Cropped Will Cardini artwork

April 24th, 2010

Sketches for a New Comic

Filed under: Sketchbook Pages — Tags: , , , , — William Cardini @ 12:54 am

I’ve been working on a new comic for the next issue of the magazine Catch Up, which is produced by the publishing/art collective that I’m a part of, the Gold County Paper Mill. The comic features some members of the GCP, so I’ve been doing some sketches to figure out how I want to draw them.

Here’s Dr. Chuch:

Here’s Jak Cardini:

Here’s some other sketches related to the comic:

Jak Cardini, Dr. Chuch, and I used to do performance art together. You can view some videos documenting those performances on my youtube channel, which will give you a preview of the comic. They’re also available for you to own on the GCPM DVD, which is for sale on our etsy.

April 20th, 2010

SHAMAN THUNDER Reviewed at Optical Sloth and on Sale at Forbidden Planet and Domy Austin

Filed under: Press,Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:29 am

Josh Burggraf and I’s comic SHAMAN THUNDER was just reviewed over at Optical Sloth, here’s a snippet:

Sometimes it’s tough to say who would enjoy a particular mini and who wouldn’t, but this one is easy. If you’re enough of a dork to want to see a thoroughly ridiculous though oddly realistic fight between two shamans, it’s never been done better to my knowledge. If you consider yourself above such things, lucky for you there are many other mini comics in the world for you to choose from.
Review

And while you’re over at Optical Sloth checking out the rest of that review, be sure to contribute to Bramer’s fundraiser to go to SPACE and check out his interesting online comic rental store idea.

Our comic is one sale over at Forbidden Planet, at Domy Books in Austin, or you can buy it from us, leave a comment or send me a message.

April 16th, 2010

Superbrothers: Less Talk, More Rock

Filed under: Inspiration — Tags: , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:22 am

Wiley Wiggins just posted about this inspiring essay by the Superbrothers called Less Talk More Rock. The essay talks about how videogames should be a more aesthetic, visceral experience, and less of a intellectual one. More about exploring a weird little internally consistent world with its own set of physics than trying to replicate some aspect of the real world. More about breaking bricks and nabbing coins that select weapons, watching cutscenes, and navigating through menus. Here’s the paragraph that really got me:

Remember when Miyamoto made that videogame about those plumbers? The real revolution with that videogame was in the style of communication. It was a tremendous leap forward in how articulate synesthetic audiovisual could be. Coins looked like they sounded and they sounded the way they behaved in the context of the mechanics. Each element — the brick, the turtle, the pipe — was a well-formed, understandable audiovisual videogame unit.

This article made me see a lot of similarities in what they’re looking for in videogames and what I look for in comics – an engaging synesthetic experience grounded in some sort of otherworldly physicality.

It looks like Superbrothers lives up to their own ideas, too, here’s a screenshot from their currently in-development game Sword and Sorcery:

You can go to their site for videos of gameplay.

April 13th, 2010

MoCCA 2010 Recap

Filed under: Recaps — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:37 pm

MoCCA was a blast this year, as always. I got a tonnnnn of awesome-looking minicomics, newsprint comic anthologies, and other books. I was glad that it was in April this year rather than June – NYC in June is too much like Austin in June, but NYC in April is a nice cool break from the high temperatures that are already here in Texas.

The only panel that I went to was Frank Santoro and Dash Shaw in Conversation. They talked mainly about color in comics, and how it differs from color in a painting. Frank talked about how he puts together a page of Cold Heat, which was fascinating. He really made me see how offset comics are a form of printmaking just like serigraphy. I came away with a lot of good ideas for my next project, which you’ll hear more about later…

While I was in NYC I finally got to meet my collaborator Josh Burggraf in person. I chilled with him at the Supertalk Comix table (where we had copies of SHAMAN THUNDER for sale), met the Supertalk d00dz and drew this jam comic:


Panel One: Josh, Panel Two: Me, Panel Three: Victor Kerlow, Panel Four: Josh, Panel Five: Jeremy Povolny, Panel Six: Me

On Sunday I went to the MOMA, where there’s a William Kentridge show up. He always makes me want to buckle down and get some animation done. I’d seen his angrier videos before but I also saw some that were more mournful and beautiful, as well as some amazing playful ones that reminded me of early cinema.

I didn’t end up unloading all of my copies of SHAMAN THUNDER so if you want one let me know. We’re selling them for two dollars.

April 9th, 2010

SHAMAN THUNDER Debuts at MoCCA 2010

Filed under: Print Comics — Tags: , , , , , — William Cardini @ 7:19 am

SHAMAN THUNDER, Josh Burggraf and I’s collaborative comic, published by the Gold County Paper Mill, is debuting this weekend at MoCCA 2010. Here’s a preview shot:

The comic is 12 pages of sequential art plus a yellow cardstock cover and blue endpapers, all xeroxed. Josh and I developed the plot together, broke it down it to a page-by-page outline, and then drew alternating pages. Then we decided to rearrange the first four pages so that it’s two of my pages and then two of his, because we like to be confusing.

If you want a copy try to swing by the Supertalk table at MoCCA or send me a message/leave me a comment on this here blog. We’re selling them for $2 and will have them available at stores at some point, I’ll let y’all know.

April 6th, 2010

Boongoo Studiooze Presents: SPACE OOZE Installed

Filed under: Artwork — Tags: , , — William Cardini @ 7:57 pm

Last week was pretty hectic, but Glade and I managed to get our collaborative show Boongoo Studiooze Presents: SPACE OOZE installed at End of an Ear, here’s a shot:

The show will be up for all of April, and we’ll be having a reception from 6-8pm on April 20th.