Discussion and Demonstration by Comic John Porcellino

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GAINESVILLE- Nationally recognized comic and artist John Porcellino will host a hands-on, all-ages drawing workshop at the Headquarters Library on March 24^th, at 7:00p.m..

Porcellino's newest book is MAP OF MY HEART celebrates the twentieth anniversary of John Porcellino's seminal and influential comic’s zine, KING CAT COMICS, which he started self-publishing as a teenager in 1989.

Known for his sad, quiet honesty rendered in his signature deceptively minimalist style, Porcellino has a command of graphic storytelling as sophisticated as the medium's more visually intricate masters. Few other artists are able to so expertly contemplate the sadness, beauty, and wonder of life in so few lines.

His other books include Perfect Example (1999), Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man (2005), Thoreau at Walden (2008), and the King Cat Classix anthology (2009).

In addition to leading the drawing class, Porcellino will be talking about his work, fielding questions & signing books. This is a free class with paper and pencils provided.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:   http://www.king-cat.net/history.html

 BIOGRAPHY:

JOHN PORCELLINO was born in Chicago, in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing mini-comics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino’s experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005, and Perfect Example, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager. King-Cat Classix, published in 2007, is a comprehensive overview of the zine's first fifty issues, and his most recent book, Thoreau at Walden, is a poetic expression of the great philosopher’s experience and ideals. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive."

Porcellino's work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, and Korean. He currently lives in Denver with his wife Misun, and two Skweezil-Cats named Liz and Charlie.