“First there was Rembrandt, then there was Typex!” Nick Cave

Typex, creator of the acclaimed graphic novel biography of Rembrandt, will be in London next week to lead two workshops at The National Gallery. His trip coincides with the Gallery’s Rembrandt: The Late Works exhibition.

On Friday and Saturday next week, the Dutch graphic novelist will lead two practical workshops alongside artist and lecturer Aliki Braine.

Friday 5th December (6.30-7.30pm, National Gallery Room 23): on Friday evening, Typex will lead a drawing workshop in the Gallery itself, working with participants to create a piece of artwork inspired by Rembrandt’s 1654 painting, ‘A Woman bathing in a Stream’.

Saturday 6th December (10.30-12.30am, Pigott Education Centre Entrance): on Saturday morning, the focus shifts from drawing to comic creation. Participants will explore the process of creating a graphic novel, experimenting with drawing and collage to create their own comics inspired by Rembrandt’s work.

Admission is free for both workshops. Spaces are limited to 30 people on a first-come, first-served basis. All materials are provided. The events are aimed at people aged 18-25.

Typex’s graphic biography of the Dutch master was commissioned by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and published in English by SelfMadeHero last year.

“Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn would have adored this book. He would have admired its draughtsmanship and its wit and – given how many times he painted himself – he would have loved the fact that he is its star, warts and all.” The Observer

This weekend, no less than seven – yes, seven! – amazing SelfMadeHero creators will be making their way to Leeds for Thought Bubble. Spread over four tables (103-106, New Dock Hall), the following artists will be signing, sketching and talking their way through the weekend: I. N. J. Culbard, author of The Shadow Out of Time and numerous other graphic novel adaptations; Rob Davis, creator behind the acclaimed graphic re-imagining of Don Quixote; Room For Love author ILYA; and Oscar Zarate, author of The Park.

The weekend also sees release of Aama Vol. 1: The Smell of Warm Dust by Frederik Peeters, who’ll be signing and sketching copies of the book at Thought Bubble. On Saturday, he’ll also be talking about the book’s creation during a panel event hosted by Paul Gravett. Also featuring Oscar Zarate and ILYA, the ‘How They Work’ panel tales place at 15:45 in the Speech Bubble Panel Area.

The Nao of Brown creator Glyn Dillon will also be in Leeds, signing and sketching books, as will Mark Stafford and David Hine, the creators behind The Man Who Laughs. Both The Nao of Brown and The Man Who Laughs are shortlisted in the ‘Best Book’ category at the British Comic Awards. Winners will be announced at a party on Saturday night. Good luck to them!

For information about everything else that’s happening at Thought Bubble this weekend, visit the festival’s website.

In this in-depth article about the making of his graphic novel, Room For Love, ILYA talks about his inspirations and creative process, touching on everything from Germaine Greer to age-inappropriate relationships.

ILYA’s graphic novel, Room For Love, is available now from all good book shops. You can buy it online here (Amazon) and here (Waterstones).

We’re delighted to be publishing Room for Love, an original graphic novel by ILYA, on 15th November. Over the next week or two, ILYA will be blogging about the inspiration(s) behind the book, revealing what led him to write about an unconventional relationship between a homeless young man and a middle-aged romance novelist. In the meantime, here’s the blurb and details of the launch event.

“Romance is dead.” So says Pamela Green, middle-class and middle-aged – a romance novelist suffering from writer’s block. Then, on a bridge crossing over the river, her unsettled life collides with that of a ragged young man. He’s survived for months on London’s streets, by his wits…and his looks. Under extraordinary circumstances Pamela invites him into her comfortable suburban home. There, in spite of obvious differences, they soon come to form an unlikely partnership, their once separate lives revived in stark new directions.

ILYA’s work has been published by Marvel, DC and Dark Horse in the USA, Kodansha in Japan, and numerous independent companies worldwide. The creator of award-winning graphic novel series The End of the Century Club, his other works include Manga Shakespeare’s King Lear and the kitchen sink drama Skidmarks. His Illustration clients include the BBC, the Royal Academy of Arts, and The Guardian and Times newspapers.

Room for Love will launch at Gosh! Comics, 1 Berwick Street, London, W1F 0DR on Friday 15th November. The launch party is open to the public, so drop by from 7pm to grab yourself some free beer and a signed copy of the book.

Q: Why did you call it The Complete Don Quixote?

A: So many readers have failed to complete Don Quixote, this book advertises the possibility on its cover. Now you too can “Complete Don Quixote”! And because I finished my adaptation of the book, something that seemed unlikely at times. Other adaptations have failed to complete Don Quixote, not naming any names, you know who you are.

Q: But you missed some bits out so it’s not complete is it?

A: Yeah, yeah, shut up. It’s nearly 300 pages of comics, you could knock someone out with that lush hardback edition (only £19.99 from good stockists and a paltry £15 for a signed one at Thought Bubble!). And I have added as much as I’ve taken away – this is the graphic novel, not the novel novel. Cervantes would have loved comics as they can demonstrate his crazy ideas with an ease that cuts through age gap. Given how differently shaped our brains are now*, one could even claim that The Complete Don Quixote will give one a more complete experience of the story.

*There is no science to support this assertion.

Q: How so?

A: Here is an example from Volume Two, Chapter Four (a personal favourite)…

The mad knight, having escaped a wedding punch up, uses his idiot squire who has consumed much of the wedding feast for ballast as he leaps into the dreaded Cave of Montesinos.

After half an hour, Sancho drags his friend back up.

Quixote’s tale is rather abstract. We switch to his point of view with a change in style.

As you can see, there is some discrepancy between Quixote’s version of events and the probability that he just fell asleep.

This experience has changed his mission.

Brilliant! A true knight’s adventure! Sadly they are immediately distracted by a man dragging a cart who tells them of an impending war. Again, the switch of style lets us into the polite farce that began this war. Now whether we’re in Quixote’s imagination, Sancho’s imagination or the storyteller’s imagination matters not – by now we are familiar with the comic clues to a story within a story.

And back in the inn the man completes his story in person.

Or at least he would do but for the arrival of another storyteller in the shape of the Puppeteer, Master Pedro, and his psychic monkey.

And once again we enter the comic story within the comic story as Master Pedro’s puppets play out the story of another brave knight who would also rescue his fair maiden. But this time the comic page is a puppet theatre and the characters are puppets.

Turn the page.

Hmmmm. Quixote breaks the fourth wall. The comics break their own rule. This could be getting a bit meta if it weren’t for the gift of comics to help it all make perfect daft-sense.

Q: Fair enough. So what happens next? Does Quixote rescues Dulcinea from Merlin’s evil clutches?

A: I suggest you read the book. And so does the title.