RandomGlance

200 Κουραφέλκηθρα

2011-12-23T13:27:00.000+02:00

Τα 'Κουραφέλκηθρα', ίσως ό,τι καλύτερο έχει συμβεί στο ελληνικό χιούμορ με μπαρμπαδέλια μετά το Μοντεχρήστο, γιορτάζουν 200 δημοσιεύσεις και φώναξαν φίλους να το γιορτάσουνε. Αν τα ξέρατε καλώς. Αν όχι, σας ζηλεύω.

Ήρθε ξανά η ώρα τούτη

2011-12-21T19:44:00.000+02:00

Εχω την εντύπωση πως η κάρτα του 2009 ήταν καταλληλότερη για φέτος, αλλα ας μην επαναλαμβανόμαστε.

Καλά να περάσετε.

Εργαστήρια Comics "Μήνας εφηβείας"

2011-12-21T16:53:00.000+02:00

Με ενα εργαστήριο πάνω στα comics για μαθητές Γυμνασίου, κλήθηκα να συμμετέχω τον Νοέμβρη που μας πέρασε στο "Μήνα εφηβείας" των εκδόσεων Πατάκη. Ήταν πολύ ωραία. Μακάρι να γίνονταν περισσότερες εκδηλώσεις στο ίδιο πνεύμα.

Όλα Καλά

2011-12-19T12:51:00.000+02:00

Happily ever after

2011-12-16T19:53:00.000+02:00

Old

2011-12-14T15:47:00.001+02:00

A chubby Princess of Death

2011-12-08T16:23:00.001+02:00

It happens

2011-11-28T21:27:00.001+02:00

White is nice

2011-11-24T14:23:00.001+02:00

My SDCC 11 in 15+1 Doodles

2011-07-31T03:39:00.000+03:00

click me to read!

Prints!

2011-07-14T22:47:00.000+03:00

I just received them this afternoon and I'm happy to say, I really love the printing quality for a change! These shitty phone-camera photos are not doing them justice, but I really wanted to share them right now cause I might not have a chance to shoot them with a proper camera before wrapping them up for the trip. They're mostly illustrations from my on going folklore monsters project such as basilisks. golems, ghouls and mermaids, and they're going to be available at the Flight booth in San Diego Comic-Con next week.

For those interested in such matters they are A3(11,7"x16,5") 8-color digital prints on 200gr Cordenons-Chagall watercolor paper and signed one by one by yours truly.

See you there!

Harry Potter doodle

2011-07-04T15:17:00.001+03:00

Flight volume 8!

2011-07-01T19:52:00.008+03:00

It's out there for you to find, and it's also the very last one. There are so many beautiful stories in this book, I am sure you'll agree that this last one is definitely one of the best volumes in the whole series.

My story is called "Encore" and it was mostly an attempt to capture that bittersweet feeling I get every time I think about the end of the Flight series. I really want to thank Kazu Kibuishi again for giving me the chance to be part of these amazing books. I feel so grateful!

Here is a 4 page preview of my story:

The process of making this one was such a different experience from my previous Flight story. Much less organized often to the point of pure panic. I was working between 16-18 hours per day to meet the deadline (I got a late start!) and I was all over the place, correcting and editing stuff until the very last minute. I was so tired at some point, I actually fell asleep while working with my eyes open! Not being able to get too much into things like pacing, layouts, characters might make your work suffer at times but it gives you a strong momentum and the pressure of making such decisions on the fly can be really educational simply by forcing you to realize what needs to be done, what can wait and what's not needed at all.

This is actually all the preliminary sketches I did for characters. That's it. I just jotted down a basis for a design and worked from there. I realized afterwards that I'm pretty inconsistent concerning the design of the main characters throughout the story, but since they are just two, I don't think it causes much trouble in the reading process. All secondary characters were made straight into the final page.

And as far as the actual pages I did these chicken-scratches just to get a general feel of the page, made all my layout decisions on them, and then moved straight to the final page.

While working on this, the rest of the guys at the studio started making jokes at some point. I think my favorite was..."You are starting to resemble an office furniture". Another thing they kept telling me while working was that based on my overloaded visual approach to the story I hardly acted like someone who's short on time. I totally understand why it might looks that way, and when I tried to explain it, the only answer that made perfect sense for me at the time was that Mark Twain quote...
"Please excuse the size of my letter, but I didn't have enough time to write a shorter one."

Cheers!

Oh and, If any of you happens to be at San Diego Comic-Con, drop by the Flight booth and say hi!

Check out more posts from the rest of the Flight crew:

Sonny Liew

Nicholas Kole
Scott C.

Jake Parker
Der-shing Helmer
Katie Shanahan
Kyla Vanderklugt
Tony Cliff

Corey Godbey

Flight of the conchords doodle

2011-06-09T14:19:00.000+03:00

Listening to the Conchords... good day everyone.

Sneaky peeky... The last volume of Flight is almost here!

2011-06-07T17:21:00.000+03:00

Pre-orders are available from Amazon.

Nicotine free 4416 hours straight

2011-06-06T02:43:00.001+03:00

ΚΑΝΤΕ ΚΛΙΚ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΑΧΛΑΜΑΡΑ ΠΟΥ ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙ!

This morning's warm up

2011-05-10T13:34:00.000+03:00

God of thunder and all that jazz!

By the way, people keep telling me, the movie sucked big time.

Άγονη γραμμή γόνιμη. Μια γεύση απο Αντίπαρο

2011-05-08T14:56:00.000+03:00

Ήταν καταπληκτικά! Η παρέα μας ξεπέρνούσε τα 70 παιδιά μαθητές δημοτικού και γυμνασίου. Τρείς μέρες γεμάτες κόμικς. Μιλήσαμε γι'αυτά, φτιάξαμε δικά μας, και μετά βγήκαμε στην αυλή και παίξαμε μπάλα. Πανέξυπνα παιδιά, όμορφο νησί και δάσκαλοι δραστήριοι και ορεξάτοι. Θα ξαναπάμε!

COMICDOM 2011. Έφτασε.

2011-04-07T23:19:00.001+03:00

Που-Σου-Κου. Ελληνοαμερικανική Ένωση. Απανταχού κομιξόπληκτοι ενωθείτε, για να γλεντήσουμε και φέτος τους αγαπημένους μας ψυχαναγκασμούς.

Ανέλαβα και το πόστερ της διοργάνωσης φέτος και είπα να το δω, σε αντίθεση με τις ως τωρα αφίσσες, λιγότερο ως εικονογράφηση και περισσότερο ως πόστερ. Δείτε εδώ και μερικές απο τις προσεγγίσεις που δε χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τελικά.

Και δυό λόγια περισπούδαστα...

Εδω μπορείτε να δείτε και τι είχα κατά νού ως γραμμή ύφους, αλλά δυστυχώς πίπα δε βρήκαμε. Νομίζω όμως και το κασκόλ μια χαρά δουλειά έκανε...

Άγονη γραμμή γόνιμη 2011

2011-03-29T21:35:00.001+03:00

Η Άγονη γραμμή γόνιμη είναι ένα καταπληκτικό πρόγραμμα που κάνει βόλτες στα νησιά πραγματοποιώντας ένα σωρό δημιουργικά εργαστήρια . Μια πρωτοβουλία που ξεκίνησε απο το 2007
και έχει ήδη επισκεφθεί πάρα πολλά νησιά. Μπείτε στο agonigrammi.gr και μάθετε περισσότερα.

Φέτος έχω τη χαρά να συμμετέχω και εγώ, και απο τις 3 του Απρίλη και για 3 μέρες θα βρίσκομαι στην Αντίπαρο με παιδιά Γυμνασίου φτιάχνοντας -τι άλλο;- κομιξ.

Ιδού και το φετινό σποτάκι της διοργάνωσης.

TV SPOT 2011 from Agoni Grammi Gonimi on Vimeo.

MUSED "Lost and found"

2011-01-13T16:25:00.003+02:00

The second 'Mused' installment has just been uploaded. Click the pic to go there. Good day everyone! oh... and a happy new year!

Eraser art #03

2010-12-28T02:26:00.000+02:00

Almost there...

2010-12-25T19:50:00.000+02:00

Nicotine free 432 hours straight

2010-12-20T22:05:00.000+02:00

Κάντε κλίκ στην εικόνα και διαβάστε το ηλίθιο κομιξάκι

Nicotine free 96 hours straight

2010-12-07T20:53:00.004+02:00

Κάντε κλίκ στην εικόνα και διαβάστε το ηλίθιο κομιξάκι

Another girl doodle

2010-11-22T20:08:00.000+02:00

Wonder doodle

2010-11-19T17:41:00.000+02:00

Just another warm up doodle. But hey look. It's a girl this time! Hoooray!!

Eraser art #02

2010-11-14T18:39:00.001+02:00

On (not) drawing pictures for a living

2010-11-06T05:45:00.000+02:00

Have a great weekend!

Hadoken guy doodle

2010-11-03T20:33:00.002+02:00

Hey there, are Wii having fun or what!

May November deliver everything that October couldn't.

Ugly Superman

2010-10-29T19:25:00.000+03:00

Dug this up from the warm up folder. Thought it was kinda funny-ish.

Have a super beautiful weekend everyone.

Eraser art #01

2010-10-27T21:24:00.000+03:00

I don't know about you but I am a big fan of these squishy kind of erasers. I find them incredibly useful. Erasers rarely get appreciated as much as the rest tools of the trade. Truth is, they are mostly used to wipe out the crappy stuff from a drawing, but these squishy ones are much more than that. I cannot even remember how many silly stuff I've made with them while stuck trying to think of what to write or draw next. Here is a tribute to these extremely short lived, three dimensional doodles.
I'll make sure to keep them coming...

Μαχαιροβγάλτης

2010-10-22T15:10:00.008+03:00

Did this as part of an exhibition for the opening night of a new Greek movie called "Knifer".

13 εικονογράφοι εμπνέονται από τη νέα ταινία του Γιάννη Οικονομίδη.

Στο πλαίσιο των παράλληλων εκδηλώσεων του 23ου Πανοράματος Ευρωπαϊκού Κινηματογράφου, εγκαινιάζεται -ταυτόχρονα με τις προβολές της 20ης Οκτωβρίου στους χώρους του Αττικόν και του Απόλλωνα- έκθεση με έργα 13 Εικονογράφων που εμπνεύστηκαν από τον "Μαχαιροβγάλτη". Ακολουθώντας την ασπρόμαυρη αισθητική προσέγγιση της ταινίας, η έκθεση φιλοξενεί δημιουργίες των σχεδιαστών comics Γιώργου Γούση, Μιχάλη Διαλυνά, Κώστα Κυριακάκη, Χάρη Λαγκούση, Χρήστου Μαρτίνη, Παναγιώτη Μητσομπόνου, Αλέξιας Οθωναίου, Παναγιώτη Πανταζή, Θανάση Πέτρου, Τόμεκ και Γαβριήλ Τομπαλίδη, του ζωγράφου Τάσου Παυλόπουλου και της εικαστικού Τερέζας Ζεγκίνογλου.

Η έκθεση θα παραμείνει και μετά την ολοκλήρωση του Φεστιβάλ, ώστε να υποδεχθεί το κοινό και κατά την έξοδο της ταινίας στις κινηματογραφικές αίθουσες.

Το σύνολο των έργων, εκτός φυσικά από τους κινηματογράφους Απόλλων και Αττικόν όπου θα εκτίθενται, αναζητήστε το και στο 16σέλιδο ένθετο της Lifo που θα κυκλοφορήσει την Πέμπτη 21/10.

adventure time doodle

2010-10-12T21:15:00.003+03:00

I was watching Adventure time the other day. Great cartoon! You should really check it out in case you haven't already. I was making this doodle while thinking of how creepy cartoon characters tend to look, if you approach their simple design with even the slightest realistic angle.

Εργαστήριο comics στους "Κοσμοναύτες"

2010-10-08T15:53:00.008+03:00

Στον πολυχώρο "Κοσμοναύτες", ένας νέος χώρος που ανοίγει τις πόρτες του αυτό το μήνα, θα λειτουργήσουν εργαστήρια υποκριτικής, ζωγραφικής, φωτογραφίας, χορού και πολλά άλλα σε μια προσπάθεια να καλυφθεί ενα ευρύ φάσμα ενδιαφερόντων. Εκεί θα βρίσκομαι και γω φέτος για την λειτουργία ενός εργαστηρίου πάνω στα comics.

Για πληροφορίες καλέστε 2114068407-6937118866

Την Κυριακή 17 του μήνα* απο τις 6 το απόγευμα μπορείτε να περάσετε για ένα καφέ και μια πρώτη γνωριμία με το αντικείμενο των εργαστηρίων και τους ανθρώπους που τα πραγματοποιούν.

* και οχι στις 10 όπως ανέφερα λανθασμένα στο αρχικό post.

Mused

2010-09-29T18:41:00.012+03:00

Although the first 18-page story is already on-line on my website for quite some time now, I haven't really said anything about it yet. "Mused" is a webcomic I recently started to work on, but in reality the actual idea behind it, is far from what you might call fresh.

Τhe main characters along with countless notes on story ideas, can be found in sketchbooks and various scraps of paper around my studio dating back to more than a decade. I never seem to get a clear vision of what form this might take, but the ideas kept pilling up regardless. This thing somehow kept demanding my attention. I needed to get it out of my system and the internet seemed a good place to start.

Stay tuned, I'll tweet about it, every time there is something new to read.

On with the show.

AnimArt 2010

2010-07-22T15:03:00.010+03:00

I just got back from this year's AnimArt. The 10-day animation workshop up in the mountains, where I got to hang out with good friends and make new ones. Cool people from all sorts of places teamed up making some amazing clips. Claymation, 2d and 3d animation, you name it. Between the heavy drinking, staying up all night and playing ping-pong, we managed to complete a 2 minutes animation 2d short with a little help from our new friends, just in time for the final screening day of the whole workshop.

Great train ride!

Setup gear in place.

Getting started

work work work!

Cheetos-fueled, all-nighter.

Last day. Final stretch. Hard at work.

Last scene! looks like we are gonna make it!


Done! Mission accomplished in just two days! Now back to playing ping-pong!

Flight volume 7 is almost here.

2010-06-25T22:55:00.001+03:00

The amazing annual "Flight" anthology is about to release volume 7 on July 20, 2010 just before this year's Comic-Con in San Diego.
A preview of all the stories in the book is already online, and you can pre-order it from Amazon.

I have been a huge fan of the series from the very beginning, six years ago, and a first time contributor for which I feel really proud and incredibly honored. My story is titled "Premium cargo" and I hope you like it.

If I have anything to say about Flight is without any doubt from the reader's point of view and it's definitely useless to pretend I could ever be objective about it.

The Flight volumes along with very few other books are resting on a shelve marked as "special" in my mind. They are not special because of their amazing craftsmanship. I have lots of other books filled with that too on nearby shelves. Not because of their great stories or the ideas expressed within them. I have lots of these too. These books are special to me, not because they gave me plenty of reasons to admire and appreciate them -and they most certainly did- but because of the connection that was established between us when we met. I am not sure anyone can actually describe the experience, so in lack of better words let's just say, we became friends.

Do you happen to have any book that you never seem to get tired of reading? A book that although it exhibits great virtues in all sorts of ways, you never really care much to compare it with others? It's like some kind of communion took place. Something was shared that seems to transcends the boundaries of the actual medium involved. It's not necessarily something big or profound. It's just there.

Suddenly you see too much of yourself poured inside its pages. You can never be objective about it again. You don't even want to. It's out of the competition and on its way to the "special" shelve.

Now, you might think that I am biased beyond remedies, and you are probably right, but I honestly think you are in for a treat -yet again- with this latest volume.

"The Road" Sketches

2010-02-21T16:21:00.003+02:00

I saw the movie yesterday. I really liked the book, and I'm glad it stayed true to its spirit.
I loved the limited palette. Here are a couple of sketches I did today.

Tonal warm ups

2010-02-01T21:53:00.003+02:00

Don't have much to post lately. I've been working on a couple of long term projects and I can't share anything yet. Meanwhile here are some tonal warm-up morning sketches I've been doing lately.

Sometimes I spend 15-20 minutes to quickly jot down as many as I can to get in the right frame of mind before jumping in the actual work. This is today's crop. I usually tend to go for a variety of face-figure-place, so I don't get caught up in doing just one of them. Especially faces. I find that it's so easy to be lured in overworking them. I used ref photos for Piaf and Elvis, although I don't feel like using reference for warm ups as a rule. Depends on the mood. Cheers.

'Intra muros' reloaded!

2010-01-05T10:45:00.022+02:00

Καλή χρονιά!

Οι φίλοι Πέτρος Χριστούλιας και Τάσος Ζαφειριάδης δημιουργοί του ιδιαίτερου και πρωτότυπου INTRA MUROS του '9' της Ελευθεροτυπίας ετοιμάζονται να κυκλοφορήσουν (τέλη Φεβρουαρίου) δεμένες σε αλμπουμάκι όλες τις έντονα εγκεφαλικές (και οχι μόνο) περιπέτειες απο το μικροσκοπικό τους χαριτωμένο μπαρμπαδέλι.

Κάλεσαν λοιπόν και τους φίλους τους να συμμετέχουν με το κάτι τις τους, έτσι για το καλό, και εμείς σπεύσαμε...

Άντε παίδες, καλοτάξιδο!

Best wishes out there!

2009-12-24T19:02:00.004+02:00

Hitting the shelves

2009-12-24T15:51:00.007+02:00

As a freelance illustrator, the projects that I am usually called to take on are (more often than not) quite far from exciting. They are usually too commercial, too restrictive, and sometimes just plain unimaginative. This latest one was one of the exceptions, and thought I'd share.

It's a greek publication on the immigrant Greeks through out recent history. An impressive big hardcover 480pages-book, that comes in it's own box.

I was asked to illustrate 10 maps, one for each chapter. They made clear that the maps had absolutely no need to be too informative or even "work" as proper maps. Decorative rather than functional. I had absolute freedom.

While doodling for ideas, I was crumpling papers, as usual, tossing them around the studio. At some point, while looking at one, I realized how much crumpled paper resembles the earth's terrain. That was it! I made this 2d paper sculpture of a map, took a photo and sent it to the editor. Fortunately they loved it. They even followed the paper concept for the cover.

When I got the actual book in my hands a couple days ago, I noticed a few things I wasn't happy about. The maps looked a bit "over-processed". Too much Photoshop was involved for no apparent reason. Artificial drop-shadows, flattened tones, over-exposure, and a black font instead of white handwritten text on the maps like I intended. It's still nice, but took a lot out of the freshness and simplicity of the whole idea. Turns out, the graphic design department fiddled around with them over-zealously.

I had a good time making them despite the fact that it turned out to be way more labor intensive than I imagined. The book is hitting the shelves in the Greek market real soon from Polaris publications.

ho ho ho!

2009-12-07T19:34:00.007+02:00

December is finally starting to act like himself.
Found this in my "warm-up" sketches (oh the irony!)
I thought it fits the occasion...

Thumbnail art!

2009-11-28T22:14:00.009+02:00

Believe it or not, that's what I had in mind the very first time I heard the term "Thumbnail sketch".

Who said ignorance holds no creativity.

I might do some more of those in the future. It's fun!

Comic strip (Greek)

2009-11-24T19:42:00.009+02:00

That's an old one, but still nice to share.
It's a comic strip commissioned back
at '06 for a small calendar publication.

12 artists, 12 months, 12 strips.
I got March.

IT'S ALIVE!

2009-11-21T11:13:00.017+02:00

It's high time I resurrect this poor thing of a blog, and try to keep it that way for a while. Although things got a bit stale around here (if not smelly) a whole lot of things happened in the real world.
Moved in a new apartment, exposed myself to the mystifying perplexities of casting a fishing rod, taste bitter defeat in drawing contest by my seven-year-old nephew, grew a beard (of sorts), bought my first suit and became Best man. Twice.

I had the best view while watching my two dearest friends tying the knot, the very same week! Of all the honorable duties I was entrusted with, one of them included a wedding invitation...

work work work!

2009-04-15T13:37:00.004+03:00

I just realized how long it's been since I last posted here. It's so very typical in freelance work to be sitting on your ass only to be swamped in deadlines the following second. That's exactly where I was for more than a month now. and by the end of each day the last thing I wanted was to sit in front of a screen a little bit longer. Although I am not out of the storm just yet, there was a nice break from work during this weekend due to the Comicdom con which was excellent and had the chance to hang around with friends and relax. I did this Joker piece as part of a small exhibition held inside the convention where 12 creators had the chance to draw a superhero or villain of their choice. Well, here is mine... now back to work.

Contribution

2009-02-22T11:32:00.006+02:00

I recently had the chance to meet and talk with Patricio Betteo, an amazingly talented artist from Mexico. Don't take my word for it though, check his beautiful work for yourself.
Patricio was kind enough to ask me for a small contribution for his on line project, posting a new illustration per day (intimidating too I might add for a lazy bum like me) and this is what I came up with. Pay a visit over there and enjoy the scenery.

Thanks Patricio!

Gotham blues

2009-02-09T12:45:00.005+02:00

Found this while looking for something else, and thought I might share it. Some time back I had this idea completely out of the blue, for a Batman short story, which is unusual since I am not such a fan of the whole genre (although admitably Batman is cool). I did write it eventually but all sorts of things piled up on top of it that had to be done, so it didn't get made and eventually it was forgotten. I did make some sketches though. Here is one of them.

Έκθεση Comics: «Εν ηφτάνουσι τα λόγια!» Ζόμπις, νεράιδες, φαντάσματα, παραμύθια και άλλες καριώτικες ιστορίες.

2009-02-09T12:36:00.002+02:00

Απόσπασμα απο δελτίο τύπου:

...Οι έξι δημιουργοί που συμμετέχουν, περιπλανούνται στις προφορικές παραδόσεις του νησιού, «ονειρεύονται» και συνθέτουν ισάριθμες εικονογραφημένες ιστορίες. Βουρβούλακες, νεράιδες, φαντάσματα και παραμύθια θα σας περιμένουν αναρτημένα στον χώρο του bartesera. Τα εγκαίνια της έκθεσης θα πραγματοποιηθούν την Δευτέρα 16 Φεβρουαρίου 2009 και 20.00 μ.μ.

Συμμετέχουν οι δημιουργοί: Κώστας Κυριακάκης, Γιώργος Μπότσος, Θανάσης Πέτρου, Soloup, Στέλιος Τσιμπίδης και Θανάσης Ψαρρός.
Έρευνα: Εύη Καλογερή, Μάρκος Θεοδωράκης.

Εγκαίνια: Δευτέρα 16 Φεβρουαρίου 2009 – ώρα 20.00 μ.μ.
Χώρος: bartesera, Κολοκοτρώνη 25, Στοά Πραξιτέλους, Αθήνα
Διάρκεια: 16 Φεβρουαρίου – 02 Απριλίου 2009.
Ιστοσελίδα Εκδήλωσης: http://www.comicart.gr/words/
Πληροφορίες: bartesera@gmail.com, info@comicart.gr .

Angouleme international BD festival '09

2009-02-05T18:29:00.005+02:00

photos: Nickos Mexis

Just got back from the 36th international comics festival in Angouleme, and the very first I had the chance to experience myself, and what an experience it was!

It was unlike any other festival I have ever seen. The whole city participated in one way or another. Restaurants had white papers and markers in every table next to the salt and pepper, sometimes they even made the drawings people left at the table, part of the restaurant decoration, hanging them around the walls. I saw comics exhibitions even in churches. Not to mention that in every bar and cafe I sat and took out my sketchbook to sketch something, everyone around smiled at me. There are really so many things worth mentioning, I could go on and on.

More photos soon...

Out and about sketches 2008

2009-01-27T19:20:00.006+02:00

After a long period of doing all sorts of different stuff, while constantly ignoring to update this poor blog, I am coming back with this monster post hoping to save some face. So, here are some sketches and pages from the sketchbooks that I have been carrying around with me all year when I was out and about.
They are done in buses, trains, coffee shops, bars, hospitals, airplanes, jungles, spaceships, and other friendly or less friendly places away from home, using twigs and my left foot occasionally along with other strange artifacts. Some are crap some are ok I guess, but they all share the same charm of loitering somewhere for far more than you should.
Happy new year everyone.

IF "Balloon"

2008-12-04T16:12:00.006+02:00

Puts the phrase "creative thinking" in a whole new perspective, doesn't it?

I think that the most enjoyable thing for me, in contributing to the 'Illustration Friday' project, is in playing around with the concept of each topic, rather than the actual illustration part of the whole process.

Feast your eyes!

2008-11-28T18:08:00.005+02:00

Did you ever had a super-talented friend that you kept telling everyone about, but there wasn't any immediate way of actually showing just how good he was, every time you mentioned his name?

I did.

Costas Theoharis, my good friend and super talented illustrator, finally has a website filled with his amazing work for everyone to see, with one of the cutest, smartest designs I've seen in a long time.

Enjoy.

Illustration Friday discovered

2008-11-26T22:04:00.007+02:00

I just discovered "illustration Friday". An ongoing illustration project, where everyone can try and illustrate a different topic every week. Just seeing the huge variety of so many different approaches on the same subject is really interesting. The topic this week is "Opinion", and I thought I should give it a try.

Διαβάζω Comics στο "ΔΙΑΒΑΖΩ"

2008-11-05T18:12:00.010+02:00

Με όλη αυτή την παντελώς καινούρια για μένα, πρόσφατη ενασχόληση με τα μαθήματα πάνω στο μέσο των κόμικς στα πλαίσια των ¨βιβλιοπαιχνιδιών¨ στο Ε.ΚΕ.ΒΙ, θυμήθηκα την δισέλιδη στήλη του περιοδικου "Διαβάζω" που φτιάχνουμε με την Ληδα, εδώ και κάποιους μήνες. Η μηνιαία επιθεώρηση του βιβλίου οπώς αναγράφει κάτω απ΄τον τίτλο του, πρωτοεμφανίστηκε στα περίπτερα το 1975.

Με μοναδική εξαίρεση δυστυχώς, την διακοπή της κυκλοφορίας του για σχεδόν ένα ολόκληρο χρόνο το 2004, λόγο του ξαφνικού θανάτου του ως τότε διευθυντή του περιοδικού Ηρακλή Παπαλέξη, είναι μαζί μας μέχρι σήμερα, παραμένοντας -δυστυχώς- το μοναδικό στο είδος του.

Ένα δισέλιδο λοιπόν μέσα σ'ενα περιοδικό εκ γενετής συνυφασμένο με την έννοια καλό βιβλίο, που ασχολείται με τα κόμικς, δεν το θεωρώ απλά μια προσωπική νίκη για την Λήδα Τσενέ που το κατέστησε εφικτό, αλλά και μια σαφώς θετική ένδειξη οτι η τραγικά λανθασμένη (αν και υπο προϋποθέσεις, δικαιολογημένη) πεποίθηση πως τα κόμικς απευθύνονται αποκλειστικά σε παιδιά αρχίζει επιτέλους,αργά αλλά σταθερά, να ξεθωριάζει. Τεντώνοντας λίγο ακόμα αυτήν την ομολογουμένως σπάνια οπτιμιστική μου κρίση, θα ήθελα να πιστέψω οτι θα μπορούσε να σταθεί αιτία (έστω λίγο) να ενισχύσει το υπάρχον κοινό των κόμικς με νέο και εκλεκτό αναγνωστικό αίμα.
Με την ευκαιρία να αναφέρω οτι στο τωρινό τεύχος Νοεμβρίου, η στήλη φιλοξενεί συνέντευξη του Συγγραφέα Απόστολου Δοξιάδη, με αφορμή την τελευταια του πάρα πολύ καλή δουλειά "Logicomix".

Εδώ βλέπετε επιλεκτικά το πρώτο δισέλιδο που φανερώνει το ύφος και την όλη προσέγγιση, και ακόμα ένα με θεματικό χαρακτήρα γύρω απο την Γαλλική σκηνή κόμικς.
Ναι, η οικοδέσποινα της στήλης -για όσους αναρωτήθηκαν- είναι η ίδια η Λήδα.

"Βιβλιοπαιχνίδια" στο Ε.ΚΕ.ΒΙ. Μέρα πρώτη

2008-11-03T17:32:00.009+02:00

Σήμερα το πρωί ξεκίνησαν τα "Βιβλιοπαιχνίδια" στο Εθνικό Κέντρο Βιβλίου. ( Για λεπτομέρειες δείτε παλιότερο σχετικό post ) Παίρνοντας λοιπόν το βάφτισμα του πυρός, ξεκίνησα με την πρώτη από τις τρείς εβδομάδες των εργαστηρίων, αντικρύζοντας 38 μαθητές της τετάρτης Δημοτικού, για να επιχειρήσω κάτι που δεν είχα ξανακάνει ποτέ.
Μια εξερεύνηση, μέσα στους βαθύτερους μηχανισμούς των κόμικς και τις ιδιαίτερες αρετές τους, τεκμηριώνοντάς τα σαν ένα πλήρες και αυτόνομο αφηγηματικό μέσο ικανό να ικανοποιήσει καθε γούστο, ανεξαρτήτως ηλικίας, μέσα σε δύο ώρες.

Χμ... ναί. Πώς το είπατε?

Ξέρω ακριβώς τι σκέφτεστε. Έτσι ακριβώς σκεφτόμουν και εγώ καθώς προετοίμαζα το υλικό μιά μέρα πρίν. Ανησυχούσα πως θα με κοιτάνε σαν εξωγήινο. Κάθε άλλο όμως.

Η συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των παιδιών δεν είχε το παραμικρό πρόβλημα να συμβαδίσει με μια πορεία που ξεκίνησε δίνοντας ορισμό στο τί είναι τα κόμικς και ποιά είναι η λειτουργία τους. Πέρασε απο την απόλυτη αποδόμηση των χαρακτηριστικών τους, την σύγκριση τους με τα λοιπά αφηγηματικά μέσα, και τον διαχωρισμο της εικόνας στα κομικς ως λειτουργικό αφηγηματικό εργαλείο, σε αντίθεση με τον ρόλο και τις αναζητήσεις της στον εικαστικό χώρο. Τέλος, τους δόθηκε η ευκαιρία να επιδείξουν οτι εχουν κατανοήσει πλήρως όλα τα παραπάνω μέσα απο ασκήσεις -όχι ιδιαίτερα εύκολες- και μέσα σε όλα αυτά, βρήκαμε και χρόνο να σαχλαμαρίσουμε μέχρι αηδίας, οπώς αρμόζει όταν κάνεις παρέα με παιδιά της τετάρτης Δημοτικου.

Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι οτι η υπόλοιπη εβδομάδα προβλέπεται συναρπαστική.

Τα ζώα που έμειναν εκτός κιβωτού

2008-10-30T14:29:00.004+02:00

Στην ιστοσελίδα της Γαλέρας (αποκλειστικά) βρίσκεται η στήλη όπου εικονογραφεί ο Τάκης Σταύρου (και όχι μόνο), με θέμα τα ζώα που έμειναν εκτός κιβωτού. Μια απλούστατη ιδέα, πολύ καλά εκτελεσμένη. Ρίξτε μια ματιά νομίζω πως θα βρείτε διαμαντάκια. Ελπίζω να μαζευτούν πολλά και να τα δούμε σύντομα και σε κάποια μίνι έκδοση.

Όταν κοιτάς απο ψηλά...

2008-10-30T04:44:00.004+02:00

Η επόμενη Γαλέρα έρχεται σύντομα με εκτενές αφιέρωμα στην έδρα της. Τα Εξάρχεια. Πάρτε μια μικροσκοπική γεύση του δισέλιδου εικονογραφημένου χάρτη των εξαρχείων που θα συνοδευει το αφιέρωμα. Με ταλαιπώρησε πολύ παραπάνω απο οσο περίμενα.
Μανίκι η χαρτογράφηση, δεν με προειδοποίησε κανένας. Για να διαπιστώσετε αν άξιζε τον κόπο, μπορείτε να τον βρείτε με την Γαλέρα απο βδομάδα στα περίπτερα.

Εθνικό Κέντρο Βιβλίου (EKEBI) ΒΙΒΛΙΟΠΑΙΧΝΙΔΙΑ 2008

2008-10-30T03:43:00.007+02:00

Σε λίγες μόλις μέρες, ξεκινούν στο ΕΚΕΒΙ τα βιβλιοπαιχνίδια τα οποία φέτος θα έχουν σαν θεματικό άξονα τα κομικς. Απο αυτή τη Δευτέρα λοιπόν και για όλη την εβδομάδα, θα είμαι εκεί κάθε μέρα για να κουβεντιάσουμε και να εξερευνήσουμε τα κόμικς με πολλούς μαθητές απο τα Δημοτικά όλης της Αθήνας και όχι μόνο!

Η προσέλευση και το ενδιαφέρον που έδειξαν οι εκπαιδευτικοί ήταν πραγματικά εντυπωσιακό. Οι θέσεις για όλα τα τμήματα γέμισαν ασφυκτικά λίγο μέτα την ανακοίνωση του προγράμματος! Για παραπάνω πληροφορίες σχετικά με το πρόγραμμα και τους συντελεστές του ( Λήδα Τσενέ, Ιφιγένεια Βαρδουλάκη, Πέτρος Χριστούλιας ), ρίξτε μια ματιά στο mini blog του προγράμματος το οποιό θα ενημερώνεται με περισσότερες πληροφορίες και φωτογραφικό υλικό σε όλη τη διάρκεια των εργαστηρίων.

19th Comics festival in Lodz

2008-10-30T01:43:00.007+02:00

Early October, during the first weekend to be exact, me and my supergirl Lida attended the 19th Polish annual comics festival in Lodz.

The place was such a beauty. We took long walks around the city every chance we had. Beautiful old buildings and statues all around. You could see banners, posters, and all sorts of displays concerning the festival everywhere.

It gave out a feeling that the whole city was involved and really appreciated the event, which is a really nice thing considering that Poland, is not really big on comics as we found out while talking with some of the organizers, and local journalists covering the event. There is a small but loyal core of readers they said, which is pretty much the case for Greece too.

There was an amazing exhibition as part of the festival held in an old cloth factory which is now reformed into this truly impressive gallery building.

This is Jean Giraud (aka Moebius), one of the guests of honor, checking out the artwork of another guest artist, which is none other than Milo Manara...

...which you can see here, doing a sketch for a fan.

happy end

2008-10-29T13:49:00.005+02:00

Apparently luck was on my side, (beginners usually enjoy that privilege) and everything played out according to plan. The baking was perfect. No cracks or any other mishaps for that matter, and finally painted with acrylics. Voila!

Play with clay

2008-09-27T14:41:00.012+03:00

Its just fun!
When you know that you don't have a clue what you are doing, you can't really be anxious of the results, and that's relaxing. Although I haven't really practiced at all apart from fooling around with it from time to time, forming a piece of clay into something always felt natural. As for the more technical aspects (materials, techniques, etc.) I am completely in the dark. So when I recently got the sudden urge to make something out of it, I just went ahead and did it, using nothing but common sense and some tips from friends.
I used some sort of polymer clay (Fimo-eberhardFaber) which you need to put in the oven for 30 minutes at 130-C/ 265-F as the package described, I also bought a set of wooden tools that helps you form the clay in detail when your fingers are just to thick and bulky to get the job done, and last but not least, I used wire and tape to make some kind of skeletal structure to work on.

I decided to start with making one of the characters that has been haunting my sketchbooks for more than 10 years now, and he is been giving me hell for not making something out of him all this time. Knowing that the graphic novel this vain little critter wishes for, is not coming out any time soon, I thought I can soothe his wounded ego with a statue in his honor.

The opposite side on the wooden tools turned out to be really useful for extracting excess clay from the form with precision and control.

This specific material is so hard. It gets your hands sore trying to warm it up enough in order to get it softer and mold it properly.

Although the hardness helps to minimize the fingerprints that you make, all over the model while working on it, and you can easily wipe them out with the tools applying gentle strokes. They are not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it even looks good, adding texture to the surface, but for some reason with the one I am making here, it gave away a certain feel of scale, that I didn't want.

Almost there...

Here it is. The cake is ready for baking. It took about five and a half hours. If it survives the oven in one piece, it's going to be painted with acrylics. I'll post the results soon.

Here is another character, just the head this time. This is a different material and it dries out by itself. No oven. It's called "Plus" modeling clay by Sio-2. Comes in 1Kg packages and it's much cheaper that the other one.

I made this one as a reference aid for a group of people building a 3d model of the character. There is a bigger story behind it, an exciting one which I am eager to share but I am not going to. at least not yet.

Animasyros 1.0

2008-09-27T13:23:00.012+03:00

Το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο στο πανέμορφο θέατρο Απόλλων της εξίσου πανέμορφης Σύρου, ξεκίνησε το πρώτο φεστιβάλ animation με τον λιτό και σαφέστατο τίτλο "Animasyros" οργανωμένο απο την ομάδα Πλατφόρμα.

Εκτός απο τις αναμενόμενες προβόλες ταινιών μικρού
μήκους απο Έλληνες και ξένους καλλιτέχνες, υπήρχαν παράλληλα
εργαστήρια για τρισδιάστατο και δισδιάστατο animation, και διάφορα άλλα ωραία.

Αριστερά ο Πέτρος Χριστούλιας σχεδίασε την καταπληκτική μασκότ του φεστιβάλ και δεξιά ο Κώστας Πέτρου ήταν αυτός που την έκανε τρισδιάστατη. Ωραία δουλειά. Αντε παιδιά να την δούμε και σε κανένα ταινιάκι σύντομα. Για μια καλύτερη γεύση του πως ήταν το όλο κλίμα, εδώ μπορείτε να δείτε το βίντεο που εφτιαξε η ομάδα που ανέλαβε να καλύψει το φεστιβάλ.

Και περνώντας και στις πραγματικά σημαντικές πληροφορίες, καλό είναι όταν θα βρεθείτε στη Σύρο, να δοκιμάσετε χοιρινό με δαμάσκηνα και μέλι στο Αρχονταρίκι, και μετά να το στολίσετε απο πάνω με ένα μπρικάτο διπλό ελληνικό και ενα γαλακτομπούρεκο λίγο πιο πέρα στης Νινέτας.

Reunion

2008-09-17T19:16:00.009+03:00

I was visiting a friend last week. He recently got mixed up with stop-motion animation, doing some really cool stuff. During the whole process, he got familiar with some video editing software, and he was eager to demonstrate all the new tricks he had learned. I suggested we should make something on the spot, instead of just giving me a tour on all these potentially impressive tools.

For some strange reason he liked the idea, one thing led to another and we ended up wasting the few days I was staying there, doodling and editing inside the house, instead of going out and enjoy a perfectly sunny day.
The main reason I was there in the first place was relaxing and staying off work for a while... I am hopeless.
Anyway this is what we ended up with.

Ζαχόπουλος

2008-09-08T01:09:00.015+03:00

Μιας και ξεκίνησα με αστεία κεφάλια, δείτε άλλο ένα. Είχε δημοσιευτεί στο περιοδικό "ΓΑΛΕΡΑ" εκείνο το διάστημα που ο μόνος λόγος για να σταματήσουν τα κεντρικά δελτία να ασχολούνται μαζί του, ήταν επειδή έπρεπε να μείνει κανα λεπτό για να μας πούν και τον καιρό.

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Here is another silly mug, a much less familiar one I bet, since it belongs to a Greek politician. You can still appreciate the silly part though.

Nacho Libre!

2008-09-06T15:37:00.010+03:00

Did this after watching the movie. I am guessing Jack Black's face,
is one of the best things that can happen to someone drawing caricatures. Incredibly silly mug.

Με το δεξί!

2008-09-06T10:31:00.002+03:00