Tuesday, May 27, 2014

The Week Of Critiquing Dangerously

 A typical 'small group critique.' Detail from Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch, c1503

I'd like to talk to folks in small groups about their work, so...

If you are ready for it, let's do it. I'll take two groups of five-six on Tuesday, May 27 and two groups of five-six on Thursday, May 29. We'll crit each group for an hour and see what we come up with. If you are not in the current critique group, you are welcome to sit in on the critiques, hang out and draw, hit the lab, or wander the earth in search of love and adventure (a.k.a. working on your damn comics!!).

'Quiet Week' (a.k.a. 'We are unable to countenance contemplation of the end of our own lives and are under the illusion we will all live forever' week) will be time for you to bring your projects in for a landing. Shift your focus from minute scribblin' to big picture stuff... getting nice clean copies, making sure you have clear narrative structure (if your stuff is supposed to make sense), non-idiotic-looking-lettering, finished 'inks' (analog or digital), and all the other stuff we've been talking about. Your goal is to make something you can keep on your shelf for the next 80 years, so don't worry about individual panels, and think about your book as a complete object.

Our final is 1:00 Tuesday, June 10. Bring 5 copies of your work for us to read to the final critique. One copy of your work will become a part of the SOU Art 349 Reading Rainbow BiblioBeatDown Van. Yes, for the love of god, go ahead and bring in work you did earlier in the quarter, and/or include in your final project. If you are spending thousands of dollars having your work hand-transcribed by monks, all five copies do not have to be so elaborately duplicated. Finally, update your blogs. Digital archiving is also a good thing... just not as glorious as good old fashioned paper.

Bodelian Library, Oxford

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Thursday Field Trip!!!!

Holy cow. It's beautiful. You live in a beautiful place. The weather is beautiful. You've all seen Gravity, right? Let's make the most out of not being stranded in an endless, cold, indifferent vacuum.
We'll meet up in 101 and then trek out to More Fun comics downtown. Bring $ to buy comics and coffee, and dandy-ish clothing and accessories appropriate to the flaneur/boulvardier!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Tuesday Dummy check in.

Michael Dunn as Doctor Loveless

Bring in a dummy of your final project, dummy.
Be ready to give us a short pitch of your idea.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

BreakDownThursday


  • Go to a place you've never been before and write.
  • Take your writing and do a one-page breakdown or picture book dummy. Edit. Cut. Rearrange.
  • Add drawings and lettering.
  • Finish it and bring 5 copies to class on Thursday, May Develop your pitch13.
  • Also! Bring in your final project work in progress ... Develop your pitch...

Monday, May 12, 2014

Breakdown Tuesday

Take a passage of text... a poem, a journal entry, a friend's letter, a set of instructions, a childhood story, a few sentences from Thucydides... and do three different breakdowns.

A breakdown is breaking up a text into a configuration of panels/pages. This can have a definitive effect on how the text is interpreted.

After you've done the breakdowns, add visuals and bust out a page for Tuesday, May 13.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Project 6: One Page... 4 Days... 5 Copies...

Quick turn around time for this one.
Do a 1-pager... Finish it by Tuesday. Bring in 5 copies...
While you're at it, bring in your dummy for your final comique!
And Jesse Dewyer will be here to talk coloring, yay!