SEQA 420 – The Booster Puzzle
Please click to enlarge! The “Booster Party” is one of my favorite undertakings, with stories that criss-cross around the board, alluding to events that happen at the same party that happened, that are about to happen, and that ARE happening as you read.
I will be selling prints at the Norris Hall Swap Meet tomorrow at 11AM – 1PM. I have a limited edition print run of 15, measuring at 24″ x 19″, at $30 each, and signed! And finally, I have process scans after the jump, where you can see the stages of its creation. Enjoy!
First of all, I want to thank everyone who has enjoyed this project as much as I have enjoyed making it. Thanks to Brian Ralph for pushing to find wall space where we could hang our very first pieces. It brought lots of eyes from people throughout the department, and if you are one of those people, I hope you had a good laugh!
Besides Where’s Waldo, I was inspired by the illustrations of Scott Campbell, whose work always has lots of simple characters taking part in a large scene. There are always little stories in the scene that create a big picture, and looking at each one allows a reader to slow down and take it in. I also loved the simultaneity aspect, and the referencing of past, present, and future. I’m a fan of Lost, and injected some of that influence on a much smaller scale here.
And I love creating characters. My work in previous comics classes were much more based on realism and accurate proportions, but this class encouraged me to think more about the concept. I stuck to a much simpler style that resulted in lots of energy and personality in each person I drew. It was a lot of fun to create an image on such a large scale, yet hone in on small characters who take up very little of the space.
The Original Pencils
I worried a lot about how I could reprint these inexpensively and at a similar or exact same size. After my penciling, I was too scared to ink on top and have to erase the graphite underneath. Projects where I’ve employed that process always ended with inks that look too different, lots of smudging, and lower quality of blackness in the inks after an eraser went over them. So I decided to do the blue line process and ink over the blue printout, which now results in two original art pieces of the same project (and less stress!)
Inks
Soon after the inks, I printed another version. This time I would complete the assignment by cutting it into puzzle pieces. My cutting was improvised, but by gridding out the comic beforehand in rectangles, I was able to make each conversation contained within a puzzle piece.
Color in Progress.
Party on!
Thanks for reading! Again, I will be selling these at tomorrow’s SWAP MEET in Norris Hall between 11AM and 1PM. I’ll also be selling comics, graphic novels, and action figures (and other people’s prints!) from my personal collection. Hope to see you there 
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