2.11.14

Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF)2014



Between 16th  till 17th October 2014 I was invited and participated 24 hour comic strip marathon as a part of this year’s LakesInternational Comic Art Festival (LICAF) in Kendal, Cumbria.

Embedded image permalink

It was led and organaised by ever more magnificent Dan Berry and other notable names who joined in were Kristyna Baczynski ,Sarah McIntyreJack Teagle, Joe Decie, and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell. I was very thrilled and honoured to get involved in this, being recoganised among the establishment.

Here is me with Warwick and Joe working away, 
Borrowed from Sara's twitter feed.Probably my only chance standing next to the famous author of Understanding comics and the 24hour comic marathon creator Scott Mccloud

The support by the festival organizer and the castle green hotel where we stayed and worked were absolutely amazing and it is worth pointing out that comparing to the most famous lot such as the one by Angouleme 24h BD session every January, The LICAF tried to make a difference by giving us sufficient time to prepare ourselves in favour of good quality story-lines. The result was a spectacular bunch of differences in styles and stories.
Here is my tale: Anywhere Road


What I underachieved and achieved

I have to say, when I compare myself among all those lots, I did many things wrong and a little wasted the opportunity to create a beautiful little book. I was also the very last one to finish the work too…stressing Dan and making the printers wait for my pages.Very embarrassed at the end.

However this was a tale which takes place in the UK rather than my usual setting in Japan. Although I’ve lived in the UK for 22 years in total I still feel at ease talking about the issues and themes based in Japan but I find it very limiting creatively.
In short I don’t like to be regarded as an author who only talks about his country of origin and never shows an interest in the country he has adapted.

I need to start something different.

I’m always interested in various social issues in the UK, and it was my first attempt to talk about it. Of course I’ve failed many things in here including story, but I’m happy with this challenge and I feel the result here shows me the future direction I could take on.

To boost my confidence, certain people bought copies and my peers didn’t see the story too strange or too incorrect. I thought ‘huh! Maybe I could do this?’

Great?

No comments:

Post a Comment