The fourth Lakes International Comic Art Festival will run from 14-16 October 2016 in Kendal, Cumbria, celebrating great comic art from across the world – and the full details for every ticketed event have now been announced. Here’s a “Flash Guide” to every ticketed event over the weekend.
The weekend-long event is the only one of its kind in the UK, taking over the whole town of Kendal, on the edge of the Lake District, for a weekend. On his visit in 2013 internationally-renowned comic artists, Joe Sacco, said it was an “important moment in British comics”.
Many Lancaster comic creators will be heading north for the event, as will First Age Comics, the Moor Lane-based comic shop and veteran comics editor and writer John Freeman, who has been heavily involved in the project for the past few years.
“The event organisers have made this Festival like the ones run on the continent,” he says. “As well as events about comics themselves, the whole town is taken over, with local businesses turing over their shop windows to promote comics, exhibitions, crazy stuff in local pubs at night and more!
“The whole thing kicks off on Friday night with a Lancaster University-backed event that sees fans of Asterix and Tintin go head to head – in a fun way! – to decide who’s the best. It’s like a comics X Factor or Strictly event, and I’m told there will be some famous comic names “beaming in” from the United States and elsewhere to make their case for their favourite hero.”
Guests at this year’s Festival include: Charlie Adlard, Edmond Baudoin, Roberto Bartual, Jordi Bernet, Dan Berry, Adam Brockbank, Kate Charlesworth, Dave Crane, Rufus Dayglo, Joe Decie, Oliver East, The Etherington Brothers, Duncan Fegredo, Robin Furth, Tom Gauld, Isabel Greenberg, Ben Heggarty, Ilya, Joe Kelly, Sally Kindberg, Paula Knight, Aidan Koch, Olivier Kugler, Bryan Lee O’Malley, John Martz,Luke McGarry and Steve McGarry, Dave McKean. Mick McMahon, Leah Moore and John Reppion. Ken Niimura, Benoit Peeters, Sean Phillips, Paco Roca, Martin Rowson, Frank Santoro, Jade Sarson, Gilbert Shelton, Nicola Streeten, Bryan Talbot, Mary M. Talbot, Paul Thomas, Craig Thompson, Una, Emma Vieceli, the VIZ team, Tillie Walden, Ian Williams and Connor Willumsen.
Joining this growing list of top international and British comics guests, in partnership with The Finnish Institute of London, will be artists Hanneriina Moisseinen, Virpi Oinonen, Ville Ranta, Johanna Rojola and Petteri Tikkanen, along with musicians Niko Kumpuvaara and Aleksi Ranta, the latter part of the Comics in Concert project.
The festival features comic artists from around the world, as well as performance, film, exhibitions, comic trails, workshops, master classes, live drawing and independent retailers and publishers. The events programme is bursting with opportunities to get up close and personal with some of the leading comic artists and writers from across the world – see them draw, talk about their work and bring comics to life.
A free Family Zone provides drop-in activities for all ages, alongside a series of fantastic workshops for kids and teenagers. The Lakes International Comic Art Festival brings the town together for a weekend to celebrate the amazing world of comic art.
Among others, you’ll find Direct-Ed, Lancaster Guardian cartoonist Jack Knight, Joe Matthews of Funny Monster Comics, Graham Pearce (creator of Sgt Mike Battle), Sloth Comics, Jordan Vigay and Wizard’s Keep.
Exhibitors in the Comics Clock Tower “marketplace” and the Brewery Malt Room for 2016 include All Things Thom, Joe Bailey Sculpture & Design, Kathryn Briggs, Keith Burns, Silvia Carrus, James Chapman,The Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain, Clockwork Watch Films,EdieOP, Gary Erskine, Fungii, Get Well Gamers, Sarah Graley, Happy Space Sloth, Daisy Hillyard, Hitsville UK, Ink Splattery, Sonya Hallett Illustration, the Jeff Hawke Club, Daisy Hillyard, Luke Hyde, Tom Kindley, Roger Langridge, Joe Latham, David Leach, Lines of Enquiry, Aimee Lockwood, Aurora Melchor, Midnight Milk, Adam Murphy, Never Ever After, Stray Lines, Richard Swan, This Man, This Pete!, Tiny Pencil, Amanda Eleanor Tribble, Myfanwy Tristram, University of Cumbria Comic Book Collective, Tom Ward, Dan Watters and Caspar Wijngaard, Chris Welch, Andrew Wildman, Jennifer Winetrobe, Wobbly Rock, Aneurin Wright and Zu Dominiak.
Plus, look out for publishers Arctic Ring Comics, Disconnected Press, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Humanoids, Myriad Editions, The Phoenix, Self Made Hero, Soaring Penguin Press and TPub Comics.
Retailers in the Clock Tower this year are First Age Comics, Forbidden Planet International, Imagination Station, Knot Like That, Orbital Comics and Page 45
Lakes International Comic Art Festival Programme 2016 – Festival In A Flash
- Tickets are on sale now from the Brewery web site here and you can download the official programme as a PDF (21MB) here
- View the 2016 Lakes International Festival Programme on Issuu here
- You can also book tickets by phone by calling Kendal’s Brewery Box Office on 01539 725133.
- Visit the Festival Events Calendar for more information on announced events
- 2016 Guests | 2016 Signings | 2016 Clock Tower Exhibitors | 2016 Family Zone | 2016 Windows Trail | Exhibitions | Books
Friday 14th October 2016
Asterix vs Tintin : Clash of the Toon Titans
7.00 – 8.15pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
Presented by Lancaster University and supported by Wallonie-Bruxelles International
The Merc with the Mouth: Special screening of Deadpool introduced by Joe Kelly
Rated: 15 Running time: 108 mins
8.30 – 11.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
Saturday 15th October 2016
Drawing on Japan: Miyazaki, Master of Ghibli
10.30 – 11.30am Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
Olivier Kugler: Comics sans Frontieres
10.30 – 11.30am Comics Clock Tower, Council Chamber
Duncan Fegredo: To Hellboy and Back
11.00am – 12pmBrewery Arts Centre Screen One
The Art of Mick McMahon
11.00am – 12.00pm The Shakespeare Centre
Creatrix to Cartoonistas: When Women Lead the Way
11.30am – 12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
Paul Thomas: Under the Skin of Tattoos & Taboos
12.15-1.15pm Comics Clock Tower Council Chamber
In partnership with Nobrow
Joe Kelly: Tour de Force – From Ben 10 to I Kill Giants
12.30 – 1.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
Edmond Baudoin and Craig Thompson: Motion and Emotion
1.00 – 2.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
In partnership with SelfMadeHero and Institut Francais
Jordi Bernet: Spanish Legend
1.00 – 2.00pm The Shakespeare Centre
Gilbert Shelton: Fabulous Furry Freak Brother
1.30 – 2.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
In partnership with Knockabout
Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty: From Hogwarts to Mezolith
2.00 – 3.00pm Comics Clock Tower Council Chamber
Luke – I am Your Father! (with Luke and Steve McGarry)
2.30 – 3.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
In partnership with the National Cartoonists Society
Martin Rowson: Giving Offence
3.00 – 4.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
Hotfoot from Helsinki: Comics in Concert
3.00 – 4.00pm The Shakespeare Centre
In partnership with the Finnish Institute in London
Tom Gauld: We’re All Jealous of Your Jetpack
3.30 – 4.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
In partnership with Drawn & Quarterly
Isabel Greenberg: The One Hundred Nights of Hero
4.00 – 5.00pm Comics Clock Tower Council Chamber
In partnership with Jonathan Cape
The Dark Knights Return: The Big Comic Draw
4.30 – 6.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World : Special Screening introduced by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Rated: 12A Running Time: 112 mins
5.00 – 7.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
Wrinkles: Special Screening introduced by Paco Roca
Rated: U Director: Ignacio Ferreras Running time: 86 mins
5.30 – 7.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
In partnership with The School of Languages, Cardiff University
Sunday 16th October
Ben 10: Omnitrix Extravaganza introduced by Joe Kelly
Rated: U Running Time: 71 mins
10.30am – 12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
Dayglo and Tikkanen: International Live Draw Rockstars
11.00am – 12.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
In partnership with the Finnish Institute in London
Tillie Walden
11.00am – 12.00pm Comics Clock Tower, Council Chamber
In partnership with Avery Hill Publishing
The Write Stuff – The Art of Adaptation and Collaboration
11.00am – 12.00pm The Shakespeare Centre
Bryan Lee O’Malley: From Scott (Pilgrim) to Snot (Girl)
11.30am – 12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
You Ask, We Tell! Helping Creators Pitch to Publishers, the Press and Comic Shops
1.00 – 2.00pm Comics Clock Tower, Council Chamber
In partnership with Page 45
Craig Thompson: Universal Storyteller
1.00 – 2.00pm The Shakespeare Centre
How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way the Viz Comic Way: A Masterclass
1.00 – 2.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
Dave McKean: Black Dog – The Dreams of Paul Nash
1.30 – 2.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
Paco Roca: From Peter Pan to Wrinkles
2.00 – 3.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two
In partnership with The School of Languages, Cardiff University
The Red Virgin: Bryan and Mary Talbot
2.30 – 3.30pm Comics Clock Tower Council Chamber
In partnership with Jonathan Cape
Princess Mononoke: Special Screening
Rated: PG13 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Running Time: 133 mins
3.00 – 6.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Screen One
The Etherington Brothers: Master Chefs
3.30 – 4.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Theatre
In partnership with… The Etherington Brothers!
Workshops & Masterclasses
Please note numbers for workshops is limited and early booking is strongly advised!
Tickets are on sale now from the Brewery web site here
You can also book tickets by phone by calling Kendal’s Brewery Box Office on 01539 725133
Saturday 15th October
Pirates! With Sally Kindberg
10.00 – 11.00am Kendal Library
Burbling bilgewater! Join Sally Kindberg’s ghastly pirate crew and get drawing treasure maps, scary sea monsters, sharks and shipwrecks in the Family Zone.
Age: 5 to 8 years
Price: £0 (ticketed)
Order Tickets from The Brewery
Frank Santoro, Aidan Koch and Connor Willumsen: Comics Workbook Composition Competition – Live
10.30am – 12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Studio Theatre
The Comics Workbook “gang” will host a composition competition within this workshop. Centring around the advanced application of techniques developed by Comics Workbook, you will compose directly with no script or prior preparation. You’ll complete a one-page comic strip within the time allowed and there will be a symbolic competition to foster a challenging atmosphere in order to bring out the best in each participant. Beginners and experts are welcome. (All participants will have the opportunity to have their work printed with the help of the Comics Workbook gang at the Comics Clocktower at their “riso depot”)
Level : All
Price : £10
In partnership with Comics Workbook
Virpi Oinonen: Five Surprising Things I Discovered Through Cartooning
10.30am – 12.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 2
What do you do when you need to explain something that is boring but important? You turn it into comics of course. Virpi Oinonen has been drawing comics and cartoons on business topics for several years. If the topic is unsexy, then comics can bring it to life in a way that the written word or video cannot. Drawn line has the power to take an abstract concept and bring it to life through the power of visual metaphors and humour. And there is something about a slightly wobbly drawn line that makes a potentially intimidating topic a bit more approachable and human.
Virpi’s session will show you how comics have been used in the business world and how you, too, can tame/communicate a boring business concept with a quick sketch. Virpi blogs and draws about business topics at businessgoessocial.net and her website for visual work is at businessillustrator.com.
In partnership with The Finnish Institute in London and Choose South Cumbria
Level : All
Price : £10
ILYA: Masterclass: Adaptation into Comics
11.00am – 12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 1
In an intensive practical and collaborative workshop session, you’ll look at ways to approach adapting famous works of art or literature into the comics format with writer, artist and editor ILYA (Manga Shakespeare’s King Lear, How To Draw Comics, Kid Savage). We will choose and adapt one of Shakespeare’s Sonnets on the spot, fully exploring the many links between the language of comics and lyric verse or poetry. You will come away empowered to tackle well nigh anything!
Level : Ages 16+
Price : £10
Meet the Minions: Drawing for Animation with Steve and Luke McGarry
11.30am – 12.30pm Kendal Library
On an exclusive visit from the USA Steve and Luke McGarry, father and son, and two of the most sought after cartoonists, animators and designers in Los Angeles, will show you how to draw your own Minion in this hands-on, inspiring one-hour session.
Age: All ages
Price: £0 (ticketed)
Order Tickets from The Brewery
Roberto Bartual: A Masterclass in Reading Comics
12.30 – 2.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 2
Using 4-5 pages from different comics Roberto Bartual will explore with a small participating “audience” the principles of page composition in relation to plot and how these relate to the main themes of the whole comic. It aims to make the reader more aware of formal mechanisms. With one of the festival’s guest creators present it will reveal aspects of their work to you in new ways and to them too perhaps. It promises to be enlightening, inspiring and fun too.
Roberto Bartual teaches Children’s Literature at Universidad Europea de Madrid, and recently published his first graphic novel as a writer: Los Ángeles de María (Mary’s Angels), drawn by Julián Almazán.
Level : All
Price : £10
In partnership with The School of Languages, Cardiff University supported by Santander
Around the Universe (and beyond…) with Sally Kindberg
1.00-2.00pm Kendal Library
Whooshy! Join Sally Kindberg in a fun interactive comic strip drawing session, and make your own space adventure using characters from her Hat of Surprise as prompts.
Visitors from other planets and the outer galaxies most welcome.
Sally’s book series Draw It! including Draw It! Pirates, and the Comic Strip History of Space (Bloomsbury) will be on sale, and Sally will happily sign your copies.
Age: 7 to 11 years
Price: £0 (ticketed)
Order Tickets from The Brewery
John Martz: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Bad Drawings
1.00-2.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 1
What makes a good drawing good? We all struggle with our own limitations as artists, but we can channel those limitations into strengths by understanding the purpose and function of an image. Drawings don’t need to be flawless to accomplish their goals. In fact, many stories and voices are better served by simple, unrefined drawings. We’ll take a close look at the relationship between words and pictures, study the work of artists who transcend “good drawing”, and learn to be happier cartoonists by casting away the shackles of perfection.
John Martz is a cartoonist and illustrator from Toronto. He is the creator of the wordless online comic strip Machine Gum and won the 2013 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story for his comic book Gold Star (Retrofit Comics, 2012). His book, A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories (Koyama Press, 2014), was shortlisted for The Governor General’s Literary Awards and was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7).
Level : All
Price £10
Charlie Adlard & Dan Berry: Life Draw Masterclass
1.30pm – 3.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Studio Theatre
Committed amateurs with an ambition for the comics industry are invited to join Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard and the multi-talented independent creator and publisher Dan Berry to explore and practise the fine art of life drawing. Charlie and Dan will demonstrate their approaches and techniques before “coaching” a small group in this special session featuring two life models.
Level : Intermediate to advanced
Price : £20
In partnership with Creative Concern
Dave Crane: Stone Soup and Second Hand Stories
2.00 – 5.00pm The Foyer Cafe
Are you interested in learning how to tell stories using words and pictures, but don’t feel confident about your drawing ability? Or, if you already create comics, do you want to get an insight into different processes for getting a story off the ground? Bring your own creativity, and a small object with a story attached to it, and we’ll throw it into the pot and create something out of nothing.
We will explore how the mechanics of words and pictures can combine to tell a story. We’ll look at how to make the words and pictures work together, also how to make them fight, or ignore one another. We’ll look at how these “arthouse” techniques can be used in the service of telling an interesting story. All materials will be provided.
Bring along a small item and the story behind it. This should be short and simple, couple of sentences at most. It can be a true story from your life, a true story you’ve read about or heard, or be completely made up. (If nothing comes to mind, don’t worry – just bring yourself!)
Dave Crane makes and publishes short improvised/experimental comics in collaboration with theatre groups, charities and festivals, and has a longer graphic novel in process.
Level: All
Price £10
Connor Willumsen: The Hammer Party
2.30 – 4.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 2
Connor Willumsen is an exceptional cartoonist whose résumé includes mainstream publishers such as Marvel Comics and arthouse publishers such as Breakdown Press. Mr. Willumsen’s toolbox contains many different hammers with which to smash up traditional approaches to making comics. This Comics Workbook workshop will explore how to navigate such diverse worlds as mainstream and avant-garde comics–and how to tailor one’s practice into a unified whole. Frank Santoro will provide workshop support.
Level : Intermediate to advanced
Price £10
In partnership with Comics Workbook
Kid Savage: Wild Creature Mashups
2.30-3.30pm Kendal Library
Kid Savage, the new graphic novel from ILYA (Manga Shakespeare) and Joe Kelly (creator of Ben 10) features some pretty wild creature combos. What’s the wildest mash-up creature you can think of? Bat-Hulk? Dog Ballerinas? Join ILYA to discover the weird and wonderful world of mash-ups and see how creative you can get!
Age: 8+ years
Price: £0 (ticketed)
Order Tickets from The Brewery
Aidan Koch: Visual Poetry
3.00-4.30pmBrewery Arts Centre Art Room 1
Aidan Koch is the William Blake of the “comics as poetry” school of thought in contemporary art. Ms. Koch’s skill set has really never been seen before in the world of comic books. She has been one of the first contemporary cartoonists to “crossover” to literary magazines such The Paris Review. This Comics Workbook workshop will immerse the student in her unique approach to the medium of comic books – with a focus on using non-traditional media such as pastel, watercolour and egg tempera to create comics much like the mono-prints of the great William Blake.
Frank Santoro will provide workshop support.
Level : Intermediate to advanced
Price £10
In partnership with Comics Workbook
Sunday 16th October
John Martz: Create Your Own Comic Characters
10.30 – 11.30am Brewery Arts Centre Studio Theatre
Age: 5 to 8 years
Price: £3
Learn how to draw some of the cute and funny animals from John Martz’s Eisner award nominated A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories, building them from simple shapes. Then use a set of shapes to invent your very own characters!
Martin Rowson: A Caricaturing Masterclass
11.00am-12.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 1
Draw each other, straight then more exaggerated with less and less time. And you’ll do a joint cartoon too on a topical subject on a roll of wallpaper. An amazing opportunity to learn from the maestro!
Martin Rowson is a multi-award winning cartoonist and writer whose work over the past thirty years has appeared regularly in The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror and more. His books include graphic novelisations of T.S.Eliot’s Wasteland and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. He has been Chair of the British Cartoonists’ Association & Cartoonist Laureate to the Mayor of London (Ken Livingstone).
Level : All
Price £10
Games We Play… In Japan
11.30am – 1.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 2
Ken Niimura is one of the festival’s special guests in 2016 all the way from Japan. Ken was winner of the Golden Prize in the 5th International Manga Award and was nominated for both Eisner and Eagle Awards for his work on ‘I Kill Giants’, created in collaboration with Joe Kelly. His illustration book Zero reveals both a rare and diverse talent, while Travelling and Henshin, both short story collections, display that intoxicating combination of fine art and strong storyline.
“Come, let’s do some drawing games together! You don’t need to draw well – just be ready to have some fun by using drawings as a means to tell a story and combine your drawings with those of the other participants. We’ll do a comic strip that we’ll swap between artists and a game of combining characters and more”.
Level: All
Price £10
Character Design Clinic with Emma Vieceli
12.30 – 1.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Studio Theatre
This session will be a hands-on drawing event, aimed at basic to early intermediate level artists or beginners. You’ll learn the basic layout of anatomy and the face and then play with matching features to character-types.
Age: 8+ years
Price: £3
Micro Masterclass with Joe Kelly: A Question of Character
1.00 – 2.30pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 1
Well-developed characters are the heart of any good story, illuminating theme, driving plot and holding a mirror to the audience. Meant for the writer with a basic understanding of story structure, Kelly will discuss storytelling from a character perspective. He will examine layered character motivations, operational themes and cast construction that will help to tell your story in a more robust and specific way regardless of your medium.
Level : Intermediate to advanced
Price £10
ILYA: Manga – The Art of Exploded Moments
1.30 – 3.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Art Room 2
Explore the storytelling art of manga with artist, writer and editor ILYA (Kodansha, Manga Shakespeare’s King Lear, The Manga Drawing Kit, The Mammoth Books of Best New Manga). Design a page layout to maximise drama and character. Learn how to speed up and slow down time. Conquer the world!
Muahahaha… Come prepared to draw a lot.
Level: All
Price £10
Mezolith: World-Building with Adam Brockbank & Ben Haggarty
2.00-3.00pm Brewery Arts Centre Studio Theatre
with Dr Melanie Gibson
Time: 2.00 to 3.00pm
Meet the creators of Mezolith, the highly-acclaimed series set 10,000 years ago in Stone Age Britain.
Adam Brockbank is best-known for his work on all eight of the Harry Potter films. Ben is one of our foremost performance storytellers and Honorary Professor of Storytelling at the Arts University of Berlin.
This special session, led by Dr Mel Gibson, will reveal how worlds like Mezolith are imagined and built. Please note, this session will involve lots of time for questions and answers but doesn’t involve practical exercises.
Age: 8+ years
Price: £3
Tickets are on sale now from the Brewery web site here
You can also book tickets by phone by calling Kendal’s Brewery Box Office on 01539 725133
Visit our Events Calendar for more information on announced events
Explore the rest of the Festival web site…
2016 Festival
What’s On | Festival in a Flash | View and download the 2016 Programme on Issuu
2016 Guests | 2016 Signings | 2016 Clock Tower Exhibitors | 2016 Family Zone | 2016 Windows Trail | Exhibitions | Books
Plan Your Visit
Accommodation and Travel |Venues | Kendal Map | Restaurants and Cafés | Explore South Lakeland
Support the Festival
Subscribe to the Festival Mailing List
Read the independent Red Research Evaluation Report on the 2015 Festival, which note the weekend-long event attracted almost 14,000 people to Kendal and generated an estimated £1.7 million for the host town