On February 24 early in the morning, I wake up with the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is not a small invasion, it is a full blown war, by an atomic power. The Russians throw bombs and  missiles everywhere, from east to west. I don’t know why, I am in tears. I …

Judith Vanistendael, author of several graphic novels and drawn reportages, and Drawing the Times’ Eva Hilhorst are working on a longer project in which they research several ways of graphic storytelling around climate change. The starting point of the research is that personal stories make the abstract subject tangible. In March they spend several weeks in …

The Most Important Comic Book on Earth – Stories to save the world. Since Drawing the Times started a project about Graphic storytelling and Climate change, we had to see this book. The book is an anthology of comics, and was initiated by Paul Goodenough, who named the project Rewriting Extinction. Since the project was …

Workshop graphic journalism September 27 until October 1st at iMedD in Athens Founder of the Athens Comics Library and Art and Educational Director of Comicdom Lida Tsene organized a workshop graphic journalism at the headquarters of iMedD, incubator for Media Education and Development together with Eva Hilhorst, founder of Drawing the Times. Because of corona …

In the last year Drawing the Times’ editor Eva Hilhorst taught several online courses in Graphic Journalism. Enthusiastic students from all over Europe and one from Tanzania, got together through their Zoom screens to engage in the art of Graphic Journalism. During the courses they learned how to use the unique qualities of drawing as …

by Victoria Lomasko translated by James McGavran “It’s funny! What are you, a famous artist, doing in this tiny, apolitical, totally uninteresting town?” asked a friend of mine from Bishkek when he found out I had come to spend a month in Osh. In fact Osh is probably the second most important city in Kyrgyzstan, …

In the beginning of last year, artist-designer Mark Schalken was asked to give a lecture on animal rights and art. When the lecture was canceled because of corona, he asked a group of comic artists to create a graphic novel together. With drawn stories we can evoke a visual and challenging vision of the future for a large …

Drawn Animals In the summer of 2019, I travelled to the river Ardèche in the south of France, where prehistoric cave drawings were discovered. 30,000 year ago, groups of hunter-gatherers called Cro-Magnons lived there. These ancestors of ours already stood on two feet and had their hands free. They wore jewellery, used weapons, and controlled …

I remember exactly when I stopped eating meat. I was nineteen years old, lived with my parents, and commuted every day to a neighboring city for college. By the entrance to the school’s courtyard there was a crooked butcher’s stall. The pole where living calves were tied up was crooked, as was the table where …

European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht announce the opening of the second edition of the European Cartoon Award, on May 6 2021. The 2020 winner, “Earth’s sixth mass extinction”, by Anne Derenne The European Cartoon Award 2021 is open for submissions From May 6 to June 18, 2021, cartoonists that publish in all 47 …

  Online Course Graphic Journalism In the last half year Drawing the Times’ editor Eva Hilhorst taught several online courses in Graphic Journalism. Every Tuesday (English) and Thursday (Dutch) evening a group of eager students from all over Europe and one from Tanzania, got together through their Zoom screens to engage in the art of …

Dutch cartoonist TRIK regularly posts new cartoons on the Drawing the Times website. Those razor sharp cartoons and many more are now collected in a cross over project, connecting TRIK’s cartoon and the music of the band The Irrationals Library of spoken word artist and singer Joshua Baumgarten. This project reflects the world we live …

Course Graphic Journalism  – Update 8 week course Graphic Journalism by Eva Hilhorst. 8 Tuesday evenings form October 27, 7.30 until 10 PM. The course will be in English, in case of non Dutch-speaking participants.  Inscription fee: €325. 1 place left! This course teaches both (comics) artists and writers how to use drawing in journalistic work. Drawing has unique …

2020 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded in history. Not only the planet itself is heating up quickly, so do its inhabitants. Climate change, corona and social injustices made people go out on the streets to protest. The killing of George Floyd in May this year, galvanized a global anti-Racism movement. In …

Earth League International is a non-profit organisation that applies professional intelligence expertise to disrupt the proliferation of wildlife crime around the world. Their mission is to fight Environmental Crime through effective Information Collection, Intelligence gathering in support of law enforcement agencies at various levels and countries; former CIA and FBI agents are inside the organization. They launched a new project – graphic novels and comics …

On March 13 the book launch and presentation of  Verbonden Verhalen – Stories from Overvecht was cancelled because of the coronavirus. One of the portrayed people, Nurya, had prepared delicious Eritrean food, that is now kept in the freezer for the postponed party. Also the presentation on March 20 at Het Huis van Betekenis in Utrecht …

Nine artists met with residents in the neighbourhood Utrecht Overvecht for the project ‘Stories from Overvecht’ and visited them a couple of times. Elderly people who live there from the beginning, and new residents who came here as refugees. What are their stories? How do they live their lives? The artists listened, watched and used …

B. Carrot, who published several stories on Drawing the Times, also made a book that will be published very soon: Alle dagen ui (Days of Onion). The book tells the true story of Saied, a man who sought political asylum in the Netherlands. Immediately upon arrival Saied was imprisoned in a foreign detention facility at Schiphol …

Thursday June 13, from 10 – 17 Huis van Betekenis, Lauwerecht 10, Utrecht (Netherlands). Including drawing materials, coffee, tea and lunch. Fee: €120. 20% discount for students and alumni, members of Huis van Betekenis. Drawing the Times is online for three years now, regularly publishing stories made by graphic journalists and comic artists. Over time, …

This story is made by Leyla Ali, an artist based in Utrecht Netherlands, who is originally from Azerbaijan. With this story she would like to give you an insight about the LGBTQ in Azerbaijan On 22 September 2017, more than 100 LGBTQ* individuals were rounded up by the police in public spaces and detained. Some were released, …

Every other year the entire German city Erlangen is dedicated to comics, when it is hosting the Comic Salon, an important event for comics and graphic literature in the German speaking realm. In cooperation with Erlangen Stadtmuseum and Deutscher Comicverein, the Comic Salon presents a comprehensive exhibition about the emerging genre of comic journalism. Works by …

Hilde Baele, who is one of the leading ladies of the Croque ton histoire contest, launched a new project in Burundi for International Women’s Day. Young Burundian artist were challenged to draw a portrait of one woman expressing six different moods: Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. Ten works were elected for an exhibition at …

In 2010 Glwadys Aguegue, Hermine Akponna and Hilde Baele started the NGO CàNous in Cotonou, Bénin. CàNous is active in the field of children’s rights, they want to give children and adolescents a voice. When children are able to share their experiences, they are no longer alone with their problem. The NGO gives information about children’s …

A record amount of visitors at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven this year: 335,000. This was a great opportunity for Drawing the Times to show what we have to offer:   On the balcony Drawing the Times Lab was in full action, a collective of illustrators was working full time :   Everyday we published an illustration in …

Drawing the Times is looking for enthusiastic illustrators who are willing to participate in live drawing at the Dutch Design Week. Everyday there will be a different theme that is linked to an event going on somewhere at DDW. We’re in need of visual reports of those events and that’s where you come in! The …

  Drawing the Times goes Dutch Design Week! Drawing the Times will be (omni)present at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, The Netherlands this year. The biggest design event in Northern Europe will take place from October 21 through October 29. The Dutch Design Week concentrates on the designs of the future. The emphasis is …

Drawing the Times is not only active as a publishing website, we are also giving lectures, workshops and even bootcamps to promote the medium graphic journalism. We call this the Drawing the Times Labs, because a lot of new ways of graphic storytelling are explored here. Young people are experimenting with the medium to become the new generation of …

On April 14 the jury of the Croque ton Histoire – Scribble Your Story gathered at the headquarters of Free Press Unlimited in Amsterdam. We got 100 submissions from 6 countries. There was a great variety in the professional level of the participants, but the stories were all compelling. It was not an easy decision …

   “Comics and cartoons are being drawn, printed and published from Maroc to Qatar, but in Europe hardly anyone knows they exist. Even worse is that many Westerners believe that in islamic culture pictures are completely forbidden!” I wrote this in the opening paragraph of my book ‘Chouf! Qra! – Comics & cartoons in the …

You probably noticed that Drawing the Times looks a bit different. We made some necessary changes: instead of  showcasing the current special on the homepage we now feature new and relevant stories. The overview of the different elements of Drawing the Times on the homepage are more balanced. You can share each story now. And to be able …

Bob Mollema who published the story Bed, Bath and Dead on Drawing the Times, started a new project with an important role for refugees. Amadeus Lyceum asked Bob to start up an engaged project for their students. He took initiative and contacted restaurant Syr, where the kitchen is run by Syrian refugees, to start a collaboration. Together with the students and …

Artist Diala Brisly fled Syria in 2013. She now lives in France but she’s well known inside Syria for her work on a children’s magazine, Zayton and Zaytonah – like Olive and Oliver, a boy and a girl. There are a lot of olive trees and olive farms in the north of Syria.. The main …

Fier de toi! Proud Of  You!   Open Call In collaboration with Free Press Unlimited, Drawing the Times is organizing a contest in graphic journalism in selected African countries: Rwanda/Burundi, Mali, Bénin, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is an open call for all artists living in these countries to enter the contest by making a visual …

Protesting truckers make a placard: “20 February: the day when the trucks won’t pass” Our story on Russia’s grassroots activism continues. From Moscow’s parks to federal highways, ordinary citizens learn the power of protest – and of solidarity. Over the past few years, Russian artist Viktoria Lomasko has travelled widely across Russia, as well as to Armenia, …

The RATP and Fraternité in France organized the exhibition Une image pour la fraternité in metro station Hôtel de Ville in Paris, initiated by the philosopher Abdennour Bidar. They are on display until November 14 and will travel through France afterwards. Jeanne Verdoux made this drawing just after the attacks on Bataclan in Paris exactly one …

  Artist draw what concerns them if Trump wins the U.S. elections at the Comic Arts Brooklyn Festival on November 5th. Drawings by Anonymous, Mike Taylor, Morgan Holub, Keith Jones, Paul Kirchner, Hic & Hoc, Nicole Rifkin, Sanita kuš!, R. Sikoryak and Nate Doyle.                

  A group of artists in The Hague: Babette Wagenvoort, Frits Dijcks and Erik-Jan Ligtvoet initiated Innocent Drawing because they felt the need to draw for a ‘good cause’. They have started by drawing postcards for prisoners of conscience that are sent via Amnesty International. The drawings are innocent, i.e. they can’t have political meanings, because they might …

A trip to Tbilisi Victoria Lomasko Translation: Thomas Campbell Even before the trip, I had heard lots of rave reviews about Tbilisi from friends. They had told me about the beauty and hospitality of Georgians, about big meals with sing-alongs, about Tbilisi’s old courtyards. “What can I say about this tourist town that would be …

What do two Moscow parks and a truck drivers’ trade union have in common? They have been the focus of protests that have shown that the Russian public may be losing its traditional passivity. Over the past few years, Russian artist Viktoria Lomasko has travelled widely across Russia, as well as to Armenia, Georgia and …

Hebron, the city of the Biblical patriarchs on the West Bank, plays a major role in the violence that has been plaguing Israel and the Palestinian Territories since late last year. Israeli settlers are talking about bloody terror, the Palestinians about a suffocating occupation. Two irreconcilable narratives from a divided city. Text DAVID ORANJE Illustrations …

The Nib is a daily comics publications that is part of First Look Media. They publish political cartoons, journalism, essays and memoir about what is going down in the world, all in comics form. The Nib delivers engaging and provocative social commentary in the form of political cartoons, comics journalism, and non-fiction writing from a …

Komikazen International Reality Comics Festival is an annual festival for non-fiction comics organized by Elettra Stamboulis and Gianluca Costantini and sponsored by Mirada Cultural Association. The first edition took place in 2005 in Ravenna, Italy with special guests Phoebe Gloeckner, Joe Sacco and Marjane Satrapi. This year the event took place in Rimini from May …

Malika Saissi, Coordinator of the woman’s movement Kaleidoscoop in Molenbeek “Since 5 years I crush taboos. We talk about homosexuality. I had to be strategic. I didn’t want to offend any of these women. We’re trying to catch up a deprivation of 30 years, but it works! After the attacks on Paris there is a …

Stripdagen Haarlem   Stripdagen Haarlem is a biannual comic festival in the center of the old city of Haarlem, Netherlands that took place for the first time in 1992. The festival consists of many (free) exhibitions, fairs, discourses, concerts, movie screenings, award festivities and children activities. The main fair will be held in the first …

PositiveNegatives produce literary comics about contemporary social and human rights issues. They combine ethnographic research with illustration and photography, adapting personal testimonies into art, education and advocacy materials. PositiveNegatives was initiated by Benjamin Dix. He worked  in Sri Lanka for the UN for four years. When he returned to England he started to write his Phd thesis …

The international comic magazine in German language “Abhauen, weggehen, Flucht“ – No. 122 / March 2016 The theme of this issue is Refugees. There are stories by Mazen Kerbaj (Lebanon), Hila Noam (Israel), Christoph Abbrederis (Austria), Paula Bulling (Germany), Harsho Chatteraj (India), Zep (Switzerland), Isabel Peterhans (Switzerland) and Ro (Switzerland). Subscriptions: www.strapazin.ch / www.strapazin.de Drawing the …

Brush&Bow is a platform for creative journalism, using illustrations and sound-recordings to explore the individual voices and stories of people within current social issues. As a musician and artist duo, Harriet Paintin and Hannah Kirmes-Daly work closely together, using the arts to create spaces of communication, trust and celebration. In a world full of divisions, …

The Cartoon Movement is a  a community of international editorial cartoonists and fans of political satire. The Cartoon Movement is part of The Video Journalism Movement (VJ Movement). The Cartoon Movement was set up by Tjeerd Royaards, a Dutch editorial cartoonist. Tjeerd is Editor-in-Chief. He is also on the Board of Advisors of Cartoonists Rights Network International and …

In the northern French town of Grande-Synthe, a suburb of Dunkirk and a two-hour drive from the Dutch border, it is harrowing to see how the European asylum policy is failing. Plagued by infectious diseases, violent people smugglers and unwilling authorities, the 3000 inhabitants of the refugee camp there are desperately trying to survive the …

Jeroen Janssen lived and worked in Rwanda until 1994, when hell broke loose. He taught at the Art school of Nyundo, the only art school of Rwanda, located in the green hills between the Nile and the Congo river. He returned 20 years later with his sketchbook and his markers looking for the people and places …

Kleine Helden – Little Heroes, is an anthology of nine stories made by graduate students of the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. They are based on a series of documentaries that Rudi Vranckx made for the Flemish television channel Canvas. They tell the stories of people that make a difference in their communities. They …

Elmira, a Kumyk woman   A Trip to Dagestan Victoria Lomasko Translation: Thomas Campbell Makhachkala 1  The first sight I was shown in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a Russian Federation republic in the North Caucasus, was the prison on Scorpion Hill. “A rebuilt garrison fortress, it is one of the oldest buildings in town: …

It’s hard being a kid born in the mountainous border region between Thailand and Myanmar. Political, economic, and geographic factors all threaten the fundamentals of childhood, and often disrupt or completely destroy the normal process of growing up. The area is unstable and relatively lawless, especially in rural villages where most people live. Children are …

A Trip to Yerevan Victoria Lomasko Translation: Thomas Campbell Armenian Site Who Lives in Yerevan?  The strongest impression from my first day in the city was the sense that only one language was spoken on the streets and everyone looked more or less alike. Armenia is a monoethnic country. According to statistics, over ninety-seven percent of …

In the Netherlands photographers are not admitted in the courtroom. To give an impression of the trial, an artist makes drawings of the suspects in the courtroom and those are shown in the media. They have to be neutral, not judging. Unlike graphic journalist, the artist in the courtroom should not show his feelings or emotions …

Dutch artist, cartoonist and illustrator -well-known for his biography of Rembrandt, that is also available in English and Spanish- drew this excellent report of the launch party of Drawing the Times on November 25 in the Press museum in Amsterdam.  

Wednesday the 25th of November was the Big Day! From this day on everyone in the whole world has access to www.drawingthetimes.com! The Press Museum in Amsterdam hosted the launch party. Jules Calis, Holland’s bravest comics journalist showed a documentary (in Dutch) about his work in the field as a comics journalist. The following speakers took part …

A Trip to Kyrgyzstan Victoria Lomasko August 25, 2014 Translation: Thomas Campbell Russian Site Kyrygzstan/Kirghizia I had come to visit Bishkek Feminists “Are there really feminists in Kirghizia?” my mom had wondered before I left. On the way from the airport to Bishkek the collective’s leader, Selbi, corrected my speech several times. “It’s not Kirghizia, …

There’s not an editorial writer in the world who did not comment on the Charlie Hebdo murders, on the freedom of speech, or on the responsibility of cartoonists: how far can or should they go? Millions of words have been written about the images that have been fluttering around the globe since the 30th of …

Jeroen Janssen and Hilde Baele drew and wrote the Unlikely But True Story of the Rwandese Who Took Part in the African Expedition of Ché Guevara. Jérôme Sébasoni, the protagonist of the story is a remarkable man. He can tell numerous stories about the time when he joined Che Guevara, fifty years ago in his African expedition. The …

Refugee Republic Refugee Republic is production by Submarine Channel and De Volkskrant. Camp Domiz is a Syrian refugee camp in northern Iraq. Around 64 thousand predominantly Kurdish-Syrian refugees have sought shelter here. As the number of refugees grew, the camp gradually transformed from a temporary refuge to a makeshift town, where people live and work, go …

Drawing the Times cartoonists made drawn reports from the best documentaries shown at the IDFA festival last week. Gijs Kast made this after he saw the documentary Nice People by Anders Helgeson and Karin af Klintberg, on Somalian refugees that formed a bandy team in Sweden. Lampedusa in Winter from Jakob Brossmann, on the Italian …

Students Illustration of HKU reflect on the attacks in Paris by making big birds of freedom.

Graphic News is the first digital native comics journalism portal. Graphic News is a project from the Cooperativa Pequod, wich was founded by a group of young people coming from the world of comics, journalism and communication, sharing among them a vision, passion and energy. The people of Graphic News think that comics journalism is today a reality capable of telling …

La Revue Dessinée is a French quarterly magazine, both digital and in print. Each issue contains 228 pages of articles in comic form. The story ‘The Borders of Shame’, by Taina Tervonen and Jeff Pourquié was originally published in La Revue Dessinée #7.

Kuš! (pronounce koosh!) is a comics art anthology from Latvia founded 2007 in Riga. Every issue contains comics from international and Latvian artists on a certain theme which changes every issue. The aims of kuš! are to popularize comics in a country where this medium is practically non-existent and promoting Latvian comics abroad. kuš! doesn’t just …