The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, often referred to as LICAF, is an annual

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

art festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...

. Established in 2013, the not-for-profit festival takes place for a weekend in October each year. From 2013 until 2021 LICAF took place in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...

, a market town on the edge of the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In 2022 LICAF moved to multiple venues in

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east with which it forms the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness. The town was histor ...

for the tenth festival, in

South Lakeland South Lakeland is a local government district in Cumbria, England. The population of the non-metropolitan district was 102,301 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 103,658 at the 2011 Census. Its council is based in Kendal. It includes ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

Comics Laureate

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival established the Comics Laureate in 2015.

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story "For the Man ...

, best known for his artwork on

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...

as well as numerous projects for

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

and 2000AD, was appointed as the inaugural Comics Laureate in February 2015. During the opening event at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October 2016,

Charlie Adlard Charles Adlard is a British comic book artist known for his work on books such as '' The Walking Dead'' and ''Savage''. Career Adlard began his work in the UK on ''White Death'' with Robbie Morrison and '' 2000 AD'' series including ''Judge Dre ...

was announced as the second Comics Laureate. Charlie Adlard is the artist behind '' The Walking Dead'' comic book series, now a TV series and video game. He has also worked on many other comic projects including 2000AD, Mars Attacks, the X-Files,

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

and X-Men. Brighton-based comic artist Hannah Berry was named as the third Comic Laureate in 2018. In October 2020 Stephen L. Holland, co-owner and curator of Page 45 a comic book shop in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, was appointed the fourth Comics Laureate.

Beatrix Potter Reimagined

To celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Cumbrian author and illustrator

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was he ...

in 2016, the festival launched a student competition Beatrix Potter Reimagined. International comic artists, including Luke McGarry,

Duncan Fegredo Duncan Fegredo (; born 1964) is a People of the United Kingdom, British comic book artist. Career Born in Leicester, Fegredo first managed to get into comics after showing his portfolio around UKCAC in 1987 and meeting Dave Thorpe. Together th ...

, Hannah Berry and

, also contributed artworks that interpreted Beatrix Potter’s tales with a modern comic art style.

The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art

At the fifth festival in October 2017, cartoonist

Sergio Aragonés Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born September 6, 1937) is a Spanish/Mexican cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to '' Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. Among his peers and fans, Aragonés is w ...

launched a new accolade in the comic art industry, the “Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art”. The award was established as a partnership between the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The first award was presented by Sergio Aragonés to English artist

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...

. In October 2018 Birmingham-based cartoonist

Hunt Emerson Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

became the second recipient of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art. In 2019 The Walking Dead artist

won the Sergio Aragonés International Award For Excellence In Comic Art at the Reubens Awards at the inaugural NCSFest in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

. French cartoonist Boulet became the fourth recipient of the Sergio Aragonés Award for Excellence in Comic Art during the opening gala of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, England in 2021. On Saturday 15 October 2022, cartoonist Posy Simmonds was announced as the fifth winner of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere, Lake District, Cumbria, United Kingdom.

''Traces of the Great War''

The sixth Lakes International Comic Art Festival in 2018 saw the official launch of ''Traces of the Great War'', an anthology of illustrated short stories featuring over twenty international comic book artists, graphic novelists and writers. The publication was part of

14–18 NOW 14–18 NOW was the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary. Working with arts and heritage partners all across the UK, the programme commissioned new artworks from 420 contemporary artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers and perfo ...

, the UK’s arts programme commemorating the

World War I centenary The First World War centenary was the centenary of the First World War, which began on 28 July 2014 with a series of commemorations of the outbreak of the war organised across the continent of Europe, and ended on 11 November 2018 with the cen ...

NCSFest

In partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, the

hosted the inaugural NCSFest in downtown

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, from 17 to 19 May 2019.

External links

Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakes International Comic Art Festival, The Comics conventions Cultural festivals in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 2013 Festivals in Cumbria Arts festivals in England 2013 establishments in England Kendal Lake District