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2010 Festival of Cartoon Art

I received one of the best invitations in cartooning... to speak at the Festival of Cartoon Art, sponsored every three years by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. The dates are October 14-17.

This is my favorite cartoonist gathering because it is limited to 275 people, it's extremely well run, and it's more of a conference than a party (although...wherever cartoonists gather...)  Great cartoonists talking about what they do, how they do it, and why they do it.

 

The Festival will celebrate Krazy Kat's 100 Birthday and a tribute to the late Jay Kennedy, former Editor-In-Chief of King Features who bequeathed his collection of underground comic books to the Cartoon Library and Museum.

This year's speakers include:

• Steve Breen
• Brendan Burford
• Roz Chast
• Tony Cochran
• Jan Eliot
• Bill Griffith
• Matt Groening and Tom Gammill
• Dave Kellett
• Paul Levitz
• Patrick McDonnell
• Dan Piraro
• Jen Sorensen
• Art Speigleman
• James Sturm
• Gene Luen Yang

For more info...

Festival of Cartoon Art

Shoutout and back... Craig Ferguson!

Because I love Craig Ferguson, and I love his theme song... I found a way to get both of them into my strip on Sunday. Since my strip runs daily in LA, but not yet on Sunday, I wasn't sure if he'd see it... but wooo hoooo..!!  Check it out. 

  
 

Craig Ferguson's Shoutout to Stone Soup

See the strip and comments from viewers...
 
 

Schulz and other ruminations

Some time ago I promised to recount how I met Charles Schulz. I was lucky enough to know him a bit during his last years. Jeanne Schulz remains a friend, and I feel very privileged to have her and the other great people at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa as acquaintances.

Right after I became syndicated in 1995, Lynn Johnston nominated me for membership in the National Cartoonist's Society. Lynn (For Better Or For Worse) was a wonderful mentor to me. She remains a friend and someone I greatly admire.

My first NCS event was the 50th Anniversary Reuben Awards, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. You can't get a more glamorous introduction to the world of cartoonists than that. Charles Schulz in a tux dancing with Cathy Guisewite in front of an orchestra. Al Hirschfield (the incredible caricaturist who portrayed all the Broadway greats) accepting a lifetime achievement award. Garry Trudeau winning cartoonist of the year after being snubbed by the NCS for 20 years. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott (Baby Blues) accepting the Comic Strip of the Year Award and slapping Jerry's name on it with magnetic tape, because the NCS refused to honor comic strip writers. Partyin' with Garry and his wife Jane Pauley at the private party afterwards, because I'm lucky enough to be with the same syndicate as Doonesbury.

Sheesh, this is fun to write. Honestly, it was a very memorable weekend.

Saturday morning at breakfast Lynn found me and said "Jan! There's someone you need to meet!"  She led me across the room and intercepted Schulz as he was making his way back to his table with a little cup of coffee in saucer, and a danish. He was shaking a bit and the cup was rattling and he really looked like he'd rather be left alone to sit down. Lynn was an old friend and unabashed, but I felt a bit like an interloper. Still... the introduction was made.

After I returned home, I wrote Sparky a note... saying I had enjoyed meeting him, and that I'd always admired his work, and that I hoped I'd see him at another event.

Some time passed... a week? On a Monday morning the phone rang, and someone said "Hi Jan, this is Charles Schulz". Honestly, I thought it was a joke. But it was really him, and he was interested in my work, and where I get my ideas, and who I admired. Fortunately, I could say I was an admirer of Percy Crosby, the creator of Skippy, a comic strip greatly admired by Schulz. (If you have a chance to find it online you'll see something familiar in the melancholy nature of Skippy, a boy who sits on a curb and ruminates about life.)

Sparky invited me down to Santa Rosa for his annual Christmas Party at the ice rink. I was able to go... and visit his studio... but that's another story.

Thanks for giving me a chance to travel back to a magical night. And because you are special for reading this, here's an old photo of Barbara Brandon (Where I'm Coming From), Lynn Johnston and me, at the Waldorf Astoria, 1996. Yeesh, those glasses!

 
 

Opportunity for up and coming 'tooners

The deadline is looming for The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship. All talented cartoonists invited to apply. Go to www.cartoonistfoundation.org for details.

 

Semantics

Well, it's late afternoon and I just finished inking a week's worth of dailies. Scanning in the morning and I'll beat my deadline by a few hours.

I don't like working so close to deadline... I really prefer a week or more cushion so that I can fart around. I mean, why else are we here, if not to fart around? 

"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." -----Kurt Vonnegut 

From his lips to my blog.

This makes me think of other things I've absorbed from those who have gone before me, from whom I have tried to learn.

"Focus has nothing to do with limitation, and everything to do with expansion." -----Judy Chicago

After reading that, I decided to put aside all my various artistic pursuits and whims and focus on cartooning.

"Peanuts didn't really take off until Snoopy stood up. You need to find the thing in your strip that's like Snoopy standing up." -----Charles Schulz

Still working on that, I suppose.

I was lucky enough to know Sparky personally for a few years before he passed away. In my next post I'll describe how I met him (through Lynn Johnston) and what he was like from my perspective.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to decide which bit of dialog (Holly) sounds better --

"I'm sure with us in charge it will be!"  or...

"I'm sure it will be with us in charge!"

I think I'll go fart around and think about it. 

 
 
 
 

Goodbye 2009

It's a very cold, very damp, very stormy day in the Pacific Northwest, pretty typical for New Year's Eve, but dreary nonetheless. As I close down the studio for the last time in 2009 I can't help but wonder about 2010 and the future of cartooning.

Recently, the Washington Times (DC) decided to eliminate comics altogether. I don't think it's a big paper, and it's not one of mine... but it worries me. Without funny pages what is a newspaper?

Newspapers are evolving... so comics must evolve. I like how my work looks online, and I see the future there... but it may not provide a way to make a living for cartoonists as syndication has in the past.

Which is the root of my dilemma whenever someone interested in cartooning asks me for advice.

Cartooning, comics, graphic novels, funny papers, animation... it's all evolving and evolution is inevitable. But as far as advice is concerned? Well, I just don't know.

I only know that you can't go wrong doing what you love, writing about what interests you, and drawing funny pictures that bring it to life.

So if you love it, do it, and see where it takes you. I suppose that applies to most anything, doesn't it?
 

Happy 2010. Yowsa.

 

Women Build

To wrap up the posts on my travels this fall, I'd like to talk a bit about the Women Build program within Habitat for Humanity.

Val and Joan are fans, of course, and honored to represent Women Build in a small way.

 

I asked Lisa Marie Nickerson from Women Build / HFHI, for a history of Women Build, which was the brainchild of a group of women in Charlotte, North Carolina. So here's a BIG shout-out to the Habitat Affiliate in Charlotte for getting the Women Build ball rolling!

The Complete History Of Women Build:

1991
A group of women in Charlotte, North Carolina complete the first women-built Habitat for Humanity house. With this event, the seeds for Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program are planted.

A handful of Habitat for Humanity affiliates continue to build houses with women crews.

1997
As part of the Jimmy Carter Work Project, U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton, Kentucky first lady Libby Jones and Oklahoma first lady Cathy Keating participate in a Women Build. The idea for Habitat’s First Ladies Build is born.

1998
Habitat for Humanity International forms the Women Build department and the Women Build program becomes an official HFHI initiative. 

1999–2001
The Women Build department hosts the First Ladies Build. Women governors and first ladies from all 50 states join Habitat for Humanity to build houses with families in need.

2001
Women Build launches “Women Building a Legacy.” United States’ first ladies, celebrities and women from all walks of life swing hammers to actively address the problem of children in poverty.

2003
Lowe’s signs on as Women Build’s underwriter. Home Interiors and Gifts, Inc. becomes Women Build’s major sponsor. Since 2003, the program has more than doubled in size.

2006
Thirty-two thousand volunteers complete 160 Women Build houses.

2006–2007
Women Build’s “First Families Building Homes Across America” unites women volunteers with governors' spouses, local and statewide leaders to construct Habitat homes in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia. Fifty-two homes are built throughout the country.

2007
Women Build volunteers build more than 200 houses.

2008-2009
Lowe’s sponsors National Women Build Week, held in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. In 2008, more than 6,000 women volunteers participate at more than 150 Habitat affiliates across the United States. In 2009, more than 7,000 volunteers joined in at more than 200 Habitat affiliates.

Today
More than 1,500 official Women Builds have been completed since 1998.

  

 

 

 

Emily Bergl, currently in "Southland" on TNT and formerly a co-star with Anne Heche in "Men In Trees", added some star quality to our Women Build lunch in Thailand.

Well, OK, Rosalynn Carter was the REAL star.

 

Yeah, we went co-ed on our Women Build house in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But as a credit to the principle of Women Build, all of us worked as equal partners. Everyone did everything, which in the end is the goal. 

I encourage any woman reading this to consider participating in a Women Build if the occasion arises.

Women... you don't need to be skilled, just willing to learn. Women Build, and Habitat in general, are organized to accommodate beginners.

Guys, we love you, but when you're around we tend to step back and let you run the tools. When you're not, we have to learn. Women Builds often include great guys when qualified women are not available. Like all things feminist... it's not about excluding guys, it's about bringing women to the front.

Next post... back to cartooning.

Now, Thailand...

I've returned from Thailand, where I joined 2000 Habitat For Humanity International volunteers from all over the world. We converged on Chiang Mai to build 82 houses. 82 houses in honor of the Thai King's 82nd birthday.

It was truly an adventure. 105 degrees the first two days, lush jungle, exciting city life, tuk tuks for transportation, domesticated elephants and tigers, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, fireworks... I loved it.

My characters Joan and Val, as well as the rest of the crew, have been used to promote Habitat for Humanity International. I saw several women with my Women Build t-shirts, and at least 3 people with the Katrina rebuild shirts I created. I signed shirts, met fans, and built a house. We sweated, stacked brick, mortared, for 5 days. 

One of the biggest honors was meeting Rosalynn Carter at a Women Build luncheon. That's the Stone Soup Women Build shirt I'm wearing...

 

 

Above, a reception for the Carters. (Amazing, again... I'm not using a telephoto here. I was THERE.)

Here's a link to the Habitat multi-media show they produced from the builds in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and China. I'm lucking enough to be included, right at the end.

The 2009 Carter Work Project Comes to a Close

We built a village. Habitat is adding a school to the village to serve the 82 new families and more.

Thanks to Lisa Marie Nickerson, Assoc. Director of Women Build, HFHI, for faciliting this great experience. It was amazing.

 
   

Pics from the build...

 

Above... Habitat of Thailand welcomes the international volunteers, adjacent to the temple near the build site. 

Below, houses going up.

 

 

The family my house was built for... baby boy doesn't appreciate all our efforts at the moment. This family runs a noodle stand.

 

Small World Award:

In a previous post, written from Algeria, I mentioned a fan who emailed me from a train, travelling between NJ and NY. She'd read that Gramma was going to Thailand, and wondered if that meant I'd be there. I received her email on my iPhone while in Algiers. 

I marvelled at the connections technology has made possible. It was a huge treat to meet Anne in person...here we are, at the Women Build luncheon put on by Rosalynn Carter.

 

And now... some random pics of the wonders of Chiang Mai...

Below... the real food is in front of the restaurant.

 

The temple Doi Suthep...

 

 

 

Below...I loved these collections, they were everywhere, and cheap! but... should they be doing this? I wasn't sure I should support it. That green bug is as big as my hand...
 

 

Hill tribes...

 

Hill tribe kids, oblivious to tourists, as they should be.

 

Grandmother and kids...and a shady spot.

 

Below, a Tuk Tuk... my favorite form of transportation ever. Actually, I thought as we wove in and out of traffic... wouldn't this make a great obituary?

"Died in a Tuk Tuk in Thailand, while on humanitarian mission".

 

From the bus, Chiang Mai streets. Motorcycles were everywhere.

 

Now that I've returned...

I'm going to incorporate my experiences in Stone Soup. I've already sent Gramma to Chiang Mai and now that I've been there, I can write about it.

By the way, when you see a picture of Gramma riding an elephant on December 7th, know that I wrote that strip before I left. In a mysterious coincidence, Jeanne Schulz sent me a letter with news from the last year, which included a picture of her on an elephant— in Chiang Mai! What are the chances? So before I left for Thailand, I had a great image to use as a model for Gramma's adventure.

Dear readers, that's it for now...

Gecko says goodnight!

 

 
 
  
 
 
  
 

 
 

Gramma's Apparent Time Travel

Well, you may have noticed that Gramma left for Thailand last week. But today, Sunday, she's back in the strip. Well... you see... hmmmmmm...

Add my frantic crush to work ahead in order to take time off for Thailand to the fact that Sundays have different deadlines than dailies... and you get an embarrassing, um, continuity error.

I suppose if that's the worst that's happened this fall, with all my travel, I'm lucky. 

Thailand!

Today Val and Joan and I are leaving for Chiang Mai Thailand, to participate in the Jimmy Carter Work Project. We're planning on hunting down Gramma and making sure she's not getting into any trouble. Remember Arnold? From her adventure to Africa? Hmmmmmm

We will be joining her and Habitat for Humanity International in building 82 homes in Chiang Mai. Val and Joan and I will be serving on a Women Build crew. I'll report back in a few weeks with tales and pictures. Wish me luck keeping Val and Joan in line... they get a little carried away when they travel.