Blog Posts

What I'm bringing to the 2017 Calgary Expo

4/20/2017

Well, folks, it's time for another Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, that behemoth of pop culture that descends upon Calgary at the end of April every year. You can find me in Artist Alley at table R12!

This will be my sixth year as an exhibitor, but you can't really count last year. A few days before the Expo, I bumped my head and ended up with a concussion. I missed the Expo, but at least I wrote a comic about getting a concussion (which you can get from me at the Expo, this year!)

What else am I bringing to the Expo this year?

Well, I'll have the latest collection of Ramsay comics (2015-2017). These aren't exactly "new," but if you come and get it at the Expo you'll get a sneak preview of the May comic, which is all about a pretty wonderful project happening in my neighbourhood thanks to local non-profit Calgary Reads.

I'm not going to say anything more about it here except that my contribution to this project is one of my 3 Things for Canada. So, come see me at the Expo and be one of the first to find out!

I organized a panel on contemporary Canadian indie comics, featuring this amazing lineup of panelists:

Julia Smith & Sean Carleton of the Graphic History Collective (and it's their first time at the Expo, so be nice to them); Eric Dyck from Lethbridge; and Hope Nicholson, all the way from Winnipeg!

This is happening on Saturday, April 29th at 1:15, so please come and talk to us about the local comics scene where you live.

That brings me to my next NEW thing.

I'm working on a little comics strip about the Calgary/Alberta indie comics scene for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (which is pretty darn exciting for me, for a few reasons).

This project is the reason I decided to organize the panel mentioned above. I mean, I could write about my actual experience of the Calgary indie comics scene since I got involved, and this would be it:

Sam's Tale of Calgary Independent Comics

2002: Damian Willcox, Kandrix Foong, Laurie Breitkreuz, me

2002-2016: Damian Willcox kept going while the rest of us got distracted doing other stuff. Well, I kept making comics, but I didn't really do anything with them. In the meantime, a whole bunch of other people started making comics I had no idea about.

2016: Panel One comics collective hosted its first Calgary indie creator festival, and I got to find out what some of these other amazing people were doing!

2017: We're having this panel discussion so I can find out more! (I don't think the above tale is going to cut it.)

I am really looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on this subject. Even if you can't make it to the panel, if you have some great insights about the evolving indie comics scene in this town (or around Alberta), please come and talk to me at the Expo or send me a tweet @calgaryhester! I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm also bringing ONE OTHER new thing to the Calgary Expo, and that's my contribution to this year's Expo Artbook. But I'll have to keep you in suspense just a little bit longer before I post that out. Stay tuned! And if you are coming to the show, remember... wear comfy shoes and bring water!

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April 2017 Ramsay Newsletter Comic + 3 Things for Canada!

4/19/2017

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It's about time for me to post this comic, my April strip for the Ramsay newsletter. April's more than halfway over!

I've been writing about Mayor Nenshi's initiative, 3 Things for Canada. I chose three acts of service that I wanted to do for Canada this year, and of course all of them have something to do with comics. In a previous blog post, I mentioned the first of my 3 Things: I've been working on organizing a panel discussion at the Calgary Comics Expo about Canadian independent comics. That's coming up soon, on April 29th. You can read about it here!

My second thing is something I've been doing for a while already in 2017: writing comics about inspiring things happening in my own community. I'm looking for true stories about people who are helping Canada to be a country to be proud of. This kind of started with my Ramsay comic strip in December 2016 when I wrote about "why we need neighbours," and I'll be looking for opportunities to keep writing about this throughout the year.

When I heard this story from my neighbour Nolene, who works at the Ginger Group, I thought it was just the kind of thing I wanted to write about. She was gracious enough to let me turn it into a comic. Here you go!

Find out more about Alpha House! Watch this space for more monthly comics like this one! And stay tuned for my third Thing for Canada, which I'll be announcing during the next few weeks.

And, keep an eye out for Nolene, who's appearing again in my comic for the Calgary Expo Artbook!

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A Day in the Life at Coventry Hills Good Earth Coffeehouse

4/13/2017

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Check out #LivingstonYYC's new mag, Live Up. We love flippin' through and reading about the first family! https://t.co/Wv8QlztvpZ pic.twitter.com/7YF5RLTE3T
— BrookfieldYYC (@BrookfieldYYC) March 23, 2017

A funny thing happened after I started working as a graphic recorder: people started asking me to draw pictures. Of course, I'm always drawing pictures, so that probably sounds weird, but what I mean is, I'm not a trained illustrator or graphic designer and so I really don't have a whole lot of experience working in this capacity. (Luckily, I keep learning as I go!) But when the folks at RedPoint Media asked me if I'd draw some pictures about "A Day in the Life" of a local coffee shop, I had to say yes!

This picture was featured in Brookfield's LiveUp Magazine, which was published recently by RedPoint Media to help promote Brookfield's new neighbourhood, Livingston, up at the northern end of town. And the coffee shop in question was the Good Earth Coffeehouse in Coventry Hills.

Despite being an inner-city dweller, I've actually spent quite a bit of time up in Coventry Hills. I spent a nice day getting reacquainted with the neighbourhood, the locals who came and went during the day, a few of the staff at the Good Earth, and, of course... the coffee!

Here's the sketch I made that day, which turned into the finished picture, below.

I feel like adding this note, to say that I just can't get used to working in colour. For so many years I've worked with black ink on paper because I just never have time to colour things in. These days when I actually have the luxury of drawing a colour image, I feel like I'm wading into dangerous unknown waters where I've never ventured. I have so much to learn about how to incorporate colour into illustration work. Who knows, maybe one day I could even try working wthout those black lines!

And here's a funny footnote to this story. I was just thinking about how I've been going to the Good Earth Coffeehouse for years and years, ever since they opened their first location in the Beltline in 1991. In 2009, when my first son was just a baby, I dropped him off at my in-laws', who lived nearby, and headed to the same Good Earth to catch some moments to write and draw, in an attempt to steer my creative efforts into a "career" of sorts!

When I posted those pictures from LiveUp Magazine, I had a vague recollection that I'd drawn a long-ago comics page that said something about the Good Earth. I dug through the archives and found the page - below. There I am sitting in the Beltline Good Earth in 1998, on March 26th, which just happens to be the same day I'm writing this, 19 years later! Let me end this post with this collection of strange and random quotations that came out of my pen way back then. Thanks Good Earth for being a welcoming place for creativity and comics, for all these years!

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Independent Canadian Comics Panel at the Calgary Expo!

4/11/2017

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So here's the 1st of my 3 Things for Canada: I pitched a panel about independent Canadian comics to the Calgary Comics Expo, and it's happening!

You've heard of the Calgary Expo, right? (If not, please drop everything and take a look!)

This gigantic homegrown celebration of comics and pop culture in general, takes place on the Stampede Grounds at the end of April every year. This year, it's happening from April 27 - 30. And I'll be there!

I'm really interested in comics that are being created and published right here in Canada, and even more if they're about Canadian stories. Right here in Calgary, there's a growing independent scene, ranging from old-timers like Damian Willcox (sorry, Damian! Guess I should probably say "creators of long-standing status" or something more dignified...) to new movements like Panel One, an independent creators' collective established in 2016.

I've been thinking a lot about contemporary comics in Canada (and in Calgary in particular), since I read back in 2016 that the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics had put out a call for papers on "The Young Canadians." They were asking, "What's happened in Canadian comics in recent years?"

I'm definitely not an expert on this subject, but I'm interested in how my own local scene has been evolving. And I thought the Calgary Expo seemed like the perfect place to have a discussion about this. So, that's part of the reason why I thought this panel might be a good idea. I am looking forward to listening and learning!

If you're coming to the Expo this year, I really hope you'll come out to hear this conversation. Right now, the Expo website still hasn't posted its programming info, but when it does, this is where you'll be able to find it. In the meantime, here's some information about our panel!

When: Saturday, April 29th, 1:15 PM - 2 PM
Where: Calgary Comics Expo, Palomino AB
What: Independent Canadian Comics, featuring the Graphic History Collective

Comics scholars Sean Carleton & Julia Smith, Winnipeg-based Bedside Press publisher and Prairie Comics Festival organizer Hope Nicholson, and indie comics creators Sam Hester & Eric Dyck, will discuss comics about real life historical & contemporary Canadian stories.

Who: Read on...!

Drawing by Kara Sievewright

Julia Smith & Sean Carleton

I'd been following the work of a pretty interesting comics project called the Graphic History Collective, when I happened to go to a party at a neighbour's house in Ramsay late last year. There I met Sean and Julia, co-founders of this project and new Calgary residents!

Here's a little bit of information from the GHC website:

Founded in 2008, the Graphic History Collective (GHC) is a group of activists, artists, writers, and researchers passionate about comics, history and social change.
We produce alternative histories - people's histories - in an accessible format to help people understand the historical roots of contemporary social issues.
Our comics show that you don't need a cape and a pair of tights to change the world.

Drawing by Jenn St. Onge

Hope Nicholson

Adding a splash of colour to our panel (and I'm not only referring to this lovely Twitter avatar picture by Jenn St. Onge that I lifted from Hope's Twitter account), Hope Nicholson will be joining us at the Calgary Expo!

Hope publishes Bedside Press out of Winnipeg and she's also putting together a pretty amazing independent comics event in Winnipeg this year, the Prairie Comics Festival on May 6 - 7, which I've been wishing I could attend! Maybe next year!

Drawing by Eric Dyck

Eric Dyck

I am so pleased that Eric Dyck from Lethbridge is coming up to join in this conversation. His comics about history and real life in Lethbridge (and elsewhere in Canada) are beautiful, funny, and informative. I think that I'd call what Eric is doing, "comics journalism." Does he think that's what he's doing??? This is one of the things I want to talk about in the panel. Come and find out!

Drawing by Stephanie Chan

Stephanie Chan

Geek Girl Gathering organizer, techie, artist, and wearer of many hats, Stephanie Chan will be moderating our panel!

Drawing by Sam Hester

Sam Hester

Well, you've met me.

Why should you come and listen to this panel? Well, obviously, if you’re one of those few people who’s interested in the Canadian independent comics scene, you’ll know there are only a handful of opportunities every year to find people from the field congregating to talk about this cool subject. so you won’t want to miss this.

And if you’re in the category of folks who had no idea that this was even a thing, well, then clearly this is the place you need to be, to find out more! Either way, we hope you’ll come!

And now remember: putting this panel together has been the first of my 3 Things for Canada. Stay tuned for the next two, coming soon!

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Announcing... My 3 Things for Canada! (Almost.)

4/10/2017

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I've written a little bit already about Mayor Nenshi's 3 Things for Canada - the idea that all Canadians could use the occasion of Canada's sesquicentennial year to offer three acts of service to the country in 2017.

I've already seen a few pretty great projects happening, and even more exciting, I've been watching this initiative spread across the country! Here are a few examples I found online, that I really liked. You can see many more by taking a look on Twitter at #3ThingsforCanada or following @3ThingsCanada.

You have to scroll through these ones, to get to mine, at the bottom!

Here are my #3ThingsforCanada! I now challenge @KennyVLimaC @ConnieJakab and @KaliYVR to do theirs and to challenge 3 friends! #canada pic.twitter.com/mFXauMxrER
— Andrew Phung (@andrewphung) February 2, 2017

Three things I want to do #mayorslunch #yyc #3thingsforcanada pic.twitter.com/ocayJWPsnT
— Achiru et al (@Achiruetal) March 22, 2017

@ayoowodunni came by my office today and is now the first person in #Guelph to pledge to do #3ThingsForCanada! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/4YqAIQJUFO
— Cam Guthrie (@CamGuthrie) March 24, 2017

So lovely to receive a #3ThingsForCanada postcard sharing the acts of service of the Highwood Senior Ladies pic.twitter.com/R9Kg134X0z
— 3 Things for Canada (@3ThingsCanada) March 8, 2017

So, what about me - what are my three things for Canada?

You know what, I really thought I was going to be able to fit these all into one blog post, but I just couldn't do it. So after all that, I'm still not going to tell you the whole story.

Instead, here are three pictures to give you three hints.

The first one is something that'll be happening this year at the Calgary Comics Expo. That's coming up at the end of April!

The second one is something that'll be going on all year.

And the third one is something that'll be happening in May, and which is a collaboration with a whole bunch of other people.

I'll post THING #1 soon - later today, in fact! Stay tuned!

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"Coliseum Transformation" Video for the City of Edmonton

3/26/2017

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I just read Elise Stolte's piece for the Edmonton Journal:
City officials endorse Hockey Canada vision for Northlands Coliseum
So maybe it's the right time to post this video! Read on...

If you know Edmonton at all - or if you happen to be a hockey fan - you probably know the Northlands Coliseum, until recently the oldest NHL stadium in Canada. If it wasn't for my Oiler-loving husband, I wouldn't be too well-informed about the Canadian hockey arena scene. (Let me restate that. I would know ZERO about any hockey scene of any kind.) I've only visited the Coliseum once (to see a Bob Dylan concert).

Well, the venerable old Coliseum has been replaced by Rogers Place, and now the City of Edmonton has been exploring options for the old facility. I was asked to draw some pictures for a video that would be used to communicate the story of how the City's proceeding with their plans. This was a new experience for me!

I'd only worked on a video like this once before, thanks to an invitation from the Calgary Tool Library (here's the video). I was grateful to have had that experience, since I found out that drawing live for a video is actually pretty different than the usual "live drawing" that happens when I'm recording in front of a group. Big thanks to Edmonton's Lindisfarne Productions who shot, edited and produced the video, all the while being extremely supportive, as I tried to learn a whole new process!

Here's the video (below). To find out more about the City of Edmonton's Coliseum Transformation project, take a look here.

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Mayor's Lunch for Arts Champions 2017

3/21/2017

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It's the Mayor's Lunch for Arts Champions today! And I am so proud to have been invited to attend by the kind folks at Calgary Reads, a wonderful non-profit that promotes children's literacy! I have been collaborating with them on a little project which I'll say more about in another month or two. In the meantime, I was realizing that I haven't been posting much in the last while, and what better occasion to finally put something here, than the Mayor's Lunch... especially something about the Mayor!

Last month, my son's class was lucky enough to participate in a pretty cool program called City Hall School, and I was lucky enough to be a parent volunteer (and take advantage of the opportunity to take some notes)! One of the best parts of our week was our visit with Mayor Nenshi, who talked with the students about a few things, including public art in Calgary's downtown, his plans for Canada Day this year, and his 3 Things for Canada initiative. In honour of the Mayor's Lunch, here are my sketchnotes from the class's meeting with him! Thanks Mayor Nenshi for your support of artists and arts champions in our city!

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March 2017 Ramsay Newsletter Comic

3/1/2017

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This month's Ramsay Newsletter comic strip. Thanks to guest artist Scott (my husband) for stepping in to help since I couldn't do it this month! I think this may be his first comic strip ever, but hopefully not the last!

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February 2017 Ramsay Newsletter AND... 3 Things for Canada!

1/30/2017

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The latest comic strip about life in my quiet Calgary neighbourhood appears here, against the backdrop of a rising tide of world events that I'm struggling to keep up with. When I started writing comics about Ramsay, I didn't imagine that politics - local, to say nothing of global - would really ever be a big part of the story. But once again, I'm finding the line between the events on my own street, and the events "out there" in what my dad used to call the Great World, to be indistinguishable. It's all part of the same story.

When I drew this comic a week or two ago, I decided to write about an initiative launched recently by our Mayor Naheed Nenshi as part of Canada's 150th anniversary celebration (otherwise known as our sesquicentennial). You can read about "3 Things for Canada" in the comic strip below (and click on the link to see the website for this project. This is something you'll want to be part of!).

But right now "3 Things for Canada" feels like a small contribution to make, to a country that needs much more. Last night,six people were killed in a terrorist attack at a mosque in Quebec City.

Just prior to this tragic event, I had been heartened to see Canada's politicians, almost without exception, asserting Canada's commitment to a diverse and inclusive society, one that welcomes refugees regardless of faith or ethnicity, in contrast to Donald Trump's recent Executive Order. Here are just a couple of statements I was proud to see:

To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017

I came to Alberta, Canada as a Refugee & was welcomed & cared for, I became a Citizen & I am now a Cabinet Minister #WelcomeToCanada #ableg https://t.co/Za0sFj1o3W
— Ricardo Miranda (@_RicardoYYC) January 29, 2017

Today, after the tragic events in Quebec, the work of Canada's leaders becomes even more difficult. And this brings me back to Mayor Nenshi, whose response to the Quebec shootings can be read in full here:

My heart doesn’t break because I am Muslim.
My heart breaks because I am human.

Today, it is easy to feel the darkness of the world.

I know that it can feel like the world is broken and that we are helpless to fix it. But we are not helpless.

Every single one of us can heal the world. It starts in our own communities and with our own hearts and hands. Every single one of us has the power to create the light we so desperately need in times like these.

And so it is our responsibility today to take action. Actions that not only heal our community, but make it stronger. Actions that, at their core, bring us together.

Meet and know all your neighbours, host a community pot luck, donate to organizations that support refugees and immigrants and our communities, volunteer for events to celebrate who we are as a diverse and multicultural and pluralistic nation.

And that brings us to 3 Things for Canada - three acts of service to our nation that can build bridges, heal, celebrate, and reaffirm what it means to be a Canadian today.

First, a little history about how this got started - with 3 Things for Calgary.

Ramsay Newsletter Comic, February 2017

That's really just the introduction. Next, I want to tell you about the first of my three things: the story I'm going to tell this week, as part of the community-building, healing, and learning that I want to contribute. Look out for that first chapter very soon! In the meantime, consider what you could share with our country: What are you passionate about? What can you do to help?

There couldn't be a better time for this project.

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World Sketchnote Day 2017

1/11/2017

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It's World Sketchnote Day, so it's time to post some sketchnotes!

I found these old unpublished sketchnotes from two different events I attended in 2014, and never really finished.

This first one was from a talk by Canadian comics creator Michael Cho, at Loft 112. Calgary comics guy Damian Willcox invited me to come out for this!

And the second set of sketchnotes comes from a reading at Shelf Life Books, by my mom, who had a little launch for her self-published book of poems, "Naked Under my Coat: Writing Under the Influence of Parkinson's."

And last of all - found at the bottom of my pile of "things I drew in 2014 and didn't do anything with" - some notes that aren't exactly sketchnotes, but notes about the kind of lettering I use when making sketchnotes!

Happy sketchnoting!

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sam hester

I am a graphic recorder based in Calgary. I like local stories. I write comics when I have free time. And I leave eraser shavings everywhere I go.

Looking for a
graphic recorder?
Look here!

contact me

sam@the23rdstory.com

my website

www.the23rdstory.com started as a blog and now includes some information about my graphic recording practice as well.

I also have an (old) website which features a lot of my (old) work. Look out, it's a bit clunky and there are a lot of links that don't go anywhere, but there are still a few interesting things there:
www.thedrawingbook.com

When: Saturday, April 29th, 1:15 PM - 2 PMWhere: Calgary Comics Expo, Palomino ABWhat: Independent Canadian Comics, featuring the Graphic History Collective

Who: Read on...!

Julia Smith & Sean Carleton

Hope Nicholson

Eric Dyck

Stephanie Chan

Sam Hester

Ramsay Newsletter Comic, February 2017

sam hester

Looking for agraphic recorder? Look here!

contact me

my website

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When: Saturday, April 29th, 1:15 PM - 2 PM
Where: Calgary Comics Expo, Palomino AB
What: Independent Canadian Comics, featuring the Graphic History Collective

Looking for a
graphic recorder?
Look here!