Pencil Fight 1

I'm going to start writing my column again for The Comics Journal, I mean, tcj.com - so I need to practice writing regularly - in public. Writing this for the few of my fans who are still following along.

Do you think there is a new era of the internet happening now? I can't stop thinking about it when I think about doing my column again. I feel like the conversation in comics moved from blogs and message boards to facebook and twitter -  away from "long form" posts to the bulletin board style flyering of tumblr today. I know, I know, just like everything else, right? I'm still a fan of "long form" comics essays - even if I never read them anymore. I bookmark them and look at them later. I might even read the whole thing. I scroll down to the comments. There aren't any usually or it's just people reblogging it or hearting it. I think I'm nostalgic for an older era of the internet and I know that's bad - like people talking passionately about compuserve boards or something - but I can't help it.

So, I'm writing this to get these ideas out of my system. I always set up these black and white arguments in my mind: "Do this" - "Don't do this". I want to write short posts about comics I've read recently or write about "color in comics" for my comicsworkbook tumblr, but I think, I know, that they'll just get lost, that they'll just disappear. On tumblr, if you miss something on the first go round, and no one reblogs it - then you miss it. The post is just gone. I don't ever look at someone's tumblr like looking at someone's blog or website. Do I ever look at blogs or websites anymore?

I like writing for tcj because it is searchable. I think that's a valuable part of the platform. I like writing a weekly column however it feels like I'm more tuned into the daily bite size bulletin board approach of tumblr. I know I can do both - this is where I set up the black and white argument in my mind - but I keep getting snagged on this "new era of the internet" idea.

I miss ComicsComics. I feel like the end of ComicsComics coincided with the move to facebook and tumblr. So I have this weird sealed off, preserved in amber memory of that time. That blog was all Tim Hodler's idea. We had already been doing the print version- and Tim set up the blog and suggested that we could use the blog to promote the magazine. I remember thinking that it was a waste of time, that we should concentrate on the print version. That was a "new era of the internet" idea.

Forgive my mess. Just riffing. More soon.

Raf

Summer School!

I’m going to be doing a summer correspondence course. The focus will be on advancing your understanding of layouts, color, contour line drawing, and printmaking for producing comic books. The 8-week class is $500. Payment plans available. This class is limited: only ten students will be accepted. 

Who the hell am I? I’ve been drawing comics since 1988 – and writing about comics since 1995. I’ve taught drawing at Parsons. My work has been exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. I have worked as an assistant to fine arts painters such as Francesco Clemente, Dorothea Rockburne and Gary Panter. Many of my paintings are in the collection of Bruno Bischofberger. My comic Storeyville is, allegedly, one of Chris Ware’s favorites. I’ve collaborated with Ben Jones. I was in a drawing contest against the French master Blutch – and it was deemed a tie! I have appeared in two volumes of Kramers Ergot. I am working with Dash Shaw on an animation project. I worked for the silkscreen wizard Frank Kozik. I am friends with Yuichi Yokoyama. I got into a yelling match with Brian Chippendale because I’m against photo-referencing. Jaime Hernandez taught me where all the freeways meet in Los Angeles. Gilbert Hernandez said my comic Pompeii was "pretty good".

Application guidelines:
-3 figure drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-3 landscape drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-3 still life drawings done on 3 x 5 cards 
-specific url links to any comics work you have done.

Applications due by June 1st. Email me - capneasyATgmailDOTcom - and I will send you an invite to the course blog so you see what it's like. Check out my "Layout Workbook" series over at The Comics Journal. Overseas students welcome. Payment plans available - I will work with you to make it affordable. Thanks! -Frank Santoro

Harry Lucey

New Course

FRANK SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE for COMIC BOOK MAKERS. NEW COURSE STARTS JANUARY 1st 2013 - Email me capneasyATgmail for application guidelines. Ten students per course. 8 week course. 500 bux. Payment plans available. I will work with you. This is the 6th course I have done and I have it down to a science. Great way to study comics for those who can never find the time to make them. Correspondence method works with your schedule. I will show you. You can do it! Applications due by Xmas - unless we all die on Dec 22…

Pompeii hype up

POMPEII - Review/Hype-up of my new book from Bill Boichel over at Copacetic Comics. http://www.copaceticcomics.com/comics/pompeii-book-one "An all new Frank Santoro comic book: the long rumored first installment of his meditation on the axes of art: artists and patrons; money, sex and power; subject and object; the eternal recurrence of archetypes; and, of course, comics and geometry."

Fall Course

FRANK SANTORO COMIC BOOK CORRESPONDENCE COURSE FOR COMIC BOOK MAKERS - new course begins September 10th. Deadline for applications is September 7th. Eight week course. Tons of drawing, sequencing, mapping and editing. I will teach you how to make comics that you can edit. I will teach you about rhythm in comics and why the grid is the true secret of understanding comics. Email me for application guidelines. capneasyATgmailDOTcom. Correspondence method of learning comics works with your schedule. Perfect for people who don't ever have the time to learn how to make comics. You can do it!