Category Archives: Jam Comics

April Northeast Comics Summit and Jam Tonight in Minneapolis (April 5th)

In addition to the usual monthly festivities, TPT will be filming us tonight for their mnoriginals.org website, so make yourselves look pretty. The fun starts at 6:00…

This month’s Nordeast Comics Summit topic: How to Organize Successful Groups

MODERATOR: Jamie Schumacher

TIME: 6 – 6:30 pm (right before the Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam)

LOCATION: 1618 Central Ave NE, Ste. 216, Nordeast MPLS

MORE INFO HERE.

Afterwards, please join us to draw some jam comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwards, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed). Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe 1618 Central Avenue Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Saint Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam on March 15!!

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic at Cahoots Coffee! This locale provides us with not only a spacious room in the back of the shop, but also they have tasty mediterranean food for sale!

The jamming is easy and it’s a fun time! Just bring some drawing utensils, an idea for the jam, and a few bucks to get a tasty beverage or some chow — don’t forget to tip, the baristas really do appreciate that!

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until 10:30 at the latest. Come earlier to reserve your space! Seating can be limited at times!

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results will be posted here at some date yet to be determined.

To join us come to:
Cahoots Coffee
1562 Selby Ave
St Paul, MN 55104
(Southeast corner of Snelling and Selby)

More not than often we head on over to grab a brew at:
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill
164 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Right next to Cahoots!)

Bus info here.

Minneapolis Jam: March 2012


NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT
Summary: Adrean Clark pulled the curtain back on how to create an ebook and distribute it through SmashWords — and hopefully become the next self-made millionaire! Whether you’re gunning to be a millionaire or a dollaraire, you should consider reading Adrean’s own ebook on creating ebooks (how meta!), available here.

Coming up next!:
APR. 5: Jamie Schumacher, “Tips for Organizing Groups, from Comic Book Clubs to the Next Marvel”
MAY 3: Gordon McAlpin, “Illustrator Boot Camp” – Making digital comics & using digital lettering.
JUNE 7: Jon Sloan, “A Brief History of Comics” – An historical look at the medium we all love so well.
If there’s a topic you’d like to see or even lead yourself, contact me at nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com. The next available date is June 7, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter! handle: NORDEASTCOMICS

INTERNATIONAL CARTOONIST CONSPIRACY
I’m going to assume that this topic is in some way inspired by the upcoming Russian Presidential elections coming up on Sunday. Or maybe not:

The Were Kings for a Moment…and Success Starts Here

Hello, Friend.
Click image for pdf — a royal 4 mb!

Please enjoy.

Saint Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam Tonight!!

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic at Cahoots Coffee! This locale provides us with not only a spacious room in the back of the shop, but also they have tasty mediterranean food for sale!

The jamming is easy and it’s a fun time! Just bring some drawing utensils, an idea for the jam, and a few bucks to get a tasty beverage or some chow — don’t forget to tip, the baristas really do appreciate that!

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until 10:30 at the latest. Come earlier to reserve your space! Seating can be limited at times!

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results will be posted here at some date yet to be determined.

To join us come to:
Cahoots Coffee
1562 Selby Ave
St Paul, MN 55104
(Southeast corner of Snelling and Selby)

More not than often we head on over to grab a brew at:
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill
164 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Right next to Cahoots!)

Bus info here.

Minneapolis Jam: February 2012


NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT
Summary: Last night we took a quick tour of InDesign, the second in our tour of the big three Adobe programs that we’ll be covering this winter. InDesign is great for making books, large and small, from press-ready documents to web-viewable pdfs. If you missed last night’s Summit, you can watch the whole thing here:

InDesign Boot Camp:


And here is the pdf we produced during the Summit:


Coming up next!:
MAR. 1: Adrean Clark, “Getting Rich in the Ebook Gold Rush: A Mining Kit for Comic Artists”
APR. 5: Jamie Schumacher, “Tips for Organizing Groups, from Comic Book Clubs to the Next Marvel”
MAY 3: Gordon McAlpin, “Illustrator Boot Camp” – Making digital comics & using digital lettering.
If there’s a topic you’d like to see or even lead yourself, contact me at nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com. The next available date is June 7, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter! handle: NORDEASTCOMICS

INTERNATIONAL CARTOONIST CONSPIRACY
I’m not sure where this particular subject came from, but it’s making me extremely sleepy. So while I take a snooze, you should check out:

Relaxation Comfort Home

Hello, Friend.
Click image for pdf — a sleepy 3 mb!

Please enjoy.

Saint Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam on January 19!!

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic at Cahoots Coffee! This locale provides us with not only a spacious room in the back of the shop, but also they have tasty mediterranean food for sale!

The jamming is easy and it’s a fun time! Just bring some drawing utensils, an idea for the jam, and a few bucks to get a tasty beverage or some chow — don’t forget to tip, the baristas really do appreciate that!

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until 10:30 at the latest. Come earlier to reserve your space! Seating can be limited at times!

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results will be posted here at some date yet to be determined.

To join us come to:
Cahoots Coffee
1562 Selby Ave
St Paul, MN 55104
(Southeast corner of Snelling and Selby)

More not than often we head on over to grab a brew at:
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill
164 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Right next to Cahoots!)

Bus info here.

Minneapolis Jam: December 2011


NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT
Summary: Steven Stwalley and I put together what we believe was the FIRST EVER comics-themed game show. Contestants were picked out of a hat a la “The Price is Right” and questions — which ranged from general knowledge about local creators to high level thinking about whether this character from the forties could beat up that other character from the forties — were structured like Jeopardy. But the highlight of the night was the DRAW! section where our six contestants were given thirty seconds in which to draw the likeness of a random cartoon character. The audience was tasked with choosing the winner, and believe me, they had talons out in full force last night. The three winners walked home with gift cards to The Source, and the losers received a consolation prize of gift cards to Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe, which they hopefully spent during the post-game jam.


Photo: Rob Stenzinger via Twitter

Coming up next!:
JAN. 5: Kevin Cannon, “Photoshop Boot Camp” – PS basics with an emphasis on scanning & coloring for comics.
FEB. 2: Nick Straight & Kevin Cannon, “InDesign Boot Camp” – ID basics with an emphasis on making print-ready comics and exporting pdfs.
MAR. 1: Adrean Clark, “Getting Rich in the Ebook Gold Rush: A Mining Kit for Comic Artists”
APR. 5: Jamie Schumacher, “Tips for Organizing Groups, from Comic Book Clubs to the Next Marvel”
MAY 3: Gordon McAlpin, “Illustrator Boot Camp” – Making digital comics & using digital lettering.
If there’s a topic you’d like to see or even lead yourself, contact me at nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com. The next available date is June 7, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter! handle: NORDEASTCOMICS

INTERNATIONAL CARTOONIST CONSPIRACY
Nine. That’s how many years ago a small band of cartoonists braved the Minnesota winter to draw jam comics at a corner table in the Spyhouse in South Minneapolis. Oh far we’ve come. Actually, not really. It’s still a big group of (mostly) guys who show up and draw with their heads down for several hours. But tack onto that a series of gallery and museum shows in collaboration with Creative Electric, Altered Esthetics, and the MN Museum of American Art, and appearances at shows like Fallcon, Springcon, and the Rain Taxi Book Festival, and it’s been a helluva near-decade. So to commemorate the birthday, the ICC presents:

9

Hello, Friend.
Click image for pdf — a nearly decades-old 8.6 mb!

Please enjoy.

Minneapolis Jam: October 2011


NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT
Summary: Adrean Clark gave a lively presentation on the subject of human facial cues & gestures that, if used wisely, can make or break a comic. Best tip: Stay away from the “Uncanny Valley” — that zone inhabited by realistically rendered humans who are just slightly off enough to be creepy — unless, of course, you’re drawing a villain or a zombie.

Coming up next!:
NOV. 3: Maxeem Konrardy, “Theft & Borrowing in Comics” – and the idea of how do you write something new in a world where everything’s already been written.
NOV. 5 & 6: The Nordeast Comics Summit at MIX! Spend some time with watercolor guru Sarah Glidden and digital maestro Gordon McAlpin as they demonstrate their unique artistic processes. Both events are at 1pm, see MIX program page for full details.
DEC. 1: Steven Stwalley & Kevin Cannon, “First Annual Holiday Comix Game Show!” – Jeopardy-style quiz show with comics-themed trivia. THERE WILL BE PRIZES!

If there’s a topic you’d like to see or even lead yourself, contact me at nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com. The next available date is January 5, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter! handle: NORDEASTCOMICS

INTERNATIONAL CARTOONIST CONSPIRACY
Two big names in American culture recently dropped out of the limelight — one, an American who built one of the most successful brands in world with products that enrich millions of peoples’ lives, and the other, an American who shoots animals from a helicopter. We focus on the latter:

Sarah Palin’s Retirement and People Helping People

Hello, Friend.
Click image for pdf — a iRresistible 10.3 mb!

Please enjoy.

Minneapolis Jam: August 2011


NORDEAST COMICS SUMMIT
Summary: Rob Stenzinger discussed how to take your comics and turn them into games, and highlighted the architectural similarities between successful games and successful comics. As always, we videotaped the Summit, and those videos will be posted online eventually.

BONUS: Rob’s entire presentation is available to view through prezi.com!

Next month the Nordeast Comics Summit is excited to welcome Danno Klonowski to the stage for a discussion about collaboration in comics — the joys, the pitfalls, the triumph, and the heartache. Bring a friend! And after that look for Adrean Clark to discuss body language and visual iconography in comics (Oct. 6), Maxeem Konrardy on artistic theft (Nov. 3) and then a special non-denominational holiday GAME SHOW episode of NCS complete with prizes and so forth (Dec. 1).

If there’s a topic you’d like to see or even lead yourself, contact me at nordeastcomics [at] gmail.com. The next available date is January 5, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter! handle: NORDEASTCOMICS

INTERNATIONAL CARTOONIST CONSPIRACY
We don’t like to be political here at the Cartoonist Conspiracy, in fact we try to maintain a level G-Rating as much as possible, but after the past few weeks of Washington bickering we thought it only fair to pay homage to the unruly Capitol Hill bunch with:

Hostage Crisis on Capitol Hill

Hello, Friend.
Click image for pdf — a fiscally sound 5.4 mb!

Please enjoy.