Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Trip to Erlangen

Trip to Erlangen

Below is a selection of the photographs I took while in Erlangen to sort out the Comic Salon and the possible visit to the area of Staffordshire University. It's hoped that a few of the other BA Hons awards from the FACT (Facility of Arts and Creative Technology) would also be able to participate in a few of the ventures out line by Peter Steger while I was doing my trip there.


Above is my first meal in Germany, a shoulder of Pork with Sauerkraut and one of the biggest potato dumpling I've ever seen.

Some on must have told Peter about my love of real ale as he booked me in a Hotel just down the road from one of the areas many micro breweries. This one in the Kitzmann Brau.


This pub was to become my local as it had the full range of beers Pilsner, Wheatbeer and Dark beer. It also had pretzels. Not a million miles from the Staffordshire University Logo



This is what the place looks like from the inside, the big ceramic thing on the left of this picture is the oven where they cook the food.

 
Above is some artwork I found on the streets of Erlangen.


Just to reassure everyone, they have their own comic shop 



Just to reassure Students, they also have McDonalds as well

Erlangen Town



Above is a bar I walked past call Bogarts




Some of the inspiring architecture in and around the Erlangen town Centre.

Siemens Museum and Archive Store 

The Following Beneath is the Siemens Museum, which our following conversation reveled there might be an opportunity for the Medical Illustration award at Staffordshire University.








Erlangen Council Offices

 Below is the View while walking to and from the Erlangen Government building 



This is a view from the 6th Floor of the Government building over looking Erlangen. The big building in the back is the Siemens main building.


The image above is the entrance to the  government building, it is also the place where the Comic Saloon takes place.

Erlangen University 


Above is the administrative centre for the Erlangen Universities. I bet our Vice Chancellors and the other staff would loved to be housed in here. It was originally the home to the Duke who founded the Universities.


The fountain in the park behind the University Administration building


Below is the theatre that Peter managed to get me exclusive entrance to 




Below is a Franconian bar as you would expect to see Bavaria 



We also discovered another Micro Brewery, This one had a special guest nesting on the Chimney, a pair of Storks.  



 Nuremberg
Below is a series of photographs taken while I was around Nuremberg. I met a chap called Frank Gillard on the train station, similar in the way spies must meet in Bond movies. Below are some images from St Lorenz's Church.


 


below is what used to be the hospital. It is now a restaurant.


Our Ladies Church in the centre of Nuremberg square which also offers one of the largest Christmas markets in Germany.

 
 


Above is the old fort which over looks Nuremberg and the view which you can see from the top. 
Below are some images back across the river having a look some sites.



Above is the hangman's bridge. The hangman use to live in the hose at the end of the bridge hence its name. Nothing as shocking as this was the place they hung people.


Above is my first venture into a proper German Beer Kellar.


The entrance to the Nuremberg National History Museum. Each of the pillars has one of the fundamental Human rights written on them and underneath there is a translation in a different language.  


The national Museum was initially founded in a monastery in the centre of Nuremberg. Since then it has grown and grown.  With additional buildings being added through out the years 

 


The museum boast an impressive array of artwork from the Bauhaus collection 



Ended up in an Irish bar in Erlangen


Did I mention that once a year, Erlangen threw the second biggest beer festival in Germany outside the Oktoberfest. This is where it takes place and below is an indication of how big it really is.


Erlangen also has its own Sculpture Park which celebrates a local sculptor by putting his work on permanent display to the people of Erlangen.






Monday, 2 March 2015

Cartoon & Comic Arts In Germany Erlangen

Cartoon & Comic Arts In Germany Erlangen


While attending a meeting about London Road Festival in Stoke, I ended up talking to a couple of people about Cartoon & Comic Arts at Staffordshire University. Much to my surprise they mentioned they had returned from Erlangen in Germany, A town which Stoke-on-Trent is twinned with, where they heard about a Comic Salon.

I had little joy with my initial inquiries with Stoke City Council, but thanks to Local Councillor Andy Platt he managed to find me a contact in Erlangen Peter Steger. Peter works in the international development office of the Erlangen Council. His job is to make links with cities across the world and develop links and cultural exchanges.


Peter organised all the contacts during my visit as well as wined and dinned me.Below are some of the places that Erlangen is twinned with from the US to China.



Below is a picture of me with the team who organise the Comic Salon. Volker Holzmann and Katja and the artist Roger Libesch and jury member Herbert Heinzelmann.



My selfie with Volker Holzmann the main man who runs the comic Saloon 



Some of the artwork from 2014 Comic Salon, which the delegation gave to me to put around the cartoon Studio.









Friday, 20 February 2015

Busy Busy Busy!

Cartoon & Comic Arts 
From here to Infinity 

Its been a few months since my last post and you seriously would believe how busy I've been. We managed to get through the semester just about, and I reckon from a university point of view it was extremely successful. It has been the first year that all the modules have run for a couple of years and we've had the opportunity to tweak them and I think, thanks to the help of the other specialist staff, getting there! So I really hope everyone appreciate how much hard work went into making it so fun. But as ever, the student drive the award.

There have been a few things happening that I haven't reported in the previous pages. Once again the 24 Hour Comic Challenge was accepted by students from 1st, 2nd and 3rd Years. Obviously the picture above was taken at the start of the event. They looked very disheveled at the end of it.


As always we held our Drink and Draw session, this time it was based around Christmas so the drink was flowing a little better than the sketching was.

 A bit of Steam punk Cosplay was needed to enlighten the crowd


 We also awarded prizes for the best piece of art work submitted and John Charles also took part and helped out.




Below is a picture taken of the Public relations team, who rushed down at the last minute to have a picture drawn of the team as the new Super Six, before they dropped down to 5!



Just to finish off and put it in the headlights, We've recently went into partnership with the Cartoon Museum in London, where we are to encourage more use of the medium and get people talking about it. Our first event will be on Saturday 7th March and I will post all the information up during the next couple of Days. It is a drawing Masterclass by some freelance comic artists.
I'm also flying out to Erlangen in Germany in the next few days. This is to build on our twinning with the city with Stoke-on-Trent and off the back that I found out they have their own internationally recognised Comic Festival (Comic Saloon) I'm hoping to develop links with the area and also build a relationship where we can invite them to our convention in the coming years and vice versa.
Which brings me nicely on to the Stoke Con and the Cartoon & Comic Arts Sponsored area, where we are getting a range of visiting comic artist to talk and sell their work, as well as offering something slightly different to the people at the event, from caricatures and drawing lessons. so keep your eyes open for that in the coming weeks....Phew!

Thursday, 4 December 2014

Drawing Exercise

Life Drawing and Layouts Class

We've been very lucky over the last few weeks at Staffordshire University to have comic artist John Charles working alongside the students. Obviously John has high standards and one day while chatting over a curry he mentioned how flat the students at work was. I explained that we had tried to various methods to get then think a bit longer and harder about the composition of the panel but to no avail.



So we took it on ourselves to create our  own scene which the students had to draw every panel from a different position and angle. 
We asked the student to design a 4 panel page to a script we wrote of a character vomit through a door way sitting on a chair then walking into a bedroom to pack his bed and flee. Here are some of the results