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(L-R) Cartoonists Niall Eccles, Ellis and Tim Snyder are three of the four contributors to the debut edition of Marmalade.

County cartoonists make art from jam

Art can be a lonely business. In a studio, with the tools of the trade, an artist can get lost in the world of imagination. Of colours and shapes and ideas and wit. Niall Eccles knows that. He returned to the County more than a decade ago after spending time as a Montrea lbased animator for CBC. The loneliness of his profession became clear here.

In Montreal, there was a community to reach out to. There was, for example, the Montreal Comics Jam. Prince Edward County was too small to have such a thing. So Eccles did what people do when something is missing in the County: he started it himself.

That was in 2005. Ten years later, a group of County artists and comics enthusiasts are still drawn to the Acoustic Grill on the last Wednesday of the month to drink, talk and draw together. The Prince Edward County Comix Jam welcomes all ages, from young aspiring artists to those who just want to put pen to paper.

“Really, it’s a way for us to unwind, have a couple of drinks and just draw whatever comes to mind,” says Tim Snyder, a regular participant and editorial cartoonist for the Times. “It’s very informal, but the actual process is very collaborative. One person draws a panel on a piece of paper, puts that back into a pile. You go through the pile, pull something out that’s interesting, draw another panel, put that back in. So the story evolves like a telephone game.”

The Prince Edward County Comix Jam has been creating zines since it started in February 2005. The first edition is in the centre.

The collaborative projects would often be made into a zine, which Eccles describes as a do-it-yourself version of a magazine. Zines are more accessible to artists, because they don’t require the cost or technical knowledge of creating a magazine.

To celebrate the jam’s 10th anniversary, Eccles, along with Snyder, Sarah Koval and the artist known as Ellis, published the debut edition of Marmalade Comics. Marmalade is a monthly zine meant to celebrate the work created at the jams, or by artists on their own time.

Unlike previous zines produced by the jams, Marmalade—named for its orange cat mascot and for the jams that inspired it—aims to be a more regular and highly circulated publication, showcasing contributors to the jam. And because artists contribute on their own time, more people can contribute.

I’m the outlier,” says Ellis. “This is my entry into Comix Jam, because I always work Wednesday nights, so I can’t make it. But because I have a month to do artwork and submit it, I can finally be a part of Comix Jam, which is cool. As can any of your dear readers,” he adds.

The Comix Jam produces more than just zany comics, though. Artists meet and collaborate there, with peers, including Mile Murtanovski, as regular participants. This Friday, Eccles, Snyder and Andrew McLuhan will run a zine-making workshop at the PEC Authors Festival, an idea born out of the meetings.

Marmalade is free and available online and at shops throughout Picton and Wellington, although its popularity has made finding a current issue difficult. Both the Prince Edward County Comix Jam and Marmalade Comics can be found on Facebook.