The second comic jam of February (we meet the second and last Thursday of each month) is going to be on Thursday Feb 25, 2010 at 6:30 PM AND at a new location.

The upcoming jam will be again at the Borderlands Cafe (next to the Borderlands Sci-Fi Books) on Valencia St. Hardwood floors, old sci-fi paper packs, great snacks and drinks and some great art from all involved.

So, why not join us.

Location: 870 Valencia Street, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94110(415) 970-6998‎
Here is their site http://www.borderlands-cafe.com/and here is the store next door http://www.borderlands-books.com/

Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm ish

MAP HERE

What to bring: drawing materials, sketchbook, your latest work, samples of favorite artists and artwork, stuff.

See you there.

Hey all, just a reminder that we wacky kids from the Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco will have our CAM-JAM #1 this Sunday Feb 21, 2010. This is our first Comic Jam with our friends at the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore of 2010 and we will feature the themes of Brush and Ink/Superhero and Samurai.

It’s an all day experience that will challenge us to create a mini-comic by the end of day.

Here’s what’s happening… (also visit our blog at the Cartoonist Conspiracy SF blog.)

Where: Lobby of the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission St. San Francisco CA

When: Sunday February 21, 2010 – 11:30 am to 5:30 pm

Cost: FREE, but copies of the final mini comic will cost the price of printing. ++

What (to bring): Yourself and your favorite drawing tools, especially your favorite brush pen. Feel free to bring clippings/copies of reference that fits the theme as well as your networking paraphernalia.

How – Schedule below: (note: you are not required to attend the whole day, but you are encouraged too)

11:00 am – Set-up and schmooze.

11:30 am – Warm-Up Jam: Group Mash-up Character Design.

12:00 pm – Our Warm-up Jam drawings will taken and scanned while we set up for the mini-comic jam. Note: If you worked on the Warm-Up Jam drawings and stay till the end, you get to take a drawing home with you. Free art, woot!

Feel free to bring printouts/clippings of inspiration based on this sessions themes to share.

Set up to draw. Take a break for a quick lunch or snack.

12:30 pm Start the Comic Jam!

We will break into small teams of 2-4 artists who will be tasked with creating a short 2-8 page comic using the themes of the event. Card stock will be provided to draw on and some ink and brushes to try, but feel free to bring your favorite tools too.

A few volunteers will be helping us to scan pages when your team finish one, so we should be able to get the work on-line/printed faster then last year.

4:30 pm STOP

While any last pages are quickly prepped/scanned to make copies, the group will work on the final cover.

Everyone cleans up! Shop at the bookstore!

A team of expert copiers will jet on over to the copy store while any remaining artist will help vote on their favorite Warm-Up Jam drawings that are now displayed on the Bookstore Wall. There might be a possible prize as well.

5:00 pm ish Book arrive for you to take home with samples of everyone’s work. **

** Each artist can get copy(s) of the final Mini-Comic at cost; a few extra copies will be available at the bookstore for a full price as our way of helping this wonderful non-profit museum out.

++ (Legal stuff) By participating in the Jam you are giving permission for your work to be placed on-line by the Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco and that a limited number of books can be sold as a fundraiser for the Cartoon Art Museum through its bookstore. Every effort to give credit and promote the participants will be made.

Random Numbers will be given by anyone who did the Warm-Up and we will go in order with each person taking an original drawing home.

5:30 go out for food/drink and schmooze, draw more, network, have fun.

So, why not join us?

Questions: Contact the CCSF organizer Brian Kolm at staff@atomicbearpress.com

Hope to see you there.

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic! This week we are trying a NEW VENUE, as our usual spot is being remodeled. 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 — the baristas really do appreciate that.

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until…whenever. 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 are posted here sooner rather than later.

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.

Hope to see you there!

Cartoonist Steve Robbin is looking for a studio mate to share a 200 sq. foot studio at Sevens Square Center for the Arts in Minneapolis.  The space would be incredibly cheap to share — probably $100-$150.

Anyone interested in splitting the space with Steve should contact him at  comicartiststeve@yahoo.com

Stevens Square Center for the Arts, for reference, has hosted the Twin Cities Zinefest for the past several years.

Take a break from shoveling show and join us at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts for cartooning and chit-chat.

Saturday, February 13, from noon to 4 p.m., MCBA Bindery (high tables)

If you can’t find us in the MCBA building, ask the friendly person working in the MCBA bookstore. This is an open studio — all are welcome. BYO hot chocolate.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
(Just down the street from Big Brain Comics)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: 612-215-2520

Future Sat. Open Studios:
March 20 in the Bindery (the high tables)
April 24 in the Bindery (the high tables)

ZINEFEST 2010 is coming sooner than you think!  Several of us were there last yeat.  Lots of fun.  You should table and/or attend yourself!   

From Conspirator/Stuff Organizer Sarah Morean:

The Twin Cities Zinefest is now accepting exhibitor applications.  Go here to reserve your table today: http://zinefest.org/application/

Like in the past, we will only accept online applications until we are near capacity.  Then all applicants will go on a wait list.

Table and chair fees are the same as last year.  Please note the “optional message” field on page one of the application.  Use that space to indicate special needs (do you want to sit near an outlet?), seating preferences (would you like to sit near your friends?), or any name changes (would you prefer to be listed by your name, business, or zine in our promotional materials and online?).

Please remember that a half-table at Zinefest is larger than most half-tables at other craft or book shows and reserve your space accordingly.  A full-size table is 8’x30″!  That is very large.  At 4’x30″, a half-table suits most creators just fine, and by reserving a half-table, you will create more room in the space for additional creators, which means more fun for everyone!

Feel free to write me with any questions.

Regards,
Sarah Morean
TC Zinefest Coordinator
zines@zinefest.org

The third comic jam of January 2010 (we meet the second and last Thursday of each month) is going to be on Thursday Feb 11, 2010 at 6:30 PM AND at a new location.

The upcoming jam will be again at the Borderlands Cafe (next to the Borderlands Sci-Fi Books) on Valencia St. Our first time at this location at our last meeting was great. Hardwood floors, old sci-fi paper packs, great snacks and drinks and some great art from all involved.

So, why not join us.

Location: 870 Valencia Street, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94110(415) 970-6998‎
Here is their site http://www.borderlands-cafe.com/and here is the store next door http://www.borderlands-books.com/

Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm ish

MAP HERE

What to bring: drawing materials, sketchbook, your latest work, samples of favorite artists and artwork, stuff.

See you there.

Saturday, February 13 | 1:30-3:30 | Albuquerque Main Library | Albuquerque, NM

The February 7000 BC meeting will be held Saturday, February 13 in Conference Room #2 at the Albuquerque Main Library, 1:30–3:30.

Free parking for up to 2 hours in the Very Special Arts Garage at 5th and Copper. Bring your parking stub to the circulation desk for validation. There is also on-street metered parking.

This will be a working meeting — bring comics to work on, take time to collaborate, or get input on your projects. After the meeting, we’ll move on to dinner.

New members are always welcome. Please send an email with any questions.

I recently did some product reviews for our friends at Wet Paint. You can read them here. Since they are the best and the friendliest art supply store I have ever been to, and since they have generously supported the Conspiracy for a number of events (including most of the 24 Hour Comics Days), it was a pleasure to do it. They are looking for more reviews… if you are interested in contributing some product reviews to them, let me know and I’ll get you in touch with them. You can email me at:

Here’s an interesting interview with Phil Foglio where his discusses his experiences with publishing his comics for free on the web.

“…For years people had been coming up to me and saying “I would like to get into comics” and I had been saying “Screw comics. Do a webcomic. It’s the wave of the future and your production costs are super low,” and eventually I realized that instead of just giving this advice I should take it.”