Polly Farmer
19 Nov
Polly Farmer was a footy player … in Australia. I recently finished inking a page in the Long Weekend with some footy on it … it was AWESOME FUN!! I’ve got one guy taking a mark over the back of a pack! Not quite a speccy, but he’s got a huge grin on his mug as he does it. You’ll all see it in a bit.
Old people
16 Nov
Here’s a couple of sketches I did whilst researching what I wanted to do with the Long Weekend. The old bloke was from a photo in an old anthropology book … I actually didn’t record which one, so I’ve forgotten, possibly a photo of Spencer’s … or Herbert’s … not sure now. The second one was a contemporary photo that was in the Age newspaper after the intervention occurred, again I didn’t record the photo’s information. I really liked trying to draw the shadows on the faces of dark skinned peoples in the starkly contrasting light of the desert, quite a challenge that I’d never tried before. I was concerned at the time that the challenge would be to still retain the humanity of the characters despite there eyes not being visible … I didn’t want them to seem like cartoony zombies just because there eyes were obscured, I still find that a challenge even though I’ve had a lot more practice now.
Pages 28-32 – Dog & Inanna
15 Nov
Previous pages
1-4, 5-7, 8-9, 10-13, 14-17, 18-22, 23-27
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!
Who the f*&% was that crazy maze-face guy???
Why’d the Long Weekend suddenly slip back a few millenium?
Where the HELL is this going?????
What the hell is Inanna doing in a place like HELL?
The answers to all that and more – in the NEXT PAGES (just wait a couple of weeks while I put some ink on them … be patient PLEASE!!)
Can someone tell Nick from Alice that that’s his car I’ve drawn in there – Emily! (changed the roof rack a little), my little homage to all the adventures that Emily and I had together … before Nick bought her off me.
If people are interested in Inanna (she’s the god of war and sex … so I think that just about covers everyone) and want to check her history out a bit more I suggest you look up Diane Wolkstein. Inanna is also referred to as Ishtar, and is somewhat of an analogue of other gods from different cultures such as Diana/Artemis, Demeter, Venus/ Aphrodite, perhaps Shiva from Hindu mythology etc.
Some pics of Alice … for inspiration’s sake
12 Nov
Well, here’s a couple of photos that I took of Alice in one of my many trips back there … the other one, the first one, is a photo of me in front of that impressive painting in Melbourne – at the NGV … it’s one of my favourite paintings of all time – it’s called Anewrlarr anganenty (big yam dreaming) and it’s by Emily Kam Kngwarray whose language group is Anmatyerr. I like standing in front of that huge canvas when I get the opportunity.
At the bottom is a sketch I did in Alice, based on a photo I took whilst walking around town collecting images for The Long Weekend.
Pages 23-27
7 Nov
Previous pages
1-4
5-7
8-9
10-13
14-17
18-22
more pages in a week or so
Next pages – 28-32
These pages were amongst the first that I did, hence they have a slightly different look about them, but I’m fond of this section because it plays out like a slightly surreal joke (as will be evidenced by the next pages that I stick up which will complete this section). In the essay this part was called “Dog“.
Unfortunately for the format of this blog the impact of the ‘reveal’ (comic-term) is a little nullified. In printed book format the turning of the page from the two cluttered 9-panel pages over to the page of Gilgamesh and Enkidu (the King of Iraq and his slightly animalistic super-dude mate who reminds me no-end of Hanuman) should be a major turning point in the history of surrealism … but alas I think it is a little lost here. Oh well, we’ll see when we get around to printing a copy or two.
More comics from the mongrel-town will be forthcoming in a few weeks … ooo can’t wait.
Comics journalism
5 NovI have read Joe Sacco for some years … and left it at that … then someone suggested that my comic was a bit like his in order to characterise it for other people on the web. I was a little surprised, because I never thought of that before much. I had been dimly aware that The Long Weekend was perhaps in the vain of Non-Fiction, but comics journalism is a bit of a stretch, oh well … she was doing me a favour so I’m not being pedantic about it, BUT – it did make me suddenly VERY interested in the world of non-fiction comics and all the cross-over areas that it entails so I started snuffling around a bit to see what more there was out there … quite a bit more actually, and a fair bit to do with the Arab Spring, seems that comics and cartoons are having a new heyday with political activism which is kind of nice.
I have recently come across this website – THE CARTOON MOVEMENT, which not only has cartoons but also comics from all over. A few of the comics are a little annoying, but some are ama-aaazingly interesting, so in that sense, it’s just like a newspaper really.
As an aside – here’s an article about Edward Said which also talks about Joe Sacco’s Palestine. Said’s work on Orientalism has become a little more prominent again this year with Craig Thompson’s Habibi being released, which I haven’t had the chance to read, but would like to once my credit card has the chance to be used again.
On a different note – I saw Frank Miller’s newie on the shelf of the local bookshop – Holy Terror, I had read some brief reviews and heard some opinions about this slightly divisive piece of work and … it only makes me want to read it MORE!!! The artwork was, as usual, astoundingly great … the topic …. well, I’ve always read Miller as having his tongue in his cheek with regards political correctness so I do hope that’s the case … I’ll read it that way.
Paul Q from Ampilatwatja
4 NovA rough sketch for a now-defunct project involving Craig San Roque (the author of The Long Weekend in Alice Springs).
This is an image of Paul Quinliven who used to manage the Ampilatwatja Health Clinic in a community North East of Alice Springs … maybe about 300 km up the Sandover Highway. I only met him a handful of times during work up that way. He lost his position as the manager of the clinic and died not long afterwards trying to save a bloke who was swept off the rocks off the coast of NSW in strong seas. This picture was loosely based on the photo of him that was in the papers when his body was lost. It washed up some days later.
If you’re interested in Craig’s writing you can scrounge around here for a few good ‘uns –
Pages 18-22
1 Nov
Previous pages
Pages 1-4
Pages 5-7
Pages 8-9
Pages 10-13
Pages 14-17
Next pages – Pages 23-27
Phew, finished all those pages. Must say that long-term comic-making is completely time consuming for those who don’t know what they’re in for (I’m one of them … but now I’ve gone too far to stop … have probably completed about 50 pages in the last 5 months, another 60-70 to go depending on what I end up doing with the ending (which is still a little amorphous … the only part that remains unclear). I may go on to do a process blog next for those interested in the idea of adapting an essay (prose) into comics … particularly one that was contained in an academic collection, I’m not sure how many other comics are out there like this one … I suspect that there might be more than just me.
Bernard Caleo forwarded me something by Kate Fielding with artists Elizabeth Fielding and the wonderful comicer Mandy Ord – called “Their hook find hold deep in our flesh” … it is an interesting combo of historical research, comics, images and collage which gives a beautiful mood to the piece. It was contained in Meanjin and made up a thesis involving a couple more people as well in the larger piece (which I have not seen).
Joshua Santospirito Art 