Comics Storytelling Class on Skillshare by Phil Jimenez

Here is a Skillshare class on comics storytelling by Phil Jimenez for the Smithsonian Institute.

Free one month trial!

https://www.skillshare.com/classes/The-Art-of-Visual-Storytelling-How-Comics-Work/2143596670

5/1/12 - Matt Madden Free Lecture and Workshop In Columbus

Matt Madden, co-author of Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and author of 99 Ways To Tell A Story will be doing a free talk (Friday 5/11) and  paid workshop (Saturday 5/12) in Columbus OH, at the Wexner Center on the Ohio State Campus. Here's a an excerpt from their listing for the lecture:

May 11, 2012 4:30 p.m.Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video Theater 1871 N. High Street
Cartoonist Matt Madden, creator of 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, talks about his work and how the arbitrary constraints of Oulipo have produced great art in all kinds of media.
Do you think you could make a comic where each panel would only show an extreme close-up of a hand? Or where each panel zooms in closer to a single object? A comic that you can read in more than one direction? Many great works of art begin from willfully perverse constraints or rules such as these. Drawing not just from comics but from literature, film, and music...

This is also the home of the Billy Ireland Comics Library and Museum - home of the largest collection of original comic art in the USA. Matt is a talented cartoonist and teacher (see his blog to see some his other numerous speaking and teaching engagements) and definately worth the drive! 


I've got my ticket for the workshop ($15/12 students + $1 ticket fee (boo hiss)). I hope to go for both days but might just be able to go Saturday.


http://cartoons.osu.edu/?q=events%2Fobstacle-course-oulipo-and-creative-potential-constraints

By the way, Matt and Jessca Abel have completed a follow up to DW&WP - it is called Mastering Comics,  due out May 8th! This new book continues where the first textbook left off - here's a link to a review.

4/19/12 - Reminder: Need to hear from supporters of Larry Hama Seminar

Here's a little video based on Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work (originally compiled by none other than Larry Hama).

Please email today if you are interested in attending a comic art lecture (see previous post for details) by Larry in Louisville on July 1st 2012.

This video version is fun and gets you thinking..compare it to the original!
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12/14/10 - December CCG Meeting and Holiday Dinner

We will have an early and abbreviated CCG meeting this Sunday 12/19/10  at the Beaumont Branch Library (3080 Fieldstone Way Lexington, KY 40513 ) before we meet for the first DW&WP Cartooning Class. See agenda below.

We could also plan on a little CCG/DW&WP holiday meal afterwards? Sahara, Applebees, Masala, Fulin asian fusion, Pucini's, a Japanese grill and good Mexican place, are all nearby to the library. Let me know who might be interested and your preference(s) as with a large group it might help to have reservations.

Sunday 12/19/10 Agenda

1-1:45p CCG Meeting - Beaumont Branch Library Small Conference Room

1:45-2p Break

2-4:50p DW&WP Chapter One - Beaumont Branch Library Small Conference Room

5:30 or 6p Holiday dinner get together for all - please RSVP

For those we won't see this Sunday have a Happy Holiday Season and look forward to a great year for the CCG in 2011!

11/29/10 - Drawing Words & Writing Pictures cartooning class now forming!

OK, The CCG is (bravely? foollishly?) going to try and fill the void for adult comic art education in Lexington with the first area DW&WP Class! Are you ready to start? Is it time to develop/hone your cartooning skill? Did this month's incredible UP! Fair fill you with inspiration and determination to make the leap and create your own comics masterpiece? Then this is for YOU!

If you are interested in attending/participating in a local meet up to work through the Drawing Words & Writing Pictures curriculum ( a 15-week college level course) please email the CCG Coordinator at (lexkyccg "at" gmail "dot" com.) Please email if you have questions..

This class is open to all and no previous drawing or writing experience is necessary. There will be no tuition but you will be expected to purchase the text and needed supplies (please inquire for a discounted text and basic supplies). Aspiring/developing/emerging cartoonists/comic creators are encouraged to attend. Act now! Once we have our minimum, classes will commence and entry will close.

See our new PAGE - a new feature on the blog! Just click on the tab to see the DW&WP Cartooning Class page.

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.

01/29/08 - Illustration Events - Summer 2008

Even though comics dominate our posts here we do want to support illustrators and animators as well. Here are some exciting opportunities for Illustrators to learn and network at some summer workshops/conferences/seminars: (click on the event title to visit the official site)

The Illustration Master Class, June 16-22, 2008, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.

Join fantasy illustrators for a week long intensive seminar open to various skill levels. Instructors include Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Dan DosSantos, and Scott Fischer. "Attendees will benefit from a full schedule of classes in figure drawing from an illustration perspective, use of reference, drawing from the imagination, digital and traditional painting technique, live demos and industry q&a, as well as extensive individual one on one critique from 10am to midnight each day." Register by 2/15/08 to receive $100 discount off tuition.

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators' 2008 Summer Workshop, June 15-28, 2008, Hastings, Michigan

Here is the description of this event from the official website:

"This coming Summer in 2008, the GNSI Summer Workshop will once again be held at the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute, a privately-run ecological education/research station set in a beautiful area of Barry County, Michigan with 661 acres encompassing an amazing variety of habitats, flora and fauna.

And, wow, what a lineup! We are excited to present our schedule to you in the links above. As with previous Summer Workshops, all of the sessions are meant to integrate and follow a unified theme. These sessions will focus on the creation of an illustration from pencil sketch to final illustration, using water-based media, and emphasizing the use of color and composition to accurately coordinate foreground and background. You may select any one segment for an excellent shorter program, or any combination for the more integrated approach. All 4 workshops will use the subject-rich surroundings at the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (PCCI) for inspiration and reference, from collecting animal subjects to observation, photography, sketching, and plant collection for background subjects! One advantage of the 2008 Summer Workshop location is the extended daylight hours; we are on the far western edge of the time zone, and our workshop will coincide with the summer solstice; daylight extends to nearly 10 pm!"

2008 Guild of Natural Science Illustrators National Conference, July 20-26, 2008, Ithaca, New York.

There will gallery showings, lectures and workshops at this event. For further details please visit the link above for more information as it is posted..

10/11/07 - Process of The Process & 24-Hour Comics

This story is taken from Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog and looks to be an excellent workup of one web comic cartoonists working process.

"The Process" is the work of Joe Infurnari (self portrait at left) whose work is reminiscent of comics legend Will Eisner!

On Joe's blog he details the steps involved in creating his web comic.

PS: The CCG mini 24-Hour Comic Event location has been confirmed. Watch the CCG Calendar link for full details coming soon! All around the world Cartoonists will be creating various 24-Hour Comics on Saturday, October 20th 2007. Here is a link to some of the activities that SCAD Atlanta is up to that day. The idea for this event is the offspring of famous comics theory author Scott McCloud.

Thanks to Stevie Moore for managing this event while I am out of town!

10/07/07 - Two Greats Caught on Video at Baltimore Comic Con

This is a really cool video that I saw over at Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog (one the best blogs for this field along with Lines and Colors by Charley Parker) with John Romita Sr. and Joe Kubert busting out a little spiderman/hawkman pin-up. The footage is during last months Baltimore Comic Con. The cause is The Hero Initiative (see previous posts about this worthwhile charity). The result - a fun video for a good cause that brings together two legends in the field of comics. Enjoy! And thanks to whomever posted this!

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.

10/02/07 - Self-Publishing Secrets Revealed, A Six Part Series

Over on Comic-Con's Pulse website, Jane Irwin has spent the last few months posting a solid six part series on the art of self publishing. Letting Jane explain...

"When I first started work on my comic, ten years ago, my journey down the road to Self-Publishing received an enormous push-start from several professionals, including Mark "M'Oak" Oakley, Carla Speed McNeil and Jim Ottaviani. I realized what a huge gift of time and firsthand knowledge these creators were giving me, and I vowed that if I were ever in a position to do so, I would return the favor."

She returns the favor in this series. Here are the links to all six parts...
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Jane Irwin is the creator and publisher of the Vögelein series.

Calendar

Look here for upcoming meeting info or special events. You may find it easier to read in "agenda" view. Email Lexington KY CCG to have your event added.

We are also listed on Zevents.com

07/23/07 - Instructional Video Links on Making Graphic Novels

How-to videos on creating a graphic novel! I just found this one - http://www.expertvillage.com/interviews/comics-novels.htm

Does anyone out there have experience with this site?

07/15//07 - Todd Klein On Hand Lettering

If you want to master the skills of cartooning you will eventually need to develop hand lettering skills (even if you want to use computer lettering it's really cool to be able to use your own font derived from your hand lettering). So here's a link to the website of one of the masters of this art form, Todd Klein, winner of several Eisner awards for his calligraphic skill in comics. Specifically here is his page on hand lettering - come on now you can find out what that Ames Lettering Guide is really used for!

Thanks to Chuck at comicrelated.com for the heads up to this great site!

07/02/07 - 2DArtist Magazine

2dartist is excellent and I have been buying this online PDF magazine for over a year and highly recommend it. Best of all you can check it out with a free preview for each issue and if you like what you see the cost for the full blown issue is only four bucks! Support a great magazine and get a great deal at the same time!
Geared for the digital artist crowd out there, this and ImagineFX are really the top two art tutorial magazines available.

11/18/06 - Using the Computer for Drawing and Reference

I found this post over at Newsarama.com, it is an interview with Brandon Peterson. He has worked with using 3D design software for comics since he was the art director for CrossGen Comics (sigh, I miss that company!). I found out about Google's SketchUp (WOW! A free 3D program that's easy to use and learn!) from reading this piece and find it touches on some timely issues: use of photo references and TRACING! SketchUp looks like a great way to work out perspective for interior or exterior comic scenes...but I will still be working on my hand drawing skills for drawing perspective scenes, interior and exterior. Ask me about the great tutorial DVD I purchased from Gnomon Workshop by Scott Robertson on sketching by hand various 3D objects. Over at eatpoo.com (Yum! what an inventive name!) they have a post by Scott showing his special perspective skills if you are interested.

Just keep saying this mantra: "The computer is just a TOOL, The computer is just a TOOL...". By the way the images above are by moi, they were drawn freehand with a Intuous 3 tablet and SketchBook Pro 2. If anyone has samples they have created in SketchUp I would be interested in seeing it - I will post something once I have gotten through the tutorial!

06/14/06 - Some "How To" Links: Perspective

Here is a nice process tutorial I found while looking for info for perspective grids and drawing comics: http://www.disraeli.plus.com/educatio/levdemo/
I'm definitely going to try the BLEND tool in Illustrator for making the perspective lines!

Scott McDaniel shows a bit of his perspective process on his site: http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/
He uses frames so I can't link you directly - go to DRAWING COMICS in upper left pane then click on PERSPECTIVE in the bottom left pane - he shows several examples...

Here's one from Will Terrell of Lucid Comics that keeps things pretty simple (don't forget to roll over the red buttons to see his drawings progress):
http://www.lucidcomics.com/creatingcomics_perspective.htm

Scott Reed shows (but doesn't really explain- hint, hint) his use of perspective grids in this link: http://www.websbestcomics.com/theprocess.htm

Here's a good all around comics how to resource: http://www.members.shaw.ca/creatingcomics/

And here is an overall how to resource for drawing: http://www.artshow.com/resources/drawing.html

02/22/06 - Next meeting and Instructional Link

Our next meeting will be Tuesday 2/28/06. I had to correct the blog header: we meet the second and last Tuesdays of the month. I may post some more about the upcoming meeting - may try to produce an agenda of what we will be doing.

Found this at newsarama in a series called One Step about breaking into drawing comics (thumbnails specifically) which is part of an ongoing series. Check it out.

Please email me or comment on this post to let me know you will be attending on the 28th. Need a head count possibly for handouts.

01/24/06 - First Post & Project 1

Hi! Welcome to a blog about our local Comic Creators Group. I have inherited the organizer role from Jason "Wolf" Hicks who started this group in 2005.

My intention is to use this space as a way to keep members up to date on events and meetings.
Other possible use are:

1.discussion of comic creation,

2.post your comments to the blog item,

3.sharing work: text and images,post a link to your site,

4.getting/giving constructive criticism of yours or others work,

5.sharing relevant links to other sites,
and probably lots of other things that don't come to mind now.

This is my first blog, so beware, I will probably make lots of mistakes along the way. Kind hearted suggestions as to how to make this blog better are welcome.

At our next meeting (we meet the first and last Tuesday of each month) January 31, 2006 we have an assignment due: Justin Fox and I decided to make a project so that we would have some specific work to help one another with.

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Project 1 (due 1/31/06)
Layout the first four pages of Robert Kirkman's (our local comic writer celebrity) zombie comic, The Walking Dead (the scriptbook is available at A+Comics for $3.95).

Work from the script not the actual comic (that's cheating!)
Here is a link to great website by Scott McDaniel (of DC comics Nightwing fame) http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/ It uses frames so you will have to go to Drawing Comics in the top left frame and then Sequential Art #1 in the bottom left frame. Here you can see how he works from the script to create thumbnail layouts and finished layouts.

These layouts shouldn't be finished drawings , instead they should show the panel layout and size and give a rough indication of what is happening. These should be half size (7.5"H x 5"W) or smaller (based on an original art page size of 15"H x 10"W). Bring your layouts with you and/or post lnks to your images in a comment.