This half-day seminar will take as its inspiration the increased visibility of graphic novels and comic books by Irish creators and/or concerning Irish themes. Chaired by children’s author and artist Oisín McGann, the event will take place at the Seminar Room in the National Library of Ireland 12th November, from 10am until 1pm. It includes a talk by Spanish graphic artist Luis Bustos, creator of Endurance, which chronicles Earnest Shackleton’s voyage. Admission is 5 euro.

The latest children’s book illustrated by illustrators Ireland member Donough O’Malley will be launched on Saturday, 17th September in the Cúpla Focal bookshop, 15/16 Albert Walk, Bray, Co. Wicklow by Bríd Ní Choincheanann. All ages welcome.

Getting noticed these days can often revolve around giving away projects for free before they hopefully get picked up for publication (Go the F••k to Sleep) but there is a bit of a lesson to be learned in making sure you aren’t breaching any copyright despite how interesting the idea sounds on paper, as illustrator Andrew Kolb found out in his re-imagining of a Bowie song as a picture book. Hopefully the project will get the go ahead though as it is so well executed.

Check out this interesting Heller post on the invention drawings of Steven M. Johnson.

The AOI in London is putting on a business orientated series of illustration courses. Looks like it would be worth a trip over for. Starts 12th September.

Comics journalist Dan Archer talks on the potential of digital, interactive comics to effectively tell complex stories. The whole graphic journalism area holds some interesting potential for the future of illustration and journalism. Here’s another longer video presentation: The Future of Journalism is Comics.

Who would have thunk it – James Joyce wrote a children’s picture book The Cat and the Devil. The Blachon edition has been recently republished and available again here, but I think the Richard Erdoes one looks worth tracking down as well. Read more here. Analogies to Celtic Tiger infrastructure building I’ll leave to your imagination…

Illustrator Marion Deuchars releases a creative activity book Let’s Make Some Great Art this week for all ages. More info here.

Given that we have few enough design or folk art landmarks in Ireland it seems a shame that the iconic Ballyvaughan signpost in the Burren was removed recently by Clare County Council over National Road Authority issues of national signage policy. This is despite it being used in years of tourism imagery by Bord Fáilte and other agencies. As Finan O’Toole recently wrote: The signs didn’t just point to particular places, however. They also indicated a certain kind of place, an Ireland that is a little bit different, a little bit more richly textured, where place itself is a multi-layered concept. If you’d like to see the signs reinstated lend your support to this facebook page.

Drawing Power is a Compendium of Cartoon Advertising from 1870s-1940s and features work by Thomas Nast, Joseph Keppler, F Opper, Bud Fisher, George Herriman, John Held, Jr., Charles Dana Gibson, Percy Crosby, Peter Arno, Gluyas Williams, Milton Caniff and over 60 other cartoonists. BTW it’s great that Fantagraphics does video previews of its books.