Caught in a Jam -- the Monthly Montreal Comic Jam, that is!

My artistic life seems to revolve around bars, lately. Last night was the monthly get-together of French and English-speaking comic artists and cartoonists, at what we call the Montreal Comic Jam. This happens on the last Thursday of every month (except December!)

Above, that's Rick Gagnon making silly faces on the right. He was showing everybody his latest edition of "What the F...!" his sometimes annual zine of funny collaborative comics, which he will be selling at Expozine this weekend, (along with the book he and I did, which I talked about in the previous post).

He's the best guy to talk about WTF, and maybe he does, on his site. But that book had its genesis at the Comic Jams, where Rick found cool artists, such as myself, to collaborate with, and reel in to make fools of ourselves on paper.

The Montreal Jam itself has evolved (some would say shrunken) from big get-togethers taking over an entire room, with live music and dozens of pages done every session, to the small crowd you see here with occasional new people or semi-regulars showing up. Mostly it's people staying in touch, talking comics, even drawing things once in a while. I think it needs a bit more guidance to regain its former glory (not by me, no leader of men am I!), but still it's a pleasant time.


Gawrsh! Actual girls drawing comics. Woohoo! Hubba Hubba! (stop that!) I'm making a wolfish grin (and have green hair) between first-time jammers Joany and Cécila (r). They do a lot of Manga, so maybe with the hair I can star in their strips, if I also get a pair of magnifying glasses that make my eyes look anime huge.


These people should realise this is not a library, and start drawing things. I knocked off an entire story in pencils, which I hope Rick will ink sometime this decade. Sitting at the bar way in back was a nice old man who likes our group, and for the last two sessions has bought us a pitcher of beer. Cheers!

Otherwise, the place (The Bars Des Pins at 3714, Park Avenue in Montréal) was overrun by students behaving much as I did, back in college days. (Okay, I had much more decorum!)

And last, a stunning shot of people packing up and leaving. Three of my friends missed their last metro, and also their ride, who showed up earlier and didn't find them in the crowd. So they were forced to walk it (maybe catching the night bus) all the way from the university neighbourhood to East Montreal).
Maybe they're still walking as you read this.

Hallowe'en 08

I was going to do an entire new blog with photos of the wonderful Hallowe'en displays here on rue de Rouen in Montreal. But I only got a couple of pictures, and there weren't so many good displays this season. Sometimes they build whole scenes with sound effects and lights.

But these ones are a few doors down, and are cool. I bought a lot of candy last year, and didn't get one visitor. So, this year I'm going off to a party, and will let the cats handle the visitors, if they care to.



Last night, I was at the Montreal Monthly Comic Jam. Mostly the usual suspects, and my photos were pretty dark, or I'm just to lazy to preview and put them up. (er, not any more! See below.)

This is Jane Tremblay, with her whip (!!) and her beautiful bat necklace.


Three more of my comics comrades. Kurt Beaulieu, Rick Gagnon, and Eric Theriault.


The bar was a tumult because of noisemakers and crowds in for the hockey game. Very unpleasant. When most of the hockey fans had left, I drew this old guy nursing his beer. His mouth was actually more open than this, but I was just sneaking peeks at him to draw him. Happy Hallowe'en!

Culture, Jamming and More Cats

Pictures in this post doesn't really reflect what I was doing yesterday. Went out to a Writer's Guild of Canada get-together, where I drank 'free' beer (paid in part by my dues, I suppose) and met and complained along with a lot of other writers. Took a blurry picture, mainly of people's backs and butts, which I'm not posting here.

One subject was politics, and of course we writers won't be able to meet or make any movies or TV if the Conservatives have their way trying to muzzle and put all the artists out of work. Read Margaret Atwood's enlightened essay in the Globe and Mail about the issue, if you want to learn more.

Anyhow, after that, I went to the Monthly Montreal Comic Jam, took more blurry, lousy pictures, and worked on silly comic pages like the one below. (I apologize for the Not Safe For Work-ness. Other people will probably be more upset about it than we get.)


Aside from that, I was trying to take pictures of cats, but they always move. At least this one was interesting, though I tried to enhance foreground cat's eyes, making her look a trifle more demonic than usual:


I love Mr. B. and his tiger yawn:

August Montreal Comic Jam

Here's the scene at last night's Montreal Comic Jam at the Bar Des Pins near McGill University. These are more or less the usual suspects.


This was a new guy, who showed up with a neat sketchbook. Didn't get his name.

But I did try to draw him:



It's Frosh week in Montreal, so the place was a madhouse, way too hot and noisy to draw anything (in addition to the above, I think I drew an eyeball). Below is Yours Truly (right) outdoors with Kurt Beaulieu.


Left early, but not before being criticized by the owner of the bar for chaining my bike up to a lamp post outside. Not so friendly! But it was an insane night, with drunken students hanging from the rafters and rolling bottles down the street.

Montreal Comic Jam Page

Here's a page thoughtfully forwarded me by R. Gagnon, product of that last Thursday night at the Montreal Comic Jam.

I had nothing to do with this, and only two people signed it: R. Gagnon himself (bottom right panel), and Jesse Bochner (Young Adonis) (Middle row, also lower centre in the top row). Since he hasn't been at a jam for a while, that means this page has been circulating for months, worked on by various hands, before being finished by Gagnon.

Write Your Own Title Day!

Drew a racer on top of a parked cycle outside. The other sketch is a vague approximation (meaning I still can't draw likenesses) of characters at last night Montreal Comic Jam. Didn't take my little camera or bring home any pages, so I can't do my usual presentation of who was there and what they were doing. After a spark of interest because of change of venue, it's rather dwindled down again to the usual suspects hunched over papers.

But, though the group was small, it was productive. Lots of little panels were drawn, telling oddball and pointless stories. I'm still not certain how these are going to be used, or if they are going to see publication. Promised Francis, the editor of Mensuhell (ha! nice Wikipedia entry!), that I would have a story for his July issue. I've been procrastinating on this for a long time, but it's good to get going on stories rather than just the usual rambling sketches and occasional work for hire.

And the secret to getting the Jam going again is to invite outsiders and create a little energy around the event. It is cozy, though, simply to meet and be part of a group.

March Montreal Comic Jam Antics

Here's part of the loyal group, jamming away, at last night's March 2008 Montreal Comic Jam. (I love Patrick's face in the upper left corner!)

A couple of our artists: Patrick Hénaff:


and La puce à l'agonie ("the flea that hurts"? No, "The Flea in its Death Throes"), below on the right, with her friend, Eli.


Here, it's Jane, Mistress of the Jam, cutting her delicious birthday cake. (It took me hours to shop for.)


One of the pages the gang turned out that night:

My French feels shaky today, but here's the translation, (and who did what):
Poll: What do you like about Winters?
Panel 1: (by Nicolas Plamondon)
Panel 2: (by Jack Ruttan)
Panel 3: "Honey, have you seen the kids?" (by Sirkowski)
Panel 4: "Goddamn slush!" (by Kurt Beaulieu)
Panel 5: "I can wear mittens and socks." (by La puce à l'agonie)
Panel 6: "The vacations..." (by Éric Thériault)

Life is good in Hochelaga, and at the Comic Jam!

To entice you to tomorrow night's Montreal Comic Jam, here's a page we've done:



Lots of hands took part here. I did the panels with the "JR" on them, at least the pencils, and some of the inks as well!

(by the way, the middle panel sez "Smell of great cat food.")

The Montreal Comic Jam takes place tomorrow, Thursday March 27 8 pm at Bar des Pins, 3714 Park Avenue. Take the number 80 bus North from Place des Arts Metro, and get off at Avenue Leo Pariseau, near Pine Avenue, just before the park! And it's Jane Tremblay, the Mistress of the Jam's birthday!

February Montreal Comic Jam

It seems as if the new cheap-beer venue, plus some more vigorous promotion on Facebook and other places, is helping the Montreal comic Jam catch on again. Nice crowd in the otherwise very quiet Bar des Pins last night, Thursday Feb 28, even though it was a very cold night.

Here's Fanie Grégoire (r) and her friend, to whom I was introduced, but forgot to write down her name. We need "sign-in" sheets again.


Olivier and Yan, being monkeys.


Yan with one of his intricate cityscapes and Tim Burton-esque characters, which he does sometimes for Ubisoft. greentea.canalblog.com


Maïté www.minikim.net who does the spiffy illustrating for that book Alta Donna, in front of her there.


Shane Simmons, whom I haven't seen at one of these in maybe a year!

Here are a couple of my sketches of the participants:

Shane:


Yan:


Here's a [link] to the full flickr photo set of pictures I took. People were peeved at my flashing away, but I hope they're happy now with a record of the night. Apologies to those good artists at the other table I didn't snap. I hope to have a couple of sample pages of jams to put up here. Thanks to all who showed up, and see you again at the end of March!

More Jammin'

As promised, more from last week's Montreal Comic Jam, at the Bar des Pins last Thursday. These try to be the last Thursday (I suppose) of every month. If you want to sign up for notifications, please join the Montreal Comix Jam on Yahoo Groups -- another of those things to sign up for.

Anyhow, here's a page of portraits of jam participants I started. It's interesting trying to keep a likeness when someone else is interpreting your pencil drawing. But Nicolas drew me all himself on the right hand side of the second row. I look more nerdy than I thought, but Nico is probably getting even for my making him into a brain-damaged hobbit in the upper left. Proper attributions are there if you click on the image.



And below, the rest of the brilliant drawings Nicholas Plamondon made in my watercolour sketchbook. Part of me is jealous of their boldness, but like Rick's drawings, and many of the other skilled artists at the jams, they inspire me to try different things and improve my own work.

Comic Jam Fun

Had fun at the Montreal Comic Jam last night. Not that it's sometimes a drag, but I don't always do my best work at these. The Montreal Comic Jam was started in the 1990s by Rupert Bottenberg, and then revived later in Mile End by Salgood Sam.

It's shrunk down a lot since Salgood was running it, basically turning into a meeting of a few of my friends. We weren't always working on producing collaborative artwork, more talking and sharing things.

Last night was the first Jam at a new location. The Bar Des Pins, which Richard Gagnon and I discovered for one of our own get-togethers. Rick liked the atmosphere (he's nuts about these "old man" bars) and so suggested this as a neat place to hold the jam. The previous location -L'Utopik- closed down, despite being packed every night. The Pine Bar is smelly, but the beer is cheap, especially on nights when the Canadiens are playing on the tele.

Here's our group. Basically the usual suspects:


Click on the pic above to see the names, and a couple more pictures, as well.

Jane Tremblay has been managing the jam. She's usually facing away from the camera, so I made a point of taking a nice picture of her:


Here's a standard Jam page. Not the greatest art, and added to over a period of meetings stretching over months. I had actually forgotten ever drawing the next to last panel. Looked over someone's shoulder thinking, oh, "somebody's doing hatching." Then realised the drawing was mine, from more than a few months back:



For translations, and attributions to the various artists, please click on the image and read the "flickr" page.

One new face at the table was Nicolas Plamondon. A young artist, kind of a kid prodigy. Thankfully he had had his 18th birthday a couple of weeks ago, so it was legal for him to be in the bar.

I showed him my watercolour sketchbook and paints. Asked him to do a sketch for me.

Nico painting:


Here's the result, kind of a riff on the late Heath Ledger as the Joker:



Nicola hadn't done watercolours before, (or hadn't done them for a long time, my French is lousy). But he was so excited by the medium, he spent the whole night filling my sketchbook. Here's another page:



It's such a treat seeing someone so excited about drawing, especially with a new medium. That's what the Jam is all about.

Anyhow, this post is getting long, but there's more I want to show you. Lots more great drawings by Nico, and some more of my own sketches, worked on by others. That will go in another post, tomorrow most likely (They're on flickr right now, if you can't wait, Just click on the images above). In the meantime, there's more beer to drink tonight, and drawings to draw with my friend R. Gagnon, which I'll also put up Saturday. Later!

Montreal Comic Jam

Went to the Montreal Comic Jam last night. It went down at L'Utopik by the Berri Metro. In the pic above are (starting in left corner): Sirkowski, Jane Tremblay (hidden), Kurt Beaulieu, Eric Theriault, Richard Gagnon (standing), and Francis Hervieux. Had another picture of the beautiful Jane, but she'll thank me if I don't post that (she's in the middle of drinking something).

Taking off from a comment on the blog about my drawings looking like R. Crumb's, I tried to make the below Crumbian. I've been writing about beer for the TV show all week:




Meanwhile, Sirkowski very kindly drew me a sketch of one of his well-endowed characters. If that whets your appetite, please visit his site for more.