Here’s my chat Justin Currie at C2E2 in Chicago.
Podcast available on Apple Podcasts and player.FM
As an artist, Justin has developed his trademark style known as “Shattered Vector Painting”. In the past few years, Justin has been attending as many comic conventions as manageable, honing his personal skill set. Now, with a recognizable style, an expanding fan base, and ever-growing portfolio, Justin has recently decided to leave a much-enjoyed concept artist position at a local video game company behind to chase his own dreams and start his own company “Chasing Artwork”.
During our chat, Justin talked about his art style and art production. He also spoke about his future exhibits for the remainder of the year. Justin also encouraged amateur creators to participate in artist alley as a less stressful way to get into the industry.
You can find Justin on Twitter at @chasingartwork and online at https://chasingartwork.bigcartel.com/
+++++++
Here’s some of the current news about Canadian comic book creators and supporters.
Publishers Weekly wrote an article entitled ‘The Graphic Novel Is a Perfect Teachable Format’ which makes the case for using graphic novels to help kids cope. A variety of graphic novels were mentioned such as March by U.S. Senator John Lewis that can help put a human element to an historical event and El Deafo by Cece Bell about dealing with someone who is deaf. The article also included Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson and features the art of Emily Carroll. The author revealed a past discussion about the importance of graphic novels citing: “the clarity of emotions that can be conveyed when pictures and words are employed simultaneously, the way that struggling readers may improve their understanding of difficult situations with visual cues, and the way that stories can feel more real and be more relatable when a face is attached to them.” You can read more at PublishersWeekly.com
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/79847-the-graphic-novel-is-a-perfect-teachable-format.html
Hollywood Soapbox recently interviewed Jim Zub about his new Stone Star series from Comixology about a teenager who is pulled into a gladiator style arena to fight aliens and robots for survival. Together with artist Max Dunbar, Jim writes the five-part sci-fi series currently available in digital format. When asked about his inspiration for the series, Jim said: “Stone Star is a mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements I dug into when I was growing up. It was all about creating a really compelling place full of possibilities, so Max and I could go wild with creatures and characters, bringing them together for drama and conflict. The arena is central to everything, but we’re pulled into it as Dail is, discovering the various levels of competition and intrigue that surround it.” You can read more at HollywoodSoapbox.com
https://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/interview-stone-star-comic-finds-teenager-fighting-aliens-robots-in-gladiatorial-arena/
The Leacock Medal 2019 longlist was revealed for the 72nd Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour that awards the best in Canadian Literary Humour. Among the 10 nominees, the list includes Aminder Dhaliwal for Woman World. The award will be handed out at the June 8 Gala Dinner. You can read more on Leacock.ca
https://leacock.ca/pdfs/2019_Leacock_Medal_Long_List_v2.pdf
To celebrate World Book Day, CBC Books published an article about the 100 writers in Canada that the world should read. The list includes many in the comic book industry including Margaret Atwood, Kate Beaton, Guy Delisle, Nalo Hopkinson, Jeff Lemire, Robert Munsch, Bryan Lee O’Malley, David A. Robertson, Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki. You can read more at CBC.ca/Books
https://www.cbc.ca/books/100-writers-in-canada-the-world-should-read-1.4726160
+++++++
Please subscribe to and like this podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Follow along on Twitter at @TrueNorthComics.
Please send your feedback to Info@TrueNorthCountryComics.com