GRAPHIC 2012 Launch – Festival of Firsts

We're going on record to say that we're great fans of the annual GRAPHIC event—a weekend of graphic storytelling, animation and music that is held at the Sydney Opera House. We've attended multiple sessions over the last two years and had a fabulous time, so we were pretty pleased to receive an invitation to attend the launch last night where we got an insider's view of what's coming up in November.

GRAPHIC celebrates and often fuses the three different art forms. One example in this year's lineup is "Dr Seuss Meets Elefant Traks" (Sun 11 Nov)—a collective of 25 performers that will musically support the whimsical imagery from Dr Seuss's surreal universe. Another is "Radio with Pictures" (Sun 11 Nov) which is part radio, part comic strip and a whole lot of live performance. Oz illustrators Matt Taylor, Biddy Maroney, Matt Huynh, Leigh Rigozzi and more are featured in this session. Several of these artists appeared in last year's Oz comics panel and did sensational presentations so this is one session that's on our radar.

The major animation headliner is Pixar Animation Studios. which will feature in a "Behind the Screens" session (Sat 10 Nov) that will be held in the concert hall. Another favourite of ours and a must see on our schedule is "Animal Logic's History of Computer Animation" (Sun 11 Nov).

In the comics department, we've got "Peter Bagge's Hate! & Other Neat Stuff" (Sun 11 Nov). This year, GRAPHIC will give gaming its place in the sun.  This will come in the form of "The Good Game: Roffle Cup Live" (Sun 11 Nov), which is a quiz show similar to ABC's "Spicks and Specks" except that it focuses on computer games. In addition, the comics making workshop held during the previous two years will be replaced by a "Gaming Workshop: Gaming Level Design" (Sat 10 Nov).

We also have it on good authority that there will be some additional panel sessions, which have not been scheduled yet.

Once again, curators Jordan Verzar and Ben Marshall have done a great job planning this years lineup, which is not only original but bound to be inspirational.

CLICK HERE if you want to check out the program. Tickets go on sale on Monday 17 September 2012.  Make sure you get in early because they sell out fast.