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

07/15/07 - Collaboration: The Sum is Greater Than the Parts!

My goal in setting up this blog were many fold (and continue to be) but besides just promoting our group and our goals (see mission statement, still a work in progress, hint, hint..) was to have a collaborative site that was more (grander, more intelligent, more insightful, more knowledgeable, more inspiring, unfettered by geographical restraints...OK , I hope you get my drift..) than any one person. This is a TEAM blog and anyone who is regular attendee (heck, just come to more than one meeting..) is encouraged to ask me to be added to the group (a quick and painless procedure).

SO I was greatly pleased on one hand and little frustrated on the other when a visitor to our last CCG meeting sent me several ideas for posts. Pleased because this is the type of collaboration that can make this site really click and frustrated because for the most part this blog ends up being my singular voice. Please support this blog with your posts, comments or even emails (for the very shy :-) . Opposing viewpoints or opinions are encouraged... an ongoing dialog is a great way to learn and grow!

11/22/06 - What is the CCG about?

Hey everyone! Please read and comment on this post - I have lined out what I think is the CCG's reason for being. Have I done so accurately? Here is an excerpt from an email exchange with an artist who is just finding out about our group:

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Hi Jonathan,

Sorry for the late reply. What all do you do in the comic meetings?

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Our meetings follow this basic pattern:

• Announcements: local events of interest, group business, etc.,
• Round Table Review: where we bring in recent work (finished or WIP) and let everyone comment, with writers I am asking that they bring copies of their scripts for everyone to take home and read thoroughly before making comments. Visual artists work is usually easier to scan and comment on.
• Closing: I try to get anyone new added to email list and maybe some other last minute announcements.
  

Our meetings are pretty short, 1 hour - 1.5 hours. (Update: As of May 2007 we have gone to a once monthly frequency but meet for 3 hours - added a hands on workshop for the second and third hour.) We did have a special meeting back in October to work at a local library. We had a mini 24-hour comic event. Three of us met and worked on spontaneously creating a 4-6 page comic story. I would like to meet like this again for an Artist's Jam or maybe some Digital Painting workshops. We also have tentative plans to produce a print anthology comic to get our work in print and help promote the group in the local arts community.

I probably need to add a mission statement to the CCG blog: but basically my goals for the group are:

1. Community - Build a community for the comic creators, illustrators, animators, caricature artists in the area so we can have one place to go to share and find out what's going on in the area - this is accomplished through the blog posts and announcements by email or at the meetings.
2. Education - Share knowledge between members; use one another for critiques and advise. Teach basic to intermediate skills in seminars or workshops. Share and or review instructional books and videos. Promote the medium to community at large, try to increase readership.
3. Networking - Serve as a "matchmaker" of sorts - to join creators in creative teams. Also to serve as referral service for those wishing to contract the services of our members.
   

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I do want to formalize our goals and purpose as a group. Please send me your feedback!

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.

2/1/06 - Good meeting & New Template

We had a good meeting last night with several new people showing up. Hey John and Ken! Since some folks hadn't had a chance to get the script for Project 1 we will extend the due date to our next meeting on 2/14/06 (Uh-oh, that's Valentine's Day - let me know if we should cancel/reschedule?). Oh, now I've forced your hand - you MUST post a comment.

By the way, what do you think of the new page template "Minima Ochre"? "Son of Moto" didn't differentiate main content from sidebar well enough for me...might try "Rounders".

01/26/06 - Building the Team

I have sent out invitations to some CCG members - if you have responded you should see your name added under Contributors in the left column of this blog. If you don't see your name and you responded to the invitation email let me know and I will send out another invite. You have to follow the link that comes in the email invitation. You may need to copy and paste the url into your browser - clicking the link in your email might not work.

Membership will allow you to post to the blog - not just add comments to existing posts. This should allow us to share and exchange work in the online environment.

Scott R - can you tell me how to set up a subscription service (for folks that don't know RSS) like you have on your project blog?

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.