May 1, 2008

What does it take to make it as an independent artist in today’s competitive market? Chicago-based independent cartoonists Ivan Brunetti, John Hankiewicz and Onsmith know. In this panel discussion the trio will discuss the evolution of their art, the inspiration for their work, ingredients for success and offer advice for up-and-coming artists. Comments from staff of Columbia’s Arts Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) and a Q & A follows.

The full podcast will be available soon.

The panelists:

Ivan Brunetti is the creator of the series Schizo, as well as HAW! and HEE!, Misery Loves Comedy, and Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice. He is the editor of An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories (Yale University Press 2006); a second volume of Anthology is due out this fall. He curated The Cartoonist’s Eye, a major exhibit at Columbia College Chicago, where he teaches editorial illustration and comics. Brunetti’s  work has appeared in The Chicago Reader, The New Yorker, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, Mother Jones, Fast Company, The Baffler, The Comics Journal, In These Times, and Scooby-Doo. His comics have been featured in McSweeney's Number 13 as well as Houghton-Mifflin's Best American Comics 2006 and 2007. He also drew a comic-strip sequence for the city of Las Vegas, on the theme of "Thirst," which consists of fifty serialized artworks printed onto banners along Las Vegas Boulevard. The exhibit is on display from February 28, 2008 to February 2009. Brunetti’s work, which has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Swedish and French, can be viewed at www.ivanbrunetti.com 

John Hankiewicz has published several of his own comics and minicomics, including a series, Tepid.  In 2006, he was nominated for an Ignatz award in the category of Outstanding Artists for his book Asthma, a collection of his short comics. His work has also appeared in many anthologies and publications, including the Chicago Reader, Arthur Magazine, Mome, Kramers Ergot, and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons and True Stories. Hankiewicz is also a printmaker who has exhibited in national and local juried exhibitions. His etchings and lithographs have been included in the Loyola Print Biennial, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside National Small Print Exhibition, and the Elmhurst Artists' Guild National Art Premiere.  http://hankiewicz.blogspot.com

Onsmith is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Chicago.  His comics mainly deal with his past growing up in a small factory town in Oklahoma.  Onsmith's work has been featured in The Chicago Reader, The Portland Mercury, The Common Review, Oxford American Magazine, Hotwire Comics, Vice Magazine, Graphic Classics, and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories.  He most recently curated an exhibit of comic art at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design called "Off-Kilter Comics" and has begun showing more of his art and comics in galleries.  http://onsmithcomics.blogspot.com