bkk UNZINE in partnership with SEA Junction is bringing you:
Bangkok Comics Art festival #2
in OCTOBER 2023 at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)
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The goal of the BKK Comics Art Festival is to bring comics in Thailand to the public consciousness by spotlighting creators and publishers in and from Thailand. This year we will also have guests from other Asian countries.
We are partnering once again with to shine a light on Thailand’s rich comic book culture while giving fans the opportunity to interact with their favorite creators.
This awesome occasion will kick off with a two-week Comics Art Exhibition on the 5th Floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, taking place from the 10th to 22nd of October, 2023.
Then a two-day Convention will take place, gathering comic book creatives, publishers and scholars taking place on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of October 2023, with a sensational array of events and activities in SEA Junction office on 4th floor and on the 5th Floor Hall of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre located conveniently in the heart of Bangkok.
Here is the tentative agenda of panels for the two day convention:
Sat 14th – Day 1 – Schedule (SEA Junction office, 4th floor):
11:00 to 11:20 – INTRO of Artists, Exhibition, agenda of the day, thank sponsors, bkk UNZINE, SEA Junction, Comic book contest, etc.
11:25 to 12:30 – Future projects of bkk UNZINE in Thailand a panel discussion with Artists
13:30 to 14:00 – Announcement Comics Contest winners
14:00 to 15:00 – How to Draw Superheroes by Mike Van Orden (American Comic book artist)
15:00 to 16:00 – Interview with Manga Artist Eldo YOSHIMIZU, creator of the popular manga RYUKO
Sun 15th – Day 2 – Freeform Interaction: Attendees are invited to talk and interact with artists at their booths (Hall, 5th Floor)
More programs to be scheduled… Stay tuned
See you at the BKK Comics Art Festival here are some of the artists who will be part or the exhbition and or the convention.
Gallery
Mike Van Orden
Art of Maiimou and Smashhh studio
Tode Ksumphisai
Nirut Chamsuwan
Namsai Khaobor
Artynicharee
Ping Sasinan
Slowork publishing
Sketchman Boris
bkk UNZINE x PIGMA Comic storytelling CONTEST
Comics are a unique artform that expresses stories told through a series of pictures, or panels. For this storytelling contest sponsored by Sakura Products (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and bkk UNZINE, entrants are asked to produce a short comic story that visually communicates an engaging narrative using hand-drawn line art and their choice of embellishment techniques.
Here are the rules:
• Entries should be in the form of a silent comic. Sound effects are allowed but no speech.
• The story should take place in or involve Thailand.
• The length of the story must be exactly four (4) pages. It is the artist’s discretion how to design panel layouts and whether to utilize full-page splashes.
• Entries must be initially hand-drawn as black and white line art on paper. Artists may subsequently apply gray tones or color in any medium (by hand on paper or done digitally) if they choose to do so, but the application of tone or color to the line art is not mandatory.
• Entries must be scanned and sent to us as a digital file. In the event the entrant chooses to embellish their line art with color, we require all pages of the original, unembellished (no tones, no color) line art be scanned and sent along with as proof of this initial step in their process and submitted along with their final completed entry.
• Entries are to be submitted at https://bkkunzine.com/art-submission
• Entries must be in JPG, PNG, PDF or ZIP format vertically oriented in A4 size (21cm wide x 29.7cm tall; artwork must fit within this size, but how artists use the space is at their own discretion). The maximum size for all four (4) pages of final artwork combined (and scans of all four (4) pages of the initial hand-drawn line art for final entries having added tones or color) is 5 MB per submission (art files may either be submitted as individual files or collected into one PDF or ZIP file).
• An additional maximum of 5 MB is the allowance for line art process scans that need to be submitted along with toned or colored entries. For these embellished entries, scans of all four (4) pages of the initial hand-drawn line art (prior to added tones or color) must be sent accompanying the entrant’s submission.
• Only currently enrolled college or university students are eligible to enter this storytelling
contest.
• All entries must be original artwork done by the submitting entrant(s).
• All entries must be received by Sunday, September 17th, 2023, to be considered eligible for competition.
Each judge will evaluate submissions based on the following criteria, totaling fifty (50) points:
The six (6) top scoring finalists will be displayed at the BKK Comics Arts Festival Exhibition, running at BACC from Tuesday, October 10th through Sunday, October 22nd, 2023, as well as featured on media outlets associated with the festival and its promotion.
Prizes:
Judges’ Choice
One (1) winner will be determined by accrued points collected from the judges’ evaluation, with winning artwork featured in the first printed issue of bkk UNZINE and will receive a prize of 5,000 baht* and color and stationery products from Sakura valued at 5,000 baht.
People’s Choice
One (1) winner will be determined through votes submitted online by visitors to the exhibit, with winning artwork featured in the first printed issue of bkk UNZINE and will receive a prize of 5,000 baht* and color and stationery products from Sakura valued at 5,000 baht.
In addition, the six (6) finalists’ entries will be published in an anthology on bkk UNZINE.com
The winners will be announced and prizes awarded on the first day of the convention, Saturday October 14th 2023, in the SEA Junction facility at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.
About the judges:
Boris Aravindabalan
Boris Aravindabalan, aka “Sketchman Boris,” is a cartoonist and the founder of bkk UNZINE art magazine. Growing up in India, Boris discovered his love for drawing, and combined with hours and hours of cartoons and movies, he realized that he didn’t just love reading and watching stories, but wanted to have the same impact on others as the creators whose work he enjoyed had on him.
Nicolas Verstappen
Nicolas Verstappen is a Belgian lecturer and comics scholar at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University. He is the author of the Eisner Award-nominated book “The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes” (River Books, 2021) and the editor of various zine series (XeroXed, GAP/Chong Wang). He runs regularly creative workshops on experimental and autobiographic comics composition around the region.
Rosalia Sciortino
A cultural anthropologist and development sociologist by training, Dr. Rosalia Sciortino earned her doctorate at the Vrije Universities, Amsterdam with honors. Currently, she is Associate Professor at the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University and Visiting Professor at the Master in International Development Studies (MAIDS), Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Dr. Sciortino is the founder and Executive Director of SEA Junction.
Pei-Shan Huang
The founder of Slowork Publishing, Pei-Shan Huang studied in Taipei and Marseille, majoring in theater design and contemporary art. She is passionate about documentary works that show the diversity of culture. She also pushes promising new artists to uncover the possibilities of producing documentaries through comic art, by digging into hidden stories.
Songwit Seekitikul
Manga artist and illustrator Songwit Seekitikul was formerly an architect and has nearly 20 years of experience in the comic book field. With numerous books published, as well as many art exhibitions and awards under his belt, Mr. Seekitikul enjoys portraying ordinary people’s daily lives through fantasy.
Mike Van Orden
Mike Van Orden is a comic book artist with over a decade of experience, having worked on a variety of projects for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Aspen Comics, and Upper Deck. He is also the founder of Comic Art Mastery, an online art school that specializes in comic art and storytelling. A gifted storyteller, Mike is a rising star in the comic book industry and is currently based in Thailand.
About the organizer bkk UNZINE
bkk UNZINE is a free, independent art magazine released to subscribers every 1st of the month with submissions from artists from Bangkok and around the world based on themes selected by readers. The magazine publishes online issues and organizes events to promote awareness of the art scene in Bangkok.
About the sponsor Sakura Products (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Sakura Products (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer and distributor of stationery, paints, and art supplies which all art lovers, including students, teachers, and professionals have known and used for more than 50 years, with the goal of ensuring quality for artists to create works in accordance with their ideas and imagination, including creating happiness from the use of colors and art equipment under the Sakura brand. The company also has a policy to continuously support art projects and to create new and beneficial experiences that are independent platforms for students and artists to demonstrate their talents and enhance their skills, such as the Show It Off and the I Am Original projects.
About our partner SEA Junction
SEA Junction (Southeast Asia Junction) is a non-profit foundation whose aim is to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and crafts to the economy and development, by enhancing public access to knowledge resources and by promoting exchanges among students, specialists and Southeast Asia lovers.