"Modern Cartoonist" museum exhibition continues in Chicago...

Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes at the MCA Chicago - June 29 through October 13, 2013

The Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes touring exhibition that opened in Oakland, CA last Spring continues on at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago later this month.


Talk: Daniel Clowes and Susan Miller - June 29, 2013, 1:00pm

Join curator Susan Miller and artist Daniel Clowes Saturday, June 29 at 1pm to discuss the exhibition, and artist's Chicago roots.


...and here's a recent brief interview with Clowes at the Huffington Post.

Holiday Sale: Extended through Cyber Monday...

The SALE has been extended through Cyber Monday. For the annual holiday gift buying frenzy, we're offering free shipping on the Eightball #18 cover print at a discount price of $375. Even though we've sold through the first 30 prints we're extending the "early bird price"for the next 12 hours, so if you've been thinking about getting one, now's the time to save the postage cost and get the discount. Your  final chance to buy happiness and show your love for yourself and your discerning comic/art/print loving loved ones at a discount. Don't pass this up and have to buy it from that guy for full price later like a chump! 

Also, Pigeon Press (publisher of the Eightball #18 cover print) will be opening its own website very soon with the same offer above, as well as officially offering a very limited book art book from Charles Burns for the first time, so check back!

Here's to another 4 years!

2 portraits of the reelected President Barack Obama by Charles Burns (from the cover of the Believer) and Daniel Clowes (from Newsweek, R.I.P.)

Halloween post, part 2 - "Immortal, Invisible" paper mask activity

Charlie Clowes wearing our prototype paper mask.

Halloween is just around the bend, and this year, as announced earlier this week, we're encouraging Daniel Clowes character inspired costumes with a small contest (<--click for details.) 

For those with jobs and school and families and stuff who might still want to participate but need a less elaborate endeavor, we've created this danielclowes.com exclusive holiday time saving DIY activity for you!

Here's our FREE olde tyme style paper monster mask (some assembly required) as seen in Clowes's classic Hallowe'en strip "Immortal, Invisible" from his anthology Caricature. 

Click here for the print ready, human head sized PDF .

Suggested assembly: You'll need about 30 minutes, access to a printer, a sheet of standard size computer paper, glue, a piece of flat cardboard, some scissors, a hole punch, and string.

1. Print out the hires PDF file of the "Immortal, Invisible" paper mask. (If your printer will take cardstock without jamming, use that and skip step 3.)
2. Color as you please (before you glue.) I used a cheap blue brushpen and mostly just followed the hatchmarks for the example shown above.
3. If using standard computer paper, glue your printout on a piece of cardboard (I used a "free" USPS priority mailing box.) For adhesive a gluesitck works well, or if you want to get fancy, a brush or roller with some PVA is ideal.
4. After it's dry, use a good sturdy pair of scissors to cut around the heavy black outer line leaving the tabs above the ears attached. 
5. Use small sewing scissors or an exacto to cut the eye and mouth holes out. 
6. Wrap black duct or electrical tape around the tabs.
7. Punch holes in the tape reinforced tabs and tie string or an elastic band through the holes and adjust to your head.

Advanced optional materials: a printer friendly piece of card stock, a hobby knife or small sewing scissors, something to color with, a bookbinding screwpunch or hole punch, elastic.

3 minute option: For the socially phobic, the craft challenged, the materialess (perhaps looking at this in a library), or the just plain lazy folks, you can photoshop the mask jpeg above (or anything really), on a picture of your own face and post it on your Facebook page, buy ( or steal) your own bag of candy or a cheeseburger to numb the lonliness, and just say you went out.  

Oh, and please be sure to send pics to halloweenclowestumes@danielclowes.com or submit a post to our new tumblr page of fan posts, the Eightball Tumbl-o-rama.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Clowestume Contest

There's only 10 days until Halloween... Still trying to pull a costume together for the big night? How about dressing up as your favorite Daniel Clowes character and sending us a video or photo while you're at it? We'll pick our three favorite submissions (if we get that many) and post them here on danielclowes.com, all others entries will be added to our new Eightball Tumbl-o-rama page of fan Clowes inspired fan posts. The grand prize winner will receive the rare SPX 2012 totebag signed be Daniel Clowes (shown below). Bonus points for anyone that can pull off a convincing Blue Bunny, Pogeybait, or Tina(?!) I'm dressing my cat up as Wilson. 

Please send submissions to contest@danielclowes.com or submit your entry and/or any other Clowes inspired posts on our tumblr page. Please include your name, where you are from and the best way to reach you if you are this year's winner.

For some inspiration, we've pulled together some Clowestumes that we've found on the web from over the years, many of which are on the Eightball Tumbl-o-rama.

The grand prize which you can use to go trick-o-treating in style (or use as a bag for your weekly groceries):

...and check back on Wednesday for a special Halloween offer exclusively available here at danielclowes.com

Clowes inks Ditko and Kirby

Every once and a while, here at danielclowes.com HQ, we'll pull out unusual artifacts that were uncovered while rummaging through the artist's archives (often to the discomfort of Mr. Clowes) to share with all. Today's is a double post in honor of our 300th tweet (and coincidentally the 100th blog post) and the first item for our "Oddities" page:

Here are two pencil drawings from Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, inked by a young Daniel Clowes. The first was done for the artist's own amusement during his formative years as a cartoonist, when he got a hold of a photocopy of a page of Steve Ditko pencils through a friend [1985]. The second was done for a Jack Kirby tribute 'pin-up' anthology where he was supplied a pencil sketch of "Vollstag," a character from the comic Thor, and asked to ink it [1994].

(Thanks to Eric Reynolds for this photo of the Kirby/Clowes 'Volstagg' drawing that's on his home office wall!)

'Rolling Stone' interview with Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, and Gilbert Hernandez

Here's a group interview from "Rolling Stone" magazine with Jaime Hernandez, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, and Gilbert Hernandez conducted by Sean Collins at SPX 2012.

LitQuake, Oct 9: An Evening with Daniel Clowes and Dave Eggers

Two Guys from Chicago: An Evening with Daniel Clowes and Dave Eggers

October 9, 2012 - 8:00 PM

Z Space
450 Florida St.

$15
Buy Tickets Online

Litquake welcomes the creative minds of Daniel Clowes and Dave Eggers, who between them have earned the titles of publisher, editor, journalist, cartoonist, philanthropist, educator, illustrator, author, screenwriter, and graphic novelist, as well as former resident of Chicago, The Windy City. Tonight the two discuss the vagaries of the creative process, their favorite comics, books, and movies, anything else that might come up, and which Chicago hot dog is better: Vienna Beef or Red Hot Chicago.

There will be a signing with both authors following the event where their recent books will be for sale as well as this new Eightball print offered exclusively at signings like this or direct from the danielclowes.com webshop.

SPX exclusives...

Daniel Clowes and I will  be in the DC area Friday-Saturday, look here for details.

Before I jump on a plane I wanted to post that we'll have a new Eightball print with us for sale at the signings for Atomic Books and SPX. It is of the above image. We just printed up 10 at a slightly smaller size (and price) than this one, but it's of the same high-quality. This edition of 10 prints was made exclusively for SPX and it will be the only chance to see it in person. First come first serve, $350.

And I'll have a new batch of Mister Jones pins (this time manila envelope colored) that we had made up for the signing for The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist by Niem Tran of Buttoneers to give away at the signings. While supplies last.

-Alvin Buenaventura

Join us at Atomic Books and SPX 2012 this week...

Daniel Clowes and Alvin Buenaventura will be in the DC area this week to promote The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist. Here are the details:

Daniel Clowes and Alvin Buenaventura signing the monograph at: 
Atomic Books
Baltimore, MD
Friday, September 14
5:00PM-7:00PM
(sign up for facebook event listing here)

SPX 2012
Bethesda, MD
September 15 & 16

Daniel Clowes is a special guest of SPX 2012. He'll be signing at his various publishers tables as well as the SPX show table and will take part in several panels of the weekend's programming. His art was used for this year's tote bag, available during the weekend from SPX (shown above).


SIGNINGS:


Saturday
1:00PM- 2:00PM at Fantagraphics table
3:00PM - 4:15PM (w/ Alvin Buenaventura) at SPX table

Sunday
12:30PM - 1:30PM (w/ Alvin Buenaventura) at SPX table
3:45PM - 4:45PM at D&Q table

PANELS:

Saturday 12:00PM-1:00PM - Crockett Johnson - White Flint Auditorium

4:30PM - 5:30PM - Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist (w/Ken Parille and Alvin Buenaventura) - White Oak Room 

Sunday 2:30PM - 3:30PM - Life After Alternative Comics - White Oak Room

For more details on programming go here.

Currently on Newsstands (the physical, non-app kind.)

There are interviews with Daniel Clowes featured in current issues of Elephant, Boom and Juxtapoz magazines this month.

Double take.

Hmmm, this is something...

Revisiting the "Comics: Philosophy and Practice" conference in May, 2012

photo: Jason Smith

Here's a link to a nice photo set and video from the University of Chicago from the Comics: Philosophy & Practice conference in May. 

Video from University of Chicago

my souvenir.

It was an unforgettable weekend with so many of comics heavies, all gathered in one place for a weekend to talk comics. With no obligations to promote or sell books, the environment and programming were ideal for these often isolated, hard-at-work cartoonists to unwind, commiserate and celebrate, share inspired words, and all with lots of laffs. Lynda Barry is so damn funny (and brilliant, if you ever get a chance to take a workshop with her she'll take you down deep to remember what it's all about...) Robert Crumb went into impromptu song on stage, Carol Tyler and Aline Kominski-Crumb kept limber with their asana practice in the green room... Daniel Clowes shared the 'greatest idea for a comic' that came to him in a dream... At the end of one of the long days, a large group found themselves on a schoolbus (probably many for the first time since grade school) in a truly surreal and awkward commute to be delivered to the Ware's home for dinner... and again the talks, Ben Katchor's presentation... so much... The epitome of a professional conference--very human, very real, life affirming, yeah, historical... Also in attendence Gary Leib, Art Spiegelman, Justin Green, Gary Panter, Phoebe Gloeckner, Ivan Brunetti, Seth, Alison Bechdel, Ben Katchor, Joe Sacco, Francoise Mouly, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes. Whew! Shit, did I forget anyone? Thanks to Hillary Chute for making this happen. -Alvin Buenaventura

Chris Ware joins Daniel Clowes for a talk and signing this Friday at the OMCA

In a talk moderated by guest curator Susan Miller and Senior Curator of Art René de Guzman, Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware will be speaking at OMCA's James Moore Theater on Friday, July 27, 2012 from 7-8:30pm. Seating will be limited and is expected to fill up quickly. Come early to see the Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes exhibiton at the OMCA which closes in just a few weeks on August 12.

Tickets for the panel discussion are included with Museum admission. Seating in OMCA's James Moore Theater is limited, and is available on a first-come, first served basis the day of the event. The Museum encourages you to come early to stand in line. Doors open at 6:30 pm. 

For more info, go here.

After the talk until about 10pm, Clowes and Ware will be signing their books in the OMCA bookstore along with Alvin Buenaventura signing The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist, a monograph that accompanies the exhibition that's currently up at the museum. FYI: We hear that due to the expected turnout the OMCA bookstore will be limiting autographs to books bought in the store that night . The good news is that the OMCA bookstore will also be giving away (yes, free) a special unique promo book that is a "reverse preview" of Ware's upcoming Building Stories, to each customer purchasing one of the cartoonist's books that night, while supplies last. (btw, the BS preview is incredible and will not be included actual book in this format.)

Lastly, I'll have a new, third batch of 100 Mister Jones pins in orange, made just for this event to give out to those who want them (again, while supplies last). Thanks to Niem 'Buttoneers' 
Tran for whipping these up.

Bizarro Clowes's Q+A with "the Guardian"

It doesn’t take much to alter the tone or meaning of someone’s words in an interview with some editing. Here are a few examples from the Guardian’s recent Q+A with Daniel Clowes before and after:


What would your super power be?


ANSWER: 
As a teenager I remember wishing I had the powers of Plastic Man so that I could stretch my arm downstairs to retrieve junk food from the kitchen without having to get up from my chair.


PRINTED: 
The powers of Plastic Man. 




Which words or phrases do you most overuse?


ANSWER: 
Once, in a review of the Ghost World movie, the critic John Simon quoted extensively from a rambling interview of mine to point out what an inarticulate idiot I was. I believe I used the word “really” something like 9 times in the course of two sentences.


PRINTED: 
"Really."




If you could go back in time, where would you go?


ANSWER:
I’d like to think I’d go kill Hitler or verify the divinity of Christ, but really I’d like to see what my neighbourhood was like when my house was built in 1912. Or perhaps to hang out in Bodega Bay while Hitchcock was shooting The Birds.


PRINTED: 
I like to think I'd go kill Hitler. 

A Message from Crumb to Clowes.

To celebrate our 200th tweet we've shared this message from the great Robert Crumb to a young Daniel Clowes:

For more like this follow us on Twitter!

¿Señor Maravilloso?

I don't know what these articles in Spanish say but they have been popping up all day and hopefully are full of interesting things... Looks like Mister Wonderful has been released in Spain.

--El Pais: Cultura

--¿Quién Vigila al Dr. Ender? 

--Notedetengas

--Rancho Las Voces

--Underbrain

Contest Closed: What the #$@& is it?!

...and here's the answer to last week's contest question:

Q: Can you identify the source of the front endpapers pattern in The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist?  (hint: the answer lies somewhere within the book)

A: The pattern is from a shirt that you can see hanging in the closet, in the background of a photo of Clowes's studio on p. 18 of the book.

Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to our winners. Prize envelopes will be sent out shortly:

1.   Mariel De La Garza from Los Angeles, CA

2.   Pat Jensen from Saint Cloud, MN 

3.   Andy Gabrysiak from Livonia, MI 

Brought to you by danielclowes.com - Please stay tuned for more chances to be involved with more useless crap.

----

Contest:

Brad Mackay recently wrote a review on The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist and in the responses thread this question came up:  

"Can anyone tell me what that is on the front inside cover? That fingerprint-looking pattern thing. Is is it just some sort of pattern or the backing of some sort of art product or something like that?"

Instead of answering the question we've decided to turn it into another contest and ask everyone:


Can you identify the source of the front endpapers pattern in The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist?  (hint: the answer lies somewhere within the book)

details & prize:


The first 3 entries to correctly answer this question (if there are 3) will receive an autographed OMCA Modern Cartoonist Exhibition brochure autographed by Daniel Clowes as well as 2 Mister Jones pins and maybe some other crap.  Please send entries along with your mailing address to info@danielclowes.com 


The contest winners and the answer will be announced here on danielclowes.com in about a week.


Please help spread the word that this contest is up by 'sharing' on Facebook and 'RTing' on Twitter. Thanks!  

Wanderlust

The Wanderlust club/restaurant/megaplex opened last night in Paris. You can see the illustrations that Clowes created for Wanderlust's logo, posters, coasters, pizza boxes, etc. on their facebook page and on their design firm's website. This club was created by the company that worked with David Lynch on the Mullholland Drive inspired Club Silencio, another extravagant Paris nightclub.

Video: Meltdown Comics presents "One Night with Daniel Clowes in Los Angeles"