The weekend just gone, Leeds hosted the 2014 Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival. Myself and my fellow loungers took a trip there on Sunday and had such a good time meeting artist and watching them draw. All the artist we meet were incredibly nice and down to earth. So when I single out Rufus Dayglo as a particularly nice chap, it really says a lot.

Mr Dayglo is best know for his work on the relaunched Tank Girl series, with the original writer Alan Martin. He has worked with publisher DC Vertigo, 2000ad, IDW on titles including The Unwritten, Judge Dredd and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty respectively. Mr Dayglo more recently has teamed up with Sofie Dodgson for a creator owned project titled Solid Gold Death Mask. Once complete it will be collected and released by Ashley Wood’s 3A Publishing.

As well as his website, you can find Rufus Dayglo on deviantArt, twitter and tumblr.

Presenting the very sumptuous work of Amélie Fléchais. A French children’s book illustrator and visual development artist. Graduated in 2011, Ms Fléchais earned a diploma in 2D animation from ESAAT (Ecole Supérieure Arts Appliqués et Textile). That same year she interned at Cartoon Saloon, an Irish animation studio responsible for the Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells. There she produced concept art for the feature film Song of the Sea. A couple years later, Ms Fléchais was asked back to do further visual development and background art for Song of the Sea. More recently Ms Fléchais has shared her talents with Dreamworks and Hornet animation studios.

Additionally, since graduating, Amélie Fléchais has worked on three books, Chemin Perdu (Lost path), Le Petit Loup Rouge (Little Red Wolf) and soon to be released L’homme Montagne (Mountain Man). Both Chemin Perdu and Le Petit Loup Rouge are a feast for the eyes. Each page is carefully created. The illustrations are intricate, textured and rich in colour. Ms Fléchais has an incredible talent for the whimsical and joyous, and her talents really shine through in these books.

You can find more of Amélie Fléchais’ beautiful work on her tumblr, blog, and Facebook.

Laura Müller aka Laumii is a comic artist and illustrator from Berlin, Germany. She has contributed to Undo’s Mega Man Tribute, and Subway to Sally Storybook. Ms Müller is the artist of Nenetl of the Forgotten Spirits. Written by Vera Greentea, the first two volumes were funded by Kickstarter and the third volume is live on Kickstarter now.

The vibrant and very cute illustrations of Laura Müller have a very lively quality to them. Though her style tends to lean towards manga, a western animation influence is very visible. Mr Müller has a varied colouring technique, all very strong, but I think her watercolours and her digital paintings are perticularly pleasing.

You can find more of Laura Müller’s work on DeviantArt and tumblr.

Nicolas Nemiri was born 1975 in Mulhouse, France. He studied at the Ecole Européenne Supérieure de l’Image in Angoulême. After graduating and moving to Japan, at the age of 20 he was making money by doing odd jobs, including illustrating for Japanese fashion magazines.

In 1998 writer Jean David Morvan saw some of Nemiri’s drawings and asked him to work on the comic series Reality show. Nemiri was enthusiastic but decided to turn down Morvan’s offer. However, he later accepted the offer to work on the futuristic series Je suis morte (I died), published by Glénat. This successful collaboration marked the beginning of a long working relationship with Morvan. Creating two more series, Hyper l’hippo (2005) and Annie Zoo (2009).

Nemiri has stated some of his artistic influences include European artist Jean Giraud (Moebius), Hugo Pratt and André Franquin as well as Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo, Hiroaki Samura, Shou Tajima. All of whom you can be seen elements of across his portfolio.

Nicolas Nemiri is currently exhibiting alongside illustrator Jean-Philippe Kalonji at the Galerie Glenat in Paris. It is running throughout January until the 31st.

You can see more of Nemiri’s work on his tumblr and blogspot.

With the release of the anticipated Marvel title Spider-Gwen nearly upon us, I thought now was a great time to feature American Designer and Cartoonist, Robbi Rodriguez.

With just over a decade of making comics, Rodriguez in that time has worked on a host of great titles including his creator-own title Frankie, get your gun, Vertigo’s FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics, Image’s Night Club, 24seven (Vol.2), Hazed and Oni Press titles Tek Jansen, Maintenance and Polly and the Pirates (Vol.2).

Speaking of Polly and the Pirates, I was deeply disappointed to read all the negative comments it has on Amazon. Mostly from readers who preferred the author and original artist, Ted Naifeh’s style. With all respect to Naifeh, these commenters don’t know what they are talking about. I realise that Rodriguez’s work by no means needs defending, but I can not help but put these comments in their place. Yes, art will always be subjective, but Rodriguez brought more energy and better-developed characters to the book. Which, for a swash-buckling pirate book, can only be a good thing.

Interestingly, comparing his artwork from Polly to his recent work with Marvel, really showcases his versatility. Looking at the pages of Polly, you can see a strong European influence in his work, especially from the likes of Pierre Alary and Denis Bodart. His Marvel work has a rougher more edgy feel to it, in a similar vain to artist like Paul Pope and Jeff Stokely. Then there is his personal work where he really goes to town and experiments with his style, medium, and incorporating more graphic design elements.

Check out more of Robbi Rodriguez’s work on his website and DeviantArt page. Also don’t forget to pick up a copy of Spider-Gwen #1 when it hits the comic stands on February 25th.

Kim Jung Gi is a Korean artist based in Goyang-Si, South Korea. He studied 3 years at the Dong-Eui university of Busan, and majored in Art and design. Following his studies, Kim served 2 years mandatory military service. This experience allowed him to get up close to a multitude of weapons, which he memorised and draws upon as reference.

Kim has worked on multiple comic books, his first in 2003 was called Funny Funny, published in Young Jump. He has also illustrated 6 volumes of Tiger the Long Tail (TLT) written by Seung-jin Park. More recently Kim collaborated with Jean-David Morvan on comic book Spy Games, published by les Editions Glénat. Currently available in French with the possibility of it being released in other languages soon.

Not contempt with keeping busy producing comics and a very popular sketchbooks series, Kim teaches at, and manages an art school, AniChanga.

Though Kim Jung Gi does have a distinctive manga style as a middle ground, he also swings from very realistic to a more simplified and exaggerated style. Another important part of Kim’s work is his ability to work completely without prior sketches or a photographic reference. He has mastered the ability to visualize the drawing clearly before making a single mark on the paper.

“I observe things all the time. I don’t take references while I’m drawing, but I’m always collecting visual resources. I observe them carefully on daily basis, almost habitually. I study images of all sorts and genres.”

Watch an excelent video of him demonstrating this ability here.

You can also find more of Kim Jung Gi’s work here, here and here.

Croatian illustrators Tonči Zonjić (pronouced TAWN-chih ZAWN-yitch) has been called “a master of cinematic comics”, which, I am inclined to agree with.

Zonjić was born in 1986, originally studied Math at the Natural Sciences High School, with the intentions of going into Computer Programming. Then one fateful day the wonderful word of art took hold of him. Originally Zonjić studied Graphic Design, but found it was not a good fit for him due to a desire to draw more, so after a year he switched gears and joined the Fine Arts Academy to study Animation. Though happier there, the course did not sustain him and Zonjić dropped out after two years to become a freelance illustrator.

During his time as a freelancer Zonjić worked on storyboards, advertisements, book covers, and had a weekly newspaper slot drawing portraits. He dipped his feet into comic via Darko Macan’s fanzine Q strip.

Working as a freelancer, and having the chance to grow as a comic artist through shorter strips, Zonjić became very comfortable handling all parts of the comic process from story to pencils, inks, color and letters. So when he entered the American comic world with Marvel’s The Immortal Iron Fist series by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, he was already exhibiting confident clear storytelling. Since then he has worked on both Marvel and DC titles, Mike Allred’s Madman, Mike Mignola’s Lobster Johnson and Ales Kot’s Zero.

2011 saw the release of his collaboration with writer Nathan Edmondson, Who Is Jake Ellis? The spy thriller, entirely drawn and coloured by Zonjić, really allows him to explore a more cinematic approach to storytelling. Using colour heavily to help differentiate scenes, reminiscent of 100 Bullets. In the follow-up, Where is Jake Ellis? Zonjić just blows it out of the water. Everything is tightened, from the design and layouts to the pacing, and showing much more confident as a colourist. With the fifth and final issue of Where is Jake Ellis? yet to be released with no annonuced release date, the complete trade paperback however, is set for release in July 2015.

Other than picking up the Jake Ellis comics, which you really should do, you can also see more of Tonči Zonjić’s work on his website and blog.

There is no shortage of “must read webcomics” lists, both The Mary Sue and io9 have excellent lists. However, sometimes too much of a good thing is…actually a good thing!

This list is based on webcomics that I have enjoyed or am currently enjoying. Undoubtedly there is always going to be some crossover with the many other lists out there, which is usually a good indication that you should read it already. With that said, I have also included some webcomics that don’t often make these types of lists. Seasoned Loungers may recognise quite a few of the names, as many illustrators on the list have been featured previously.

In no particular order, here is the Illustrator’s Lounge’s list of 15 Webcomics You Really Should Read:

1. His Face All Red
Emily Carroll regularly puts out short webcomics, with her most recent being the creepy horror, All Along the Wall. One of my favourites, however, still has to be His Face All Red, which was released in 2010. Last year Emily Carroll published a collection of five of her most chilling tales in a the book, Through the Woods.

2. Sarah and the Seed
Ryan Andrews is another illustrator who has released multiple short webcomics. It is very hard to choose a favourite, I settled on Sarah and the Seed, but Our Bloodstained Roof is definitely a close second.

3. Spera Comic
The fantasy world of Spera, created and written by Josh Tierney invites artists from around the world to collaborate to each tell a small part of a greater story. The story so far has featured over 40 artist including Afu Chan and Timothy Weaver. The ongoing main Spera story has been collected into hardcover books, with three volumes currently released.

4. Tiny Kitten Teeth
The Tiny Kitten Teeth is a beautiful hand painted comic by Becky Dreistadt & Frank Gibson. It features a charismatic cat named Mewsli, which we follow in a world of vibrant and surreal adventures.

5. Nimona
Nimona is the fantastic medieval tale of the villainous Lord Ballister Blackheart and his spunky sidekick, Nimona. Created by Noelle Stevenson, who is currently writing for the Lumberjanes comic and Wander Over Yonder animation. You can read the first three chapters online, and read the story in its entirety in the HarperTeen collected verion.

6. Delilah Dirk
The stunning artwork of Tony Cliff really brings the characters of Delilah Dirk and her sidekick, Selim, to life as they travel around early 19th century Constantinople. You can read the first two volumes online now, which concludes in the First Second published book, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. Tony Cliff is currently working on the follow-up wich is set to an even bigger visual feast.

7. Skull Chaser
Jake Parker is no stranger to delightful children-friendly comics, as proven with his contributions to the Flight Anthologies and his character, Missile Mouse. Skull Chaser marks Jake Parker’s first webcomic, and with issue one already under his belt, it is shaping up to be an action-packed sci-fi tale.

8. As the Crow Flies
As the Crow Flies is the touching tale by Melanie Gillman. Illustrated entirely with colour pencils, it began life in 2012 and is still ongoing, with updates usually falling on Mondays and Fridays.

9. Sin Titulo
Cameron Stewart is the current co-writer of Batgirl and artist of Fight Club 2 comics, but way back in 2007 he started a compelling mystery webcomic called Sin Titulo. It was completed in 2012, and compiled into a book and published by Dark Horse in 2013.

10. Battlepug
Winner of the Eisner, Harvey and Shel Dorf Award for best webcomic, Battlepug is Mike Norton’s Conan-inspired oddball action-adventure. Originally created to back up the creation of Norton’s t-shirt design, the webcomic spawned a life of it’s own, and has recently concluded volume 4. Our hero, The Warrior, fueled by revenge rides around on a gigantic talking pug battling monsters and mages. Exactly, what’s not to love.

11. Axe Cop
I do believe that most people have heard of the incredibly popular Axe cop webcomic. Its success has birthed toys, t-shirts, card games and even a TV Show on Fox. Created and drawn by Ethan Nicolle, it is based on the musings of his 5-year-old brother, Malachai.

12. Table Titans
Updated every Thursdays, Kurtz started Table Titans in 2014 as a spinoff of PvP. The creative team consists of Scott Kurtz writing and illustrating, the incredible Steve Hamaker (of Bone fame) as colourist, and Brian Hurtt doing the breakdowns.

13. The Abominable Charles Christopher
Starting way back in 2007, The Abominable Charles Christopher is sensitively illustrated by Karl Kerschl. It follows our protagonist, a sasquatch called Charles Christopher, and the lives of his forest friends. The story so far has also been collected in two volume, both in soft cover and strokable faux suede hardcover, which you can find in Karl Kerschl’s store.

14. Twilight Monk
I have been a fan of Trent Kaniuga ever since his Creed days, so it is no surprise that I am loving his current series Twilight Monk. It started in 2010, with the intentions of being a video game, it has so far concluded two books. Kaniuga is constantly expanding the Twilight Monk universe and is now working on an illustrated novel called The Man and The Moonkin.

15. Green Monk
From one monk to another, Green Monk concludes our lists. Starting late last year, the bi-weekly webcomic follows the adventures of the lone monk Alexey armed with a magical grass-blade. It is the continuation of Brandon Dayton graphic novel, of the same name. The webcomic artwork and storytelling is a big step up from the original graphic novel, which makes for some stunning illustration.

A Savannah, Georgia local, Dave Valeza graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a masters in Sequential Art. He worked as a visual development and layouts artist on the touching graphic novel An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, written by Andrew Rostan and illustrated by Kate Kasenow. Valeza has also contributed to comics Love Machines and Anything That Loves Anthology.

I was first attracted to his work via his Tumblr, where he posts up daily observational drawings. Usually sat in a coffee shop, Valeza produces quick brush pen sketches of people, capturing their personality and style with limited strokes. Then in turn includes his observations into his comics, adding the small details that bring his characters to life.

You can find more of Dave Valeza’s work on his website.

If there is a comic on the shelf right now not coloured by Jordie Bellaire, I have not seen it. This weekend, during a quick comic shop, I saw her name on Moon Knight, Convergence Shazam, The Kitchen, Injection and probably a bunch more I did not spot. Jordie Bellaire has been a familiar fixture of our comic shop shelves for much of the last two years. So prolific and wonderful is Ballaire, that last year the industry showed their appriciation in the form of an Eisner award. Which in 22 years only 10 other colourist have earned, Dave Stewart and Chris Ware claiming over half of the awards between them.

Bellaire has worked with close to all of the big comic publisher on many great titles such as, Pretty Deadly, The Manhattan Projects, Nowhere Men, Zero, and Hawkeye. Along the way, enhansing the pages of many of my favourite current comic artist including Tom Fowler, Chris Samnee, Ramon Perez, Sean Murphy, Becky Cloonan and Emma Rios.

Perhaps you have heard of Colorist Appreciation Day, well, you can thank Bellaire for that too!

I started collecting comics in a bygone time called the 90s. Back then there was one stamp on the covers of comic far more important than the Comic Code Authority, which was Liquid!. Many of my favourite titles had it and thanks to their distinct logo, one could not miss it. It was the first time I took a real interest in colourist and that apprieciation has grown ever since. I thought at the time this was a shared feeling, however, jump forward 20 years and it seems like the industy and perhaps its audience have not shown colourist the same recognition. In a tumblr post by titled, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more” directed at an unnamed fan convention, Bellaire laid it out bare, stating the importanace of all professionals that work in comics, underlining the vital role that colourist play. The post gained the attention that the subject deserved and resulted in fans calling for a #ColoristAppreciationDay on Twitter and opened a discussion that continues today.

To see more of Jordie Bellaire’s work, simply go to your comic shop and pick a comic up from the shelf, chances are she coloured it. You can also check out her tumblr and twitter.

Valentin Seiche is a French cartoonist and comic book creator. Born in 1987, young Seiche basked himself in Super Nintendo, Japanese culture and Japanese art. A combination that would heavily influence the direction of his art style.

Seiche has worked with Ankama Editions, the publishing arm of French video games company Ankama. He along with Laurent Box, worked on the fantasy adventure book, Anguille & Baldaquin. Valentin Seiche also added his artistry to the sprawling Spera epic, contributing a chapter in the award-nominated Spera: Ascension of the Starless. Last year he partnered with Swedish comic and art publishers, Peow Studio, for a mini-comic titled Wrecked Ship. The sequel of which is due to be released this year.

To find out what else Valentin Seiche is working on, check out his tumblr, Approaching The Air Fortress. You can also see some of his older work on his Blogspot.

Jerzy Drozd, the cartoonist and teaching artist, not the “creative bass guitar company with unique design” is the guiding force behind possibly my favourite podcast, Lean Into Art (LIA). He, along with co-host Rob Stenzinger, have consistently thought-provoking topics and discussion. Drozd is also responsible for Comics Are Great!, which among many things, runs regular workshops and events for children and teenagers. With the aim of encouraging them to read more and, of course, learn how to make comics.

As his tagline suggests, Drozd is not only a teaching artist, he spends much of his time as a professional cartoonist. He has worked on graphic novels, The Front: Rebirth an all-ages action/adventure, and most recently, The Warren Commission Report: A Graphic Investigation into the Kennedy Assassination, which the title helpfully removes the need for a synopsis. It was written by Dan Mishkin and Drozd collaborated with Illustrator Ernie Colón on the artwork.

Drozd has also started a webcomic called Boulder and Fleet. A new page is released each week and it centers around a bear and a bird, with a host of other animals, whom go on 80s-cartoon-inspired adventures. There’s lots of lasers. Exactly. I will give you a minute to go and bookmark it.

You can find all of Jerzy Drozd’s podcasts on his YouTube channel and keep up-to-date with all of his endeavours on his website.

Daniel S. DeCarlo was an illustrator and comics artist best know for his work with Archie Comics. DeCarlo grew up in a poor neighbourhood of New Rochelle, New York but dreamed of becoming an illustrator like his hero, Norman Rockwell. Young DeCarlo attended the New Rochelle High School and upon graduating, he actually phoned Rockwell to discuss his university options. Inevitably, DeCarlo enrolled in the same university that Rockwell’s once attended, the Manhattan’s Art Students League.

After three years at art school, in 1941 DeCarlo was drafted for World War II. Stationed in Great Britain, he originally served in the 8th Air Force worked. However, once his artistic skills were quickly noticed and he was assigned to the drafting department. There he designed posters and advertisements, as well as drawing the weekly military comic strip. DeCarlo also painted cartoon mascots on the nosecones of fighter planes. Whilst overseas he went on a blind date with a Belgium girl called Josette Dumont. She would later become his wife and a source of inspiration.

After the war, the couple returned to New York. Timely Comics had advertised a call for artist. Responding to the advertisement, DeCarlo was invited to meet Timely’s editor-in-chief, Stan Lee. Lee hired DeCarlo and assigned him to the teen-humour series Jeanie. Common for the time, DeCarlo’s work on Jeanie was uncredited. Under the employment of Timely he got his big break when he was reassigned to Millie the Model. Starting in 1949, DeCarlo wrote and drew the romantic (mis)adventures of Millie Collins for a whole decade. Transforming a poorly performing title into a huge success.

During the comic industry’s falter mid-1950’s, DeCarlo was forced to give up his full-time position at Timely and become freelance. This did, however, present some good opportunities. He drew for magazines The Saturday Evening Post and Argosy. He continued working for Timely on a freelance basis and in 1960 partnered with Stan Lee again to create a newspaper comic strip, “Willie Lumpkin the Mailman”. Interesting side note, Willie Lumpkin actually had a cameo in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, played by none other than, Stan Lee.

During this time DeCarlo came up with a character, Josie, of Josie and the Pussycats fame. He was inspired by his wife’s cat costume for a fancy dress party, and subsequently naming the character after her. However, after approaching and being rejected by a couple of publishers he decided to shelve the idea.

In 1951 DeCarlo starting freelancing for the company for which his name would become synonymous with, Archie Comics. His first published work was issue 4 of Betty and Veronica. He made a conscious effort to keep the characters up to date with fashions, he added the ponytail on Betty and was the artist who gave the Archie girls their simple but distinctive lip line. By the mid-1960s DeCarlo was drawing the covers of all Archie titles, his work became the Archie house style. In 1969 Betty and Veronica had become Archie’s best-selling title. DeCarlo introduced many new characters to the Archie universe. Cheryl Blossom was first featured in Betty and Veronica #320. He also created Sabrina the Teenage Witch along with writer George Gladir.

You remember that idea he shelved? Well, when Archie Comics heard about it, they loved it. In December 1, 1962 Josie was introduced inside the pages of Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #23. Quickly publishing her own title, She’s Josie, in February 1, 1963. The comic went through a few names changes until finally in December 1969 arriving at the one we are all most familiar with, Josie and the Pussycats. The original trio actually consisted of Josie, Melody and Pepper. Valerie Brown was only introduced at the same time as the name change, replacing Pepper. The name change also saw Josie’s boyfriend, Albert, replaced with dreamy Alan M.

Even with all of the success and joy that Josie gave to DeCarlo, it is sad to know that it was also the catalyst to him leaving Archie Comics. In 2001 at the announcement of the Josie and the Pussycats film, DeCarlo took Archie Comics to court for greater credit and compensation of his creations. There was a lot of back and forth, with Archie Comics claiming they had in fact commissioned DeCarlo to create Josie, making her “work for hire”. Which, if true, would strip DeCarlo of any creator rights to her under copyright law. The Judge ruled in favour of Archie Comics saying DeCarlo had waited too long to assert any rights to Josie, but also dismissed Archie’s counterclaims. So after 43 years, Dan DeCarlo and Archie Comics parted ways.

It should come as no surprise that DeCarlo was still in high demand. He continued working for publishers including DC on a Harley Quinn title and Bongo Comics for The Simpson’s comic. Just a year before the court case, DeCarlo won the National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book for Betty & Veronica. That award along with a Shazam Award nomination stand as recognition to his outstanding contribution to the comic industry and highlights the tireless work he put into it.

You can find Dan DeCarlo’s work across the web, a good source is Comic Art Fan, but I strongly recommend picking up one of his pin-up books Innocence & Seduction Art of Dan DeCarlo and Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo.

As a little bonus treat for you all, check out artist Rich Koslowski inking Dan DeCarlo pencils.

Olivia Huynh is an animator and illustrator currently based in San Francisco. In 2013 She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in Animation (with honors). Even before graduating Huynh freelanced at NASA and The Daily Beast. Her student film, Borrowed Light, was official selection in multiple festivals such as Animation Block Party, New Urbanism Film Festival, Beloit International Film Festival and went on to win the Dark Sky Defender Award (2013), Best 2D Animation & Audience Favorite at Jalloo Festival (2013) and Best Student Film at NW Animation Festival (2014).

After graduating Huynh continued freelancing for the likes of FOX ADHD and New York University. She even taught an introductory 2D Animation course at MICA, one year after becoming alumna. Currently, Olivia Huynh’s official job title is “Doodler”. She is part of the Google Doodle team, providing us all those excellent animation on Google’s homepage.

Huynh’s narrative-driven artwork are full of charm. Whether animated or not, you are absorbed into her scenes. She often uses flat fluid shapes to create her humorous characters. When working on backgrounds, however, they are full of details, depth and atmosphere. For someone who claims to be not very good with colour, she certainly hides it well. All of Huynh’s colour choices are rich, striking and enhance the mood perfectly.

Check out Olivia Huynh’s website and Tumblr to see more of her work.

Born in Pisa, Italy, Gianni Alfonso Pacinotti (Gipi) is a cartoonist, filmmaker, and author. He started his journey into illustration through publishing and advertising. He was almost 30 when he decided to start creating comics. His work appeared in magazines such as Cuore, Il Clandestino, Il Manifesto, Lo Straniero, and La Straniero.

I only discovered the work of Gipi about a year ago, but the time between finding his work, and falling in love with it, is virtually non-existent. His artwork is energetic, with a free-form technique that permits for mistakes. Using hog brushes and watercolour to create backgrounds, and racing around the page with a pen to create characters. Yet, always with clear intentions, which the end result attests to.

I decided to get my feet wet with his graphic novel Appunti per una Storia di Guerra (Notes for a War Story). Originally published in 2004 by Coconino Press, a year later it was published in France by Actes Sud, and in 2007 was reprinted in English by First Second. That turned out to be a superb place to start, I did not know it then, but Appunti per una Storia di Guerra won the 2005 Goscinny Prize for Best Script and was proclaimed Best Book at Angoulême in 2006.

Gipi has a total of five graphic novels under his belt, the remaining four being Garage Band, LMVDM – La mia vita disegnata male (My Life Badly Drawn), unastoria and Gli Innocenti (The Innocents). The latter earning him both an Eisner Award nomination and a Max & Moritz Prize.

To find out more about Gipi, you can read his Words Without Borders interview, you can watch him work in this lovely interview by Massimo Colella, and lastly follow him on Facebook.

Michael Cho is an illustrator, comic artist and “occasional” writer. Born in Seoul, South Korea, he relocated to Canada at 6 years old. With an interest in illustration from a very early age, Cho drew all the time on whatever he could find. He attended and graduated from Ontario College of Art (and Design). After which he started his freelancing career.

Cho divides his time between editorial work, making comics for clients and making comics for himself. Some of his clients include The New York Times, National Post, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Random House, Penguin Classics, and comic giants Marvel and DC Comics. His hard work has earned him Silver Canadian National Magazine Award, a Joe Shuster nomination and a story included in The Best American Comics 2010.

In 2013, Drawn and Quarterly published a book of Cho’s hometown Toronto drawing called, Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes. More recently, saw the release of Cho’s debut graphic novel, Shoplifter, a New York Times BestSeller about “a young woman’s search for happiness and self-fulfillment in the big city”. Published by Pantheon Books, Shoplifter in esteemed company, alongside the likes of Maus, Persepolis and Habibi.

Cho’s work is drawn with a combination of digital, watercolour, goauche and ink and makes good use of a limited pallet. His comic illustrations are made up of two colours and even his commissioned work, more often than not, stays within four colours. The limitation creates contrast and guides your eyes instantly to the important element on the page. Also, using one colour for a crowd and another for a protagonist creates a wonderful divide, highlighting uniqueness or isolation. Something Cho uses to great effect for Shoplifter.

Find more of Michael Cho’s work on his website and be sure to follow him on Twitter.