This has been 'round the twitters and I need to post it here too -- Fes of the Webcomic Beacon podcast is organizing a Blind Date webcomic-making event this year.  This is CANON folks! :) We did the first couple of editions of the webcomic Blind Date event here at ComixTALK (the last one was waaay back in 2004) but I just don't have the time to organize it so I'm pretty dang happy Fes is doing this.

Here's the scoop for this year's event from Webcomic Beaconland:

Please email us by JANUARY 27th, 2012, indicating that you are a Writer, Artist, or if you can do either (this will help in the imbalance of entries). Also include if you have any restrictions (such as you can’t work over a PG rating, etc), or any other sort of things you want us to take into consideration. The idea is that the writer would write the comic (or single panel), and the artist would draw it. In the end you will have to work together. We will announce and post the pairings on the website, and also will like the links to the final products in time for Valentine’s Day!

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I have a dream that my comics will one day live in a world where they will not be judged by the means of their delivery but by the content of their... well, content. 

CHANGES: Paul Southworth handed over the art duties on Not Invented Here to Jeff Zugale. It's different, which I imagine is going to be more interesting and successful than simply aping Southworth.  But it will take awhile for me to get used to it.

ALL AGES: Saturday Morning Webtoons is a new portal to several all ages webcomics

NEW(ISH) STUFF

Andrew Bonia has a new webcomic, On the Bounty with a Dinosaur Comics approach to the art (or I guess I should say Angriest Dog in the World approach). Definitely worth clicking on for some funny dialogue.  Reusing the same art is a tough format though -- good luck to Bonia for as long as he can work with it.

Kevin Church's new webcomic is a Star Trek parody called Boldly Gone about another spaceship Captain living in the shadow of one James T. Kirk.

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There are a lot of books on how to draw better and even a few that specialize in drawing emotions: but they all tend to give the same advice, “make a face in a mirror and draw what you see”. While there’ s no arguing that drawing what you see is the only way to advance as an artist, we’ve all seen enough bad acting to know that “making a face” is no way to create the kind of emotional attachment that’s going to draw a viewer into a narrative or a situation. Artists just aren’t taught the most effective ways to make that face in the mirror.

Acting for Artists: Bringing Better Performances to your Cartoons, Comics and Character Illustrations is a book that’s designed to fill that gap.  So, if your New Year’s resolution was to try something to make your art better, then Acting for Artists is the book for you!

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