Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, idw, kevin eastman, San Diego Comic Art Gallery, teenage mutant ninja turtles

Bleeding Cool Tours New IDW Offices & The San Diego Comic Art Gallery

IDW announced back in February that they would be relocating their offices this June and while remaining in San Diego, they would be moving to more a spacious and rather historic property that exists as part of a specially zoned arts-dedicated complex repurposing a 1920's naval barracks in Liberty Station. With the move came the stipulation by the property that the company have a certain degree of "public facing" access, whether through dedicated gallery space or open houses to examine the art in their offices, and upon consideration they decided to create a gallery space known as the San Diego Comic Art Gallery. Thus the new IDW offices and the Comic Art Gallery, opening with a substantial exhibit of Kevin Eastman's work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, launched in June.

Ted Adams, CEO and Publisher, explained that Eastman's work was the perfect choice as an opening exhibit because of the broad appeal of the Turtles to adults and children alike, as well as those who might not have a great deal of knowledge yet about comics. The screening of documentaries in the gallery will also contribute to this educational outreach.

Many comics pros and members of the comics community took advantage of IDW's various opportunities to visit in and around San Diego Comic Con, and Rich Johnston and I were able to visit on Monday following the convention. The naval complex where the offices are located are fascinating in their own right, with many renovated to a modern warm terra cotta color, and with the older naval barracks not yet refurbished appearing more yellow-beige in color, making it easier to spot the progress in the development of the area.

Not only do the buildings in the barracks complex have long arcades, which makes for attractive architecture, but local businesses such as restaurants, and even a soon to arrive local comic shop, cater to the employees and many visitors to the nearby attractions. The barracks are arranged around a central garden space as well, giving an almost cloistered feel, and you certainly can't beat the aesthetics of the environment. Rich and I were able to tour the new offices and the Comic Art Gallery, and plenty of staff kindly took some time to talk with us about the new space and the gallery's function in the community.

We had a fabulous tour of Kevin Eastman's work in the Comic Art Gallery, ranging from pencil roughs and notes about the creation of the Turtles to full-color cover spreads and related material. It really is a mecca for Turtles fans–you should make it a goal to visit not only if you find Turtle lore alluring but also in order to observe the way an essentially indie comics property evolves and can become such a major mainstay of pop culture over time.

It's hard to convey just how many pieces of Eastman's art and memorabilia are on display–this is a career's worth of material made public for the first time. And the Comic Art Gallery is public–open daily and accessible to the wider arts community.The glass cases are overflowing with sketches and original notebooks which contain early development ideas for the first Turtles film, including Eastman's thumbnails for every single scene of the feature. There's the also the fact that some comic artists are more archive-minded than others, and Eastman definitely is. He's preserved his work in such careful order that you can view a page from earliest sketch through to finished product in the same display case or see his first ideas about each character roughed out.

As you may have already learned, one of the gems of the collection is a complete recreation of Eastman's working studio as a separate room in the gallery, absolutely overflowing with Eastman's collection of Turtle-related items and his own drawing materials. The room has been carefully designed to offer several views at different heights–it's perfectly designed to accommodate children peering in as well as adults.

The educational aspect of outreach to young people is definitely part of the design of the gallery. In fact, there are school programs from nearby high schools that will be involved with the facility since IDW are gathering a comic art library for the use of students included in the same complex.

In the library room, there was a sketchbook logbook of visitors to the gallery over the course of San Diego Comic-Con and many very talented folks had been making entries in homage to Eastman. As you can imagine, many of the convention visitors were comic artists as well. Rich Johnston, being a political cartoonist, tried his hand. If you're wondering what his drawing refers to, it's the illegal status of Nunchuks in the UK at the time of the comic's original release.

As well as having a library, the gallery also has a small shop focusing on original art and graphic novels to feed the interest of attendees.

And yet, visiting the Comic Art Gallery was only half of our tour at IDW, since we were also allowed to visit their working offices which had a wealth of comic art on display as well. As readers, we probably hope that comic publishing offices are airy, bright, and encourage creativity, but that is not always the case given the tendency of modern office spaces. IDW have really taken over an excellent space, however, and it does very much express the personality of the company, including its diverse line and the personalities of their employees.

We visited EIC Chris Ryall, who showed off his office:

We spotted a lounge area with what was described to us as "Dirk's band space", referring to Dirk Wood (VP of Marketing)

And there were comic posters and comic displays just about everywhere:

IDW has neatly conformed to the architecture of the original historic property, which has to remain in tact and used the elongated galleries to create bull pens for their digital staff, we noticed, and to separate off airy office spaces for editors. It seems like a space naturally suited to celebrating the arts and publishing, and the vibe we got from speaking to Ted Adams (CEO and Publisher), Greg Goldstein (President and COO), Rosalind Morehead (PR and Marketing Manager), as well as several editors, was that this has been a big step for the company in finding a location that expresses their personality as well as achieving solid functionality. The fact that it also enables them to have a "public facing" Comic Art Gallery is more than just a statement, but a way to further comic art through education.

If you're in the San Diego area, you simply must plan a visit, chat with IDW and see Kevin Eastman's exhibit on display at the Comic Art Gallery. IDW staff and creators are also a revolving influence on the gallery and there will be a series of upcoming opportunities you can take advantage of like the following tours and signings:

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