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