Cartoons - the Observer/Cape winners and some worthy entrants
Many of you will already have seen this, since I have already posted it on my personal blog, but this is my entry for the Observer/Jonathan Cape graphic story competition. As it’s hosted on Draw Anyway, it seemed sensible to provide a link for anyone who might be interested to see it. It’s called Seaweed and it’s a PDF.
Tragically :), it didn’t win. You may have already seen the winner in the Observer newspaper on Sunday, but if not, you can see them online on the Guardian blog, or here (they are all PDFs too):
The winner: Away in a Manger by Catherine Brighton
The runner up: The Box by Stuart Kolakovic
The third prize (there wasn’t going to be one, but the judges created it especially for this piece): The Waitress by Finn Dean and Sam Green.
On that Guardian blog page you will also find a gratifying amount of support and debate about the current state of the comic strip, in the comments below (some by me - I couldn’t resist, I am afraid).
The Guardian was late to publish the links to the winning cartoons, and, as a result, the comments on their post discuss abstract issues rather than the strips themselves. If you feel moved to comment on the actual strips, I’d urge you to do so, either below, so the Draw Anyway community can join in, or, for more exposure, on that Guardian blog page.
One unexpected side-effect of the competition, and certainly something that could only happen in this wonderful modern age and the free access to instant publication that blogging offers, is that many of the competition’s unsuccessful entrants have been getting in touch, chatting, admiring each other’s work, and - who knows, perhaps forging new alliances.
Here are the ones I’ve come across. Enjoy a glimpse at the very many different styles of comic strip that are out there. Sure looks like women cartoonists are in the minority - does that mean Catherine Brighton beat the odds to win? I’ll add more if I find out about them - feel free to comment and point me in the right direction.
Edited to add: The original competition page on Random House has now been updated to include some commentary on their favourite entries.
Peter Beare’s tale of a museum attendant’s lunch
Darryl Cunningham tells of life on the dementia ward
Adam Cadwell puts a recent news story into pictures
John Cei Douglas depicts masculine teenage angst
Martin Simpson breaks the mould with a photo story
Antonella Caputo and Nick Miller focus on bar life
Jim Medway makes cats relive our youthclub days, awww
Paul Rainey rails against noisy neighbours
Jessica Freeman’s detailed story of Iceland
Jack Noel presents a rather obnoxious but kinda lovable hamster
One Angry Man - a story of jury duty ( sorry, I coudn’t see the artist’s name)
Marc Ellerby needs to stop falling in love on trains
Nathan Castle’s Dripping Ever From Your Locks
A few frames from Banal Pig’s entry
The Teddy Bears’ Picnic by James Wilks
Neighbourhood by Leonie O’Moore
The Landlady by P. Scott & J. Patterson
Ciaran Cross’ tale of ironic recycling
Chocolate Malted by Laurie J Proud
Gollum Plays Country and Western by Johnny Fighters
What We Know About Falling Apart by Douglas Noble
Soduku City by Chris and Andrew Judge. Visit the page for a great step by step breakdown of their working process. The concept behind the strip is fabulous, too.
The Snake by Francesca Cassavetti
Mum’s Body by Benjamin Dickson
A story of foxes by ‘Victorian Clam’
Just in case you missed it the first time, Seaweed by Myfanwy Tristram, that’s me.
If you prefer to see your strips in Flickr format, you can.
See also my recent post on drawing cartoons.
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Posted: October 16th, 2007 under Inspiration, Links, Me.
Comments: 47
[…] had posted a series of links to the Observer comic strip competition (see yesterday’s post) - Drawanyway has links to a PDF of the winning piece, Away in a Manger by Catherine Brighton, as well as Stuart […]
I’m glad someone has done this.
My entry is here. I irrationally got my hopes up and was bitterly depressed when I realised I hadn’t won, but looking at all these entries I can see why. I really like Paul Rainey’s one.
Aw, Jack: bitterly depressed is something I can well identify with on this one. One thing I hadn’t realised before I started a blog search was just how many excellent entries there were submitted - some, in my humble opinion, as good as or better than the three winners.
But the good thing is that we all have a chance to look at them for ourselves. Maybe small recompense compared to £1,000 - but there y’go!
I’ll add you to my list in the main post.
Jack, my husband has just read the lot of them and voted yours his personal winner, so there!
Thanks for the link to the Team Sputnik effort! Antonella and I have been checking out the other entries all day, and the thing that strikes us most is, there’s a hell of a lot of talented comics artists and writers out there!
Nick, you’re more than welcome. I am enjoying this chance to meet and see the work of other comic artists. You’re right: there is a lot of talent in the UK. Now, hmm, what can we do with it all, that’s the question.
I read the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place comics and then your comic.
IMO, yours was the best, followed by the runner-up (2nd) :)
-A “bloke” from the US.
Ha! Thanks for the vote of confidence; shame you weren’t on the panel.
My entry is here:
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/silus/melaines/series.php?view=archive&chapter=19246#90150
(The last one on the page “Dripping Ever From Your Locks”)
Thanks - I’ve added it to the list. At first I found it depressing that the standard of competition was so high. Now I’m beginning to find it exhilarating. I’d love to know how the judges chose.
BTW, don’t forget to add your strip to the Flickr pool mentioned above, if you feel so inclined.
Thanks for adding it. This is a great idea, hope you get plenty more of the 300. I was thinking what a shame it was that the Observer didn’t post all the entries on their website or something - I imagine it would make quite an impressive anthology. There’s an idea…
Yes! Or suppose the top 50 were displayed at Comica to show the talent out there. Ah well, probably too late now. Plus, it’d be another disappointment if I didn’t make the 50!
Hi Myfanwy,
just saw this posted on bugpowder. Excellent job, this is a wonderful idea. When I got the newspaper on sunday I really wanted to see the other entries, so I’m really glad you’ve done this! I was also curious to know who else had entered! I’ll send a link to my entry as soon as I pop it up on the internet.
Thanks again.
Fantastic - great to hear from you. And another woman, too! Good on you. Yes, I was so curious to see the others, too. I don’t suppose we’ll get more than a handful here, but it’s fascinating nonetheless. Look forward to seeing your work.
Hi,
Yeah, it’s always great to see more women doing this! With regards to the comment about gender being an issue in the competition, I’d be surprised if this was the case. Anyway, there’s been a huge growth in the number of women in the comics industry and there’s always been a good amount making small press comics and zines. And there’s tons doing Manga stuff!
Heres my entry:
http://www.comicspace.com/leonieo/comics.php?action=read&file_id=166657
I don’t work well with short stories, I like time to tell a tale, and I realised after reading the judges comments that I approached this all wrong. By their definition, mine is very much a comic strip not a graphic story!
Thanks Leonie - did I get your name right above? Also, do add it to the Flickr group mentioned if you feel so inclined.
As for the judges’ definition of a strip/story - I’m still in complete confusion over that.
It’s O’Moore, but don’t worry about it! Thanks for adding me, I’ll check out the flickr group too.
All the best!
Phew - corrected, sorry about that.
Excellent job you’re doing. So proud to be first to appear on your list; that’s the advantage of admitting defeat so early!
Ha! You and me both.
This is fun - it has taken my mind off the actual competition itself!
A warm hello fellow creatives.
I’m looking forward to spending time here picking my way through the entries. Fantastic that folk are posting them. I hope everyone who entered gets to post. Nosey, judgemental f*cker that I am.
I’d like to ask ernestly about folks feelings regarding A: The sex of the winning entry. -as wonderful as it is, and B: The links the winning entrant has with the Royal College. Is this a coincidence?, and was the judging panel too upper middle class?, -and does this matter?
At the risk of just sounding bitter, I take nothing away from the winning entry. I’d just like to maybe provoke some debate, -if there’s one to be had that is.
Enough of my shit. Here’s my entry. A cartoon strip masquerading as a graphic story.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1624951004&size=l
Many thanks for this forum Myfanwy!
Wishing you all every success. Don’t ever give up!
Hi Winky! Good to see your addition to our list.
As for your questions, I did not know of any links with the Royal College. However, there was no rule to stipulate that entrants mustn’t be professional illustrators or artists of any kind, only that this particular strip shouldn’t have been published before. I suppose that under those rules, Raymond Briggs or Alan Moore could have won. Which complicates the issue a little bit: I mean, I don’t think it’s possible to judge such a diverse field of entries completely straightforwardly. What are you going to do - give extra points for self-taught artists and penalise the pros? Perhaps this was a failing in the competition: if there had been a theme for the cartoonists to respond to, then one criterion would be how well they did that. By leaving the theme completely open, what are they judging? Technical ability? Ability to tell a story? Ability to do so within the confines of sequential art? Ability to break through those confines? It has to boil down to the personal preferences of the judges (and perhaps what Random House and Jonathan Cape consider marketable - for let us not forget, the stated aim of the competition was to find new graphic arts talent for potential publication. The involvement of the Observer was really only to ensure this quest was publicised, and that they jumped on board with a pompous puff piece is unfortunate but not pertinent to the central aim, I think).
As for your question about the sex of the winner, I am assuming you mean that she is a woman? And perhaps that she was unfairly promoted because they wanted to be seen to select someone from an under-represented sector of the comic arts?
I might be the wrong person to ask about this, since I’m one of that minority myself.:)
[…] have started putting their entries online. Drawanyway.com has linked to a fair number of them in a recent post, and John Cei Douglas has started a Flickr group where entrants can post their submissions now that […]
Winky its depressing that you are commenting on the sex of the person who won(even under the guise of provoking debate) it seems to me that if anyone is taking comic books in new and refreshing directions at the momment its women. Though saying that I did open up the Observer on sunday and think “am I missing something?” but I am a losing entrant, so a little bitter.
Hi Olly, good to hear from you. Have we got a link to your entry above? And if not, would you like to have it added?
As for bitter - I think we all are! Dear me.
Thanks for the replies. Maybe my initial comment about the sex of the winning entrant wasn’t phrased correctly. I think you said it better Myfanwy. -I didn’t mean to sound like a sexist pig, -it was late. I was tired. -Just that the only female graphic writer that seems to have any decent exposure on the shelves is Marjane Satrapi.
Any thoughts on the class of the judges? -The Royal College and St Martins does cater for the apparent elite of the art world. In my paranoid mind I see at least one of the judges having connections with those schools.
Maybe I’m ignorant, but I see it as being a bit like a special upper-middle class club. Maybe like the Masons or something. -Anyone care to enlighten me?
Actually, to be honest, I don’t think class is an issue here at all. In my opinion, The Box was the best, graphically, of the three winners. I’m sure most of us would admit that it is more accomplished in terms of having a profssional polish than most - not all, but most- our own work. And even if the Observer is a middle class enclave (well, it is), I’m sure they could have found a way of patronising a working-class winner, so truly I don’t think you’re onto anything here.
Anyway, as I tried to say above, I’m pretty sure the Observer is only the platform for the contest; Comica was probably pulled in as a worthy sponsor. Posy Simmonds and Nick Hornby must have been approached as suitable judges due to their connection with the publishing house. It’s Random House/Jonathan Cape that instigated it.
I think the problem (if it is a problem) is the ambiguous scope of the competition - as someone has mentioned above, there was nothing to stop professionals at the top of their game from entering the competition. It would have been nice (Biased? Me?) if it was an amateur competition for previously unpublished/self-published/small press only type people, as a way to “find a new talent” rather than praise an existing one. Perhaps. As for the class thing, it’s the Observer, I think you have to expect them to pitch to their reading demographic.
On the other hand, let’s not forget how brilliant it is that a competition like this even exists: a full colour page in a respected national sunday broadsheet, plus all the related column inches. You really do have to give them credit, however clumsily they may have approached it (and even here, I feel most people are being overly harsh), for making the effort in the first place. Hopefully it will be run again next year, and now we’ve all seen the quality of the competition (thanks to Myfanwy) we know that all of us bitter losers have to up our game next time. And that can only be a good thing, can’t it?
I agree with silus above, although different entry rules work for and against different people. Although it was not strictly for small-press creators, i would have guessed that the ’science of being bothered to enter this kind of thing’ would see to it that most of the entrants were.
A few months ago, i read the entry rules for a ‘new manga’ competition being run i think by The Japanese embassy in London (i think) and it was only open to under 35yr olds…why?
Here’s my strip, anyway. Not as good as i thought since seeing all these others!
http://lordhurk.blogspot.com
Yay! We’ve reached 20 with the addition of your strip - thanks for the link.
Also, I think we all felt that way when we saw the others. But each definitely has its own strengths, yours included.
[…] it: A reference to a recent graphic short story competition organised by the Observer led me to this blog entry with links to many of the competition […]
Thanks very much to all who have posted. Was really keen to see the other entries of this competition - this is a great idea. I’ve just posted mine up here:
http://www.acibox.blogspot.com
Any comments here or on the blog are welcome.
Regarding the winners: I still don’t understand the introduction of a third prize for an entry which (is very nice but) fails to meet the brief, ie. to fit one page of the observer. The Waitress is four pages. Did anyone else think this a little odd?
Thanks, Ciaran, good to add yours to the list. To answer your point about the format: as you’ll see above, quite a few entrants went over the one-page format. The rules were ambiguous on that point, saying that the strip should be submitted on, if I recall correctly ‘A4 sheets’, but that it should fit on one page of the Observer. That could be interpreted as multiple pages, with all 4 on the page. I was so confused I emailed for clarification, but was told that anything that could be scaled up to the Observer page was fine.
On the other hand, it’s my opinion that the Waitress was not superior, in its ability to tell a story, to a few of the entrants above. The artwork was good, the story poor (and the lettering, well).
May I just comment that I think your strip is clever and I like that it demands a little attention from the reader to figure out quite what is going on; moreover, that you tell the story without words is quite an achievement. Also it avoids the lettering issue!
You know, I don’t think the format was ambiguous so much as it was open to interpretation.
I think it’s the responsibility of the artist to get these things right, or seek clarification like yourself, but all the information necessary seems to be there to me.
The brief as such was never to be a one page story, but a story that fits on one page. I always like to make my art bigger than the print area so it sizes down and prints well, but I guess you can do anything within the right proportions. And with the size being roundabout equal to the size of four traditionally sized down comics pages, you can construct one large-ish page or have four that fit together.
I was considering doing this for a while, four different A3 pages (I only did two in the end), each with a different day that would size down in to one nice oversized page. Four short strips that come together and cross over to tell one over-arching story. The Waitress seems surprising in that it doesn’t really use the format perhaps, but would just be presenting a four page story on one page in a way that wouldn’t really benefit the layout or the story in any way. I think it would have been nicer to see presented as one page, but made from four different pages stitched together.
It’s all about interpretation of the brief, I reckon.
Hi
I just want to say that I really DON’T think the selected winners were the best entries to this competition. I’m not saying they’re bad strips, but for me, the most enjoyable one I’ve read so far is Adam Cadwell’s ‘Spilt Soda’
http://cadwell.livejournal.com/20685.html
it’s a far more enjoyable strip (yes, STRIP not ‘graphic short story’ (ugh!)) and has a real sense of humanity.
I’d hate to think people will try and emulate the winning entries in the hope they might get an award or publishing contract. The kind of people who judged this competition are, in my opinion, encouraging a bland new comics mainstream they think will appeal to middle brow, middle class fashionistas.
Still, I’m glad the competition took place. Anything that encourages comics activity is a good thing. Especially if it also encourages interesting debate about where comics may be heading.
Hi Rich,
It’s interesting, because I’ve now reached a different conclusion from you (perhaps with the benefit of hindsight): having seen this small section of the field, it now seems inevitable that the first and second places should have gone to those they did - although personally, I think I’d have reversed the places, and I still do not understand the creation of the third place for what I feel is a well-drawn but poorly written strip.
But I agree with much of what you say, not least that artist/illustrators need to follow their own style, not imitate the mainstream. Hopefully, those with ambitions to get published will find that this pays off better in the end, even if the major publishing houses are playing by their own rules. After all, I’d rather stick to developing my own style and create something completely new than imitate other people and feel like a fraud.
Hi,
The main thing I’ve got from this competition (and from looking at everyone else’s strips) is a desire to raise my game! I’m proud of my work on it, but the hindsight tells me I perhaps should have spent a bit of time on colour (despite favouring the look of black and white) and maybe gone for a different kind of story - more adrian tomine/dan clowes than jeffrey brown/liz prince. But in then end, there was no telling who the judges would go for in what is inherently a subjective medium. So bollocks to it!
If anyone wants a look at my entry, here it is:
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m212/art_of_waugh/BLACKCLOUDA4jpeg.jpg
Andy
Hi Andy,
Sorry for the delay in publishing out your comment: for some reason the notification went into my spam folder :(
I shall add your cartoon to the list this evening, but am just flying out of the door at work.
[…] at. It’s a short thing called What We Know About Falling Apart, originally done for the Observer competition, and completely at the last minute at that. Obviously it didn’t win, but there’s a lot […]
Couple more Observer entries I don’t think you have: http://www.blackshapes.com/uploaded_images/deepest_sympathy-746672.gif and http://www.scamp.ie/2007/09/07/sudoku-city/#more-226
Thanks John - much appreciated. Your email went into my spam folder too, hence the delay. Sorry about that!
What a good idea to collate all the entries. some great stuff. Been a bit busy lately but here’s my entry. http://www.flickr.com/photos/15641514@N08/
Hope it’s not too late
Absolutely it’s not too late: thank you. I shall add you to the list right away. Don’t forget to join the Flickr pool if you’d like to (the link is in the post above).
My submission:
http://mindlube.freepgs.com/localhumour.jpg
Great idea to compile all these…
Hello Myfanwy, what a wonderful job you are doing here.
Mine is a moot point but “The Landlady” is a combined effort by P. Scott & J. Patterson. What’s with the ‘er’?
Keep up the good work!
Many Thanks
Thanks John! Just wasn’t sure if that was a name or a, well, what it was!! I’ll make the change.