I’m finally back from a whirlwind 3 weeks in Brussels and Moscow and have promised to write a proper blog post about each. So first up is my 2 week residency with the acclaimed literary organisation Het beschrijf in Brussels. Het beschrijf organises book festivals and residencies for many amazing global writers (Including fellow Scott Janice Galloway The Trick is to Keep Breathing and Alan Hollinghurst who wrote The Line of Beauty). Their Brussels in Shorts project was the first time Het beschrijf has opened their doors to comic artists, selecting 10 global artists to each create a 12-page stories set in or around a street in Brussels- Oude Graanmarkt. The 10 stories will be collected in an anthology and published by the fantastic Oogachtend publishers (who have published award winning comic artists Brecht Evens and Randall C).

I was so excited when I heard about this project. How many British organisations fund residencies that allow comic artists time, space and a salary to create? So I worked my proverbial bollocks off on my application creating a pop-up book complete with chocolate bribes (see below) and submitted a story about a magical 5 Euro note that grants your deepest, darkest wish.

If you’ve seen my work, you’ll know I like experimenting with different mediums to tell sequential narratives and so I decided to use paper cut-outs for my story as the narrative was all about objects and paper money. During the residency I managed to write and plan out the full 12 pages and to build the first 3. Below are a few sneak peaks…

It was amazing to have a whole apartment to myself and a little intimidating to suddenly have my hearts desire of enough space, time and money to make what I wanted. So intimidating in fact, that I filled some of that space and time learning about Belgium and the comic scene there. For any of you who don’t know, the Belgium people LOVE their comics. Like the French they refer to it as their ‘9th Art’ and their tiny country is crammed with amazing comic festivals (such as Strip Turnhout where we were guests last December), fantastic comic exhibitions (Belgium Comic Strip Centre, Hergé Museum etc), comic degrees (International students can study BAs and MAs at Saint Lukas), beautiful comic shops (the beautiful Brüsel, Passa Porta and the English Speaking Sterling Books has a great selection) and some of the most brilliant artists in Europe (my ex-intern Shamisa Debroey is one to keep your eye on plus Olivier Schrauwen, Thierry Bouüaert and the afore mentioned Brecht Evens and Randall C). Here’s a fantasticaly informative report my ex londonprintstudio students did about their trip to Brussels last year (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4). How does such a small country produce so much talent? I suspect with proper funding from the government and respect for this art form which is often over looked in the UK.

I found myself living a nocturnal existence; drawing comics all night and keeping myself busy in the day meeting with lovely comic professors, publishers, curators, festival organisers and artists. Having spent a lot of time recently drawing alone in my flat in London, it was great to put myself outside my comfort zone, get out into the big, wide world and meet new people. I also had a radio interview with FM Brussels (where I was terrified about pronouncing the dreaded ‘Het beschrijf’) and a TV interview with TV Brussels (where the lovely cameraman spent a lot of time filming my feet!). I’ll put links up when I get them. I also gave a talk to a packed audience of such lovely folk at Sterling Books and taught a lesson on comics at the British School of Brussels. Jon came out to visit for a weekend and we had a perfect day visiting a huge contemporary art fair, watching silent films with piano accompaniments and eating all the lobster we could muster.

So- hopefully that’s given you a rough idea of my residency. I’ll keep you posted on the other artist’s work and how the anthology comes together. AND you’ll be pleased to know if this project goes well there may be future opportunities for comic artists to apply (although you’ll need to have been published). All that’s left to say is a MASSIVE, MASSIVE thank-you to Het beschrijf (and all their staff including Ilke, Sigrid, Petra, Kristien, Barbara, Piet and Marq) for making me feel so welcome and looked after, and to all the jury for selecting my story to be included in this wonderful project (Ever Meulen, Willem de Graeve, Charles Dierick, Johan Stuyck, Linda Torfs and Annelies Verbeke).

Dank U!

Karrie x

]]> http://www.karriefransman.com/?feed=rss2&p=2222 http://www.karriefransman.com/?p=1992 http://www.karriefransman.com/?p=1992#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:00:17 +0000 karriefransman http://www.karriefransman.com/?p=1992 This post has been delayed for a while by the flurry of THTG publicity, but finally I can announce the good news… While in Belgium for the exhibition I was lucky enough to receive a phone call telling me I’d won one of the places on a residency following the Brussels in Shorts Competition. The prize was organised by the literary organisation Het beschrijf who will commission 10 international comic strip artists (from Spain to Czech Republic and including fellow Brit William Goldsmith who I taught at londonprintstudio!) to create and publish a graphic short story on contemporary Brussels with the amazing publishing house Oogachtend. Really looking forward to learning more about the amazing comic scene in Belgium and meeting the other artists! Here is a clip on TV Brussels about the residency.

I will be in Brussels from 12th-26th April and will be doing a signing at Sterling Books on Friday 20th April at 7pm so come on down if you are there! Below is a photo of my application and a sneak peak of my story which is all about a magical 5 Euro note…

Great to have the chance to give the talented and enthusiastic London scene a shout-out… just wish I’d had more room to fit more talent in. Please tweet it and pass it around. Thanks!

A big thank you to all the reviewers! And please contact fmurphy@randomhouse.co.uk if you’d like your own copy to review. I’d love to know what you think!

K x

‘KARRIE FRANSMAN breaks all the rules of storytelling; accumulated over the past thousands of years. She creates a confusion at first, that suddenly bursts into the obvious and simplest fact; that all the stories of, and in our lives, are personal and private. Unlinked and unlike anyone else’s…..like our DNA. The only way this wonderful ‘Book’ could have been written is by illustration….not by word…..rather like the hidden stories drawn on the walls of caves. Nicholas Roeg (director of Don’t look Now and Walkabout)

‘The oddball tenants of a shared London house jump off the page in Karrie Fransman’s bleak yet beautiful graphic novel’ The Observer Full Review Here.

‘It’s an enjoyable tale, dark but full of energy, fascinated by the private lives and perversity that bulge beneath suburbia’s facade’ The Guardian Full Review Here.

‘Oddly macabre and moving at the same time, more absurdist magic realism than gritty kitchen-sink drama, few British debut graphic novels have been as audacious and unsettling as this.’ Paul Gravett (Journalist and author of 1001 Comics to Read Before You Die) Full Review Here

‘The House That Groaned is definitely not the usual fare I have come to expect from young women’s graphic novels, those coming-of-age stories replete with weight problems and dates that go wrong. No coming of age here, although we do get some frightening insights into a good number of childhoods. As for bad dates, all the tenants of the rotting Victorian apartment house have dates that go horribly wrong. And let’s not begin to talk about weight problems! So the issues in the typical graphic novel by women are present here, but cleverly twisted, as are the wretched tenants and the groaning house itself. Karrie Fransman’s art style, which can only be described as creepy, augments the general malaise of the story. I recommend this book to all lovers of dark humor.’ Trina Robbins (Writer, Historian of Women’s Comics)

‘The beautifully evocative illustrations remind us of the work of Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), but the darkly funny story - a tale of urban alienation, hungry women and sexuality - is uniquely Fransman’s. Stylist Editor’s Picks. Full Review Here.

‘But although there’s wonderfully-funny grotesque touches, there is a complexity and a depth to her creations that somehow anchors the whole thing in real life.’ It’s Nice That Full Review Here.

Shout-out in my old home… The Guardian’s G2: Seen Here.

‘The House That Groaned is the type of story that graphic novels are made for. Visually compelling and narratively complex. It’s also a book that challenges the conventions and expectations of what the medium can do. Can we have more books like this? Please!’ Gav Reads (Super blogger) Full Review Here.

RTE Radio Interview: Listen Here at 50:16.

‘Replete with understated yet observant social commentary — dressed up in the trappings of black comedy, surreal  pathos and often downbeat drama –The House that Groaned is an exceptional first-time graphic novel. Karrie Fransman is a name to carefully watch in the ever burgeoning U.K. indie graphic novel scene.’Broken Frontier Full Review Here.

‘So all in all it’s a damn fine book; hugely, spectacularly impressive for a debut. But the flaws in it make it more a technical and storytelling success than a really great, engaging, intriguing, fascinating thng.’Richard Burton (Forbidden Planet) Full Review Here.

‘A brave and sophisticated book, The House that Groaned digs deep into the psyche of flat dwellers and what goes on behind their closed doors. It’s exaggerated caricature but it’s stuffed full of social observation. It’s a fantastic read: dramatic, surreal, sophisticated, hilarious and horrific in equal measure.’ Grovel.org.uk. Full Review Here.

‘It is rather ‘adult’ content though and not one to leave around for youngsters to flick through.’ Sarah Broadhurst (Super blogger) Full Review Here.

“The House That Groaned” is an original, well written, and completely enrapturing read that deserves a wide audience.’ Sam Quixote (Amazon Top 50 Reviewer) Full Review Here.

‘It’s also darkly humorous, definitely surreal and very highly recommended.’ Pamflet Full Review Here.

‘It’s a great literary graphic novel that touches upon so many different aspects of life. It is also an utterly beautiful object to hold in your hands and shouts very loudly that physical books aren’t going anywhere.’Dog Ear Discs. Full Review Here.

‘The House The Groaned is a story of fantasy dripped in reality and I recommend you follow the advice of The Midnight Feast Front Woman and gorge yourself on it immediately.’ Graphic Engine Full Review Here.

And one of my favourites…

‘This is a graphic novel I found in an independent bookshop that smells really good. It’s a weird one but I liked it.’ Frankie at Hurry Up Please It’s Time. Found Here.

Now, hurry along and go buy one for yourself. And your nan. And her dog.

Oh all right then, I’ll buy The House That Groaned.

We had magician Olive Meech producing flames and water from the book, We had life-sized cartoon characters walking around (thank you Rachel, Suzie and Jules!) and Emily Grogan from Brighton Bakery produced a beautiful house-shaped cake (so good it made me groan!).

Many thanks also to Adam Zygadlo for his epic animation and Jonathan Plackett for his stunning interactive website www.thehousethatgroaned.com.

You can play with the book, buy the book and meet the neighbours here: http://www.thehousethatgroaned.com/

Comics are treated with so much respect in Belgium which is why the country probably has some of the best comic artists in Europe. We watched huge comic concerts where artists drew along to the music and visited their massive comic exhibitions. Many many thanks to Koen and his brilliant Strip Turnhout team for inviting us and making our stay so wonderful! Here are some photos of our exhibition (with Rachel’s massive wolf heed)…

… and here is a wee article about me in Strip magazine (…a whole magazine about comics! imagine).

I also had the chance to lecture to Johan Stuyck’s students at the fantastic Sint Lukas Comics MA and BA. It was a great chance to meet all the talented students I’ve heard so much about. My comic interns at londonprintstudio were lucky enough to visit that weekend and joined me to meet the students and tell them about their programme. Thanks to Susan Yan Mach for the photos below!

Last Friday I was also incredibly lucky enough to be invited by House of Illustration to a medical illustration masterclass at The Royal College of Surgeons run by Joanna Cameron of the Medical Artists Education Trust. I learnt so much about what medical illustration involves- from digital art, to patient pamphlets (minus the blood and gore!) to facial reconstruction. Apparently the medical illustration students learn more anatomy than medical students! Thanks so much to Joanna and House of Illustration for the opportunity to spend a day learning. Here is some of the dead thing in jars I drew during the class…

It’s really interesting to hear of more artists sitting on the borders of medicine and illustration much like the comic artists, doctors and academics who I met at Ian William’s Graphic Medicine conference. I gave a paper at Graphic Medicine in at Leeds Art Gallery on November 17th titled ‘The Body as a Canvas in Comics: An artists examines the health of the social body in her graphic novel The House That Groaned‘. I’ll upload a wee youtube video of the presentation soon as I did a lot of original art for it. I talked alongside some amazing comic artists: Nicola Steeten, Daryl Cunningham, Paula Knight, Sarah Leavitt (talking about her book Tangels and her mother’s experience of Alzheimers), Andrew Godfery who draws comics about his Cystic Fibrosis, Katie Green whose book ‘Lighter Than My Shadow’ about her battle with anorexia will be published by Cape aaannnd MK Czerwiec whose comic ‘Taking Turns’ really inspired me. It’s a combination of comic memoires and oral history about her experience as a nurse on an AIDS unit in Chicago. It really opened up my eyes to the way we can allow others voices within our comics. Read it now! The talk followed a similar one I gave at the Transitions conference at Birkbeck University of London a few week earlier. Both conferences were a little like spending the day at ‘comic university’ and it was fascinating to listen to lectures from Arabian comics to architectural comics. Inspiring stuff!

In October I was incredibly fortunate to be invited out by the International Comic Festival Komissia, The Goethe- Institute Moscow, NCCA Yekaterinburg and The Centre of Contemporary Art Winzavod to Yekaterinburg for their RESPECT project. I was accompanied by gorgeous comic artists Warren Pleece and Rob Davis, who kept me giggling like a hyena throughout the 8 days, and a bunch of incredibly talented comic artists from Germany, Finland, Belgium, France and of course Russia.

The experience is probably best described as social tourism. We were invited to come to Russia and attempt to get to grips with their issues of racism, nationalism, homophobia and sexism, under a blanket theme of ‘Respect’. We were introduced to a whole side of cultural and political life in and received lectures, interviewed and met with a whole host of Russians from human rights activists, journalists and nuns to nationalists and art activists. With Russia’s continuing censorship and corruption it was fascinating to hear the stories of how ordinary Russian people lived.

In addition to our comics being exhibited we were asked to give a master-class and respond to the whole experience with a 15 page comic booklet for Russian teenagers and young adult that explored and addressed the issues of respect. I will post mine once it’s finished and you can judge it yourself!

I felt honoured to be given the opportunity to try to understand a culture very different to my own, particularly as my grandfather (who died before I was born) was Russian. It felt a little like a homecoming and I felt very much like I’d gained a whole host of Russian siblings! Many, many thanks to Ann Vornokova, Heehoos, Seri Sionov, Wolf Iro and all the other staff, translators, volunteers and artists who made our trip so memorable.