Award-winning cartoonist Posy Simmonds, illustrators Sarah Akinterinwa and Shazleen Khan, and Andy Oliver, Editor in Chief of the brilliant Broken Frontier comics news and review site, will headline the Cartoon Museum Conference 2023, next month.
The Cartoon Conference 2023 aims to offer ideas and inspiration for how you can use your skills to survive and thrive as an artist, learning from industry experts and specialists.
Renowned for her witty satire, Posy Simmonds has published numerous books for both adults and children and most recently won the Lakes International Comic Art Festival Sergio Aragones Award.
She’s perhaps best known for the strip cartoons and serials that were published in The Guardian, and the books that derive from them.
Andy Oliver is Editor in Chief and site owner of Broken Frontier, who has championed small press, alternative comics and self-published comics and co-organises the UK’s Small Press Day.
Sarah Akinterinwa, whose work is currently showing at The Cartoon Museum, was the first black British woman to be a New Yorker cartoonist, and is creator of Oyin and Kojo.
Growing up, Sarah always felt like an artist and seized any opportunity to create something or tell a story. Her favourite median of art was drawing, and as a child she was always on the hunt for scrap paper so she could scribble out the exciting content of her mind.
As an adult, Sarah continued to pursue art as a hobby, focusing mainly on large scale charcoal and pencil work. In spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and having recently been made redundant, she created the comic Oyin and Kojo, showcasing humorous single panel cartoons of a black-British couple’s every day life.
Two months later, the cartoon editor of The New Yorker magazine discovered her work and asked her to become a contributor. It was from then on that she became a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, and later became a full time artist, creating comic, editorial cartoons and illustrations, and delivering artist workshops.
Shazleen Khan is a London-based Illustrator specialising in Comics and Narrative work and creator of webcomic, Buuza!
Also speaking will be Jemma Webster Sharp, who began an arts career as a portrait painter before giving it up and committing to comics.
Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Authors will host a session, “Negotiating with publishers”.
Discover phrases that are guaranteed to make money, how to get funding and negotiate, following the money and getting out when things go wrong.
From the team at the Association of Illustrators, a “Publishing Contracts Masterclass” will guide you through copyright, contracts, rights, advances, royalties and important clauses to watch out for.
• Cartoon Museum Conference 2023 Monday 27th February, The Cartoon Museum, 63 Wells Street, London, W1A 3AE | Conference – Standard £60.00, Conference – Student/Concession (unwaged) £40.00, Conference – Early Bird Adult Ticket £40.00, Conference – Early Bird Student Ticket £25.00 | Book tickets here | The Cartoon Museum is online at cartoonmuseum.org
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, Comics Education News, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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