Probeersel

4:43 AM - posted by Greg: --- 0 comments

Got back from the UK last night and while I was on the ferry going from Dover to Dunkirk I found time to start a new episode of RCH. It's called 'Spear' and you'll be seeing it in the next couple of weeks.

4:02 AM - posted by StatusNil:Us in the media.  --- 2 comments

Over the upcoming week I'll be paying more attention to any recent mentionings of our site on other sites, message boards, news articles etc. - simply because I feel like it. I'm especially curious to see how far our P-day report travels. In any case: Getting journalists drunk helps ! Jeroen Mirck has put up a little news article on ComicBase.nl about the booze binging we did. Meanwhile, one of the reasons I could get away with being hungover this weekend was that the daily Worst Case Scenario was taken care of. Special thanks there to Rutger Ockhorst, who very proudly reports on his site: August 21st Two strips I made, inspired on my trip to Bal du Rat Mort, have been used as guest episodes of Worst Case Scenario, by Joep van Abeelen and René van Densen from Probeersel.com Also, on ComixPedia, Damonk wrote a rant against the endless babbling webcomic artists who should - in his opinion - instead just draw. He says, amongst things: Stop caring about who is popular NOW, who deserves to be popular and who doesn't, who is Mister or Miss Webcomic Thang. Stop worrying about how to join Webcomic Corp M or be initiated into Cartoonist Coven P. It's most likely a coincidence (since the article shows an alphabetical line-up leading up to this M/P bit), but still. Webcomic Corp M--odernTales ? Cartoonist Coven P--robeersel ? ;) Also, Ruben Libgott shows appreciation for the pictures I took in Tilburg of the TIK-week (University introduction week) where the mascottes of this year's edition of the week were his own comic character creations, Geert & Beert. More to come later, I'm sure.

8:45 AM - posted by StatusNil:P-Day 2004  --- 3 comments

To celebrate Probeersel.com's three year existence and its success, and also to just get together and have fun, we organised a day out in Tilburg for the Probeersel.com peeps. It turned out to be a rather nice day, even weather-wise (although rain did fall earlier that day) and we had all agreed to get together at bar Cul de Sac in Tilburg. The people who were present: Bandirah, Troy Titane, Béné van Gansbeke, his spouse, comics journalist Jeroen Mirck, the obligatory bag of flour (traditional for Probeersel get-togethers since Haarlem), René van Densen, Probeersel.com staff member Tom Geelen, and Karol, a friend of Bandirah who showed up later in the evening. It all started out innocently enough, we talked in lovely weather on the terrace of the Cul de Sac until it was time to go to the restaurant (Tom was late, though - shame on you, Tom !) where we enjoyed some very nice wine. I think it was the wine that's to blame for everything else. Yes, I'm fairly sure of it now. I mean, look at it. It didn't really go all that badly until Troy decided it was time to take pictures of crotches. But fun was had by all, and the meal we enjoyed there was very nice too. At some point in the evening, though, you get a feeling there's going to be lots of trouble sometimes. Usually, you're right. Béné decided it was high time for him and his wife to travel home, since they still had a long drive ahead of them. It was nice of them to come and I hope they'll join us again at whichever next event Probeersel members will get together. Meanwhile, the rest of our little group walked back to the Cul de Sac. Where, indeed, more trouble was to follow. I'll let the following few pictures speak for themselves.. The walk home gave us a few interesting opportunities, such as posing magazine-style under an overpass: And we passed by a car with a plastic chair on its roof. It looked very weird. But alas, the rest of the evening will remain undisclosed. Especially since we by then stopped taking pictures. So, here endeth the first edition of P-day...

12:29 PM - posted by StatusNil:Summer Festivals  --- 0 comments

As festivals go, the Netherlands are on a roll this summer. Plenty of events and even if you subtract the events that comic artists WON'T be attending, there are STILL plenty of events this summer. Bal du Rat Mort, Haarlem, Valkenswaard, etc. etc. - and Lowlands. Yes, the music festival Lowlands is, and has been for a few years, also a comic artists event. There's a special cage - yes, seriously - where a group of the better-known Nukomix comic artists are drawing comics, live, that will be published as second half of a special book that will come out the last day of the festival. Most Lowland-enthousiasts already know this, but this information is for the people who've never gone there - especially those outside the Netherlands. So a lot of comic artists will also be visiting, just to hang out with their peers. And where are we Probeersel artists ? Well, we're.. NOT THERE. We're not denied access, nor do we specifically hate the idea of mingling with the other artists there - we simply have something better to do. This weekend it's P-day. Although over half of our members won't be there, it should be fun, and we'll try to take some pictures if not make a full photographic report. If you're all very nice, we might even post them online.

1:11 AM - posted by StatusNil:P-Day and more.  --- 1 comments

Well, we're nearing the day of the first big 'Probeersel Gathering' which I'm labelling P-Day here. So get your bladders in gear because there's likely to be a lot of drinking involved ! My camera still seems to be in good working condition so expect to see pictures of the big event coming up afterwards. Again, I'm not saying where it will be or when because we want to keep it sort of informal and the invitees have already been informed where to go. So just sit back and we'll tell you all about it later. Meanwhile, I noticed yet another site has copied one of my reviews. Cool beans ! What initially started out as just a bit of extra information for our site's own readers before they click a link, is turning out to be a nice marketing tool to get people to link back to you. If you have a comics website out there, rembember this: reviews work.

6:05 PM - posted by StatusNil:Arnhem: Bal du Rat Mort 2004  --- 2 comments

I was at the Bal du Rat Mort event in Arnhem (Netherlands) today (Friday) to check it out and had a fun day under a bright sun. I went there semi-anonymous to check it out and take a break from everything for a day, but it's such an interesting and informal gathering of artists and public that I think I might go there tomorrow (Saturday) again. If I do go, I'll be handing out Probeersel.com T-shirts, so if you see me, be really really nice to me, especially if you're a very gorgeous young woman, and there might just be a really nice T-shirt in it for ya. If I'm not there, I was swamped in other activities and I apologise. You should still go, though, because there is loads and loads to see. The Bal du Rat Mort is a sub-event of the Theateravenue which is organized there all this weekend, with all sorts of tents that host some very interesting and entertaining performances by musicians, artists, circus folk, etcetera. It's also set in the gorgeous Sonsbeekpark and that's worth going there by itself, especially with the current weather. So everyone go there damnit !

1:35 AM - posted by StatusNil:24 Hour Comics Day 2005  --- 0 comments

For those of you who didn't know this, Probeersel.com organised a small 24 Hour Comics event on February 29th this year. We received nearly immediate competition from Nat Gertler who started announcing that there was also an 'official' 24 Hour Comic Day coming up. After defending our right to have our own event ", damnit", and by the way reasonably successfully doing so, I did follow the official Day and all announcements surrounding it with great interest. At least three books have been published in direct relationship with this day, and loads upon loads of comics were made. What is a 24 Hour Comic, you ask ? What is 24 Hour Comic Day ? What the hell is René going on about now ?? Well, the below press release (thanks to ComicBookResources.com) pretty much answers all your questions, and already announces the 24HCD for 2005. Since they're this early with announcing it, it's likely going to be BIG. Doing a 24 Hour Comic is often dubbed 'the Mount Everest for comic artists' and I can speak from first-hand experience that it's quite an ordeal. But a fun one, and one that can have a whole wide range of effects on yourself and your work. So if anyone wants to do one, next year is your big chance - a 24 Hour Comic is easier to commit to if you know other people are trying as well at the same time, trust me. So here it is, hot off the press: Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics and founder of 24 Hour Comics Day, has announced the date for the next event: April 23rd, 2005. On this day, cartoonists around the world will take the 24 hour comics challenge, each trying to write and draw a 24 page comics story in 24 straight hours. "The event really needs to be on a Saturday, so that people can spend their 24 hours and still have time to recover before work or school on Monday," explains Gertler. "Because of that, we couldn’t keep the April 24th date we used for this year’s inaugural event. But by having the 24 hours starting on the twenty-third, it actually ends on the 24th." Once again, comic book stores, comic clubs, and educational institutions will be hosting 24 Hour Comics Day events where cartoonists will work side by side in a spirit of camaraderie. “The early indications are that most but not all of the locations that hosted events this year will do it again next time, and there’s a fair number of additional retailers showing interest. Between that and the on-going enthusiasm from both amateur and professional cartoonists, it looks like 2005 will be even bigger than 2004,” says Gertler. Announcement of the initial list of event locations is still months away.

12:16 AM - posted by StatusNil:Exciting Stuff - the follow-up.  --- 0 comments

I recently re-read some of my first postings on the Stripliefhebbers forum, of the end of January this year. In any case, I there proudly claim Probeersel.com has a whoppin' total of FIVE members ! I read that now and chuckle. Because you know what ? We have TEN ! That's right, folks - our tenth member is official and you will be seeing his face and info, and hopefully soon also comics (since his work looks amazing) on Probeersel.com soon ! All I can reveal for now is his name, and I'm envious of such a kick-ass name... Jon Hancock ! Everyone, please welcome Jon on board - our tenth member and a fine artist at that.