Kate Beaton
| Kate Beaton | |
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 Beaton in June 2011 |
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| Born | September 8, 1983 Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Notable works | Hark! A Vagrant |
| Signature | |
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Kate Beaton (born September 8, 1983) is a Canadian webcomic artist.
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Early life and education [edit]
Originally from Mabou,[1] Cape Breton, she graduated from Mount Allison University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and anthropology.[2] Beaton began drawing comics for the university newspaper, The Argosy, during her third and fourth years at school. Previously she worked in the maritime museum in Victoria.[3]
Career [edit]
In 2007, after her friends persuaded her to post her increasing stack of comics online, she began uploading them through katebeaton.com and her LiveJournal. In December of that year she made the first of two popular batches of history comics, each based on twenty requests she accepted from her readers.[4] She moved to her current website, Hark! A Vagrant, in May 2008.[5]
Beaton publishes her webcomic, Hark! A Vagrant, occasionally.[2] Its subjects are usually historical or literary figures. There are also a number of comics where Beaton interacts with her younger self, and ones that were drawn by Beaton using MS Paint during her breaks at work.[2] Beaton's art style is simple, with great importance given to characters' facial expressions; her skill at comic pacing has also been noted.[6]
Beaton's self-published Never Learn Anything From History won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent.[7] Hark! A Vagrant won the 2011 Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work, having been nominated the previous year,[8] and was also nominated for Joe Shuster Awards in 2009 and 2010.[9][10] Beaton followed up her 2011 Harvey win by taking home three Harveys in 2012, for Humor, Online Work, and Best Cartoonist.
Her work has been profiled in Wired,[3] Macleans,[11] and Comic Book Resources.[12] "The Origin of Man", a comic strip by Beaton celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, was showcased by MySpace Dark Horse Presents in March 2009.[12] In June 2009 she released a book titled Never Learn Anything From History.[13] Two of Beaton's cartoons have been published in The New Yorker.[14] She released her newest book, also titled Hark! A Vagrant, in Fall 2011; it was published by Drawn and Quarterly.[15] Time magazine named it one of the top ten fiction books of the year, with Lev Grossman calling it "the wittiest book of the year."[16]
Beaton has also contributed to Marvel Comics's Strange Tales anthology.
Awards [edit]
- (2009) Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent[17]
- (2011) Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work[18]
- (2012) Harvey Award for Best Online Comics Work[19]
- (2012) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor in Comics
- (2012) Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist
References [edit]
- ^ "Top Stories". M.ctv.ca. 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ a b c "About". Hark, a vagrant. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ a b Hodge, Nathan (March 11, 2009). "Web Comic Artist Redraws Military History". Danger Room. Wired.com. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
- ^ Hark! A Vagrant History Comics by Kate Beaton - MetaFilter (13 Feb 2008)
- ^ Beth Dunn. "Interview with Kate Beaton". Bethdunn.org. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ Weldon, Glen (September 22, 2011). "Cartoonist Beaton's "Hark! A Vagrant!" Finds Drollery in Drawing Rooms". NPR: Monkey See.
- ^ Wong, Jessica (May 10, 2009). "Outsider tale Skim, quirky History Comics nab cartooning awards". CBC News (cbcnews.ca). Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ "2010 Harvey Awards Ballot". Retrieved 25 Feb, 2012.
- ^ "Nominations for the 2009 Joe Shuster Awards". The Joe Shuster Awards. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ by joeshusterawards (2010-03-17). "Nominations for the 2010 Joe Shuster Awards". The Joe Shuster Awards. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ Shimo, Alexandra (March 13, 2009). "Making fun of Canadian history". Macleans. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
- ^ a b Manning, Shaun (March 25, 2009). "Kate Beaton Debuts w/ Darwin at MySpace DHP". CBR News. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
- ^ Wolfe-Wylie, William (June 2, 2009). "History in the making". Toronto Sun. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
- ^ Hains, David (June 3, 2010). "Kate Beaton in New Yorker". Sequential: Canadian Comics News and Culture. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- ^ "D+Q to Publish Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant". Drawn & Quarterly. January 12, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Grossman, Lev (December 7, 2011). "7. Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton". Time.
- ^ "Doug Wright Awards: Past Winners". Retrieved 27 March 2012.
- ^ "2011 Harvey Awards". Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ "Congratulations to the Harvey Award Recipients!". Retrieved 13 September 2012.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kate Beaton |
- Hark! A Vagrant Comics by K. Beaton
- Kate Beaton on Twitter
- Kate Beaton on Tumblr
- "The Origin of Man" at MySpace Dark Horse Presents
- Interview at A.V. Club
