Friday, 2/26 in Art I

Today I want you to use your list of 10 symbols and draw them on the long sheet of paper provided in class.

1. When you draw these symbols make them even more abstracted by zooming in really close or omitting certain details. The viewer should not recognize your objects.
2. Remember that these symbols represent your life and that events in your life probably continue to effect you long past the time when they happen. Let your symbols repeat or continue to swirl throughout your long sheet of paper.
3. Use the entire sheet of paper, letting your symbols go off of the edges of your paper.

**The entire finished piece of artwork (with color added) will be due on Tuesday, March 9th.**

Wednesday, 2/24 in Cartooning

http://www.dw-wp.com/students/assignment04.html

This is an example of what we'll be doing today. I'll give you a nine panelled sheet of paper and you will tell the story of Jack and Jill using all nine panels and all seven of the transitions from yesterday. Due Tuesday at the end of the hour. Inked.

Wednesday, 2/24 in Art I

Paintings are due today. Please sign the lower right corner with a sharpie. Please evaluate yourself from 1-10 in the following categories on the back of your painting.

In this painting:

1. I followed directions. I used only one color for the background and one color for the object.
2. The edges between the shapes is smooth, and there is contrast between the shapes' color.
3. all shapes are not one solid color. They change gradually.
4. Blending is smooth.
5. I gave this 100% effort. I used 100% of my class time.

TOTAL POINTS=50

Thursday, 2/25 in Art I

Symbolic Time lines... Take a sheet of paper and fold it in 1/2 so the fold divides the right and left sides of your paper. On the right side of your paper, number from 1/10 and write down the 10 most important events that have happened in your life so far. Please keep them in chronological order. This is for your information only, so be honest. On the left side of the paper, number from 1/10 and draw a symbol for each of your life's events. These symbols should not be recognizable. No hearts, crosses, angel wings, or rainbows please. UNLESS, you can make them abstracted by zooming in closer, etc. When you're done with both sides of your paper, tear away the written events and take them home. Keep your drawn symbols in the drawer with your name on them.

Tuesday, 2/23 in Cartooning

Transitions and Closure

Closure is the understanding that your reader has when they read your comics. As a writer/artist you must give your readers directions in understanding your work. These directions are called transitions and they happen in seven different ways.

1. Moment to moment: this shows time passing. The result is similar to showing something in slow motion in a video.
2. action to action: is similar to moment to moment, except it doesn't show every little step along the way. It usually show the beginning and ending of an action.
3. Subject to subject: this takes place in one scene, but switches between characters. This is commonly used for dialogue.
4. Scene to scene: this moves from one place or time to another.
5. Aspect to aspect: shows multiple views of the same scene and it is usually silent. It helps to deepen the mood.
6. Symbolic: takes place within the storyline and depicts something non-literally. It is making a point about a character's state of mind in a metaphoric way.
7. Non-sequitur: this is two panels that seem to have no meaning when put together.

TO DO: Look through the comic section of the newspaper. Cut out panels and re-arrange them in order to tell a story. Glue this in your sketchbook. You can use the existing dialog, or you could cut it away and write your own. Decide which of the transitions from above is used and write it down.

Monday, 2/22 in Cartooning

Today you will be writing/typing up your artist bio for the comic strip you have completed.

Please include:

1. your name (real or made up), age, and city where you live.
2. Your favorite comic or comic artist.
3. information about your comic
4. and something interesting about yourself

This should end up being 5-10 sentences total.

When you're done writing go to:

• my computer
• student shared on mvc...
• irondaledropbox
• cannonj
• 5th or 6th hour
• drag your bio folder into this drop box

OR, as a last resort, email it to me at julie.cannon@moundsviewschools.org

THANKS!

Comic Strips are Due with Artist Bio TODAY!

Hannah Haverkamp was born in 1992 in Minneapolis, where she has lived her whole
life. She spends entirely too much time reading comics, particularly those of
Bill Watterson, Der-Shing Helmer, and Jeph Jaques, and draws inspiration from a
variety of sources including those above. Cartooning and Animation is her first
art class at Irondale, but she hopes to learn as much as she can in her last
semester of high school. This comic is unfortunately not derived from personal
experience – she has never owned a cat, but torments- er, cuddles those of her
friends at every opportunity.
“I think cats are just hilarious—they all have
so much personality, and honestly, it’s kind of a Rule of Funny to have
something fluffy and adorable actually be this maniacal demon beast thing. I
went a little out of my depth on the perspective in the last panel, but I’m
learning! Also, tones are fun.”

Tuesday, 2/16 in Art 1

This is a quick example of what we're doing today. You'll be making a chart that communicates what you know about color mixing. First you'll make a small color wheel, and then you'll label 2 columns of 5 shapes that will be filled in with...
hue (pure color)
shade (color + black)
tone (color + gray)
tint (color + tint)
intensity (color + its direct opposite)

Tuesday, 2/16 in Carooning

Today we will be working on your comic strip. You should already have your character(s), your setting, your conflict and solution pretty well planned out. Now, it's time to work on your rough draft and final draft. Right about now you're probably wondering how I will be grading this project...

1. Correct use of thought balloons, word balloons, and emanate... out of 10 points


2. All lettering is NEAT and easy to read, with enough space between words and letter... out of 10 points.


3. Inking is clean looking with a variety of widths. No pencil lines showing! out of 10.


4. Artist bio has no grammatic errors and there is interesting information about the artist, which is you. out to 10.


5. Overall presentation (is it up on the internet?) use of class time, and effort. out of 10.

Thursday 2/11 in Cartooning: Comic Strips

• create a list of characters
• create a list of situations you might find in a funny newspaper strip
• create a situation: introduction of a new character, an argument, a holiday, etc.
• create a prop/conflict: possibly a hundred dollar bill, a bomb with a fuse lit, etc.

character + setting + situation + conflict + resolution = a story

Next brainstorm visual or verbal gags that could happen in your situation. Write down every idea that you have in your sketchbook.

Without taking out a piece of paper in your sketchbook, fold one of its pages vertically and turn it so the ringed side is at the top. Above the line is where you'll do your rough draft, below the line is where you'll do your finished copy. Finished copy will need to be inked with your brand new pens with all pencil lines erased with your brand new erasers. YOWZA! Tentative due date: 2/17.

2/9-2/12 in Art I: Finish Still Life

Your still life is due by the end of the hour on Friday! Take a picture of it and work on it at home if you think you'll run out of time!

Wednesday 2/10 in Cartooning: Wrong Planet Pacing

Today we'll mess around with your group's 25 panel comic, and see how taking away panels affects both the story itself and the pacing.

First we'll look at the 25 panels, next we'll reduce it down to 12-15, and then finally put it back at whatever number of panels tells the story in the best possible/most interesting way. At that point, each of you will re-draw one of your panels included in the story in one of these 22 ways.

Tuesday 2/9 in Cartooning

Today you will have time to finish activity II from yesterday. Make sure you ink it and complete all erasures.

Next I'll give you a number (1-5), and you'll draw 5 panels for one of these scenarios.

1. An astronaut launches his rocket...
2. lands on the moon...
3. and plants a flag.
4. He returns home to much fanfare...
5. but then realizes he has gone to the wrong planet.

Next, you'll get together with some people around you and put together a 25 panel comic.

Tuesday 2/9 in Art I: Still Life Due this Friday

Today we'll start working on our final still life. Tips: 1. Start with bottom of the object closest to you. 2. your outlines should be light, because they shouldn't show when the still life is finished. 3. Remember to compare heights/widths of different objects to create accurate proportion. 4. Look at WHAT you are drawing 2 x as much as you look at your paper. 5. If you're feeling stressed about time, you could use your cell phone to take a picture of the still life from your point of view and work on it outside of class. 6. Don't finish one object at a time. Finish the outline first. Then maybe you would shade in all of the darkest values... Work on the entire still life to make it stronger as an entire piece of art work.

Grading:

1. Presentation: complete erasures, smooth blending, signature, paper is clean and smooth with no smudges or mystery marks.

2. Effort, use of class time and attitude.

3. Use of all 10 values.

4. Cast shadows, midtones, reflection, and high lights are accurately represented.

5. Drawing is proportional and uses the entire 11 x 14 sheet of paper creating a strong composition.

Monday 2/8: The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree...

Today we'll talk a bit about this apple. If you draw one, and write apple next to it, you'll just be labelling it. This isn't something we want to do in comics. But, if you write words like New York, or temptation, or Dr. repellent next to it, you will create a relationship between the word and the picture. This is something WE DO want to do in comics. This relationship doesn't have to be funny though. It could be dramatic, absurd, polital, etc...

Here are two captions for this Wells Fargo caption contest:
"Fashion Rule #13: Carrying a big credit card makes your rear end appear smaller. "–Lady Anon

"Early prototype, just prior to the invention of the wallet." –Chris S. Ervi

Activity I: Find one of your drawings from class. Cut it out and paste it in your sketchbook. Make as many different captions as you can for your work. Think in terms of creating a relationship between the words and the picture.

Activity II: On a new sketchbook page, do a small thumbnail sketch of a drawing with a caption. Once you've decided on a sketch, enlarge it to approx. 5 x 7 size and draw a frame around it. Write at lease 3 captions and choose the funniest one. Ink it.

Friday 2/5 in Art I: It's Friday!

Today we'll be getting our ball drawing and Still Life #1 finished and ready to turn in. Before you turn anything in, think about the target and self evaluate your progress. You should be shooting for the bull's eye!

Friday 2/5 in Cartooning: Reading Day!

It's finally Friday and we're reading comics in class today. I'll be reading La Perdida...

Thursday 2/4 in Cartooning: Dinosaurs + Action Drawing

We've talked about Dinosaur Comics in class and today you'll get you're own blank copy to add text to. Think about thought bubbles, word bubbles, and narration boxes. Bonus points for adding emanata. Keep this in your folder when you're done.

Next, we'll continue working with drawing motion. Today you can choose 2 out of these three scenarios:

1. A ball crashes through a window into a kitchen and rips through the newspaper of a person sitting in the room. The person reacts to the window breaking.
2. Person 1 trips person 2. Person 1 is laughing, person 2 is trying to catch him or herself and is knocking over the lamp.
3. Two guys are fighting. Guy 1 throws a rock at guy 2. Guy 2 is hit by the rock, which makes him shoot his gun into the air. The bullet hits and breaks a chain holding up a heavy lamp over guy 1's head.

Here are some examples.

Thursday 2/4 in Art I: Still Life #1

Before you start working on the still life for today, we'll review all of the necessary components of shading the ball from yesterday. Focus on PROPORTION! How wide is the pringles can compared to how tall it is? How big should the ball be? How wide is the party hat compared to how tall it is? How does it compare to the pringles can?

Wednesday 2/3 in Cartooning: What are Comics?

Today we'll focus on sketching 5 separate drawings. We're trying to show movement!

1. a person running
2. a car speeding
3. a ball falling
4. a person staggering
5. a newspaper page blowing in the wind

There will student be examples of these on the Drawing Words website.

We'll also be viewing a powerpoint presentation with a little bit of the history of comics.

Wednesday 2/3 in Art I: Intro to Shading for Art I

Today we will be working on shading a simple form like a sphere. Without shading, forms often look flat and lifeless. Once you start playing around with shading, things begin to appear more life like. This website has some great directions for getting you started. Today in class we'll watch this video as well. This drawing will be due at the end of class.

Wally Wood's 22 Panels that Always Work!!

Starting something new is both exciting and intimidating! I'm so lucky that Zander can help me out with the specifics on teaching a class like Cartooning and Animation. I like how his take on what should be included in good comics simplifies what Wally Wood shows, and slices it into a more digestible portion. His expertise buys me the time to discover some interesting things on my own as well...