Sir Peter Blake’s interview at last years OFFSET conference has been released as a video in the build up to OFFSET2010. Watch out for more releases over the next few weeks. You can keep up to date with all upcoming OFFSET news by becoming a fan on Facebook and following on Twitter.

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.”

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

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

Illustrating and cartooning legend Ronald Searle celebrated his 90th recently. Above is a recent interview with Channel 4 news.

Dublin based illustrator and IGI member Brian Coldrick is next up on The Comic Cast’s exhaustive (but never exhausting) trek through the world of Irish comics and illustration. Go download the podcast here.
For more on the Irish comics and illustration ‘scene’ you can do worse than listening to previous interviews with Tomm Moore (director of Oscar nominated The Secret Of Kells), Nick Roche (artist on Transformers comic) and Gerry Hunt (creator of historical Graphic Novel – Blood Upon The Rose) and and many more besides.

Only kidding, recently Kevin McSherry was was invited to give a talk about his work to illustration and animation students at Ballyfermot College. He has put a post up on his blog outlining his presentation and he doesn’t hold back on his views of the current working environment for illustrators and is full of advice for the next generation. A must read…

Never work for free. If there’s no financial gain, then negotiate some other reward, whether it’s some advertising, PR or other contra-deal that suits you. There’s often something that could be of value but it has to be negotiated from a position of your daily rate. People don’t respect work that’s given for free and many have a tendency to abuse artists who fall for this sort of bolloxology. If some bullying twit [who happens to be paid regularly by the way] suggests that being published in their magazine/newspaper/advert will be a ‘great shop window for you’ or ‘a great portfolio piece’, or an ‘in’, ask them to quantify the greatness exactly in terms of cash. If there’s no benefit at all; walk away.

For the full post go here.

Illustrator Oliver Jeffers explains some of the process behind his new book The Heart And The Bottle, due for publication in March.

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard has been living in fear since he drew his notorious Muhammad cartoon. But even that could not prepare him for being attacked in his own home by a Muslim seeking revenge…Full story at the Guardian.

Illustrator Nate Williams asks the question in this recent blog post, including a survey of others reactions. You can also hear a recent interview with Nate on the ‘Escape from Illustration Island’ podcast.