Hi all,

I’ve been getting some meaningful looks as well as actual questions about next year’s Leek & Sushi. I’m sorry to say that due to me having less Time, Energy and Attention to spend on ITCH, there will only be a very small Leek & Sushi anthology next year. I’ve been in touch with the people I would like to include, and I’m not taking submissions for it. I know there are many many more really good short comics I could include, but I just don’t have the bandwith this year for a big book.

If you have a short manga without a home now, why not get in touch with, for instance, Non Repro magazine? Or publish it online (after the prize giving, of course!) or team up with others to make your own anthology?

Go forth and be awesome!

You can pre-order the new Leek & Sushi book Manga Cupcakes from today. If you do, you’ll get it before the MCM Expo, where it’s officially launched. Get it before anyone else! Brag to your friends! Yush.

The Art contest @ MCM Midlands Expo was judged by members of Inspired comics and Willie Hewes of Itch publishing. We were impressed with many of the entries, and it was hard job again to pick just four winners. We have only four prizes to give away, but for each category, we also picked runners up, art we felt deserved special mention.

PRE-MADE:

This category is for those of you who made drawings at home, and brought them in. We did not get very many entries in this category, so next year, don’t forget to bring a drawing in for a chance to win prizes.

Under 16:
WINNER:

Jessica Parry for this beautiful soft pencil drawing. The judges were particularly impressed with the detail in the eyes of the characters and the very soft textures. Well done, some Letraset goodies will be coming your way soon!

RUNNER-UPS

Beatrice Robbins, for these 3 very bold and cute characters. The expressions are great and a good choice of markers for colouring.

Orlaith Baker, for this great digital drawing. It has a great overall atmosphere and interesting positioning on the page giving it a feeling of movement.

Over 16:
WINNER

Tyler Wilson for this bold digital piece. The lighting is interesting and makes the character really stand out from the background. You too win some arts materials from Letraset.

RUNNER-UP

Ashley Mountford, for this interesting drawing of 2 characters interacting. The shadows are bold and the characters have subtle expressions.

ARTISTS ALLEY:

This is the category for all those who sat down and drew something cool on the spot. The Artists Alley was busy all day, so we had a lot of great stuff to choose from, and it was hard to pick the winners.

Under 16:
WINNER

Isabel Grainger drew a pretty blue haired character. The judges agreed that the bright colouring and bold shadows made it really stand out. Congratulations, Letraset will send you your goodies soon!

RUNNER-UPS

Liz/Kyle Crompton for these 3 very different characters. Judges particularly loved the expression of the red haired character.

Xantia Alloop for this pencil and pen drawing. We really loved the depth given by the background and the overall mood of the drawing. Gloomy, but very nicely done.

16 and over:

WINNER

Fiona Robertson for this lovely Alice picture. The markers were used well to create soft lighting and the pose is great. We also loved the very dopey-looking Cheshire Cat. You win… some goodies from Letraset!

RUNNERS-UP

Emily McGorman has a bold and distinctive style. We really loved the skill with the markers and the thick and thin line weights used.

Bethany Carless-Turland for this great stylised image. The lighting is bold and the addition of the hand makes the image more interesting.

The good people at Letraset will send the prizes to the winners of each category, Jessica Parry, Tyler Wilson, Isabel Grainger and Fiona Robertson, soon.

To everyone who was commended: well done, we love your stuff! If we can see more of your work anywhere online, why not leave a comment to point us to it?

Well done and thank you to everyone who entered the competition. There were many more excellent pictures, but we can only put so many up on the website. We hope you had fun, and if you didn’t win, please try again!

New book coming up!

The Pariah’s Urn is a fantasy adventure with arcane magic and scoundrellous thieves. It’s currently in production, and it’s hard to tell you anything about when it might be out, but I didn’t think it was too early to let you have a peek at YdAo‘s great-looking art and solid fantasy world.

Check it out: The Pariah’s Urn.

1. I understand that some of you are really stressing about the deadline, and the resizing and formatting, and how to get it all sorted in time. I don’t want to put off deciding on the selection for the book much longer, but of course I want you all to have an opportunity to submit your entry.

Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll extend the deadline one more time, to midnight on the 25th of November.

If you’re really stuck on resizing, or you don’t have time to do it, at least send in the form with your details so I know yours is on the way.

The form:

Your name as you want it in the book: __________
Name of your entry: _______________
Number of pages: __________________
Your e-mail: _________________
A phone number in case I need it: _______________

2. The embassy has decided not to announce the winners until February. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth was heard. However:

You can be part of the book whether you are a winner or not, because in either case your entry is still yours to publish or do with as you please. You just can’t publish it before the prize ceremony is held, but that’s not a problem as Leek & Sushi 2 will not come out until after that, anyway. So, really, it doesn’t change anything as far as the anthology goes.

3. I will hopefully be properly plugged back in to the ‘net sooner than I feared. Whew. I’ve missed yooooo! XD

ITCH is extremely proud to present: Super Jax, a stand-alone super hero comic by Karen Yumi Lusted (famous for Final Blossom, Leek and Sushi and the art book Secret Colours).

Super Jax was available at the MCM Expo, and has prompted people to say nice things like:

“I got Super Jax – really enjoyed it, it was really funny and had a good ending My only issue is that there won’t be any more ;_;” – Morag Lewis

“I got Super Jax :3 I thought it was really good! I enjoyed it a lot and it’s definitely one to re-read!” – Cowgirl Em

Read all about it: click here.

An interesting panel discussion on Western manga and it’s chances at commercial success took place at the Anime Expo 2009 in the US. Read this report: 7 Reasons Why OEL Manga Falters in the U.S. and come back for some thoughts from me.

The discussion covers a lot of ground and stirs up a lot of thought. I’ll just focus on one for this post. Reading this really brought home to me that Japanese manga and Western manga cannot go toe to toe, for economic reasons if not aesthetic ones.

Manga fans may complain that Western manga is of lower quality, but even if it was just as good as Japanese manga, and exactly the same as Japanese manga, it would still be far less profitable for a publisher to produce its own home grown manga than to import from Japan.

It’s no surprise there’s not a lot of publishers looking for original Western manga. Importing Japanese manga is so much cheaper, and there is so much more of it, that it doesn’t make much sense to take the risk.

Western manga-ka cannot play the same game as the Japanese and win.

For Western manga to be successful it has to be different. It has to have its own appeal and its own audience. Slavish copying, of style, subject matter and storytelling, is doing something the Japanese do better – or at least faster and cheaper – and it’s a losing proposition.

I believe Western manga has one very important advantage however, something you might call the this was made by someone like me effect. However much some readers may be in love with Japan, there’s still no place like home.

Recognisable locations, real stories about the drama in English (or US) schools, the dilemmas and doubts faced by people in this culture – these are the things that make Western manga worth reading. Of course, not all manga fans may be interested in that. But given a fair wind, we may well find that people are interested who would not read any other manga.

Finding these people and getting them to read comics may not be easy, but I believe they are the key to a healthy market for Western manga.

For a lengthy but very interesting discussion on this subject, check this thread on Sweatdrop forum, the UK manga hub.

Is it true that every time you copy someone else’s work, God kills a kitten?

There’s a bit of storm on the internet at the moment, about digital artist “Mijn Schatje”, who is making some money selling digital traces of other people’s photos of Ball Jointed Dolls.

You can catch up on Radiotrash.org and see all the examples. The image on the right is only a taste. Mijn Schatje copies the faces of these dolls and uses them as the basis and centrepiece of her illustrations. (Image source: Radiotrash)

To me, this is pretty clear cut. Mijn Schatje is ripping off the photographers and arguably, she’s also ripping off the artists who designed, created, and painted the dolls (and that may be several people for any one doll). Doll painters, photographers and designers are, understandably, not happy about this.

At the moment, Mijn Schatje doesn’t seem to get it. She says she uses the dolls as reference, but denies she traces photographs, and does not seem to think there’s anything wrong with what she’s doing.

The point I really want to make is not so much about Mijn Schatje, but about the confusion that exists, and not just in her mind, about referencing and copying. Some of the discussion about Mijn Schatje misses the point in my opinion.

It’s not about tracing or not tracing. It’s about inspiration versus wholesale appropriation.

Tracing photographs can be a perfectly valid way to create artwork. Some portraitists work this way. However, and this is the key, they trace photographs they made themselves. Photography is an art. Choosing the right framing, lighting, angle, etc. are creative decisions, and if you copy someone else’s photo, you’re stealing their ideas.

I’ve also seen cases where an artist, after getting into trouble for plagiarism, says: “but I didn’t trace it so I thought it was OK.” No, it’s not OK, because it’s not about whether you trace or not, it’s about whether you steal.

Referencing is where you take, for instance, a pose, or a particular panel composition, or turn of phrase, or clothing style, and use it in a new situation. However, if you use the pose, clothing, AND panel composition of your source, you’re taking most of what they created and calling it yours. You can’t do that.

That’s why Mijn Schatje is out of line. She uses images that are identical not just in features, but in angle, lighting and make-up to the original photographs. As Becky Head (Kallisti) says

As [the Dolls'] luminous faces are the central theme to 99% of her gallery work, it seems a bit disingenuous to claim them as products of her own imagination.

The art is all about the face, and she didn’t create the face. And that’s why she’s in trouble.

But especially these three people!

At MCM Expo, ITCH ran a little free prize draw to add to the already overwhelming fun. Yes. Here are the winners:

Leek & Sushi’s Manga Show

has been won by:

Jemima Lee

Yay! Congratulations! Whoo!

The Witch

has been won by

Samantha Rigg

or possibly Bigg, I’m not sure. If your e-mail address says: “I love the cookie”, it’s you.

Urban Beasts

has been won by:

Jess Morris

Hurray!

Thanks to everyone for playing, maybe we should do this again sometime?

Arrangements are finalised for the mini Leek & Sushi party at the MCM Expo this weekend! (You’re coming, right? It’ll be excellent!)
You can pester the artists for signatures and sketches, learn how to get into next year’s book and eat delicious cake.

It will be in the signing area on Saturday only at 2 pm. Come hang out, it’ll be fun.