Tag: Devin Hodges artist

MSCA Members Revealed To Be Pod-People!

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As of this week, two more MSCA members were revealed to be pod-people..! Well, actually they were guests on the “Drawing Funny” podcast.

I recorded two episodes recently while out in the back gallery room at 901 Comics East in Codova, TN.

The first of the two comics conversations was with artist/teacher Katie Jones after the MSCA’s March Sat-Art-Day.

The following day I met back out there with Devin Hodges, the creator of the comic series “The Common Days Of Cade“.

You can check out the episodes on the players above, at www(dot)drawingfunny(dot)com, or on most podcast platforms such as Apple and Spotify.

If you’d like to join us at one of our Sat-Art-Days and/or Drink-N-Draw nights at 901 Comics East please do. All ages are welcome, but if you aren’t old enough to drive please have a parent bring you.

You can bring your own sketchbook and art supplies, or use some of ours.

Lin

 

 

901 Comics East: 8551 Macon Rd, Cordova, TN 38018

Sketchy Details On Upcoming MSCA Events This Week

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If you’re free this Sunday, January 15th from 4:30 – 6 pm, go visit the MLK Day Celebration at the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery, 333 Beale Street, Memphis, TN 38103.

MSCA member Devin Hodges will be present with his comic book The Common Days of Cade!

He’ll also be set up and selling comics, zines, and prints at the Corinth Comic Con on Saturday, January 21st. The one day show will be held at the Crossroads Arena (2800 S Harper Rd.) in Corinth, MS

You can find out more about Devin and his comic on his stie at www.diastcartoons.com.

You can also find his comic for sale along with other locally created books at Comics and Collectibles on Poplar (near Colonial) and 901 Comics East on Macon Road out in Cordova.

And speaking of locally created and 901 Comics East, my hand-drawn sketchcards are now also for sale there- 551 Macon Rd, Cordova, TN 38018.

I have official artist returns for $100.00ea, and personal sketchcards drawn on my own custom blanks for $35.00ea. I’ll be adding more sketchcards and sketchcovers to the ones at 901 and The Cellar (in Bartlett) soon.

This Wednesday (Jan.18) the MSCA will be holding our first official Drink-N-Draw at 901 Comics East. It’s exactly what it sounds like- we’ll be drinking and drawing from 6-8pm at the Cordova location. 901 has a bar and gaming area and offers domestic and local beers on tap and in cans.

If you don’t drink beer, Lil’ Sweet says there are sodas, water, and some individual pizzas and snack items as well. So bring your art supplies and a few bucks to order something to drink/eat while you draw.

Later this month on Saturday, January 28ththe MSCA will be hosting our first “Sketchy Saturday” at 901 Comics East from 10am until 2pm. It’s going to be a free hands-on workshop that will focus on drawing on sketchcards, sketchcovers, and in sketchbooks. I’ll have some free MSCA sketchcard blanks to hand out, and lots of art supplies on hand for attendees to use and experiment with.

If you’re looking for art classes, the Wades and Team Toshigawa have The Comic Studio which are art classes with a comic book twist. The classes cover everything from photoshop techniques, to illustration techniques, to writing all from the perspective of comic book, manga and graphic design creation.

The Comic Studio meets virtually twice a week (Wednesdays at 12:00 noon and Thursdays at 5:00pm), and are for children ages 8-15. Look for more class times to be added soon. Know a child interested in manga and comic book illustration? Get them to the Comic Studio!

You can join The Comic Studio by clicking here!

Hope you can make it out to one or all our upcoming events!

Lin

Dinner And Drawing – Our Latest MSCA Get Together At Garibaldi’s

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Hey, gang- we recently got together for our monthly dinner meet-up at Garibaldi’s Pizza over in the U of M area off Walker and Highland near Southern.

We had a good turnout again this month, and had a good time discussing what everyone has been u to lately and sharing some art.

 

 

More freebies were available for folks who attended. Kevin brought some more MSCA postcards, Jack Chapman brought some art books to give away, and I brought along some Free Comic Book Day comics from my day job at 901 Comics East, more MSCA sketchcard blanks, and a few of the promo trading cards (featuring my art) from the upcoming Nosferatu Series Two card set produced by 4 different publishers: RRParksCARDS, Attic Cards, Leg Day Cards, and RJF.

I’ll bring a few more freebies to the next meeting in October including the Nosferatu promo cards, and some new MANOS trading cards I just received in the mail.

Oh, don’t forget that  if you stop by any of our local Memphis area comic shops- Comics & Collectibles, The Cellar, and 901 Comics, or The Art Center you can snag some free MSCA and Drawing Funny podcast swag.

We discussed a lot of the recent events like the Zine Fest, and upcoming events like Monster Market, Memphis Comic Expo/DonnieCon, MidTownCon, annual NCS Fest/Reuben Awards, and the ongoing MSCA display at the Hernando Public Library.

annual

The Monster Market is an on-line store which features original art, prints, and other monstrous merch. There will be an in-person open house on October 1st at Marshall Arts. I’ll have some of my “Scared Silly” prints, canvases, buttons, stickers, magnets, and more available for sale there, as well as some of my hand drawn sketchcards. Dale Martin will also be a part of the artist line-up for this year’s market.

The Memphis Comic Expo (AKA “DonnieCon“) is back in the M-Town with over 70,000 square feet of expo space featuring comics, artists & writers, a cosplay contest, panels, vendors, voice actors, food, drinks, and more!

Agricenter International
(Entrance in Wing C)
7777 Walnut Grove Road (near Germantown Pkwy.)
Memphis, TN 38120
FREE PARKING on premise.

Expo Hours:
Saturday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
VIP Ticket holders will have early entry privileges at 9:30am both days.

Tickets are now on-sale, but VIP tickets have sold out.

Our own Greg Cravens is the Membership Chairman for the National Cartoonists Society and will be in attendance for the NCS’s annual meeting and awards. This year it’s being held in Kansas City, MO. If you’d like to find out more about becoming an NCS member, be sure to ask Greg about it, or check out the NCS website at www.nationalcartoonists.com.

When I got home from the MSCA dinner I had some NCS Icons pins waiting for me in my mailbox. You can order some here. I also recommend checking out the NCSFest online. Lots of great interview, panels, and other cartooning videos to check out.

And speaking of checking out some cartooning, the Hernando Library display cases are full of original art, printed comics and zines, newsletters, promotional materials. art show invitations, and more from the club’s 35 year existence in the Memphis area.

 

We showcased some production art and tools of the trade from back when art was literally cut and paste, like some examples of  our early logo and original promo flyer.

 

We tried to include some original art and notes next to the finished printed materials to show a peek of the  process of creating the art.

It was fun to be art archaeologists and MSCA historians as we dug though the club’s archive box and history scrapbooks. There was so much we had forgotten about or didn’t know about. Definitely a learning experience for Kevin and me. Soooooo much more we wanted to display, but just ran out of room.

 

We’ll see about adding in other items next time. We’d love to do a future  one  featuring original comic art and final printed pages/covers by MSCA members.

If you get a chance to stop by the library it will be up for the rest of September, and will be followed by a Ghostbusters display by the Memphis Ghostbusters. Oh, and for the holidays a LEGO display by Kevin Thorn is coming up in December..!If you can’t make it by, you can see more pics on the MSCA Facebook page, and a few more will be added as soon as I get the pics Kevin took while we were there.

First Regional Library (Hernando Public Library – established 1950)
370 W Commerce St
Hernando, MS 38632
www.firstregional.org

HOURS:
MONDAY  9:30-7:00
TUESDAY 9:30-7:00
WEDNESDAY 9:30-7:00
THURSDAY 9:30-7:00
FRIDAY 9:30-5:30
SATURDAY 9:30-5:00
SUNDAY CLOSED

The dinner meetings are casual and open to the public. Bring whatever art you’ve been working on, favorite art book/comic or recent art tool purchase to show, or some promo swag to hand out- and any art questions you may need answers to.

Please be sure to introduce yourself and let us know you’re there to hang out with the MSCA.

The room is reserved, but occasionally some folks don’t realize it and unintentionally join us.

 

 

This month there was some drawing done during dinner…go figure! There has been talk about trying to get back together to do more zines, and we will have another art show at the Germantown Community Theatre in spring 2033.

Dinner gatherings are always the first Tuesday of the month  starting at 6:30pm (or a bit earlier if you’d like) at Garibaldi’s Pizza, 3530 Walker Ave..Our next one is Tuesday, October 4th.

Feel free to bring a friend or family member, and be sure to bring a few bucks to order off the menu. You and your stomach will be glad you did- lots of great pasta, sandwiches, and pizza to choose from!

Hope you can make it out and join us for dinner…and some cartooning conversation.

Lin

Garibaldi’s Pizza

3530 Walker Ave
Memphis, TN 38111
(901) 327-6111
www.garibaldispizza.com

^Additional photos by Kevin L. Williams.

MSCA – Graphic Novel Opportunity And Meeting Update

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From MSCA President Kevin L. Williams:

Hi, team,

Tom Graves, author of one of my favorite Robert Johnson books, is ready to create a graphic novel based on the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  He came to this week’s meeting, and I think this can be a very good opportunity for someone in the MSCA!

I’ve included his novel and contact information below.  Please reach out to him for conversation and meeting about the book.  I feel certain he is open to ideas as well as work with the ideas he currently has.

Your very own, personal MSCA Prez, 

Kev

FromTom:

I read the book Dean and Me by Jerry Lewis and found it very, very compelling.  In the past I read Nick Tosches book on Dean Martin (excellent book!) and I was very aware that the Martin & Lewis comedy team was the biggest act in entertainment from the late 40s until their break-up in the late 50s.  It tells a great story that I think would be perfect for a graphic novel.

I’m a lifelong writer, author of 8 books and I’ve written for many prominent magazines and newspapers such as Rolling Stone, NY Times, and Washington Post.  I think I could take on a graphic novel with the right artist and partner.

I would ultimately want someone who draws in a style far away from the modern Marvel style.  I would want someone like Marjane Sartrapi of Persepolis, Art Spiegelman of Maus, Daniel Clowes of Ghost World, etc.

I would like to find someone who already has entre into the world of graphic novels who could navigate the right publishers for such a project.

I know this is a tall order, but my hope is the right person finds a way to me to do it.  As I said last night, I’ve done almost every type of writing there is.  Also I was a writer and producer for the Emmy winning film Best of Enemies about the 1968 debates between Gore Vidal and William Buckley.  In fact, the film was my idea.

Let me know what you can do and come up with.  I hope maybe to meet again at one of your meetings.

Best,
Tom Graves
pullers2015(at)gmail(dot)com

We had a great time at the meeting talking with Tom about his writing and about all things Memphis, including our favorite shops and shows we enjoyed as kids, including the legendary local horror host SIVAD!

We also had a lot of fun talking toons, eating food, and picking up some copies of Devin Hodges‘ comic book “The Common Days Of Cade“.

Garibaldi’s Pizza is going to be closed the week of our next scheduled dinner meeting, and since it’s the day after the fourth of July we’re gonna hold off getting together anywhere in July and just wait for our next meeting the first Tuesday of August. Will have more details on the upcoming MSCA display at the Hernando Library, and hope everyone can contribute an item for it- either a sketch, published book, or other item to celebrate our association’s 35th anniversary of drawing funny in the mid-south!

“STAY TOONED!”

Lin

“I’m Going To Midtown!” – Midtown Comic Con at Black Lodge and “Memphis Quarantine” at Crosstown Arts

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This weekend Nicki Workman and I headed over to midtown to do some running around and just get out of the house. It was just too pretty to stay indoors!

Our first stop Saturday was The Art Center over on Union Avenue. It’s been a while since I’ve been by the shop.

I had to check out their stock of Copic markers. I saw online that they had them, and I’m always looking for another source.

I was also happy to see they still sell sketchcard blanks and physical comic pages for creating comic books, manga, and comic strips…sweet!

I dropped off some swag for their customers, and I bought a few of their stickers and some other art supplies. (You can see more about my shopping experience here on my Lin Workman site.)

Our next stop was the MidTown Con at Black Lodge over on Cleveland. It’s was their inaugural mini-con.

When we first walked in it was obvious that many others had this event on their list of things to do on Saturday. The place was much bigger on the inside than I had expected, and definitely much more attended than I had expected as well.

The first folks we recognized were Gabriel DeRanzo and MSCA’s Greg Cravens with “Stoned Ninja” comics.

Apparently due to hunger Greg got one of his prints confused with the Stoned Ninja gummies!

I also ran into fellow MSCA member Jason Negan. Due to work and the pandemic it’s been too long since we’ve talked in person.

I also got to run into some other local artists at the show, such as Devin Hodges/DIAST Cartoons and The Common Days of Cade comics.

Billups Allen and Cramhole zine.

And artist/cosplayer Nora Childers, who is part of the Indie Artists Market (just around the corner from Black Lodge). She’ll be a part of the 901 Heroes Fantasy Wars cosplay fashion show at Black Lodge on Sunday, April 24th from 5-10pm.

I saw a lot of toys, comics, art, apparel and more. They even had a concession stand- and restrooms which I really appreciated.

Nicki brought along her new mirrorless Sony to play with at the show. Thankfully she only wanted to shoot me with her camera, and not what she’s usually packin’ when we go around Memphis..!

We ran into local cosplayer supreme Kelldar…

…as well as a couple other cosplayers like this Mando and Harley. We had to cut out just as their costume contest got underway.

More and more folks were arriving and we felt the need to create a bit of space for them. Really glad the MidTown Con was such a success. I don’t know if the vendors did well, but I did see a lot of folks buying and selling. Overall it seems like folks are ready to get back to attending conventions and events.

Since we had parked at the Crosstown Concourse and Nicki had her camera, we decided to visit it next. It’s on Cleveland just half a block up from Black Lodge. Again, the weather was extremely nice out so we enjoyed the short walk.

We grabbed a few drinks at Farm Burger and walked around the Concourse.

We enjoyed checking out all the artwork hanging around on the walls.

We headed up the stairs to walk around the Crosstown Arts section on the second floor.

We noticed that there was an photography exhibit going on. It was “Memphis Quarantine” by photographer Jamie Harmon, who photographed 800 plus dwellings and over two thousand people between March 13th and May 31st of 2020- averaging 13 photoshoots a day lasting between 15-30 minutes..! Each home/person/family received a private web link with edited images they could download and have at no charge. (You can read more about the photo shoot here.)

There were photos everywhere we looked- all around the foyer area and in the large galleries. Two things I didn’t realize until last night. One- the show ended the next day, Sunday April 10th (today). And two- Jamie was actually hanging out in one of the areas. Had no idea what he looked like, and he was talking with folks so we tried not to bother them. Wish I had known both then!

If you missed the show, check out the website where they are doing preorders for the Memphis Quarantine book at www.memphisquarantine.com ($70ea).

When we were at Farm Burger earlier I noticed the guy behind the register was wearing a Memphis Listening Lab tee on. I asked him what that was and he said it was upstairs.

Yep, it wasn’t here the last time I had stopped in at the Concourse. Here’s the scoop on MLL–

Memphis Listening Lab is a curated collection of music and music history, a forum for music-related talks and performances, and a music education, appreciation, and experimentation space located in Crosstown Concourse. The MLL mission is to provide the community with opportunities to study, research, and enjoy popular music by way of a steadily expanding catalog of resources that represent the rich musical heritage of Memphis.
You can find out more about MLL here and buy some merch here.

We headed back downstairs to turn in Nicki’s photo pass. This was the first time I’d seen someone behind the boards at the radio station. Usually I’m there a bit later, and I’m not sure if they were in the studio during the pandemic or not.

After we left Crosstown, we headed over to The Cellar in Bartlett, and then over to Comics & Collectibles off Poplar. It’s been about a month since we’d been to either shop.

I’ve got sketchcovers and sketchcards for sale at The Cellar – each hand drawn and done in markers. MSCA member Lonnie Easterling has some sketchcovers for sale there, and I noticed another artist had added their sketchcards as well.

I saw some copies of The Dragon Templar by Brad Starnes and MSCA’s Dale Martin, sitting next to a Fathom comic with a Skoot Starnes cover, and just above some of our MSCA The Good, The Bad, and the Sketchy zine on the shelf at The Cellar. Later at Comics & Collectibles we saw copies of Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa by Martheus Antone Wade, Janet Wade, and Kevin L. Williams .

If you need acrylic stands for your collectibles be sure to check out Charles Ettinger‘s at The Cellar, or on his Etsy shop- www.etsy.com/shop/LaserheadStudios.

You can always find freebie MSCA and Drawing Funny podcast swag at Comics & Collectibles, The Cellar, and 901 Comics in the Copper/Young neighborhood.

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend. If you were set up at the MidTown Con I hope it was a success for ya!

Lin

 

Black Lodge Video
405 N Cleveland St.
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 424-1514
blacklodgememphis.com

 

Crosstown Arts
Crosstown Concourse
1350 Concourse Ave #280
Memphis, TN 38104
crosstownarts.org

The Art Center
1636 Union Ave.
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 276-6321
The Cellar: Tabletop Games & Comics
2737 Bartlett Blvd
Bartlett, TN 38134
(901) 382-8623

901 Comics (Cooper/Young)
2162 Young Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 421-8819
901-comics.business.site

Comics & Collectibles
4730 POPLAR AVENUE #2
MEMPHIS, TN 38117
901-683-7171
memphiscomics.com