Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) 2022 (June 17 – 19) – 92 Photos
Note: Friday, June 17th was Word Balloon Academy, Academic Symposium, and Librarian & Educator day. For the general public TCAF was June 18-19th.
I covered Word Balloon Academy Panels on Friday.
Conceptualizing the Comic (49:51, 114MB)
Joana Mosi spoke about her education and career path, going from getting a BA in Fine Arts to getting a MA in Film and how that shaped her as a cartoonist and her thought process about creating comics. She referenced Dan Clowes Art School Confidential and how accurate it was for her, her biggest challenges, showed examples of her fine art, spoke about her short film, and how after doing the film she had radically changed as an artist. She spoke about her influences, inspirations, some of her recent print and her Instagram comics, and how important knowing your references are.
Publishing Agreements and You (1:24:36, 193MB)Burt Gidaro and Michael Duboff are entertainment lawyers who go through what a publishing agreement should have and why. They go over Grant of Rights, Delivery of Material, Obligations, Advances, Royalties & other compensation, Returns, Copies of material for the creators, Discontinuation of publication, Force Majeure/Act of God, Representations, Warranties, Indemnities, Agents, Managers, Dissolving a contract/Termination, Publisher Bankruptcy, Foreign Language and Translation Rights, Co-Author Agreements, Submission Releases and more. Note: There was a fire alarm that interrupted the panel twice that has been edited out of the recording.
By the Numbers (1:01:51, 141mb)Alexander Finbow, Peggy Burns and Andy Brown were interviewed by MJ, covering topics such as their business models, management structure, and several employees, where they work out, manage finances and give advances, and a walk-through of how they finance a project, Kickstarted and distribution, using Grants and how they’ve changed, getting audited because of those grants, their supply chain and now having to build a buffer due to delays, tips for creators in terms of getting published by them, how they get their books printed, now having to add metadata to their distribution, print runs, what’s considered a success and deciding cover prices.
Don’t Pass Me By Funding Indie Comics (1:01:09, 139MB)Kat Simmers speaks about where to start with your comic, and how using film and screenplays can be very useful for creating comics. She goes into some specifics on Crowdfunding with Kickstarter, budgeting, shipping costs, promotion, social media, and videos, and doing fulfillment. She spoke about what pitfalls to avoid, particularly with stretch goals and shipping, doing launch events, press kits, and interviews, tabling at shows and getting grants.
TCAF Kick-Off Event: The Next 20 Years (1:25:59, 196MB)
Miles Baker started as the host, and Sami Alwani interviews Conor Stechschulte, Lee Lai, Kat Simmers, and Akane Torkai (through her translator Jocelyne Allen). They discussed what they take and leave behind from traditional comics, deciding accessibility vs how much they want to push the medium, what non-comics media influenced them, how they bring in today’s world into their work specifically with dialog, and how they handle internal editing of their work, how comics have shifted in being able to talk about heart-wrenching issues, making comics for the first time, creating marketable vs experimental comics and doing non-fiction within fictional work and why.
Spotlight on Seth (54:14, 124mb)
Diana Tamblyn interviews Seth about his very recent award from the French Consulate, how his work has changed over the years and why, what inspired him to be a cartoonist, how comics are like poetry, his design work, his illustration work, his views on plot and conflict, showing/telling with the art, dialog, working on things just for himself, his models and learning from projects, feedback from the internet, interest in post-WWII Canadian esthetic, doing sculptures, things connecting in your brain and how his father being in the military has influenced him. Note: I missed some of Diana’s introduction to Seth.
Final Fantasy (52:07, 119MB)
Heidi MacDonald talks to Stephanie Cooke and Jo Rioux about their teen fantasy books featuring magical girls, how they both incorporate mythology, playing Dungeons and Dragons, getting their books published, writing stuff they don’t want to draw, the most dog-eared fantasy book they have, sequels to their books, how they approach world building and not getting carried away with writing and re-writing in their fantasy world.
Conundrum at 25 (53:10, 121MB)
Panelists were Joe Ollmann, Nina Bunjevac, Andy Brown and Sonja Ahlers.
Andy gave a brief history of Conundrum Press, the group spoke about Insomniac Press, which most of them worked for previously, the creators spoke about how they found out about zines and getting started doing them, Nina spoke about getting published in Europe and the difference between French and North American culture when it comes to comics, the future of Conundrum, how Andy picks artists to publish and getting grants.
Strange New Worlds, Same Old Problems (31:44, 72.6MB)
Jenn Woodall, Freddy Carrasco, and Zviane (with her interpreter Violaine Tony helping) answer questions on the sci-fi focus of their work, the philosophical issues with sci-fi, work becoming dated thanks to references, their process of creating story in terms of images or words coming first, the pacing and rhythms of their stories, their influences, what inspires them, the music they listen to while working and books that blew their minds.
Panel moderated by Mark Askwith.
The Finer Things: Painting and Comics (51:47, 118MB)
Stanley Wany and Conor Stechschulte speak with Heidi MacDonald about getting an education in fine arts and doing comics. She asked if they wanted to be fine art painters or cartoonists growing up, their first memory of art, how it affected them when they realized they wanted to be artists if art school was a good experience for them, differences between the comics community and the fine arts community.
Stanley talked about the two art shows he has going on now. Conor spoke about his series of mini comics (called Ultrasound) being turned into a movie and getting to write the screen play. Stanley gave us the history of his book Helem going from a self-published comic to being with a publisher.
Both spoke about what made them want to tell stories, how they view panels vs the page, and if the snobbery against comics still exists within fine art.
Helping Yourself Through Comics (53:27, 122MB)Brigid Alverson moderates a panel with S. Bergman, Saul Freedman, and Isabella Rotman. Among the topics discussed were why they felt the need to write books they did and believe they should be the one to write them, why they chose to do the advice in comics format, and how they use the comics format to make the content more accessible, how did they work at not coming across as being patronizing and not using a voice from on high, telling people to be kind to themselves and if they worry about their work aging badly like self-help books from the past have done.
Nordic Bridge (45:21, 103MB)Fredrik Strömberg talks to Tatiana Goldberg (Denmark), Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen (Sweden), and Anneli Furmark (Finland) about transitioning from fine art to comics, what they enjoy about doing comics vs fine art, their process of making comics, the comics culture in their respective countries when they started doing comics and today, how they get by financially as comics doing comics doesn’t make much money in their countries.
Doug Wright Awards 2022 (June 18th) – 22 Photos
2022 Doug Wright Awards (49:34, 113MB)
Peter Birkmore did the opening, Brad MacKay did the introduction,
Richard Crouse was the host, and David Craig, Jenn Woodall, and Dustin Harbin read the nominees and winners.
Seth inducted Margaret Bloy Graham into the Giant’s of the North.
Winners are in bold As this event took place outside, there is some wind and other noises within the audio.
The Egghead: (The Doug Wright Award for best kids’ book)
Simon and Chester: Super Sleepover! by Cale Atkinson (Tundra Books)
Otter Lagoon by Mike Deas and Nancy Deas (Orca Book Publishers)
Living with Viola by Rosena Fung (Annick Press)
Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall by Gillian Goerz (Dial Books for Young
Readers)
Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson and Qin Leng (Candlewick Press)
Etty Darwin and the Four Pebble Problem by Lauren Soloy (Tundra
Books)
The Pigskin Peters: (The Doug Wright Award for best small- or
micro-press book)
Endsickness No. 1 by Sofia Alarcon (Self-published)
Fruit/Soil by Kim Edgar (Moniker Press)
The Northern Gaze by Akeeshoo Chislett, Chris Caldwell, Cole Pauls,
Andrew Sharp, Juliann Fraser, Esther Bordet, Alison McCreesh, Keith
Verbonac, Princess J; edited by Kim Edgar (Hecate Press)
Sleemor Gank: Burg Land No. 1 by Alexander Laird (Self-published)
Dwellings No. 2 by Jay Stephens (Black Eye Books)
The Nipper: (The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent)
Sofia Alarcon for Endsickness No. 1 (Self-published)
Sami Alwani for The Pleasure of the Text (Conundrum Press)
Brigitte Archambault for The Shiatsung Project (Conundrum Press)
Alexander Laird for Sleemor Gank: Burg Land No. 1 (Self-published)
Kyle Simmers and Ryan Danny Owen for Pass Me By: Gone Fishin’ and Pass
Me By: Electric Vice (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
The Doug Wright Award for best book
The Shiatsung Project by Brigitte Archambault (Conundrum Press)
Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Rock From the Sky by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)
Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (Fantagraphics)
Fictional Father by Joe Ollmann (Drawn & Quarterly)
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