Posts By: Adam Greenfield

73: Alec Longstreth – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

Sometimes life seems to point you in the direction it wants you to go. And sometimes it drops you in the middle of nowhere with a good luck pat on the back. Both times should be celebrated as chances to see what happens in the biggest game of Chance ever: life. In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam sits down with artist and educator, Alec Longstreth, to discuss the path that got him to where he is. From living in cities all across the United States to working on the set of Star Wars in Australia, Alec has a thing or two to say about a thing or two, and can even back it up with some amazing art.

One of the things we hear frequently is how artists adapt, as well as the various ways artists use the materials around them to create tricks and tools of the trade. In Alec’s case, it’s a MacGyvered tool rack that he has attached to the side of his drawing table. Alec was kind enough to send us a photo so we’ve attached that to this post. If you’re reading this on a mobile device and can’t see the photo, please be sure to check out the post on the site.

While you’re listening to this fantastic conversation, please also take a few minutes to head on over to iTunes and give us both a rating and a review. Just search for Gutter Talk and you can’t miss us. Not only would we at Making Comics Worldwide personally appreciate it but future comic creators will appreciate it as well when they find our podcast ranked high enough to garner their attention.

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72: Chris Callahan – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

We return to the walls and halls of the hallowed ground known only as the Anaheim Convention Center during WonderCon 2015 where our Gutter Talk podcast hero-slash-host Adam teams up with artist and illustrator Chris Callahan to battle a villain so evil it has no name, only a sad truth that would make any protagonist feel ill: Lack of Knowledge.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic but some days it sure does seem that way. That’s why we’re looking forward to bringing you this conversation Adam had with Chris, as he has the knowledge and experience of taking a chance and finding success in the work that comes along with it.

Chris has been a part of projects that range from creating visual graphics for major television shows and broadcasts to creator-owned comics, such as Robochuck. Listen in as Chris discusses those experiences he’s had and what he’s taken away from it all, as well as some of the smaller details about comic creation.

While you’re listening, please be sure to head on over to iTunes, if you’re not there already, and give the podcast some love. Ratings and reviews are big in the podcast world, just as getting clicks and reads are big in comics, both web and print. Along with word of mouth, this is just one way you can help us here at Making Comics Worldwide spread out knowledge and information to those who are seeking it out but may not be sure where to look.

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71: Dawn & Clint Wolf (3 Questions) – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

It’s the second Friday of the month, which can only mean one thing: another great Gutter Talk Three Questions episode with great information and even better music. In this episode, Patrick Yurick meets up with Dawn and Clint Wolf, the creators of the webcomic Zombie Ranch, and poses three questions smack dab in the middle of the halls at WonderCon 2015 this year.

These are Dawn and Clint’s three questions:

Question 1: (Clint) You’ve been lucky enough to write for various things, whether that’s games or even possibly doing some technical writing when you once worked in tech support. What are some of the things you took away from those writing jobs that you’ve been able to apply to current work in comics?

Question 2: (Dawn) In one of the Inktober challenge drawings, you did it on a skirt but is there a medium you prefer and why?

Question 3: (Both) What are some of the pros and cons of working together not just as collaborators but also as a married couple?

Also be sure to head over to iTunes, if you’re not there already, and give us a rating and review. This really does help boost our presence in the comics and podcast communities, which in turn helps build the amount of knowledge and love we can provide and spread out to all the comic creators around the world.
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70: Paolo Rivera – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

April showers may bring May flowers but the one thing you can be sure of that May will also bring is yet another spate of talented artists to the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast. Two of them will be with artists we met and talked to while at WonderCon back in the first week of last month. Today’s episode, however, was recorded away from the craziness that conventions can sometimes bring.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam and co-host Patrick Yurick, a voice you’ll hear this week and next, get the pleasure and opportunity to talk to Paolo Rivera, artist and illustrator, both freelance and working for others. It took a few emails back and forth, even a reschedule or two, to nail down a specific day and time but in the end, it was completely worth it. The conversation spanned topics of why he went to the Rhode Island School of Design (a question in which he has a few answers, actually) to a question he is often asked, how does an artist get their voice and style.

We’re pretty sure you’re going to dig this episode. If not, we’ll guarantee your money back. What? You didn’t pay anything for the podcast? Well, then it looks like you’ll get a full refund. Lucky you. But again, we’re pretty sure it won’t even come to that.

Also, one more thing. Please be all that you can be and head over to iTunes to give us a rating and a review. The more this happens and the higher the average rating the more exposure this awesome little podcast gets. And while in some states exposure is illegal, we’re big proponents of artistic exposure of comics and comic-related information. We’re free souls like that.

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69: Jason Brubaker & Daniel Lieske pt.2 (Classic #16) – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

Fresh off a highly successful panel at WonderCon, as well as your benevolent host recording three other future podcast episodes, the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast returns with a flashback, or a re-issue as they’ve come to be known around these parts. In this episode we return to the great conversation Jason Brubaker was in the midst of with Daniel Lieske, the mastermind and artist behind the Wormworld Saga. If you have not yet had a chance to listen to the first half of this conversation, click here to check it out.

In this episode Jason and Daniel Lieske go into detail about their strange and exciting successes with their respective Kickstarter projects, as well as some great conversation about crowdsourcing in general. It really does seem to be important to make sure you continue to build your fan base in order to help drive your successful project.

As a side note but one that also reaches up for the WonderCon mention above, were you there? If so, let us know. We’d love to hear what your thoughts were, what you liked, didn’t liked, wanted to hear but didn’t, heard but didn’t expect to hear, all of it. It was a pretty great panel, Jason Brubaker included, and the discussions had were as awesome as the questions asked by the crowd. If you were not there, though, no worries. Click here to take a listen.

Oh, and one more thing. Please consider going to iTunes to rate the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast. Leave a review, count some stars, maybe check out some episodes you haven’t listened to yet. This really will help us get the word out about the great things we’re doing here and we really do want to hear from you. We see you on Twitter and Facebook and other places doing amazing things so please consider doing the same and leaving a review on iTunes.

Ok, now you can listen to today’s podcast. Enjoy, dear listeners.

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68: Wondercon Panel 2015 – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

The Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast goes live once again from the halls and walls that make up the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California as several of the Making Comics crew invades WonderCon 2015. Last year’s panel was so much fun we had to do it again, though this time there were no Godzilla facts. Sorry to disappoint you. But there were other facts we figure you will want to hear.

This year’s Gutter Talk WonderCon panel was led by Adam and focused on storytelling in comics. The topics ranged from story idea inspiration to editing a story halfway through to collaborating with an artist or storyteller. There were questions from Adam, including a pop quiz, and some fantastic questions from the audience, which the panelists handled like the professional artists they are. Speaking of the panelists….

Just like last year’s Making Comics panel, this year’s guests were top notch. The list included Rachel Beck from Storyforge Productions, Jason Brubaker, the creator of Sithrah and reMIND, Ted Washington, artist, writer, and founder of the small publication company Puna Press, and Making Comics Worldwide’s czar- uh, CEO, Patrick Yurick. The list of qualifications among them made them perfect people to discuss the art of storytelling in comics, especially, but other formats as well.

If you were unfortunately unable to make WonderCon this year, we have your back. We always do. Please enjoy this amazing conversation with some of our favorite artists.

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67: Sarah Yoon (3 Questions) – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

Several of the Making Comics Worldwide crew graced the rooms and halls of WonderCon 2015 recently and while there, Adam was able to record four upcoming podcasts, the live Gutter Talk panel “Storytelling in Comics” included, in a 24 hour period. That has to be some kind of record, right? And while very little time was spent wandering the floor, it was a worthy sacrifice to be able to capture conversations like the one you’re about to listen to.

In this Three Questions episode, freelance writer and soon-to-be mom Sarah Yoon sits down with Karyn Keene, co-founder of Storyforge Productions, a company with a stated mission of helping tell stories across various mediums. In an age where there are numerous ways of telling a story, it can be both tricky and overwhelming. One of the biggest steps to being a better effective storyteller that Sarah discusses is knowing the type of writer and storyteller you are. Using ideas from her book, “Firestarters: Multi-Disciplinary Inspiration for Writers,” Sarah dives in to the three types of writers she has discovered through her research.

Whether you are a writer or not, this podcast episode is a must-listen. It will not only make you stronger as a writer and artist overall, it could help you understand other writers you will encounter in your career and life.

These are Sarah’s three questions:

Question 1: What are the three ways creativity manifests itself in writers?

Question 2: What do you find yourself working the most with?

Question 3: How did you decide what you wanted to write about?

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66: Michael Dambold – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

Welcome to April and what is shaping up to be another stellar month of Gutter Talk podcasts, including the audio from our live Gutter Talk panel at WonderCon. In order to remain in the moment, let’s start with today’s podcast. In this eposide, Adam sits down with artist and writer, Michael Dambold. The topics discussed in this episode ranged from the difficulties of what it’s like to grow up in the Louisiana, right in the heart of Cajun Country, when your bloodline is not from there to the process of creating a story and both the successes and failures that came from it. Turns out what was needed was Michael telling the story he wanted to tell, not necessarily the story he thought people wanted to hear or read.

As an artist, that realization is a difficult one to get to. On the one hand, you want readers and viewers to enjoy the story and art so it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to satisfy them by giving them what you think they want. However, what’s more important and rewarding as an artist and writer is to be sure the story you tell and create is a story you as the artist and writer is what you want to tell. If you do it well, the readers and viewers will show up and stick around.

One more note before you listen to this great conversation between Adam and Michael Dambold, if you’re going to be at WonderCon this coming weekend, please be sure to check out the live Gutter Talk panel on Saturday at 10am in Room 211.

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65: Jason Brubaker & Daniel Lieske pt.1 (Classic #16) – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

The Making Comics podcast returns this week with another Jason Brubaker re-issue. This episode is the first part of a two part conversation between Jason and sometimes co-host, sometimes guest, but all the time favorite, Daniel Lieske, an artist based in Germany.

In one of the re-issues we released last year, Jason and Daniel were going through some rather successful Kickstarter campaigns. It was hard to not join in their excitement. But as much as we wish it weren’t the case, time moves on and that edge on the excitement begins to soften some. This leads to what can be a very scary question: Now what?

In this re-issue episode, Jason and Daniel attempt to answer that question. The fun thing is we have the ability to see the things they’ve done since this conversation first happened, or in this case the “what” in the big question, and the successes they’ve continued to find. And in a way, they’ve provided somewhat of an educational roadmap into comic creation. It may not be the exact path you or I may take but the experiences they have and share with us become plot-points along our own roadmap.

Before that conversation begins, Adam discusses a few things that came up between Jason and Daniel.

Oh, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of the more exciting upcoming events we’re participating in this year, Wondercon 2015. This year, on Saturday, April 4th at 10am in Room 211, Adam will be moderating a panel on storytelling in comics. Check out this list of panelists:

Jason Brubaker: Artist, creator of reMIND and Sithrah

Rachel Beck: Co-founder of Storyforge Productions

Ted Washington: Artist, poet, and founder of Puna Press

Patrick Yurick: Artist, creator of Hipster Picnic, educator, and CEO of Making Comics Worldwide

If you’ll be at Wondercon 2015, make sure you check out our panel and say hi!

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[Teaser Trailer] Wondercon 2015 – MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

The Making Comics Worldwide crew returns to Anaheim for Wondercon 2015! That’s right. We’re back! And this time around we have an even more fantastic panel of guests to discuss storytelling in comics. The panelists include Jason Brubaker, Rachel Beck, Ted Washington, and others.

See you there, right? Right.

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