Made Out of "Mac"

I've added a few new strips in my series based on the "Hero of the Beach" comic book ads.

I'm hoping to pull together a revised collection soon.

And here's an old one that I've improved somewhat:

Anyone interested in playing around with the comics form should consider trying my upcoming Comics Inventions course, Tuesday evenings in Manhattan, along with my other classes for SVACE. So many possibilities...

Do Not Break the Chain!

In the Comics Inventions course, I’m thinking of reforging this Chain Cartoon from the 1990s.

Back when I was directing the group-strip, Hector, I received a chain letter in the mail. In the course of urging me to send 10 copies to friends, the letter said the most amazing thing: “This letter will bring you luck. This works even if you aren’t superstitious.” That got me. in the spirit that anything could be made into a comic/comics can be made from anything, I took up the gauntlet. Here are highlights: 

The comics medium is itself an unbroken chain of innovations, ideas, and unique voices. Let’s pay it forward. Comics Inventions starts January 31. Join us and/or add your panel to the comments section below (proportional to 3" wide by 2.5" high). 

Do not break the chain.

UPDATE:  I received this wonderful new panel by Jim Siergey.

And here's another by Daan Heemskerk

And another by Rich Arnold.

And here's one by Gary Martin:

Now it's your turn!

Contributors: Babushka, Nick Bertozzi, Kevin Diaz Bryan, Tony Consiglio, Clark Dissmeyer, Patricia Dubrava, Matt Feazell, D.S. Fields, Richard Florence, Brad Foster, Craig Gassen, Scott Johnson, Tim Kelly, Jim Lemons, Monobrain, T. Motley, Michael O’Keefe, John Peters, John Pham, Dennis Pimple, Jason Powers, Mark Putt, Alex Robinson, Joe Shuster (apologies), Jim Siergey, Andre Slob, Brendan Smith, Melissa Stander, Brad Thomason, Maximum Traffic, J.B. Winter, Stan Yan, Pieter Zandvliet.

A game of 5-card Nancy from Y2K Denver

At the start of the millennium, I hosted comic jam sessions at my friend’s comic book store. Among the activities we offered was the game 5-card Nancy, the rules of which can still be found at scottmccloud.com.

The guiding idea is explained by montage theory: if you juxtapose 2 movie shots or comic panels, the reader/viewer naturally presumes a narrative to connect them. This involves the audience in the creation of the story. Putting comic panels on index cards is a great way to play around with narrative possibilities.

For whatever reason, back then it was difficult getting ahold of suitable Ernie Bushmiller Nancy strips to work from. We ended up making a deck from Ivan Brunetti’s Nancy tryout strips that were published in an issue of the zine Rocktober (breaking one of McCloud's cardinal rules).

An important innovation we discovered as we played McCloud’s game is that once a strip concludes, the players should confer to agree on a title. It pulls the whole together.

I sent Mr.Brunetti a copy of the printed comic that included our use (abuse?) of his work. He was characteristically gracious. I recall him responding that his favorite was “the castrator’s apprentice.”


The ways comic panels change meaning in different contexts is something we’ll explore from multiple angles in my upcoming online course, Comics Inventions, enrolling now.

"Draw Two Panels" spinoff: The Deckless Wonder

 Here's an experiment that's been languishing in my files. I've written already of my work with Isaac Cates on his Draw Two Panels game. It inspired me to test an idea for this spinoff:

I drew two cards that pose a simple question: is our heroine dressing or undressing? Where the cards are placed in the four-panel sequence would direct the answer.

After completing the first strip, I toss a coin twice, choosing one of the original cards and one of the new cards. Then I make a new strip, placing the cards wherever they can be made to make sense. 

I'm struggling to recall the exact rules. In each new round, I toss a coin to choose one old and one new card. There should always be four cards available for each new round, from which two are chosen.

Here's an alternate game, placing the first two cards in a different order:

This procedure can go on indefinitely, though I wonder whether the story can ever go anywhere,... 

...small wonder that I stopped after three rounds. On the other hand, a story stuck in time is interesting in its own way.

This general idea of drawing comic panels on index cards and moving them around is something we'll explore in my upcoming online course, Comics Inventions, enrolling now.

I have a new book out!

 

From the back cover:

Poem: A Mashup

What makes poetry effective? How does a poem work? What are its goals and aims? 

Taking his cue from the musical form of mashup, in POEM M. D. Usher has composed what is known as a cento, stitching together snippets from famous poems in such a way that the words of the text illustrate the aspect of poetry being described. A lively introduction and short, irreverent biographies of the featured poets add to the fun. 

In T. Motley’s artwork, Word literally becomes Flesh, as letters emerge like epiphanies from the drawings. 

POEM is a unique achievement that stands in relation to canonical poetry as Disney’s film, Fantasia, stands to classical music—first of its kind, something for all ages, and well worth experiencing again and again. 

Order it here, PLEASE.

Cartooning is for Everybody!

I must confess that, as devoted as I am to the comics medium, the comics industry doesn't interest me. To me, the point of comics is that anybody can make them and effectively use them to publish their thoughts.

I'll walk you through the basics of character construction,...

That said, comics are so rich and varied, there's no limit to how deeply one can delve into a project and how far one can pursue the craft.

... the special language of comics, such as the motion lines and sound effects in these examples by the great Don Martin, ... 

My Cartooning Basics class, beginning live in Manhattan on June 9 and online starting June 10, takes artists of every level and arms them with the technical means to vent or play or interrogate ideas and feelings as they see fit. Short Form Comics, beginning June 7, takes us a step further as we explore various ways to approach comic short stories.

... authenticating details, as explained in the Famous Cartoonists course, ...

Along the way, we build from simple tricks to advanced concepts. The results are typically spectacular.

... the invisible art of composition, as in this maximally minimal Alex Toth panel, and much besides.

Needless to say, we all have MUCH to vent about nowadays. Getting it down on paper can be a sizable relief.

Time's running out to sign up. Come CARTOON!

New Online Course Enrolling Now!

Short Form Comics is a course I've taught to undergraduates for several years. I'm offering it to the public, online, beginning June 7.

We'll produce rough drafts of comic stories from a variety of departure points, generating a backlog of material for students to complete at their leisure. Weekly assignments concentrate on different kinds of comics and aspects of the medium. One week we'll spin joke strips out of literary classics, another we'll make silent, cinematic metaphors. Another assignment will involve hyperbole and explosive layouts, comics as genre.  And there'll be space for non-fiction, memoir, ranting, and a hefty dose of formal experimentation.

This is a good course for artists who want to be better at writing and for writers who want insight into visual storytelling. There'll be a strong element of blockbusting-- overcoming the blank page and discovering stories lurking at the back of your mind that you didn't necessarily know you wanted to tell.

Short Form Comics runs on Tuesday evenings. My other online courses this semester, Cartooning Basics, Figure Drawing for Cartoonists, and Thinking in Ink, also start the second week of June. Sign up soon!

I'm also teaching Figure Drawing for Cartoonists on Wednesdays, live in Manhattan beginning June 8, and Cartooning Basics live Thursdays beginning June 9.

Let's make comics!

The Road to Golgonooza, part 1

Reading a lot of jam comics, one can discern characteristic tropes, rhythms, and vicissitudes. I think that makes the comic jam a unique genre any cartoonist might choose to work within. 

Here's the first third or so of my new comic running in The Brooklyn Rail. It plays with the comic jam and its sister genre, the biographic profile. I try to change styles two or three times per page, mashing up various artists who interest me. I don't feel I do justice to any of my influences, but it's fun to try. I hope you'll find this amusing or at least not too annoying. 

Contributors:

Page one: M.C. BloV8, logo and anagrams, recently had a career retrospective at NYC's Fugitive Gallery. He can be reached care of Singsing.

Chris M. Otterson, panel 1, is at work on a series of Tijuana Bibles inspired by the classic Man from Nantucket books. Check his instagram for a preview: @cmot15

Gonzo Loretta O'Hagood, panels 2-4, received this year's Pini Award for her webcomic, Ginger Duck and her Barnyard Friends. yourdailydoodle.tumblr.com

Page two: Cassie Motswald, panels 1 & 2, hosts the monthly Captain Crayon's Crap-Art Contest at T. Martooni's. Her Instagram: @cmot15

Jacqueline Pharmakos, panel 3, is best known for her psychedelic set designs off off Broadway in Helter Skelter, the Musical, but she also makes comics. cartooniologist.blogspot.com

M. Isaac Cartozia, panel 4, chronicles the adventures of Conan Doyle, Barbarian Detective at cartozia.com

Page three: Cyndi Rizzo, former show runner for Vivian Girls Anime, is hard at work designing rides for the spinoff park, Darger World.

Illustrator Stevens Valmor blogs at yourdailysketch.tumblr.com

Cookie Motowan's weekly strip, Hump Day Dump Tay, is seen every Wednesday by subscribers to The Artlink Letter. Instagram: @cmot15

Page four: Medea Starkers is a package designer for Condign Desserts, LLC. yourdailydoodle.tumblr.com

The team of Motte & Bailey serialize the adventures of the Putti Patrol in The Christian Youth's Fundament. Instagram: @cmot15

T. Motley is the author of The Road to Golgonooza, a fake jam comic.

the first six "Highlights from the Life of Raymond Roussel"

This serialized comic is about half done. Here's what I have so far:

A strange story, no?
Check https://brooklynrail.org/contributor/t-motley for further episodes.