National Library of Scotland events

As the Graphic Novel exhibition at National Library of Scotland just ended, we thought we’d post some pictures of it here for those who couldn’t make it to Edinburgh.
The exhibit represented a broad spectrum of graphic novels, from the underground movement right through to superhero, and focused on Cam Kennedy’s artwork for Kidnapped (adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson by Alan Grant).
The photos were taken on the very busy opening night, and we hear that the exhibit itself was really well attended, and attracted new faces to the library. This is a photo of our own books there, and this link will lead you to more pictures.

The Local Heroes, The Art of the Graphic Novel exhibition at the National Library of Scotland ran from April 4th to June 1st 2008.

Our illustrated workshop at the National Library of Scotland last week was great fun! (Create your own Comics, May 23). It was fully booked (it even had a waiting list!), and the kids loved it, which is so rewarding. A little girl had even brought her own copy of Louis – Red Letter Day and wanted it signed. And, we gave everyone a mini-comic to take home, hoping to inspire them all to make their own. The children certainly got engrossed in creating their own characters (they virtually ignored the proposed break and took their biscuits and juice to the table), and we gave them a few tips on making comics, as well as a few highly useful facts, such as spiders having 48 knees. Beverley Casebow, who organised the event, kindly took a few pictures. And the library had let us design a flyer to help spread the word. Pictures below.

The Create Your Own Comics workshop was part of the National Library of Scotland’s series of events on graphic novels.

Our talk at the National Library of Scotland last Wednesday went really well and we got great positive feedback. Thanks again to everyone who came along and to all those involved in organising the events. With Lisa Otty chairing the evening, we gave an overview (with slides) of our work since our beginnings back in 1996.

Lisa, who is from the Graduate School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, also had quite a few in depth questions. We talked about the creative process in some detail, about visual storytelling and graphic novels and about the use of language in the books in general. We also demonstrated our use of bean cans and tea bags while promoting Strange Weather Lately a few years back (beware, some of the cans have inflated)!

Gafin from Deadhead Comics was in charge of hosting the bookstall. Apologies for the picture quality here, the room was very dark.

Next month we’re giving a two hour workshop on making comics, also at the National Library of Scotland (see previous post for details). We’ll soon post a few photos from the graphic novel exhibition that the library is hosting too so stay tuned…

This week, we’re doing a talk at the National Library of Scotland, as part of their series of events on graphic novels in April and May. We’ll also be doing a workshop at the end of May. Details and links are below.

Talk/Panel Session: ‘In conversation with metaphrog’.
Chaired by Lisa Otty, Graduate School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh.
When: Wednesday April 23 – 7pm.
Where: National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EW.
Booking essential for this free event: events@nls.uk or 0131 623 4675.

Workshop: ‘Create your own comics’ (for ages 8-12, places are limited).
When: Friday May 23 – 2.30 pm.
Where: National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EW.
Booking essential for this free event: events@nls.uk or 0131 623 4675.

These events are held in conjuction with the exhibition Local Heroes – The Art of the Graphic Novel which takes place at the National Library of Scotland from April 4th until June 1st 2008. Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy, Frank Quitely, Gary Erskine, David Donaldson, and Dr Mel Gibson will also be doing talks, while curator John Birch will give a guided tour of the exhibition. Go to the link above for more detail.

And here’s the flyer we did for the workshop: