litro.co.uk » Comic Strip

Issue 112: How to Make a Black Hole

webmaster — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:47:45 +0000

By Steven Appleby

Steven Appleby’s work has appeared in newspapers, on television, on Radio 4, on stage at the ICA and in over 20 books. His Coffee Table Book of Doom was published in September by Square Peg, makes an excellent Christmas present, and is available from all good bookstores and online.

Similar Posts:

‘Once Upon a Riot’ by Louie Stowell

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:45:54 +0000

Artist: Louie Stowell has been drawing cartoons and other illustrations for Litro for a year or so. Her drawings have appeared in other off and online magazines and an annual charity art exhibition called ArtSHO. She also writes children’s books for Usborne and recently co-wrote a book called the Write Your Own Story Book, published at the start of June.

Similar Posts:

‘Laika’ by Magda Boreysza

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:40:50 +0000

Magda Boreysza

Writer/artist: Magda Boreysza is a freelance artist living in Edinburgh, where she graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art in 2007 with a first-class honours degree in visual communication. As well as illustration work, she is also available for mural commissions. Her comic Toastycats is available in selected shops and online at magdaboreysza.com.

Similar Posts:

‘I See The Promised Land’ by Arthur Flowers & Manu Chitrakar

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:35:34 +0000

Arthur Flowers

Writer: Arthur Flowers teaches in the English Department of Syracuse University, USA. A native of Memphis and co-founder of The New Renaissance Guild, he is a performance poet who considers himself heir to the western written tradition as well as the African oral one.

Artist: Manu Chitrakar lives and works in Naya village in Bengal. A Patua scroll artist who sings and paints, he is part of a living art and performance tradition that is as open to contemporary news stories and politics as it is to ancient legend and myth.

Similar Posts:

‘Leonard Cohen’ by C.M. Evans

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:30:35 +0000

Similar Posts:

‘New Superheroes’ by C.M. Evans

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:25:00 +0000

Cartoonist: C.M. Evans, author, artist, thinker, recycler, philanthropist, grew up in Upstate California. His work, (both art and literary) has been published for many years online and offline in places like Milk Magazine, McSweeney’s, Dear Sir, The Bridge and displayed at various venues in the US, China, and Mexico. He is cartoon-editor- at-large for opiummagazine.com.

Similar Posts:

‘Buffalo Chris’ by Chris Wiewiora & Dan Folgar

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:20:02 +0000

An Adventure of Buffalo Chris

Inspiration & Collaboration

by writer Chris Wiewiora

I came up with the idea of a comic series called The Adventures of Barista Chris while I was working for a corporate coffee chain. The storyline would be based on my job. And so, I planned for my co-workers to be drawn as animals (i.e. my bad-tempered boss would be a bear), thus disguising their names, if not their identities.

For each The Adventure there would be an accompanying An Adventure – a tangent narrative that would somehow connect back to The Adventures. For instance, An Adventure of Buffalo Chris is an adaptation of the Texan-American tall tale of Pecos Bill and the taming of his wild horse Widowmaker. The parallels to The Adventures is that Barista Chris rides a dangerous motorcycle he named Betty Jo (in the tall tale the wild horse is named Widowmaker) and also in The Adventures, Chris eventually falls in love with an apron-only wearing – otherwise nude – woman named Eve (like how Sweet Sue captivates Pecos Bill).

But there’s a problem: I can’t draw. Well, it’s not that I can’t draw, it’s that I don’t draw. I don’t draw, because when I do draw, the best I can do is draw birds as a lowercase m up in the sky.

And so, I got my buddy Dan Folgar (also a former corporate coffee employee) to collaborate with me on The Adventures of Barista Chris. I write. He draws. More accurately, Dan illustrates – he brings alive the imagery of my words.

The first thing at the top of my script for Buffalo Chris was a summary of the character(s), desire, and plot in one sentence:

Buffalo Chris is a feral boy who seeks danger via taming a wild horse.

I noticed the word that I kept using in my script was “wild.” And when I think of wildness I think wilderness, and the struggle to survive in that dangerous and unforgiving environment. But I was curious to see how Dan would represent wildness. The concept sketch Dan sent me was of a wiry boy in a loincloth and wearing a buffalo headdress.

I realize that American tall tales are about the United States’ folk heroes like Pecos Bill (or Buffalo Chris). However, I don’t believe that those stories are only about their characters; rather the characters embody their stories’ settings. The character’s character represents their story’s region. More simply, a story is about place, too.

In Dan’s concept sketch, Buffalo Chris’ hands float out and away from his body over the empty space around him. And maybe here, I can switch roles and give some words for Dan’s illustrations of Buffalo Chris: His landscapes are lush as well as wild. Dan gives dynamic images starting in the Texan deserts heading westward along the prairie, through the forests, over the mountains, and all the way to the Pacific Ocean where the sun sets.

Chris Wiewiora

Writer: Chris Wiewiora (chriswiewiora.com) is a MFA candidate at Iowa State University’s Creative Writing and Environment program. He mainly writes nonfiction, but previously collaborated with Dan Folgar illustrating another comic titled Life of the Coffee Bean, published in Bateau. Together, they have compiled a comic anthology that is seeking a publisher.

Dan Folgar

Artist: Dan Folgar is a cartoonist/artist from Miami, FL. He is currently seeking an MFA in visual arts at the Miami International School of Art and Design. He has comics forthcoming in Candy or Medicine, and an online comic series at sometime-this-century.blogspot.com.

Similar Posts:

‘Me and my Dad and a Long Time Ago’ by Neil Dvorak

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:15:23 +0000

Neil Dvorak

Writer/artist: Neil Dvorak says: “I think the farthest a human can go is to ask a really great question. Right? There are so few truths or answers on Earth … here are three: I love my friends and family. I love bugs and drawing. I made everything else up.” See easypiecescomics.com

Similar Posts:

How to Enjoy Doom by Steven Appleby

webmaster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:00:55 +0000

STEVEN APPLEBY. The Coffee Table Book of Doom, by Steven Appleby & Art Lester, is published by Square Peg on November 3rd, price £14.99.

Similar Posts:

Issue 108: How To…

webmaster — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:30:56 +0000

By Steven Appleby

Steven Appleby’s work has appeared in newspapers, on television, on Radio 4, on stage at the ICA and in over 20 books. His Coffee Table Book of Doom will be published in September, and his website is stevenappleby.com.Similar Posts: