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Class with a capital "K"

July 23, 2006

 



Yesterday, Jack and I overcame our usual aversion to art classes and joined Patti on 6th Street and Avenue B at a comic drawing class. The teachers were graduates of a comic drawing college in NJ, though one of them has left the biz and become an illustrator. They handed out a thick package of material Xeroxed from some great anatomy and comic drawing books, then gave us a few assignments, one to make up a character and draw a spec sheet of the character from all angles and write a description, of the character and his powers. This seemed dull to me so I decided to tackle a comic right off.


I haven't really tried to draw a full up comic since I was a kid, and since I generally don't draw from my imagination, it was a bit of a struggle, I just started drawing panels describing what was going on in the class, and, because I couldn't be bothered to write real dialogue, I just filled bubbles with chicken scratching.

Patti, who'd initiated the thing, ended up having to leave early so Jack and I drew on.

He invented a bunch of weirdo characters, including a hilarious slug-like bunny.

Then we were asked to draw a 2 page comic about two characters finding a box.

Jack was cursing and crumpling up paper, damning his own drawing abilities, which was pretty unlike him.

I got very into the minutiae of the character's morning ablutions and only got around to the box in the last few panels. There were several layout and composition problems I couldn't crack. Fortunately, Jack is a genius and helped me out.

I quite like drawing the comic though it was far from my normal drawing experience, I like pushing myself to draw from my head and should probably do a lot more of it.

Comments

I'm guessing that many little boys (and probably a few girls) go through years ofagony trying to emulate the dynamic artwork contained within the pages of comic books. Among my favorite iillustrators was http://Bill Sienkiewicz.com/. I looked him up and it turns out he is an illustrator doing work beyond comic book pages.
The 8th grade kid with the ability to draw in the style of a comic book artist was held in high regard when I was a kid.

Posted by: Ken McCarthy | July 23, 2006 06:24 PM

I love this kind of gestural quickie stuff. And the DOG !too too cool. Thanks for being out there for all us . You're always very interesting and inspiring!

Posted by: Schnoobie | July 23, 2006 11:56 PM

What fun! and you got a real honest chortle of me at the end of your box comic.

Posted by: Nancy | July 24, 2006 12:49 AM

I'm guessing you don't play Dungeons & Dragons, nor any of the online role playing fantasy games. It seems as much about script writing and character development as it does gaming.

Comic books were where I learned my first art skills, copying the works of Frank Frazetta and company from the covers of Vampirella, Creepy and Eerie. I'm still impresed with how quickly those people can put together full canvases. Now there's a computer gimmick that encourages people to create thier own Marvel Heroe Comics Storyline.Apparently no drawing skills ae needed. It's drag and drop.

Posted by: gladys | July 24, 2006 06:44 AM

How do you get a TypeKey Identity? What's a URL?

----
Andrea:
You can get a TypeKey ID here:
http://www.typekey.com
And a URL is a web address, like www.dannygregory.com. If you have a website or blog, you have URL.

Your pal,
Danny

Posted by: Andrea Jay | July 25, 2006 07:33 AM

Well this seems like it was way fun!! I haven't drawn comics since I was a kid copying Snoopy and Woodstock LOL I have a 12 year old now who is big time into anime and manga, she's pretty good too! Doesn't Moleskine make a story board notebook...that might work for comics..hmmmmm I feel my inner child about to re-emerge LOL.

Draw Happy,
Jan

Posted by: Jan Blencowe | July 25, 2006 07:46 PM

You are a genius Gregory, I wish I had your talent and some of those skills. All the best.

Brian Parris

Posted by: Brian Parris | July 26, 2006 04:00 AM

I live on 5th Street and Avenue C.

Brian

Posted by: Brian Parris | July 26, 2006 04:02 AM