Wallace Ryan and the Anna Templeton Centre are proud to announce that this June, the Pure Comix Festival of Graphic Literature will become Newfoundland & Labrador’s first ever festival dedicated solely to the art of comic books, graphic novels and cartoons. It will be held over 4 days – June 27th to the 30th, 2019 – at the Anna Templeton Centre and at Downtown Comics and will be the most easterly comic arts festival in North America.
Pure Comix will be composed of several workshops to teach the various steps in creating your own comic book or graphic novel with comic book veterans Paul Tucker, Mike Feehan, Andrew Hawthorn and Wallace Ryan. The Festival will not only celebrate comix and entertain people, but it will also educate participants in the basics of comic book creation from plotting to pencilling, inking and beyond. It will be a very small and intimate kind of affair with workshops with limited seats. We will be holding a Salon for some of the top comic artists in St. John’s where you can watch them at work and buy their art.
There will be a Marketplace featuring some of St. John’s finest vendors and comic book dealers that will cost only $2 for admission. We will have a Salon running throughout the Festival with several of St. John’s cartoonist community working on their comics and selling their art as the public looks on.
There will also be a lecture from noted graphic novel scholar Andrew Loman. The Festival will also run a comic arts contest for comic creators in both the teen and adult categories leading up to the actual event.
The Festival will be not only be a fun time, but it will also help us spread the world’s hottest art form to all corners of this province. We hope that this festival will cement St. John’s, Newfoundland as the up and coming hot spot for the comic book world!!!
THURSDAY:
Signings and Awards
for Pure Comix Comic Contest
Downtown Comics
6pm to 8pm
The Pure Comix Festival of Graphic Literature will begin at Downtown Comics with the announcing of the winners of the Gerry Porter Prize for the Best Comic Art for Teens and Adults. The contest will be open to all residents of Newfoundland & Labrador and the winners will get a cool certificate and a prize from Downtown Comics. Entries can run anywhere from 1 to 5 pages.
Entries must be dropped by or mailed to the Anna Templeton Centre by June 15th, 2019
We will then have a signing session with local comic artists Mike Feehan, Paul Tucker, Jud Haynes and Wallace Ryan. Paul and Wallace will be signing copies of Paul’s “WALK” and Jud, Paul and Wallace will be signing copies of the 2nd printing of “NOBODY is in CONTROL” #1 with Jud’s spectacular cover. Mike will be signing copies of his Eisner nominated “Exit Stage Left: the Snagglepuss Chronicles” from DC Comics.
FRIDAY:
the Loman Lecture
Anna Templeton Centre
5 to 6pm
We have an amazing lecture entitled “The Metaphysics of Joker-Hating” from comic book scholar, Andrew Loman of Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador.
There will be a short Q & A after the lecture.
SATURDAY:
Pure Comix Marketplace
1st Floor
Anna Templeton Centre
10am to 6pm
The Marketplace will be a chance for people to buy comic book related official merchandise from comics, graphic novels to models, Funko Pop figures and other assorted pop culture toys from a selection of St. John’s best comic and pop culture vendors.
Scripting for Comics Workshop
with Andrew Hawthorn
2nd Floor Rear Studio
Anna Templeton Centre
10am to 12pm
The first workshop of the weekend will cover how to write your script for your comic or graphic novel. Participants will learn the basics of writing your own original story and how to adapt it into script form to pass on to your artist or for yourself to illustrate.
Pure Comix’s Salon
2nd and 3rd Floor
Anna Templeton Centre
11am to 6pm
The Salon will be an open studio with comic book artists from St. John’s showing off their wares. They will have copies of their comics and prints and drawings for sale. This is PURE COMIX’s way of supporting the comic arts scene in the province and will run Saturday and Sunday.
Storytelling & Pencilling
with Wallace Ryan
2nd Floor Rear Studio
Anna Templeton Centre
12:30 pm to 2:45pm
The next workshop is perfect for those who are looking to start their own comic book or graphic novel. This workshop covers everything the beginner needs to know from storytelling, character development to pencilling the initial artwork.
Inking and Lettering
with Wallace Ryan
2nd Floor Rear Studio
Anna Templeton Centre
3pm to 5pm
This workshop will teach you all the skills you need to know to ink your pencilled artwork. Participants will learn everything from the tools of the inking trade to the various techniques needed to help you to bring your characters to life. Along with inking, we will study the art of hand lettering, sound effects and word balloon construction.
Breakdown Jam and Field Trip
2nd Floor
Anna Templeton Centre
7pm to 9pm
Downtown Comics
9:15 to 10pm
A special edition of the Breakdown Comic Jam with all of St. John’s comic book community coming out to share their work with the world and even do a bit of drawing. Meet with local artists from the beginners to some of the more experienced members of the local comic arts world here in St. John’s.
We will end the Jam with a visit to Downtown Comics to do a little bit of exclusive shopping.
SUNDAY:
Pure Comix Marketplace
1st Floor
Anna Templeton Centre
11am to 5pm
Pure Comix’s Salon
2nd and 3rd Floor
Anna Templeton Centre
11am to 5pm
Colouring
with Paul Tucker
2nd Floor Rear Studio
Anna Templeton Centre
12pm to 2pm
Explore the world of colouring comics with St. John’s Michaelangelo of the coloured comic page, Paul Tucker. He will show you his colouring process and how he works from the concept page right up to the finished coloured comics.
Drawing Digitally
with Mike Feehan
2nd Floor Rear Studio
Anna Templeton Centre
3pm to 5pm
Meet with DC Comics artist and Guest of Honour, Mike Feehan and see how he works on his comics using the digital tools of the modern age. Mike will demonstrate how to do comic book work from his rough sketches to his final electronic artwork.
A Night of Comix
the Geeks Public House
8:30pm to 11pm.
We wind up the Festival with a comic book social.
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