Info Bites: Speech Bubble & STGCC 2016

Phew, it’s that time of year again where I finally wipe off the dust of this musty blog with an update! September is rolling around soon and it’s shaping up to be a month long comic bonanza in Singapore!

Kicking off on the 2nd of September, Speech Bubble is a brand new event in the Singapore comics scene with a focus on comics produced and published in Singapore (and in South-East Asia to a lesser degree).

 

The Official Speech Bubble 2016 Poster

An initiative spearheaded by Sonny Liew with the aid of the National Library of Singapore, the event aims to engage people from all walks of life and foster their love for the comics medium through workshops, talks, and exhibitions carried out by the local comics community. Running throughout the month of September, their stellar lineup includes comic luminaries such as Drewscape (who will be talking about drawing non-Superhero comics) and Lefty (who will touch on the relevance of comics in today’s high-tech world), plus some practical panels (like this one about Financial Planning for Freelancers by Karen Tan) thrown into the mix.

Sadly I won’t be around on the weekend when Speech Bubble kicks off, but I’m hoping to at least attend one of the panels on the subsequent weekends. For a comprehensive list of talks and other happenings for Speech Bubble, do head down to their official website!

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Next up, the annual Singapore Toys Games and Comics Convention will be happening on the 2nd weekend of September!

Singapore Toys Games and Comics Convention 2016

Taking place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Halls once again, this year’s guests look promising to me, especially with the inclusion of Emma Rios and Hwei in the lineup! I have seen some people lamenting about the lack of more famous guests being invited to the event in some of the local comic groups I frequent online, but from my standpoint as a casual attendee (my main motivation to go is to support my friends who are boothing at the Artist Alley) the inclusion of Emma and Hwei are a welcome addition to the usual mix of Marvel and DC artists and writers.

Having said that, do drop by the Artist Alley to give the people at Global Beards (Booth AA88) some love…and pre-order their upcoming all-ages comic Yellow Princess: Attack on the Amber Citadel! Also a little birdie told me that Rex Regrets (Booth AA86) will finally be having its first ever hardcover book so do keep a lookout for that too (Rex will be right next to Global Beards)!

If you’re thinking about hanging about the main stage like me to listen to some of the talks, the stage schedule for both days can be found here.

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That’s September in a nutshell for me (apart from my upcoming trip!), so till next update, see ya!

Info Bites: Weekend Fillers

Hey all! As usual, long time no update, my apologies! Just wanted to pop by and inform you all about the two events I know that are lined up for this and next weekend.

First off: Fusion of Passion Showcase

 

 

In conjunction with MASIF 2011 (an acronym for ‘Music, Arts, Style, International Festival’), Galeri Petronas is hosting the Fusion of Passion exhibition which features canvas-printed artworks of various Malaysian artists, including those of the graphic novel persuasion. Artworks by some of my favourite local artists such as Zid, kiDChan, Hwei, and Quartz (just to name a few) will be on display there, which is such a pity as I won’t be able to attend this exhibition before it ends!

 

One of Zid‘s artworks on display – ‘The Amazing Race’

This exhibition will come to a close on the 25th of September (this Sunday), so if you’re looking for something to feast your eyes on this weekend perhaps a trip down to Galeri Petronas at KLCC isn’t such a bad idea.

Next up: 24 Hour Comics Day Singapore

 

 

After a pretty long drought since the last 24 Hour Comics Day held in Malaysia back in 2006, our neighbours down South have have picked up the slack since 2010 with their own version of the event…and it will be happening again really soon! The Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day will be held on the 1st of October and sadly, all the places for the on-site drawing area at the Goodman Arts Center have been taken but don’t let that put a damper on your spirit! The Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day is still open for registering home participants, which means you can still take part in this event no matter where you are, from the comfort of your own home!

 

Participants from last year’s Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day (Picture taken from Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day website)

I know what’s the next question running in your mind: What are the benefits of participating from home? Well, for one, registering for this event (even though you say you will be taking part regardless) is the first step in making the commitment to participate 24 Hour Comics Day since from my own experience, you’ll be more likely to give it some serious thought instead of just ‘accidentally’ forgetting about it altogether! You can register to be a home participant here then take a look at the other participants that will be joining you on this journey (My name is somewhere in the home participants list…haha).

They also have a Google Group for this event for participants-to-be to exchange tips and carry out discussions. It seems that there’s some kind of collaboration going on between writers in Indonesia who want to liaise with artists to produce a comic for 24 Hour Comics Day there too, so some of you might want to give that a try!

Also, just a final shoutout to all of you to buy Craig Thompson’s latest book, Habibi, which was just released on the 20th of September to raving reviews. I’ve not gotten my copy yet, a terrible act that I will remedy once I post this entry and head off to enjoy my weekend!

With that, I hope that you’ll have some fun-filled weekends ahead, and till next post (really soon, promise!), I bid you adieu!

Info Bites!

Heya, it’s been pretty busy (as usual) since my last update here (another long hiatus! *sigh*)! I’ve compiled a few bite-sized chunks of information here into a single post, which I suspect will become a norm in the future (I’ve even created a new category for it in anticipation, haha!).

Without further ado, ta-daaaa~!

What I’ve Been Up To

Having been in Singapore for almost a year now, it’s funny how I only managed to meet up with Zid a few weeks before he left Singapore to return semi-permanently to Malaysia. I thoroughly enjoyed his company in those last few weeks, and the best thing was that he pointed me to a pretty nifty activity held by the Organization of Illustrators Council Singapore (OIC): their monthly Portrait Day held at the Market of Artists and Designers (MAAD) in the RedDot Design Museum.

OIC Singapore’s July 2011 MAAD Portrait Day Poster

For a 10SGD fee, the OIC will provide you a seat in the portrait drawing area, where interested ‘posers’ will sit in the designated chairs for 20 minutes while the artists get busy drawing their portraits. Apart from being good life drawing practise (no matter what art background you come from), you may be able to earn back the participation fee you’ve paid (or more!) as you are strongly encouraged to hang your completed artwork in a browsing area where the ‘posers’ can choose to buy them for 10SGD a piece. Interesting concept, no?

Here’s the Event Photos of the July 2011 OIC Session at MAAD I attended. I’m glad to say I managed to sell a piece of my art, much to my own amusement, as that was the only piece I chose to draw straight from my imagination instead. It’s this piece if you’re interested to know (please don’t laugh!).

It seems that the July session I attended will be the last of its kind being held on Saturday afternoons at the RedDot Design Museum; from now on the OIC intends to have the RedDot sessions on Friday nights, and are trying to find a new location for the Saturday afternoon sessions. Looks like the OIC Portrait Day will be bi-monthly from now on, so keep checking the OIC WordPress Blog for updates on when and where the next sessions will be held!

 

What I’ve Heard

I stumbled onto this piece of information as I was browsing my tumblr page. Many thanks to Eisu for bringing Womanthology to my attention!

The Preview Cover of Womanthology. Looks darn pretty to me!

A little background information on Womanthology: Womanthology is ‘a large scale anthology comic showcasing the works of women in comics’, to be created entirely by 140 women of all experience levels. As you can see from their Kickstarter page I’ve linked above, they’ve already reached their targeted amount, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still contribute since: 1. The more money they get = the more copies they can print and 2. Malaysian artists Aimo and Hanie are part of the project! From the lineup of artists taking part in this, I’ve got a good feeling that the result’s gonna be pretty awesome!

 

Upcoming Events

Dongeng (Fairy Tales) Publicity Poster

Dongeng (Fairy Tales) – A Solo Exhibition by kiDChan
Come mid-July, a solo exhibition by the prolific kiDChan will be held at Saito College in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, entitled: ‘Dongeng (Fairy Tales)’. You can visit their Facebook Event Page for more information if you’re interested to go there and have a gander at this wonderful artist’s works (free entry). There are slots where kiDChan herself will be there to do CG demos and such, so do keep an eye out for that. KiDChan does more illustration work than comics, but she still dabbles in comic work now and then. Definitely a trip worth making if you’re in need of artistic inspiration!

STGCC 2011

Singapore Toy Games and Comics Convention 2011 (STGCC 2011)
If you have extra moolah to spare or are super kiasu about being at the major comic events in South East Asia, then make your way across the Causeway to attend STGCC 2011, taking place at Suntec City’s Convention Hall in Singapore on 20th till 21st August. As usual, there’ll be loads of things going on at the event, such as the sale of event exclusive figurines, Guests of Honour appearances (CB Cebulski!), and the artists alley, just to name a few. All the information you may need (online ticket purchasing, event location, event schedule) can be found on the STGCC 2011 Homepage, though I must say that it’s a visual assault when you’re navigating the site.

That’s all for now, stay well, stay safe, and stay CLEAN! Till next time! 😉

Cutie Cultie Comic Show

It seems that the good folks over at The One Academy’s One Art Club are hosting a comic art exhibition!