THE BOSTON COMICS ROUNDTABLE: a community of comics creators, meeting weekly since 2006.

Tag: Workspace

Roundup: Creator Talk with L.J.-Baptiste on Comixscape

©Olivia Li

L.J.-Baptiste’s Creator Talk covered the intricacies of webcomic publishing. He showed some very early character sketches from the beginnings of Comixscape, when it was called Toonatics, citing early influence from shows like Looney Tunes.

©E. J. Barnes

©E. J. Barnes

He talked about how he developed Tyler, the main character of Comixscape, from a fairly stereotypical creation of L.J.’s childhood into the kid he is today on the page. Comixscape originally began as part of DigBoston‘s Sunday Comics Project, and L.J. decided to migrate it to its own site and eventually put together a team of animators, voice actors, and other production staff to produce the first few pages in animated format (starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1KicfjwHbY). He has also been working with a long-time collaborator to pitch several animated TV shows to studios in California.

©E. J. Barnes

©E. J. Barnes

Comixscape currently updates twice weekly; L.J. did go on hiatus for a time in order to create all of chapter four as a buffer. The new pages have just begun to be released. L.J. showed a selection of his original pages and also brought copies of Comixscape #1 to sell.

September 6, 2015
Art Framing Workshop
Are you a comics artist with pages you want to display in the upcoming MICE Art Show, in a gallery, or at home? Then you’ll need to frame that art! You could go to a framing store, but you’ll get better and more inexpensive results by learning to frame your art yourself. Good framing can preserve your art, enhance its sale value, and make your studio walls look great.

The Boston Comics Roundtable will host a hands-on art-framing workshop led by artist EJ Barnes on Sunday, September 13th. She will cover such topics as how to prepare art for framing, where to buy frame pieces online for maximum flexibility and value, and what sort of hangers galleries prefer. Barnes will also show her special technique of displaying word balloons on comics art even if you added your lettering digitally.

This workshop is FREE to all, though a suggested donation of $5 is welcome. Barnes will begin her demonstration at 2:00 PM. This event at the Boston Comics Workspace is sponsored by Ninth Art Press.

About EJ Barnes

Barnes is a professional artist and art teacher in Cambridge. She has published many of her own comics as well as contributing to such anthologies as Hellbound, Inbound, and Colonial Comics. She has also exhibited and sold her work across the country. You can find more about EJ Barnes’s work at www.ejbarnes.com.
- When: Sunday, September 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM
- Where:
  Boston Comics Workspace
  561 Windsor Street, Studio 306,
  Somerville, MA.
- Facebook Event.
- Calendar Event.
September 3, 2015
Print Membership Update
Print Membership

Shared printing and scanning equipment is available to members during studio hours for a modest fee of $10 a month. We currently have a “Pro” level Color Laser Printer that is able to print up to Legal Size paper double sided. With a cost of 3.5 cents Black & White and 8 cents in Full Color (1 Sided Letter + Paper Cost) for all your Mini-Comics, Cards, and Flyer printing needs.
Sign up here!

Current List of Available Equipment
- HP Pro Color Laser Printer ( Max Size Legal, Double Sided).
- Epson Large Format Inkjet Printer (Max Size 13 x 18, Color).
- Scanner (Max Size Legal).
- Long Arm Staplers (x2).
- Paper Slicer.
- 2 Laptops and 2 Desktop Computers (Include Photoshop, In Design, and Illustrator).
A Few Notes about the Print Membership:

We now have a brand new Color Laser Printer at the Workspace courtesy of Dan Mazur (Thank you Dan!) and a Large Format Inkjet Printer (Thanks Cathy Leamy!).
- We are in the process of acquiring a few more pieces of equipment that will make it possible for the Boston Comics Workspace to produce a wide range of Mini-Comics, Anthologies, Cards, Brochures, Posters, and so on.
- Ongoing Monthly Memberships will help us allocate resources and more quickly improve and expand the production capabilities. So if you are interested, please sign up!
- We have paper available at the Workspace for your minis for Letter, Legal, and Larger sizes. You are also encouraged to bring your own paper to print your comics in style. We also take paper donations.
- More capabilities in printing/production at the Workspace mean more equipment available for all the members of the Boston Comics Roundtable and also considerable reductions in cost for future Anthologies produced by the Boston Comics Roundtable in house, which includes work by members (both Artist and Writers).
- With the access to the equipment we also offer limited Professional Level Assistance and guidance (by appointment). Our Equipment Coordinator (Roho) has worked at a couple of local printers and produced several comics and anthologies professionally printed. He will be happy to answer any questions and walk you through how to use the current equipment at the Workspace.
If you have any questions, clarifications, donations, or would like to get involved with our efforts to procure equipment. Please feel free to Contact us.
Thanks,

Roho
August 26, 2015
Creator Talks: LB Lee on Mental Health Comics

BOSTON COMICS ROUNDTABLE PRESENTS: Creator Talks, with LB Lee on Mental Health Comics

The Boston Comics Roundtable’s Creator Talk series will continue on Sunday September 6th with mental health cartoonist LB Lee. Held at the new Boston Comics Workspace at 561 Windsor St., Studio 306, the event is free and open to the public, though a suggested donation of $5 is welcome. Lee’s talk will begin at 2:00 pm and is sponsored by Ninth Art Press.

Lee lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder, a topic explored in their comic MPD For You and Me. Their work, populated with “mentally unusual people,” incorporates rigorous research with a playful approach. They have appeared at various academic conferences and comics conventions, shining a light on the realities of trauma, homelessness, eating disorders, and other less-than-traditional but important topics.

Lee’s Creator Talk will focus on process, from research to the final product. They will discuss the challenges that come with mental health cartooning—telling difficult stories and translating psychological phenomena into readable art—as well as personal challenges that come with working around a disordered memory.

About LB Lee
LB is a multivarious entity who make mental health comics, draw pretty pictures, and write stories about a mythical medieval Europe where the Roman Empire never existed. You can find more about LB Lee and their work online at http://healthymultiplicity.com/loonybrain/Home.html.

When: Sunday September 6, 2015 at 2:00 PM
Where: 561 Windsor Street, Studio 306, in Somerville

Facebook Event.
Calendar Event.

August 25, 2015
Roundup: Mini-Comics Workshop

The Mini-Comics Workshop on August 9th was an afternoon of enlightenment. Avid learners gathered to get at the heart of the art of the mini-comic. The talk was technical in nature and began with a basic overview of what mini-comics are as well as exploring technique and design. We had several presenters to discuss the concept of the mini-comic as well as their personal styles.

Roho discussed how minis are defined, how to layout the pages for printing, and differently used formats.

Ben Doane showed a few of his minis, including Homeless Houses, which is designed and cut in the shape of a house. Ben also talked about his low-tech manner of drawing where he draws his pages in spreads already laid out for printing and 1:1 size.

Jesse Lonergan showed examples of Photoshop files and illustrated how he draws and scans his work individually, lays out his spreads digitally, and adds colors and tones. He also took apart a two-folio mini with heavier stock (Faster Miles an Hour) to show how you can sew books together when there are too many pages to reasonably fold and staple.

Finally, Heide Solbrig did a demonstration of how to make an eight-page book out of one sheet of paper and all attendees got to make their own!

It was a fun and engaging afternoon. We look forward to the next one!

August 15, 2015
Constrained Comics Night

Please join us on Thursday, 8/20, 7-9:30 PM, at the Boston Comics Workspace for a constrained comics event! This will be an interactive drawing event that will culminate in a one-page comic of your own. A small group of us have been doing constrained comics for a while and they are both challenging and fun.

You can see the results of our weekly experiments here:

More Constrained Comics here: Your Drawing Sucks.tumblr.com/

What are constrained comics?
Constrained comics are comics drawn according to set rules and limits. This may seem counterproductive for creativity, but constraints can actually push you to try new approaches in your comics. For those of you with artist’s block, constraints can help you overcome indecisiveness and just get the ink flowing. Who knows, you may walk away with the first page of your next minicomic!

What will we be doing, exactly?
We will be doing a symbol comic. We will pull a random symbol out of a bag and you will have 10 minutes to draw a panel that incorporates the symbol (literally or figuratively). We’ll do this a total of six times and then have an hour to ink and letter. See if you can reign in the randomness and create a coherent story. Or don’t! See if you can make something wild and unsettling. The remainder of the time will be spent sharing our pages with one another.

What should I bring?
Basic drawing supplies like paper, pencils, pens, and markers. I recommend working at or near standard letter size.

But I’m a writer?
Writers are absolutely welcomel. You can use this as a writing exercise or perhaps pair up with an artist and work together.

August 11, 2015