Hey, I know your mental health is probably in the gutter right now. If you're a creative freelancer (or even if you're not!) you might find some useful advice in this comic book guide I wrote for the @societyofauthors.bsky.social, with stunning art by a bunch of amazing creators (tagged in thread) š
Authors, illustrators, screenwriters, poets etc. Please sign this open letter regarding the recent UK Supreme Court judgement on trans peoplesā rights to legal recognition. š³ļøāā§ļø docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
We know today may feel especially heavy for our trans and non-binary siblings.
If youāre feeling overwhelmed or affected by the UK Supreme Courtās decision, please know youāre not alone. Weāre here for you every day from 10am to 10pm.
#TransRights #Trans #NonBinary #SupremeCourt #Gender
āTransgenderā people have been with us for over 100 years, and what we would recognise as trans identities are found in our archives - in the UK alone - reaching as far back as the medieval era.
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Three panel comic. In the first panel, a bunny looks at baguettes on display and says, "mmm... breads". In the second panel, the bunny holds a baguette above its head and says, "I'll take this one". In the third panel, the bunny sits on the floor with the baguette, and says, "ahhh... now I have it all".
The baguette is the key.
From teeny little super guys to animated dogs: Indie animation legend & Sesame Street animator Paul Fierlinger has died at 89. He carved out a singular path in animationĀ ā one marked by a distinct visual voice, a relentless work ethic, and a deep emotional honesty. Read his obituary here:
A message to the UK government:
please respect our copyright š
#MakeItFair
#HandsOffOurCopyright 1/2
Bluesky, will you ever let me post a pic? I seem to get an error message every time... š„²
IT'S THE LAST DAY TO DO THIS! Takes 20 mins with this help from the AOI which is easily adapted to others not just illustrators.
The Government is siding with big tech over British creativity.
Today is the FINAL chance to respond to their consultation on AI and copyright.
Let's make sure creators' voices are heard. Guidance below š #MakeItFair #PayTheCreator
www.alcs.co.uk/news/your-ri...
TWO DAYS left to respond to the UK Govt consultation on Copyright and AI. The AOI has created a brilliant guide to help with this - the consultation is onerous but their tips make completing it quick and easy for any creator, not just an illustrator. PLEASE ADD YOUR VOICE: theaoi.com/news/the-cop...
This is a brilliant (& urgent) explainer of the current UK consultation on the use of copyrighted works in the training of generative AI - read, share, and pester your MPs using the links at the bottom of the post!
Dear Mr Stride, can you please help me and other UK childrenās book illustrators? The governing is considering AI policy measures that would make us, as copyright holders, āopt outā if we donāt want tech companies breaching our copyright to train their systems. The big companies then use our own art in competition against us. The UK ought to be proud of its childrenās book tradition. Our artwork is exported all over the world, and by giving it away free, weāre ruining the industry. Children will be poorer: thereāll get dumbed-down, mechanical books that have no real person thinking hard about each aspect of them. My colleague Steve Antony described it: āItās like allowing someone to break into my house and steal my belongings so that they can research, recycle and resell them, unless I stick a label on each and every one of my belongings that says āDO NOT STEALā, even though the objects are clearly not theirs and clearly within someone elseās house. That house bring my copyright. Itās absolutely ridiculous, makes no sense, completely destroys existing copyright laws and insults every single one of us.ā Please, could you stand up for us and out copyright? If you could mention our concerns to Feryal Clark, Minister for AI & Digital Governent, and to Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industry, Arts & Tourism, Iād greatly appreciate it. Warmest wishes, Sarah McIntyre, Illustrator & Author, Bovey Tracey
A handwritten letter on my illustration work desk to my local MP, Mel Stride, asking him to help UK children's book illustrators keep our copyright during the current AI policy consultation āļø
@mrsteveantony.bsky.social
@alcs-uk.bsky.social
@societyofauthors.bsky.social
(Typed out in the alt text)
URGENT šØ Our UK copyright is under threat.
The MOST important thing we can do is encourage every author & artist we know to respond to the consultation itself - this post breaks it down so it's easy to do!
Complete before 25th Feb!
againstthebox.substack.com/p/time-to-ha...
#kidlit #kidlituk
Writers!!! Donāt miss this fantastic event hosted by Seven Stories in Newcastle on 26th February 18:30pm, free entry š
A striking close-up of an Atlantic Puffin against a vibrant green background. The bird holds a fresh sprig of green leaves in its colourful, triangular beak. Below, bold text reads "Reverse The Red Day" in white and red, followed by "Seven threatened species weāre fighting to save."
Today is #ReverseTheRedDay, uniting people worldwide to fight species decline.
from UK wetlands to remote islands, conservation efforts are making a real difference, and proving that species recovery is possible.
Here's 7 species weāre fighting for and why action matters...š§µ
(PSA for anyone like me or Harold who are especially delicious to flying beasties... this stuff is miraculous: avon.uk.com/products/ski... )
Actually me, if I don't put that magical Avon Skin So Soft spray on in the summer
Kiki and Ursula š One thing I really love is noticing that pretty much every creative person I know (including me) has Kiki's Delivery Service at or near the top of their favourite Ghibli film list. š It's so lovely and hits so close to home!š§¹š
Happy Year of the Snake! š§§š
Iām including this limited edition postcard print with all shop orders for the next few weeks (or until they run out)! Go get your own Coupon for Prosperity: www.pommopress.com
Page 1/4 of a short comic essay by Gale Galligan. Black and white with cool gray tone. PANEL 1 Gale sits at a drawing desk. Gale: Oh, hello there! I'm Gale Galligan, illustrator of this issue's cover. Caption: Quick Facts: *they/them *Asian-American *adapted four Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels *next book: Fresh Start (Jan 2025) *Read Animorphs at a formative age PANEL 2 Librarian hands child-Gale a book. Caption: I was probably nine when I read my first Baby-Sitters Club book. Librarian: You can keep this one. Gale: what PANEL 3 Gale reading. Caption: It was a random volume from a library giveaway. I gave it a try, and had to flip back when I realized - PANEL 4 Child Gale reading in a chair, eyes wide, hair floating. Caption: Claudia's like me!!! Caption: Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic (pub. 1992) PANEL 5 Closeup of the cover of Claudia and Mean Janine. Caption: This was the first time I'd encountered an Asian-American character in a book. It was the first time I realized that was possible.
Page 2/4. PANEL 1 Child Gale reading in bed. Caption: That librarian didn't know if any of the books she gave me would open my world or show me myself or change my life, but she believed that they could. Gale: what if I wrote a story? PANEL 2 A teacher handing a paper back to Child Gale, who is sitting at a desk. Caption: Every book, every librarian, every teacher could be that moment for someone. Teacher: Creative ideas here. Keep it up. PANEL 3 Same as the final panel of page 1 - the Claudia and Mean Janine cover - but with scribbles where Claudia and Janine used to be. Caption: So to think of kids like me, reaching for a shelf where they might find themselves for the first time, and finding it empty because the adults have decided they don't belong - PANEL 4 Waves of darkness, with floating book covers: All Boys Aren't Blue, Gender Queer, Melissa, Flamer, The Hate U Give. Caption: To think of kids like me, dreaming of telling stories but not believing they can because there are no authors like them on the shelves -- PANEL 5 An empty space within Panel 4. Caption: And to think of authors like us, wanting to reach back to those kids and pull them up, to share our histories and struggles and successes, to say you matter only to have author visits cancelled or books pulled from libraries schools book fairs or never have those books published at all. CAPTION: It is heartbreaking. But you know this.
Page 3/4. PANEL 1 Present-day Gale peeking out from a comic panel. Gale: If you're reading this in Voices from the Middle, you are probably an English teacher in the United States. PANEL 2 A montage, in light lines, of protest signs (Freedom =/ Censorship; No Book Bans) and news headlines (The Fight To Ban Books, The post-2020 surge in calls for banning books, visualized). Caption: it is very likely that you have been watching the rising challenges facing our books all across this country. You may be fighting them in your school or district right now. PANEL 3 Gale in line to vote, turning back to face the viewer. Gale: So what you probably don't need is a cartoonist explaining book bans to you. You know what's happening, you know the stakes. Gale: But! PANEL 4 Gale leaning against a wall next to a potted plant. Gale: Maaaybe there's a blank space on your wall? One that feels a little lonely? Gale: Well~ Gale: I can help with that! PANEL 5 Gale drawing at desk; a cat peeks over their chair. Caption: Thanks for hanging out with me for these four issues! See you at the library!! ā„ Gale Galligan 2024 Caption: How To Use 1) Turn the page! 2) Photocopy a mini poster! (Or cut it out! No rules!!!) 3) Display and discuss!
Poster titled BANNED and CHALLENGED GRAPHIC NOVELS Caption: Graphic novels are a popular target for challenges because... PANEL 1 An astronaut in space. Astronaut: Comics can convey complex ideas in accessible, entertaining ways. PANEL 2 Person holding a comic. A prose novel sits on a pedestal with an ostentatious caption pointing to it saying "Real Book". Person: Their educational value isn't as enshrined as other art forms. PANEL 3 A person in a chicken costume addresses the reader. In the background, a critic yells at them. Chicken: It's easier to take an image out of context than to read a whole prose book. Critic: CHICKEN COMIC PANEL 4 Caption: Stories have power. Three drawings of authors follow, featuring attributed quotes for each. Maia Kobabe, creator of Gender Queer, Borrowed & Banned interview, Nov 30, 2023: I do wonder sometimes whether one of the reasons my book in particular is being targeted is the fact that it shows this kind of very gentle, easy coming out story, and it shows that coming out can be quite celebratory... Jerry Craft, creator of the New Kid books, NPR's Morning Edition interview, Dec 28, 2022: I hated reading books as a kid because - who were my heroes? The Black kid in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn? There was no kid who looked like me that I was proud of. Mike Curato, creator of Flamer, Banned in the USA Spotlight, pen.org: I wrote this book because I want to help young people who are in the vulnerable place I was when I was their age. PANEL 5: FUN FACTS! Caption: * Three of the ten most challenged books in America in 2023 were graphic novels. * Comics have been weathering censorship and challenges for decades. In the 1940s, people held public comic book burnings. PANEL 6: FURTHER READING -- CBLDF: History of Comics Censorship "I Made the Most Banned Book in America" - Maia Kobabe for The Nib, Sept 1, 2023 Addressing Comics Challenges Toolkit - ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table PEN America's How to Fight Book Bans
drew this last july for a very delayed, currently-still-unreleased issue. be someone's moment
Also if you are an āØāļøILLUSTRATORāļøāØ pleeease take two minutes to fill out this AOI survey on AI copyright laws and their impact on our careers.
If nothing else you can click the options furiously and let some of that rage out š©ļø
rb.gy/hzrz6b
Describe your in person social skills with a GIF.
creativerightsinai.eaction.org.uk/MP
If you've not already emailed your mp about the AI consultation, use this. It takes seconds.
#kidlituk
A Nuthatch peers out from behind the textured bark of a tree, its sharp beak pointing upward with a crumb of food still clinging to the tip. Its sleek blue-grey back and warm buff underparts contrast beautifully against the soft green background. With an alert expression and a slight tilt of its head, it looks as if itās waiting for something- perhaps a gentle reminder to submit your results!
Did you take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend?
Tell us what you saw! š
You've got 'til 23rd Feb to submit your results: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
GenAI has polluted image search results, especially for animal pics. Itās now basically impossible to find accurate art references.
Enter this: a repository of open-access, AI-free images of wild & exotic taxa. Artists creating *without AI* have blanket permission for derivative/transformative use.
Hourly Comic Day is only a week away! Hereās a very earnest invitation to join in, and some advice from someone whoās been doing this for almost 20 years! Read my old ones here: www.lucyknisley.com/hourly-comic...
ah well #stormeowyn
Hey, friendsā
Things are REALLY rough for political cartoonists right now. Their traditional clients are refusing to run their work. New clients canāt afford to pay them. A lot of political cartoonists are subsisting off patreons.
If you share a political cartoon, please credit the cartoonist.
