When I was a freshman I was dying to take the classes that the upperclassmen were in. I would spend hours looking through the course catalog at all the electives I could take. All sorts of comic book classes were available. Scripting, Inking, Manga, Superheroes. The two that appealed to me were Mini-Comics and Alternative Comics.

This year, I took both.

NOTE: I enjoy writing these reviews of classes and the assignments given. Some of these posts become very long and strenuous, so I identified that problem by breaking up longer sections into separate posts. In this blog entry that you are reading right now, I display the final image (or images) of the comic along with a general look at the assignment goals, and what I did to meet them. Separate posts provide more in-depth looks at certain aspects that go into the creation of the comic or illustration. They show sketches, original pencil work, and I talk about where the ideas came from and the troubles I faced while making the final piece.

Project 1 – Not a Box

Booster Puzzle

I hit the ground running on the first project. Our first assignment wanted us to create a comic that didn’t conform to traditional panel shapes. We were not allowed to use squares or rectangles.

The first idea was more puzzle-like. The narrative was more linear, and I planned to create a puzzle that had to be put together entirely to be read. It would have a beginning, middle, and an end. The story would start off with a character that answered the door in every panel, revealing more about a painting that he was showing off at a party. Once the puzzle was complete, it could be flipped over to reveal the painting the main character was speaking of in its entirety. But with some suggestions from the class and little bit more guidance from the professor, the idea evolved into something better.

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This class is a classic. David Gildersleeve was my professor, who is also the original creator of the class. He seems to be the quintessential teacher to take this class with, so it was obvious to enroll in it. There are plenty of assignments, but I love doing lots of work where a lot of it is left up to the artist. There is a lot of research and reference-shooting done for this class, so come prepared with a camera or 24-hour internet access! I loved this class, the other artists brought their A-games, and I had to bring mine, too!

Project 1: Savannah Building

I was very pleased that my first assignment came out this way. We went on a field trip and took plenty of pictures, so I had lots of reference under my arsenal. I gave a lot of attention the pipes in the foreground and the blinds, and the rest was just fillin in the page. I had a vision of the kind of character I wanted to draw. I had a Mediterranean guy in my head with a huge nose with a similar look to how French artist Rudolph Guenoden draws himself in comics. It came out exactly how it was in my head (which is pretty rare for me). I even drew him in the exact angle I wanted.

Savannah seems to come up in almost every SEQA class at least once, so drawing from life wasn’t too hard. After a while, you just start drawing the town from your head because you know it so well. You don’t just realize what landmarks or recurring images are in the town, you know the feeling too, and are able to incorporate the emotion of the town into the drawing as well.

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I took Visual Storytelling 1 in the summer quarter of 2009. I wanted to review the class and my work, just like i did for my Materials and Techniques class, but never got around to typing one up. I thought I would strategically release around class sign-ups, banking that my professor ould be teaching the class again in Fall 09, but it turns out he didn’t teach it, nor will he be teaching it for some time. My class may be the last Vis 1 class taught by Tom Lyle, but the other professors aren’t inferior. Ofcourse, I offer this “class review” not only to review how the class went, but how my work progressed from it. I also like to talk about the kinds of assignments that are offered and what you should prepare for before taking the class, because sometimes I like to look around deviantart or Google for the pages of students past, just to guage an idea of how they approached a project.

Keep in mind that the process that Tom works in is not how everyone works, but he expects you to work his way. For a versatile artist, that isn’t a problem. I had a little difficulty here and there working from thumbnails, then creating tight roughs on an 8.5×11, and then printing them out on a 11×17 sheet and re-tracing/going in tighter with my pencils. It’s a long process that made my work stiffer, but for some it makes finished pencilled pages more “designed”. I lost energy in places, but I think it helped to slow me down and plan things out before straight jumping onto a blank page.

Project 1: Chickasaw Adventures #7

Tom Lyle did a comic called “Chickasaw Adventures” and proposes his students suffer what he went through. The script is not at all worthy of being transformed into a comic, and a lot is left up to the artist. As the very first assignment, it sets the tone of the entire class, and once you get through it, the other assignments aren’t quite as difficult. When I finished this project, I had thought I had done well, but I was torn to shreds (as was everyone). I didn’t think I would get any better than these pages (true!) and that this would be the culmination of my learning at SCAD. Ofcourse, I’d be proven wrong.

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The last class review I had done (and the only one) was my Materials and Techniques class. There were many great assignments and of all of them, my drawings of the characters from 30 Rock were my favorite. In spirit of the show’s premiere this week, Thursday Oct. 15th, I want to share the designs I did for the first time here.

Project: Animated TV Show

This is my favorite assignment. We had to pretend our favorite television show never existed as a live-action show and we were to pitch it as an animated show. The character designs were to reflect the personalities from their live-action counterparts. Some people chose obvious shows like Seinfeld and The Office. The show I chose to redesign was 30 Rock.

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