Dave Roman's Blog, page 7
May 13, 2014
No sleep till Gaithersburg!
Just back from Toronto (and Japan the week prior) & now we are heading down to Maryland for the Gaithersburg Book Festival! I had a wonderful time last time and hope to have even more fun this year! And I’ll be joined by Raina Telgemeier and Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl) this time, so you won’t want to miss it.
Gaithersburg Book Festival
Saturday May 17th 10AM-6PM
Gaithersburg City Hall Grounds
FREE!
PRESENTATION TIMES:
Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeier (Smile)
Time: 1:15 P.M. – 2:05 P.M.
Location: Willa Cather Pavilion
Dave Roman & Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl)
Time: 3:15 P.M. – 4:05 P.M.
Location: Edgar Allan Poe Pavilion
SIGNING TIMES:
Time: 2:15 P.M. – 3:05 P.M.
Location: Politics and Prose signing area
Time: 4:15 P.M. – 5:05 P.M.
Location: Politics and Prose signing area
TCAF 2014 Photos & Video
Here’s a glimpse at all the fun we had at the Toronto Comic Arts Fest this year!
Some people said it was hard to find us at the show this year. You just had to know where to look…
The kids room was a bit disconnected from the rest of the show, so we really appreciated every single person who took the time to stop by. We did get to meet a lot of great kids and families. Not to mention practice our crayon skills.
I was passed a note by dreamy comics writer, J. Torres. He’s still nervously awaiting my response.
For the Reader’s Theater panel, I chose a great volunteer to help me read a chapter from Astronaut Academy. He had the perfect maniacal laugh to be a villainous member of Team Feety Pajamas!
And it turned out he was a big fan who brought his well-worn copies of the books to get signed. The ultimate compliment!
Author Rainbow Rowell offered to staff our table while I was away at a panel. With her help we sold all 25 copies of my new Starbunny, Inc. mini-comic by the end of the first day!
An awesome fan made a lego sculpture of a Mountie riding a horse, riding a jet ski inspired by the comic John Green drew for the TCAF program booklet a few years ago.
Here’s a panel from that comic for reference.
The annual Comics Quickfire game show was possibly our most fun yet. The room was packed with cheering folks who helped us create crazy improvised comics.
Here’s an awesome video clip from the Epic Draw finale in which Frank Cammuso takes one for the team drawing his least favorite thing…SNAKES!
Got to go to some awesome parties like Comics Vs. Games at Bento Miso. We headed there with great friends George Rohac and Kazu Kibuishi to check out the 3-D art.
Over the course of the weekend we ran into old friends, made new ones, ate lots of Japanese food & Greg’s ice cream.
Some of the treasure plundered from the show. I’m sure there’s so many great books I didn’t get a chance to pick up. TCAF has the highest density of creative talent on earth!
Our last day in town, I found an awesome hot dog & polish sausage vendor on King Street! A tasty way to end our adventure & say goodbye to Toronto till next time!
For more TCAF goodness, check out Raina’s convention wrap up!
May 7, 2014
TCAF 2014
This weekend is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival! The guest list is positively insane. So many amazing artists from all over the world!
Saturday May 10th 9am-5pm
Sunday May 11th 11am-5pm
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge Street
FREE!!!
I’ll be at TABLE B4 (on the first floor), and will be debuting my new mini-comic called Starbunny, Inc. and giving out free stickers with each purchase!
I’m also involved in some cool programming you will want to check out!
**Be sure to note that programming is spread out amongst two separate buildings.
Saturday May 10th
Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy, and Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl!
12:30 – 1:30pm
@ St. Paul’s on Bloor, 227 Bloor Street East
On the occasion of the much-anticipated release of The Return of Zita the Spacegirl, join creator Ben Hatke to welcome her back! Ben will be joined by author and artist Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), and they will both present from their newest works.
Sunday May 11th
Comics Quickfire!
11:30-12:30pm
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., Beeton Auditorium, 1st Floor
A fast-paced game show where volunteers are paired off with (or against) professional cartoonists in a series of fun-filled drawing challenges! Audience members will provide suggestions and add to the creation of totally improvised epic drawings! Featuring hosts Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), Alec Longstreth (Phase 7), Jason Caffoe (Explorer: Lost Islands), John Green (Teen Boat!), Frank Cammuso (Misadventures of Salem Hyde) and Raina Telgemeier (Drama)! Great for all ages!
Graphic Novel Readers Theater!
2:30-3:30pm
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., Beeton Auditorium, 1st Floor
A live performance involving lots of audience participation and silliness. Raina Telgemeier (Drama), Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy) and John Green (Teen Boat!) will perform chapters from their all-ages comics including one from the soon to be released anthology, Comic Squad!
May 6, 2014
Calling all Imaginary Friends
I created some new art for the Imaginary Friends show at Gallery Nucleus. It’s in conjunction with the new book by Dan Santat called “The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.” There’s an amazing lineup of people so if you are in the LA area you should definitely check it out!
More info HERE!
April 15, 2014
Litworks 2014 photos
I had a wonderful time at LitWorks in Norridge, Il. Huge thanks to organizers for inviting me out!
Whenever I’m in the Chicago area, I must have at least one meal at Joy Yee! They have the best pan fried noodles in the world…and the biggest smoothie assortment I’ve ever seen. Love the Strawberry-Pineapple-Banana-Coconut. I also tried the pineapple fried rice which was delicious. It was a shame that I couldn’t finish it all and had to leave it in my hotel fridge.
The best part of any literary festival is getting to know the other authors. Marie Lu (Legend), Antony John (Elemental), Kody Keplinger (Shut Out), Jennifer E. Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight) and Jack Gantos (Dead End in Norvelt) are all amazing people that I hope I get to see lots more of in the future.
At LitWorks each of the authors is assigned their own entourage of helpers! They each took turns carrying around my severed head, perhaps as a homage to Game of Thrones (debuting it’s 4th season later that weekend).
Even I was excited to meet Dave Roman! I totally fanboyed him.
Seriously, if you ever have a chance to see Jack Gantos give a presentation, DO IT! I’ve been fortunate to see him a few times now, and he always leaves me winded from laughter. Not to mention totally inspired to go out make great things.
During my breakout sessions I had some teens collaborate on improvised comics, which is always a ton of fun. This one involved Humpback Whales attending a Metallica Concert.
Everyone got free lunch and tons of swag!
April 2, 2014
LitWorks, in Norridge, IL
I’m excited to be a part of the 2014 LitWorks Teen Book Fest!
Saturday April 5th 9am-4am
Norridge, IL
Eisenhower Public Library & Ridgewood H.S. present a FREE event for Teens to meet six exciting authors, to celebrate teen reading, and to have fun!!!
LitWorks begins with an Open Author Panel in the auditorium of Ridgewood High School. This panel is an opportunity for you to meet all six authors. You can then sign up for break out sessions for each of the authors.
Books will be for sale, courtesy of Anderson’s Bookshop, throughout the event and you will be able to get items signed by authors at the Author Autograph Party. Music, snacks, and give-aways will be available throughout the day.
Free Admission for Teens — $5 for Adults.
Agnes Quill website
The Agnes Quill website has been updating on semi-regular basis with new pages from “Left Behind,” my latest collaboration with Jason Ho. He’s been doing an amazing job with the pages! And I’ve been having fun posting previews on my Instagram account.
I hope you’ll check it out and help spread the word about Agnes Quill so we can continue to make new stories!
March 27, 2014
Meltdown! This weekend!
Raina Telgemeier and I will be part of the Meltdown Family Music and Book Festival! Along with Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Lunch Lady) & other awesome authors and musicians.
Here’s a radio interview we did with 93.9 The River.
Here is the full schedule:
10:40 a.m. – Tanya Lee Stone
11:40 a.m. – Bob Shea
12:40 p.m. – Jarrett Krosoczka Drawing Party
1:40 p.m. – Dave Roman
2:40 p.m. – Raina Telgemeier
MELTDOWN Family Music & Book Fest
Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School
80 Locust St.
Northampton, MA
Saturday, March 29
10am – 4pm
FREE!!
More info about the authors HERE!
March 26, 2014
Take Me To Your Mother
George O’Connor (author of the Olympians series) and I recently appeared on the NickMom TV show Take Me To Your Mother with Andrea Rosen. The episode is called “Andrea Geeks Out” and can been seen online (at least for now). Here’s some screen pics.
George and I get to play ourselves.
My book Astronaut Academy makes a cameo in the opening segment.
An original drawing made for the show.
Watch the episode HERE. (We appear in segment 5)
March 21, 2014
Black-Eyed Susan Award Nomination!
Astronaut Academy :Zero Gravity has been nominated for a Black-Eyed Susan Book Award in the Graphic Novel: Grades 4-6 category for the 2014-2015 school year. The award seeks to promote literacy and lifelong reading habits by encouraging students to read quality contemporary literature. The award is librarian nominated and student selected. Each year more than 70,000 students across the state vote for their favorite nominated book in five categories: Picture Book, Grades 4-6, Graphic Novels: Grades 4-6, Grades 6-9, and High School.
This is my first state book award nomination and I couldn’t be more excited! I drew this original piece as thanks to the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) and all the students who have supported Astronaut Academy!
