Art 352 Animation is Fresh and Lovely. Hoorah.

Hey, go ahead and comment your blog urls here, if you are in the ANIMATION CLASS.

Every week, you'll be posting your class work on your blog along with:

1. Create a post about one of your artistic fathers/mothers. Include images and some reflection on why you like the work.

2. Something new. Create a post about an artist/thing you didn't know about until recently. This can be a piece you found in the Mobile Comics Library (RIF! see above image), a tip from a buddy/pal, something you picked up at More Fun, cultural flotsam from the web, etc etc. Include images and some reflection (deep) on why you were drawn to it.

Welcome Art 349 Comics and Picture Books

Miles (right) and one of his freaks (left) man the Mobile Comics Library

Howdy folks. Go ahead and post your blog urls as a comment on this post. Please use your real name, so I can set up the class links.

Here's the assignment for Wednesday.

1. Go to a place you've never been before and write about it. Post it on your blog and bring a hard copy of your writing to class on Wednesday.

2. Create a post about one of your artistic fathers/mothers. Include images and some reflection on why you like the work.

3. Something new. Create a post about an artist/thing you didn't know about until recently. This can be a piece you found in the Mobile Comics Library (RIF! see above image), a tip from a buddy/pal, something you picked up at More Fun, cultural flotsam from the web, etc etc. Include images and some reflection (deep) on why you were drawn to it.

Welcome Art 450 & Art 496 Capstone Kids! Y'all are Special!

Yay. We'll meet every other Wednesday from 3:00-4:30 for critique. Our first crit will be next week, Wednesday, October 7 at 3:00. I'll post our quarter crit schedule later this week. For now, go git the following ready fer Wednesday.

1. Start a blog, and post the url as a comment to this post. Do this immediately.
2. Post links to your classmates' blogs in a sidebar.
3. Use your blog to work out a project proposal that you will present to the class on Monday.

Your project proposal must include the following:

0. A working title for your project
1. Project goals (personal? professional? exploratory?)
2. A project description.
3. Specific products of study or deliverables that you will be creating for your project.
4. Visual and/or written research for your project. Stuff done by other people.
5. Treatment visuals for your project. This is stuff done by you. This can consist of links, a bibliography, images, etc.
6. A written description of specific technical and research issues you will need to address during the course of your project.
7. A timeline of your project. When you will be doing all of this good stuff. You must include specific DEADLINES (for example: "January 27th", not "some time in January."

Capstone folks, you'll be putting all of this into a written paper by the end of the quarter. More on that later. Go forth and conquer!

Phosphorescent Dreams an Evening of Fantastical Shorts!

Steven Mayerson and the S.O.U. Art Department present: Phosphorescent Dreams an Evening of Fantastical Shorts, this Saturday, October 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in Meese Auditorium,

located in the S.O.U. Arts Building. This is a FREE show. The program will be otherworldly and exotic. It will include some rare vintage animation, a modern science fiction adventure designed in "steam-punk/goth" style, French fantasy shorts from 1900-1908 and a Bollywood production number among other things.

The show is not designed for kids. If they are under ten you be the judge. This is the first show of our sixth season of film programs at Meese Auditorium. Steven introduces each short and welcomes comments from the audience. Come ten minuets early for the best seats.

Meathaus, Lost At E Minor, contemporary creative inspiration sites

Looks interesting, people. . . Meathaus: "Comics, Cartooning, Art, Inspiration" Dig it!

Also: Lost At E Minor features a huge range of contemporary hip artsy stuff. Here's an image by contemporary illustrator Hope Gangloff to prove it. . .

UGLY DOLLS Interview!

A Crown Dozen interview with David Horvath creator of the Ugly Dolls. I'm resisting the urge to go buy all of the figures. Better go take a walk.

NYT Interactive on Comics & Clowes PDF

A very nice interactive feature on comics in the New York Times from way back in 2004(!) featuring Seth, Chris Ware, Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and Chester Brown.

Also in the NYT, a free Daniel Clowes story, Mister Wonderful, in PDF format! Huzzah!

Guest Speaker! Steve Mayerson!

4:30 Thursday, Oct 1, we'll have a guest lecture on Abstract Animation from Steve Mayerson. Steve will be doing a fabulous free film presentation in the Meese Auditorium on Saturday, Oct 3 at 7:00 p.m.

Dan Clowes

panels excerpted from Dan Clowes, The Happy Fisherman

Read Dan Clowes' stuff again last night. I'd kind of forgotten how good he is. Jeez. Depressing for me, but good for you. Pick up anything of his you can get your hands on. The more the merrier. "The Happy Fisherman" (see image above) changed me forever and is available in the Twentieth Century Eightball collection. He's just pure quality.

On a stupid note, here he is doing a commercial for Apple that is actually pretty damn funny if you are condemned to making comics.

Three Cheers For Robot Frog

Sad Sack, Misreading, and The Anxiety of Influence

After reading Derf's swell Punk Rock and Trailer Parks (here's a link to my post, and another link to a nice interview), I started thinking about why I was drawn to his work. I mentioned the Don Martin vibe, but the more I thought, the more I found myself thinking about the Sad Sack work of Fred Rhoads and George Baker. Derf's work definitely has a 'Sack vibe, and so I got to thinking about how much I loved those Sad Sack comics in the 70's. I haven's seen any since then, as they don't seem to have gotten the glamorous retro love as of yet. I will posit Sad Sack as an eery harbinger of Arms and Ether. Weird military types, and lots of beat-downs. Compare the above strip by Fred Rhoads with my 21st century effort. (I know, Rhoads kicks my ass.)
Anyhow, hooray, and here's a link to a blog that gets into some of the deeper nuances of Sad Sack. Okay, back to work.

Dig Some Derf

Just finished Derf's Punk Rock and Trailer Parks which I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's Derf's website: derfcity.com. (Hey, kinda like Inadaville!). Thoroughly dig his Don Martin-inspired visual style. The writing is also top notch as is his musical taste. And finally. . . OHIO. Check out his weekly strip, The City.

Milton Bradley--as in the 1860 board game designer

Interesting article on old school game designer Milton Bradley and "The Checkered Game of Life," written by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. You have to subscribe to read the article, but you could also track it down in the library for freesies.

Also, an interesting interview with Jill Lepore who turns out to be a Harvard history prof. Some people like working out or fixing up their houses, but me, I like reading about folks who took a while to figure out what they wanted to do.

Miyazaki, folks

Jen Harlow attended the "you don't get to see this guy every day," Hayao Miyazaki lecture in L.A. this summer. She's posted a transcript of the Q and A on her blog! Read and learn. Catbus ftw!

Graphic Memoir by David Small

Just out and reviewed in the NYT is picture book illustrator David Small's graphic memoir, Stitches.
Dig it, or at least read about it via the link!

Two Nice Links to Groovy Sites

tor.com has a really splendid sampling of interesting independent animation.

Vintage Children's Books My Kid Loves focuses on some classic picture books with lots of nice visual samples.

Get inspired. Thanks to Jen Harlow for the links!