IPI: Indigenous Peeps in the Industry - 10

IPI: Indigenous Peeps in the Industry - 10

Richard Van Camp  

IPI #10 - Richard Van Camp

Welcome to Indigenous Peeps in the Industry or 'IPI' - my blog series that celebrates Indigenous artists, writers, and other creatives working in the comic book and/or video game industry. In this edition, I talk to super-author, Richard Van Camp. I first met Richard in 2008 at the Eiteljorg Museum, as we were both panelist on Native Americans in Comics panel (thanks for initially getting us all together, Pete Brown!). You can visit Richard on Facebook, Twitter or at his website: www.richardvancamp.com.

Michael Sheyahshe (MS): Background info: what is your tribal affiliation and where are you from?

Richard Van Camp (RVC): I'm a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. I am the author of two children’s books with the Cree artist George Littlechild: "A Man Called Raven" and "What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?" I've published a novel, The Lesser Blessed, which is now a feature film with First Generation Films; my collections of short fiction include Angel Wing Splash Pattern, The Moon of Letting Go and Other Stories, and Godless but Loyal to Heaven. I've authored three baby books: Welcome Song for Baby; A Lullaby for Newborns; Nighty Night; A Bedtime Song for Babies and Little You (now translated into Cree, Dene and South Slavey!), and I have two comic books out with the Healthy Aboriginal Network: Kiss Me Deadly and Path of the Warrior.

My graphic novel, Three Feathers, Whistle, is about mental health and asking for forgiveness. The latest cinematic adaptation of my work is "Mohawk Midnight Runners", which is a short movie by Zoe Hopkins based on my short story, "Dogrib Midnight Runners" from The Moon of Letting Go.
is about restorative justice; my new novel,

MS: Did you have a lot of cultural interaction growing up? (Family gatherings, dances, ceremonies, etc.?)

RVC: Yes! Lots of storytelling and family gatherings. Best friends in the world and Fort Smith was an incredible town to be born into. It was a great time to grow up in the 80's, as well.

MS: When did you first get into comics?

RVC: My appendix blew up inside of me when I was in grade 2. As luck would have it, my neighbors brought me all of their comics to keep me company. Mike Grell’s "The Warlord" (issue 13) saved me because I made a deal with myself that when I got out of there, I’d get every single issue. I did. I have the entire series and followed it for years. I’m grateful to Epic Magazine, Savage Tales and Heavy Metal magazine--The Savage Sword of Conan, too!--because they lit imagination on fire.

MS: What is your favorite comic book of all time…something that turns FRI-SUN into a 'lost weekend'?

RVC: The Walking Dead. I've been following it for years and it’s only getting better. Rachel Rising is incredible, too. I love the graphic novels. I also laugh out loud any time I reread “Injury” comic
books.

MS: What is your specialty in the "biz" (comics/gaming industry)?

RVC: I write comics and graphic novels. I have two comics out with the Healthy Aboriginal Network: Kiss Me Deadly, on sexual health, and Path of the Warrior, on gang violence prevention. I also have a graphic novel out on restorative justice with Portage and Main: Three Feathers, and I have a graphic novel out on mental health titled "The Blue Raven." I have a new graphic novel coming out next year titled "A Blanket of Butterflies" on how storytelling and cultural protocol can be a peacemaking tool to stop escalating violence.

MS: Did you get special training and/or education for this?

RVC: I started editing for The Healthy Aboriginal Network and learned the tools of the trade from there.

MS: Do any of your comic books feature Native American or Indigenous characters in them?

RVC: All of them feature Dene people and northerners. I’m proud of that.

MS: Do you have an opinion about Indigenous characters in comics, video games, and/or pop culture?

RVC: I'm always happy to see my cousins in anything pop culturish :)

MS: Do you know of any other Natives in the biz?

RVC: I'm blessed to work with Cree artist Steve Sanderson and Chris Auchter who is Haida on our comics.

MS: Any words of wisdom for others (Native or non) looking to do what you do?

RVC: Read as many comics and graphic novels as you can and work with a great team: editors, layout artist, publishers and artists who love the genre and are wanting to create works of forever.

MS: Thanks, Richard...you rock!  :) 

Book Review

Book Review

Rita Kohn  

Wow. Somebody read the book and actually liked it? Somebody not related to me?
Joking aside, reading a review like the one Rita Kohn wrote (link below) is very touching and provides ample reward for authoring the book. Her review is not only flattering (which I enjoy, of course) but there is an undertone of deep sincerity in her review.

I had the great fortune to meet Rita during my time at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indiana and we must have talked for an hour or so, sharing, swapping, and comparing stories. Turns out, Kohn has published with McFarland (my publisher), as well.

From one former farm-boy to a former farm-girl: Thanks, Rita; much appreciated.

Read the full article on the Nuvo ("Indy's alternative voice") blog:
http://www.nuvo.net/blog/michael-sheyahshe/rita-kohn-75-years-comics

Eiteljorg Event in 2009

Eiteljorg Event in 2009

native americans in comic books  

Panel Discussion

See me at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indiana !
http://www.eiteljorg.org/ejm_WhatsHappening/EventsCalendar/default.asp

John Ostrander – Check out this link for a bio, award and writing list http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=108. Blaze of Glory, Apache Skies, Grimjack & The Kents, to name some, as well as his work on MANY other titles including Batman, JLA, Star Wars, Wolverine and X-Men titles. He also moderates a great message board http://www.comicmix.com/contributor/john-ostrander/.

Steve Sanderson (Cree) – artist/writer residing in Vancouver, B.C. – works with The Healthy Aboriginal to create comics about health and social issues for Aboriginal youth. Has worked with the Cartoon Network & Rockstar Games among others. Steve was selected to be an Artist in Residence at the Eiteljorg for a month later in 2009. Google him and you’ll find tons of great reviews/articles/etc.

Dan Piraro – writer/artist for the series Bizarro http://www.bizarro.com/; there’s an interesting overview here: http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/bizarro/about.htm. Dan really covers a wide variety of topics with his internationally known work. He has over a dozen publications and also performs a one man show “The Bizarro Baloney Show”. The day after the WNRC program, Sunday 1/25/09, Dan will be performing a show here loosely title “The Bizarro West”. I started coming across Dan’s Western and Native themed work last year it’s very funny and insightful and Dan has great stories to go along with them. Dan will be our Artist in Residence during the week before the program.

Michael Sheyahshe (Caddo) – Michael hs done some interesting research & writing into Native Portrayals in video games as well as being knee deep in his newly published book "Native Americans in Comic Books," was part of the 2007 program, and offered up loads of great information. Michael is a very busy guy in general http://www.anm-okc.110mb.com/ !

We also have several local folks that have been amazing resources for content, inspiration, research, planning and sending interns!

Dr. Greg Reinhardt – University of Indianapolis http://archlab.uindy.edu/faculty_reinhardtbio.php . In addition to the bio here Greg has the most pristine collection of comic books featuring “Indian” content on the covers ever seen– hopefully he’ll bring some back in ’09!

Dr. Larry Zimmerman – IUPUI/Eiteljorg Museum http://www.larryjzimmerman.com/profile.html . Larry’s work time is shared between the Eiteljorg and IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) his work in Museum Studies and Native American Representation has helped create a lot of interest in the Eiteljorg program’s topic locally.

Andy Holtzman – Andy is a comic enthusiast and organizes the major comic show in greater Indianapolis . http://www.ashcomicshows.com/ He’ll be helping Eiteljorg to get the word out and arrange for some vendors to be present at the event – passing on his own show to contribute to ours!

Robin McBride Scott – Besides being an amazing artist, educator and presenter Robin has a very large collection of comics with Native themes. Robin was at the Eiteljorg as an Artist in Residence and collects comics. She’s been super busy with traveling around the county for museum work.

Making Games with Freeware

Making Games with Freeware

video games  

Free Resources to Make Games

At a recent panel discussion at the Eiteljorg Museum, fellow artist Steve Sanderson (creator of the Darkness Calls comic) and I commented on how Native American youth - especially those on reservation-type and other rural areas surrounding Indigenous lands - may not even realise their full potential, based on socio-economic factors.
With that in mind, there are a number of free resources available online which Native American youth (and anyone else) could use to hone their artistic and technical skills. Using these resources as a springboard, one could easily create an workshop to introduce these tools to Native kids. Doing so would allow them to realise they do indeed have creative options for their future...and maybe with that, some additional hope.
Listed here are some various freeware solutions along with some comments. All of these programs have the specific goal of video game creation and design - however, many of these can be used for other purposes, such as digital art. Keep in mind, these are in no particular order.
Alice

"The focus of the Alice project is now to provide the best possible first exposure to programming for students ranging from middle schoolers to college students."

I think this is a great program, especially for those individuals really interested in the nuts and bolts of how video games work. The video tutorials and interface are somewhat intuitive and easy to use.

Blender 3D/

"Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License."

This is one of the best resources for individuals to get hands-on experience creating 3D content. Certainly, there is a particular learning curve to this software (some of which is intuitive and some is not). However, there are tons of online resources, communities, galleries, and tutorials. So, with a little patience and reading, one can actually create usable 3D content.
Another great thing about Blender is its availability for commercial use...meaning, that you are able to do anything you want with the stuff you create (including commercial use). For those that don't have the financial resources to purchase software like Maya (which is a professional industry standard for 3D), Blender is welcome and affordable miracle.
GIMP

"GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc."

The layout is simple and easy to understand. Using GIMP can easily prepare individuals on the basics of what more professional packages, like Photoshop, can offer. This is an excellent resource for anyone interested in image manipulation. With GIMP, you can create textures for 3D models, touch up photos, digital paint your drawings and sketches, and even create professional-looking comic books and other art.
GameDev

"The Scrolling Game Development Kit ("GameDev") is a free / freeware open source tool for 2-D game development. It is designed for the Windows 9x/DirectX platform, and targeted at people spanning a range of skill levels. It can be used by the beginner to become familiar with the structure of computer games and to create complete games that don't require any coding. It also has applications for the experienced developer who perhaps simply wants to use the program to draw the graphics or define maps. And in the middle there's applications for creating a game and controlling it through scripting."

This software comes with some down-to-earth tutorials on how to get started making working 2D games. GameDev is an excellent resource to get individuals involved in the video game making process. Everything is "drag and drop", so there is no need for prior programming knowledge.

Eiteljorg Museum Special Program: "Native American Portrayals in Comics"

Eiteljorg Museum Special Program: "Native American Portrayals in Comics"

publication  

Workshop in Indiana

Based on the attention my article in Native Peoples Magazine on Indigenous video game characters--and them finding out about my book on Native comic book characters from McFarland Publishing--the Eiteljorg has invited me to be a speaker at this all-day event March 10, 2007.

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art»Programs & Festivals

This will be an excellent opportunity to discuss my book, get open dialog from other experts about the subject, and drum up more interest for the book. Be sure to come check out the event if you are in the (Indianapolis, IN) area!