"Comics erode the most fundamental habits
of humane, civilized living."
Bill Pearson

Italy! Germany!

September 25th, 2012

I’m about to get on a plane for a whirlwind trip to Italy and Germany. Here are the details:

TREVISO COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL
25-30 September: I will be in Treviso for this festival, along with 6 other New Zealand cartoonists (Roger Langridge, Ben Stenbeck, Greg Broadmore, Chris Slane, Colin Wilson, Rufus Dayglo). There’s an exhibition of New Zealand Comics, including a fair bit of work by me. I’m also running a workshop.

ITALY
30 September-4 October: I’ll be in Northern Italy, doing a couple of events for my lovely Italian publisher, Black Velvet (with the new Italian edition of Hicksville). Details to be confirmed; check with Black Velvet if you want more info.

GERMANY
4 October: I’m doing a talk/signing at Strips & Stories in Hamburg, at 7.30pm (with the new German edition of Hicksville from the fabulous Reprodukt).
6 October (my birthday!): talk/signing at Ocelot in Berlin at 7.30pm.

FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
9-15 October: I’ll be at the Frankfurt Book Fair, along with an army of New Zealand authors (New Zealand is the highlighted country at this year’s Book Fair), including cartoonists Roger Langridge, Greg Broadmore, Colin Wilson and Ben Stenbeck.

My events will include:

10 October: panel discussion on the New Zealand School Journal (I’ll be reading a short excerpt from my short story Steam Girl and discussing the School Journal, a much-loved NZ institution): 11am.
11 October: Signing at T3 comics shop in Frankfurt: 5-7 pm.
12 October: NZ Comics talk (& signing) in the Comics Centre (Halle 3): 1 pm; followed at 4pm by an Artist Talk with Filip Kolek (of Reprodukt), at Leseinsel der Jungen Verlage in Halle 4.
13 October: Signing in the Comics Centre (Halle 3) in the morning.
14 October: NZ Comics discussion in the New Zealand Pavilion at 12 pm.

There may be other events too, but if you’re in Frankfurt for the Book Fair, hopefully you’ll find me!

There will also be a New Zealand Comics Stand in the Comics Centre, which will include a whole lot of NZ comics and graphic novels, and also this 100-page guide I put together on current NZ comics and graphic novel creators:

Posted in Events, Exhibitions, News, Other cartoonists | No Comments »

Alice Brown now has her own t-shirt!

May 31st, 2012

This week’s shirt at Comic Strip Tees is our very own Alice Brown (What a Clown!), starring the talented young webcomics ingenue from The Magic Pen. Alice will feature prominently in books two and three of The Magic Pen trilogy, so establish your Alice Brown fangirl/boy credentials ahead of the crowd with this stylish piece of fully-authorised official Alice Brown^TM merchandise.

The Alice Brown t-shirt comes in various sizes (guys and girls) and costs only US$20. AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY (4 weeks, to be precise).

Posted in Clothes, News, Stuff for sale | No Comments »

Conversazioni sul Fumetto: an Italian interview

May 29th, 2012

I recently did an interview with Daniela Odri Mazza for Conversazioni sul Fumetto, an impressive looking Italian blog. My answers were translated into Italian, but I really enjoyed Daniela’s thoughtful questions and we agreed it would be nice to post the interview in English too.

And so here it is.

(By the way: here’s the Italian edition of Hicksville, from Black Velvet).

Daniela: The first question I have is about a guiding theme throughout the story: the map, mapping and the description of the world. What fascinates you so much to make this theme omnipresent in the book, in the main story and several subtracks and stories? What do you think, about comics as “creators of worlds, universes?”

Dylan: I’ve always loved maps, and especially imaginary maps, like the ones you find in fantasy novels and games. When I was writing Hicksville, I was very interested in spatial vs. temporal ideas of narrative: geography vs. history. All of this fed into Hicksville, and I started thinking of stories (comics, novels, histories) as a way of mapping worlds – real and imaginary. The thing about maps is that they are always fictions, more or less. A map isn’t an actual landscape, it’s a representation of a landscape, and so it’s always a simplification, a simulation, an artificial model. It’s a way of talking about the landscape. It tells a story about place.

Comics are especially interesting as maps, because they can use pictures, diagrams, words. They can talk about a landscape (in space or time) in very complex and interesting ways. Many cartoonists have played with this (some consciously, some by accident); Chris Ware is a good example.

Read the rest of this entry »

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The NEW American Dream – now with gorgeous Karl Stevens art!

March 22nd, 2012

Click to see larger image

Some of you might have noticed the serialisation of The American Dream went into hiatus some time ago. Well, I’m very pleased to announce that a new and improved version of the book is in the works, with artwork lusciously drawn and painted by one of my favourite artists, Karl Stevens.

I’m very excited about this collaboration; I’ve been following Karl’s work since the 1990s and absolutely love his previous books The Lodger and Guilty, and his regular strip in the Boston Phoenix (currently known as ‘Failure’).

For a small taste of the work-in-progress, and for more on Karl’s comics and art, follow the link above.

Posted in News, The American Dream | 1 Comment »

Steam Girl

March 16th, 2012

(unpublished sketch)

It’s high time I mentioned this: ‘Steam Girl’ is my first published prose story (i.e. without pictures), which came out late last year in Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, edited by the wonderful Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, and published by Candlewick Press in the US and Walker Books in the UK. I’ve written prose fiction all my life (in between the comics), but never felt brave enough to publish any until now.

Steampunk! also includes prose stories by M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Christopher Rowe, Delia Sherman, Ysabeau S. Wilce and Kelly Link herself and comics by Shawn Cheng and Kathleen Jennings. It’s a fantastic anthology and I’m thrilled to be included.

The cherry on the cake is that ‘Steam Girl’ has just been reprinted in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, volume 6, edited by Jonathan Strahan (published by Night Shade Books), which is very humbling. Guess I’d better finish that damn novel now, eh?

Ways to buy it and a couple of reviews after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books, News | 5 Comments »

Sketches

March 16th, 2012

Here are some of the sketches people ordered last month (note: I’m still learning about scanning watercolours, so the colour on these isn’t entirely accurate). I’m steadily making my way through the queue, so if you’re still waiting for yours, you’ll hopefully get it soon!

(click on a thumbnail to see larger image)

Posted in Art for sale, Illustrations, Sketches | 2 Comments »

New page: The Magic Pen

March 5th, 2012

Click for new page

Posted in New comics, The Magic Pen | No Comments »

New page: The Magic Pen (NSFW)

February 22nd, 2012

Click for new page

Posted in New comics, The Magic Pen | No Comments »

I will draw you a picture – SOLD OUT (for now!)

February 10th, 2012

UPDATE: Wow! So many of you wanted drawings I got enough orders in a few hours to keep me busy for some time! So I’ve had to suspend the offer while I draw my way through the pile of orders. Apologies if you missed out, but I may do a similar offer some time in the future, if time allows. Many thanks to everyone who requested a drawing. This is fun!

Also, I’m still available, as always, for more substantial (and – er – expensive) commissions. Feel free to email me to ask about that. Otherwise, follow me on Twitter or Facebook to be notified of future offers like this.

I’m in the mood for drawing! Plus I recently got some new watercolours and I’m keen to try them out. Plus, y’know, bills to pay etc etc.

So here’s the deal:

Tell me what to draw and I’ll draw it: one of my characters, someone else’s character, something sweet, silly or even downright rude (you’ve seen The Magic Pen, right?). If it’s too complicated or tricky, I’ll let you know – but actually, I feel like flexing those sketchin’ muscles, so bring it on! And of course, if you can’t think of anything, I’ll just draw whatever I feel like.

I’ll then send you the original drawing, for you to hang on the wall or file in a drawer or give to a loved one or use as a bookmark or whatever else you want to do with it.*

The prices – did I mention they’re ridiculously low? – are only $50 for a colour drawing or $30 for black & white (+ $8 postage and packaging). All drawings will be on A5 paper (148.5mm x 210mm or 5.8 x 8.3 inches).

Now, those are not my usual prices. Hell, no! This is, you see, a one-off special Dylan’s In the Mood deal that will only last until I get too busy with real work or my hands are too sore to pick up a brush. So strike now while the pencil is sharp and TELL ME WHAT TO DRAW!

*Notes:
All prices are in US Dollars.
Postage & packing (to anywhere) is $8.
These are sketches, not fully-fledged commissions. If you want something more substantial, just drop me a line and let’s talk.
Copyright in the drawings is retained by me, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (i.e. you’re welcome to share, copy and remix them, so long as it’s non-commercial and you give credit).

Posted in Art for sale, Sketches, Stuff for sale | 2 Comments »

Limited edition print: ‘Ylena’

January 31st, 2012

I’ve decided to start doing occasional limited edition prints, and this is the first one: ‘Ylena,’ which is based on the cover of Atlas #2.

It’s a high quality giclée print on 320gsm German etching paper, 297mm x 420mm (A3) (i.e. 11.7 x 16.5 inches). Each print is signed and numbered by me, and the edition is limited to 50.

The price is US$95 (shipping included).

You can order one using this handy Paypal button (if you have any problems, click the “contact” link in the masthead and send me an email):

Ylena
Giclée print, signed & numbered by the artist
Edition limited to 50
US $95