'Tigerbuttah: The Retro Art of Becky Dreistadt': Event Photos

Above: A page of the forthcoming 'Tigerbuttah' Golden Book by Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson.

Here's some photos from Becky Dreistadt's 'Tigerbuttah' gallery opening at The High Seas in Auckland on the 5th of February. It had an exceptional turn-out, with pages selling as fast as the red dots could be placed! There were cakes and drinks on hand for the art punters, and a performance from sweet indie band 'Bear Cat'.

The show will be going on tour, next appearing at Popup Gallery in Wellington on March 5th. I'm not sure if there is any art left available to buy, as it sold exceptionally fast at the Auckland show; so if you don't see any red dots I would buy first ask questions later!

-AK!

A Golden Opportunity

Above: Tigerbuttah enjoys Halloween (dressed as a narwhal!) by Frank & Becky. Copyright Frank Gibson & Becky Dreistadt 2009.

Frank Gibson and Becky Dreistadt, the creators of the beautifully retro styled web-comic 'Tiny Kitten Teeth', have made no secret of their love of classic Golden Books and it's influence on their comics. Especially their single panel feature 'Tigerbuttah', which is published every Friday.

Now they are taking the opportunity to bring that creative influence full circle, by publishing their very own Golden Book! But they need YOUR help to make it happen!

They have setup a Kickstarter page to fund the $5000 needed to print the book. Kickstarter is a US based funding donation site, set-up to help creators raise money for creative projects (books, films, music etc) through 'pledges': donated credit in exchange for updates and special rewards offered by the creators. The pledged donations are processed by Amazon.com and only collected if the projected funding goal is reached within a set deadline. For Frank & Becky's project to come to fruition, they must collect $5000 in pledges by Jan 16, 2010.

In exchange for your valued pledges, they are offering a variety of unique and collectible rewards! From mini-comics to signed copies of the book, right up to unique Gouache paintings by Becky! (the more you pledge the greater the rewards...obviously). But they are really outdoing themselves by offering a signed copy of the book with a special hand-drawing inside the cover, for as little as $20! (this could mean a loooooot of drawing on the other side of this!).

If successfully funded, the 'Tigerbuttah' Golden Book will support a travelling gallery show they will be having here in New Zealand next year, exhibiting 24 pieces of artwork which form the story presented in the Golden Book.

It's been less than 24 hours and already they are one third of the way there, which speaks to the tremendous support they have online for their fantastic work. But there's a ways to go yet to reach the target goal, so if you're able, show some support by pledging to this fantastic project. They are making it well worth your money!

You can find out more about Frank & Becky's comics at their website, and be sure to visit their Kickstarter page!

I guess it's probably time I gave in and finally got myself a credit card...

-AK!

Auckland Comic book Club August: Frank Gibson

Above: A page from 'Tiny Kitten Teeth'. Copyright Frank & Becky.

This month's guest speaker is Frank Gibson, writer of the webcomics Tiny Kitten Teeth and Combustible Orange.

Created with Becky, his significant other on art duties, Tiny Kitten Teeth 'follows the slice-of-life adventures of Mewsli, a fish out of water in Owltown, a compact metropolis built around a particularly affluent arts college'. It's updated daily and each page is painstakingly hand painted in gouache (now that's dedication for you!).

It's a beautiful piece of comics eye-candy and is well worth checking out!

Frank's talk will focus on webcomics, and he'll also be talking about self-publishing and his experiences selling on

the US comic convention circuit from San Diego Comic Con to smaller indie conventions like MOCCA.

The meeting will take place at the Whare Wananga room on the 2nd floor of the Auckland Central City Library,

from 6pm to 8pm this Friday the 14th of August.

-AK!