Creative Presence | Questions and Contacts

I'm thinking of contacting Breakdown Press as part of the interview task for this brief. I think they are an interesting publishing company, and it's a bonus that they are based in the UK. Also they are a little more different than if I was to just get in touch with another illustrator for example.

The reasons I am choosing to contact them are due to their involvement in publishing, comics/graphic art/illustration, as well as their values as independent publishers - only putting out work that they view as important, either in its aesthetic or communication.

Also the company started out of a personal interest in these forms of visual art, and some of them are artists in their own right (Joe Kessler).

          Contact Information:

          editors@breakdownpress.com

          Breakdown Press, 1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR

Although I would like the actual interview to be conducted via email so it's all in one place, I'm considering posting something to them. I think that would be a nice personal gesture, and is more likely to be picked up and read than a message sat in an inbox. As well as that, a letter or package can be visually engaging as well as it having some personality.

I'm quite nervous about the idea but I think being able to do this would be beneficial for me.

          What questions could I ask?

• What is the most important or appealing aspects of comics for you?

• In terms of work, what kind of thing stands out to you the most?
• Where do you see comics/graphic art/illustration progressing to next?
• How did you get to where you are now?
• What duties does running an independent press entail?
• How do you discover new and exciting work?
• What's the most rewarding part of what you do
• Collaboration and working with others. What examples of this happens in the line of work you do?

Study Task | Industry Research Presentation

1) Consider where your practice currently stands and what your ambitions are for its future

I think my work is about communicating something. Whether this is an idea, message, theme, or a feeling/atmosphere.

I enjoy when things have an underlying meaning or narrative - which could be through a publication or more of an editorial piece.

Exploring ideas and concepts visually is something I do, even when it comes to more abstract or intangible ones.

Research and finding things out also informs a great deal of my work, and, in turn, I would like for the audience or viewer to find something out by looking at or reading something I’ve made.

2) The creative professionals you have identified to date, their work and the influence they may have on the development of your practice

Kus! Comics - latvian comics art anthology founded 2007. Each issue revolves around a theme and contains work from both Latvian and international artists. Their aim was to popularize comics in a country where it is not very prominent. They also organise workshops, exhibitions, and other publications. They explore comics in a very varied and diverse way.

The Jaunt - is a creative project that brings together art and travel, providing opportunities for artists by sending them on journeys which they document and turn into printed work. Their trips and their documentation of them will inform the visual work they made. Former artists include Monica Ramos, Jean Jullien, Joost Stokhof, Raymond Lemstra. The project is ran by Jeroen Smeets who curates and plans the journeys. Has a backround in art from editor, to agent, gallery owner, and others. Started the Jaunt in 2013.

3) Who do you intend to approach for an interview and why? What will your line of questioning be? How will this inform your practice?

Breakdown Press

A small contemporary comics publisher based in London. Involved with artist books, alternative comics, cult classics as well as many others.

Their first book, Windowpane by Joe Kessler. As well as distributing The Artist by Anna Haifisch, the Treasure Island series by Connor Willumsen, and a number of Michael DeForge publications.

A sign of the growing comics and illustration scene in the uk. Recently made a deal with Fantagraphics who are a prolific U.S. comics publisher and distributor, so that shows the progress they are making.

Also run Safari Festival - celebrating comics, graphic art and illustration. They only publish work they believe in, and have aspirations to branch out beyond just comics. They also collaborate with printers, bookmakers, designers, as well as the artists themselves to deliver what they do.

Line of questioning? - I was thinking of either contacting them via email, or sending them a letter through the post as a precursor to an email interview, as this is personal and wouldn't just get lost in an inbox.

I have a draft list of questions, and they basically cover the topics of the duties their job entails, how they discover new and exciting work, as well as others including their thoughts on contemporary comics/illustration/graphic art and where they see that going.

How will this inform your practice? - An insight into the work of an independent publisher, what they do, why, and the various connections they have forged and intend to create.

They go beyond just comics publishing, and have ambitions for working to create artist books, photography books, and other publications. They don’t plan to be strictly involved with comics. They are very innovative and what they do comes from a place of personal interest.

Kristyna Baczynski | Visiting Lecturer

Today we had a talk from Kristyna. What I like about her illustration practice is that she assumes many different roles other than just an illustrator, such as a typographer, designer, and printer. She also champions self-publishing and the idea of making work and more work.

Notes from the talk:

• Did a multidisciplinary degree - so dabbled in animation and other subjects, not just illustration

• Year after graduation was difficult ("post-grad wilderness"). Began attending events like Thoughtbubble, putting work online and out in the world.

• Worked as a greetings card designer for three years. Was tough managing that as well as personal work but was valuable experience.

• Now generates a lot of self-initiated work and projects, as well as work for external clients. Self-sustaining, works from home studio and riso prints a lot of objects herself.

• Client work began in a local vicinity (Hyde Park Picture House), but gradually snowballed to include some international clients. Amongst others; GOSH! Comics, Fantagraphics (!!), Etsy, Chipotle, New York Times, OFF LIFE, other publications...

• Said to always be making and extending your practice.

Creative Presence | Researching

Comics publisher based in London.

Breakdown Press is run by directors Tom Oldham and Simon Hacking, and art director Joe Kessler - who also authored Breakdown Press' first comic Windowpane.

Breakdown Press website

What interests me most about them is that their business stems from a personal interest in the comics and illustration medium. They only put out work that they deem as interesting or important.

Extracts from It's Nice That article:

Is there anything in particular, aesthetic or narrative style for example, that you consider when looking for and working with comics artists?

No, it's really simple I think, we aren't looking for a particular aesthetic; its more work that we think is great, really, and different.....it's just stuff that we think is important. So artists that have a unique, defined voice who are formally pushing stuff, and a personal vision that is eloquent, accessible, engaging and just good. People like Antione Cosse, Connor Willumsen, Ines Estrada, Conor Stechschulte, Richard Short, Lala Albert

Comics are an inherently personal medium, and so, hopefully, the work we champion is difficult to categorise...In terms of a Breakdown aesthetic, as well as quality of craft and vision and everything, it's artists who have the idea of the whole book in their heads. You can feel that they're thinking about everything, not just the surface of the drawing or the story but the whole shebang

Could you tell us a bit about your role as art director? (Joe Kessler)

Tom and Simon are the directors of the company, but I'm more opinionated when it comes to the visuals, and maybe more knowledgable in terms of production stuff. I discuss the design of the books with the artists but mostly the artists are good designers and do all the work. I just offer opinions which they ignore. 

Could you tell us about Safari Festival, the comics fair you run?

Tom and Simon curated it, there wasn't unlimited space and we wanted it to be consistent in terms of quality. I find some of these shows can be totally inconsistent and we wanted to buck that trend. There's really quite a vibrant scene in the UK at the moment with lots of different strange people making comics and we wanted to bring them all together and get an idea of what contemporary British comics could be. It's so disparate and mixed up that it's not exactly clear. Which is healthy I think.

Breakdown Press' new partnership with Fantagraphics:

"Breakdown is the UK's most ambitious, progressive, and editorially risk-taking comics publisher, so it was logical to partner with someone we considered a kindred spirit" said Fantagraphics President Gary Groth. "We look forward to getting their books and authors the wider readership in the US that they deserve"

"Fantagraphics are known for working with the best cartoonists in the world and so Breakdown's books will be a perfect fit" said Breakdown Press editor Tom Oldham "We're excited to be working with Fantagraphics to bring our books to a wider audience in North America".

It's Nice That interview [link]

The Comics Journal interview [link]

Breakdown Press partnership with Fantagraphics article [link]

Shigeru Miwa

I recently found some illustrations by Miwa, and besides some illustrative work for a book of poems I can't seem to find much else about this person. Although the illustrations are intended for children's books, I like that they still have a weird otherworldly tone. 

"Shigeru Miwa’s ‘Only One Me’ is a children’s book that’s illustrated beautifully and minimally with the poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa. Portraying melancholic duo-tones, the story revolves around a little boy’s observation on Alzheimer’s disease. Not much is known about the illustrator but Shuntaro is one of Japan’s most well-known poets that wrote the original lyrics to ‘Astro Boy’."

[link]

Leeds Comic Fair | Thoughts

I attended the comic fair yesterday and thought it would be a good experience and worth trying, especially seeing as the table was paid for this time round. I saw it as a test run for similar events, as I've never held a table to display my own work before.

Unfortunately, I do think that the audience of the comics fair were more interested in 'traditional' comic books and no so much illustration, graphic art, and zines. I sort of felt like I was trying to align myself with a crowd that wasn't there.

However it was definitely a learning curve not only in terms of displaying work and setting up there, but the processes of making it all. Figuring out individual dimensions of things, printing, and booking print slots and using the vinyl cutter (!!)

I managed to set myself a number of short deadlines to create these more personal works alongside scheduled sessions and module work.

It was a good excuse to generate a new series of smaller personal pieces, and I also went through the steps of production, turning them into more presentable finished items.

The work I created included: 3 postcard designs, a 12 page zine, a mini comic, a number of sticker designs, and business cards. I found making the work and seeing it all come together to be quite rewarding, and it was nice making things just for the sake of it.

SB2 | Creative Presence

Today we had the briefing for SB2 and although it is extremely daunting at this point in time, it could very well be beneficial to me not only in terms of my practice and knowledge of industry, but in pushing me out of my comfort zone by approaching a person off my own back.

I thought I would consider what areas of the creative industries interest me and what is relevant to the things I am doing now.

Publishing

Publishers, small press houses, basically people that deal with putting out comics, sequential illustration and visual art, paper-based artifacts.

• Breakdown Press, London. Art Director: Joe Kessler (Safari Festival, alt-comics and illust)
• Landfill Editions, Nottingham
• Nobrow Press, London
• Good Press, Glasgow
• Kus! Comics, Latvia
• Misma Editions, France
• Drawn & Quarterly, Canada

• Koyama Press, Canada
• Tan & Loose Press, Chicago U.S. (Clay Hickson) > The Smudge Paper

• Fantagraphics, U.S

Curation?

Galleries? Art directors? Exhibition organisers?

Editorial/Informative/Research-based

Newspapers and magazines?
Mould Map - publication series, Leon Sadler and Hugh Frost
Wrap Magazine - contemporary illustration
The Jaunt - travel and art
Creative Review

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The Task

• Identify a person you are going  to interview. Types of people: illustrator, practitioner, agency, publisher, creative director, art editors, curator. If from an organisation, who would I need to speak to from there?
• Produce a 500w report based on the interview; their journey and current position in industry. Why this person? Why is their career/field relevant to me?
• The report should be: relevant to you and your practice, supported by contextual research, illustrated (photos, images, screengrabs), structured. All within an ISSU document.
• Structure: Intro, rationale, main body, conclusion

How can you interview a person?

• Face to face
• Phone
• Skype
• Email
• Letter/handwritten