Swamp News

New Swamp Feature

Due to a number of fan requests we have a new feature lokking at the Bludgergar. This manic songbird creates mayhem wherever he goes...he appears in the strip from time to time but when he does he always makes an impct. Click here or on the image to visit the feature page.

Check out the old features from that page of a wide range of characters.

If you have a character you'd like to see in the Features Pages send us an email. Click here.

Ding Needs Help...

Recently, the below strip, was run in a large number of newspapers the Swamp comic strip appears. Alot of of readers and fans responded  to dings plee and their creative and fun comments can be seen on a special feedback page. Click here to view it or on the cartoon below.

If you have an suggestions for ding feel free to email him at: ding@swamp.com.au

News Aviation Cartoons Book

Martin Leeuwis has previously put out a book of aviation cartoons called 'A Good Landing'.
It included Gary's cartoons on the aviation theme. Now he has just put out a new book called "Going Up Sir!" This time it features 21 cartoonists from all over the globe. Cartoonists from countries such as the USA, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria and Germany are featured. Gary is Australia's only representative.

To view more about the book or purchase it click on the book below to visit Martin's website. He has a range of books and info available at his main site www.humor.aero

It's the pefect gift for anyone who loves cartoons about aviation. It has both black and white cartoons and coloured cartoons. And a wide range of styles and humour.

Korean Friends

 Gary Clark's Cartoon Workshops

Gary held a number of Cartoon Workshops for children during the recent school holdiays.

They were held in Brisbane with Brisbane City Libraries as well as the Toowoomba and Oakey Libraries.  The children were thoroughly entertained. They enjoyed learning how Gary creates cartoon ideas from scratch and basic drawing to create their own characters. Best of all, they had the opportunity to actively particpate in the workshops by creating and drawing their own characters and interacting with Gary.

Gary has some of the drawings from budding cartoonists at the workshops. Also, he had some great feedback from the children.

There will be more workshops in the September school holidays. If you would like to be notified about these workshops please email: sales@swamp.com.au

Swamp Reaches 10,000th cartoon.

A fan of Swamp has put together a video celebrating Swamp's 10,000th cartoon.

To view it click here.

It was done by a long term fan Joshua Duroux who also composed and recorded the song accompanying the video. The music is also about Swamp and all it's characters.

New Feature Page.

Don't' forget to check out the new Swamp Feature pages. This time around we are taking a look at the antics of the Nitpicker bird. This guy is the constant companion of Old Croc. He is always finding new ways to annoy the Old Croc. Nitpicker has lots of adventures trying different jobs and pastimes from pirate to backpacker, exchange student to bodyguard. There are a number of pages featuring old and new strips, dailies and Sunday strips. 

And keep an eye out a new pages of cartoons go up each week.

Click on the Nitpicker picture to visit the New Feature pages.

If you have a character or aspect of Swamp you'd love to see featured please contact us and let us know. Click here to comment.

AOPA at the Avalon Airshow 13th to 15th MArch 2009

Check out about the AOPA magazine by clicking on their logo.

Swamp's creator Gary Clark appearing at the AOPA Airshow

Gary Clark, the creator of Swamp, appeared at the AOPA stand at the Avalon Airshow from the 10th to the 15th of March 2009. The Avalon International Airshow will be held at the Avalon airport Geelong.

Gary was selling and signing his range of books at the AOPA magazine stand.

Gary wished to thank all at the AOPA magazine for hosting him and all the wonderful fans who came by and said hello. Especially the pilots who appreciated the aviation humour that plays an important part in the strip. Apart from some rain (never good at an airshow) a good time was had by all.

Swamp Goes Poetic.

A Swamp fan , Linda Symons, has put pen to paper and composed a poem about all the characters she loves in the Swamp comic strip. Click here to view.

If you have any such inspiration please let us know and send it through to the Swamp studio's at gary@swamp.com.au

Over the years the Swamp comic strips has inspired stories, music and even a theatrical musical!

Albany Creek Cartoon Workshops Gary Clark recently held cartoon workshops at Albany Creek. The classes were run at the Albany Creek library for the Albany Home schooling Co-op. This group is made up of a number of families that have chosent ot home school their children. It was a fun day for both parents and children as Gary demonstrated and taught cartooning to the kids. Below is an example of one of the childrens artwork from the workshop.           Cartoon Dog             By   Braden Aged 12

Cartoon, Animation and Manga Workshops

Gary's workshops with the Queensland Library over the past week saw alot of budding cartoonists! Gary led each class looking at the creation of ideas and characters, and how to put them into a strip format, and make them both humorous and entertaining.

The children attending got to see how this professional goes about creating fresh ideas and putting them together to create a professional comic strip. Gary had plenty of original art on hand for the children to see how the real things looks. Overall the attendee's had a fun time and walked away with a pad and pens to continue drawing and creating comic strips.

The classes have been deemed a real success and will be held again next year. So, kids, why not book in early see Gary and all the other professionals who are involved. It's a great way to be inspired in your cartooning.

A Good Landing!

A 'Good Landing' is a book of cartoons featuring 20 different cartoonists from around the world. It covers all aspects of flying and aviation. Most cartoonists have actual flying experience from commercail pilots to military experience. Gary Clarks 'Swamp' is featured throughout out this book in full colour. The publisher Martin Leeuwis has compiled some very humorous and enetertaining cartoons that aviation enthusiasts will enjoy.

This book is available on Martin's site at Good Landing.

Army Duck and Dump Rats pages on Squidoo Website.

 Don't forget to check out the Swamp profile on the Squidoo website featuring the Army ducks. It includes lots of cartoons from the Swamp world looking at the Airforce, Army and all things military. It has also got some hilarious army video, military related links/features and merchandise to get your own Army ducks memorabilia...

The Dump Rats Lens includes some funny cartoons, Swamp clothing and some hilarious rat related videos. 

If you like what you see on the feature page and the Squidoo website check out the latest Ding Duck, "Full Power Ding Duck" book which looks at all things flying and has lots of Airforce Army related cartoons not seen on these pages.

Online Interview with Gary Clark.

In the past months Gary Clark, the creator of Swamp, was interviewed for the cartoon website, Comics Coast to Coast.

This site features alot of great interviews you can download and listen to. They have interviewed among other famous names , Patrick MacDonell who does the 'Mutts' strips. If you are a real cartoon fan then do yourself a favour and check their site out as it has alot of great material and information on cartooning.

This website is hosted by three cartoonists, Tom Racine, Brian Dunaway and Justin Thompson who do all the interviewing themselves.

Gary was their fourth international guest. They were put on to Gary by a young Swamp fan, Declan Byrne, who suggested they interview him. He even suggested some of the questions asked by the 'Coast to Coast' crew.

To hear the full hour interview click here.

Swamp Animation Short.

See the Swamp animation short on YouTube featuring the Rats.

It was done by two young animators, Xue Sen Wong and and Steven Smith, to see how the Swamp characters transferred to animation with the Adobe Flash program.

They did the voices and music themselves.

Both these guys have recently graduated from the Animation College of Southbank, Brisbane Queensland.

This is the original Sunday that the animation was based upon. Click on it to see the animation.

Click here to see it: Rats Animation.

Wildlife Australia Magazine.

Swamp will be featuring some exciting and educational material from the 'Wildlife Australia' magazine. These will be both fun and informative looking at swamps and their wildlife. So not only will you be able to laugh at the wildlife but you can learn about it here too! As you can see from the ads the magazine has been around a long time and has been a great advocate for both wildlife protection and preservation. The Swamp comic strip supports this important cause and will be partnering with them for these educational features among other initiatives very soon. So keep your eyes out!

To see their site click the following link: www.wildlife.org.au/magazine.html

This magazine is put out by the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. To find out more about them go to their website: www.wildlife.org.au/achievements.html

Feature Page

Don't forget to visit the feature page! Every month it will focus on a different character or side to the Swamp world and all it's inhabitiants.

If you have favourite characters you'd like to see on the Feature Page let us know. We want it to be your page!

This months feature looks at some of the most popular characters in the strip The Dumb Rats! You'll learn all about these characters and the fun they get up to in the strip!

Wetlands Project.

As the Swamp strip is based in a wetlands setting it has been picked up to be part of the Queensland Wetland Program run by the Queensland State government.
To check out their website and further information on the Swamp involvement follow the following link: Wetlands Project

The Lions Youth Project

Swamp has been asked to be part of the face of the promotion for the Lions club Youth Camps happening in August 2008.
The camp will be called "Camp Krokodile" and will feature the character Old Croc both on the promotional material an t-shirts available for the camp.
The character Old Croc will be used to make it more interesting and appealing to potential atendee's of the Lions Club run camps.

To check out more about these camps go to The Youth page.

School Cartoon Competition

Gary is going back to school this week to draw some cartoons with an enthusiastic Yr 6/7 class from Two Mile State School. By using the Learning Place data conferencing tool Gary will run an exciting interactive cartooning workshop with the students online. The students will be drawing their cartoons in their classroom near Gympie, but Gary will be drawing and running the workshop from his interactive whiteboard in Brisbane.

This is the third year Gary has worked with the student winners of the Learning Place's annual Online Cartooning Competition. Each year students are challenged to submit cartoon drawings on a nominates theme to an online gallery, and the winning student wins their class an online cartooning workshop with Gary. This year the students from Two Mile State School were the lucky winners in the challenge to draw a healthy fruit or vegetable cartoon. The winning student drew this cool cartoon of "Chuck the Carrot".