Independent Publishing Resource Center

Nicole J. Georges is a comic artist, zinester, teacher, and pet portrait artist living in Northern Portland. She is author of the zine “Invincible Summer,” co-founder of the Portland Zine Symposium, and has toured the country extensively with Sister Spit. Nicole’s first full-length graphic novel, Calling Doctor Laura, will be out in 2012 with Houghton Mifflin. She is also an instructor in the IPRC Comics Certificate Program.

Q. How do you describe what you do to people who don’t know what you do?

A. I am a teaching artist and I am finishing up a graphic novel-style memoir. I’ve been teaching with the IPRC since 2000, and currently teach through Writers In The Schools & Young Audiences. I do an autobiographical comic zine called “Invincible Summer”; I help do a zine called “Tell It Like It Tiz,” which documents the time I spend with senior citizens at the Marie Smith Center; I put out a yearly calendar; I just started a podcast called Sagittarian Matters; AND I do pet portraits and commissioned illustrations on the side.

I sell most of these things through my Etsy shop, Spinstersummer.

I plan to put out a “Bad Roommate” zine soon.

Q. You do so many different things — are you really three people? Seriously, how do you find the time?

A. I work all of the time. I have a witness. I just asked my partner for confirmation and she said: “You only work. You literally only work.” There aren’t enough hours in the day. I work on those things so much that I end up being bad at filling out forms and responding promptly to emails and correspondence. Also, I send my Etsy orders out in a week, which makes Etsy people CRAZY because they’re used to people who send things out the next day. Really rebelling over here.

Q. Can you talk about how (or whether) your different creative endeavors feed into the others?

A. “Invincible Summer” and my book (Calling Doctor Laura) are connected. I’ve always done zines, since I was fourteen, so “Invincible Summer” was a natural step for me. I’ve been doing it for sixteen years. I’ve tried to discuss what was going on in my life through the zine, but as time went on I became more cryptic. I had this crazy family story happening in my life as I was putting out the zine, but only hinted at it in the pages, only wrote veiled prose about it. The family story is what would become my full-length graphic memoir. I’ve used some pages from “Invincible Summer” in the book, only edited and in a more comprehensive context if that makes sense.

My calendar also came from “Invincible Summer,” and has since grown into its own thing, even though it retains the name. I think “Invincible Summer” fans sometimes purchase it, but it has crossed into a more crafty, art-collecting crowd.

Q. How long have you been involved with the IPRC, and what types of things has it allowed you to do? Did it push you in any different creative directions?

A. I started volunteering at the IPRC in 2000, and was on staff as the Outreach Coordinator until 2007 or 2008. Working with Rebecca Gilbert at the IPRC helped me to get my teaching sea legs and to put words to the idea that zines offer empowerment through self-expression, and that I could work as a vehicle to get that message across to youth and adults. I have since taken that idea and run with it, expanding into teaching in the comics realm.

I’ve also met some great friends at the IPRC who’ve changed my life. I met my longtime collaborator and friend Greg Means, with whom I do a yearly split comic. Greg was the librarian when I started volunteering at the IPRC. We started drawing comics together and eventually he published the first “Invincible Summer” anthology book for me (which was so excellently kind of him), which helped launch me across the U.S. on a book tour.

I started working with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls after they solicited the IPRC for zine workshops. I’ve been working with them for about ten years.

I started working with the senior citizens at the Marie Smith Center after they solicited the IPRC for a zine workshop, and our workshop there has been happening every Friday for five years. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t working at the IPRC anymore after a time, I just really enjoyed the company of the senior citizens and we grew to be family, so I couldn’t stop going.

Q. Can you share some of your thoughts about self-publishing and why you publish your own work, and also if/why it’s important for people to be able to self-publish?

A. I firmly believe that self-publishing = empowerment. There is no reason for someone to wait around for someone else to publish them. There is no reason for someone to wait around, imagining that they are less of a writer or artist, or not a “Real” writer or artist until they get the validation of a publisher. That is hogwash! You can publish yourself! Walk over to the copy machine, press the button, staple it up, you’re done. You’re a published writer. It’s fine.

The zines I read in high school changed my life. They changed my outlook on mental health, on trauma, on animal rights, on racism, fat positivity, gender, sexuality, and politics. All of those things, just from zines. The people who were writing those zines were close to my age. They wrote in ways that were conversational and raw; they pasted up their ideas in a very punk, cut-and-paste way.

There is No Way that someone else would’ve published 90 percent of the writing that changed my life. It was too raw, it was too choppy and mixed autobiography with politics. No way! If those people hadn’t been part of zine culture, hadn’t photocopied and distributed themselves, their ideas would never have reached me in suburban Kansas. Self-publishing really does make a difference.

Look at the Riot Grrl movement. It was fueled by zine culture; the message came through, unfiltered, via zine. Riot Grrl is over in its initial incarnation, but it’s still relevant. Does anyone really think that women in music are accurately portrayed and covered in the media? Who is writing about girls in punk bands, or girls who are mannish or weirdos who do not fit in with beauty standards? There is still a place for zine culture, for a different voice to come forward and cover the underground stories, music, and ideas of our culture.

Q. What do you like about teaching in the Comics Certificate program?

A. It is such a JOY to teach at the Comics Certificate program. SERIOUSLY! I teach children and rowdy high school students during the day, and there’s never enough time to tell them everything I’d like to. The Comics Certificate Program offers me lots and lots of time (three-hour long classes, three semesters) to spend with students and to examine almost every angle of comics that I’d like. It is also stocked with eager learners who have chosen to be there and are coming to the program with an extensive knowledge of comics. I would make classes four hours long if I could.

Q. What do you think students can get out of the program?

A. First and foremost, I think students are learning things that we all had to figure out the hard way. Any mistakes or lessons I’ve come to on my own, drawings I’ve had to scrap, aha lightbulb-over-the-head caveman moments, I get to verbalize those for students.

Secondly — I think students will find a great community by being a part of the program, both in their class and through meeting program alumni, mentors, and staff. We offer them every opportunity to fully entrench themselves in Portland comics culture.

Thirdly — Unlike a university, when students graduate our program, they are still welcome in the space. They can still use the tools they’ve learned about at the center to create and publish their work.

And fourthly– I’ve heard from former students that it was valuable to have their work critiqued by fellow students and to see how people actually READ their comics. The science of how to tell a story in a way that is understandable for a reader. It’s easy to lose sight of that when you are working on your own. You assume that people will magically understand your artistic vision, but without a thorough examination of comic language and rhythm, you might lose something.

Q. Anything else you’d like to add about the IPRC, your work, or your general thoughts on life?

A. I have a new calendar coming out that you should buy.

I think artists should get paid for their work like anybody else.

I love teaching at the IPRC.

And I wish there were more hours in the day.

Nicole's art greets visitors at the IPRC.

More of Nicole's art on display at the IPRC.

A page from Nicole's upcoming graphic novel,Calling Doctor Laura.

(Nicole was interviewed by Amy Souza, a student in the Comics Certificate Program.)

Our program coordinator A.M. O’Malley recently taught a zine making class to second graders at The Emerson School. The students put their zine making skills to use by sending us some awesome accordion thank you cards!

(click to see close ups)

We love the line "zines are fun to mack"

I apologize for the lack of updates from the past couple of weeks. I have been working on projects and getting into the swing of things with the comics program and my life here. But, all is well! I’ve been doing lots of sketches and diary comics (some of which i’ve been posting on my comics blog), and making comics for the certificate program.

Lynda Barry memory writing exercises, soon to be memory comics!

For the past couple of weeks have been doing memory writing exercises from Lynda Barry’s book What It Is. The exercise basically prompts the writer to choose a word, and write down 10 memories associated with that word (example: train) So then, the writer makes a list, one to ten, and writes down memories associated with train. Then, the writer takes their memory of choice and answers some questions about it. These questions include: Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? What time of year is it? And so on. From there, the answers from the narrative develop the story itself, which starts off with I am. The story is written in 20 minutes.

So, since we have done a few of these over the past couple of weeks, we are now choosing our favorite/most vivid memory and turning it into a 2-4 page comic.

Second Class Critique: Romance comics and experimenting with panel layout

But that’s not all! Today we had our second class critique, where everyone wrote a one page comic about a romantic relationship. Throughout the comic, we were encouraged to explore layout and how creative/experimental layout can promote or hinder storytelling techniques via comics. I struggled with the kind of romantic relationship I wanted to focus on, so as the deadline came closer, I decided to write a fictional tale about a girl who discovers her love for avocados. Here it is:

In this comic, I broke out of my normal nib pen/mono width pen usage, and mainly used brushes and ink. I discovered/overcame my fear of brushes after an assigment we did for last week’s class, where we copied a page from our favorite comic book (I chose Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.) Jillian Tamaki uses brushes a lot in her work, so I experimented with it. While I wasn’t able to replicate her style exactly, I did find that my aesthetic went to a whole new level by using brushes. I’m looking forward to playing with brushes in my work more!

Process and background

After our critique, we discussed processes. Nicole showed us some of her work and how she plans out her comics. We discussed how stories are mapped out, thumbnailing comics (where you draw mockups of your comic to plan it out, some are more detailed, some are not), and the various ways that comic artists plan out their work. After that, we analyzed and discussed backgrounds in comics. We focused on what backgrounds do: what moods do they set? What techniques do artists use? What kinds of backgrounds work? What don’t? We then looked at comics from a diverse range of artists, and noted the kinds of backgrounds they created throughout their work.

Based off of the comics I looked at, I realized that I like it when backgrounds are detailed and have contrast to the characters. One of my pet peeves with comics (although I do have exceptions) are when comic artists will make their backgrounds the same line width as their characters (therefore, lacking contrast between the two). I find it more difficult to decipher what is going on, the characters don’t pop out as much, and the style doesn’t resonate with me.

But, that’s just me. Some people may differ and not like the heavy detail/contrast of backgrounds. I tend to employ such backgrounds in my work because it makes the work more interesting. Or, sometimes, not gonna lie, I get carried away.

That’s all for this week! Watch for next weeks post about the process of developing my memory comic and what will come from next week’s class.

Until next time,

Fiona

For those of you reading these entries for the first time, I’m Fiona, an IPRC comics certificate program student, writing about my experience at the IPRC as a student, volunteer, and newbie to Portland.

Yesterday was the second class of the comics certificate program. It was just Nicole, as it will be until early November.

Craig Thompson Lecture Reflection.

We first discussed our reflections upon Craig Thompson’s talk at Powells last Tuesday. There were multiple perspectives from the class but I’ll give my two cents here:

First and foremost, I was STARSTRUCK. Blankets was the first graphic novel I read after I started making comics. The book was beautifully illustrated, the story was incredible (yet sappy), and half of it takes place in my hometown (Marquette, Michigan) During the lecture, Thompson mainly focused on his newest book, Habibi, which took him about six years to create. He talked about the creative process behind the book, accompanied with a slideshow presentation of drafts, thumbnails, and his illustration process. Throughout the slide show, one could really see process the integration of creativity and research to tell to really develop the story. I felt like I could relate to the combination of the creative process and research, especially after doing my undergraduate thesis as a comic zine. Yet, I found it ambitious at what Thompson did in preparation for Habibi–he spent two years working on thumbnails for it! Mmm, I’m not sure if I am patient enough to do thumbnails for that long. But, good for him!

During his talk, I found myself wondering how he sustained his creative passion for Habibi for six years. So I asked him, and his response was really interesting. He talked about how the characters had a life outside of his head, and that they needed to be on paper. He went on to say: “I don’t want to commit a creative abortion.”

Although the phrasing struck me as weird, I found myself thinking about so many projects I started, or kept inside of myself but never put on paper. Hearing Thompson talk about creating projects despite hating them encouraged me to pursue my own ideas, even when I think they lack potential. You never know what will be a gem later.

For those of you who missed Thompson at Powells (or simply can’t get enough of him), he’ll be hosting a book release and Habibi inspired art exhibit on October 6, 6-10pm at Floating World Comics.

Spontaneous Drawing Exercises.

After that discussion, we did some spontaneous drawing exercises. As a class, we created quanto comics. For those of you unfamiliar, quanto comics are where one person writes a phrase/title, and then someone else has to draw a comic based off of that phrase/title. The title I wrote was, “Aw hell yeah, doggies!”, inspired by my old housemate would always shout that in the hallway. The comic I worked on was titled, “Watch out!…oh, nevermind.” We only had ten minutes to write the comic so I wrote an imaginary story about my sister and I going on a walk, me almost getting hit by a car, and then nothing happening. It was silly. It was quick. I wasn’t super excited about my comic.

Our next drawing exercise was where we drew certain objects. We would draw the object for 3 minues, draw it again in 90 seconds, again in 30 seconds, and lastly for 10 seconds. We did that twice, once with a car, and once with a cat. You can see the car progression below:

Then we drew famous cartoon characters from memory, each for about 5-10 seconds. It reminded me of how out of touch I am with popular culture (especially when everyone was talking about Beevis and Butthead and I didn’t have a clue. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up without cable TV!)

Guess who is who?

Diary Comics.

Lastly, we discussed diary comics, which happens to be a genre of comics I’m more familiar with. We looked at different diary comics, ranging from Gabrielle Bell, Julie Doucet, James Kochalka’s American Elf, and Liz Prince. Nicole showed us some of her work too, which included her most recent issue of Invincible Summer (a diary comic split she did with Clutch), and bits and pieces of her upcoming graphic novel. I really love looking at the work of other comic artists because it gives me ideas as to how people approach certain genres and make it their own. It was really insightful to see the diverse approaches to drawing the every day, and how mundane interactions in our daily lives are communicated in a way that is interesting.

The cover of Julie Doucet's 365 days, a collection of diary comics.

On that note, we discussed our next assignment of drawing a one page diary comic. While talking about composing diary comics, we also discussed composition (both written and visual) and how to create a narrative that really communicates to the reader. We looked at some writing tips from Stephen King (read Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer here.) Even though I’m not a Stephen King fan, his words of wisdom made sense.

I have a habit of starting diary comics and not finishing them (or if I do, I don’t want to share them with anyone… yet.) This week, I want to challenge myself to drawing a few this week, as a way to experiment and see how my work evolves. Also, I’ll actually finish  and show them this time!

Until next time,

-Fiona

Yesterday was the first day of the IPRC Comics Certificate Program. It was pretty exciting! There are 11 of us in the program, all who are partaking for a variety of reasons. Nicole Georges and Jesse Reklaw are going to be our teachers for the first semester. Nicole will be teaching the first half, Jesse the second half. The first half of the class was us talking about our goals in the program, materials we’ll need, and all of the other first day orientation business. We talked a lot about the different kinds of materials you can use, and the projects we’ll be doing this semester. I was surprised (and excited!) that this semester will be a lot more production intensive than I had previously anticipated. I’m really looking forward to playing with new materials and exploring different drawing and storytelling styles through comics!

During the second half of the class, we all wrote a quick, one page comic about a family secret (we were to draw it in 45 minutes, just to give you an idea!) When we were done drawing our comics, we went and learned how to use the photocopier. This would turn into making the IPRC Comics Certificate Program’s FIRST COMIC ZINE!

(FAMILY SECRETS! Cover illustration by Nicole Georges)

It turned out pretty great. My comic was about how my fourth cousin invented the pink grapefruit (true story!) and my relatives were put off by the idea of the pink grapefruit. During the late 19th/early 20th century, yellow grapefruit was the norm, and my family deemed the pink grapefruit as rotten. Here it is:

This project inspired me to do a more polished, true to life version of this family story at some point. I had a hard time accepting I couldn’t work on the comic for more than 45 minutes (What can I say? I’m sort of a perfectionist!) This project taught me not to take everything I do too seriously, and to have fun with it, even if it’s not perfect. It makes the process of exploring and developing my voice more fun.

Next week, expect some new comics and a review of Craig Thompson’s book release event at Powells (for those of you unaware, Thompson’s new book, Habibi, just came out on Tuesday. I just about freaked when I saw the hard copy in person!) For those of you interested in the event, it is next Tuesday, Oct. 27, 7:30pm, Powells Books. Should be great!

Until next time,

-Fiona

Alas, here is my second entry as a comics certificate student. Or should I say, my last entry as a pre-comics certificate program student? The program starts next week, and I’m really excited about it! But, before I go into that, first and foremost, I would like to acknowledge Dylan Williams, one of the comic certificate program teachers, who passed away last weekend. I only had the opportunity to meet Dylan once, and that was actually when I came to the IPRC for the first time to check out the comics certificate program. Dylan was super friendly and helpful. He talked with me for a while about the program itself, gave me a few comic zines, and invited me to sit in on his class later that evening. I was really looking forward to working with him, and those who did have the opportunity to work with him were lucky indeed. RIP Dylan.

Tomorrow is the meet n’ greet with all of the certificate students (including the creative writing and poetry students) I’m pretty excited to meet everyone, and perhaps find some writers to do collaborative work with. On the note of combining writing and comics, here’s a great piece that comic artist Gabrielle Bell did recently where she turned a poem by Sasha Chorny into a comic. I aspire to do similar kinds of work in the next year.

So, comics work: the heat wave is gone, the sky is mostly overcast, therefore, I am a lot more motivated to be drawing and writing. The comics work I have done in the past week has been a mish-mash of sorts. I’m still in the process of getting settled at my place, and I recently started a job as a canvasser, so i’ve been getting lots of inspiration for future comics (expect some comics about canvassing in the near future!) Last week during my volunteer shift at the IPRC, I started a comic inspired by my nostalgia of when I was an exchange student in Sweden, and my desire to return and re-explore the place six years later. Here is what I have done of it so far:

Some of you may be wondering why the drawing is  in blue. True story: comics are drawn twice. A lot of comic artists will first draw out their comics in blue pencil, and then ink over it. The reason for this is because when one scans their work onto a computer, the blue lines won’t show up when it is scanned in grayscale. Therefore, there are a lot less edits that have to be done on the work itself. Pretty cool, hey?

I’ll be back with more next week!

Until next time,

-Fiona

Hello IPRC followers, members, friends, and strangers! I’m Fiona Smith (sometimes I go by fionakilla, or Fiona Avocado… still feelin’ both of those out…) I am a newbie to Portland who moved here a month ago from Michigan to do the IPRC’s Comics and Graphic Novels Certificate Program this year! I’m really excited to be here, am looking forward to the program, and getting to know Portland from an insider perspective. I’m going to be blogging about once a week here about my experiences in the comics certificate program, volunteering at the IPRC, and my life in Portland.

So, the certificate program starts in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile I have been volunteering at the IPRC as a way to get to know the organization better, meet people, and to further inspire my work. I’ve never really been in a space that offers a place to create and share work quite like this, so it’s been pretty exciting. Some of the conversations I’ve had here were insightful and inspiring. Last week, I met a guy from Australia who came to Portland just for the Zine Symposium last month. It was really fantastic to compare and contrast zine culture in Australia versus here. I was supposed to send him off with a few of my zines but got swept up in the craziness of working and getting settled, so I missed my chance. Rats.

As an IPRC volunteer, a lot of what I have been doing involves answering peoples questions, giving tours, doing random odd jobs here and there, and also the opportunity to pursue my own work. It’s been great to be in a space where one can receive feedback and has access to all the self publishing/creative resources one could want! Here’s some of what I’ve worked on since being here. This is a comic I drew upon my 3rd day in town, when I was practically living in coffeehouses because I was sans job/internet. I just finished digitally coloring it:

I’m looking forward to writing about my life as a comics certificate student, and sharing my work as it progresses. If you’re interested in seeing my work, feel free to check out my portfolio and my blog (the latter of which has been dormant for a bit.) As I create more, I’ll be updating both quite frequently.

Will update more soon!

April 30, 2011 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

bedouin books is pleased to announce pamphlet poets series no.4, Jamaica, by Travis Cebula. ISBN 978-0-9832987-1-7 / 10pp / $5.00

“Travis Cebula’s projective poetry opens out of a conversation: ‘and so this is a green island.’ with only this grounding placeholder, there begins an isolation and rythym of touch, sight and sound, at once comprehensive and exploitative of gaps in sense and space. these concise perceptions in the spirit of the process and form of Charles Olson and Robert Creeley, invite us to intimate a complete vision of place and experience.”

(from the back cover)

Travis Cebula currently resides, writes, teaches, and edits in Colorado.  He holds an MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University.  Travis’ poems, photographs, essays, and stories have appeared internationally in various print and on-line journals.  Monkey Puzzle Press released his first solo collection of poetry and photography, Some Exits, in 2009; a new collection of poetry, Under the Sky They Lit Cities, is available now from BlazeVOX Books.

there will be a book release party for Travis Cebula’s Jamaica:
April 30th from 2-4pm at the IPRC, 917 SW Oak Street #218, Portland, OR 97205

Travis Cebula will be joined by local Portland poet, Nicole Zdeb and others who will read from their works. the author will be available for book signing.

Come to the IPRC tonight at 7 PM to hear Luke You of the free, anonymous zine “You” talk about Australian zines, the Sticky Institute, and other exciting things!

See you there!

Tonight the IPRC is pleased to host the opening of Alyson Provax’s solo exhibit including two of her projects, ‘The Time Wasting Experiments’ and ‘Duration.’ The show begins at 6 PM and continues until 8. Hope to see you there!