The Cartoonist Alliance

Fresh Meat 2013 - Online Registration

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:11:00 +0000

UPDATE: Exhibitor Registration is Officially Closed

Follow the instructions below to submit to our waiting list.

ATTENTION! READ THE ENTIRE POST!

Online Registration for Fresh Meat will take place on

Saturday, April 13th @ 3:00PM

through the following links:

INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION

GROUP REGISTRATION

The form for group registration requires every member's information. Either have all of your members present to fill out the form together, or have one person acquire all the needed information so they are ready when they fill it out for everyone else. Below is the information you will need:

Name
Year & Major
Email Address
Cellphone Number
Website
Title of Debuting Minicomic (Optional)

REGARDING EXHIBITOR ICONS:
If you have already registered with us in person, please email us your exhibitor icon immediately.
If you are going to register online, please PREPARE your exhibitor icon to be sent to us immediately after your registration on Saturday!

We would like to receive them as soon as possible so that we may display them on the Fresh Meat website. Below are the specifications for the icon:

    Self-portrait, minicomic cover, illustration, or comic panel, etc.
            (Remember that this image will represent you!)
        72 dpi, RGB
        Max length of 300px (either side)

Email to cartoonallies@gmail.com with subject line: "Fresh Meat Icon - [Name]"

Thank you!

Newsletter: February 22nd

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:32:00 +0000

Operation: Noodles & Noodles!

Friday 2/22 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies!

Prepare yourselves for a night dedicated to watching raunchy anime while slurpin' instant noodles!

Make sure to read below the cut for more information!

We'll be raising the temperature a couple notches at a time, starting cool with some Seitokai Yakuindomo (Student Council Staff Members), easing in with a trio of shorts by U-Jin that get a little hotter, then... shh... not telling.

Grab a cup of ramen, laugh it up, feel completely and utterly disturbed and morally violated while pretending to laugh it up, and have fun heckling!

(Warning: Viewing selection may feature animated depictions of sexual abuse and/or lack of consent. This event is essentially fun-spirited, but we'd like everyone to know the importance of consent. Thank you.)

Noodles and hot water will all be provided by us. Bringing your own hot sauce is optional. If any hot sauce lands anywhere other than your noodles please take responsibility and use a tissue.

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

Remember, Allies! We run a series of Student Comic Reviews on our Cartoon Allies blog! Submit a copy of your comic into the Student Comics Review box in the Senior Studio to have a blog post written about your work next. We aim to promote your work to the world, so go ahead and submit to us!

Monster Mash Anthology

Chokecherry Studios is accepting submissions for their comic anthology, "Monster Mash"! Comics can be a minimum of one page to a max of ten pages. If you have an idea and want to submit, contact them at chokecherrystudios@gmail.com as soon as possible to show them what you've got! The deadline for submission is March 15. Here are specific guidelines.

One Thing Leads To Another

This From Panel to Panel exhibit of comic & cartoon art, sponsored by New Approach, is happening now at the Medialia Gallery until March 23. For the duration of the exhibit, Medialia Gallery is collecting donations of comix & art books for The Dorothy McGowan Residence in-house library and adult literacy initiative.

Newsletter: February 1st

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:44:00 +0000

Operation: Art Trading Post!

Friday 2/1 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies! This week, you will have the opportunity to do art trades with one another!

Each person will come to the meeting bringing reference of one of their characters, clear enough for another person to draw from it. We suggest you to try and compile the reference on a single sheet of paper, and to keep it to one character. Multiple angles, detail shots, and even small blurbs about the character will help other people know more about them and make more interesting art for you.

More info below the cut!

We encourage you to use your own characters, but asking for fanart from another artist's work is also allowed if you wish.

As for who you will be trading with, that will be random! This is a casual art trade event, so try to finish it during the meeting. We certainly don't want to give any of you extra homework to do when you get back!

Remember to prepare a reference sheet, and we hope you have fun this Friday :)

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

The first of the two-part exhibition will be held at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators Jan 4 to Jan 26. The exhibit features works by leading contemporary illustrators worldwide, selected by a prestigious jury of professionals, and includes works in the categories of Sequential, Institutional, Uncommissioned and Moving Images. For more info check out their website.

Hot Chocolate Festival

From February 1 to February 28, City Bakery will serve a different flavor of hot chocolate every day. Need I say more? The lineup won’t be announced until Jan 18, but previous year’s highlights included Earl Grey Tea hot chocolate, a delicate blend with notes of bergamot, and Sunken Treasure, an indulgent cup with submerged caramel coins and chocolate truffles. Here is a list of last year's flavors.

Newsletter: January 25th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 03:49:00 +0000

Operation: Group Critique Night!

Friday 1/25 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies!

This time of the year, many of you are probably beginning projects or in the middle of them.

If you have paintings or drawing projects you are working on or comic pages from junior thesis or senior portfolio, bring them in for group critique! A bit of fresh input might help your mind see things in a different light if you are having trouble with something after staring at it for so long.

After Group Critique, we'll announce more fun information about the following week's meeting: Art Trading Post, so don't miss out!

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

More events below the cut!

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

Hot Chocolate Festival

Newsletter: January 18th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 02:13:00 +0000

Operation: Comics Flea Market!

Friday 1/18 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings, Allies! Do you have comics lying around that you realize you haven't read in a long time and you'd like an opportunity to give them away?

What other great chance to do so than at the Comics Flea Market this Friday at Cartoon Allies!

Continue below the cut for more info!

We accept any kind of printed comic, from self-published minis to full-color hard-bound graphic novels if you are so inclined.

Since there are many kinds of comics and equally many kinds of reasons to give them new homes, we'll have a couple different set-ups at the Comics Flea Market.

A. Free - For books you'd like to get rid of and don't even need to find a trade for, you can set it on the Free Comics table. All comics there are free for grabs, with the one rule that you must also contribute at least one book to that table before helping yourself. The number of books you take doesn't have to be limited to how many you offer, but please be reasonable.

B. Trade - If you have books that mean a little more to you and you'd like to make sure it goes to a decent new home, hold onto it and chat, mingle, and then trade with others!

We hope this event can help you make space in your own inventory and find new comics to read!

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

Hot Chocolate Festival

Newsletter: January 11th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Operation: Constrained Jam Comics!

Friday 1/11 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies! Get ready for a spring semester filled with exciting events!

This Friday we'll be doing jam comics with a little more jazz. We'll not only collaborate on jam comics as we have before, but each comic will have rules or a constraint that you have to follow!

Continue below the cut for more info!

We'll have constraints inspired by OuBaPo and former professors Matt Madden & Tom Hart, such as Backwards comics, Monosyllables/Monotext comics, Tic-Tac-Toe comics and more! We will explain the constraints in more detail at the meeting. We also implore you to check out the Constrained Comics group on Facebook!

Meanwhile, we will begin our multi-part Minicomics Tutorial for making larger, traditional-format comics. Handouts will be given out with instructions on how to scan and lay out your work for print, with a hands-on lecture next week. We encourage you to collect your art from last semester to exhibit in your new minicomic!

Read below for information on our second meeting, Comics Flea Market, so you can come prepared!

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Comics Flea Market

Bring in old, well-loved (or harshly despised!) comics to trade with your peers for new reads! You can set down comics you no longer need for others to pick up, or barter with your friends and trade equally beloved comics! All printed comics are fair game, from self-published minis to full graphic novels and collections! More information next week.

Gundam: The Origin Preorders

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's seminal manga adaptation of the scifi classic Mobile Suit Gundam is being released. Preorders close on Friday, so order your copy ASAP (B&N). The Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy is available in our library, along with Joan, a gorgeous comic by Yasuhiko. There will be no reprints, so please help give this timeless comic the print run it truly deserves.

Student Comics Review

Fall 2012 Digital Projection Comix Reading

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Continuing a tradition started by Tom Hart, Cartoon Allies is wrapping up the semester with a public event on December 14th (from 3:30 to 6:30 PM)!

Join us for a fun, relaxing, and often hilarious event where cartoonists grab a mic and read their comics out loud!

Poster by Bethany Torres

Hosted in the SVA Amphitheater (209 East 23rd Street, 3rd Floor), the Digital Projection Comix Reading is a performance in which student comics are broken down into individual panels and projected on the big screen. Students, faculty, and alumni are equipped with microphones and perform dialogue and sound effects, bringing new life to their comics.

Got stage fright? Try to con other attendees to read your comic. Don't got anything to show? Come watch our sequential art spectacle, and maybe even lend someone your voice! If you plan on participating, we would appreciate it if you submitted your comic ahead of time (see instructions below).

Watch the theatrics! Share your comics! Invite your non-cartoonist buddies to take a break from finals!

If you're presenting a comic, please follow these specifications:

Please submit your files in a zipped folder emailed to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Fall 2012 DPCR: [Name]" by Wednesday, December 12th OR bring the files (unzipped) on a flash drive to our meeting on December 7th.
Files must be JPGs, GIFs, or PNGs at 72 dpi, should be no larger than 1024 pixels wide or 768 tall, and named in chronological order (e.g. xxx01.jpg, xxx02.jpg, xxx03.jpg).
Panel-by-panel sequences, as opposed to full pages, are strongly advised. You can use photoshop to crop and chop your pages into single panel images. It makes the reading smoother and more fun!
You will have a 5 minute time limit.

TIP: If you're submitting a comic and need another voice help you out in a Digital Reading Duet or even a chorus of people so you can have a new voice for each character, start thinking about who you're going to ask for help! That classmate who reads in that Awesome Reading Voice? Better ask sooner rather than later.

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Newsletter: December 7th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 06:14:00 +0000

Operation: The Draw Off!

Friday 12/7 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Get your markers ready... get set... DRAW!!!

Greetings Allies! This Friday it's time for some rounds of fun drawing where you can scribble your burdens away! No need to think about anything... except for the competition!

Continue below the cut for more info!

Each round of the Draw Off starts with three contestants with marker in hand and a big pad of paper. Lined up in front, the three will be timed while they draw their best rendition of a randomly chosen "scene" written by the audience. The one with the audience's favorite drawing of the scene wins! We repeat until the scenes are all drawn.

The prize is well-earned pride in a fan-favorite doodle.

See you all there!

We would also like to direct everyone to the information below on the New Voices in Comic Art Exhibition! Please check out the event and support the artists who are being featured in the show! Many of them are our fellow Allies and we'd like to show our full support!

Don't forget to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

New Voices in Comic Art Exhibition

Filled with the most recent graduates from SVA's Cartooning Department, this new exhibit at Ouchi Gallery shows off the new talents that the comic world have to offer. This is an exciting event that is definitely worth visiting! Check out the event's website and facebook for more info!

Digital Projection Live Comix Reading

Are you ready for a splendid night of laughter and good times? Come to the Live Comix Reading! Bring a friend! Submit and read your comics aloud! Very soon you can find submission information on our website, so get those comics ready for show! RSVP to the event now!

Newsletter: October 5th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Operation: Pictionary!

Friday 10/5 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to draw! At least someone understands me.

This past month has been amazing and we'd like to thank all of you who attended the meetings. We're going to start off our October with a healthy dose of Pictionary!

Continue below the cut for more info!

Don't you remember how much you love that game, or hate that game, or love and hate that game? Don't you remember how cliche it is for art students to play Pictionary?

We like to be cheesy sometimes.

Buckle your ears, for a night of furiously screeching chalk is ahead of us! Be amazed when someone guesses "Tangled" from a drawing of a spider web and floating boxes, and gets it right. It's a night of pure fun before things start getting real serious when the school kicks into the middle of the semester.

For those of you who have comics or print submissions to give us for NYCC, check the blurbs below for more information! We'll be updating everyone about NYCC schedules and all that hullabaloo next week.

Be sure to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

NYCC Minicomics Submission

If you'd like to sell your comics at the SVA table, submit your copies to the Minicomics Submission Box along with a submission form. The box will be at CA meetings and otherwise located in the Senior Studio under the lightbox. Prints & illustrations can be slid into our designated portfolio next to the minicomics box.

Thalia Kids' Book Club with Lemony Snicket

The mysterious author of A Series of Unfortunate Events talks with Sarah Vowell (This American Life) about his brand new series All the Wrong Questions, which hits stores on October 23. You can buy tickets here to attend this event which takes place at Symphony Space, located on Broadway at 95th Street.

Newsletter: September 28th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 01:58:00 +0000

Operation: Group Critique Night #1

Friday 9/28 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies! It's time for this year's first Group Critique! We host these about once a month here at Cartoon Allies, providing a space where you can receive constructive feedback from your fellow peers.

Continue below the cut for more!

We especially encourage our upperclassmen to join us, and spread the knowledge obtained from our wise professors to the rest of us. Sometimes you can get a good critique or two out of Cartoon Allies that you might not have been able to in class!

Bring unfinished comic pages, illustrations, storyboards, or story pitches; anything that is a work-in-progress that you'd like feedback on is welcome! Tip: It helps direct your groupmates if you narrow down a couple specific areas you'd like addressed. For example, if you bring a story pitch, you can ask for critique on a specific event, or if you bring an illustration, you can ask for focus on the anatomy rather than the content etc.

Before we begin, we'll announce some information about New York Comic Con. This will also be your first opportunity to sign up for volunteering at the SVA table and essentially getting into the convention for free. We will share the specifics about tableing and answer any questions during this time.

Be sure to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

Student Comics Review

NYCC Minicomics Submission

The NY Art Book Fair

Printed Matter presents the 7th annual NY Art Book Fair next weekend. Free and open to the public, the NY Art Book Fair is the world's premier event for artists’ books, catalogs, periodicals, and zines presented by more than 270 international presses, booksellers, artists, and independent publishers from 25 countries. Visit the website for more info.

Newsletter: September 14th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Operation: Favorite Comic Night
Friday 9/14 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Greetings Allies! To follow up the wonderful turnout last Friday, we'd like to get to know you better by having you bring in your favorite comic book to share with us! If you don't have your stash of comics close at hand, try bringing in something from the library that you enjoy.

Continue below the cut for more details on what's goin' down this Friday!

Sharing comics means discovering the kinds of stories your peers enjoy and why they enjoy it. It's also a great time to make friends with those that have similar tastes, and potentially expose you to good comics that you haven't read before. We also want to provide a cozy space where you can read comics together.

This Friday our very own lovely professor Keith Mayerson will be giving us a message at the meeting so don't miss it! We'll also do a thorough round of introductions, as well as answer any questions regarding the 8-page minicomic and how it can be printed.

We look forward to seeing what you have to bring!

Be sure to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

A Stronger Community

Cartoon Allies' foundation has always lain in the ties that bind the SVA comics community. As the publishing world becomes a crazier place, it's never been more important for our student body to stand united, share their skills and goals, and help build the support network that will keep us strong well beyond graduation.

Chris Ware: Building Stories

This weekend, an exhibition of cartoonist Chris Ware's work will be debuting at the Adam Baumbold Gallery. Entitled Building Stories, the show will run from September 8th to October 27th. The opening will be held this Saturday from 5 to 8 pm, with Ware in attendance.

Brooklyn Book Festival

On Sunday, September 23rd, Brooklyn will be hosting a book festival involving over 200 authors, including Becky Cloonan, Adrian Tomine, Derek Kirk Kim, and Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez. Check out their schedule for a week's worth of bookend events, starting September 17th.

Newsletter: September 7th

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:12:00 +0000

Operation: Pizza Jam

Friday, 9/7 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Get ready for a fantastic evening this Friday as we start off the new year with free pizza, mingling, and a rad jam comic session!

Continue below the cut for more info, local events, and art credits!

For those that are newcomers to Cartoon Allies, we'll introduce to you to useful resources and share what Cartoon Allies can do for you. We'll cover SVA's cartooning-related facilities, CA's promotional services, and how to stay active in our fun & spectacular comics community!

Returning students can expect to find old friends and word of new events and guest speakers. Discuss your summer projects, welcome new allies, and submit your minicomics to be sold at the Small Press Expo!

Once you all know what's in store for the upcoming year, we're going to join together for an awesome round of jam comics! Join forces with our newest generation of cartoonists or form a bond with more experienced peers to guide you through your comics journey.

Stick around till the end because the groovy comics fun doesn't stop there.

Be sure to RSVP and spread the word on Facebook!

A Stronger Community

Chris Ware: Building Stories

Brooklyn Book Festival

Newsletter: The New Year

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Cartoon Allies Returns!
Every Friday • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

There are some things you can't learn in a classroom.

The Cartoon Allies are a vital resource for SVA cartoonists & comics enthusiasts. Here, fellow cartoonists offer each other a wealth of knowledge about our department, SVA, and the real world. Our weekly events bridge gaps in our community, providing social and professional resources for our student body.

Our mission is to help students learn and explore comics as a medium & a career, and to cultivate camaraderie between cartoonists of all years and students of all majors.

Cartoon Allies meets every Friday to enrich our craft and have fun. We host lectures by comics professionals & SVA alumni, technique tutorials, group critiques, and field trips. We also swap minicomics, make jam comics, screen films, and more! We will continue to get you and your work into NYC's major conventions. Through Fresh Meat, multiple online initiatives, and our partnership with INK Magazine, we are dedicated to promoting student work beyond our campus.

If you want to improve our department and community, we're here to help. We offer students the resources to pursue their goals and revolutionize our department. We need your support and participation to spur real change!

We hope you'll join us in meeting new friends and making professional contacts.

New Events

New panels this year include visits from a French Consulate member (appointed to bring French cartoonists to the US), a chat with First Second's editor and designer, & an introduction to crowdfunding with SVA alumni.

A Stronger Community

Forging New Alliances

We hope that this year you will extend a welcoming hand to our new students, befriending them and offering your help in their transition to SVA.
CA is the platform for students to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation, along with developing strong friendships beyond the classroom.

Keep It Steady: Week 11 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: Myth
Visual: Draw each panel with a single unbroken line
Structural/OuBaPian: Design a comic to be read on a tablet screen

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Two of the tenants of the Keep It Steady Initiative are self-improvement and consistently making comics. Starting this week, we will be offering weekly prompts to motivate and challenge you as a cartoonist. We encourage you to choose one of the three constraints to make a one-page comic this week, but feel free to apply these constraints to a longer project; this could help you overcome a problem you're facing by viewing it from a new vantage point. To learn more about the benefits of working with constraints, check out this Wired article.

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 11 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 10 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: Bad Habit
Visual: Ink wash
Structural/OuBaPian: Every panel has a sound effect, but no dialogue

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 10 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 8 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:00:00 +0000

We apologize for last week's lack of challenges. Major General Arroyo and the Vice-President were preparing for coming initiative.

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: Mystery
Visual: Limited Palette - Use only three colors or three shades of grey
Structural/OuBaPian: Beautiful Inlaw - You can only use the letters in your name for your comic's text

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 8 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 6 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:38:00 +0000

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: Set your story in a specific real-world or fictional city
Visual: Plastic Perspective - Draw each panel from the same vantage point
Structural/OuBaPian: Cylinder - Draw a comic in which the reader can begin with any panel, read to the end, and come back around to where she started without any lapse into incoherence

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 6 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 5 Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:46:00 +0000

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: "Jungle"
Visual: 50% ink, 50% color distribution
Structural/OuBaPian: Larding - Begin by drawing two panels. Draw another panel between this pair, and proceed to draw a new panel between each pair. Continue this process until you feel the comic is complete. (We will only see your finished comic.)

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 5 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 4 Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:06:00 +0000

Choose one of this week's constraints:

Thematic/Narrative: "Symphony"
Visual: Use stippling
Structural/OuBaPoian: Choose a song; you may only use the words in the song's lyrics for your comic's dialogue. They do not need to be in the same order as in the song.

For more information on our challenges and submitting your work, check under the cut!

Constraints help give artists direction in a world of infinite possibility, as well as encourage them to tackle subjects and techniques they have trouble with. Each week, Cartoon Allies will offer three constraints to choose from and apply to your work, whether as the basis of a one-page comic or to improve a long-form work. These will take the form of a thematic/narrative constraint, a visual constraint, and an OuBaPoian constraint.

Two of the tenants of the Keep It Steady Initiative are self-improvement and consistently making comics. Starting this week, we will be offering weekly prompts to motivate and challenge you as a cartoonist. We encourage you to choose one of the three constraints to make a one-page comic this week, but feel free to apply these constraints to a longer project; this could help you overcome a problem you're facing by viewing it from a new vantage point. To learn more about the benefits of working with constraints, check out this Wired article.

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 4 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 3 Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 19:05:00 +0000

The options for this week's constraint are:

Thematic/Narrative: "Revolution"
Visual: Use parallel hatching for midtones
Structural/OuBaPoian: Word Ladder - Write a word ladder involving three or four-letter words, and draw a comic with as many panels as there are steps in the ladder. Each panel must involve its corresponding word in some form.

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 3 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 1 Challenger Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Last week's constraints were:

Thematic/Narrative: "Summer"
Visual: Only use color pencils
Structural/OuBaPoian: Beautiful Outlaw - You cannot use any of the letters in your name in your comic's text

Both of our participants decided to use multiple constraints.

This submission by Laura Knetzger, who recently graduated, features all the constraints in an unconventional comics form.

Greg Maggi's submission takes us to a red and blue dreamscape. This week's thematic constraint is "Ocean," so I wonder how he will treat the subject differently if he chooses that challenge. Can you make a comic about the ocean without showing it?

Did you draw a comic under last week's constraints? Click here for submission instructions.

This week's constraints are:

Thematic/Narrative: "Ocean"
Visual: You cannot draw with you dominant hand
Structural/OuBaPoian: Palindrome - Your comic can be read normally and in reverse

Check this week's challenge announcement for more details and submission instructions. Keep it steady!

Keep It Steady: Week 2 Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Constraints help give artists direction in a world of infinite possibility, as well as encourage them to tackle subjects and techniques they have trouble with. Each week, Cartoon Allies will offer three constraints to choose from and apply to your work, whether as the basis of a one-page comic or to improve a long-form work. These will take the form of a thematic/narrative constraint, a visual constraint, and an OuBaPoian constraint.

Two of the tenants of the Keep It Steady Initiative are self-improvement and consistently making comics. Starting this week, we will be offering weekly prompts to motivate and challenge you as a cartoonist. We encourage you to choose one of the three constraints to make a one-page comic this week, but feel free to apply these constraints to a longer project; this could help you overcome a problem you're facing by viewing it from a new vantage point. To learn more about the benefits of working with constraints, check out this Wired article.

This week's challenges are:

Thematic/Narrative: "Ocean"
Visual: You cannot draw with you dominant hand
Structural/OuBaPoian: Palindrome - Your comic can be read normally and in reverse

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 1 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog

Keep It Steady: Week 1 Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Thematic/Narrative: "Summer"
Visual: Only use color pencils
Structural/OuBaPoian: Beautiful Outlaw - You cannot use any of the letters in your name in your comic's text

Next week we will feature any comics completed under these constraints on the Cartoon Allies website and tumblog. There are multiple options for submitting comics:

Email it to cartoonallies@gmail.com with the subject line "Week 1 Challenge - [Name]"
Post it on the Keep It Steady Initiative Facebook group
Submit it to the Cartoon Allies Tumblog
Post it on Tumblr with the tag "ca challenge"

Thesis Post-Mortem Pt. I: Process & Expectations

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

"Man Made Monsters" BFA Illustration & Cartooning Thesis Exhibition

Thesis year was a major turning point in my cartooning career. This was not due to all the hype built around the project or its accompanying thesis show. Instead, I owe part of my success to the framework of the project, one of the many elements which came together to pull me out of the failures and bad habits of my sophomore year.

In this inaugural weekly series for the Keep It Steady Initiative, I’m going to break down my journey to a better work ethic into advice which I hope will be useful to other students and cartoonists tackling their own thesis comics or any long-term work. This week’s post focuses on process and expectations, with a section dedicated to those who treat their work too preciously.

The Goal of Thesis

Thesis is a scary and mysterious prospect to incoming juniors. On one hand, great pressure is put on the student, with prestige built around the thesis show and all of the exaggerated rumors surrounding our department chair’s opinions and mood swings (Newsflash: Woodruff is a pretty nice chap). On the other hand, those who took Keith Mayerson or Klaus Janson for Principles of Cartooning are puzzled as to why finishing a 16-page comic in a semester and a half is such a big deal.

One of the big secrets of thesis is that making a masterpiece is not the point; the framework of the project is there to help students develop a work ethic for completing long-term works. If sophomore year is for pumping out work to develop technique, then the goal of junior year may be to create art at a consistent rate and quality (while balancing it with other responsibilities, depending on your load of humanities and internships). Depending on your professor, the opening of the year is dedicated to preparation, breaking your project down, nailing in the concept, initial designs, etc. This is also an ample opportunity for figuring out your process.

In Keith Mayerson’s class sophomore class, it was expected for your story’s last page to look radically different from the first, considering how much your drawing and storytelling abilities were bound to grow between at least three year-long cartooning courses. However, such a gap of inconsistency may bar a thesis comic from entering the show. Once you move on to the second page, you sacrifice most opportunities for experimentation, so use those first few months to flex your muscles and work outside of your comfort zone.

I must stress at this point that consistency does not equal consistent perfection.

While you’re searching for a better way to tell the story, also be mindful of how you will make it. Incorporating new techniques into your work process (such as using a lightbox for inking, making digital screentones, or even working in a studio instead of your bedroom) will always make your work take longer before they will help hasten your workflow. When you’re approaching a major deadline, quickly adopting what is traditionally a faster technique may further impair you because you’re not yet comfortable with it.

When I began the heavy lifting on my thesis, I tried to integrate a lightbox into more of my work process. While it was a shortcut for some aspects of my comics craft, it also let me indulge my perfectionism. Thankfully, I learned that it wouldn’t speed me up as fast as I’d hope before I needed it to save me from a looming deadline. So take advantage of those opening months to test new tools and adopt a more efficient workflow.

No amount of preparation will help you if you view your work with the wrong mindset. I’ve spent my life being told that I shouldn’t take my work so preciously or I’d never finish anything. This advice always rang true, my perfectionism being the greatest damper on my work, but it’s a simple advice that’s difficult to follow. If the driving goal behind your art isn’t for it to be the best representation of the story in your head, what should it be?

Your art can be something to learn from.

As young cartoonists, we can erect a huge mental wall between assigned comics and personal projects. The first comic requires less effort, existing as a means to the end of learning a lesson. The latter comic requires maximum effort; we want it to represent the pinnacle of our abilities, and anything less than that seems like a betrayal of the soul behind the project. Putting the matter of inexperience aside, aren’t you short-changing yourself if you’re dedicating so much time to the comic you refuse to get messy with, when you learn more from the comics that dirty your hands?

I feel that this distinction is not helpful to growth. One of the realizations that helped me finish thesis was that it’s more important for thesis to be a comic I learn from than one that looks marvelous. This did not mean dropping quality off the back of the truck. I learned to perform a new balancing act between the two paradigms. I would try to make a great comic, but if I messed up along the way, I would accept it for the lessons it taught me.

The longer you spend working on a comic page, the more frustrated you become when it doesn’t work out as planned. This only causes you to linger more, because if you’ve dedicated twenty-four hours to a page, you think that it better look like you put in those hours. This was especially troubling for me, as I’m already a slow artist. My ambition alone will not propel me to draw at the same quality as my friends who were making comics while I was studying English and computer science in high school. Ultimately, meticulously working up a page for hours on end won’t help me catch up to my peers as much as learning to live and let live, dedicating my time to making more pages in less time with the fumbles that involves.

As we grow as cartoonists, we’re going to flail less and have to make fewer compromises. However, we will always be learning. Like a child, loving a comic means letting it fail sometimes. Each failure can lead to a plethora of successes in future pages and stories.

Whether you’re facing thesis next year or are just trying to tackle a long-term project, don’t simply set goals to complete pages; try to be critical of your own skills and address the lessons you need to brush up on. We’re artists; when we finish something, we only view a sea of mistakes. If we can map out our growth among those mistakes, we can take in greater satisfaction from both success and failure and propel ourselves to become greater cartoonists.

Next week I’ll discuss selecting and organizing a workspace.

If you have your own thesis/long-form comic advice orresponses to my advice, feel free to comment on this post or in the Keep It Steady Initiative’s group and I’ll add it to the article.

Eric Alexander Arroyo is a hot-blooded senior who wears a fedora, digs giant robots, and obsesses over flowing scarves. He's spent his life wandering Florida and Las Vegas, and hopes to find an apartment in the bowels of a volcano. Although he's training to be a cartoonist, he'd rather be a crime-fighting cyborg when he grows up.

Announcing the CA Tumblog & Keep It Steady Steady Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (The Cartoonist Alliance) — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:04:00 +0000

We'd like to thank you for helping us make this past year's events such a success. Now that another school year is well behind us, it's time that we jumped right into Cartoon Allies' new summer operations.

First off, Cartoon Allies has launched a tumblog for student promotion. The goal of the CA Tumblog is to promote the work of young School of Visual Arts cartoonists, past and present, to a broad online audience. If you're an SVA student or alum interested in sharing your art on Tumblr or already running your own blog, we invite you to submit your work. Please follow us and help support your peers. In our first weekend, we have already been promoted by SPX, generating a lot of attention from outside the school.

Today we are launching a new program, the Keep It Steady Initiative. The goal of this program it to help keep students and alumni productive over the summer and motivate young cartoonists to maintain short and long-term goals. Based on the tenants of Accountability, Constraint, Critique, and Support, we plan to help you in a variety of ways, including...

...email reminders about approaching deadlines.
...weekly comics prompts for tackling new ideas and working outside your comfort zone.
...online group critique sessions.
...new content on the Cartoon Allies blog for sharing knowledge and resources and promoting student work.
...monthly Spotlight articles on the blog, which share your accomplishments with the world.

All parts of the Initiative are optional. Find out how to register here, and then join the Initiative's Facebook group to keep in touch with other participants. This is our first major summer program, so please participate and give us feedback.

In other news, SVA alumni have put together the Hermit Club for organizing monthly meetings in NYC and sharing work. They are accepting current students and grads.

Let's work together to make this summer the most productive yet and bring attention to our talented student body. Stay strong, Allies!

The Cartoonist Alliance

Fresh Meat 2013 - Online Registration

Newsletter: February 22nd

Operation: Noodles & Noodles!

Friday 2/22 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

Monster Mash Anthology

One Thing Leads To Another

Newsletter: February 1st

Operation: Art Trading Post!

Friday 2/1 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

Hot Chocolate Festival

Newsletter: January 25th

Operation: Group Critique Night!

Friday 1/25 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

Hot Chocolate Festival

Newsletter: January 18th

Operation: Comics Flea Market!

Friday 1/18 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

Illustrators 55

Hot Chocolate Festival

Newsletter: January 11th

Operation: Constrained Jam Comics!

Friday 1/11 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Comics Flea Market

Gundam: The Origin Preorders

Student Comics Review

Fall 2012 Digital Projection Comix Reading

Newsletter: December 7th

Operation: The Draw Off!

Friday 12/7 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

New Voices in Comic Art Exhibition

Digital Projection Live Comix Reading

Newsletter: October 5th

Operation: Pictionary!

Friday 10/5 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

NYCC Minicomics Submission

Thalia Kids' Book Club with Lemony Snicket

Newsletter: September 28th

Operation: Group Critique Night #1

Friday 9/28 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Student Comics Review

NYCC Minicomics Submission

The NY Art Book Fair

Newsletter: September 14th

Operation: Favorite Comic Night Friday 9/14 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Newsletter: September 7th

Newsletter: The New Year

Cartoon Allies Returns! Every Friday • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

New Events

A Stronger Community

Forging New Alliances

Keep It Steady: Week 11 Challenge

Keep It Steady: Week 10 Challenge

Keep It Steady: Week 8 Challenge

Keep It Steady: Week 6 Challenge

Keep It Steady: Week 5 Challenge

Keep It Steady: Week 4 Challenges

Keep It Steady: Week 3 Challenges

Keep It Steady: Week 1 Challenger Round-Up

Keep It Steady: Week 2 Challenges

Keep It Steady: Week 1 Challenges

Thesis Post-Mortem Pt. I: Process & Expectations

Announcing the CA Tumblog & Keep It Steady Steady Initiative

Operation: Favorite Comic Night
Friday 9/14 • 6:30 PM • Room 703G

Cartoon Allies Returns!
Every Friday • 6:30 PM • Room 703G