Raymond Briggs exhibition in Ditchling extended until Christmas

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Alex Fitch

Various books by Raymond Briggs

The fantastic career retrospective of children’s book illustrator and University of Brighton alumnus Raymond Briggs has been extended until December 22nd. Including numerous original examples of his art, including margin notes and corrections, and paraphenalia from his home and workspace is on display at Ditchling Museum of Art+Craft, Lodge Hill Lane, Ditchling, BN6 8SP.

In modern times, Briggs might be considered a graphic novelist, with his children’s books being tremendous examples of full colour British comics. You can hear an interview with the late artist on the Panel Borders blog. More info about Raymond Briggs’ work can be found on the Penguin website.

Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday (and Bank Holidays) 10:30am to 5pm.

Admission prices: Adult £10 with Gift Aid (£9 without)
Concessions – Disabled people, benefit recipients £8.50 with Gift Aid (£7.50 without)
Young people (5 – 25 year olds) £6 with Gift Aid (£5 without)
National Art Pass, Friends of Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, carers and under 5s– Free

Brighton based graphic novelist Warren Pleece discussing his new work

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Alex Fitch

Excerpt from The Sunny Luna Travlling Oracle by Warren Pleece

Brighton based graphic novelist Warren Pleece will be discussing his new book The Sunny Luna Travelling Oracle, which has just been released by the US comics publisher Dark Horse Comics.

This post-apocalyptic satirical comic imagines America after climate change and other disasters have set back culture a hundred years, with the future looking a lot like the US during the Great Depression. The titular show travels from town to town looking for such rare people as witches, and girls who own books, in a world where reading is seen as suspicious, in a tale that moves back and forth between colour and sepia, like 1939’s filmf of the Wizard of Oz.

Monday 23rd September, doors: 6.30pm, Q&A: 7.30pm, The Walrus, 10 Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AD / online via zoom (book free tickets via eventbrite )

More info can be found on Warren’s instagram, and about his new book via Dark Horse Comics.

Book a session on how to use comics in research

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Alex Fitch

Painting of students at a workshop by Ottilie Hainsworth

This Autumn, the University of Brighton is providing a session run by Dr Lesley Murray (Professor of Spatial Sociology) and Ottile Hainsworth (graphic novelist, and lecturer in art and illustration) on how to use comics in your research. This will include tips on how comics are fantastic as a presentation method for your research, and also will include a hands-on workshop in how you might go about creating comics from scratch. This will be pitched at anyone interested in the medium, even if you have no experience in making strips or cartoon drawings.

The workshop is taking place in City Lab, room 122, Mithras House (Moulsecoomb Campus) from 2-5pm on October 18th, and is open to all PGR students. To make sure that we don’t run out of spaces, please book by sending Christopher Matthews an email ( c.r.matthews [at] brighton.ac.uk ) to guarantee a place!

More info about Mithras Labs…

Katriona Chapman discusses her Brighton set graphic novel Breakwater

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Alex Fitch

Breakwater page 61 by Katriona Chapman

Cartoonist Katriona Chapman will be discussing her Brighton set graphic novel Breakwater, and working in the marketing department of comics publisher Avery Hill, at the next Cartoon County meeting at The Walrus, 10 Ship Street, Brighton on Monday August 17th.

This talk is free and open to all. Doors open at 6.30pm and the Q&A with Kat starts at 7.30pm. If you can’t make it in person, then you can also ‘tune in’ to the Q&A and ask questions via Zoom – book online tickets on Eventbrite

Info about this blog

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Alex Fitch

This blog promotes events and activites by and related to the Comics and Graphic Narratives Research Excellence Group at the University of Brighton.

www.brighton.ac.uk/comics is a repository of research activities by staff and students investigating, and making, comics at Brighton while here you will find news of less formal events, articles and activities undertaken by this group.

Regular comics events in Brighton include:

The semi annual Graphic Brighton conference, which mixes presentations by comic book creators and researchers, more info here: www.graphicbrighton.com with podcasts of conference presentations and panels here: graphicbrighton.wordpress.com/podcasts

The monthly Cartoon County symposium, where a visiting cartoonist talks about their work in the back room of a pub (and also available online via zoom); more info here: www.cartooncounty.com and there are podcasts of these talks and interviews also.