JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Monkeys, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 69
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Monkeys in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
A pared-down, stylish tale packed with adrenalin and mischief in equal measure about a child’s ability to see possibilities and transform the world around them, That’s My Hat! by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud follows what happens when a hat created by a child is blown away on a gust of wind. Turning the pages takes us on a journey across the city to retrieve the hat, visiting various shops, a zoo and a library along the way. But when the child reaches the top of a skyscraper it looks like disaster will strike – can they use their imagination to save the day?
Although we may have seen the device before in Harold and the Purple Crayon, Anthony Brown’s Bear Hunt and Aaron Becker’s Journey, the idea of a child using a pencil to transform their world, changing something simple into an object of their imagination (in this case starting with a semi-circle being turned into a hat) never grows old. Perhaps this is because the ability to see alternative realities is a very real experience of childhood; we have all turned sticks into stallions ready for galloping, cardboard boxes into boats or stones into pets.
What That’s My Hat! brings afresh to this storytelling mechanism are very clever illustrations. Made of only 10 basic shapes and 5 flat colours, with simple black line embellishments, Boisrobert and Rigaud have created 3-D scenes to explore, with the use of intricate pop-up mechanisms and lots of hidden detail behind the folds and bends of the paper. It’s amazing to see the complexity that can be constructed from very basic building blocks. The magic is captivating and perhaps also empowering for young readers – these illustrations have a child-like achievability about them.
The ending draws the story full circle (literally, if you take note of how it began and what it concludes with), deeply satisfying readers, listeners and observers of all the fine and clever details in this playful book.
That’s My Hat! sent us to one of our favourite crafting materials – a bunch of paint chips (free! lovely thick card! great colours!), and from them we cut out lots of each of the 10 different shapes which appear in That’s My Hat!. For the circles I used a couple of outsized hole punchers and the kids loved the physicality of using them; I love it when the girls enjoy the preparation as much as the intended activity!
It was then time to let loose our imaginations, creating scenes with just the 10 types of shape and a black pen to add detail.
The girls loved looking closely at how the shapes were used in the book, copying some of the ideas for themselves, but also coming up with their own transformations for some of the shapes.
I love the grumpy looking mum and the dancing spider in this spread!
Whilst making stories with our shapes listened to:
All These Shapes by The Pop Ups – I can’t imagine a better song to go with a pop-up book about what you can make with shapes!!
One of the more offbeat titles of the Image Renaissance. THE HUMANS by Keenan Marshall Keller (Galactic Breakdown) and artist Tom Neely (Henry and Glenn Forever) will be collected in March at the popular $9.99 price point. Set in 1070 Bakersfield, it’s about a gang of bikers who are…apes. It’s biker exploitation action as you like with added MONKEYS.
“I just love me some biker flicks and exploitation/genre in all forms,” said Keller in an interview with Comicosity. “It wasn’t like I was trying to do an ape project and settled on them being bikers… The Humans were bikers from the start. It’s my love affair with the fringe, with outlaws and no-good-doer’s and made me focus on biker culture.”
Neely, whose art captures the energy and abandon of The Humans’ life on the road, has relished the chance to draw full-time. “I get up and draw monkeys and motorcycles all day and it’s the best,” he said. “It’s also really great collaborating with another artist – Kristina Collantes is doing the coloring and I love to see how she transforms my pages. I love my black and white drawings for this book, but they really don’t come to life to feel like a real comic book until Kristina’s colors complete the picture.”
THE HUMANS, VOLUME 1 will be in comic book stores on March 11 and in bookstores on March 25.
1 Comments on PREVIEW: THE HUMANS are actually apes on bikes, last added: 1/28/2015
December 14th is Monkey Day. The origin behind Monkey Day varies depending on who you ask, but regardless, it is internationally celebrated today, especially to raise awareness for primates and everything primate-related. So in honor of Monkey Day, here are some facts you may or may not know about these creatures.
Headline image credit: Berber monkeys. Public domain via Pixabay.
When “The Case of the Black Macaque” scooped media headlines this summer, copyright was suddenly big news. Here was photographer David Slater fighting Wikipedia over the right to disseminate online a portrait photo of a monkey which had, contrary to all expectations and the law of averages, managed within just a few jabs of a curious finger, to take a plausible, indeed publishable “selfie”. Did Slater have the right to control the image since it was his camera on which it was recorded, or was it free for the world to use on the basis that he was not its author, the true creator being the crested black macaque who, for all her charm and dexterity, was neither a real nor legal person and therefore disentitled to any legal rights?
Disputes like this make great headlines, but cause even greater headaches for the intellectual property (“IP”) community. Most have little legal substance to them and are interesting only because of their facts, but that’s what drives journalists’ involvement and readers’ interest, making it easier for the media to attract paying advertisers. By the time they pass through the media machine these tales are frequently mangled to the point at which IP lawyers can scarcely recognise them. In one recent case involving a well-known chocolate brand, a company was said to have patented its copyright in England in order to sue a business in Switzerland for trade mark infringement. To the layman this may sound fine, but it’s about as sensible to the expert as telling the doctor that you’ve got a tummy ache in your little finger because your cat ate the goldfish last night. We IP-ers try to explain the real story, but monkeys and selfies are far more fun than the intricacies of copyright law and, by the time we’ve tried to put the record straight, the next exciting story has already broken.
“By the time they pass through the media machine, these tales are frequently mangled to the point at which IP lawyers can scarcely recognise them”
The next selfie episode to hit the headlines, far from featuring a portrait, was quite the opposite end of the anatomical spectrum. Model Kim Kardashian objected that Jen Selter’s selfies constituted copyright infringements of photos which had been taken of Kim Kardashian’s bottom (occasionally colloquially described as her “trademark” bottom, but not yet registered in conventional legal fashion). Here the only questions IP lawyers address are (i) are the pictures of Kim Kardashian’s backside copyright-protected works and (ii) does the taking by Jen Selter of selfies of her own posterior constitute an infringement? For press and public, however, the issue morphs into the much more entertaining, if legally irrelevant, one of whether a person has copyright in their own bottom.
Self-portrait by the depicted Macaca nigra female. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
There are many IP rights apart from copyright and they all have their macaque moments. Trade mark law is full of episodes of evil corporations stealing words from the English language and stopping anyone else using them. Patent law (in which the legal protection of body parts very much smaller than bottoms, such as sequences of DNA, does have some relevance) is garnished with tales of greed and intrigue as people seek to steal one another’s ideas and avariciously monopolise them. Confidentiality and the right to publicity have their own rip-roaring encounters in court as amorous footballers who are “playing away” seek to hush up their extramarital (that’s one word, not two) exploits. Meanwhile, the women with whom they shared moments of illicit intimacy seek to cash in on their news value by selling them to the highest bidder. For IP lawyers the legal issues are serious and, when cases come to court, they achieve precedential status that governs how future episodes of the same nature might be handled. For press and public, the issues are different: who is the footballer, who is the woman — and are there any pictures (ideally selfies)?
Seriously, the rate at which not just eye-catching tales like those related above but also far less glamorous tales result in litigation, or even legislation, makes it hard-to-impossible for practitioners, academics, administrators and businessmen to keep abreast of the law, let alone understand its deeper significance for those affected by it: businesses, governments, consumers, indeed everyone. Publishers like OUP are increasingly raising the tempo of their own responses to the IP information challenge, utilising both formal and informal media, in print and online. Since legal publishing is largely reactive, we can narrow the gap between the time an exciting new event or legal decision hits the popular media and the point at which we can strip it down to its bare legal essentials. But it will take more than a little monkeying around before we can close that gap completely.
Featured image credit: Camera selfie, by Paul Rysz. CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr.
i decided to start my black friday SALE a bit early. i mean why wait til friday to get a good deal?! ;)
all ORIGNAL PAINTINGS in my shop are now 20% off until (cyber) monday at midnight! i am making room for 2015's stash and NEED to clean out my studio. not that i don't like being surrounded by beautiful little mermaids and cute little critters....but I'm willing to share the love and let them find a new home. :) so....
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which opens today, tells of how the enhanced apes, led by Caesar, strive with humans for supremacy in a disease ravaged world. Apparently there is one scene where a human youth bonds with an orangutan over…
??? Charles Burns’ sinister, haunting graphic novel about a disfiguring plague that affects 70s teens. The story would seem so have a few allusions to the Apes storyline, and it’s the kind of big thick book you might carry around with you in a monkey apocalypse s it all seems plausible. You can actually watch the scene above and read about Burns’ reaction here.
RotPotA director Matt Reeves is NOT one of the many helmers over the years rumored to be directing an actual Black Hole movie—among them David Fincher—but he must have a fondness for the book, which is along the top 25 graphic novels of all times, in my humble opinion.
At any rate, the scene in the much-liked revamped Apes franchise is also a nice homage to the older Apes movies, including the scene in the original where Taylor and Nova laugh over a page of Snuffy Smith; the mutants in Beneath the PLanet of the Apes being obsessed with Fletcher Hanks’ Stardust; and of course the famous scene in Battle for the Planet of the Apes where Caesar travels to the Archives of the Forbidden Zone to learn about what destroyed human civilization and finds a copy of Spider-Man: More More Day.
6 Comments on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes uses Chalres Burns’ Black Hole as a plot point, last added: 7/12/2014
Very cool news but please fix the typo in your headline
Michael P said, on 7/11/2014 1:27:00 PM
“and of course the famous scene in Battle for the Planet of the Apes where Caesar travels to the Archives of the Forbidden Zone to learn about what destroyed human civilization and finds a copy of Spider-Man: More More Day.”
I KNEW IT! You maniacs! Damn you all to Hell!
Charles Raymond said, on 7/11/2014 3:10:00 PM
Complains about typo, uses no punctuation.
Brian said, on 7/11/2014 6:29:00 PM
I really loved Black Hole. Great 90s comics!
twitter sign in said, on 7/12/2014 7:30:00 AM
Saw Dawn last night…..better than Rise and that was really good. I think we finally have moved on from Tim Burton’s view.
Cary Coatney said, on 7/12/2014 1:54:00 PM
And don’t forget the orangutan character’s name of Maurice, a little nod to original Dr. Zaius cast member, Maurice Evans – which I thought was a nice little touch.
5 Stars Don’t Feed the Boy by Irene Latham Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin Pages: 288 Ages: 8 to 12 ……………………. Back Cover: No kid knows more about zoo life than Whit. That’s because he sleeps, eats and even attends home-school at the Meadowbrook Zoo. It’s one of the perks of having a mother who’s the [...]
4.5 Stars Beautiful Wild Rose Girl B. Magnolia Mystic World Press No. Pgs: 32 Ages: 4+ ................. From Back Cover: If everyone in the village calls her “Beautiful Wild Rose Girl,” why does this poor, sad girl live in a swamp? And why, when she goes to bed every night, does she hear bullfrogs sing to [...]
4StarsDance Class #2: Romeo and Juliet
Beka
Papercutz Printing
978-1597073172
No. of Pages: 48 Ages:7 and up
.........................
The girls from Dance Class: Julie, Alia, Lucie, and Carla, are getting ready for their production of "Romeo and Juliet," which may be the wackiest version ever produced! Of course, Julie lands the coveted role of Juliet, which makesCarla very jealous. But who should play Romeo? Well, would you believe a hip-hop dancer named Tim? And will Tim and Julie actually fall in love, just like Romeo and Juliet?
.................
The Dance Class Series are graphic novels with humor laced through each page. Each page is like a one-line joke, or an arc, ala soap operas. It does add up to a complete book that makes absolute sense, in its own wacky, fun way. The ballet troupe returns for dance class and play practice. On each page, the reader enters one of the dancers’ moments, usually comically timed, with a punch line in the last bubble.
In one vignette (above), Alia is stretching and studying her math book. Julie and Lucie say it would be nice if it were possible to study dance while in math class. Alia thinks about it and figures out how to do just that.
Girls will loves this graphic book of ballet dancers and the antics of their days learning and rehearsing for the big production play of
Romeo and Juliet. The usual suspects are there, the three best friends Julie, Alia, and Lucie, and their main nemesis Carla.
A new student, hip hopping Tim, is casted as Romeo and the four girls compete for his affections and the role of Juliet. When Carla misses out to Julie, she goes into revenge mode, and the modern update of the Shakespeare classic becomes a comedy of errors, due to teen jealousy.
The illustrations are colorful, lively, and expressive. If you read book one of the Dance Class Series, you know that the book was larger than this one. In the world of children’s publishing, the smaller the book, the older the intended reader. Who knew? Apparently, Papercutz, and their parent company Macmillan, understand the psychology of children’s books.
The writer and illustrator team of Beka*and Crip are the French artists who conceived these graphic gems. As I write this review of Book 2, Book 3: African Folk Dance Fever is hitting bookstore shelves. I hope to get a copy and review it here soon.
Girls ages six to sixteen will love Dance Class: Romeo and Juliet. The story revolves mainly around the actions and emotions of teenage girls. I doubt many boys will find this one interesting, though there are always exceptions.
The Dance Class books are good reads for reluctant readers. The text is clear and not at a lower reading level than one would expect. The story is manageable at 48 pages, engaging and connects with the illustrations to make for one complete read.
One key to getting a reluctant reader to read is finding a story about something they are passionate about or love doing. For these reasons and more, The Dance Class Series is perfect for reluctant readers. It is also perfect for kids who like graphic novels, a good story, humor, and dance.
*Beka is short for the writing team of Bertrand Escaich and Caroline Rogue
4 StarsMonkey of the Month
by Adam Kramer / David Kramer
Schiffer Publishing
978-0-7643-4156-4
No. of Pages: 40 Ages: 2 to 7
................................................Inside Jacket: Bored with mundane birthday gifts, a young boy unexpectedly receives a most peculiar gift on his birthday one year—membership to the "Monkey of the Month Club." Though pleased it isn't just a pair of socks, he is very confused by this odd gift, until, month-by-month monkeys and their primate cousins start appearing at his door.
........................
Monkey of the Month is adorable. If you have ever received a gift-of-the-month club membership, whether it be fruit, candy, flowers, or monkeys, you will enjoy this cute book. I liked the colorful illustrations of each different monkey and their contribution to the boy’s household, not always to his mother’s delight.
You will not find a “message” in Monkey of the Month, but you will find loads of laughs, plenty of giggles, and a few guffaws. Parents will not be bored reading this night after night. Told in rhyming verse, the monkeys arrive one-by-one each month and stay on to do whatever they arrived to do. One cleans, another decorates, a third simply sits on his bu–chair watching television all day, eating, drinking and making a mess.
I think kids will adore the different monkeys and the effect they each have on the boy’s mother, who eventually has had enough. But true to fashion, the story does not end with the last monkey. No, there seems to be a series developing as the last creature rings the boy’s doorbell.
…………………Monkey of the Month is a fun picture book that will become a favorite read-to-me book of the 2 to 8 year-old crowd. Anyone who enjoys a picture book, whose only purpose is to entertain, will enjoy Monkey of the Month for its bright and humorous illustrations, exaggerated expressions, and quirky story of the imaginative birthday gift that is far from mundane.
Author: Adam Kramer facebook
Illustrator: David Kramer facebook
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing website
Releaase Date: July 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7643-4156-4
Number of Pages: 40
Grades: Pre-K to 3rd
BY JEN VAUGHN – If you are one of the last souls who has yet to buy WANDER or DRACULA THE UNCONQUERED #2, allow me to convince you. Put away that latte money for I have something better for you to enjoy.
In WANDER, Writer Kevin Church, along with artist Grace Allison, follows about Olive Hopkins, your typical grad-school-esque malcontent who can tell her Master’s degree is only going to permanently cement her job behind the barista counter. Be it magic or some heavy, regrettable drinking, Olive wakes up in a land beyond, full of swords, sorcery and adroit companions such as an elf and Dwarf. Olive, it seems, can shift through dimensions but unholy havoc could this bring to both worlds? Church is oh-so clever and delivers at least two, wait THREE, hints disguised in the full Wander package.
The team of creators spin such a yarn that the $2 price is almost maddening. The clean, sharp linework and cool coloring of Grace Allison often nicely contrast the nasty and funny ideas of Church’s story, instead of playing along. Below, even though jonesing for a slice of ‘za, Olive attempts to be open to new experiences.
I’m a sucker for anyone who follows the add a dog for more cuteness rule.
Luwhil the Dwarf is probably the favorite character so far, being ugly, sweaty AND a drunkard who calls people on their bullshit, compared to the acerbic and reluctant Olive or beautiful Monet of an elf (looks great far, obsessive close up), Shalwyn. Future issues will hopefully play up all their flaws.
WANDER is part of the amazing Monkeybrain Comics line-up bringing the world unique and fun digital comics, which leads up to Chris Sims (of Comics Alliance) and his independently published digital comic, Dracula the Unconquered #2. Sims is even hosting a contest to win a ohh-laa-la print edition of Drac #1 (WANT!) if you buy a digital copy of #2 by FRIDAY.
The second issue of Dracula the Unconquered by Sims, drawn by Steve Downer and lettered by YES, the same Josh Krach. When we last met Dracula, he had just woken up all sorts of grump
3 Comments on Digital Comics: $3 spent, last added: 8/1/2012
Well, the capuchin monkeys at Stately Beat Manor remembered who I was, so I didn’t have to run that gauntlet again. (Stately Beat Manor is situated on an island in the Hudson, near Croton. Back in the 1940s, when organ grinders were eradicated from the streets of New York, Gerhard von Fulano Zutano Mengano y Perengano, the inventor of the mechanical clapping monkey, offered his island estate as a nature preserve for the numerous orphaned capuchin monkeys. Since then, they have become quite protective of the grounds, discouraging any boater foolish enough to get in range of their catapults.)
The tree octopi enjoyed the fresh crabs I brought them from Hunts Point. I’ll play with them during the weekend, in the garden fountain pool designed by Tiffany and Bartholdi. Since I have seniority over the other Beat Elite reporters, I’ll be sleeping in the Kirby Room in the north wing. It has a private balcony, and the ceiling is painted in fluorescent paint, so that it glows like a trippy black light poster! (Yeah, the women love it… it’s better than a mirror!) The Beat’s working library is just a few doors down the hall. (The archives in the sub-basement hold most of her collection, and she likes visitors to peruse specific shelves, so nothing gets too musty or dusty. Last summer it was Soviet Russia and the Warsaw Pact comics. This year, it’s sub-Saharan Africa. Can’t wait to read me some Powerman!)
So, Wednesday marks the beginning of Comic-Con International: San Diego, with Preview Night. There’s not much news streaming on Google, aside from the Twilight tragedy from Tuesday (which hit #1 on Yahoo! News earlier today). There will be some excitement tomorrow, when the paparazzi and bloggers invade. So today is kinda laid back, going with the flow, remembering where Heidi hides her secret stash of chocolate. Here’s some interesting links I’ve discovered, and hope you enjoy! Not much in the way of pictures, but I’ll try to find some to keep things interesting.
Putting the “international” in CCI is this early report from a Russian reporter, filed yesterday. You’ll need a browser to translate it, or you can just look at the pictures.
For those of you stuck on the outside, looking in, here’s a handy interactive map of various events happening in the trolley circle north of the convention center. If you look on the right, there’s a menu, which includes listings of food trucks!
How inclusive has Comic-Con become? Well, venerable Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group will be at Booth #1515. In addition to science fiction and fantasy authors, there will be two notable authors: E.L. James (she of Shades of Grey fame)
1 Comments on SDCC12: Watchtower Wednesday, last added: 7/13/2012
Book Expo America 2012 just concluded here in New York, and once again it’s been an interesting trade show. Some stuff was normal, some was new, and overall, I felt it was a good show. My thoughts and discoveries follow.
✐
One interesting, if under-reported, improvement was the “Power Reader” program. On Thursday, the last day of the show, when most attendees are winding down, BEA invited “power readers” to attend. Twelve local independent bookstores and the New York Public Library invited their best customers to pay $45 to attend the show on Thursday. What did they get? I quote:
Discover new and upcoming books before they hit the stands
See and meet your favorite authors
Talk to publisher about favorite books and authors
Mix and Mingle with other book lovers and share your passion for reading
Get autographs and advanced reads of unique books (quantities limited)
Get tons of giveaways from exhibitors. [62 different promos]
Get a FREE POWER READER SWAG BAG at registration, filled with goodies like:
An advance copy (before books even hit shelves!) of an upcoming title from one of today’s hottest authors, including Debbie Macomber’s Inn at Rose Harbor, Dean Koontz’s Odd Apocalypse, and Karin Slaughter’s Criminal
A special edition copy of Justin Cronin’s bestselling sensation The Passage
A sampling of recipes from beloved QVC host David Venable’s first cookbook, In the Kitchen with David®
A Janet Evanovich magnet
A Debbie Macomber keychain
A sneak peek guide with the early scoop on forthcoming releases from bestselling authors
When BEA moved to the middle of the week (Monday-Thursday, instead of Wednesday-Sunday), I thought that BEA would be planning a weekend “Book-Con” for the general public. After all, Reed runs BEA, and they’ve got experience running New York Comic Con at the same location. They could arrange booths so that a wall could be set up to reduce the size of the show (or they could fill booths vacated by trade exhibitors with retail exhibitors the next day). The possibility of a huge weekend crowd (if 100,000 attend NYCC, how many romance, mystery, and science fiction fans would attend a book show, especially to discover new titles and meet authors (just like Comic-Con!)?) might reinvigorate the show, encouraging lapsed publishers to return to the show (or risk ending up on a waiting list, like at San Diego).
Would it be hard for publishers to shift from trade to retail? Not really. Most of the mainstream publishers sell books at the American Library Association shows. Ever
4 Comments on Book Expo America 2012: MY Three-Day Vacation in Bookland, last added: 6/11/2012
What, you didn’t think my spiral-bound “Power Rangers: Super Samurai Vol. 1″ was the launch book of the show? (Kidding!) ;)
Torsten Adair said, on 6/8/2012 4:20:00 PM
Jesse:
No. You didn’t have:
1) A PRSS action figure or poster to hand out.
2) An actual Power Ranger (or Nighloks) available for photo ops.
3) An ARC or cool AR demo.
Thanks for the link to the work process. I love how you begin with the sepia background. Does that all get deleted as you progress, or is it allowed to show through in parts? There seems to be a residual texture/colouring that 'knocks back' the brightness of pure digital colour very nicely.
(Sorry - I ask too many questions.) I need to explore all this myself.
No, I like to let it peek through. I paint digitally in much the same way I do traditionally. I've been using a brown background since I was a kid and drew all over my Mom's grocery bags. Paper or plastic? Always paper!
I am a daydreamer. The world around me inspires me, and sometimes, most times, when I’m bored, my brain kicks in like a screensaver, accessing the underutilized cranial capacity of my cerebral lobes.
So what’s on my mind today? MegaMillions. It has now reached Blofeld proportions, with an estimated jackpot of Five Hundred MILLION Dollars. Half a BILLION dollars. More than the GDP of Dominica. So here’s where my imagination kicks in, calculating:
twenty year payout = $25,000,000 a year
After taxes of 50% = $12,500,000 a year.
What could I do with that windfall? Oh sure, there’s that dream house I created in the Fourth Grade, with the video arcade, mini-golf course, and various museum-quality collections of comics and other stuff. I’d probably build a variation on that idea, probably buying a warehouse somewhere.
Of course, I’d supplement my comics collection. Way back in 1990, I decided to collect towards one goal: conserving comics and graphic novels for an eventual special collection which would one day form the nucleus of a research collection somewhere. I’d probably buy a brownstone somewhere to house it, perhaps replicating what the James Beard Foundation does for cooking. And then I’d start thinking of other ways to bootstrap comics up to the level given to film, rock and roll, and other popular cultures which have gained acceptance and respect.
But my odds of wining the MegaMillions (or any lottery) are very slim. So, until I win a nice chunk of change (six digits or greater), I am going to make some suggestions on what others with disposable income (and/or leisure time) could do. Some ideas won’t require a lot of money, others would require periodic donations of small amounts (less than $1,000), and some, some would best be funded by an organization or non-profit foundation.
There are sources of funding out there right now. The Federal Government does offer grants via the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. There are similar programs at the state and local level. A few comics creators have sponsored comics-based initiatives, such as the Xeric Foundation. (This is not to disparage those well-to-do comics
4 Comments on Dandelion Seeds: An Introduction and Explanation, last added: 3/29/2012
I’d buy a marketing company and use it to market indie/small press projects.
Richard Caldwell said, on 3/29/2012 11:46:00 AM
I thought that the Xeric was closing up shop though.
And I actually had a column for a couple of years titled the Lottery Party for a now defunct site. The first article explained something similar to this, like the fantasizing most comic fans go through at one time or another of just walking into a comic book store and buying everything in site. I think giving to any and all of the many comic book-related charities is a great idea.
I do worry that kickstarter is just a boom. I would certainly dog-ear a chunk of change to help bankroll creator pals of mine.
kag said, on 3/29/2012 5:27:00 PM
Two ideas come to mind to spend my imaginary ill-gotten gains:
1) “Matching Month”: I’d pick a cause each year (probably starting with CBLDF then Hero) and match whatever they raise in the month of July.
2) “Permafrost”: There’s no better way to make a small fortune in publishing than starting with a large one, so why not try Tundra, part 2?
Jason A. Quest said, on 3/29/2012 6:42:00 PM
This is the second time in as many weeks that someone has asked me what I’d do with a huge windfall of money. Omen? Allah/YHWH/Wotan/Buddha willing.
My answer is that I’d do what I’m already trying to do… just more effectively. For example, instead of writing and drawing subversive, heretical, and queer comics in what spare time I can manage, I’d do it full-time.
Instead of scraping together money to under-pay other artists, I’d pay them what they’re worth, allowing me to put out material of high enough quality, in frequent enough quantity to make it a viable ongoing business. If that worked, I’d leverage it to give other writers and their own artist collaborators opportunities to reach a larger audience.
Instead of sending the odd $20 to the CBLDF and CLLDF (I’m half-Canadian on my mother’s side), I’d add them to my monthly budget. Likewise with the Hero Initiative.
So if there’s a benevolent deity (or mortal “angel”) out there who’d be interested in making it happen… drop me a line.
Recently, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declared his support for the idea of a moon colony. Even more recently, he was roundly mocked for this even though manned space flight is one of the glories of American history. Wired asked space enthusiast Warren Elliswhat he thought of the plan:
I get the impression he didn’t really get warmed up until he reached Florida. Speaker Gingrich, as a “historian,” will be well aware that Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program to replace the closing Apollo program in order to retain Florida and keep the aerospace industry on his side. With Shuttle closing, it’s the most obvious thing in the world to walk into Florida and say, “I will give you all the money to build stuff.” You’ll probably see him do the same in California.
Ells offers much more on space and Earth’s relationship to the same in the interview.
Getting a reversible one that's half full of beautiful comics is even better...
Seeing one of my own illustrations in it is the best.
Here it is again, flat:
This is the first time I supplied an artwork with separate colour layers, and I'm happy it worked. I want to make more pictures like that, and hopefully have some printed up for sale.
More recognizable than any celebrity to our preschool and younger set, Bobo the Monkey serves as our wildly popular story time puppet mascot. He leads our opening and closing songs and greets the hundreds of program participants in attendance at our busy Hope Mills Branch of the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center in North Carolina.
For many of these kids, Bobo is the essence of story time. Our Youth Services Library Associate II Sarah Edwards, always thinking of innovative ways to extend the resources available at our high- circulating but smaller community location, decided to revise an idea she learned about at a conference. Our branch’s youth services supervisor Vicki Sheeler worked with Sarah to develop the procedures on just how to continue the library experience right into children’s homes with a special visit from a beloved story time participant. Meet Bobette, Bobo’s long-lost twin sister.
An identical puppet to Bobo (except for the addition of a flowered ankle bracelet she wears), our children can sign out Bobette to take home for a few days. When parents schedule a visit with Bobette, they borrow Bobette and a donated copy of I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal to read; participants are encouraged to autograph the book’s pages. Bobette’s accessories (hairbrush included) as well as a journal accompany the child home and allow the youngster and caregiver to work together to describe the details of Bobette’s visit.
Prep time is minimal. Statistics are maintained by staff and participation by patrons is voluntary (though this monkey has proved as popular as her sibling). There’s no punitive consequence if Bobette suffers a slight mishap during her travels (say an unfortunate run-in with markers), though lighthearted but serious care instructions encourage families to treat Bobette carefully. “Bobette likes to be read to, to have her picture made with you, to be brushed, sung to, and rocked. Bobette does NOT like water, especially bathtubs, pools and oceans, your live pets (unless you are holding Bobette safely in your arms), or to be fed real food. It is OK to feed her pretend food at your tea party or picnic!”
Photos in Bobette’s journal highlight her adventures, from her attendance at a soccer game, to an afternoon at the movies, and even to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese! These journal photos provided by families are optional, but they foster a shared experience among our participants. Bobette also serves as a natural conversation starter for families about our library programming when parents and kids talk about Bobette’s visit with their friends and neighbors.
Bobette extends the story time experience beyond the walls of our library for our youngest patrons. What story time mascots are a smash hit in your community? I look forward to learning the creative ways you enhance your programming experience for your library’s children!
1 Comments on Monkeying Around, last added: 10/22/2011
Be Quiet, Mike! Leslie Patricelli. 2011. Candlewick. 40 pages.
This is a story about a monkey named Mike, who started drumming as a tiny little tyke. He played with his fingers; he played with his feet--a funky little monkey with a beat, beat, beat. Bing, bong, bing, his rhythms would sing, but poor Monkey Mike heard only one thing... He heard it from his parents; he heard it from his sis; he heard it from the neighbors, and it sounded like this: BE QUIET, MIKE!
At first I wasn't sure about this one. It was never a case of liking or not liking; no, it was a do I like this?, do I really like this? or do I love it? Leslie Patricelli is one of my favorite authors for young readers. I've loved--often loved, loved, loved--many of her simpler books like Higher, Higher; Tubby; Potty; Yummy Yucky; Quiet Loud; No No Yes Yes; Baby Happy Baby Sad; The Birthday Box, etc. Be Quiet, Mike definitely has more words than any of those books I just mentioned!
But the more I read Be Quiet, Mike! the more I liked it. And I think it is because of the rhythm of it. It's a simple story of a loud little monkey who has to find the right way to express himself. He finds it through music--a drum set--as you might have guessed. Anyway, there is something musical about Be Quiet, Mike. I'm not saying that it is as musical, as magical, as say Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins (one of my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite books of all times), but it works. There is something fun about reading this one.
Right. This is more or less finished and I need to get out of this room before I melt in his heatwave... I'll sit downstairs with the windows open and smell the tomato plants, drink iced lemonade and draw plans and blueprints for a dream-vehicle (that's the last page still missing in this book, dream vehicle plans).
I found some time to do a one-off commission that needs to be done using a limited set of colours, here's a detail of the artwork. It's brush painted in Noodler's Ink and coloured in Photoshop.
I'll tinker with it some more, maybe change the shadow so it's a bit more realistic, and fix that left elbow. But first I'll finish colouring the graphic novel... eight pages to go, woo hoooo!
3 Comments on Pantone Monkey, last added: 6/26/2011
it's really interesting to see how you chip away at your work bit by bit and make time to do multiple things. impressive! i'm rubbish at that sort of thing :)
Archaia is making some moves, both with a new distributor — PGW — and its first illustrated novel, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes.
Buried in a PR on the Ape book is the news that Archaia is leaving Diamond for PGW, which already distributes Cartoon Books. PGW distributes over 100 independent publishers, so picking up a few GN publishers makes sense. And Archaia’s new books-only plan is also a good bit for a books-only distributor.
As for the APE book, it’s a new retelling of untold tales of what went on in the original film, and features art by a bevy of stars, and a cover by Jim Steranko–SCORE. Already remade in 2001, a NEW PLANET OF THE APES film is due this year starring James Franco, Frieda Pinto and Tom Felton.
Written by celebrated author, artist, and digital producer Andrew E.C. Gaska, and adapted from a story by Gaska, Rich Handley, Christian Berntsen and Erik Matthews, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes recounts what happened between the scenes of the classic 1968 Twentieth Century Fox film, centering on the astronaut John Landon, Chimpanzee scientists Dr. Milo and Dr. Galen, and Gorilla Security Chief Marcus. The book contains 30 full-color paintings and another 19 black and white illustrations, including a cover by legendary artist Jim Steranko (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and interior art from some of the top talent in the industry, including renowned book cover painter Ken Kelly (Conan, KISS), Joe Jusko (Savage Sword of Conan, Tarzan), Sanjulian (Eerie, Vampirella), Mark Texiera (Ghost Rider, Wolverine), Leo Leibelman (Heavy Metal), Matt Busch (Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica), Brian Rood (Indiana Jones, Star Wars), Tom Scioli (Godland), David Hueso (G.I. Joe: Storm Shadow) and newcomers Dan Dussault (Critical Millennium) and Dirk Shearer (Mice Templar).
Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes marks an expansion of Archaia’s successful collaboration with Gaska, following up on his science fiction comic epic, Critical Millennium: The Dark Frontier, which has received early critical acclaim.
“It means a lot to have this project be set for release and we cannot think of a better partner to have than Archaia with their outstanding production value,” said Gaska. “It’s been a great working partnership with 20th Century Fox and an honor to contribute to this legendary franchise.”
Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes also marks Archaia’s first venture into prose books.
“We’re very excited about our first foray into prose fiction publishing, particularly being able to work with a brilliant creative talent in Drew Gaska and a storied franchise like Planet of the Apes. I’m a huge fan of the original film and Conspiracy is a great example of an author playing successfully in an established narrative canon. We are very excited to introduce this extraordinary science fiction release across the book trade and genre markets and look forward to Conspiracy emerging as one of the year’s most talked-about titles,” said Mark Smylie, CCO of Archaia.
2 Comments on Archaia switches to PGW, publishes APES, last added: 5/25/2011
The old Planet of the Apes b&w magazines also had stories about what happened between the films as well as what other countries looked like under Ape rule.
And I wonder how this book by Archaia will mix with Boom’s new POTA comic book as far as blending continuity? Oh well, as a fan of all things POTA, this sounds pretty cool to me.
.jpeg?picon=3306)
A pared-down, stylish tale packed with adrenalin and mischief in equal measure about a child’s ability to see possibilities and transform the world around them, That’s My Hat! by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud follows what happens when a hat created by a child is blown away on a gust of wind. Turning the pages takes us on a journey across the city to retrieve the hat, visiting various shops, a zoo and a library along the way. But when the child reaches the top of a skyscraper it looks like disaster will strike – can they use their imagination to save the day?
![By Self-portrait by the depicted Macaca nigra female. See article. (Wtop.com) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://blogoup.electricstudiolt.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Macaca_nigra_self-portrait_large-628x744.jpg)
Get a FREE POWER READER SWAG BAG at registration, filled with goodies like:
HOW BEAUTIFUL, the book and the drawings! Hopping it comes to Brasil soon!
Hi Gisele, yes me too!
Such a great book, and I love what you have done with it
What a fabulous book! And great art project!