Art & Comics by Katherine Roy

Through a set of serendipitous circumstances I find myself committed to the terrific and terrifying prospect of spending sixteen days traveling abroad through Egypt in winter of 2010. I have no idea what to expect, but plan to keep a sketchbook and comic diary for the duration of the trip entitled The Purple Gorilla and Other Caterpillar Tales* that I may publish portions of upon my return. This collection of drawings and comics will comprise Volume Three in my ongoing series starring the Caterpillar (see my About Page for further explanation) and may inspire me to pursue other derivative works too.

I have traveled in 14 countries, but this will be my first trip to Africa, my first time in an Arabic speaking country (so there’s no hope of deciphering signage and conversation), and my first chance to turn down a camel ride. I’m just beginning my research on what we have in store for us, but already sense some strong story leads and adventure possibilities for my comics. Expect to see a lot more of Egypt in the upcoming months!!

*Note: In the early 1950’s, publishers accidentally discovered that sales went up when comic covers featured a purple gorilla, even if the interior content had nothing whatsoever to do with gorillas of any kind, purple or otherwise. No one knew why this worked, but it did. I have braced myself for the possibility that inspiration found in Egypt will completely thwart all current thesis plans and establish a whole new project direction, but whatever I may work on as a thesis, a cover with a purple gorilla will guarantee interest. If not, I will blame Steve Bissette for telling me about the marketing power of said species.

The Comics Journal writer Rich Kreiner reviewed my two caterpillar stories, 25 Cents and Spots, on his Minis Monday blog a couple weeks back. Woo hoo! Thank you Rich, for the kind words! The next caterpillar tale is in the works!

The review can be found here: http://www.tcj.com/minicomics/minis-monday-geraniums-and-bacon-spots-and-25-cents

We Love You So is a website established by Spike Jonze and the creative team of the film Where the Wild Things Are to “help shed some light on many of the small influences that converged to make this massive project a reality,” and my Caterpillar Tales were just featured on it yesterday!!

http://weloveyouso.com/2010/03/the-art-and-times-of-katherine-roy/

“The only thing better than enthusiasm is enthusaiasm + talent. Katherine Roy is an exemplar of both— a cartooning machine whose Caterpillar Tales celebrates the adventures and struggles of its namesake hero. Roy is a natural storyteller (she released her first childrens’, A Kid’s Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail last year) and a zippy cartoonist. She also maintains a nice little blog cataloging her art experiments and assorted daily thoughts. Just delightful.”

Thank you to Molly for the wonderful review and the nod to my work! I am just thrilled.

More to be posted soon!

Last week my work was hung in the Tucker Box gallery, a local coffee shop in White River Junction that exhibits work by CCS students, alumni, and fellows, along with serving delicious espresso drinks. My comic 25 Cents: A Caterpillar Tale was initially completed as a four page comic for cartooning studio, but was then reformatted and colored by Joe Lambert to be published in Seven Days Vermont Magazine about a year ago. It’s so much fun to see it at a big scale! Next to my work (right) hang the talents of former fellow Chris Wright (center) and second-year student Melissa Mendes (left). Hurray!

Who’s going to MoCCA?!

Things are in high gear here in White River Junction. The artists are drawing, the scanners are scanning, the printers are printing, and no one has slept in days. Not only is Industry Day next week, with the end of the year rapidly closing in, but the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is holding their annual Comic Festival in New York this coming weekend! This year will be my FIRST as an exhibitor, and I will be tabling in the CCS row at G5, alongside the talents of Tim Stout, Laura Terry, Matt Aucoin, Holly Foltz, and Garry-Paul Bonesteel. I will be selling lots of Caterpillar Tales, my sketchbook from Egypt, new work, a poster, and a TOP SECRET PROJECT WITH STEVE BISSETTE! Don’t miss it! AND don’t forget to check out Caboose! a Center for Cartoon Studies anthology that will be distributed for free (FREEE!!!) all weekend at the show. Above is the cover of Caboose, drawn and colored by alumni Chuck Forsman and this year’s CCS fellow Max de Radiques.

Here’s a preview of MY WORK in Caboose, my latest installment of Caterpillar’s adventures:

Whoot! What a weekend! After carpooling down to NY with a SEQUENCE of cartoonists (thank you Miss Laura Terry) including James Sturm, Melissa Mendes, Chuck Forsman, Tim and I spent time with cartoonist friends in Brooklyn and paid a visit to Jules Feiffer before tackling the 2-day MoCCA Fest extravaganza on Saturday and Sunday. The Center for Cartoon Studies ROCKED the back wall, selling lots of comics and giving away nearly 1,000 copies of our Caboose Anthology which includes my brand new Caterpillar story. Caterpillar Tales sold well, I met a lot of really wonderful new people, and had several inspiring conversations with favorite editors and teachers. What a great show! I will be back next year for sure.

Alongside auteur works at our table was Stephen R. Bissette’s Tales of the UnCanny: N-Man and Friends! Originally created in 1993 for the comic book series 1963 (Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, Rich Veitch, Jim Valentino, Dave Gibbons, John Totleben, Chester Brown and others), these characters have been inactive for over a decade until Steve Bissette decided to bring them back to life through the Center for Cartoon Studies. Steve and co-editor Tim Stout produced a 16-page preview of the book’s grand debut in the fall of this year. For my help with the packaging and design Steve decided to put my work on the back cover. Hurray! Can’t wait to see the full 200 page version of the book!

After one day of rest and recovery from MoCCA, CCS was busy again with Industry Day, where editors from major publishers across the country visit our school to hold a panel discussion and portfolio reviews with students. This year our panel was graced with the talents of David Saylor (Scholastic Graphix), Chris Oliveros (D+Q), Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics), Colleen AF (First Second) and Douglas Wolk (freelance journalist and critic). Doulgas Wolk did a fantastic job moderating the discussion in the morning, and I found the advice, direction, and feedback I received during my review with him and with David Saylor to be very encouraging. Thank you ALL for making time to see us. I very much enjoyed our conversation.

16 days until I need to print my thesis! If only this year was just a little bit longer. My work needs just a little more time to incubate, and though I am moving forward I am still very deep in the search. The skeleton is taking shape, the plans are in view, but now the time has come to build on everything I have taken in. I am very excited about the direction this is all heading.

This week has kept me busy with graphic design work, a few self-promotion tasks, and a new caterpillar story for Boston Inbound’s upcoming comics anthology. Theme? Food! What a great subject.

Enjoy Hieroglyph! Next page will be posted on Thursday!