Matt Elder How To Do Draw Videos

Friend of BMP and comic book artist Matt Elder has released a number of How to Draw Tutorial videos on YouTube that that will help comics creators and other artists conquer the basics. Here are the first three in the series:

If you want to see more, check out his video channel Matt ElderDotCom or his website here.

Also check out Matt's Joker painting on Comics Alliance – it was earmarked as the Best Art Ever for the week of 27 May 2011.

Comics & Graphic Novels Masterclass with Colleen Doran in Sydney!

ARE YOU ...

An aspiring comics creator who doesn't know where to start?

A professional comics creator who wants to increase your chances of getting published locally and overseas?

A novelist or book illustrator who wants to transition to graphic novels?

A screenwriter who wants to turn your story into a graphic novel as a prelude to getting it to film?

A storyboard artist who wants to become a power-player in the comics world but doesn’t know how to write a story?

An academic specialising in pop culture, literature or cultural studies who wants further insight into graphic narrative?

A school teacher or librarian who is exploring graphic novels in the classroom?

A publisher who wants to build a graphic novels list or finesse their visual narrative editing skills? OR

A person who just LOVES comics and graphic novels?

Then you need to book straight away into a weekend Masterclass that teaches you "How to Crack the Comic Book and Graphic Novel Creation Code So You Can Write, Illustrate and Edit Like a Pro." Featuring internationally renowned US comics creator Colleen Doran, you will learn about the craft and business of comics and how to get published.

Here's what the weekend covers:

• Storytelling Techniques
• Visual Storytelling Styles
• Professional Polish
  
• Deconstructing the Process
• The Professional Life
• Creator Rights
• Hollywood Secrets
• Chalk and Talk Q & A.
  

To see the full program, go to the Comics Masterclass website.

So what do you need to know about Colleen?

Colleen is an illustrator with hundreds of credits to her name. She has illustrated the work of Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, J Michael Straczynski, Tori Amos, Clive Barker, Warren Ellis, and more. She has illustrated superheroes and characters such as Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Sandman, and more. She has worked with companies such as Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, DC Comics, Reader's Digest, Scholastic and more. She has created officially licensed illustrations for Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Her graphic novel series A Distant Soil was listed among the "101 Best Graphic Novels of All Time" and has sold over 300,000 print copies and has tens of thousands of readers in its web comic format. Need we say anything else ...

Here are the event details:

Dates: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Aerial UTS Function Centre, Broadway, Sydney
Admission: $135 (ASA members); $165 (ACA, AWG and State and regional Writers' Centre members); $195 (Non-members)
Payment plans are available so you can pay off your ticket price in three installments.

Go to the official Comics Masterclass website for all the information you need on this event.

One lucky participant will win a private one-hour project or portfolio review session with Colleen!

For bookings, CLICK HERE.

To download the official Comics Masterclass flyer, CLICK ON THE ASA COMICS / GRAPHIC NOVELS PORTFOLIO page then CLICK on the download button in the box.

To subscribe to the Comics Masterclass Spotlight ezine, CLICK HERE.

Proudly presented by the Australian Society of Authors and Black Mermaid Productions.

The Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund is a proud support of the Comics Masterclass.

Movie Mermaids 4 – Pirates of the Caribbean

Okay, we haven't seen it yet and we know this is old news for many of you ... but there's been a lot going on in our personal lives recently. Without being flippant in the least, Jozef's father's died two weeks ago and Jozef's looking after his mum on weekends and teaching during the week, and I'm farm-sitting so can't get away to the movies. But the poster and the trailer say it all ... Pirates of the Caribbean is chock full of mermaids. Aussie model, Gemma Ward, plays one of them. In some ways I'm too scared to see the movie because I don't like the idea of capturing or hurting or sacrificing a mermaid, but my understanding is that they give as good as they get so that's some consolation. And they have sharp man-eating teeth! Anyway, can't wait ... we hope the story isn't as messy as the other two sequels. No matter what, we're seeing it.

Mermaid Ring Holder

BMP friend and compatriot Cat Kouns Born sent us this pic of a mermaid ring holder, which featured on the cover of the March Female Creations catalogue. It's pewter, made in Canada, and sells for USD$18.00. You can buy it on the Female Creations website. Just search on the word "mermaid" to find it, as well as the cute mermaid umbrella and mirror.

GRAPHIC 2011 at the Sydney Opera House

GRAPHIC is happening once again at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 August 2011. The year's line up includes Robert Crumb, Scott McCloud, Jim Woodring, Peter Kuper, Reg Mombassa and a host of other fabulous overseas and Australian comics and animation talent. The program includes talks, workshops, screenings, performances, a games festival and, of course, the annual comics animation competition where you can win $20,000. I've bought my tickets and Jozef's in the process of buying his – "Understanding Comics with Scott McCloud" is at the top of his list. I'll be going to the the "OzComics Show and Tell" panel, "Altered States" panel, "Scott McCloud" masterclass, "Wordless Storytelling", "Silent Comics: Original Live Scores" and "In Conversation with Robert Crumb". This happens two days after I return from the World Mermaid Awards at Las Vegas so I'll be knackered but in my comics and graphic novels element. For the full program, go to the Sydney Opera House GRAPHIC website. To read our blog report on last year's event CLICK HERE. This is a highly recommended event.

ELF~FIN Facebook Page

Please "LIKE" our official Elf~Fin Facebook page, and if you're in the old FB group, please migrate across as well as soon be deleting it. The more the merrier to keep this conversation going.

MCA Zine Fair Post Mortem

Black Mermaid Productions exhibited last weekend at its first event in years. Our first venture out as exhibitors was at the annual MCA (which stands for the Museum of Contemporary Art) Zine Fair in Sydney, which is part of the Sydney Writers' Festival. The Federation Hall served as the convention space – it was a lovely open room with pillars, harbour views and lots of light streaming in. The event attracted around 4000 people and at times was quite squeezy.

The Fair was partly social as well – Marcelo Baez and Tom Bonin were exhibiting, and we met fellow comics professionals Chewie Chan, Jordan Verzar, Tim McEwen and clan, and other friends who popped in to visit and to have a look around. The event was excellently organised and we have Melinda Garcia from the MCA to thank for that.

This was also the first time we marketed the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed Preview to the general public. We're happy to say 60 percent of the 250 limited edition print run has been bought now. We were happy to talk to new readers, and we enjoyed seeing kids pat the plastic turtle and octopus on our table display. They were cute moments. If you're wondering what that is in the photo in front of the table, we had three large canvases of the Elf~Fin covers on display. There was no wall space to hang them on but they did get some admiring glances from passersby. Great day in all!