Comic Con Revolution is held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, June 1st & 2nd, 2019. Come see me in Artist Alley!

I'm running an inking workshop at the International School of Comics Chicago on September 23. Here's the school's promo for the event.

 

International School of Comics Chicago

2643 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60622

312) 265-0982

info@schoolofcomics.us

 

 C2E2 runs April 21 – 23, 2017. I'll be in Artist Alley all three days. I'm sharing my table with artist Daniel White. Stop by and say hi.

I have a number of pieces in RABID ROBOT RAMPAGE, a show of robot art by several Chicago area artists. Have a beer and buy a bot! The poster is by yours Surly, with color by Dave Punk, and features a robot designed by 10 year old artist Calvin Bosanic, and it will be available at the show.

Northdown Café and Taproom
3244 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, Illinois

Opening: Saturday, July 23, 3PM to 6 PM
Show runs 7/23 - 9/2

I'm at C2E2 all this weekend, drawing sketches, signing comics, desperately attempting witty repartee...yu can find me in Artist Alley at table K9.

Andy here got 'Simpsonized' at C2E2 -- and he liked it!

Tomorrow night I'll be sketching for the Hero Initiative at the Paramount Room in Chicago. Come on out and join me, Jill Thompson and Mike Norton for beer, comics, prizes and more! You'll find more info on facebook, here.

The annual C2E2 charity art auction is this Saturday night. I have donated several sketches, and two pages of original comic book art: a two-page story for Ryan Browne's GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS. This is one of the pages. All proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Hospital.

When: Saturday, April 26 from 7:30 - 9:30 PM
Where:  Chicago, South building at McCormick Place, Room S403

WHAT?!?  C2E2 starts a WEEK from FRIDAY?!?  Gedouddaheah!
Come see me at ‪#‎C2E2‬ at Artist Alley table E17 on April 25-27.
For more info & to buy tickets visit http://www.c2e2.com/E17.

Hey, all. Over the next two weeks I'm teaching a Basic Drawing workshop at the International School of Comics in Chicago. This may be the first of many.



The school is also having an open house on Friday, October 18th, from 6 to 9 PM.

1651-52 W. Hubbard St., Chicago, Il.

UPDATE: There will be an online auction of all the The Bats for Cats artwork. It will be run by the good folks at the Wildcat Sanctuary, and it will probably be held in a month or so. When I have the info I will post details of where and when.


A lot of the Bats for Cats art will be raffled off today and tonight at the benefit for the Wildcat Sanctuary,  being held at the Northdown Cafe and Taproom, 3244 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL. I originally thought there would be an art auction, but now I'm not so sure. Here's the Facebook page for the event. It is sponsored and co-hosted by 3 Floyds, Surly, & Mikkeller breweries, and they will be tapping lots of special beers. This is a benefit for the Wildcat Sanctuary, a non-profit, no-kill facility providing sanctuary to wild cats in need & actively involved in ending the private ownership of exotic animals. The goal is to raise at least $5000, which would feed two tigers for a year.

This Wednesday at 8:00pm I'll be at BATS FOR CATS, a Drink & Draw at the Northdown Cafe and Taproom, 3244 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Some of the city's most talented artists (and I) will be doing Batman themed sketches, with all proceeds going to benefit The Wildcat Sanctuary. Come on by and have a drink and watch us draw like trained monkeys. Poster by the talented Tom Kelly.

TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (Joseph H. Lewis, 1958)

Well, it was another great night at the Portage Theater in Chicago, with a beautiful mint 35 mm print of a terrific film. With its storyline of a community crumbling from fear and intimidation, in danger of falling prey to divide-and-conquer tactics, the script by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo makes an obvious reference to the McCarthy hearings. But the plot is shared by many westerns. What's unusual is the slow build and heavy sense of dread, set up in part by the pre-credits flash-forward to the climactic showdown (which I'll return to later).

TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN has a quiet intensity, with a minimalist score and repeated, rhythmic theme, and the stark, underpopulated feel that permeates many low budget films. But the intensity goes further, extending to Hayden's performance as the Swedish whaler, George Hansen. The actor fills the screen with his lumbering physicality, at times seething with repressed emotion. By far the most interesting character is Crayle, the brooding, black-clad gunman played by Nedrick Young. The personification of the pall that hangs over the entire film, Crale carries death and doom in his tired gait and equally black worldview. His perverse relationship with his companion Molly (Carol Kelly) recalls other such sexually twisted and charged couples in director Lewis's GUN CRAZY and THE BIG COMBO.



The pre-credits flash-forward I referred to earlier is effective, but is also a bit odd in a feature. It is likely it was inspired by the technique to hook viewers used in television shows at the time. But its novelty made me wonder if it was planned in pre-production by Lewis, or added later in the editing by the producer.

© 2012 Hilary Barta

So I went to Wizard's Chicago Comicon after taking a year off. I wasn't going to go, but my pal Mark Nelson flew in from Houston to attend the show, and Steve Shamus was nice enough to comp me a table, so I relented. Missing Thursaday night, I sat in Artist Alley for three long days. And...and I had a great time. It was a very loong weekend, what with the commute back to the city each evening for Noir City Chicago at the Music Box, but I was glad that I made the effort. I met Ian Boothby and Kyle Hotz and a lot of other talented folks, and Artist Alley seemed to be hopping this year. So I'll be back next year. See you there!

On March 18-20 I'll be attending C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo held at McCormick Place in beautiful downtown Chicago. Holed up in artist alley at table E12, I'll have plenty of original art from my recent work on Spongebob Squarepants, Creepy and the Simpsons--plus the usual assortment of older, dust-gathering pages from hither and yon. Stop by and say hi.

Static Creep

Opening: Friday, January 14th 6-10 pm

Original comic book artwork, posters, books, on-the-spot sketches &
live music by Transistor

The show features the art of over twenty local comic book artists, including:

Alex Wald, Andrew Pepoy, Chris Burnham, Corinne Mucha, Doug Klauba, Hilary Barta, Heather McAdams, Jeffrey Brown, Jenny Frisson, Jill Thompson, Tony Akins, Nicole Hollander, Mike Norton, Mitch O'Connell, Sarah Becan, Dave Dorman, Tim Seeley, Lucy Knisley, Gary Gianni, Bill Reinhold, Alyssa Herlocher and Steven Krakow.

I'll have pages up from stories I've drawn for Creepy, Goon Noir and Grateful Dead Comix.

Static Creep runs January 14th through February 6th

Las Manos Gallery

5220 N. Clark St. Chicago Il 60640

Gallery hours: Wed/Thurs/Fri: 12:30-5:30 Sat/Sun 11 am-5pm

www.lasmanosgallery.com

Reception: Friday, November 19th 6-9 PM

***Art Opening***

Leopold Segedin

A Retrospective

November 1st - December 3rd, 2010

A selection of work spanning 60 years by
renowned painter and NEIU Professor

Emeritus, Leopold Segedin

Be sure to check out http://www.leopoldsegedin.com

http://www.neiu.edu/~gallery/

http://www.byronroche.com

Off to the Film Center tonight to see an archival print of Anthony Mann's Reign of Terror, shot by the great John Alton.

Susan Hayward, Brian Donlevy and Dana Andrews in Canyon Passage.

The Music Box theater is in the middle of a Jacques Tourneur series in their weekend matinée. This weekend is Tourneur's terrific western Canyon Passage, starring Dana Andrews. That will be followed by The Fearmakers and Night (aka Curse) of the Demon.


Hoagy Carmichael sings "Ole Buttermilk Sky" in Canyon Passage.

The Film Center is in the middle of a weekly Film Noir series. This week they're screening Gilda. I'll be there next week for Otto Preminger's Whirlpool, starring Gene Tierney, Jose Ferrer and Richard Conte. Upcoming films include Crossfire, The Black Book/Reign of Terror, Out of the Past and In a Lonely Place.


Gene Tierney in Whirlpool.