Bulles de Neige 2014

Last weekend I was a guest at Bulles de Neige, a BD festival in the ski town of Valberg.  It was my first signing ("dédicace") in France, and one of the best times of my life!

↑ONE OF THESE FESTIVALS IS REAL.  Make your best guess and then click here.

I went to the festival thanks to Bannister (of car poster fame), and met a bunch of other amazing artists there, including but certainly not limited to: Frédéric Besson, Sophie Chaussade, Régis Donsimoni, Vincent Mallié, and Nicolas Poupon.

I took a train from Paris to Lyon, flew to Nice, and then took a shuttle bus 90 minutes up into the mountains to Valberg.  I spent the weekend eating French and Italian comfort foods (vin chaud, chocolat chaud, raclette...), skiing, and signing books for festival attendees.  I'm told this is not your average French festival, but I couldn't help thinking every 5 minutes or so, 'OMG French artists are so LUCKY!!'  If you EVER get the chance to do this show, take it!!! :D

 (The Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport has a slide!)

This is what winter looks like on the French Riviera.

I was so impressed with the festival's organization, from transportation to food to book shipping (thanks to BD Fugue!).  When I arrived, I received a packet with all of the information I might need, including contact info for the festival organizer and book sellers, some swag, and my ski pass.

 I saw the festival advertised everywhere -- even on the lift poles on the mountain!

All of the restaurants had festival advertisements, often as place-mats on the tables.

 

 

View out the hotel window!

Unharmed by the slopes!

I'm so grateful for this experience!

Public Display of Affection 01

Here's some cute PDA I saw on the Metro this morning.  I think I'll make a series of my favorite PDA gestures as a lead-up to Valentine's Day.  My buddy Ben Dewey did an amaaaazing series of Pacific Rim Valentines (which you can check out here) that inspired me.

I was going to make a big Angouleme Festival post, but honestly Jen Vaughn already made a series of great posts from an American perspective (day 1, day 2, and day 3), so just read those.  I was so happy when I walked into the Mercure on Friday for an afternoon drink and saw that familiar pink hair streak.  Jen's a force of nature, and one of those people you really SHOULD expect to run into on the other side of the planet. :)

So yeah, Angouleme. Wow.  That was amazing. ...Can we do it again next year?

24 Hour Comic

I participated in les 24 heures de la BD (24 hour comic day) last Tuesday-Wednesday at the maison des auteurs in Angouleme!  What an honor.  The idea is to marathon-draw for 24 straight hours and finish a 24-page comic on a surprise theme.  Artists from all over the world participate, and upload their creations to share.
Here's a 5-part video report on this year's event at the Angouleme location:
(Wow, that is my Level Eleven Stressface)

This year's surprise twist rule was especially difficult.  Every artist had to base their comic images off of 90 recent photos from Boulet's Instagram account. (You can see the photos in order here)

+Boulet rose to the challenge and finished another amazing 24 hour comic.

+Ken Niimura (artist of I Kill Giants, which is one of the best books ever) did something clever - he used the photos as a graytone in his panels, and improvised a story around what they suggested.

Some other comics that I liked:
+Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau and Vincent Giard
+Berquin Gregoire
+Ferrand Julie
+Giulia Jones
+Javi de Castro
+Jerome Jouvray
+Loren Bes
+Pare-Sorel Julien
+Secheresse Loic
+Zviane

+I....took a loose approach.  I used all of the photos for my panels (in order!), but I tried to force them to conform to the story I was coming up with, and sometimes I resorted to some real stretches for "using the photo".  We were told we could use an element for the photo, or just the composition...but often I used dialogue in my panels to make PUNS about the photos, so...you tell me whether or not that's within the rules.  I was also told I could add panels, which I sometimes needed to do between photos.  I must have been stress-blacking-out while Matt Madden announced in English that the cover and back cover needed to be based on the photos as well, because I didn't realize that until I saw the video reportage two days later, haha.  I'm not proud of this comic itself, but I am SO proud I completed 24 hour comic day!  And it was reeeeally fun.  I would absolutely do it again, especially at a big event like the one put on by the maison des auteurs.

MEANWHILE IN THE USA: February 1 was Hourly Comic Day, which is different in that you draw one short comic every hour you're awake about what you did in the past hour.  Highlights for me included the crossover comics of soon-to-be-weds Madeleine Flores and J. Smith.  Also these ridiculously polished comics from Diana Huh.