Penciling!

Now we're getting into the serious business . . .
We started by reviewing the Jack and Jill homework, which displayed the usual level of awesome.
I talked about various techniques for getting from thumbnails to tight pencils, including colored pencils, lightbox tracing, etc. As an activity we drew one of the panels from the homework three different ways.
Next week it's laying out the comics page. Can full pages of comic be far behind?

Panel Lottery

Wednesday we met and reviewed thumbnails, went over McCloud's transitions and played Panel Lottery (from Drawing Words & Writing Pictures.) It was amazing how well the story came together, even though we were all drawing unrelated panels. I'll definitely do that exercise again.
Homework is Closure Comics with Jack and Jill . . .
+Scott McCloud

Thumbnails

We met yesterday and more people were able to attend on Wednesday afternoon than were able to on Tuesday, so Wednesday it is. We caught up the people who had missed some weeks, and we started on brainstorming ideas to thumbnail for comic strips. Everybody dashed off a few quick characters to use, so we are on track for thumbs.

No meeting next week, faculty meeting instead, but back in action on the following Wednesday . . .

The Wrong Planet

Yesterday we critiqued our single panel gag cartoons and did an activity called "The Wrong Planet" in which we each drew segments of a story on individual squares of paper, then assembled, re-arrange, and edited them into a coherent comic. 

For homework this week we are getting into panel transitions and thumbnails. Starting next week we will be meeting on Wednesday so that more people can participate. 

Gag Comics

Only a few people showed up today, but we went ahead and had a productive meeting. We critiqued the "drawing in action" homework and everyone seemed to get the idea. Then we talked about one-panel "gag" cartoons and how captions could be juxtaposed with images. We made up captions for a bunch of comics including the ones we drew for homework. After supply order distribution, I assigned a gag cartoon for homework and How to Read Nancy by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik.
Getting to the good stuff . . .

Drawing in Action

Today we did the "drawing in action" activity from DW-WP. We were short some people, but the crew who made it showed off some comics chops. I'm looking forward to seeing the 'homework' next Tuesday.

SPX (Small Press Expo)

We're just back from the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, the biggest indie and small press comics show in the eastern half of the country. I brought back a whole bag of stuff, some from creators that I was already familiar with, some new to me. I picked up the new Love and Rockets, and someone at the Fantagraphics booth tipped me off that both Jaime and 'Beto Hernandez are going to be at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival on the Washington Mall next weekend. I talked to Roger Langridge a little bit about hand-lettering Popeye, and I also talked to the folks at the Center for Cartoon Studies about teaching comics. Every year there seem to be more people attending and more who want to exhibit. Go comics!
+SPX: The Small Press Expo

Jam Comics!

Today was the first day of the Making Comics Workshop. I'm not sure everybody was there, and I don't know if everybody who was there is staying, but we started anyway. First I went over the basic terminology and the anatomy of a comics page. I showed the group some original pages from the 70's and 80's with hand lettering and corrections and all. (thanks to Anthony's Comic Book Art for giving me a deal at the Baltimore Comics Convention.) I gave out some supplemental material including Wally Wood's "22 panels that always work" (Thanks Wally) and then we made jam comics.

Everyone drew a panel and then passed it on so that each page had 9 different artists. The stories were a mess, but we learned about the pencil of might among other things. Next up - Small Press Expo.

Baltimore Comic Con

Spent the day with the kid at the Baltimore Comic Con, which seems to draw more fans every year. Visited our friends at the Identity Comics booth including Bryan Turner, who is not only a PGCPS graduate, but used to teach art at Flowers! You can check out Mr. T's work on the latest Fanboys vs. Zombies from Boom Studios. Mr. Turner wasn't the only son of PG rocking the guest list either. Big name comics superstar Frank Cho went to High Point High School, before moving on to PGCC and graduating from the University of Maryland. Plus, maybe we can grant honorary PG status to IDW artist Billy Martin because he's in a band with some guys from Waldorf (Good Charlotte.) Next week - The Small Press Expo in Bethesda!

Interest Meeting

Today we had an interest meeting for the "Making Comics" workshop/class/club/activity thing at Charles H Flowers High School. I'm going to try to lead a group through a curriculum based on Jessica Abel and Matt Madden's Drawing Words, Writing Pictures. 11 people showed up for the interest meeting so it's on (just barely.)
+Jessica Abel +Matt Madden