OFFSET2010 is giving a little help to Comica in making this extraordinary event happen…very exciting!

From Paul Gravett:
“Heads up! Hope you can make it one or both of these exceptional Comica events featuring Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware.

First up they’re in conversation with Audrey Niffenegger, a graphic novelist as well as author of The Time-Traveller’s Wife, at the Cochrane Theatre, London on Monday May 24th, in association with Foyles. More details…

Then they are chatting with me in Brighton at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday May 25th, in association with The Brighton Festival & Dome. More details…

Clowes was one of the most requested Comica guests and finally we’ve got him over to launch his first all-original graphic novel Wilson, with Ware as the icing and Niffenegger as the cherries on the cake! Be sure to book your tickets soon.

Both these Comica Events have been made possible by the kind co-operation, first and foremost, of the Copenhagen Comics Festival, and with the generous support of Foyles Bookshop, The Brighton Festival & Dome, Jonathan Cape, Gosh! Comics and Offset 2010.”

I’m still in recovery after a week at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – where, amongst many other things, Belgian illustrator and author Kitty Crowther was announced as the winner of the Astrid Lindgren memorial award (worth more than €500,000).

The Guardian has more of Crowther’s work in a 10 slide gallery.

In [Crowther's] world, the door between imagination and reality is wide open. She addresses the reader gently and personally, but with profound effect. – ALMA judges statement.

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I’m no expert and open to any/all recommendations – I’d love to find books that I’ve never come across – so if you have a suggestion, send it on.

A few recent podcasts on Escape from Illustration Island include interviews with Ron English, Steven Heller and a feature on Promotion with Leif Peng.

Painting or photograph? Alexa Meade plays with the treatment of expressive painting styles and body paint to create illusions.

Illustrators Ireland kicks off a new series of audio interviews with illustrator and founding IGI (Illustrators Guild of Ireland) member Kevin McSherry.

Kevin lets us look around his south Dublin studio, talking about his work and life as an illustrator, and shares a few useful tips on how to survive and stay creative in uncertain times.

Interview by Steve Doogan.
See full interview here

The always amazing BLAB! celebrates its 24th anniversary with a retrospective exhibition at the Society of Illustrators gallery in New York. It opened yesterday and runs until May 1st 2010 and has featured work by Chris Ware, Gary Baseman, Sue Coe, Camille Rose Garcia, The Clayton Brothers, Peter Hoey and Maria Hoey, Geoffrey Grahn, Steven Guarnaccia, Jonathon Rosen, Owen Smith, SHAG!, Joe Sorren, Ron English, and Mark Ryden, among others.

Happy Birthday and congrats to editor Monte Beauchamp and sustaining such a high level of content over the years.

In a career spanning everything from comic strips, novels and plays to children’s books, nonfiction and screenplays, Jules Feiffer takes some time to reflect in a new memoir ‘Backing Into Forward‘. Read a review of the book here.

For his most recent exhibition the artist Stanley Donwood (the man behind many a Radiohead album cover), invited visitors to loot all the work from the walls… and even including the walls. Watch the looting and mayhem in progress here.

Here are some of the latest news from members of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland (IGI)
It includes a talk by Steve Simpson, an exhibition in Basel featuring Brian Gallagher and the Thursday Life Drawing Group Exhibition in Dublin.
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Signal Arts Centre is pleased to present this collection of work by artist & IGI Member Brian Gallagher.   He has exhibited in many shows and his work features in private collections nationally and internationally.  Some notable clients include Le Monde, London Evening Standard, Sunday Independent, Penguin Books and Harper Collins. He currently works as a full time Illustrator/Artist in Dublin.

Signal Arts Centre
1 Albert Avenue
Bray, Co. Wicklow

Opening Reception Friday 19th March 7p.m. – 9 p.m.

For more info about Brian and his work visit Illustrators Ireland.