Julian Lawrence

Julian Andrew Lawrence
Born	December 29, 1963 Portsmouth, UK
Citizenship	Canadian/British
Alma mater	University of British Columbia
Occupation(s)	Senior Lecturer in Comics and Graphic Novels
Employer	Teesside University

Julian Lawrence is an award-winning Canadian cartoonist, educator and comics scholar. A longtime member of Vancouver’s DIY independent art scene, Lawrence is also an arts educator and researcher, with a specialization in using hand drawn comics as a tool to improve literacy, develop storytelling techniques and form identity. He currently resides in Middlesbrough, England, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the Comics and Graphic Novels B.A. Honours program at Teesside University.

Career

Born in Portsmouth, England, Lawrence immigrated as a child with his family to Québec in the mid-1960's, during an era of intense anti-English sentiment in that Province. To cope with the social rejection he received from his Francophone classmates, Lawrence turned to reading and writing comics both for entertainment as well as a tool for improving his French language literacy.

Artist

In 1989, Lawrence moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he worked as an independent artist on a variety of projects, including: writer/illustrator for Fantagraphics (three issues of a historical biography comic series titled “Crucial Fiction”) ; storyboard artist for the a.k.a. Cartoon animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy; character designer for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network animated series Artie the Ant and Senior Editor at Zeros2Heroes Media.

In the spring of 1999, Lawrence co-created (along with Robert Dayton) the Drippy Gazette – a short-lived (12 issues) monthly two-color newspaper featuring comics from Vancouver artists, with each issue cover featuring an anthropomorphized raindrop named Drippy the Newsboy. From this, Lawrence subsequently won a grant from the Xeric Foundation in 2000 which he used to help publish Drippytown Comics, an anthology series which grew out from the Gazette and served to showcase the work of each contributing artist. Notable artists included Colin Upton and Jason Turner.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam

In 2007, Lawrence contributed artwork to The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, a graphic novel documenting the life of a once famous Chinese vaudeville performer. The book was named on the American Library Association's Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens. Lawrence also worked on the animated film adaptation, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

The Adventures of Drippy the Newsboy

In 2014 and 2015, Lawrence used his character Drippy the Newsboy as the protagonist for a comic book trilogy based on the writings of American author Stephen Crane. Lawrence emulated Crane's literary narrative style by contrasting exceptionally detailed artwork with slang-filled dialogue. Conundrum Press has published two volumes of The Adventures of Drippy the Newsboy: Volume I: Drippy's Mama; and Volume II: The Red Drip of Courage. Lawrence is currently in production of the final book in the trilogy, Volume III: The Dripping Boat.

Researcher

Julian’s academic work concentrates on the undercurrents of communication through gesture in the medium of comics. His research explores freehand narrative drawing and its impact on representations of artist identity. Investigations of these topics led him to combine theories of authorship with semiotic analysis of comics. This combination constitutes a large focus of Julian’s art/research/teaching practice. His most recent work includes contributions to the book The Bliss and Blisters of Early Career Teaching: A Pan-Canadian Perspective and SANE Journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education.

MA in art education

In May 2017, completed a master's degree in art education at University of British Columbia. Much of his recent comics work concentrates on comics as research tool in pedagogy.

Teacher

Lawrence began his teaching career in the late 1990's as a guest artist in local Vancouver schools, where he would teach simple drawing techniques to students during art lessons. In 2009, he joined the roster of artists at ArtStarts, a government funded charitable organization that promotes integrating art into school curriculum. As a result, Lawrence began using comics as a tool for achieving multi-disciplinary learning outcomes.

Between 2003-2018, Lawrence was an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where he designed and delivered courses on Graphic Novel narrative structures; expression and character; professional practices and autobiographic storytelling.

Music

Lawrence was a founding member of Vancouver avant garde musical collective July Fourth Toilet.

Awards

• Jeanette Andrews Scholarship in Art Education, University of British Columbia, 2017
• Freeperson Award, Best Cartoon/Illustration (co-authored with Dr. Rita Irwin & Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin), The Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM), 2016
• Gene Day Award, Best Self-Published Comic (anthology contributor, edited by Bevan Thomas), 2016
• Pop Vox Award, Best Digital Learning Initiative, 2009
• Sophie Burnett Award, Emily Carr University, 2009
• Doug Wright Award, Best Book (written, compiled and edited by Ann Marie Fleming), 2008
• Achievement Award, Emily Carr University, 2007 & 2008

Bibliography

• Lawrence, J. (Accepted/In press). Where the Action Is: Crumb, Semiotics, L'Ecriture Feminine, and Taste. In D. Worden (Ed.), The Art of R. Crumb
• Lawrence, Julian, Lin, C-C., & Can, I. (Accepted/In press). Relational Connections through the Space of Learning: Exploring Youths' Experiences of Filmmaking with Comics (2019). International Journal of Education Through Art.
• Lawrence, J. Visualizing Conflicting Worldviews: The Comics Page and the Computer Screen (2017). Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, # 34.
• Lawrence, Julian, Lin, C-C., Irwin, R. & Lum A: Mentoring through the Comics. (2017) (Kutsyuruba, Benjamin & Walker, Keith. (2017). The Bliss and Blisters of Early Career Teaching: A Pan-Canadian Perspective.) Word & Deed. ISBN: 978-0-9918626-9-6
• Lawrence, Julian; Lin, C-C; and Irwin, R. (2017) "Images, Speech Balloons, and Artful Representation: Comics as Visual

Narratives of Early Career Teachers," SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 3.

• “Mentorship Comics” (2016). (Co-authored with Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin). BC Mentoring (webcomic).
• “Why Is Teacher Mentorship Essential?” (2016). Comics essay (co-authored with Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin). Teacher Newsmagazine. Sep/Oct, pp. 18-19.
• “Changing Notions of Teacher Mentorship in British Columbia” (2016). Comics essay (co-authored with Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin). The Canadian Association of Principals Journal. Fall issue, pp. 44-47.
• “Mentorship Confidential!” (2015). Comics essay (Co-authored with Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin). Teacher Newsmagazine. May/Jun, pp. 8-9.