Introducing James Wilkinson

James worked with Matt Gan on our double page comic Fantastic But Foolish Scientists. It made for a very entertaining read.

Who are you?
My name's James Wilkinson.


What have you done / what are you doing?
 I make cartoons, illustrations, fine art work, zines, and design logos. For Asteroid Belter I wrote for and coloured the 'Fantastic But Foolish Scientists' pages.


What excites you about comics?
I like the uniqueness of cartoons as a medium. They have an intimacy, life, and pace to them that no other medium quite captures.

What excites you about science?
I think science is fascinating as it allows you to make some sort of sense of a world that is becoming aver more complex and ever more ruled by science. Knowing more about science also make the world seem more fantastical and beautiful.

Contact/Links
You can see some of my art over here: https://www.facebook.com/jameswilkinsonart 

And you can contact me here: ja.wilkinson@yahoo.co.uk

Science Comic : Artists, Writers and Scientists

This page used to contain a list of our contributors while the Science Comic was in production - we now have a complete list of all the Newcastle Science Comic Artists, Writers and Scientists.

Introducing Ramón Pereira

I've just come across a wonderful Pinterest board curated by Heather Wilson, the artist of our Heartland comic. She's gathered some wonderful art as inspiration for the page. A wonderful comic all about rhythm and movement. Ramón Pereira is the writer of Heartland, which is based on the science of Winne Tong. Look out for this one in the comic folks, it's mint.

Who are you?
I'm a writer, teacher, and tireless reader.

What have you done / what are you doing?
At the age of 21 I started with fanzines. Since then I went on to write short stories and articles for magazines. I've taught comic script writing and I've recently finished my first graphic novel with the illustrator Ramón Boldú titled La voz que no cesa (The Voice that doesn't cease). It's a biography about the poet Miguel Hernández, who died in jail at the end of the Spanish Civil War. It will be published by EDT and will be in bookstores September 2013.

What excites you about comics?
Comics are an excellent medium for storytelling. It's possibilities are endless because you have the resources that literature brings coupled with illustrations at your disposal. And all this combined with the language used in comics: onomatopeies, unlimited use of narrative times and, in essence, the possibility of doing anything you want. We can tell galactic stories, westerns, stories about love or superheroes without any type of budget or impediments like materials to start off with. With comics, nothing is impossible.

What excites you about science?
I'm passionate about science because it distances us from superstition and ignorance. I'm not saying that it's the only discipline that gives a sense of truth to the world, but it's discoveries have undeniably helped improve the lives of people. As technology helps us communicate better with each other and improve daily life, I think that there are also other dangers we need to take into consideration from other disciplines such as philosophy.

Contact/Links
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ramon.pereira.7359
BLOG: http://ramonpereirasegura.blogspot.com.es
EMAIL:  ramonpereiraprofesor@hotmail.com

Introducing Alexi Conman

Enigma of a man, Alexi Conman has been kind of hiding in the background ever since Newcastle Science Comic became a thing giving endless support and and opinion. Alexi is the writing mastermind behind The Amazing Three Parent Monkey, working with scientist Sourima Shivhare, artist Tony Hitchman and colourist/letterer Paul Thompson.

Who are you?
Alexi Conman. I write comics sometimes.

What have you done / what are you doing?
I've scripted comics stories in various anthologies, you can see the full list here.

What excites you about comics?
Sequential Art is a medium that has almost limitless storytelling potential; its unique visual syntax (a synthesis of lexical and iconic and mimetic pictorial elements) makes it incredibly adaptable, potentially complex, yet naturally intuitive.

What excites you about science?
That it might save humanity from itself, an edifice up which we might climb to the stars.


Contact/Links
alexiconman.blogspot.co.uk
@alexiconman

Introducing Georgia Litherland

Georgia Litherland is the writer behind Marine Mob Meltdown, a comic about fishy goings on in the North Sea. Georgia is one third of the team, working with artist Marvin Harding and scientist Johanna Forster.

I'm Georgia. I get a kick out of communicating specialist information in accessible ways.
If it’s funny, so much the better.

I love the way comics fire on all cylinders. They get all your senses involved. I love how you can read, write, draw, create a comic in so many different ways and when it works, it's just great. Comics can surprise us and get us involved in stuff we thought we weren't so interested in. (Thanks to Hunt Emerson for making Dante and John Ruskin accessible!)

The first time I saw a detailed drawing of a cell and understood a bit about how they work was one of my biggest ever WOW moments. Before that I'd missed a lot of science classes, and hated a fair few more. After that, and all credit due to a great teacher, I was hooked. I love finding things out - especially about how life and living things work and our amazing human bodies and brains.

Super Mash-Up!

On Wednesday the 16th January Newcastle Science Comic had a Super Mash-Up, the first meeting of artists, writers and scientists interested in contributing to the comic. Science and comics aren't naturally considered a good match but they're both used to explain things. Comics are a fantastically accessible way of telling a story and science is full of fantastic stories that really need to be told, the ideal match!

We kicked off the event with a little activity that will probably look familiar to anybody who's been near the internet in the last year. What do people think you do? It was interesting to see that most people's mothers couldn't really keep track of what they do. It also seems nobody actually does what they think they do.

What people think I do - post it note version - photos by Mike D, drawings by a scientist.

Science, the great employability machine - photos by Mike D, drawings by a scientist.

The words in balloons - photos by Mike D, drawings by a writer.

Born free - photos by Mike D, drawings by an artist.

The event got off to a great start and collaboration was already in the air. Newcastle Science Comic's chief editor Lydia Wysocki made a presentation on comics and their usefulness for communication and explaining. Some examples included Will Eisner's How to Strip your Baby, a page from his M-16 U.S. Army Rifle Maintenance Booklet (commissioned by the U.S. Army) and the safety instructions on the back of an airplane seat.

We also heard from Dr Mike Jeffries, an ecologist who researches pond life; water beetles, dragonflies and the like, how they come and go over the years and in response to changing landscapes. Dr Jeffries uses comics to raise awareness and explore environmental themes related to his research. He also encourages his geography students to make comics to explore their personal worlds, making geography unique and relevant to their lives and surroundings.

Friendships were made, pictionary was played and some of our artists found their scientific soul mates. Not everybody could make it to Newcastle on the day so we had some online portfolios to show off too, technology is a wonderful thing, thank you science. The next few weeks will be all about putting our teams in touch with each other and bouncing even more scientific ideas back and forth.

Artists and scientists playing pictionary - photo by @EngageNE.

Communicating in words and pictures, that's a comic that - photo by @EngageNE.

If you were at the mash-up and drew a thing or took a photo of a thing then please do share it with us, we'd love to show it on our blog. We've got some more "What people think I do" sticky notes to share over the next few days and a fantastic giant collaborative drawing by everybody at the mash-up to try and fit in a scanner.