IN THE STUDIO-Session 2

Archive of Australian Alternative Comics, Art, Blotting Paper, Comics, printmaking May 21, 2021

These production posts document the “making” stage, whether animation, comics, postcards, prints or paintings, in a small studio. I always work to music and some photos in my blog posts show the equipment and the CD…not these, unfortunately.

Miro, our studio cat, in the foreground bottom, right, is keeping watch whilst a batch of background coloured postcards dry. Our cat offered a similar service for the printing of comics labels (see below). (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Exposure to sunlight for a batch of freshly printed postcards. This proved to be a quick method of drying the ink and paint. (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Printed sheets hanging out to dry. These long strips were sometimes cut into smaller pieces, depending upon their graphic application. (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill  a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
First stage in the printing of labels for an issue of my comic BLOTTING PAPER…labels would then be overprinted with the title (see below). (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Second stage…labels drying in the sun…different studio…a little windswept. These are some of the overprinted covers for my comic BLOTTING PAPER, following addition of second layer (see above). (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Second stage at the other studio…some of the comics covers have been blown into the grass. These are left to dry…usually pegged on a clothesline…but not these, left lying before being blown away…then being returned to the studio for overprinting with the title of the comic. (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Third stage, title block for the comics cover…with loosely assembled rubber type…becomes the third print layer. (Photo and printmaking block-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Third stage of printing…complete with labels following overprinting of title of the comic. (Photo-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)
Finally, the finished labels are glued to the covers containing the printed copies of the comic. (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill a.k.a. Doctor Comics)

This post and all photos, postcards, postcard art and printmaking-© 2015 Dr. Michael Hill aka Doctor Comics.

     

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Co-creator and former Director of the Master of Animation, Master of Design, and Visual Communication Design courses at the University of Technology, Sydney, Dr. Michael Hill has a Master's degree in animation and a Ph.D. in comics studies, prompting his introduction on ABC Radio as “Doctor Comics”. A member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Comic Art, and former member of the Comics Grid Journal of Comics Scholarship and the Advisory Committee of the Q-Collection Comic Book Preservation Project, he has delivered public lectures on Comics, Anime and Manga and held academic directorships in Interdisciplinary Studies, Animation, Design and Visual Communication. Having retired from academia and completing the donation of his collection of research materials on Australian alternative comics to the National Library of Australia, he is now active in the artistic domain, writing, drawing and printmaking, creating art postcards and prints and his own graphic novel: Blotting Paper: The Recollected Graphical Impressions of Doctor Comics.

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