Posts By: Adam Greenfield

105: Lucy Bellwood #2 – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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In hopes of kickstarting some energy into the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast, it was decided that a return to old guests will help. So this is the first episode in a new Gutter Talk venture, an alumni “Where Are They Now” series. In this first episode, Adam is re-joined by the amazing Lucy Bellwood, an artist, a writer, and even a sailor, based out of Portland, OR.

The last time Adam and Lucy spoke was way, way back in January of 2015, nearly two and a half years prior to this talk, and at the time, Lucy was just starting to toss around the idea of doing a Kickstarter project for a Baggywrinkles book. Well, since that time, not only did she start and fund that project, she’s just finishing up yet another Kickstarter project that was also funded, and this time in about 24 hours. Yes, that sound was your jaw hitting the floor. We’ll wait for you to pick it up….

Listen in as Adam and Lucy discuss her pride and joy and struggles and fears with not just her current endeavor, the 100 Demon Dialogues, but also with being an artist on an overall level. From self-care to the financial burdens and planning as a freelance and independent artist, all of it is in play.

Also be sure to subscribe on iTunes and give us a rating and review if you haven’t already.

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104: Megan James – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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The last time you heard from us in the Making Comics Gutter Talk headquarters, it was Halloween and we were having a lively discussion with Stephen Bissette. Well, it’s now Earth Day, six months later, and we’re finally putting out another episode. We know, we missed you all, too. But the hope is we’re now back to at least one episode per month and if more time can be unearthed, we’ll bump things back up to two episodes a month. But all in due time, friends. All in due time. We promise.

As for this episode, Adam sits down for a second recording with artist and creator Megan James. She is the mind and skill behind Innsmouth, a magical story that is part Lovecraft, part Book of Mormon, and has fish people. That’s definitely on you if you don’t find that exciting. Adam and Megan actually spoke late last year but life has a funny way of becoming an obstacle to things and the conversation was shelved. However, Adam made sure when he returned to the scene, Megan had to be the first guest and a new conversation was to be had. The topics in this episode range from figuring how to lay out a page for maximum effect, comedy or otherwise, to finding a ton of usefulness in taking a scriptwriting class.

If you’d like to support us and help keep Making Comics Worldwide going and allow us to do cool things like sending out the Daily Challenge, please go to our Patreon page (click HERE) and join our Patreon community. Support good people, people!

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103: Stephen Bissette – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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We may have said this before and if so, we feel it is definitely worth repeating. Wow, it is so darn educational and amazing to speak with someone who has been in the comics industry for so darn long. This is why every Halloween, Adam looks forward to speaking with one of his favorite Making Comics Gutter Talk guests, Stephen Bissette. For the third year in a row, Stephen dispels humor, knowledge, and all around good times.

When Stephen talks about the history of comics, he’s not just talking about what has happened in the past. That side of the timeline has been well-documented and will forever be. In this episode Stephen does talk about the past but he also is sure to talk about the history of comics as both the present and the future. This also includes when he is teaching young, impressionable minds at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT. And yet when his students challenge him on a topic, Stephen becomes the student in order to return to being a more effective teacher. In the example he gave, a student challenged him on Native American comics and culture. This caused Stephen to do his own homework, a great example that no matter who we speak with, we can never stop learning.

To open the Gutter Talk episode, just as we have done in previous Halloween episodes, we have a reading of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This year’s story was “The Cask of Amontillado” and was read by a horror master in his own right, Vincent Price. Boy, Poe sure does like burying things in his stories, huh?

Happy Halloween!

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102: Bizhan Khodabandeh & James Moffitt – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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The world these days is far from easy to understand. Sometimes there’s an answer and sometimes there isn’t. And sometimes, it takes all we have to find a way to even try to comprehend everything. But perhaps that’s where art comes into play. Maybe, just maybe, our sight becomes a little clearer when we break it down into more of an expression than trying to fit a round understanding in a square hole. In the case of The Little Red Fish by Bizhan Khodabandeh and James Moffit, a simple, yet powerful story is told and it’s all inspired by the Iranian revolution in 1979. Nah, that’s not complicated to explain.

In this Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by Bizhan and James to discuss how this story came about and what makes this story have such an impact. There’s also something to be said about the use of animals as the characters, a la Animal Farm by George Orwell, which is another side of the story Adam and his guests dive into. Following this discussion, Adam and Bizhan are left to their own devices as they discuss another project Bizhan was a part of. It involves violence between civilians and police, and soon the conversation turns to a more personal experience for both Adam and Bizhan. In the end, both host and guest ensure the audience they are far from experts on the subject and only drives home the point that there simply is no easy or right answer to the burning, violent questions we face as humans today. But at least there’s comics!

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100: Cristian Roux – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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One of the great things about attending comic conventions of all sizes is meeting people from all over. Because of its sheer size and international draw, it’s actually pretty hard to not meet someone new from far off places while at San Diego Comic Con. At least far off from where you are. If you want to get all Inception on the topic, you are far off to those people you find far off. But we digress.

In this Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by Australian artist and creator Cristian Roux, whom he met while peddling a book of poetry at easily one of the largest comic conventions in the world. Cristian was drawn to the table by the amazing work of Ted Washington and began conversations with both Ted and Adam, both of which were equally impressed with Cristian’s work. By the time Cristian left the table, Ted pretty much made up his mind that he was taking Puna Press to Australia for their comic and zine conventions and Adam made up his mind to ensure Cristian was added to the long list of stellar guests on the Gutter Talk podcast.

We also would be remiss in pointing out this episode is our 100th episode. From the bottom of our ink-filled hearts, we want to thank not only the talented guests we’ve had on the podcast and panels over the last two-plus years but we also want to thank you, the listener. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or this is your very first Gutter Talk episode, thank you for being a part of this creative endeavor. We do this for you. The website, the podcast, the Daily Challenge, all of it. A world without art and the knowledge it takes to create art is not a world any of the Making Comics Worldwide staff wants to be a part of. This is why educating the masses is so darn important to us. Thank you for being a part of our world.

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98: Gerhard Ka’aihue – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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Always remember: You are unique… just like everyone else. Ok, but seriously. There really is something to be said about originality, and Adam and his terrific guest, Gerhard Ka’aihue, have a lot to say about being original in this Making Comics Gutter Talk episode. Sure, fan art is great, and even better when its purpose is to help you, the artist, hone in on your skills and voice. Still, should that be marketed as your own? Is it your intellectual property to do what you wish with it? To Gerhard, it can be a very fine line to walk.

Yet when it comes to Gerhard’s work, it’s all original, all the time. From his recent comic “Stella Noir” to his graphic illustrations that are eye-popping and brilliantly composed, Gerhard walks his own line between stunning art and simply being productive for productive sake. And isn’t that what being an artist is about? The ABC of art? Yes, always be creating. Sure, he may have a day job and family responsibilities but Gerhard is quite satisfied with that arrangement. In fact, it’s what he wants. His job as a marketing director still taps into that creative part of the brain so the juices are constantly on flow.

And while you’re listening to this stellar Gutter Talk episode, feel free to take a break from your own work and head over to our Patreon page and support us. But not if you’re driving. Please, if you are behind the wheel at the moment, keep your eyes on the road. Heck, if you’re driving, why are you even reading this?!

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94: How to Make a Comic 1 – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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If you haven’t figured it out already, we here at Making Comics Worldwide love spreading knowledge to comic artists of all ages and levels. We enjoy it so much that recently we teamed up with Coursera and High Tech High to create a free (yes, free!) Massive Open Online Course (aka MOOC) about how to make comics. It is designed by our CEO Patrick Yurick to be a six week course to guide you through everything from scripting to thumbnailing to penciling and inking. To really push it over the top, we had discussions with amazing minds and talents in the comics industry, such as Mark Waid, Eric Shanower, and Caleb Cleveland.

In this Gutter Talk episode, we are releasing the audio from the first three weeks of the How to Make a Comic Book MOOC. The course itself is video based so when you sign up to take the course, you’ll be able to visually take in the knowledge. However, we thought it would be a great idea to publish the audio for you, the podcast listener, so you can also benefit from the information found in the course. We definitely urge you to take the course online because a lot can be gained from video tutorials, as well. Plus, the amount of love put in to this course by Patrick and others is inspiring to see as well as hear.

However, before we play those audio clips, Adam and Patrick sit down to discuss the cool things they have going on in their lives, from audio projects to moving to working at MIT in Boston. This is followed up with some of our awesome Patreon pledgelings (totally made up word) calling in to answer questions and be in the spotlight. These are just some of the cool Patreon perks and rewards of helping us at Making Comics continue to spread the good word on comics. And fair warning, things get a little silly sometimes, as is wont to do whenever Adam and Patrick get together.

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93: The Graphic Novel Project at Wondercon 2016 – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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Once again, the Making Comics crew invades Wondercon and this year’s raid was pretty epic. Ok, maybe epic is overstating things and perhaps overused but it sure as heck felt that way. Why did it feel that way? Because this year we not only had our standard Gutter Talk panel but we partnered up with high school students from the Graphic Novel Project at High Tech High in Chula Vista, CA, too. To put the proverbial cherry on top, we even had a table in a prime location on the floor.

If you’re not familiar with the Graphic Novel Project, it’s an after school student volunteer program that is designed to teach students the ins and outs of making a comic, from conceptualization to production to even the business side of marketing and selling the product. What made it really special was that the students got to participate in this year’s Gutter Talk panel. Imagine being a 15 year old student sitting up on stage at one of the more major comic conventions in the country and talking about yourself and the work you put into the project. Those opportunities don’t come along all that often and as you’ll hear in this episode, the students understand this.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam narrates the way through the various topics. On the panel along with the students is the Making Comics CEO and head elf, Patrick Yurick, his wife and our education guru, Kay Flewelling, and the student mentor and Making Comics editor-in-chief Kevin Cullen. We cover a wide range of topics from an artist’s diet to the transformation from a single comic into a collection of comics to how and why the group shrank from thirteen students to five. And no, it wasn’t because they ate the weak ones.

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92: Glen Weldon – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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In society, the word “expert” is bandied about way too much. Rarely do you find the person it is referencing is actually an expert, someone with a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of a particular subject or skill. And, if humility is in play, that person wouldn’t call themselves an expert, either. Then there are nerds, or those that are highly focused on a particular subject or skill, and boy, do they seem to be everywhere. Most nerds would think they are experts but any expert would say they’re not.

In today’s Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by one of the leading experts- uh, nerds- no, great minds in the field of writing about and analyzing comics, Glen Weldon. He has written several books about comics already, including “Superman: The Unauthorized Biography,” so we’re pretty sure he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. It also helps that he’s a weekly contributor to NPR’s Monkey See about all things comics and pop-culture.

A majority of the ground covered by Adam and Glen in this Gutter Talk episode has to do with Glen’s book that was recently published by Simon and Schuster called “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture.” Topics included whether or not there actually is a singular Batman or if everyone’s Batman is the right Batman, as well as how nerd-dom has simply become part of the current culture, sports included. Who knew Adam was into sports cosplay?

As a side note, if you happen to be at Wondercon the weekend this episode drops, please be sure to check out the Making Comics Graphic Novel Project table at DL-56. To top it off, we have a panel on Saturday at 11am in room 515A. Don’t miss it! But if you do, no worries. The panel will be released as a podcast in April.

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91: Graham Annable – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

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We here at Making Comics take pride in the type of things we present to you, the artist and comic creator, from the articles to the tutorials to even our amazing Underdog community. The same goes for the guests we are lucky enough to get on the Gutter Talk podcast. Every guest we’ve had on the podcast and also the panels we’ve had at conventions has been a treat and an honor to have on the show. We really consider ourselves extremely lucky to be able to gain insight and knowledge on how they perform and perfect their craft. This Gutter Talk episode continues that rich tradition in a major way.

In today’s episode, Adam is joined by Graham Annable, the co-director of the Academy Award nominated movie, The Boxtrolls, as well as the amazing animator and artist behind Grickle. One of the more gracious guests we’ve had on the Gutter Talk podcast, the conversations were open windows into Graham’s thought processes as not just the great artist he is but also what it takes to be a director, even if a co-director, on a major stop-motion picture.

The topics ranged from the difficulties and processes of what it’s like to be an effects artist on such an intricate movie (18 months to do a sub-two minute ballroom dance scene?!) to finding the time to create the Grickle shorts while still maintaining a happy, healthy family. It’s not easy but it appears Graham has found his groove. And yet he still manages to find ways to challenge himself within the craft of creating extraordinary art.

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