Wednesday 7 October 2015

Half-term family comics workshops

Attention all Spineless comic fans!

Join our FREE drop-in comics making workshops at Great North Museum Hancock this half term.

On Saturday 24th, Monday 26th, and Friday 30th October we'll have comics making activities from 11am-3pm.  Come and work with comics artists to draw your own comics, all with a Spineless invertebrates, minibeasts and bugs theme.

These drop-in activities are for children age 6-11, with their families. You're welcome to stay for as long or short a time as you'd like - just turn up on the day, there's no need to book.

Want to make a day of it? Here's a link to other Spineless activities at Great North Museum: Hancock https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/whats-on.



Tuesday 15 September 2015

Take our Spineless reader survey!


Dear reader,  you'll have seen Spineless: The Newcastle Science Comic, our free comic about invertebrates in partnership with the Spineless exhibition at Great North Museum: Hancock.  Please could you fill in our Spineless reader survey to tell us what you thought of it? 10 questions, should take about 5-10 minutes, works on desktop/laptop computers and mobile devices.


Your feedback will help us make even better comics in future, so is reeeeeally important to us.

Spineless-the-comic is free and launched in print on 1st August 2015 - get your free copy at the Spineless exhibition.  The digital version is available here on our blog - just click the cover image at the top right of the page
Spineless-the-exhibition runs from 1st August to 1st November 2015 at the Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle.

Saturday 1 August 2015

Spineless published today 1st August 2015

Spineless: The Newcastle Science Comic

We're jumping up and down excited to launch Spineless, our new comic in partnership with the Great North Museum: Hancock. 

Pick up your free copy (we've printed 20,000) at the museum's free Spineless exhibition this summer, 1st August-1st November.  And/or read it in full for free here on our blog: click the cover image on the right of the screen. 

Here are links to our marvellous reviews so far: 
  • Richard Bruton at Forbidden Planet International says: 'every comic works, all of them doing the simple things very well, keeping the storytelling through the art nice and simple, straightforward. An outreach project such as this relies on clarity, on getting the message across really well. And that’s precisely what Spineless does very, very well.'
  • John Freeman at Down The Tubes says: 'The strips are fun and informative and all the creators involved were, importantly, paid for working on the title (as well as clearly enjoying themselves in the process).'
We've published Spineless with a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.  This means you can share the comic (physical and digital versions) with others as long as you credit our project, but you can't change the comic in any way or use it commercially. We hope this will make it easy for children, adults, teachers and other professionals to read and share Spineless. Keep in touch if you use Spineless with schools or other groups - we'd love to hear from you! 

ISBN: 978-0-9574570-4-1.  Published by Lydia Wysocki, Applied Comics Etc. 16 pages, full colour, mini newsprint format. 

Saturday 25 July 2015

We Have Comics

Attention all comics readers, comics makers, science doers and that. We have comics. This is not a drill. 20,000 comics are now printed and ready for the Great North Museum: Hancock's Spineless exhibition, opening on 1st August 2015. Our Spineless comic is full of collaborations between comics makers and exhibition curators.


For those keeping score Asteroid Belter was 10,000 comics, two pallets on delivery. Spineless is printed on Newspaper Club's Mini format, a bit smaller, meaning the 20,000 copies fitted on just the one pallet. We sent our top people to track down the comics for the traditional pre-launch celebration/inspection.

The Spineless comic was printed by the brilliant Newspaper Club. It was made on one of their massive newspaper printing machines. Like real grown up newspapers. Woosh.


Then the comics were loaded onto a big pallet and shipped to the museum where they are now in maximum security storage awaiting launch day.

Luckily we were able to acquire access  early on Monday morning for that previously mentioned tradition.



And it wouldn't be a pre-launch celebration/inspection without vines. Unfortunately Lydia wasn't able to dance on the comics this time, so we're going to re-share the Asteroid Belter dance. Because we can.




Thursday 23 July 2015

Hello John Gatehouse and Dave Windett

Who are you?

Writer - John Gatehouse, Artist – Dave Windett

Why did you get involved in Spineless?

We got involved in the Spineless project because we are both interested in using comic strips as an educational tool.
We contributed to Applied Comics Etc's previous project Asteroid Belter and have created a number of other comic strips with educational content such as The Wacky World of Animals.

Tell us about your comic.

Our feature shows the reader how to identify and encourage insects in their garden.



The picture of a wasp's nest was chosen as it is a good representation of the garden feature.


John and Dave are working with Environmental Records Information Centre North East.

Little Lemming Books
@l_lemming_books

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Nearly there! Getting ready for Spineless launch day 1st August

We're counting down to launch day for Spineless: The Newcastle Science Comic.  Spineless is our free comic about invertebrates in partnership with the Spineless exhibition at Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle this summer.  The exhibition and comic are all about minibeasts: where they live, what they do, and why they’re important.

This blog post offers you 3 simple steps to comics enlightenment (or, info about what's going on around our launch day on 1st August):
  1. read our cover comic
  2. who's who: remember to meet our contributors
  3. here's some launch day info
Step 1: let's all sit down and have a read of our cover comic by Jess Bradley
comic by Jess Bradley

Pretty awesome, innit. Here are some people who think so:

Vivek, Britt, & Lydia holding bundles of Spineless
L-R: Contributor & guest curator Vivek Nityananda, Managing Editor Britt Coxon, Editor in Chief Lydia Wysocki.  Photo by @paulxthompson
Step 2: remember who our six comics creation dream teams are:
A geet big stack of Spineless comics
Some of our 20,000 comics. That's 450 kilograms of comics, right there.   Photo by @paulxthompson)
Step 3: join us on launch day
Spineless-the-comic is free and launches in print on 1st August. There are 20,000 print copies and we're proud of every last one of them.  It has 16 pages and is full colour throughout, all comics no messing. It's aimed at children age 6-10 but probably suitable for ages 6-110. We're also planning a digital version which will be available right here at newcastlesciencecomic.blogspot.com 

Spineless-the-exhibition at the Great North Museum: Hancock runs from 1st August to 1st November, but launch day is of course a special day.  On Saturday 1st August the Museum is open from 10am-4pm, with free cake for the first 200 children and activities all day - and, of course, your first chance to grab a free print copy of our Spineless comic.  Yes, you can take an extra one for your friend, and yes teachers can take extra for their class.  The exhibition is free but donations are welcome.  Info: https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/spineless 

Spineless comic contributors and friends of the project will be at the exhibition from 3-4pm to have a good look around and marvel at all the people reading our comic.  We'll then be off to the pub to raise a glass to the comic. Say hello if you see us!

Can't wait until then?  Asteroid Belter, our first Newcastle Science Comic comic is still available to read in full free online: http://newcastlesciencecomic.blogspot.co.uk/p/asteroid-belter-project.html.

Hello Emily Lambert

Who are you? 

I'm Emily, a Greetings Card Designer and Illustrator based in Newcastle.

Why did you get involved in Spineless? 

I had a particular fascination with invertebrate creatures growing up - even keeping some (like Stick Insects, Giant Snails and Jewel Beetles) as pets! I was excited to have the opportunity in 'Spineless' to combine both my interest in invertebrate creatures and my love of comics into something with an educational element.

Tell us about your comic.

My first comic follows Claude the Lobster as he is tagged and tracked by researchers. Scientists are still learning new things about Lobster behaviour and my comic was inspired by the possible adventures Claude could be having underwater.

My second comic is all about Mussel Byssus - a sticky glue-like substance Mussels use to stick to rocks which has potential surgical uses and was used to make fabric in the past. The story follows Zizi and her robot pal Pixel as they explore the underwater 'Musselopolis' and travel back in time in their Submarine Time Machine to learn about the uses of Byssus in ancient Egypt.

Top - this is the panel where Zizi and Pixel travel back in time to ancient Egypt to find out how Byssus was made into luxurious 'Sea Silk' material. After using a lot of blue for both comics, it was nice to shift the colour palette to warmer colours for the section where the characters explore Egypt, this panel shows that transition.

Bottom - Claude finds a rocky crevice to call his own and spends a few weeks relaxing there after a rather traumatic predator encounter! I like the expression of Claude as he's munching on Plankton in this panel. It was fun to try and characterise a lobster and create Claude's different expressions to get across his mood as the story progresses.


Emily is working with Guest Curator Dan Skerritt.

Emily Rose Illustration
@DooferTree

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Hello Sigmund Reimann

Who are you?

My name is Sigmund Reimann and I am a freelance illustrator.

Why did you get involved in Spineless? 

I love any and all animals, including the unappreciated spineless denizens of our planet. When an opportunity to teach young people more about these lesser known species arose I was happy to offer my skills to make it happen. If we can educate children today then there is hope that in the future they will care about the plight that these species face in this changing world, and will show them the admiration and mercy they deserve. It would also be great to educate some of the adults that read the comic too!

Tell us about your comic.

My comic explores the invertebrates dwelling in cave systems, specifically limestone caves, and is based on the research carried out by Fiona Ware. It focuses mostly on the encapsulated habitat, what dwells within it and how. It also touches on the danger human quarrying of limestone imposes on the species living in them.


My favourite section of my comic is in the first section where the diver is exploring the limestone cave system. I especially like the part where she swims through the rock formations. Limestone caves hold some of the most beautiful natural formations on the planet and I find them truly captivating.

Sigmund is working with Guest Curator Fiona Ware.

SReimann Artwork

Friday 10 July 2015

Hello Samuel Williams

Who are you? 

Samuel Williams

Why did you get involved in Spineless? 

I am really interested in my comics serving a purpose, they are such a great format for conveying information and I knew it would be a great challenge. Also getting to work with people with a more academic background and sharing ways of presenting their work!

Tell us about your comic.

My first comic see's two girls parachute in to one of the few remaining church forests of Ethiopia to discover what kind of insects still live there! The second comic is all about an Art loving Praying Mantis showing off his superior sight.


There is a panel in my Mantis comic where the face of the mantis is camouflaged behind long grass, and all you can see is his dark eyes poking through while he speaks to some other confused insects. I think it shows how dangerous they can be to their prey when they can't be seen.

Samuel is working with Guest Curators Vivek Nityananda and Erica McAlister.
Samuel Williams Design and Illustration
@samuelcwilliams

Monday 6 July 2015

Hello Terry Wiley

Who are you?

Terry Wiley

Why did you get involved in Spineless?

Because I remember how much fun it was absorbing science info when I was wee, everyone should get some science in.

Tell us about your comic.

It's called Reef Beasts, it's all about the squishy animals that live at the bottom of tropical seas, and their amazing abilities.


This is a sub-species of Sea Cucumber called a Sea Apple - I picked it for the Sea Cucumber section because of its interesting red-white-blue colouration, most other Sea Cucumbers are greenish-brown and look like an underwater poo.


Terry is working with Guest Curator Irene Brown.

idcm
@terrywiley_idcm

Friday 3 July 2015

Hello Jess Bradley

Who are you?

 I'm Jess Bradley and I'm an illustrator and comic artist from Bristol.

Why did you get involved in Spineless?

 I had the pleasure of working on Asteroid Belter and jumped at the chance to work on another science comic!

Tell us about your comic.

I've drawn the cover for Spineless which was a lot of fun. I'm a big fan of squishy creatures and as soon as I knew that I could draw sea cucumbers, I couldn't wait to get going!


I like the back cover with all of the different invertebrates on it - it was fun to be able to draw something from every other comic in the book.


Jess Bradley Illustration
@VenkmanProject

Friday 26 June 2015

A Spineless Update

Work has begun on the Spineless comic. It's just like old times, this time we're teaming up with Great North Museum:Hancock to make an awesome comic companion for their Spineless exhibition. We've received our first proof and it's looking pretty smart.


You might recognise some of our comic makers from Asteroid Belter, others you might not so in the next posts we'll be getting to know our contributors and what brought them to the project:

Jess Bradley
Terry Wiley
John Gatehouse and Dave Windett
Emily Rose Lambert
Sigmund Reimann
Samuel C Williams

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Spineless Artists Needed

Expressions of interest to be in our new anthology are now CLOSED. Thanks to all. 


We’re making a comic about invertebrates, in partnership with the Spineless exhibition at Great North Museum:Hancock in Newcastle in summer 2015. Spineless is about invertebrate communities and habitats (or, as I've scribbled in my project planning notes, spineless minibeasts: where they live, what they do, and why they’re important).  Each section of Spineless will spark one section of our comics anthology for children age 7-11, building on our superawesome Asteroid Belter: The Newcastle Science Comic (2013).  For Spineless we'll be focussing on five habitats: coral reefs/tropical oceans, the seashore, rainforests, caves, and gardens.  There might be beasties that talk, dance, fight, and have adventures.  There might be puzzle pages or backyard activities to do. All that will depend on our comics creators and the exhibition's guest curators.

We need six comics creators for this paid project.  The Spineless subject specialists are raring to go, and most of the comics making will happen in May 2015.  

Interested?  Email lydia@appliedcomicsetc.com to ask for more details.