Comic Books...and Beyond!!!

...and here's the final product! It took a few days to do since I took my sweet ass time with it, but it's done for the open house tomorrow.

I also get to do a coloring demo on the projector during the open house.

Yikes!

Should be fun though :)

Flier progress

Here's the progress of the flier I did for Comic Books and Beyond!

Comic Book Classes

The teaching gig is going to be interesting at the very least, but I'm really looking forward to it. It's all comic book narrative art baby! The first six weeks is an introduction to the different aspects of creating comics and stuff like layout, design, story teling, pencilling, inking, lettering, and coloring basics. The second six weeks the students will write their own 2 page script and I'll go more in depth with the stuff covered in the first 6 weeks. By the end I want them to have at least 2 finished pages tat I'd like to put into an anthology for the Holland Area Arts Council, for them to take home and so they can see their work come to fruition.


Okay, so here's the class curriculum that I'm going to go by as well as the schedule for the Fall and Winter. This is my first year doing this, so nothing is set in stone and there will probably be changes along the way.

Fall session A-Comics and Beyond Issue 1. Tues. 6 - 8 PM 9/23-10/28 6 weeks

Fall session B-Comics and Beyond Issue 2. Tues. 6 - 8 PM 11/4-12/16 (11/25 off) 6 weeks

Winter session A-Comics and Beyond Issue 1. Tues. 6 - 8 PM 1/6-2/10 6 weeks

Winter session B-Comics and Beyond Issue 2. Tues. 6 - 8 PM 2/17-3/24 6 weeks

First 6-weeks

1.) Basic story-telling and how to break down a script into comic panels
-Elements of successful story-telling
-Finding the important elements in a script and creating panel layouts for a comic page

2.) Pacing of a page and leading the readers eye
-Panel and page composition
-Using effective pacing on the page
-Focal points

3.) Pencilling a page
-Going from layouts to roughs to finished pencils
-Tools, techniques, and methods at your disposal
--Blue line pencils, lightboxing, computer uses

4.) Introduction to inking
-Inking is NOT tracing!
--Tracing vs. embellishing vs. finishing
-Tools and techniques
--Quill, pen, and brush inking

5.) Introduction to lettering
-Tools and techniques
-Ames Guide
-Basics of lettering a page by hand
-Sound effects

6.)Introduction to coloring
-Tools and techniques
-“Old school” and “new school” methods
-Dyes and paints
-Computer coloring
-Photoshop and Painter

Second 6-weeks

1.) Script writing. Writing a two page comic script
-The “Marvel Method” plot
-A typical script
--Students assignment is to write a two page script and switch it with another student during class

2.) Pencil roughs
-Students will break down the two page script they get and rough the pages out
-Students should begin pencilling a page at home

3.) Pencilling pages and inking
-Inking demo in class
-Students should finish pencilling and plan on at least 1 page to ink for homework

4.) The Flatting process and breaking down elements on a page with color
-Flatting demonstration
--Preparing line art for coloring
--Separating elements on the page and in the panels.
-Giving students a file to practice on during class (possibly at Herrick Public Library, to use the computers?)

5.) Coloring a full finished page
*DUE: In preparation for creating our final product, I would like students to hand in one finished pencilled page and one finished inked page on this day
-Coloring demo (again, at Herrick Public Library?)
--A little color theory
--Creating mood and telling a story with color

6.) Putting it all together! Review and presentation of final product
-Student’s work will be returned
-Class critique
-Show the class the final comic anthology with their work inside. Each student gets to take home a copy of the class comic anthology!


So, there it is in a nutshell :)

I'm going to have a busy Fall and Winter like I wanted and things are on the upswing.

More soon!

-Jon

Lobo Painting

So, I finaly decided to be more prolific and visit somethings I haven't one in a while, like painting.

I haven't picked up a paint brush in 5 years, so this was a bit of a test for me. I took my old Lobo sketch, transfered it with tracing paper to an 8"x10" canvas panel (it was a 3-pack I bought at Micheals for like six bucks.) I used mostly acrylics, with little bits of colored pencil.

When I was done I put a glaze medium over it and, strangely enough, it pulled up some of the colored pencil that I had painted over.

Anyhoo, it's not perfect, but for being my first painting in 5 years I think it turned out pretty good. It's probably the best painting I've ever done. Thank you coloring work.

Acrylics on canvas board.

At it again...

Did some sketches the other day and this was the result. It's been a while since I've just done something for shits and giggles and just let go drawing all willy nilly... the stuff at the top of the first page any way. The other drawings are character sketches for a children's book, but I might go in another direction in terms of style.




...and tonight I got a little carried away with CS2 and painted the fellow from above. He isn't based on anyone that I'm aware of... I just doodled him. At any rate, this marks my first time using all PS to paint something. I usually use Painter 9.5. It was a great exercise to get me ready for some upcoming coloring work and step out of my comfort zone and just experiment a little. It's also been a long time since I've painted anything and wanted to use this to see how much I still sucked, however I'm quite happy with it.

GJC inks

Here are some of the General Jack pages I  inked. 

Enjoy!

-Jon

 

General Jack Cosmos

Here's a review of General Jack Cosmos and the Vampire Men of Kothos. I inked 8 pages in issue 2. 

Go pick up a copy fools!

I'll post a few pages up, now that it's out. 

http://geeksofdoom.com/2008/05/08/nycc-indie-comic-round-up-part-3/

-Jon

Indiana Jones

Here's a Indiana Jones sketch I did for an art submission for a graphic novel pitch. I won't be doing the pencils, but may be doing colors or inks. 

Not perfect, but hey... it's art :)

Just in time for the movie this week. I can't wait!

-Jon