Another new mini-comic for the upcoming (May 25th/26th) 2nd annual Vancaf Small Press Convention coming up at the Roundhouse (it’s also free to attend). In this issue I enter the hallowed halls of ART! This one was painted in black, white and grey gouache, a nice flat medium but difficult in that it drys a different tone than when applied wet.
Please note that this mini-comic and many others are available from Colin Upton Comics - colinupton@telus.net - both individually and in sets at reasonable prices.
Billing it as a “giant show” launching with a signing by all the involved creators, Cloudscape founder Jeff Ellis, reminds us of the origin of the retrospective: “I had a dream that I wanted to boost local comics in Vancouver, The next idea that came… [was] ‘we have all of these artists making comics – rather than spending money to do our own individual works, why don’t we work together and pool our resources to publish something?’”
In the Village T shirt design contest! Shown here are some of the contestants, including Leah Gregg & Kim Ridgewell, Melanie Kimmett, and Jane Koo. Vote here before the end of the month! From the VIAwesome:
We’ve commissioned ten local illustrators and graphic designers to produce designs inspired by the Village on False Creek. The top three voted designs will then be put in front of a jury which includes VANCOUVERISAWESOME’s Bob Kronbauer, Bob Rennie, and one yet-to-be-named judge. We’ll choose one design from those that’ll be printed onto t-shirts which we’ll be giving away.
Waterlogged Fundraising Video by CloudscapeComics. Cloudscape is currently having a fundraiser to crowdsource the production of their latest publication. Arrrgh, it’s going to be great! Join the campaign here!
The 1919 Vancouver Millionaires [simulated] hockey cards, caricatures by Hal, via the VanArchives. Although I’d like to pretend that I found these pressed between the pages of an old encyclopedia, I admit they are pure Photoshop fabrications, mocked up with a free paper background courtesy of psdGraphics. The original artwork was photographed by Stuart Thomson, and I imagine they were intended to be published in some form, perhaps even as trading cards. Here’s Stuart’s bio, from the VanArchives:
Stuart Thomson was born in Hampstead, England, in 1881. Trained as a railway worker, he emigrated to Vancouver in 1910. He took up amateur photography but soon embarked upon a career as a commercial and press photographer. During the 1920s, he contributed to three daily Vancouver newspapers but relied more on commercial work by the 1930s. He died in 1960.
Stuart Thomson sold his negatives to the Vancouver Sun newspaper in 1954. The Vancouver Sun newspaper donated them to the archives in 1963.
Little else is known about the artist Hal; if you have any info about him, please feel free to add a comment! Thanks!
A city map of Canada’s Pacific Northwest city. Neighborhoods from Gastown to Mount Pleasant, and local landmarks from Granville Island to the Jimmy Hendrix house. All connected with bike trails and greenways.
A map of Vancouver circa 1956, cartoonist unknown (or rather, indistinguishable - looks like Pecit?). This fold out cartoon appeared in a brochure from 1956 titled Vancouver, 971.133 V224co PAM in the VPL Special Collections. This brochure had it all; an essay about architecture by Arthur Erickson, an Art Gallery review by Doris Shadbolt, shopping with Pat Woodward. “Produced by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver for the enjoyment of discerning visitors.”
Branding for Java Club by Canterbury Coffee, a local firm founded in 1981 by Murray Dunlop. Thanks for the tip, Neil!
Advert for Hume & Rumble Limited, electrical engineers, from page 7 of the Vancouver News-Herald, August 14, 1948. Ad copy states:
The Faith that Built Vancouver
“…mark my words Jim, this town’s gonna grow. In a few years you’ll need a horse and buggy to get from one end of Vancouver to the other. There’s gonna be thousands of people here…more streets…more stores…more homes. Yes, sir—there’s a great future right here and I aim to be part of it!”
Faith in its future built Vancouver from a collection of huts at the water’s edge to Canada’s third metropolis in two generations. The B.C. Electric Railway Co., Ltd has long been associated with this growth…played a major role. Hume & Rumble, Western Canada’s leading electrical contractors, have shared in this spirit for over 30 years…been closely connected with electrical installation work in many great B.C. Industries and enterprises. Latest of these, B.C. Electric’s new trolley coaches are an important milestone on the road of progress in British Columbia.
I’m very much looking forward to this forthcoming comic set in early Vancouver titled Waterlogged by Cloudscape Comic’s Jeff Ellis. Look closely and you’ll see the Union Steamship Empress of Japan in the first panel!
Here’s a sneak peak of a few of my pages from Waterlogged.
Lions Gateway to Vancouver, a vintage advertising decal from CKLG, on ebay.
Through some great comic poetic justice league, the Cloudscape Comics Society has in their own some small way, turned the Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonistsinto a reality! (ps: Seth’s book, highly recommended!) Yes, the Vancouver cartoonists held a 24hour comic drawing marathon in their new clubhouse in the middle of Memorial South Park Fieldhouse over the weekend. Here’s my photoset. Sponsored in part by the Arts, Culture and Environment Department, this project is part of the Field House Residency program of the Vancouver Park Board. Yay for park clubhouses! Now go help their drive for arts supplies for the comics community!
Map of downtown Vancouver by Dennis Smith, a promotional for SFU campus downtown designed to be printed as a large format mural approximately 8ft by 4ft. This map includes a number of drawings seen previously here.
If you are anywhere near the Cloudscape HQ at 5955 Ross Street (a few blocks from Fraser & E 41st), you can NOW catch a live comic jam for the next 24 hours! Or see the finished 24 page comic Sunday, January 13th by noon!
Apparently, there are free comics during the afternoon courtesy of Metropolis Comics and Toys who will also be providing a prize for best costume (so come dressed up). Judging begins at 2pm…
In addition to celebrating the grand opening of our headquarters, we’re doing this to draw attention to our Independent Publishing Resource Centre fundraiser. If you want to help independent artists in Vancouver make their voices heard, consider giving us your support. This post lists the incentives we’re providing for different amounts of donations. You can also donate physical supplies such as paper, staplers, and paper cutters. See the link to our campaign for all the supplies we need. Finally, we wish to extend our thanks to member Angela Melick for generously donating some silkscreening equipment.
An online project to document 1,000 works of art depicting Vancouver, British Columbia ~ past, present, and future. Curated by jmv on Twitter & flickr. Submissions welcomed.
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‘Stratus’ soon fellow cartoonists! Cloudscape’s biggest art show at the Ayden Gallery opens on May 3 at 7:00pm. If you haven’t signed up yet, do so here! https://www.facebook.com/events/148990701925781/
BK Munn writes about the upcoming show:
Billing it as a “giant show” launching with a signing by all the involved creators, Cloudscape founder Jeff Ellis, reminds us of the origin of the retrospective: “I had a dream that I wanted to boost local comics in Vancouver, The next idea that came… [was] ‘we have all of these artists making comics – rather than spending money to do our own individual works, why don’t we work together and pool our resources to publish something?’”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/8c79c6cea38c0d61eedf39aea3bcb8df/tumblr_mlyg23MhUz1qkwt8jo1_400.jpg)
