EVENT: So You Finished Your Comic, Now What?

Above: From left, self-portraits by cartoonists: Michel Mulipola, Li Chen, Sam Orchard and Zak Waipara.

Creating and completing a comic book, graphic novel or comic strip is a huge accomplishment...but what comes next? How do you go about getting it printed or published? How do you find an audience for your comic book?

The panel event, 'So You Finished Your Comic, Now What?', happening at the Auckland Central Library Whare Wananga on Thursday 14th of September at 6pm will attempt to answer these questions and more.

Moderated by cartoonist and educator Zak Waipara (Otea),  the panel will include experienced cartoonists Sam Orchard (Rooster Tails), Li Chen (Extra Ordinary Comics) and Michel Mulipola (Headlocked: The Last Territory), discussing the realities of getting your finished comic in front of an audience.

Here's some background on the participating cartoonists:

Panelists:

Li Chen is the creator of the webcomic Extra Ordinary. She likes drawing and petting cats. You can visit the Extra Ordinary website HERE.

Michel Mulipola is a self-taught comic book artist from Auckland. He has been immersed in the world of comic books from the tender age of five when he first decided he wanted to draw them. He has contributed to various anthologies and is currently working on the U.S comic book, Headlocked: The Last Territory. You can visit his website HERE.

Sam Orchard has been drawing comics since he was a little girl. He is passionate about telling stories that celebrate the rich depth and diversity of our communities. He draws an autobio webcomic about his life as a queer trans man at Rooster Tails, which you can visit HERE.

Moderator:

Zak Waipara (Rongowhakaata, Ngati Ruapani, Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu). Zak has worked in animation, written and illustrated books and comics, including the recently released Otea. He has lectured in Digital Media and Animation at AUT and Animation College. You can visit his Otea website HERE.

The event is FREE, with refreshments from 6:00pm, with the event starting at 6:30pm. For more information and updates, visit the Facebook event page HERE or the Auckland Libraries event page HERE.

- AK!

Graphic Voices at Auckland Writers Festival 2015

Above: The four cartoonists taking part in A Graphics Affair; from top left: Rachel Fenton, Damon Keen, below left: Sam Orchard and Ant Sang.

The Auckland Writers Festival returns for 2015, and continues its love affair with graphic literature - boasting events featuring several well known local cartoonists.

A Graphic Affair, taking place on Sunday May 17th, from 4.30pm - 5.20pm, is a FREE event featuring four NZ cartoonists taking to the Aotea Centre Limelight Stage to present stories from one of their works. 

The line-up features: Rachel Fenton, a former winner of AUT's Graphic Fiction Prize and recent participant in the NZ Book Council's Graphic Novelist Exchange Residency in Taiwan; Damon Keen, editor of the NZ comics anthology Faction, and the upcoming High Water collection; Sam Orchard, author of the autobio webcomic Rooster Tails, and the comic series Family Portraits; and Ant Sang, author of Shaolin Burning, The Dharma Punks, and designer of the TV series Bro' Town.

For more information, visit the Auckland Writers Festival event page HERE.

Above: Ant Sang.

Ant Sang will also be leading a special workshop entitled, Comics 101.

Limited to 40 participants, join Ant to discuss, draw, and explore the creative process behind creating a graphic novel. Tickets are $45, with the workshop taking place on Friday May 15th, from 9am - 10.30am, at the Goodman Fielder Room, level 4, Aotea Centre. For more information, visit the Auckland Writers Festival event page HERE.

Above: Zak Waipara.

As a part of the Family Day Events on Sunday May 18th, Zak Waipara will be sharing Maori Myths - Maori mythology and legends with a modern twist. An animator and cartoonist, readers may remember Waipara's work from the late 90s comic Children of a Dying Nation, he has also worked as a designer on Maori Television's children's show Miharo, and a wide variety of children's books.

This event will be taking place at the Herald Theatre from 1.15pm - 1.45pm, and is suitable for ages 5-10. This is a free event, but tickets are required for booking. For more information, visit the Auckland Writers Festival event page HERE.

The Auckland Writers Festival will be held at the Aotea Centre from the 13th - 17th of May. Tickets are on sale now, so get in quick for the best seats in the house, and visit their website for a full list of events HERE.

- AK!

UPCOMING EVENTS: Family Portraits Book Launch & Everything and Everyone Market!

After a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign and tour of the USA, Sam Orchard is officially launching his comic series, Family Portraits this coming Wednesday, February 18th at The Woman's Bookstop at 105 Ponsonby Road, from 6pm.

Family Portraits tells the stories of a group of unique individuals, and explores the awesomeness of their sexual orientations and/or gender identities. These stories celebrate the differences and diversity in our communities. They look at how our ages, histories, genders, beliefs and ethnicities shape our experiences of ourselves, and how we live in the world.

Sam Orchard has created these stories based on real New Zealanders, exploring a range of topics including; what it was like to be in a gay relationship before Homosexual law reform in New Zealand, and what it’s like to be a first-generation queer from a migrant background. The comics can be used as a way to educate, breakdown barriers, and help people to understand more about our communities.

Above: The cover of Family Portraits #1 by Sam Orchard. Copyright Sam Orchard 2015.

The event kicks off at The Woman's Bookshop at 6pm, with entry via gold coin donation. You can also RSVP for the event on Facebook HERE. So if you are in Auckland next week, come out and support the launch of this important landmark comic series! 

For more information on Sam you can check out his website HERE, along with his regular webcomic Rooster Tails - an autobiographical series about his life and relationship as a queer transgender guy.

It's actually a very busy week for Sam, as well as launching Family Portraits, he's also the organiser of the Everything and Everyone Market, taking place on Saturday 21st of February, from 12 - 3pm at Alleluya Cafe in St Kevin's Arcade, 183 Karangahape Rd.

Now in its second year, Everything and Everyone celebrates diversity in our community during the Auckland Pride Festival with an art and craft market that has a particularly queer flavour - featuring: DIY arts, crafts, comics and self-publishing. This is an event for people wanting to buy or sell goods exploring queerness, transness, sexuality, gender, poly, kink, leather, feminism, geekery, and everything in between. In short, it is an art and craft market for Everything and Everyone!

Stallholders exhibiting and selling goods at the event include: Rooster Tails, Fight X Back, Zigtoons, Tricia, Square Planet, Jack Remiel Cottrell, Table of Temptation: Book Crossing, Rainbow T-Towel Love, with more to be announced.

For more information and updates on this great upcoming event, you can visit the Everything and Everyone website HERE.

- AK!

Sam Orchard's Family Portraits Kickstarter!

Above: Family Portraits promo image. Copyright Sam Orchard 2014.

Sam Orchard has been a stand-out talent in the local comics scene for some years, producing the much loved webcomic Rooster Tails - an autobiographical series about his life and relationship as a queer transgender guy. He has regularly appeared at Zinefest events and contributed to various local and international anthologies, as well as a number of human rights education and advocacy campaigns.

Produced as a part of his Master of Creative Writing degree in 2011, his auto-bio comic series Family Portraits interweaves Sam's own story as a queer-identified transgender man with vignettes of other queer individuals living in New Zealand. It explores and celebrates how age, history, gender, and ethnicity shape our experiences of ourselves, and how we live in the world. How the stories of others can reflect and affirm our own stories, either through connections or differences.

 

Above: the covers of Family Portraits #1-2 by Sam Orchard. Copyright Sam Orchard 2014.

As the series was produced in full-colour, high printing and shipping costs have prevented Sam from making his comic available in print, so he has turned to crowd sourcing platform Kickstarter to make this happen!

Sam is looking looking to raise $6300 which will pay for the printing of the first two issues of the series (60 pages of full-colour comics in each issue!) and fund a limited tour of the US - where he can connect with his dedicated US reader-base and attend some small press/comic conventions.

So without further ado, he's Sam to talk about the campaign in his own words:

You can pledge and support the Kickstarter project HERE. There are some great rewards available, so please throw your support behind this very worthy cause!

- AK!

EVENT: Everything and Everyone: Art, Craft & Zine Market

Everything and Everyone is an art & craft market with a difference, taking place this Saturday, February 15th at St Kevin's Arcade on K'rd, from 4pm-7pm.

Organised by cartoonist Sam Orchard - author of the wonderful queer & transgender webcomic Rooster Tails, this eclectic market celebrates DIY arts, crafts, comics and self-publishing, with a particularly queer flavour. 

Taking place during the Auckland Pride Festival, this is an event for people wanting to buy or sell art, craft and comics celebrating: creativity, queerness, sexuality, gender, feminism and everything in between. In short, it's an art and craft market for Everything and Everyone!

Above: Some subversive cross-stitch produced by 'Glitter and Things'.

Stall holders and creators at the event include:

- Kakelake: selling zines and crafts by Alex Wild and Eli Orzessek.

- Ash Spittal: selling zines and art prints.

- Molly & Lulu: selling zines, crafts and illustrations.

- Glitter and Things: selling subversive cross-stitch, sparkly glittery leathery things and zines.

- Book Crossing: BookCrossing is a worldwide movement of making the world a library by releasing books into the wild…or giving them away at events such as this one. Kirsty Win has hosted BookCrossing stalls at a few community events in her hometown of Greymouth and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do the same thing in Auckland.
- Triple Spiral: Selling some fun homemade soap.
- Victory Road: Will largely be vending cutesy prints and possibly some jewellery.
- Square Planet Comics: Will be selling comics, badges and prints - and maybe some other craft type things.
- Waywin: Will feature literary crafts, hand-made books, Lyrical Brooches, small press books and related items.
- Forrest Creative: will feature whimsical illustrated prints and cards with a rainbow flavour.
- Rainbow T-Towel Love: Will be selling a range of T-Towels, hand-made screen printed Pillow slips and T-Towels with Rainbow designs, as well as Flax wristbands, and Rainbow biscotti.

- And of coarse, Sam Orchard Comics!

Above: Rainbow T-Towel Love shows off their Rainbow T-Towel!(to be loved by potential buyers...).

And stick around afterwards for some music, as the Romp Project's MixTape Sessions will kick off at 7pm!

For more info visit the Everything and Everyone website HERE.

- AK!

PODCAST: Nga Pakiwaituhi: New Zealand Comics and Graphic Novels

Above: The New Zealand Comics Panel, featuring (from left): Dylan Horrocks, Adrian Kinnaird, Sarah Laing and Sam Orchard.

As a part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2013, the St Paul St Gallery at AUT hosted two comics exhibitions: Nga Pakiwaituhi: New Zealand Comics, an exhibition of work by contemporary New Zealand cartoonists, and Comics, Manga & Co. :The New Culture of German Comics, an overview of the current German comics scene.

Nga Pakiwaituhi: New Zealand Comics featured the work of over 30 local cartoonists, which you can revisit in my gallery of the exhibition HERE.

Above: Dylan Horrocks asking the tough questions!

Towards the end of the exhibition in mid-April I took part in a panel discussion on New Zealand Comics. Moderated by Dylan Horrocks, creator of Hicksville, the panel also featured Sarah Laing, novelist and cartoonist of the webcomic Let Me Be Frank, and Sam Orchard, also a webcomic cartoonist, as the creator of Rooster Tails.

You can now listen to a full podcast of the panel HERE.

We discuss how we got into comics, our backgrounds and working process, as well as lots of other fun bits and pieces related to New Zealand comics culture. Enjoy!

-AK!

EVENT: Auckland Zinefest 2012

Auckland Zinefest returns this year as a part of First Thursdays, taking place this Thursday, 2nd of August on K Road.

First Thursdays is a community-conscious collaboration of artisans and art lovers whose ultimate goal is to showcase new and exciting talent in the fields of visual arts, music and performance. The DIY themed festival taking place from 6pm-9pm, features a variety of free art events taking place at shops, galleries and creative spaces along Karangahape Rd. Some of the activities include: a handmade craft & zine market, zine making and screen printing workshops, light installations, live music, fashion shows and theatre productions. The Zinefest will take place in St Kevin's Arcade with around 30 stallholders, including a great line-up of local comics talent!

Sarah Laing, cartoonist behind the Let Me Be Frank webcomic. She's going to be selling a selection of her autobiographical/fantastical comics, some of which have appeared in her blog. She's also going to be selling some one-off, hand-painted and bound books and her son Otto's book of monsters.

Each of the handcrafted books are 12 pages long and bound with embroidery thread. They are arranged into five groups: eighties pop icons, toys made for my children, significant women, my tea cup collection, and cans in my cupboard. She'll be selling them for a bargain price of $15, so be in quick!

Marc Streeter is the creator of the weekly ActionMan Adam webcomic, which follows the hilarious mis-adventures of a young Canadian looking for love in Christchurch.

He'll be debuting his latest collection at the event, ActionMan Adam: Things Change. Last year Streeter chose to acknowledge the events of the Christchurch earthquakes in the webcomic, and incorporate their effects on the characters in the on-going story. It was a bold creative move which has payed off handsomely for readers. Its sensitively handled, and adds a much greater depth to the characters and proceedings, making the laughs that much more welcome. Highly recommended!

Brent Willis, Wellington cartoonist and editor of the Bristle anthology will be there with his latest creation for the event: Wark! #1. Brent Willis has steadfastly stuck to the DIY ethic and self-published for the last 15 years (because he likes it). Expect to discover a wide range of his other titles at his table: there's just about a comic for every occasion!

Sam Orchard, creator of the Rooster Tails webcomic will be there, representing himself and the Dunedin Comics Collective. Rooster Tails features Sam's charming comics about being a trans and queer dude in Auckland. The Dunedin Comics Collective have so far produced two issues of the comics anthology DUD, featuring comics and a CD of Dunedin music. A third issue is currently due for release soon...

Richard Fairgray, creator of Blastosaurus will be present with a host of new material, including collections of Ghost Ghost and I Fight Crime!

And lastly, the Sheehan Bros creators of The Inhabitants and Into The Woods will be there, along with myself, representing the New Zealand Comics Collective: selling locally produced comics from creators across the country, including newly arrived stock from Toby Morris and the latest issue of Radio As Paper!

The Zinefest market will be taking place Thursday 2nd of August, 6pm-9pm in St Kevin's Arcade on K Road. You can find out more information about Auckland Zinefest HERE and First Thursdays HERE.

-AK!

EVENT: Auckland Zinefest 2011

Auckland Zinefest is already well under way, with plenty of events for fans of traditional DIY self-publishing in all it's forms; from magazines to comics and everything in between. The featured centerpiece of the event will be this Saturday's Zinefest Market, held at St Kevins Arcade, 179 Karangahape Road, Newton. From 12 noon - 5pm you'll be able to buy and browse a wide variety of zines and comics, as well as take part in special talks and activities.

Above and below: Photos from Auckland Zinefest 2010.

Featured events include: a talk by cartoonist Sam Orchard of Rooster Tails on 'Trans and Queer Web Comics'; a panel discussion 'Zines as a Tool for Resistance' organised by Rebel Press; and a binding workshop 'Inside Out' by David Merritt from Landrover Farm Press on how to recycle hardback covers, scavenged cardboard and flour sacks.

The New Zealand Comics Creators store will be there on the day, distributing the best of NZ comics from across the land. Web-cartoonist Marc Streeter will be on hand with a new comic-book from his popular web-comic ActionMan Adam, and the Sheehan Bros will have the latest issue of their immaculately presented graphic novella, Into The Dark Woods (return here for a special preview later this week!).

After a long day of Zine purchasing, you can unwind at the official Zinefest After Party held downstairs at The Wine Cellar from 8pm, featuring live band, karaoke and punch specials all night long.

There are plenty of other Zinefest events taking place this month, so visit the website HERE for more information and details.

-AK!