| Sunbathing in London |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|03:19 pm] |
Lately I've been taking lots of short Tube trips, and I've scaled my sketchbook down accordingly.
When I put these on the windowsill to photograph - that being only place in the apartment that gets natural light, at this time of year! - the irony of these many-meters-below-earth commuters finally getting some rays really amused me.
( More sunbathers under the cut... ) |
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| Ellen and Whores of Mensa at the ICA in London, this Sunday! |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|12:53 pm] |
Hello everyone,
This Sunday, November 8th, I'll be sharing a table with fellow Whores of Mensa contributor Jeremy Day at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, participating in Comica's annual celebration of small press comics, Comiket!
Organized by comix legend Paul Gravett, Comiket is the best place in London to get a sense of the Capital's independent comics scene.
Come along for Whores of Mensa rarities, as well as my Undertow graphic novel and Jeremy's excellent minicomics.
Festivities start in the ICA theater at 1, and stick around for fun in the ICA bar afterwards.
Hope to see you there! |
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| Chemo is DONE - plus, Handmade and Bound '09 update |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|11:29 am] |
Chemo, a seven page story with drawings by me and text by Sharon Lintz, is now DONE. Info coming soon on when and where you can see it in print!
( Read more... )
Do you have a story you'd like to see in comix form? I'm always open to commissions - just send me an email at ellen at little white bird dawt calm.
In other news I'll be at the Handmade and Bound show here in London on Sunday, the first of November, selling copies of my graphic novel, Undertow. Peter Lally of Bedsit Journal fame has organized a comix table, so this will be a great opportunity to pick up the latest and greatest in local mini's. Plus, the setting is the fab St. Aloysius Social Club, possibly the best countercultural church hall in Britain.
Hope to see you there! |
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| Chemo by Sharon Lintz (with pictures by me) |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|06:12 pm] |
Busy busy week, shuttling to and from the British Library, starting a new part-time job, and enjoying the last glimmers of nice weather before the long, dark English winter begins.
Here's an image-in-progress from a story I've been working on with writer Sharon Lintz. "Chemo" is Sharon's love letter to all the things that helped her get through breast cancer: biking, Philip K. Dick, her students, and Battlestar Galactica.
Next up: toning this, and then moving on to my story for Whores of Mensa 5. The theme for this issue: anything and everything having to do with entertaining and parties. My story is a bit of historical fiction, featuring a printing press, a diving bell and an ocean liner. We're having some guest artists in for this issue, which is very very exciting. More on that soon, here and on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) whoresofmensa!
PS Freelance commissioners of the world, I just updated my illustration portfolio. That is all :) |
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| Lovely Betty |
[Sep. 8th, 2009|03:14 pm] |
It's as close to hot and sweaty today as London has been all summer, and I'm inside, working on some celebrity drawings for my illustration portfolio.
Here's one of America Ferrera, the star of Ugly Betty.
While working on this I had a great time listening to Will Kane's interview on the Nostalgia of the Future blog. I thought I was 'au fait' with French music from the sixties - but then I talked to Will. He is absolutely the definitive expert on the subject, and World of Kane is a great source of images and film about everything rare and wonderful 60's France has to give the world.
Gainsbourg is just the beginning - so, enjoy! And if you're in Londres, Monsieur Kane is starting a new club night, the Stagnant Society, with all the yé yé and freakbeat one city can handle (and possibly more). Check it out!
More celebs soon... |
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| The Daily Crosshatch Reviews Undertow |
[Aug. 21st, 2009|08:05 pm] |
It was a pleasant surprise today to see that Sarah Morean of the Daily Crosshatch has reviewed Undertow, my graphic novel about Coney Island in the early sixties.
This review has a very nice opening line:
"I read self-published books in public all the time, but it’s been ages since a stranger openly read over my shoulder because they were so interested in the page. I think that experience bodes well for Ellen Lindner’s black-and-white comic book Undertow."
Click here to read the review in full.
Undertow's available at a slew of bookshops in NYC (St. Mark's Comics, Jim Hanley's, Rocketship, St. Mark's Books, Desert Island), London (Gosh!), or online at Lulu. Or, simply email me ( ellen at littlewhitebird dowt calm ) and I'll sort you out.
Thanks for reading! |
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| Sketching Across South India |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|05:36 pm] |
Annu on the train to Tiruvalla
Back from India, and busy trying to sort it all out. I think it'll be a long time before I figure out what I thought of it, or what it was even LIKE, but for now...some sketches for you. And a quick travelogue.
We started in Trivandrum, the quiet, almost rural-seeming capital of the coastal state of Kerala. From there we headed east across the nub of the Indian subcontinent to Chennai, the mad, sprawling coastal capital of Tamil Nadu, stopping at Kochi along the way, and taking a very pleasant three day detour to Pondicherry, a French colonial outpost on the Bay of Bengal.
One thing made the trip extra special - we stayed with Stephen's relatives (namely his Aunt Reebu and Uncle Jaiboy) and family friends for most of the trip, and they were so generous with their time and knowledge. I've just posted my sketches on Flickr, with short titles to identify where each sketch was made. Click on the sketchbook to go take a look! (For those of you in South London, the title is an allusion to a ridiculously named Indian joint in Camberwell...I couldn't resist!)
( Some notes on sketching in India... )
( Here are a couple of my favorites - please visit my Flickr for the complete album. )
Today, it's nice to be back from an excellent one day trip to Oxford for Caption, to see jabberworks give an awesome talk on what cartoonists can learn from children's books, and congratulate cleanskies and her new husband on their marriage. cleanskies and I also had a very productive chat about the next issue of Whores of Mensa, so more on that soon, I hope.
Thanks for reading! Next: block printing fabric, and other stuff to do on wet afternoons in Kerala. |
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| Let the Mystification Commence |
[Jul. 23rd, 2009|06:19 pm] |
In a fitting and hopefully triumphant end to what has been a very start-and-stop summer, my huzz and I are heading off to visit relatives in his mother's native state of Kerala, on the southwestern coast of India.
This sketch is inspired by the old Air India mascot...if I'm walking like an Egyptian here (slightly odd, I admit), it's because a) I am a Bangles-loving dork, in all circumstances, and b) I have no idea what to expect. Aside from heat. And humidity. And hopefully...awesome?!!)
Ever since seeing the amazing video of Emmanuel Guibert drawing with water, and Choi Juhyun's beautiful and enigmatic graphic novel Sous la Peau du Loup, I've been curious about trying out the technique of drawing with a dropper of some kind, and also using more color in linework. Definitely something to look into with greater application once I return.
Behind the ( cut )
you'll find some glimpses of what I've been doing with my summer between visa applications...some freelance work for Black Swan Wine. I've been doing some other stuff too, that I'm not sure I should show. But when I get back, there'll be plenty to look at - sketches from India, and sample artwork for the comix biography of Lee Miller I've been writing.
Oh, and while you're on the internet, why not tune in some
Robot Dreams on your Google homepage? I got an email from my pal Sara Varon today, with the happy news that millions of Google users can look at 7 different illustrations of hers whenever they fancy reading a blog or checking their mail.
See you in 2 weeks! |
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| Transatlantic Action |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|05:25 pm] |
Funny bunch of sketches here. In New York I fell in love with the Tombo. Strangely, I got back to the UK and discovered the Tombo is not waterproof! D'oh. Back to Faber-Castell, I guess :) Usually some of the fun of sketching for me is coming home and 'developing' the images, adding tone and color. Not this time!
London Tube, June 09.
( Take a look behind the cut for some of a motley bunch of sketches, from New York and London. )
More to come soon.
While I'm here I'd love to congratulate my pals Mardou and Ted May on the birth yesterday afternoon of their daughter Veronica Jean. She's super-gorgeous, and I'm sure will defy genre as magnificently as her parents do.
Congratulations, guys! |
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| Hellos from New York |
[Jun. 10th, 2009|12:37 pm] |
Photo courtesy Marion Vitus
MoCCA was kind of a blast. Plus, I got my new visa the next day! Woo hoo!
Thanks to ztoical and joshpm for being such excellent tablemates. See you guys next year!
Thanks as well to the folks at Studio Deep 6 who have opened their doors to me during this time away from my workspace. They are such nice people, and AMAZING cartoonists! I felt seriously humbled my the quality of work going on in there.
I fly back to the UK on the 17th...I can't wait to come back to New York soon, though! :) I owe my brother a crushing defeat in badminton, if nothing else.
PS Anyone got any tips on good NYC/NJ/Philly area shops that might stock Undertow? Thanks a lot! |
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| Blue Cat (and a quick goodbye) |
[May. 13th, 2009|06:35 pm] |
Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts regarding my visa situation - I really appreciate it!
I'm in New York as of Monday...time to train for the Japan Day 4 Mile Race in Central Park, hang out with my parents, get some sewing and reading done, and see people! I need to look past the visa stress and enjoy the opportunity to go home.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of ztoical, I'll be at the MoCCA Festival in NYC on June 6 and 7, with Undertow aplenty...please come by and say hello.
In the meantime, enjoy my 'daily' sketch...didn't you know that Bengal kitties and floating fingerprints were natural enemies? |
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| Bad Witch |
[May. 5th, 2009|10:41 pm] |
Feeling a bit weak after some serious visa drama, still unresolved...here's to spending more time drawing, and less time worrying! |
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| Friday night and Wednesday morning |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|01:27 pm] |
Friday I decided to cap off a day in the retail salt-mines with a 7k run. As one does.
So today's sketch is actually a collaboration between my zonked-out, post-run self Friday, and my alert-and-doing-taxes self today.
I may be dragging on these sketches, but someone out there must like me, because the radio is playing "Lipgloss and Cigarettes" by Pulp!
This one's inspired by a particularly Van Dyck-ish photo of 6Music dj and friend of mikedawsoncomic, George Lamb.
Last night Stephen and I went up to Tufnell Park to enjoy the Tombola of Fun night at the Star. Gosh! maestro Nat Metcalfe organizes it, and it was enormous fun, themed around the work of singer, actor, and one-man Brit Brat Pack Anthony Newley. Will Kane gave us a wonderful precis of Newley's career, and Nat got a great lineup together, including my new favorite comic, Danielle Ward (otherwise known as 'the Moneygeddon girl offa Newswipe). If you enjoy humor about stinky vintage clothes, getting your kit off in a Hoxton working men's club, and unsafe football grounds, Danielle's comedy may be for you. If not, head up to Edinburgh to see Nat himself - all the info is on the Tombola blog.
In other news, I just found out in order to renew my visa, I need to take the "Life in the UK" test. Reasonable, I bet you're thinking...I mean, I DO live in the UK. But...to live in the UK, do you really need to know exactly how many people in the UK are Welsh? Or on what day St. Andrew's feast day falls? Or what a quango is? GIVE ME A BREAK. I can name most of the Arsenal starting 11, and I enjoy the music of Richard Hawley - surely that's enough?
Rant over - see you soon! :) |
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| Bureaucracy vs. Sketching: the Final Showdown |
[Apr. 8th, 2009|03:02 pm] |
April is fun month! And I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible: this month has so far brought with it levels of bureaucracy I'd never dreamt possible (naive, I know).
In order to get back into drawing, in the midst of all the crazy, I'm taking a page from jabberworks's book and starting some daily sketches.
The only rule: they have to be fun. REAL fun. Which for me, means fashion, flowers, and color, with the occasional bit of collage. For today, anyhow. :)
Enjoy...more on the way. |
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| Undertow, by Ellen Lindner - available NOW! |
[Mar. 23rd, 2009|03:39 pm] |
(photo courtesy jabberworks and the Deptford Project Cafe- thanks, Sarah!)
It is my very great pleasure to announce that my graphic novel, Undertow, is now available in print!
Jessica Abel, creator of La Perdida, Life Sucks, Radio: An Illustrated Guide and many more, wrote me an amazing quote for the back cover:
"Undertow by Ellen Lindner gives us a close-up view through the back
door of Brooklyn in the sixties—with all the delinquency, drugs, and
trips to Coney Island that implies. Beautifully drawn in sinuous,
sharp style, Lindner's characters, and their fight to do more than
survive, are unforgettable."
Thank you, Jessica!
Now...how to get a copy...
You can have a copy shipped to your door for a very reasonable amount: $11.25 or £8, plus shipping and handling, via the redoubtable Lulu...
You can buy one from me at one of the following events:
The UK Web and Mini-comix Thing - London - THIS Saturday, March 28th - click here for more information.
MoCCA - New York, June 6+7 (conditions TBA!)
LUC 176 - London - June 27th
And, as of next week, I'll be selling Undertow in London's best comix shop, Gosh!, with more stockists to be announced soon.
UPDATE:
You can now buy Undertow from the following stockists in the NYC zone:
Desert Island - 540 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn
Rocketship - 208 Smith Street, Brooklyn
Jim Hanley's Universe - 4 West 33rd St., Manhattan
St. Mark's Comics - 10 St. Mark's Place, Manhattan
St. Mark's Books - 31 3rd Avenue, Manhattan
And, as always, at Gosh! Right across from the British Museum in the Big Smoke.
Thanks so much to these retailers for their support!
Any questions? Ideas for promotion or review? Comment here or email me at ellen at-symbol littlewhitebird rhymes-with-hot com |
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| MoCCA table? Anyone got a MoCCA table? |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
I got some bad news this week - there's no room for me, or Whores of Mensa, at MoCCA! (Darn USPS-only application system! What are us foreigners supposed to do? :) )
Anyone got any extra space? Otherwise I may have to resort to selling Undertow and Whores of Mensa cigarette-girl style! Maybe I'll hit the Tabla-to-go line...or all the Shake-Shackers! The possibilities are nearly endless...but, it must be said, they're not quite as cool as a real live MoCCA table.
So, if anyone knows anything, SPILL! Please?!
All this MoCCA angst has not kept me from steaming ahead on my March 10th deadline for Undertow art. Here's a newly colored panel - enjoy!
PS Anyone who CAN help me, I will provide you with an amazing present of your choice from my country of residency, the United Kingdom! Or, within reason, the EU. Put your thinking caps on...Greater Europa is your oyster! |
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| Holga-roid-a-rama |
[Feb. 25th, 2009|09:36 pm] |
I've been quiet on the blog, but very busy...with house stuff, friend stuff, work stuff.
But also fun stuff. My pal Jane's been staying with us, and we've been playing with her Holga-roid. (Check out her photography site - it's amazing!)
I'm thinking of using this shot as an author photo - what do you think?
PS I'll be back soon with Undertow news...but in the meantime, if you're curious, take a peek at my new page on the I-spot! |
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| Back from Angougouland |
[Feb. 3rd, 2009|11:59 am] |
Sketch: Uli counting out the money at La Passe Muraille after the best meal of the festival.
Plenty of more venerable bloggers than I (Bart Beaty at Comicsreporter.com, for example) will be writing about this year's Angouleme festival...but...here's my little contribution.
Top 5 Favorite Things about Angouleme 2009:
1. Winshluss, Winshluss, Winshluss. His Villemolle 81, shown as part of his exhibit at the Centre International de La BD et l'Image, is my new favorite film (think Waiting for Guffman mixed with Shaun of the Dead - the tagline is "In the Tarn, no one will hear you scream."). And his prize-winning Pinocchio looks pretty great, too.
2. Meeting new people - knockout Chinese artist Li-Shan (her Cutie B, a teen book for Dargaud, is as adorable as the title implies), Edmund Bagwell of 2000 AD fame, Aggs and Son, UK comix legends, and the endlessly impressive Cambourakis crew. And seeing old friends - Sara Varon and Charlie Orr made it over, which pretty much made my Festival.
3. The Dupuy Berberian expo - fantastique! Must...sketch...always.
4. The restaurants. Chariot de fromage, anyone?
5. I feel juvenile typing this, but...well, some irate cartoonists destroyed the portrait of Nicolas Sarkozy in the town hall. Cool? Terrible? It felt exciting at the time.
( A couple of dinnertime sketches beneath the cut! )
Of course I came back from the Festival with a wicked cold. Hopefully the Cold-Eeze and good memories will heal me up fast and I can get back to work.
A la prochaine!
EDIT: My boy Stephen Betts just put up an excellent - and exhaustively illustrated - Angouleme post on his Comix Influx blog, for those who are curious for more details: http://comixinflux.com/influx/blogpost/43 |
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| Hungry and busy |
[Jan. 23rd, 2009|02:01 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Cat Power - Ramblin' (Wo)man | ] |
As Stephen and I prepare to head off to Paris and then Angoulême, and I prepare for a long-delayed lunch (Madhur Jaffrey's cabbage stir-fry), I'm working to finish penciling the 10 page epilogue that will cap off my Undertow graphic novel, which I'll be self-publishing this spring.
It's been a long slog but I'm so happy with the new pages. And, here are some new toned pages - with the
( beginning of crazy Chapter 5 )
By the way, if you're in London this weekend be sure to check out Zine Fest in the east end this weekend. I can't make it because of work but I'll be there in spirit, as will Whores of Mensa.
Off to lunch...and in a little while, France! A bientôt.... |
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