Archive for ‘Center for Cartoon Studies’

25 items.

Happy Holidays!

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Every year, The Center for Cartoon Studies sends out a Christmas Card to a bunch of supporters, visiting artists, alumni and other community members. And this lucky guy got to do this year’s card.

Why yes, that is CCS spiritual founder Inky Solomon masquerading as good ol’ Sandy Claws. Though this was James Sturm’s suggestion, as my initial sketches just had three elves working. That’s why he’s the headmaster at Hogwarts, and I’m still trying to get wingardium leviosa to work.

Anyway, this was the first thing I did after classes ended. It was a Christmas miracle!

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CCS Diary Comic #12

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So very close to the end of the semester. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone. In fact, I can’t believe how fast life has gone. Fellow CCSer Sean Knickerbocker saw this and said “Ha ha ha! You’re so sad!”

And he’s right. I better watch it or I’m going to get a permanent reputation for doing depressing comics.

And yes, that last panel is a reference to this.

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CCS Diary Comic # 11

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I’m constantly catching myself humming songs from games and cartoons that I haven’t heard for five, ten, or even twenty years. This is one of those times…

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Oh, Fletcher Hanks

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In Steve Bissette’s Survey of the Drawn Story, we are required to do two essays during the semester. My first one was about Frank King’s Gasoline Alley. I haven’t written any real essays since my undergrad, so it was great to stretch those muscles again.

Of course, because this is the Center for Cartoon Studies, there’s usually the option of doing any assignment as a comic. And so for my second essay I did a mini comic about Fletcher Hanks. The upside of this is that I had a lot of fun trying to imitate Hanks.

The downside is that I spent so much time drawing and coloring the comic, that the content of the essay isn’t exactly hard-hitting, revolutionary stuff. Oh well! There’s not much I can say about Hanks that Paul Karasik hasn’t already said better. I strongly recommend picking up the two volumes edited by Karasik. They contain all known work by Hanks, but it’s worth it just to read Karasik’s comic about his research in Volume I.

Though it’s best to read Hanks’ work in small doses. It has strange effects on the brain.

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How Romantic!

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We recently spent some time learning about Romance Comics at CCS. Robyn Chapman came in to share her vast knowledge of all things comical and romantic. After  we covered the history of romance comics in Survey of the Drawn Story, Steve Bissette assigned each of us an era of romance comics in Drawing Workshop. We then had to design our own covers authentic to the assigned time period.

I was given ‘The Swinging Sixties”, which for the purposes of this assignment was about 1966-1971. This was long after the Comics Code Authority had been introduced, so while the covers weren’t particularly racy compared the pre-code comics, they did demonstrate a hilarious misunderstanding of counter-culture. I guess that’s what happens when a bunch of out-of-touch old guys get together and try to figure out what’s hep with the kids.

Dig it:

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CCS Diary Comic # 10

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Seth has discussed this with much greater eloquence, but it was still sort of fun to draw a cartoon brain.

One of the nicest things about being at CCS has been talking to other cartoonists about those quiet, indescribable aspects of drawing comics.

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CCS Diary Comic # 9

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I’ve found it a little difficult to come up with interesting diary comics now that most of my life consists of sitting in a chair moving a pen back and forth. Luckily my brain doesn’t seem to sleep when I’m sleeping…

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CCS Diary Comic # 8

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The story in this week’s diary comic became a weekly occurence throughout the semester.

It’s hard to constantly be exposed to so many brilliant creators without feeling a little overwhelmed and insignificant.

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CCS Diary Comic # 7

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Every year, Steve Bissette takes his Drawing class to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) to sit in a classroom and draw owls, falcons, and vultures (and one turtle). I was really taken with the turkey vulture.

Maybe it was just because I was listening to Tom Waits’ Bone Machine, but I couldn’t stop thinking about scavengers when I got home. They don’t seem to garner the sense of awe that eagles get, but I’m glad someone is there to clean up everyone’s messes.

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Fable Funnies

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The Fable Project is the first time in Cartooning Studio that CCS students are free to draw a comic however they wish. The assignment uses a handful of fables as springboards, but how the story is told is up to the student.

I ended up going with the Tortoise and the Hare. And because I’m a dorky overachiever, I also did a screen printed cover (also, I want to get good at screen printing, because I like it lots and lots). The emphasis of this fable was showing fast and slow speeds. This is what I came up with…

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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