Blog Post
October Comic Artists Forum
by K.C.
Looking for fresh ideas for your next comic or graphic novel creation? Do you enjoy drawing while listening to other cartoonists discuss their favorite drawing techniques or the latest trend in comics? Join this monthly forum. Bring your favorite drawing tools and enjoy a few hours of drawing, learning and sharing.
Our guest artist this month will be Jono Balliett, comics professional. He’s the creator of Smedley and other comics like Shipwrecked.
Comic Artists Forum | Sunday, October 3 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Malletts Creek | Grade 6-Adult
Blog Post
September Comic Artists Forum
by K.C.
Looking for fresh ideas for your next comic or graphic novel creation? Do you enjoy drawing while listening to other cartoonists discuss favorite drawing techniques or the latest trend in comics? Join this monthly forum. Bring your favorite drawing tools and enjoy a few hours of drawing, learning and sharing.
Guest artist this month will be Denver Brubaker creator of Tales of a Checkered Man.
Comic Artists Forum | Sunday, September 12 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Malletts Creek | Grade 6-Adult
Blog Post
International Read Comics in Public Day!!
by anned
This Saturday, (August 28--the birthday of Jack “King” Kirby), join fellow comic book enthusiasts in dispelling a stigma. Read a comic book in a public setting—a park bench, a beach, a bus, your local library. Let strangers see you reading a piece of sequential art. Let the world know once and for all that Comics is not a genre, it's a format—there's something for everyone.
You can find comics to read in public at AADL.
Blog Post
Comics Digital Workshops for Teens and Adults
by K.C.
Cartoonist Jerzy Drozd will teach you how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements to clean up your art, fill in line work with colors and halftones, create cool lettering, prep the finished page for printing, and more. Jerzy will provide one of his scanned comics pages for instruction but you can also bring your own comics page (scanned or unscanned) to work on.
Register at any information desk at any location or call 327-8301.
Comics Art Digital Coloring 101 for Teens Gr. 6-12 | Tues. August 17 | 1-3 pm OR 4-6 pm | Downtown 3rd Floor Computer Training
Comics Digital Coloring for Adults and Older Teens Gr. 9-12 | Wed. August 18 | 3-5 pm OR 6-8 pm | Downtown 3rd Floor Computer Training
Blog Post
Congratulations to Vault of Midnight
by andrewjmac
Vault of Midnight, an Ann Arbor institution for 15 years, has won this year's Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award. The award, handed out to a store who has "done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large", was given out last night at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, the comic industry's biggest event of the year. As frequent partners with Vault of Midnight, we can attest to their involvement with the community; almost any day of the week you can walk in and find a book signing, an art show, or a game night happening at 219 S. Main Street.
Stores from all over the US and Canada are entered into the running for the award, and owners Curtis Sullivan and Steve Fodale were surprised to get the award. Read more about the win on annarbor.com and then stop in to say congratulations!
Blog Post
Comics Fundamentals for Adults and Older Teens
by K.C.
Did you devour comics as a kid? Ever thought of creating your own comics or graphic work? Here’s a free chance to broaden your creative skills!
In this intense six-week series, cartoonist Jerzy Drozd invites adults and older teens to explore of some of the illustration and storytelling strategies used by professional cartoonists to create graphic novels, manga, and comic books. You'll learn how to choose the right moments in your story, how comics take advantage of the rules of art as well as literature, and how the illustration style you choose contributes to the tone of your work.
Can’t draw? No worries. If you can draw a stick figure you can create a great comics story.
Whatever story you want to create, this workshop will provide you with the tools you need to make your story a reality. We'll provide the pencils, erasers, paper, rulers, etc. Registration is required and can be done online, in person at any location, or by calling 327-8301.
Comics Fundamentals | Wednesdays July 7, 14, 21, 28 and August 4, 11 | 6-8 p.m. | Pittsfield Branch
Blog Post
Cynical Tabby
by anonymous
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Garfield's first comic strip, which debuted in 1978 in over 40 newspapers.
Created by Jim Davis and named after his grandfather, Garfield held the Guinness World Record for the world's most widely syndicated comic.
While I was never into comics as a kid, I remember, quite fondly, watching the Garfield and Friends animated television series. However, nowadays, I know that kids are really into graphic novels, and so our collection of Garfield graphic novels will probably be more of a hit than that show from the 90s.
Either way, you can sit down, enjoy some lasagna, and have a good time.
Blog Post
June's Books to Film
by muffy
Jonah Hex is a movie based on the DC Comics Jonah Hex comic books.
"One of the meanest antiheroes in the comic-book world", bounty hunter Jonah Hex (played by Josh Brolin) has spent his entire life roaming from town to town searching for his next paycheck and earning it with a fierceness that's earned him a reputation for being a stern dealer of frontier justice. But behind that hard exterior exists a man who longs for the same comforts as any man - including love. (trailer)
The comic "Jonah Hex" began as a DC character first written by John Albano and Illustrated by Tony DeZuniga in the early 1970s.
Eclipse is based on Book 3 in theTwilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.
Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. (official trailer).
Blog Post
Kids Read Comic Convention June 12-13
by K.C.
Kids Read Comics Convention is a totally free event that unites kids, teens, parents, teachers and librarians with professional artists and writers from the comics and animation fields. The aim is to introduce kids to worlds of imagination while unlocking their creative impulses and to serve that goal, programs included are:
• hands-on workshops
• panels and presentations for kids, families, and educators
• a chance for kids to meet and chat with comics and animation professionals
• the opportunity for kids to have their own art portfolios reviewed
Be sure to stop by the AADL Comic Artists Forum table to see and purchase the works of our homegrown participants.
This year’s convention will be at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Michigan on Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
Blog Post
May Books to Film, Already in Theaters
by muffy
Iron Man 2 is based on Marvel’s Iron Man comic series. In this sequel, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, now a famous high-tech superhero comes up against the U.S. military’s demands to control the most powerful weapon on earth -- the Iron Man suit, while being hunted by a vengeful Russian criminal with some lethal technology of his own. Meanwhile, he could no longer count on his beautiful new assistant or best friend, Rhodey who are hatching their own strange, mysterious agendas.
Letters to Juliet is adapted from Lise Friedman's Letters to Juliet: celebrating Shakespeare’s greatest heroine, the magical city of Verona, and the power of love - an enchanting love story of encountering new sparks and rekindling old flames. (The scenery isn't bad either).
When Sophie, a young American, travels to Verona, Italy -- the romantic city where Romeo first met Juliet -- she meets a group of volunteers who respond to letters written to Juliet seeking romantic advice. Sophie finds and answers a letter that has been lost for 50 years, and is stunned when its author Claire arrives in Italy with her handsome but overprotective grandson to find the man she left decades before. Fascinated by Claire's quest, Sophie joins them on an adventure through the beautiful hills of Tuscany searching for Claire's long lost Lorenzo.
Over the years, there have been various big screen and television interpretations of the legend of Robin Hood – from the recent TV series; Mel Brooks’ farcical Robin Hood Men in Tights; to Errol Flynn’s 1938 iconic The Adventures of Robin Hood. Now see Russell Crowe as a beefy Robin Hood .
Instead, fantasy and alternative history fan might opt to try Hood : The Legend Begins Anew by Stephen R. Lawhead. In this first of the King Raven Trilogy, Hood tells the story of an alternative Robin Hood. Steeped in Celtic mythology and the political intrigue of medieval Britain, the familiar tale takes on new life, fresh meaning, and an unexpected setting – “ …(a) highly imaginative, earthy adventure that has little to do with Errol Flynn but is just as rousing”.