What price bullying? Is it as simple as saying: ‘hit back’ or, ‘toughen up’? Or, is it to be endu... more What price bullying? Is it as simple as saying: ‘hit back’ or, ‘toughen up’? Or, is it to be endured, because it won’t last forever? But what if it does last? What if the bullies finally go away, but you’re left with the worst bully of all: yourself? Your inner voice telling you you’re no good, you’re ugly, you’re the worst in the world and it would be better off without you? How do you escape the bully that lives inside your head, all day, every day, every night? This is the story of how I managed to escape that bully, how I found a way out of the prison I had built myself. It wasn’t easy. There was a price to pay: the price of eternal vigilance. But it’s worth it in order to live free
A minicomic that features no comics and no action. Instead, it relies upon the knowledge and cult... more A minicomic that features no comics and no action. Instead, it relies upon the knowledge and cultural memory of beholders to induce the narrative from the pictures. A story about a different kind of money laundering
Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in... more Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in some way. There is no gainsaying which works will affect which beholders howsoever it does, yet the expectation of pleasure from a work of comics makes beholders seek it. Making the comic is also a pleasure, even if the process can be long-winded, winding and difficult. The maker wants to give others the same pleasure they drew from beholding comics, but in their way, making their vision of Batman, Lieutenant Blueberry or, their own story worlds. What this research seeks to explain are many of the considerations and constraints that makers have when producing a work of comics, which can often shape the finished artefact in ways that are not obvious by looking at it. In specific, it seeks to answer a narrower question: can exploring the way tacit knowledge accumulates and is applied, offer a ‘thick’ understanding of comics? Michael Polanyi argues that tacit knowledge is knowing mor...
A satirical comic about the rogue, right-wing, gun-loving US Senator Leadbetter, who wins the pre... more A satirical comic about the rogue, right-wing, gun-loving US Senator Leadbetter, who wins the presidency and installs a dictatorship, which solves all social problems with extreme prejudice
1943: Robert Wells has returned home from the war, having spent months in hospitals recovering fr... more 1943: Robert Wells has returned home from the war, having spent months in hospitals recovering from combat wounds. While being rehabilitated at Heidelberg Military Hospital, a series of visitors come to see him and, in the process, old wounds open, some close. What does seeing and doing the worst acts a human being can do to one another, do to a person? Thirteen years after The Sacrifice, the follow-up story of Robert Wells concludes in this elegiac story of how the impact of war is felt, even far from the front lines
Comics, also commonly called graphic novels, graphic narratives, graphic stories and sequential a... more Comics, also commonly called graphic novels, graphic narratives, graphic stories and sequential art to name a few, suggest an uncertainty about its definition. I define comics by what I believe is its chief signifier, juxtaposed narrative images, but what does it mean to say this? I aim to explore this by producing a work specifically for a gallery space, which may highlight the disparities and commonalities in the methodologies and modes of encounter between comics and the visual arts, specifically the concept of reading. I make reference to narrative fresco cycles as a source and comparison. From this, I propose some properties that can be extrapolated to any work that uses images in juxtaposition that contain recognisably identical elements such as figures and ground. Comics' images generate within a reader a sense of time occurring, and a 'feel' for a place-key components of narrative. This 'reading' generates an immersion in the depicted images, principally ...
This is the introduction to a special issue of the Journal featuring the academic papers from the... more This is the introduction to a special issue of the Journal featuring the academic papers from the Australian Comics Symposium at the inaugural Perth Comic Arts Festival (PCAF), 2018. The symposium’s call for papers focused on comics as the products of Australian culture(s). This introduction gives historical context for Australian comics. Australian comics makers have established their identity on the international stage throughout the 20th Century and into the present. Notable are May Gibbs, Yaroslav Horak, Nicola Scott, Tom Taylor and Shaun Tan, among many. Articles in the issue describe a literary workshop for the graphic novel; working with university students new to the medium of graphic novels; close readings of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and Pat Grant’s Blue, and the work of Tommi Parrish; and finally, the application of comics in legal contracts.
This year, the 5th edition of CONFIA, the International Conference on Illustration and Animation,... more This year, the 5th edition of CONFIA, the International Conference on Illustration and Animation, will make place in Guimarães, the city considered to be the "birthplace" of Portugal. Guimarães is one of Portugal's most important historical cities. Its historical center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has without a doubt made it one of the main tourist destinations in northern Portugal. Its narrow streets and medieval monuments breathe history, enchant tourists, and represent an exceptionally well preserved portrait of the evolution of a medieval town to a modern city. This is thanks in large part to modern Guimarães' recognition of the importance of carefully complementing history and the city's heritage with the dynamism, creativity, and boldness characteristic of modern cities. With this strategy, Guimarães earned the 2012 title of European Capital of Culture, an event that permanently transformed the city. It has also recently been highlighted as one of 41 places to visit by the New York Times, which described it as one of the up-and-coming Iberian cities in terms of culture. With all this in mind, we're proud to present this edition in the magni icent Vila Flor Cultural Center of Guimarães, a large complex that combines a restored 19th-century Baroque palace and gardens with a contemporary building that houses an impressive performance space. In this privileged location for art and culture in the city, we're bringing together about a hundred conference participants from various countries, connected to the areas of illustration and animation, with articles that stand out for their great quality. Once more, we'll ill an auditorium and a conference room with academic debate, knowledge, and practical creative experience. This year, we're welcoming very prestigious keynote speakers-director and artist Joan Ashworth and art director Jorge Silva-and a panel that includes Pedro Serrazina, Peter Chanthanakone, and Rose Bond. Every year, we embrace this challenge hoping to do better than the year before. We're quite certain that it'll be dif icult to beat this edition, though, in terms of not just quality but also the critical mass that has gathered as well as the location and setting.
What price bullying? Is it as simple as saying: ‘hit back’ or, ‘toughen up’? Or, is it to be endu... more What price bullying? Is it as simple as saying: ‘hit back’ or, ‘toughen up’? Or, is it to be endured, because it won’t last forever? But what if it does last? What if the bullies finally go away, but you’re left with the worst bully of all: yourself? Your inner voice telling you you’re no good, you’re ugly, you’re the worst in the world and it would be better off without you? How do you escape the bully that lives inside your head, all day, every day, every night? This is the story of how I managed to escape that bully, how I found a way out of the prison I had built myself. It wasn’t easy. There was a price to pay: the price of eternal vigilance. But it’s worth it in order to live free
A minicomic that features no comics and no action. Instead, it relies upon the knowledge and cult... more A minicomic that features no comics and no action. Instead, it relies upon the knowledge and cultural memory of beholders to induce the narrative from the pictures. A story about a different kind of money laundering
Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in... more Beholding a comic is ideally, a pleasure. The work informs, entertains and stimulates the mind in some way. There is no gainsaying which works will affect which beholders howsoever it does, yet the expectation of pleasure from a work of comics makes beholders seek it. Making the comic is also a pleasure, even if the process can be long-winded, winding and difficult. The maker wants to give others the same pleasure they drew from beholding comics, but in their way, making their vision of Batman, Lieutenant Blueberry or, their own story worlds. What this research seeks to explain are many of the considerations and constraints that makers have when producing a work of comics, which can often shape the finished artefact in ways that are not obvious by looking at it. In specific, it seeks to answer a narrower question: can exploring the way tacit knowledge accumulates and is applied, offer a ‘thick’ understanding of comics? Michael Polanyi argues that tacit knowledge is knowing mor...
A satirical comic about the rogue, right-wing, gun-loving US Senator Leadbetter, who wins the pre... more A satirical comic about the rogue, right-wing, gun-loving US Senator Leadbetter, who wins the presidency and installs a dictatorship, which solves all social problems with extreme prejudice
1943: Robert Wells has returned home from the war, having spent months in hospitals recovering fr... more 1943: Robert Wells has returned home from the war, having spent months in hospitals recovering from combat wounds. While being rehabilitated at Heidelberg Military Hospital, a series of visitors come to see him and, in the process, old wounds open, some close. What does seeing and doing the worst acts a human being can do to one another, do to a person? Thirteen years after The Sacrifice, the follow-up story of Robert Wells concludes in this elegiac story of how the impact of war is felt, even far from the front lines
Comics, also commonly called graphic novels, graphic narratives, graphic stories and sequential a... more Comics, also commonly called graphic novels, graphic narratives, graphic stories and sequential art to name a few, suggest an uncertainty about its definition. I define comics by what I believe is its chief signifier, juxtaposed narrative images, but what does it mean to say this? I aim to explore this by producing a work specifically for a gallery space, which may highlight the disparities and commonalities in the methodologies and modes of encounter between comics and the visual arts, specifically the concept of reading. I make reference to narrative fresco cycles as a source and comparison. From this, I propose some properties that can be extrapolated to any work that uses images in juxtaposition that contain recognisably identical elements such as figures and ground. Comics' images generate within a reader a sense of time occurring, and a 'feel' for a place-key components of narrative. This 'reading' generates an immersion in the depicted images, principally ...
This is the introduction to a special issue of the Journal featuring the academic papers from the... more This is the introduction to a special issue of the Journal featuring the academic papers from the Australian Comics Symposium at the inaugural Perth Comic Arts Festival (PCAF), 2018. The symposium’s call for papers focused on comics as the products of Australian culture(s). This introduction gives historical context for Australian comics. Australian comics makers have established their identity on the international stage throughout the 20th Century and into the present. Notable are May Gibbs, Yaroslav Horak, Nicola Scott, Tom Taylor and Shaun Tan, among many. Articles in the issue describe a literary workshop for the graphic novel; working with university students new to the medium of graphic novels; close readings of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and Pat Grant’s Blue, and the work of Tommi Parrish; and finally, the application of comics in legal contracts.
This year, the 5th edition of CONFIA, the International Conference on Illustration and Animation,... more This year, the 5th edition of CONFIA, the International Conference on Illustration and Animation, will make place in Guimarães, the city considered to be the "birthplace" of Portugal. Guimarães is one of Portugal's most important historical cities. Its historical center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has without a doubt made it one of the main tourist destinations in northern Portugal. Its narrow streets and medieval monuments breathe history, enchant tourists, and represent an exceptionally well preserved portrait of the evolution of a medieval town to a modern city. This is thanks in large part to modern Guimarães' recognition of the importance of carefully complementing history and the city's heritage with the dynamism, creativity, and boldness characteristic of modern cities. With this strategy, Guimarães earned the 2012 title of European Capital of Culture, an event that permanently transformed the city. It has also recently been highlighted as one of 41 places to visit by the New York Times, which described it as one of the up-and-coming Iberian cities in terms of culture. With all this in mind, we're proud to present this edition in the magni icent Vila Flor Cultural Center of Guimarães, a large complex that combines a restored 19th-century Baroque palace and gardens with a contemporary building that houses an impressive performance space. In this privileged location for art and culture in the city, we're bringing together about a hundred conference participants from various countries, connected to the areas of illustration and animation, with articles that stand out for their great quality. Once more, we'll ill an auditorium and a conference room with academic debate, knowledge, and practical creative experience. This year, we're welcoming very prestigious keynote speakers-director and artist Joan Ashworth and art director Jorge Silva-and a panel that includes Pedro Serrazina, Peter Chanthanakone, and Rose Bond. Every year, we embrace this challenge hoping to do better than the year before. We're quite certain that it'll be dif icult to beat this edition, though, in terms of not just quality but also the critical mass that has gathered as well as the location and setting.
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Papers by Bruce Mutard