Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Demonstration Drawings

Drawing while talking can be a challenge. Often I make an ass of myself, but sometimes my demonstrations turn out okay.

 

These big head/little body drawings are what I tend to favor for demonstrating figure basics and marker inking on day 1 of Cartooning Basics.

 
When I demonstrate inking with nibs, brushes, and wash in the Figure Drawing for Cartoonists and Inking Comics courses, I tend to try for a pretty girl, mostly to see if I can pull it off. 



(Sometimes yes, sometimes no.)

For ink wash, I often just apply black watercolor to a doodle.


When I demonstrate to kids, I try to keep it light and simple.

 
Spring classes start next week. Will my demos succeed or will I look foolish, yet again? Come find out. Tell your friends, too. Thx!


Sunday, January 7, 2018

More Comic Jams




In my continuing ed Cartooning Basics and undergraduate Short Form Comics courses at SVA, we make time to pass around rule-based comic jam pages. 


I have each student start a jam and note its rule. The pages pile up, circulate, and slowly get done, often over the course of several years.


An idea I've tried recently is to invite students to invent a rule that hasn't been tried before, like this omnilingual jam below:


Comic jams are a great way to interact with other artists, try out styles and ideas, & test your wits. This is just one example of the cartooning challenges that come up in my courses. Come learn more at the information session this Thursday, 1/11/18.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Another Improv Comic

As I've shown before, every semester in the Figure Drawing for Cartoonists course, we have a costumed model improvise a narrative while the students compose comic pages from life. I try to make time to play along, as the fun is irresistible. 

Last time, we had a repeat performance from the model, Matt Knife, who riffed on the conspiracy theory that Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. With that as a prompt, here's what I came up with:







Come join the fun. Spring Continuing Education courses are enrolling right now at SVA. Mine are Figure Drawing for Cartoonists, Cartooning Basics, and Inking Comics. Come talk to me at the information session on January 11.