Gladstone Weekend

Last weekend Darwyn had an art show at the beautiful Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. It was a 2 day thing, with the first night being a show and reception, the 2^nd day being a workshop and then an evening reading with discussion. We had a great time!

The events were hosted by Art Originals http://www.artoriginals.ca/. Walter Dickinson and Sean Menard working in conjunction with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop put together a fantastic event, the first in a series hopefully! Keep your eye out because the location and the presentation were top-notch. They treated us like superstars so we were both in great spirits all weekend. Everyone who attended had a nice time and enjoyed seeing Darwyn and some of the latest works. There is a nice set of photos from Friday evening http://www.comicbookdaily.com/wp/daily_news/noir-and-beyond-the-darwyn-cooke-artshow/ here (thanks for the report guys).

We saw a ton of old friends including the one and only J. Bone, Darwyn’s longtime art partner and friend. It was also our friend Chris Stone’s birthday, and lucky for us the festivities were being held in the Gladstone Karaoke bar. There is a great set of photos here http://kaylamariehillier.com/2009/10/25/there-aint-no-party-like-a-chris-stone-party/

Saturday morning Darwyn met with 15 people who had signed up for a workshop, including one of my online favs Diana Tambyln http://www.dianatamblyn.com/ . Everyone seemed happy so I assume they enjoyed themselves. Saturday evening Mark Askwith hosted a reading from The Hunter – Darwyn read the first chapter while the pages from the graphic adaptation were projected behind him. After the reading Mark hosted a discussion about the adaptation of The Hunter, it was informative and interesting. Afterwards we mingled with the crowd and signed some books, then had a few beers with our friends and off to bed.

Overall , the weekend was a huge hit – we had a great time, saw a ton of friends and had a good turn out at the show. All of the thanks here go to Walter and Sean, their professionalism and just plain awesomeness made our weekend. This was the first in their planned art originals series, so look forward to some really amazing gallery and workshop experiences from them. Special thanks as well to Jason who helped hang everything, Liana K & Steve, Mark Askwith, Sean Wainsteim and Mo :)

Hi folks.

I just wanted to jump on today and make mention of the great weekend we have coming up in Toronto kicking off the Art Originals series. Sean Menard and Walter Dickinson have worked with the Toronto Cartoonist's Workshop to create a series of weekends featuring specific artists and their work.

This is a fantastic concept for comics art in the Toronto community and I hope everyone in the Toronto area can come out support Sean and Walter's amazing efforts. Be sure to come say Hi to Marsha and I.

The event is taking place at the ultra swanky Gladstone hotel, with it's several bars and gallery space. All the times and dates can be found at www.artoriginals.ca

See you there,

Darwyn

art show in Toronto

if you are near the Toronto area, you might want to check this out:

Art Originals presents Noir and Beyond: The Darwyn Cooke Retrospective
Friday, October 16, 2009 at the Gladstone Hotel

Noir and Beyond: The Darwyn Cooke Exhibition, 7 - 11 pm: Featuring selected works from the last decade, the Darwyn Cooke retrospective will include an entire chapter from Parker: The Hunter, new and unpublished material as well as a number of surprises!

Free admission – this event is open to the general public.

Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Gladstone Hotel

Workshop with Darwyn Cooke, 10 - 3 pm: This workshop with master cartoonist Darwyn Cooke will provide patrons with valuable insights into his creative process. The lecture, question period and portfolio review sections allow for a unique opportunity to get inside the head of one of our most renowned industry stalwarts.

Spaces for this workshop are limited to 15 spots. Each space is $105 and fees are non-refundable. There is sure to be a waiting list for this event, so don’t delay. Sign up today!

This workshop is presented in association with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. For a list of their ongoing courses offered in the downtown Toronto area please visit www.cartoonistsworkshop.com. For further information and to arrange payment, send an email to info@cartoonistsworkshop.com

$105/person. Limited seating (15 persons).



An Evening with Darwyn Cooke, 7 - 10 pm: Hosted by Mark Askwith of SPACE, this intimate and interactive session will include a reading by Cooke from the original text of Stark’s The Hunter with corresponding images from the graphic novel projected as backdrop. Cooke will be available immediately afterwards to sign copies of his work.
$10/person. Limited seating (75 persons).

check the website for more info!

if you're on the east coast of Canada....

drop by the Word on the Street tomorrow. It's a cross-canada literacy fair that takes place on the last Sunday in September.
For info, check their website. Darwyn will be doing a reading from the Richard Stark novel, The Hunter, while images from his adaptation are shown. This will take place on the main stage around 3PM or so.

(yes, I know; very short notice...forgive me, I've been pretty busy.)

Darwyn was kind enough to drop by my bookshop on Friday for an hour-long signing.



as they say in small-town newspapers, "a good time was had by all." The new printing of Parker: The Hunter should be shipping to retail outlets this or next week so for those of you in need of a great fall solstice/All Hallows Eve/Xmas gift idea, give Parker this year!

(wrapping paper image found here thanks to Baron von Googleschmidt

and my pal, Mike Holmes

was helping out that day. (He's inside the blue plaid shirt seen on the right in the first photo.) His new book, This American Drive is debuting at the Word on the Street tomorrow. Check it out there or ask your friendly neighbourhood bookstore to get you a copy!

this and that and Darwyn the Pooh

Hiya, folks,

it was "Darwyn Cooke Week" at 4thletter.net and there's a plethora of reviews here with a nice selection of Darwyn's pages, here's their look at Batman: Ego and other tails, the Spirit, and the Hunter.

The November solicitations feature an oversized Green Lantern hardcover collecting the Rebirth mini-series as well as the Secret Files issue that contained a terrific story by Geoff Johns and Darwyn. More info here.

Darwyn's in Montreal this weekend for the comic convention taking place today and tomorrow. Their website is here. Mike Allred will also be there!

"Comics should be good" looks back at the fun Wolverine / Doop mini-series here.

I've been mailing and packing the Parker prizes for the past couple of weeks. Almost all have been mailed out and I've already starting to hear from folks who have received their prize for drawing Parker.


and finally in news....
yes, that was Darwyn at Dragon Con a couple of weeks ago walking around in his Winnie the Pooh costume.
He's pictured here with artist Mark Brooks, I believe.

a couple more photos are here.

And if you're in the Halifax area, Darwyn will be signing books at Strange Adventures on Friday, September 25th from 5-6pm.

That's all I have for now! Blog at you soon.

nananananananana....bat-blog!

For those of you with a love for all things Bat, you should check out the Bat-Blog. Loads of info on Bat-stuff from all over the place. There's also a nifty drawing by Darwyn .....

Secret Origin and stuff

The column, aptly named "Comics should be good!, represents Darwyn's "secret origin" story from his issue of "solo" here.

Jason Arnold sent along this piece to help promote the Parker books....

Thanks, Jason! He adds, "My goal is to get a few 'mainstream' comic fans that normally wouldn't check out something like Parker, to at least pick it up and have a flip through it." Jason is also involved in the Where Monster Dwell radio show that can be heard via the interwebs here.

Speaking of radio, well, audio at least....if you didn't get to FanExpo in Toronto last weekend you can listen in on the Darwyn Cooke spotlight thanks to the internet archive. Check it out here or listen right now (if this embedding works)...

well, hopefully that works....

I have a great big box full of signed Parker books and art books for the those who entered the Draw Parker contest and will be mailing them out over the next couple of weeks. They will be trackable and I will send the respective folks the info as soon as they hit the post. Thanks again for all the great illustrations that were submitted. If you haven't seen them all, take a few minutes and go through the June and July archives.....I'll wait......pretty sweet, eh?

and finally in news...Eclipse magazine gave a thumbs up to Darwyn's interpretation of The Hunter here.

see you all later!
-calum