Our May 19 guest speaker Shon C. Bury could just talk about his career writing for Marvel and other major comic book companies. But—wait! Bury’s more than just being a hot shot writer.

He also has his own production studio, Space Goat Productions, which humbly proclaims itself “the premier comic-book talent management and production studio. Home to dozens of professional artists. If you need a comic penciled, inked, colored or lettered, you’ve found your one-stop shopping source.”

In addition to producing comic art, the studio also does character design; video-game box illustration; graphic design; logos and branding; illustrations for trading cards and games; licensed merchandise; storyboarding; and children’s illustrations.

Bury says he broke into comics as a writer at the tender age of 22—and perpetrated “some crap on the industry. But it was the 90s, so it was okay.”

Career highlights include creating WildStorm’s Black Ops with Jim Lee and Dan Norton; working with Colleen Doran on Marvel’s Power Pack; writing for Superman Adventures and Cable; and recently completing his first original graphic novel, Nox.

Bury says that in addition to speaking about his career as both a freelancer and a freelance rep, he’ll be talking about the “assembly-line process of comics.”

WHAT:                   May meeting of Cartoonists Northwest

(Meetings on the third Saturday of every month.)

DATE:                  Saturday, May 19

TIME:                  5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Location:                  Artist & Craftsman Supply

4350 8^th Ave. N.E.

Seattle, WA 98105

(in the University District about a block east of I-5)

Suggested donation of $5 for nonmembers.

Free parking until 7:30 p.m. at the parking lot across the street from Artist & Craftsman.

Category Awards:

Comic Strips- Tie Jeff Hawley and T Lewis

Comic Books: Tie-Georgia Ball and Chuck Messinger

Illustration: Steve Greenberg

Editorial cartoons: Milt Priggee

Books and Publications: Shannon Wheeler

Publisher: NW Press “Zan” Christensen (or however he writes his name)

Golden Toonie Award to T Lewis and Shannon Wheeler (tie)

Hall of Fame Award to Scott Kurtz

Best Cartoon of the NW to Kevin Boze

People’s Choice for the Creative Clay Award to Mark Monlux

Who’s the best cartoonist in the Northwest?

Find out May 5, 2012 when cartoonists, animators and illustrators gather for the 21st Annual Toonie
Awards. The banquet—which is open to the public—will include live cartoon-themed music by the
Amazing Martin Brothers and feature webcomics legend Scott Kurtz as the guest speaker.

In addition to the Golden Toonie for the Cartoonist of the Year, awards will be given out in categories such as comic books, comic strips, editorial cartoons and best publisher. In addition to a raffle and silent auction, the event includes a contest where diners will be given modeling clay and can create clay figures for a prize.

Put on each year by Cartoonists Northwest, the Toonies has awarded its highest honor (the Golden Toonie) to such notable Northwest comics creators as Peter Bagge (Hate); Brian Basset (Red and Rover), Ellen Forney (Monkey Food); Roberta Gregory (Naughty Bits); David Horsey (Seattle P.I.); Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse); Pat Moriarity (Big Mouth); Sherry Flenniken (Trots and Bonnie); and Jim Woodring (The Book of Jim).

Established in 1981, Cartoonists Northwest is an association of professional and amateur cartoonists who
meet monthly to network, collaborate, and promote community among local artists.

Guest Speaker Scott Kurtz is the writer/artist of the phenomenally popular webcomic PvP, also known as
Player vs Player. The comic chronicles the misadventures of the employees of a fictional video game
magazine company. The PvP website receives more than 100,000 unique visitors a day.

Winner of both the Eisner and Harvey awards, Kurtz will be speaking about his career “as a cartoonist who
used web distribution” to reach success. There will be a question and answer session at the end of his talk.
Open to all cartoonists (and cartoon lovers), the Toonies is being held Saturday, May 5, at Ivar’s Salmon
House, 401 N.E. Northlake Way, Seattle. Social hour is at 6 p.m. Awards ceremonies at 7 p.m.

Dinners choices are: $40 Four-Cheese Ravioli (sun-dried tomato with cream sauce); $45 Rotisserie-Roasted Half Chicken (marinated with rosemary & olive oil); and $50 Alder-Grilled Coho Salmon (brushed with herb-infused olive oil.) Reservations can be made via e-mail at CartoonistsNW@aol.com or calling 206 369.2123.

Payments can be made at the door at the above prices if you’ve made a reservation at least 24 hours beforehand. Without a reservation, add $5 when paying at the door.

Find out April 21 when Lepp reveals all his secrets. (Well, maybe not all. But a lot!)

“I’ll be talking about my experience as an illustrator, how I disciplined myself to draw instead of watch TV,” explained Lepp. “And I’ll also demon-strate my process of drawing in layers, building up drawings to a final state.”

Lepp is currently animating for The Amazing Society. In the past, he’s worked Amaze and other Seattle area game companies.

The first (of his four) RUST graphic novels was published last year. The next is due out later this year.

He’s also written and drawn DAVID: THE SHEPHERD’S SONG; HOW TO DRAW BIG BAD BIBLE BEASTS; and the BARNABAS series of children’s books.

Lepp was born at a very young age on the Canadian prairies of Manitoba. He grew up the son of an oil painter and a farmer and he’s been drawing since he could hold a pencil.

Lepp failed his 12th grade Art class for drawing comics instead of assignments, and was kicked out of 10th grade Math for animating in the corner of his textbook.

A full-time animator, Royden Lepp lives in the Seattle area with his wife, Ruth.

Did you see us at our new location in Artists Alley? We greeted potential new members with “Are you local?” and the conversation went from there. We unveiled our brand new sign to the public and it called attention to itself nicely to our location in the very corner of the convention floor. Cartoonists Northwest filled up a sign up sheet or two with interested artists, writers and people in need of artists and writers. Are you one of our new contacts? Please join us at our next meeting on April 21 to learn more about our events and special guest speakers.

There are only a few more weeks left before the Toonies, so get in your votes and fill out your reservation forms! I got the chance to say hello to our guest speaker Scott Kurtz of the online comic strip PVP at Emerald City, and he was pleased to hear that having his name attached to our awards show had generated a lot of interest from members and potential members.

But don’t let the excitement of the Toonies overshadow our next meeting – April’s guest will be someone I knew when… Archaia Graphic novelist Royden Lepp! Royden’s book “Rust” is available in bookstores everywhere and has been optioned for a movie, so if you don’t want to miss the story of how he went from game artist to screenplay, don’t forget to join us.

As usual I over prepared for my workshop on printing, painting or drawing on fabric. Those who came to the CNW March meeting ready to try out techniques had fun. Those who left their squares with me will have them included in a custom quilt I will be making within the year… God willing. Avery has agreed to send me artwork for one square of white cotton fabric and I will be working with Roberta Gregory on one featuring her artwork. There is still time to meet with me for creating your own square. Deadline is the end of April.

I asked Jason Fruchter,  our A-Dora-ble cartoonist, to review the workshop from his side of the table. My comments are in italics.

Hi Elizabeth,

I enjoyed your presentation at CNW on Saturday, 3/17, very much!

As you requested, here are some of my comments on your presentation:

• I was interested to see the many samples you showcased demonstrating the different techniques of printing and drawing on fabric. (Quilt featuring 12 caricatures, Nice Fur Auttou doll, Happy Doll, Charles Schultz caricature pillow, purses and more.)
• All the material and media used was explained and passed around for a closer look. (I shared fabric markers and fabric paints. Also passed around packets of inkjet printing transfers or fabrics.) 
• You and Roger were very prepared to supply materials to all who attended to make our own fabric prints, even for those of us who didn’t bring anything! (Jeff Hawley was the only one fully prepared. Yes, you need to use textile medium with acrylics or the piece will be too stiff to sew through and will crack and wrinkle excessively.) 
• I liked the 4 samples of the CNW logo you had on display showcasing the different techniques. (Fabric Markers, fabric ink in watercolor technique, iron-on transfer and new Derwent Inktense colored pencils.) 
• The big quilt hanging in the back was very beautiful. I appreciated the explanation you gave describing who each person was and the significance of their themed month they were depicted in. (That was the Caricature Quilt featuring 12 caricaturists from the National Caricaturists Network which is now the International Society of Caricature Artists.) 
• I had a lot of fun drawing and coloring on the fabric you supplied. (Jason used the fabric markers. It takes practice to know how little ink it takes to cover washed cotton fabric.) 
• It was a great combination of a presentation and workshop. First you showed us your samples, materials, and techniques. Then we got to try it ourselves. Very fun!

Take care,

Jason

Thank you to all who attended the CNW March meeting on St. P’s Day.

Emerald City Comic Con

And right after the convention is over it will be time to start thinking about the Toonies, Cartoonists Northwest‘s annual evening dedicated to honoring achievements in the cartoon art form. Online comic strip writer and artist 
Scott Kurtz will be addressing our members as we vote for the recipient of our top award, the Golden Toonie™. Ballots are included in this issue of Penstuff.

The Toonies have been around a long time, but Cartoonists Northwest is always improving, so 2012 seemed like an excellent year to establish guidelines for the nomination process. Members will now have an idea ahead of times of what categories they can nominate someone for. How many times can I vote? What types of media fit into the available categories? These questions and more are answered on the Toonie Guidelines portion of our website.

Remember: Not every nomination or category awarded in the past may appear on the final ballot. Priority is given to nominations with the most votes, and categories will not be awarded unless more than one nominee has been submitted to that category.

The Toonie™ Award planners are committed to promoting talent that needs more recognition, and want this year’s awards ceremony to be fair and fun for everyone. Make sure to check out the talent that has been nominated by our members as the best of Northwest.

Come prepared to create your own 6”x6” (max.) fabric piece. Here is a list of supplies for my hands-on workshop: Line art image to size, 
stiff bristle paint brush for shading, short round 
or flat acrylic brush, 3 acrylic colors plus black, 
small palette knife, fine grain sandpaper (7”square). 
 I will supply fabric paint, textile medium & fabric pens on a limited use basis. Precut fabric squares in basic white cotton or muslin will be on hand. 
 If you don’t draw, bring a joke, funny poem or prose to write within space limitation. If you type your text as a word document and print it to fit 6”square, you will be able to trace it onto the fabric.

The best 9 squares will be sewn into a custom quilted piece by ewp 
for sale at next year’s Toonie™ Award Banquet. Theme is cartoons. 
I’ll be using black & white print fabric for borders and sashing.

Printing techniques are available. Some are more durable than others. Iron-on transfers versus direct inkjet printing on prepared fabric sheets are shown. Getting the most out of one print out. Helpful hints will save you time and money.

Please let me know if you plan on attending. I need to have enough fabric squares cut for the group. My email is ewpgull@comcast.net (no spamming allowed).

No one at the February meeting saw any “ugly” art from guest speaker Pat Moriarty—just tons of beautiful “ugly” monsters and hilariously gross cartoon inventions from one of the Pacific Northwest’s most talented ink slingers!

The print industry is shrinking, says Pat, so he’s been expanding his work by doing web banners and T-shirts, and exciting new stuff like a game for the I-pad currently in production and hush-hush—except for meeting attendees, who got to see awesome previews of what will be a very funny and very “Pat” game!

One of Pat’s personal passions is music—especially the truly terrible “song poems” spawned from the minds of folks who answered those ads in old comic books soliciting lyrics to be transformed into real music! Pat has compiled a CD full of these immortal tunes, complete with a 16-page comic booklet entitled “A Tribute to Bad Lyrics.”

Pat’s got punk cred a’plenty, having designed numerous CD covers and posters for bands like Korn, Boss Martians, the Blasted Boys, Black Irish Texas and many more.

Pat’s drawing process starts with small thumbnail sketches. He blows up his favorite to giant-size, affixes it to the back of Bristol, then puts it on a large lightbox and inks it. He draws with a paintbrush, 102 nibs, crowquill and Rapidograph pens to perfect his linework and then scans to computer. His work is so large he scans in chunks then re-assembles the pieces! It’s downright Frankensteinian.

Speaking of mines… Pat’s work has appeared in many issues of MineShaft alongside comics icons like Crumb, Spain, Deitch and Fleener.