Current hill that I’m willing to die on:
Children who don’t enjoy reading prose books, but find that they enjoy reading comics, aren’t reluctant readers. They’re often really enthusiastic readers, but we’re trying to make them read, in a format that doesn’t best suit them.
Your periodic reminder that comics/graphic novels aren’t a genre.
Comics are a medium, like prose.
Graphic novels are a format, and are just another word for a book length comic.
This has been doing the rounds, and I think that this thread needs some context. The thing about Watterson’s decisions is that they’re not particularly interesting. More interesting is whether he could actually make the same decisions today.
Bill Watterson created Calvin and Hobbes and got featured in 2,400 newspapers worldwide...
Then he rejected a film offer from Spielberg & LOST $400 million by never agreeing to a merchandizing deal
On Watterson's 66th birthday today...
Discover 11 lessons from a real maverick:
Going to explain why everyone needs to worry about AI, beyond the myriad obvious issues:
AI works by scraping data off the internet - there’s no intelligence to it. What AI essentially does is make collage of other people’s work.
This is creating a HUGE issue down the road.
*sigh*
Comic readers aren’t reluctant readers. They’re not struggling with prose & so going for an easier option. Images don’t make texts less complex. Comics aren’t transitional stages to prose.
Comics aren’t lesser. They’re just a different way of communicating meaning.
@SortaBad
There is no bigger reality check about how far wrong your life has gone, than the blank looks you get after saying to actual functional human beings that ‘it’s a thing on Twitter’.
Okay, so nothing prepares you for going into a bookshop for the first time, to buy your own book, only to find a kid in front of you, who you don’t know, enthusiastically asking their mum if they can buy your book.
@NotAgainBen
Okay, but going to the cinema on your own is one of the great joys in life, so I’d put it on them for putting you in the position where you’d feel awkward about that.
I’ve mostly only seen artists/illustrators shouting about the use of AI art here.
Writers: You *need* to be sticking up for this & being vocal about it. It is absolutely coming for your jobs too. Unfortunately artists/illustrators seem to have way less power in this industry.
Why did you use AI to create these images
@BradfordLitFest
instead of hiring an illustrator? 😭
There's currently no ethical way to engage in AI as it scrapes millions of images without people's consent, which is hours of unpaid labour. It's infringement & it sends a bad message
This is an excellent thread about the banning of Maus. Something has been grating at me beyond the obvious issues here, & this helped me out my finger on it - it’s the banning of this story being told in the medium of comics. Here’s why the comics part is incredibly important:
wanted to show y'all this panel Spiegelman made for his retrospective on Maus. every time I look at it, I see myself in the mask, and feel the whole corpus of the story flooding back in a fraction of a second that resolves in a blurry maelstrom of futures that never got to happen
The reason why the arts generally skew left is fairly simple: in order to create good art you need to feel empathy, and be capable of self examination. If you are doing both of those things, it will generally lead you to be left leaning: you want to help others.
Im bored so let's do something artists,
What is a drawing you think you're iconic for? and let people reply to you what drawing they think you are iconic for
There’s an argument I see quite often in relation to the gradual phasing out images/illustration from books for children: It’s to build children’s reading stamina.
So here’s the thing: Reading images is reading. Reading is the process of decoding symbols to form meaning.
I will never ceased to be amazed that an entire industry puzzles over how to reach children who don’t enjoy reading prose, after we’ve spend most their childhood teaching them to read with beautiful, full colour, lavishly illustrated books.
Children who don’t enjoy reading prose books, but find that they enjoy reading comics, aren’t reluctant readers.
They’re often really enthusiastic readers, but we’re trying to make them read in a format that doesn’t best suit them.
This isn’t directed at anyone on here - I just read a piece the other day from a person involved in US reading education policy, who still referred to children who prefer comics as reluctant readers, well after it’s been established that they clearly are anything but reluctant.
@IanDunt
I’m an ardent remainder, but if they’d have respected the 52/48 result and gone with a soft Brexit, I’d have reluctantly supported it. Instead, the way we’ve been dismissed has made me into a practically militaristic remainer.
@natAndrewson
I thought it was weird how many tweets I’d seen from people saying they’d burnt out on it, but they were being celebrated - I couldn’t get my head around it.
Twitter is going to get absolutely flooded with bot accounts - here’s a pretty good list of reliable on the ground Ukrainian accounts, foreign correspondents, open source intelligence, etc.
I can’t believe that Graham just said ‘This band is very popular in Germany’ in a puzzled tone, then showed them and they looked exactly like they would be very popular in Germany.
I still can’t quite believe that this has happened, but I can finally share the news that
@HachetteKids
are going to be publishing 3 Bumble & Snug graphic novels!!! The first, Bumble & Snug & The Angry Pirates, is coming out on July 2021. I’m so, so, SO excited!!
.
@HachetteKids
signs graphic novel series dealing with emotions - the Bumble and Snug series by
@markbradleyart
is about 'big feelings for young readers'
(£)
In happy news, I’ve just found out that Bumble & Snug & The Angry Pirates has more than earned out.
Original UK children’s graphic novels are 100% viable - so big publishers, go make more!
I’ve seen a lot of people saying that they are feeling anxious at the moment. Here’s a tip (and I genuinely mean this): when you get home tonight, put CBeebies on for a while. If you don’t have kids, you may feel ridiculous, but trust me. It forces you to slow down.
I’m beyond thrilled to announce that there are going to be 2 more Bumble & Snug books coming out!
They’ll be published in 2024 & 2025 - I’m currently writing book 4 now, and I’m having so, SO much fun with it!
Can’t wait to tell you more about them soon :)
One of the biggest pieces of advice you can give anyone looking to start writing comics/graphic novels is that there’s an old statement that always goes something like ‘comics are like films, but with an unlimited budget!’.
I guarantee every comic artist *hates* that.
I can’t even articulate how much all the
#ComicsBrokeMe
stuff is breaking my heart.
The truth of it is, if you make comics at any level, you’re my hero. Like, the reason I sound so starry-eyed whenever I talk about getting to do this is because I look up to every comic creator.
Super exciting news! I’m over the moon to announce that I’m now represented by the utterly fabulous
@LydiaRSilver
of the fantastic
@DA_Childrens
agency!
I’m still trying to get my head around this, but Bumble & Snug & The Angry Pirates has been shortlisted for the
@Waterstones
Children’s Book Prize!! It blows my mind to see my little book up there with such incredible other books. Thank you to all the amazing booksellers!
Shining bright, The Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist is here! Our booksellers have voted for their favourite new books for young readers, from toddlers to teens, and we have 18 books we can't wait to share with you. Find them all here:
#WCBP22
It goes without say, but I think C&H is one of the great works of fiction of the 20th century - it’s as foundational to my love of comics as it is to many, many comic creators. In a fair world more comic creators could afford to make the choices Watterson did.
I really dislike it when the increasing popularity of children’s graphic novels is described as a trend.
It’s not a trend. It’s not a passing thing. Children’s comics were wildly popular for most the 20th century. This is just returning to form.
I really wish people would take more pride in being hobbyists. We live in a world that *constantly* tells you ‘monetise what you love, it doesn’t have value without that’. And it can take away from just doing something for joy - hobbies are one of the greatest joys in life.
Oliver’s school are having a Roald Dahl day thing today, so I’ve been teaching Oliver about Quentin Blake, and he’s all ready to go in and tell everyone about giving proper credit to illustrators.
An Alice in Wonderland piece I made for my agency’s illustration guide (but really for myself!).
Absolutely loved making this - I hope that I get to spend some more time in this world someday :)
Huh - well, you know last week that I said that it’s looking more likely than not that I’ll be going full time as an artist/writer this year? Well it looks like it’s moved from likely to definite, and I’ll likely do it May/June-ish. How strange and lovely.
I try to respect everyone’s lived experiences, but I swear if I see one more person in their 20’s saying they feel too old to achieve something, I’m going to chew my own arm off.