiritoart.com/

2012 in Review: Marijka Gooding

What have been your personal cartooning/comics highlights of 2012?

Being introduced to the Melbourne comic book scene and all its lovely people. I think because the Melbourne scene is still quite young there is this stronger feeling of camaraderie and support amongst its members.

Who are some of the comics creators that you've discovered and enjoyed for the first time in 2012? 

Early this year I discovered the Nobrow books. Nobrow are a small, independant publishing group from the UK, started in 2008, who specialize in beautifully crafted, one off comics and publications. Their work hit home for me the importance of looking at books as physical objects and as commodities to be kept and admired.  This pushed me to see my own work as a final, packaged product and take into consideration basic aesthetics like the weight and feel of a book.

What is something non-comics that you have enjoyed in 2012?

Mostly due to the comic book (Gooding's debut graphic novel, Strange Behavior.), I've been a bit of a shut in this year so my most enjoyable moments have been mostly small wins, like the day I found a slightly squished Caramello Koala wedged in between the couch cushions.

Have you implemented any significant changes to your working methods this year?

I am happy to say that this year I finally become friends with typography. After undergoing, and almost failing, first year typography classes at Uni, I had written myself off as never being any good at it. I found the whole thing so intimidating with its strict conventions and anal retentive specifications that I completely avoided using type in any of my work. It wasn't until I started to collecting examples of type myself (old tins, on the side of old trucks, wrappers, vintage signage, comics) that I started to really love it.
 
I noticed that the work of the comic artists I admired (particularly Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and Charles Burns) all had this strong, graphical consideration of type and I think that all stems from their mutual respect for both the written word and image. I wish someone had shown me sooner how exciting and varied type could be.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

The Big Arse 3 comics launch scheduled March next year.

 http://www.marijkagooding.com/