from the archive: Demon Sightings on the New York Subway

In 2011, I got to take a couple silkscreen classes with the great David Sandlin. In the first, I produced a few copies of a concertina book, Demon Sightings on the New York Subway.

I've had many more of these sightings since. I don't know if it's the lateness of the hour or simply exhaustion, but now and then some of our demon cohabitants will relax their guards and permit their true selves to be seen.

If you sight any of these, message me. I'd be interested to know.
Happy Halloween.

Student Spotlight: Lexi Hart

Last summer's Inking Comics course included an outstanding group of talented artists, among whom Lexi Hart stood out.
 
We do an assignment where students compose comic pages from images within the classroom (that's me in panel 2), working to control the reader's attention and achieve tone, texture, and overall balance. As you see, Lexi solved this brilliantly, first with rendering and again with wash.




And here she's applying wash in her cartoon work to resolve a tricky downshot.  Nice, eh?


One of the satisfying things about the Inking Comics course is that the students produce lush, publishable, finished art every class. As I've said before, the ink may be the last thing the cartoonist does, but it's the first thing the reader sees. Lexi should have no trouble winning people over. Find Lexi on Twitter, too.

Inking Comics starts this Friday. Tell your posse. Sign up pronto. Inktober's rolling in.

The Ghost Mermaid, an improv comic

As I keep saying, my favorite session in the Figure Drawing for Cartoonists course is the one where we have a costumed model improvise a narrative in successive poses while we improvise comics from them. This summer, our model was Miss Cherry Delight who performed in the costume she wore as Miss Coney Island 2013. A good time was had by, well, ME for sure. I hope the students enjoyed it too.

Fall classes are enrolling now. Come see me 6:30 pm Sept. 7 at SVA's Illustration and Cartooning Information Session to hear about Figure Drawing for Cartoonists, Cartooning Basics, and Inking Comics.

Excuse Me!

SVA is currently using an image of mine in their ad campaign for the fall Continuing Education program that they're running in The Comics Journal. Here are screen shots with the various versions.

And here's the original cartoon.

Speaking of, classes are enrolling now:

Figure Drawing for Cartoonists on Wednesdays, Cartooning Basics on Thursdays, and Inking Comics on Fridays.

Time to sign up. Tell your posse.

The Combinatoric Project, Row 1: Joyful Characters

This is the first row of my combinatoric poster from 2003. Check here for the project description and formulae.

#1, Joyful Cuddly Animal.

Outline.

#2, Joyful Mermaid.

Beach ball, border, background, crosshatch, pattern.

#3, Joyful Robot.

Shadow, contrast.

#4, Joyful Fat Cat.

Letter, cigar, border, shading.

#5, Joyful Stick Man.

Butterflies, background, outline.

#6, Joyful Space Alien.

Pizza, border, shadow, crosshatch.

#7, Joyful Dork.

Flowers, contrast.

The Combinatoric Project, Row 2: Disconsolate Characters

This is the second row of my combinatoric poster from 2003. Check here for the project description and formulae.

#8, Disconsolate Cuddly Animal.

Bowling ball, border, shadow, crosshatch, pattern.

#9, Disconsolate Mermaid.

Contrast.

#10, Disconsolate Robot.

Flowers, Vaudeville hat & cane, Clinamen (hat & cane not Vaudeville), border, background, shading.

#11, Disconsolate Fat Cat.

Whiskey, shadow, outline.

#12, Disconsolate Stick Man.

Coffee, t-shirt, border, crosshatch.

#13, Disconsolate Space Alien.

Background, contrast, pattern.

#14, Disconsolate Dork.

Milk, border, shadow, shading.