Making your holiday plans?

If so and should you find yourself (or yourselves) near New York, Ed Steckley has a special invitation for our NCS members.

All NCS chapter members are cordially invited to our NYC Chapter Holiday Party. Check the NYC Chapter blog for more information. manhattanncs.com

Contact Ed Steckley for details, date, times, etc. www.edsteckley.com

Happy Holidays, a bit early.

Your flocked leader,
ME

FALL MEETING Faux Pas

Don't start "inking" your calendar for the Fall Meeting just yet, boys & girls.
We seem to be running into a conflict with the Okoboji Scheduling Committee. Something about a major soccer tournament the weekend of October 12 and all the rooms at the Arrowwood have been booked.
And they wonder why they have so many fights at soccer matches...
We'll get back to you with a possible rescheduling date just as soon as Dave beats the heck out of a couple of those soccer officials.

Stand by.

ME

Post from one of our members...

From our fellow North Central member, Cedric Hohnstadt

I've recently launched a project on Kickstarter for artists who work in storytelling mediums like animation, comics and illustration. It's called the Pose Drawing Sparkbook and it's a "super-charged" sketchbook designed to help artists practice putting more life and personality into their drawings. So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive. You can watch a short video or read more about the project here:http://kck.st/12K2otL

To promote the project I'm also giving away a free download of 100 sketchbook ideas, no strings attached: http://www.cedricstudio.com/sparkbook

I think the Sparkbook has the potential to be a very helpful resource for a lot of artists. If you like what I'm doing with the project would you consider helping me spread the word? The Kickstarter campaign ends Aug. 22 so anything you can do between now and then would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks very much for your time. If you have any questions please feel free to email me (cedric@cedricstudio.com) or call my cell (952-412-7686).

Cheers,
Cedric Hohnstadt

OHIO STATE FESTIVAL OF CARTOON ART...

As you may, or may not, know this year's OHIO STATE FESTIVAL OF CARTOON ART will be very special — the Grand Opening of The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

If you've been before then you already know how incredible the Ohio State Festival is. If you've never been, this is one of the biggest, best events that is celebrated once every three years. You don't know what you're missing until you go!

All the details are located on the Ohio State Festival website (click on the link, above). If you can possibly go, I encourage you to do so. You'll be so glad you did!

Sioux Falls hits the BIG TIME!

One of our favorite towns for Chapter meetings was featured on NPR's Morning Edition today. They should have had our Sioux Falls members on the show, too. :-)

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/08/210062398/sioux-falls-rapid-business-growth-gains-national-attention

START MARKING YOUR CALENDAR...

It's that time again — our fall cartoon activities are starting to close in on us and I know you're wondering when is Toonfest, when is the Fall Chapter meeting, and what else is happening?

I'll have more details as they arise but let's get the ball rolling with the basics.


TO START:

The Disney Hometown Toonfest will be, as it always is, the THIRD WEEKEND IN SEPTEMBER. Mark your calendar!
This year it's the weekend of September 20-21. We, the cartoonists, will be arriving on Thursday, Sept 19 for the cookout, hayrack ride, and meet-n-greet. All the activities start on Friday with the presentations to the high school students from around the area.

This year’s speakers will be animator and character designer Stephen Silver, Sandra Bell Lundy (“Among Friends”), and nationally syndicated editorial cartoonists Steve Kelley and Jeff Parker, who also partner on the successful new strip “Dustin”.

As you know, North Central has a strong participation with the Toonfest. As in past years we approach our membership to contribute 2 or 3 pieces of their cartoon art for the Toonfest Art Show. To make things easier we ask the membership to send electronic files (JPEG or PDF in the 300 dpi or better range) that we'll print off, mount, and exhibit during the Toonfest. I hope you'll send samples of your work and give the North Central Chapter as good a showing as we had last year. Send the files to Paul Fell, pfell@neb.rr.com, or to me, medholm1@mac.com. We'll make sure that they get mounted and hung. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Paul ASAP. If you prefer to send originals, to make a really top-drawer impression, please mail them to the Toonfest office no later than September 6. They will be mailed back to you at no charge by the Toonfest folks.

Disney Toonfest Office
207 N. Main Street USA
Marceline, MO 64658

Got questions? Please contact Paul Fell at his email: pfell@neb.rr.com



NEXT:

The NCS North Central Chapter's Fall Meeting will be held in Okoboji, Iowa the weekend of October 11-12. Dave Carpenter is putting the program together and promises to "really deliver" this year. Remember how terrific last year's meeting was? We're counting on you, Dave.

Anyway, more details will be available soon. Keep an eye on the blog or our Chapter Facebook Page. I will, of course, send out and email blast to the membership.


AFTER THAT:

Kenosha Cartoon Show (Kenosha, WI)
This year's KCS will be a one-day affair on Saturday, November 2 featuring Tom Richmond, NCS President (but not for much longer) and one of MAD Magazine's Usual Gang of Idiots.

Saturday
10:30-12:00 - this may turn into 11:00-12:00 if the museum director advises it......

Caricature Class for Kids aged 13-18 Location: Kenosha Public Museum

Lunch Break

12:30-2:00 Presentation by Tom Richmond Location: KPM

Break – walk to Art Works Art Supply shop and Gallery

2:30-4:00 Caricature and Freelance Masterclass for aspiring professionals. Taught by Tom Richmond – max 20 students

Break

4:15-6:00 Portfolio Review with Tom Richmond (illustration) or John Hambrock (Comic Strip, Cartooning) –max 6 reviews per artist

Dinner Break

6:30-9:00 Meet and Greet Reception

There will be down time for any out of town cartoonists who aren't taking the class so I will be offering the opportunity to hang out at John's studio at that time - I'll be serving food so I'm going to make it a "kickstarter" type perk.


THEN:

This is the year that Ohio State will christen the brand new Billy Ireland Library of Cartoon Art on the OSU campus. The Ohio State Festival of Cartoon Art is planned for November. More on that soon.

Hot new stuff from Todd Schowalter Productions

After a long ago expired option with Cartoon Network, Todd Schowalter is reviving and self producing Danny's Dream Machine as a web series. Stay tuned!

Cedric's Kickstarter: Pose Drawing SparkBook

I've recently launched my first Kickstarter project, the Pose Drawing Sparkbook. It's a new tool to help artists put more life into their poses.

It seems to be getting a very positive response. In the first 48 hours I raised $3,000 (1/3 of my goal), the project has been featured in the "Popular" section of Kickstarter's "Publishing" category, and has had over 800 likes on Tumblr.

To promote the project I'm giving away a free download of 100 sketchbook ideas. No strings attached.

 As you may know, Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. The project only happens if I meet my goal. So if you like the project, please spread the word to your friends. The more people that know about it, the more likely I can make this thing happen.

Thanks!
Cedric

Michael Jantze's 'Knocked Out Loaded' graphic novel coming soon

A new chapter in Michael Jantze's 'The Norm' will be available soon as a graphic novel. 'Knocked Out Loaded' was originally published in 2007 to Jantze.com five days a week as a color daily strip. Written as a long-form story using short-form techniques, the story is 80% complete and will be fully completed soon thanks to a successful (and ongoing) Indegogo campaign set to end on August 1, 2013. Michael is a vocal and passionate advocate of storytelling and cartooning - please spread the word about this exciting endeavor to help the project reach its exciting stretch-goals. Cheers!

NCS at Comic-Con International 2013 — Reserve your spot today!

Hello NCS Member!

The National Cartoonists Society will once again have a booth set up at the San Diego Comic Con this year, July 18th-21st at the San Diego Convention Center. As always, any member in good standing who will be attending SDCC is welcome to come by the booth to set up and do some sketches, sell some books and original art, or just to chat up the passers-by and promote their latest project. We have an excellent location and a big, eye-catching booth in spaces 1307-1309.

As nice as the booth is, it's a little tight in there if too many members come by at the same time, or stay too long. We can only accommodate a few cartoonists at a time. Some members have come by only to find there is no room for them, and other times the booth is mostly deserted. One common problem is that someone commandeers an area and squats there for the entire weekend, spreading their wares out and leaving them there even when they leave for breaks. It's been obvious we need a more structured approach to this.

We are going to stick to a strict sign up and assigned seat schedule this year. The layout of the booth is attached. Spots are available for reservations on the following schedule:

Wed (Preview Night):

Hours not posted yet, but assume one shift for each chair

Thurs, Fri and Sat:

10-12
1-3
3-5
5-7

Sunday:

10-12
1-3
3-5

These two hour blocks will be assigned to different cartoonists on a first come-first served basis. You tell us what times you want and we will assign you a seat. Initially you will only be allowed one 2 hour block per day, but at the SDCC you can sign up for additional open times (if any) at the beginning of the day. We will be moving you around if you do more than one shift for the event so everybody gets time in different areas of the booth. I'd recommend bringing some kind of nameplate or sign for when you are set up. You will be expected to pack up and vacate your seat for the next artist at the end of your time block. Also please note your table area and don't bring so much stuff that you will spill over into another's area. We cannot store things overnight for you. We have plenty of blocks of time available, so I am sure those who want more than one shift a day will be able to get additional ones when the day comes.

As usual, Phil will process sales for you and the NCS will take a 10% cut to help with our booth expenses.

Please email me at tom@tomrichmond.com (as opposed to just replying to this email) with any times you want to reserve at your earliest convenience, and I'll lock you into a spot.

Thanks for understanding about the more structured way of doing things. It will make the experience a lot more relaxed and should allow for more members to appear at the booth knowing they have a seat at the times they are scheduled.

MADly,

Tom
___________
Tom Richmond
President, National Cartoonists Society
http://www.tomrichmond.com
tom@tomrichmond.com