The Black Feather Falls - NYC Book Launch Tomorrow Night!

 

See you tomorrow night for a very special event: The Black Feather Falls: Book One book launch by US editrix Ellen Lindner! 

Set in London in the late 1920s, The Black Feather Falls follows American emigrée Tina Swift as she tries to find the killer of a homeless World War I veteran.  It will be a four part, full-color pamphlet series, to be collected by London's Soaring Penguin Press as a graphic novel.  Issue one has 30 pages of comics and some fun extras. 

Our official launch date is this Tuesday; we are having a 1920s themed NYC cocktail party in a lovely wood-paneled bar to celebrate - here's all the info: http://ellenlindner.livejournal.com/73242.html

See you there, New Yorkers!  

The Issue 3 Cover by Kripa Joshi - Revealed!

Editrix Ellen here...Strumpet 3 - the Tasty Issue - has been taking shape behind the scenes all summer!  So cool - there's a lot of great stuff already in our hot little hands that I can't wait to reveal.

As we wait to see what further submissions will flutter into our inboxes come Sept. 1, it's fun to be able to reveal my co-editor Kripa Joshi's amazing cover!

I asked Kripa to tell us a little bit about how this image came together.  

"I had been contributing to the The Strumpet for two issues before the opportunity presented itself to be a co-editor along with the wonderful Ellen Lindner. It was great to be able to contribute more actively into the comic scene, specially when it comes to women in comic.

I think one of the best things about being a co-editor of The Strumpet has been to design the cover for the Tasty Issue. I thought it was a great theme and would suit my character Miss Moti, who is a tasty woman.

As a starting point, I took inspiration from some burlesque images of women in martini glasses like Dita von Teese. 

Then I mixed it up with the likes of Katy Perry’s California Gurls video! I liked the idea of being in a candy land sort of place. But I wanted the image to be more fun rather than overtly sexy. I wanted it to be ‘tasteful’!

Here's a composite of all the things I searched for.

After that I made a very (VERY!) rough sketch on the computer.

Then it was time to create a mock up to share with Ellen. She gave me great feedback regarding text placement and colours. 

After slogging over the computer for a few more (actually a lot more) hours, voila! The cover was ready."

Wow, thanks for all that hard work, Kripa!  If you would like to be a part of this still-in-the-making anthology, please contribute your tasty comic by Sept 1^st. Details for submissions can be found here - see you in the pages of The Strumpet! 

Thanks, Multnomah County Library!

Oregon State's beautiful Multnomah Falls.

The Strumpet would like to send some big thanks and a shout-out to Multnomah County Library, which purchased multiple copies of The Strumpet 1+2 for its famed zine library location. The library  scouts each year at the Stumptown Comics Fest for independent comics such as The Strumpet and purchases them for their growing collection of comics and zines. 

We're so pleased to be included, librarians!  We love libraries and we love Oregon.

Hope to see you again at this year's Stumptown Comics Fest!

Happy Birthday Kripa Joshi!

 

Today in Strumpetdom, we're celebrating the birthday of our esteemed UK editor, Kripa Joshi!

Creator of the wonderful Miss Moti, Kripa is an amazing illustrator and storyteller.

We're so excited to be working with her on Issue 3!  

Happy birthday, lady!  And happy drawing, all year round! 

Marguerite Dabaie's A Voyage to Panjikant - On Your Couch!

 

Strumpet contributor and recent MFA grad Marguerite Dabaie has just released a series of bright, intricately designed throw pillows themed around her amazing A Voyage to Panjikant web comics series. 

Check out Margo's Etsy, and don't forget to read A Voyage to Panjikant on Tumblr!  It updates regularly, and there's lots of great process art and inspirational images to check out on the Tumblr, too.  

Strumpet at the First-ever Grand Comics Festival, Williamsburg!

 This weekend Editrix Ellen Lindner spent a great two days hanging out behind a table at the first-ever Grand Comics Festival, organized by artist and animator Pat Dorian.  Hosted by Bird River Studios, a great Williamsburg maker desination - it was a great opportunity to meet some new folks - hello Molly Brooks, hello Keren Katz! - meet some web friends IRL - hello Colleen Frakes! - and chill with some of my best girls, like Robyn Chapman, Strumpet Marguerite Dabaie and Dre Grigoropol. I liked this festival a lot because it wasn't expensive to table at and it was also free to enter.   Sounds pretty idyllic, right? And there wasn't any kind of catch - everyone left happy.


The scene on Saturday....Sunday was a little quiet but that provided some great opportunities for trades, making new contacts and talking to folks who stopped by.  It was cool to see Sara Varon, Dean Haspiel, Frank Reynoso, all the folks from Hang Dai studios - the lovely people behind Trip City - and so many more.

 
And did you know I ride unicorns? Dre Grigoropol made me this awesome sketch.

It's been a little while since I've had the classic Williamsburg free pizza (usually comes free or a dollar with the price of a beer, in this case an excellently kept Blue Point IPA from Alligator Lounge.)  So good!  Man, if it wasn't for free pizza, Williamsburg would just shut down.

Enormous thanks to Jen Tong, C. M. Butzer, Aya Kakeda and all the folks at Odd Lot Studios in Greenpoint for an amazing after party.   It was Jen's birthday, and her man Joel made cupcakes!  Thanks for sharing, guys!!!!  Such a great view of Manhattan, and so much fun talking trolleys, Risographs, the Jersey Shore and so much more. Thanks so much to Pat Dorian and all the folks at Bird River Studios who helped to make this such a great day.

MoCCA and Strumptown - okay, Stumptown - 2013

 

Here's the Strumpet spread at MoCCA, with a side of Comix Reader and ink+PAPER.  

Our new bag is modelled by Editrix Ellen.  Many thanks to Paper Rocket for sharing!  

Well hello Strumpets!  We've been very busy promoting Issue 2 at two key US conventions: New York's MoCCA Arts Fest and Portland, OR's Stumptown Comics Fest.  

This year's MoCCA was a nice convention, a bit more polished and professional now that it's been taken over by Society of Illustrators.  The new Strumpet met with a great reception.  We had a chummy time with the folks at Paper Rocket Minicomics, publishers of handmade comics like the re-issue of Ariel Bordeaux's Deep Girl.  

Outstanding stuff! 

 

To treat ourselves after a hard weekend of selling and chatting, we got our little hands on a print by up-and-coming NYC cartoonist Dre Grigoropol.  Dre did a great interview with Editrix Ellen Lindner for the BUST blog, and the admiration is 100% mutual!

We took a break in our other home country, the UK, and then we were off again, in entirely the other direction!

Destination: Portland, Oregon.  Portlandia, here we come! 

 Nice view, eh?  Mount Hood from the air.

Portland is one of the Strumpet's most favorite cities, and it's not just because we have a thing for Fred Armisen.

Portland is LOUSY with cartoonists, and the natural environment is just fabulous.  Like Bristol in the UK, this is a city where you can access top-notch culture and food with ease and then get into the countryside in a matter of minutes.   

 

Fab photograph by Stephen Betts.

We had a great time bumming around Portland's Hoyt Arboretum...a fantastic forest full of redwoods, just a short bus ride from the city center...

 

Strumpets Ellen Lindner and Robin Ha prepare for the con in the springtime sun.

...and at the TeaZone, a fantastic bubble tea and cocktail bar in the city's swish Pearl District.  

 

Strumpets Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg, Ellen Lindner and Robin Ha at One Grand Gallery. 

Next we hit One Grand Gallery to meet up with Portland Strumpet Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg for an opening of new prints and process art by British artist Jon McNaught, sponsored by Portland zine paradise Reading Frenzy.  Jon's books, published by London-based NoBrow, are not to be missed!  And we can't say enough nice things about his lithographs and silkscreens. 

 

Here Jon signs his newest, Dockwood. 

 

Robin and Jon are currently listening to a story by Ellen informally entitled, "Was the apartment haunted because of a double homicide or was the decor just creepy??!!" 

Afterwards we had a pretty intense discussion over some Portland microbrews and delightfully greasy grilled cheese. Hey, it's hard work psyching oneself up for optimal sales!

 

Stumptown is Strumptown: Robin and Ellen behind the table.

 Perhaps because we came from such a distance, the organizers gave us a whole table upon which to spread our wares.  So cool!  Brooklyn Strumpet Robin Ha had two new minicomics - and postcards!  If you didn't score at the show you can grab some from her new online store.

 

 But it's not just about sales.  When Team Strumpet is on the left coast, it's a great opportunity to touch base with faraway friends.  Ellen had a blast brunching with comix stars (and friends of the Hypothetical Island) Hazel Newlevant and Jesse Reklaw, just two of the amazing inkstars who call Portland home. 

This brings us full circle, as Jesse is one of the fine artists published by our MoCCA tablemates Paper Rocket!  His LOVF: Destination Crisis - an account of spending time in New York City while undergoing a manic episode -  is unmissable.  

Truly, Portland is Comixtown.  If you ever have a chance to visit - especially for Stumptown! - we encourage you to do so.  

Next up: we share some of our Portland purchases.

Thanks for reading....