The Good Muslim

"Who is my neighbor?" What would Jesus say if he walked the earth today? I mentioned to a friend that I believe today He would tell the story of "The Good Muslim." My friend said, "You should make a comic of that!" and I did.

"The Way Out"

Dragonsleep

 

I made this 14 page comic for a contest sponsored by Comics Workbook magazine.  The challenge was to create a 14 page comic with two covers, consisting only of nine panel pages -- each panel the same size.  There's nothing like a deadline to get you moving. Amazingly, I finished this start to finish in one week!  I think I broke all personal records for speed drawing.   It occurred to me that I could do roughly one page each for each step in the Hero's Journey. It is Hero with a Thousand Faces -- Walesified. 

When Worlds Collide

This is my contribution to an anthology. I enjoyed this formalist experiment, using the rows of panels to represent different dimensions and showing what happens "when worlds collide." 

Doubts

How Deep is the River of Zen?

 

Master and Apprentice

 

When I was a kid, I spent hours studying the work of my hero, Sergio Aragones. 

Learning to Look at Art

"What is the benefit in engaging in the process of art criticism?" In Art 6, the first artwork we look at is "Masterpiece" by Roy Lichtenstein. We learn how to critique a work, going through the four steps: describe, analyze, interpret, evaluate. They're always surprised with any work we critique, that there is more there than we first realized. The final step is to make their own parody of this work, putting themselves in the place of the artist. Here's mine, right below Roy's.

More questions:
How does relevant contextual information aid interpretation? How do we decide what is relevant?

The Many Faces of Wisdom

In my interactions with my imaginary sage and mentor, Halcolm (pronounced "How Come?"), I have observed many changes in his countenance.  He is at times responsive, at times chagrined with his disciples, but always present and definitive.

One of my challenges to my Art 6 class is to create a cartoon character, and then draw that same character with many different facial expressions.  Occasionally, I do one along with them of one of my characters.  Some sprang instantly to mind, and then I went back through the comic strips he appeared in and made sketches of significant ones.  It is interesting that there are some expressions your character would not have -- because it would be out of character!

I first experimented with this exercise using the book Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm.  It's a classic, a book I've returned to again and again since I bought it as a teenager.  I've since created my own guide for students to refer to.  I encourage them to look at the work of others to see how artists simplified, exaggerated, and used simple lines and symbols to represent a specific emotion.  When we think of an emotion not shown on our guide, we ask a friend to pose for us.

Challenge:  Try it!  Create a character. Draw the same character 12-16 times.  Try to keep the basic structure of the character the same, but with distinctly different emotions each time.

The Toast Principle

Halcolm & the Woodby Disciples