SVA Masters in Visual Narrative and other Comics related courses

If you are looking to add a Masters in Visual Narrative (comics) to your educational pedigree - this is an excellent opportunity to learn more about this excellent, low residency, master's program chaired by none other than Nathan Fox! Act quickly this happens tomorrow, November 30th. I would advise signing up for the online session ASAP.  

 

Learn More About the MFA Visual Narrative Program!

Why you will want to join the event:

• Save time - no cost or travel
• One-on-one Q+A with chair Nathan Fox
  
• Immediate answers to your questions
• Chat live in groups
• Easily join in from anywhere
• Register at CareerEco.com/events/NPDA

Even if you miss this informational event, you should explore the options at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) from from this Masters program to online, and summer course in creating comics!

https://www.facebook.com/bfasvailluscart.depts

10/16/10 - Kentucky featured in Underground Comic and Trade Paperback

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is not to often depicted in comics and if so it is only in passing or referenced with none too flattering associations. Having traveled and lived from one end of the US to the other has taught me that there are rednecks and cowboys all over (and hopefully not to pre-judge people or places). So I was happy to see Kentucky portrayed with a broader lens in a recent comic series, now available as a trade paperback: "Underground" written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Steve Lieber. Centered around two Kentucky State park rangers and the fictional Stillwater Cave this enthralling adventure story has several exciting sections that really capture the thrills and dangers inherent to cave exploration. It was also fun to find the local references that the authors embedded into the storyline through some obvious research or knowledge of the region.

I had met Steve back in 2000 at Orlando Florida's MegaCon. His then current work on DC's Hawkman and the independently produced Whiteout (recently released as a major motion picture) caught my attention and admiration.

A recent Facebook prompt lead me to visit Steve's profile - this all cascaded into renewing contact and getting caught up on Underground, his website (old and new cartoonists will want to check out the great Advice section) and another of his projects: "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating A Graphic Novel" - co-written with Nat Gertler.

This easy to read book covers areas that many other good texts on creating comics just don't address, namely: a simple but effective process for writing plots/scripts and tips on how to ensure good results as the artist visualizes the written script. This bridging of written word and drawn images really doesn't get explained adequately or often enough in most "how to" books - they tend to be focus on either the writers perspective or that of the artist.
To clarify this point I have excerpted from wikipedia's entry for "comics" in the section defining comics. Read below Will Eisner's (the man responsible for popularizing the terms "sequential art" and "graphic novel") informed opinion -  (also check out the variants by others: McCloud and Harvey):

In 1996, Will Eisner published Graphic Storytelling, in which he defined comics as "the printed arrangement of art and balloons in sequence, particularly in comic books."^[42] Eisner's earlier, more influential definition from Comics and Sequential Art (1985) described the technique and structure of comics as sequential art, "the arrangement of pictures or images and words to narrate a story or dramatize an idea."^[43]

This blending of word and picture - and this includes the unseen words from the writer that inspire the images created by the artist - is what makes comics unique! Nat and Steve really hit the target and fill this void of information - kudos to them for this service to all who want to learn the deceptively complex set of skills necessary for effective sequential narrative/cartooning.

03/03/08 - Lexington KY setting for Syndicated Comic Strip

Did any of you know Lexington was the setting for a nationally syndicated comic strip? I know I was pleasantly surprised to find out about this strip and the "discovery" of another great artist from the past!

From 1948 to 1959 Francis "Frank" Godwin drew "Rusty Riley" a wonderfully rendered comic strip. The title character is a young orphan boy who finds work as horse groom... where else but in the horse capital of the world! Frank Godwin was influenced by two famous contemporaries: James Montgomery Flagg (artist of the the "I want you for the US Army" recruitment poster with "Uncle Sam") and Charles Dana Gibson (the Gibson Girl artist). All three are consummate pen and ink men. With Godwin adding the brush to his tool set to produce black and white art that managed to create a great deal of of tone with just the use of line.

Godwin produced editorial art , commercial advertising art, illustrated stories and novels as well as drawing comics: most notably for the ground-breaking "Connie" about a strong, independent woman in the working world (1927-1944) during a time this was not the common portrayal. (The Art Lortie Connie site linked and mentioned on www.bpip.com as being comprehensive is no longer active apparently?)

Thanks to Jason Lambert (monitor for Sunday UK figure drawing sessions) for this post idea.

10/04/07 - Conan Tut, Squidoo and Drawing Board.org

This is a jam packed post as I am going to talk about at least three different entities but they all related: as being great educational resources. Leave a comment if you like this post! Lurkers tolerated but not advocated!! Join in and let your voice be heard!

www.drawingboard.org
This is a great forum based site that deals with comics and illustration. There are a ton of great categories, I especially enjoy the the Superhero Jam discussion moderated by Euan MacTavish out of Scotland. He is a wonderful digital illustrator and great at capturing celebrity likenesses and applying dramatic and novel color schemes to his digital paintings. Check out Euan's blog for some way cool art and a peek into how he digitally creates his work. He appears to have a very efficient work flow - something a lot of digital artists lack (you will see them make major edits halfway through a finished piece - BAD, VERY BAD!!). Here is the link to the drawing boards' page about Squidoo.com.

www.squidoo.com
This site uses a format called LENS to create web pages (follow this link if you want to create a lens!). I guess there is a reward system for building and then having web visitors go to your lens (or single web page) - but they seem to have some good art instruction pages? You get royalties from each visit and can disperse those as you wish. Seems like a creative and benevolent exercise in capitalism! I will update this post once I get a better handle on this technology. IF anyone else can explain it better please post a comment!

Gannon Beck - Illustrator http://gannonbeck.com/
Gannon has a cool Conan Illustration Tutorial (http://www.squidoo.com/conandrawing) using the LENS format on squidoo.com. And I really appreciate his sentiments about sharing knowledge and mentoring - Bravo Gannon! Help make Gannon independently wealthy - send all your friends to his page!! (LOL)

10/04/07 - How does something I draw get into a magazine?

Mike Lynch (caricature pictured left), in addition to being a blogger, is a magazine cartoonist. His clients include Reader's Digest, Playboy, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, TheLadders.com, the New York Daily News and many others. He's also the National Cartoonists Society National Representative.

In a recent article on his blog, Mike shares the answer to the question "How does something I draw at home, on a board, get into a magazine like Harvard Business Review?" The article is a bit cartoon focused, but many of the points raised would be equally applicable to making a comic pitch. Good reading on either side of the creator fence.

Check out the full article here.

09/16/07 - College Newspaper Looking for Cartoonists

The student run University of Kentucky newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, is looking for cartoonists for it's editorial page. Posted is an example from the Friday August 28th edition of this year. They pay the whopping sum of $7 for each piece they accept.

Here is the contact info if you want to submit something :

Chad Reese, Opinions Editor opinions@kykernel.comPublish Post

08/05/07 - Workflow or Process

First you read through the script, next you...
Identify and gather any reference material you will need, then you...
Thumbnail the panel layouts....

A large part of gaining facility and speed in creating comics or cartoons is having a system, a process, or a workflow. This way you can focus on what you want to say not how you are going to do that. Depending on whether you are part of a creative team (writer, penciler, letterer, inker, or colorist) or an auteur creator and do it all yourself - it is beneficial to have a routine way of approaching your creative task. A large part of this is accomplished through familiarity with your media and materials. You learn, often through trial and error, what works and what doesn't. You learn what flows naturally and what often ends up a big mess.

An example of this familiarity with materials that is specific to drawing: dip pens, like the Hunt 102 are commonly used for inking comics and need a smooth, calendared surface when you are choosing a drawing paper. If you don't have the right paper your pen will get a clumps of paper fiber at the end and require frequent cleaning. Another common problem is when the ink will not keep a sharp line on the page and will bleed and feather. The weight of the paper can become an issue if you lay down large areas of black - thinner papers can buckle or ripple - this is why a 2-ply is predominantly the minimum thickness of bristol board you will see professionals using with dip pens.

I found this cartoon process link on the Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog, it is to Ted Slampyak's blog Shop Talk- he is the current artist for the syndicated comic strip Annie and also has a wonderful web comic entitled Jazz Age. I hope Ted continues to post on his blog about his cartooning process and about how to draw as I found this post most interesting and enlightening.

How do the rest of you all work? Do you have a system? Anyone willing to share your process with us? Or perhaps you know of another web resource that discusses this?