Celebrating all things graphite, Tiny Pencil is an independent, artist-led, anthology artzine & press devoted to the lead arts.
We publish themed, limited edition issues showcasing exciting and extraordinary work in graphite by both established and emerging artists.
We are always on the look out for new artists and collaborators. If your work is unusual, atmospheric, evocative, tells a story, or offers testament to the extraordinary greatness achievable by a simple carbon handheld, then please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. We also welcome artists traditionally associated with other mediums to partake in our carbon-based exploits.
Contacts details and guidelines can be found here. And don’t forget to check out our blog where we feature artist interviews and other fabulous graphite news.
“Graphite has never been so cool.” —Neil Gaiman
“In its two-year life, Tiny Pencil has come to occupy a unique position on the small press scene, straddling the aligned worlds of comics, zines and fine art with confidence and poise.” –Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier
“Tiny Pencil is a gorgeous, absolutely spot-on new magazine for contemporary pencil and graphite illustration.” —Foyles, UK National Bookseller of the Year 2013 & 2012
TINY PENCIL PAST & PRESENT:
AMBER HSU ~ Founder, Editor & Other Stuff ~ www.amberhsu.com // @amberhsu
Chinese-born, US-raised, UK-based artist, writer, and split personality. Has exhibited photography, illustration and sculpture in various places, and helped costume and style persons such as rock musicians and Royal Opera House sopranos. Has written for the Royal Court Theatre, Orange Tree Theatre, Islington Youth Theatre, and worked with National Theatre Studios. Awards include 2014 Film London London Calling, 2012 Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators UV award, and a 3×3 Mag Award. Once also worked in a morgue.
GARETH BROOKES ~ http://www.gbrookes.com // @brookes_gareth
Gareth Brookes is a a graphic novelist, print maker, textile artist, small press publisher and enthusiastic home brewer. He graduated in Fine Art Printmaking at the RCA. He makes weird, humorous and experimental graphic novels and handmade comics utilizing unusual materials such as embroidery, pressed flowers and fire. In 2012 he won the First Graphic Novel Prize and his graphic novel The Black Project was published by Myriad Editions in 2013.
JOHN D. KILBURN ~ www.johndkilburn.com // @JohnDKilburn
John Kilburn is a freelance artist based in Falmouth Cornwall. He makes and sells his own silkscreen prints, paintings, pop-up books and comics. In 2012 John graduated with distinction from Falmouth University’s MA in Authorial Illustration and has gone on to make work for Atlantic Press Books, The Yale Center for British Art, Falmouth University and Strandline books amongst others. John is currently setting up his own printing studio with a group of Cornish illustrators and has comics forthcoming with Atlantic Press Books, Snuff Comix and Murmur press.
NICK SHEEHY ~ www.showchicken.com // @showchicken
Australian-born, London-based artist, designer, and illustrator. After studying bronze sculpture in the wilds of Tasmania, Nick gave up on art only to re-discover his love of drawing whilst living in London, sparked by an interest in the city’s low brow art, illustration, street art and graffiti.
HEATHER McCALDEN ~ www.heathermccalden.com // @lesjeunesguns
Heather McCalden is an artist working in photographic and performance mediums. She is currently pursuing her MA at the Royal College of Art, and will graduate in 2015 – weather permitting. She digs wordplay, Frank Ocean, the cinema, coffee, and boys without girlfriends. Her work deals with bodies of text and human bodies: go figure. You can catch things that interest her eyes at lesjeunesguns.blogspot.com or on Instagram @lesjeunesguns.
YSABELLE CHEUNG ~ www.ysabellecheung.wordpress.com // @ysabellecheung
Ysabelle (pronounced the conventional way) is a writer, editor and illustrator from London, currently based in Hong Kong. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with a Creative Writing degree in 2012 and these days, she’s happy in her current positions as Art, Culture and Clubbing Editor of Time Out Hong Kong, manager of monthly literary night Liars’ League Hong Kong, morbid conversation killer and infamous napper. She is currently working on an illustrated novella. Find weird things on her instagram @ysabellecheung.
KATRIONA CHAPMAN ~ www.katchapman.com // @katchapman
London-based illustrator working with clients worldwide such as Oxford University Press, HarperCollins Big Cat. 2006 1st prize winner of Derwent’s ‘Draw a Fairytale’ competition. Has exhibited with Association of Illustrators, National Exhibition of Wildlife Art, and various group shows. She has been publishing her own hand-made artist’s books since 2010 as Tomatito Press. Tiny Pencil is her first editorial publishing project and one of the most exciting projects she’s ever been involved with!
CLARISSA WIDYA
Clarissa is a London-based writer and theatre-maker. She is a graduate of the Royal Court’s Unheard Voices programme and co-founder of Papergang Theatre. You can find her at www.twistsandtales.com and @clarissa_widya.
VICKY WOO
Victoria is a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed student currently pursuing an Art History degree at McGill University in Montréal. Naturally, she has squirrelled about the art world, temporarily finding a niche as an intern at Hong Kong’s Above Second Gallery. Ever since, she’s become a avid student of artists’ rights and public art’s place in contemporary society. She hopes that the fumes of aerosol paint cans and the yearning for kerning will follow her for the rest of her life.
SOME PREVIOUS TINY PENCIL PRESS:
“Equal parts carnivalesque and expressionistic, with the full range and texture of everything from graphic novel strips to woodland chimeras to speculative landscapes…Taken together, the works are an endearing delivery on graphite’s aesthetic promise…” —Sammy Medina, Fast Co.Design
“Not merely a book, Tiny Pencil is also an opportunity to lose yourself in the many enchanting and elaborate worlds that reside within its pages. A beautiful physical object that I guarantee you will come back to browse time and time again.” –Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier
“This second issue of graphite anthology Tiny Pencil is a wonderful curiosity of a Thing – a big matchbox-format magazine/activity pack (free pencils! free dice!) with three little comics zines inside. Tiny Pencil is, once more, a revelation; superb quality, captivating artwork with a fantastic focus, in a unique format you’ll love.” —Foyles, UK National Bookseller of the Year 2013 & 2012
Creative Review | Fast Co. Design | Ape on the Moon | FrizziFrizzi | Broken Frontier
