Con Chrisoulis


Con Chrisoulis is a multidisciplinary artist and academic, most famous for his graphic novels, Tales of The Smiths, Dryland, Giant-Size Fascists, and Rebel Rebel.

Career

Chrisoulis was born in Victoria, to Greek Australian migrants.
Self-taught in the creation and production of comics, in 2010 he earned an ISCED Level 4 degree in Film Editing, in 2014 he earned a BA in Graphic Design at the University of Brighton and in 2015 he was awarded a Master of Research in Arts and Cultural Research, during which he experimented on the digital future of the comic book medium.
In 1996 he self-published his first comic book series, Clans, in Melbourne, Australia, which lasted three issues. The following year he collaborated with writer Nick Bugeja on the superhero comic book series Bloodsport.
In the late 1990s he migrated to Athens, Greece, and began self-publishing his personal comic book anthology, Tales of Unsurpassed Vanity, one of Greece's longest-running self-published independent comics. Tales of Unsurpassed Vanity lasted ten issues, ending in 2004.
In 2002 he formed the group that would eventually publish the Greek independent comics anthology SubArt Comics. The group self-published 6 issues collectively. As the group imploded in 2005, Chrisoulis and three other members initiated the first 24-hour comic event in Greece; his story was included in the subsequent 24 Hours SubArt Comics collection
From 2002 to 2006, Chrisoulis collaborated with ' magazine, a Greek comics anthology that was included as a free supplement every Wednesday within Eleftherotypia newspaper. He serialised his science fiction series Vacant Testament within the pages of 9 magazine, making it the first long-running sci-fi comics series published in a Greek mainstream comic book.
During the 2000s, he initiated campaigns within his self-published comics in order to advise and help creators set up their own self-published comics, and participated in various self-published comic books, also distributing many in independent stores in Athens and local zine and comics festivals. Some of the comics he participated in include Sapilla #1-3, Red.Dot Comix #10 and #12, Giannis Milonogiannis' Roppongi #2 and many more.
In 2007 he released the first volume of his acclaimed political satire comic book series, Giant-Size Fascists. After the first volume was released, the series continued in monthly episodes in ' magazine from 2007 to 2008. The two volumes of Giant-Size Fascists earned him Greek comic book of the year awards by popular vote in 2008 and 2010.
His graphic novel Dryland, which narrates the violent deaths of most of his ancestors in Interwar Greece, was a finalist at the Myriad Editions' First Fictions competition and was released in 2016 by Markosia Enterprises.
Singer-songwriter of two concept art bands, Autodivine and the UK-based band Ghosts of Future Past, he has released two illustrated concept albums with linear narratives and post-punk aesthetics.
From 2012 until 2014 he wrote and drew a daily online comic strip entitled Tales of The Smiths about the early unknown days of Morrissey and seminal indie band The Smiths, a 450-page collected edition of which will be released by Omnibus Press in 2018.
He has been researching, writing and drawing Rebel Rebel, the weekly online graphic biography of David Bowie, since June 2016 for the webcomic site SoComic.gr, whilst in 2017 he began researching and serialising his latest series King: The graphic biography of Jack Kirby, about the life and times of the visual creator of Marvel Comics.
He is the creator and content editor of Museums News, a website that focuses on museum and exhibition culture.
Con Chrisoulis currently works as a Lecturer in Commercial Art and Illustration at Teesside University, teaching on the undergraduate and postgraduate Comics & Graphic Novels and Concept Art courses, whilst conducting practice-led academic research within the graphic novel biography field.

Works in Australia

As illustrator