Okie dokie, here’s my final 8 page comic for my Graphic Narrative course.  I’m not gonna lie, I’m really not too crazy about it.  The story’s kinda cool, but I seriously rushed this into production, as I’m sure you’ll be able to tell.  This whole quarter for me has been a cautionary tale on what happens when you mismanage your time.  You’ll be able to see it in my animation, too.  Plus, I couldn’t really settle on a comfortable art style for the comic; not being able to decide on a middle ground between cartoony and photorealistic.  It’s unfortunate, but totally my fault.  In any case, it was great practice in making a full (mini) comic.  It…it takes a lot longer than I figured it would.  I’ll post pictures of the actual product tomorrow so you can check it out.  Anyway, here’s the comic with the art that I’m slightly embarrassed by (and I’m not being a typical “nothing I make is ever good enough” artist, ‘cuz I’ve made some sweet stuff before).

I think page 3 is my favorite.  It was completed early enough that I wasn’t rushing, it’s got a nice atmosphere, nice poses, and that cool dancing crowd panel.

And here’s my aforementioned superhero comic.  Like I said, it’s a retelling of the classic “The Tortoise and the Hare” fable, but with superheroes.  It more-or-less follows the original story beats, though the moral is a bit different.  Anyway, enjoy.

Here’s another assignment from my graphic narrative class.  We had to draw three 3 panel strips about things that have happened to us recently, so basically a diary in comic form.  I also took this time to experiment with different inking techniques.  I usually either ink digitally or with a Micron pen.  I used the pen for the first strip, but then I went with a watercolor brush and ink for the second strip (NEVER AGAIN) and a calligraphy pen and ink for the third one.  The brush was just way too unwieldy for me, which is why the strip looks like crap.  The calligraphy pen was okay, but it was still a little too awkward for me to use.  So I think I’ll just stick with the pens.

Here’s one of the first comics that I did for my graphic narrative class.  It’s a short strip that’s supposed to teach you how to tie your shoes, and we couldn’t use any dialog.  It was kind of hard.

So, it’s the first full week of classes this week, and it’s going pretty well.  The way I usually break down my schedule is two classes from my major and two general required classes each quarter (DePaul’s on the trimester system, so four classes for each 10 week quarter (fall, winter, and spring)).  This way I’ve got a nice variety in my assignments to keep me fresh.  Anyway, my two animation-ish classes this quarter are Animation Production I (meaning I’ll have another sweet cartoon to show y’all in about 10 weeks) and Graphic Narrative, which is all about the art of comic books.  YES.  This is the first time it’s being taught, and it’s super sweet.  Two of my biggest hobbies are drawing and reading comic books, so this is pretty awesome.  All of our assignments involve doodling in our sketch books and creating our own comic strips, which I do in my spare time anyway so I hesitate to call it homework.  Anyway, we’ve had two assignments so far.  One of them the professor (Aaron Renier, a professional comic artist) still has, which I’ll post when I get it back, but the other one I’m about to show you.

The parameters of the assignment was that it had to be six panels, no dialog, and had to illustrate a basic story (which he assigned us).  I’ll tell you what’s supposed to be going on after the comic, so try and see if you can follow what’s happening.

So, did you understand it?  It’s about a guy who wakes up late for school and rushes to get there, only to find that it’s only Sunday, so there’s no class.  If you got that, then yay.  If not, then I don’t blame you.  Telling that in six panels with no words is kinda hard.  But hey, that’s what I’ll be learning how to do in this class.  Exciting.