

Above: the age old question -- "Marvel or DC?" Nathan seems to prefer DC characters so far. He will be having some discussions in the future with his old man about this!
MOLESKINE is the legendary notebook that has held the inspirations and ideas of everyone from Van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway to famed author, Bruce Chatwin. Artists, authors, and geniuses of all variety have long appreciated the simplicity and superior functionality of these notebooks.It looks like I'm in good company! I tried it out tonight while I was waiting at the mall. It is very nice paper and a nice sturdy but flexible sketchbook. I'm thinking Mondays will be Moleskine Mondays, and I'll post a recent sketch from the sketchbook. My New Year's resolution is to try to make better use of the time I spend just waiting (at the doctor's office, etc.) and I'm going to try to keep this baby with me!
Originally these books were produced by small French bookbinders who supplied the Parisian stationery shops frequented by the international avant-garde. However, In 1986, the last manufacturer of Moleskine, a family operation in Tours, closed and Moleskines were gone – but not forgotten. As a result of their previous popularity and demand, they did return. In 1998, a small Milanese publisher brought these books back for writers, artists, travelers and all free-thinkers around the globe.
Some parents and teachers regard comics, with their sentences jammed into bubbles and their low word-to-picture ratio, as part of the problem when it comes to low reading scores and the much-lamented decline in reading for pleasure. But a growing cadre of educators is looking to comics as part of the solution.This is no news to me and to many others who learned to read by reading comics, but it's great to see the Establishment coming around.
"It's very much a teacher-led kind of movement in that teachers are looking for ways to engage their children, and they're finding some of that in comic books," said Michael Bitz, who founded the Comic Book Project as a graduate student and is now its director. "For kids who may be struggling and for kids who may be new to the English language, that visual sequence is a very powerful tool."
Homework for Artists & Writers:Well, I had to make a flier by Monday to take with me to the National Conference of Teachers of English. I'm not following the guidelines to the challenge exactly, but I did use a couple photos in comic format. I'm afraid it's the best I can do at this point.
Take photos of your friends to use as the drawings in your comic. Create a 1 - 2 page coming using only photos. Reuse photos if necessary, but try to use at least 6-10 photos. Once you have your photos, create your comic like normal, using word balloons, captions and sound effects.
"Now that you’ve pushed yourself through a 24 hour comic, why not try a 15 minute comic?"
Homework for Artists and Writers: Think of it a “gesture drawing” for comics. Take two pieces of letter sized copy paper. Fold them in half and staple to make an 8-page book. Set the timer for 15 minutes and get crackin’. It’ll have to be scribbly and fast to make the deadline so think fast and draw faster! Good Luck!
I used the opportunity to map out an eight page story I had in mind to do. Every year our church has a Pastor's Appreciation Sunday. We give him the day off and a few of us pitch in to take over music, sharing for the day, etc. I had in mind to tell the Bible story of Gideon in comic form. I made two 15 minute comics to plot it out (to be honest I went a little over, but worked as fast as I could in the spirit of the idea). Then I drew four pages of it. I'd like to finish the next four pages soon.
I put the comic story in Powerpoint format and shared it today. A lot of work, but everyone said they liked it. I believe comics have the power to teach, even the important messages that are in this story. In this post, I'll share a few pages of the rough draft.Juxtaposition is the act of putting two different elements together, to create a reaction or feeling in the reader, be it contrast, comparison, irony or something else. You might have worked with a Random Plot Generator before. But you probably have a great random plot generator right in your hall closet! Pictionary cards can give you a great list of concepts and elements to incorporate into a short comic to exercise your improv skills.
Homework for Artists and Writers:
Pull a card from a Pictionary deck and draw a one page comic that includes all 5 items on the card. They can have as little or as much importance in the comic as you like. As a footnote to the comic or in your blog post, list the 5 items that had to be included. Think about Juxtaposition as you combine unlikely elements.
This was our challenge this week at 52 Comic Challenges. Silent comics can be tough. As comics artists, how much can we say without words? We shouldn't always rely on word balloons and sound effects to tell our stories. How does silence effect stories? When silent panels appear in a comic, the reader has to “read” the elements in the panel and causes them to examine the panel longer. While doing this exercise, we focused on how we can use silent panels effectively within our own work.
For my assignment, I created one page of a story called The Silent Storm. I did it as an exercise, so I don't really have any plans for where it's going beyond this one page.
This week's challenge at 52 Challenges was to apply the "sneeze theory" to show action in several three panel strips. This exercise can help cartoonists refine their visual storytelling technique and try several different types of action. Paying attention to the sneeze theory will make sure that you are always picking three of the most important parts of the action.
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