DHA 2311: Drawing and Illustration, Fall 2008

I'm having the worst time yet coming up with a concept for this project. I can't seem to think a) in animation, and b) in simple enough terms that my ideas are feasible. Everything I've gravitated towards so far has been something that'll be WAY too complicated for the short amount of time we have.

So I'm still thinking. I've got a couple themes that seem to keep coming back to me, one of them specifically is "rain," so I wouldn't be surprised in what I final settle on incorporates that in some way.

I also, at first, had a hard time finding any sort of inspirational videos, but thats because I didn't start on YouTube. But I found some good ones!

Some of the things from these that really inspire me, I really like the way the head changes form, and I might do something involving a moldable object. I also really like the idea of repetition, and how slight changes in it can make a big difference.

Posted by Micah Spieler at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

This video is slightly graphic, but it shows a simple way of showing motion.

I was inspired by Disney's Fantasia, the skating ice fairies in particular.

Here is something extra, the music video to "Take on Me" by A-ha. Incorporates animation into their video.

Posted by stree073 at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike Orduna is a LA based artist, he is 32, and started out as a graffiti artist and has successfully transitioned his style of art into a digital format, combining photography, computer illustration, hand drawn illustration, spray paint, and Photoshop. He currently works as an art director for Hybrid Studio; they specialize in amazing online campaigns for the entertainment industry, and are known for their WOW factor. He has been a designer for about 10 years now.

Here is a link to his portfolio site fatoe.com

and a link to his previous portfolio site fatoe.com/2007

Posted by stree073 at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nicholas Blechman Lecture Event Write-Up

Posted by grah0214 at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm extremely interested in animations. I really enjoy following 'mutations' of animations on youtube or niconico (japanese youtube). Basically, people take an animation from a show in Japan or draw their own, usually pairing it with a hyperfast song, then others create hundreds of different versions of the animation with different characters and scenes. I would really like to make one of my own, but I don't have that kind of time on my hands.

All the animations are after the cut.

This entry is duplicated for reasons unknown to me. I cannot edit the older version, which has broken links.

This is actually a speed-mix of a Brazillian song. It started with one animation and hundreds followed.

Caipirinha

THE ORIGINAL:

Caramelldansen (swedish song)

ORIGINAL

Lucky☆star (opening to an anime by the same name)

ORIGINAL:

Here's a really cool animation made entirely in flash, about the series of video games 'Phoenix Wright' for Nintendo DS.

This is a series of animations spawned from a Japanese fashion commercial:

Hare Hare Yukai (anime opening)

ORIGINAL:

I kind of collect these things, if you can't tell.

Posted by grah0214 at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So this is a small clip from one of my favorite Christmas movies when I was a little kid. I was watching it while working on my zine, unaware that our next project would be illustration. The entire movie is like 25min long and doesn't have any words. It looks like it was done with colored pencils. Enjoy. (The clip you are about to watch is one of my favorites from the movie. It is when the little boy and his snowman fly to the north pole for a snowman party thing).

Posted by pabic001 at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Oscar Winning animation, 2001

Posted by Heba Amin at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've been talking about graffiti a lot, here's Fafinette, a female (gasp!) who doesn't use much spray paint (gasp again!). Anyway, her site is here.

Posted by Micah Spieler at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out The Tourists, a brilliant short animated film about humans on a beach by Malcolm Sutherland.

To see his galleries of animations, drawings, sketches, and abstract art go to:
http://oneiropod.com/

Posted by Heba Amin at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is your assignment sheet for project #3: Animations.
Download file

Posted by Heba Amin at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I both thought there was a post this week and realized I didn't post anything last week. I just thought I would share a movie I just saw today. It kind of fits in with animation, as it is related to anime. The movie title came up when I was searching for 8-bit music on wikipedia (such as Bit Shifter). This movie mixes classic anime style with 8-bit graphics, like in 'old' video games. The movie was very trippy, I suggest it for anyone who is interested in this styles or even just wants to build creativity. If you like analyzing the narratives of movies this movie might irritate you, for although it claims to have a story, myself and reviewers on Netflix couldn't seem to find one in the 4 hours it plays.

Anywho, the movie is titled, "We Are the Strange". It kind of reminds me of Michelle's style of drawing actually...

Posted by attin002 at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hello everyone, sorry that I missed the class last Monday. I was sick and could barely move due to my anemic and migraines I had over the weekend. Now that I am fine, I need to catch up on a lot of things. For example, I changed the idea of my zines. I was doing cultural information about my community to hangouts of Somalis in Twin Cities and now to two favorite dishes of the Somali cuisine and then along the way explain place where one can get it in the Twin Cities.

I am planning on using bus routes to print the layout of places where one can buy these delicious sambuusas and bur...

Posted by Kaamil Haider at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So this is quite late.. I did a 'thought I clicked submit but something must have went wrong' thing.
Well, if you remember I presented Craig Thompson, He is an illustrator who currently works on graphic novels. He uses mostly brush pens and has a unique very expressive style.
here is his website..

www.dootdootgarden.com

Posted by attin002 at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's another video done by Blu this last summer, it's larger scale and outdoors! He also has other videos listed on the right panel there...

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

One of the videos in class also reminded me of this artist, who did adds for Pop Tarts. Funny funny video. A little raunchy though...

Posted by evenx016 at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thomas Kinkade was born in Sacremento California, in January of 1958. He is known for oil painting luminous landscapes. He has described himself as the "Painter of Light" and is one of America's most collected living artist. It is estimated that 1 of 10 homes in the United States feature some form of Kinkade art.

Kinkade grew up in the small town of Placerville, California and began painting at the age of 6 when his parents divorced. Kinkade said that at this time, life was so chaotic that all he felt he had was his art. His technique quickly developed and by the age of 16, Kinkade was an extremely accomplished oil painter. He Attended the University of California-Berkley but dropped out two years later to attend the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After College, he began writing a book called "The Artist Guide to Sketching". The success of that book got him a job doing 600 background images for the 1983 movie "Fire and Ice". It was there that he began experimenting with light depiction and imagined worlds. He began earning his living as a painter selling his originals in California.

Thomas Kinkade is known as a Luminist painter and uses glowing highlights and saturated pastel colors to create a radiant quality of light within his works. The glow he depicts is said to represent his faith and devout christianity. He wants his paintings to emphasize the value of simple pleasures, and communicate inspirational life affirming messages. He wants the viewers to look at things not as what they are, but what they could be.

This is his most recent release titled, "Christmas in New York"
His galleries can be viewed at www.thomaskinkadegallery.com

Posted by picke070 at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MikeKlay'sWebsite

This is the link I showed in class. There are more examples on the site and his stuff is pretty cheap to buy if you are interested!

Posted by evenx016 at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are some of my favorite things.

Posted by silva039 at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry this is late, I didn't anticipate being at work (researching my project, right?) until so late last night, but I didn't clock out until 1:00am, and thought I should sleep. :\

Anyway, I'm getting excited about my zine, I've found a design element that I can repeat throughout it, I brought home from work a stack of "guest checks" - the things that servers/waiters write orders down on, and I think I'll use them for the cover, the back, and then throughout the middle where I include drink recipes. It'll be a nice way to tie everything together. I also brought home a couple coasters to scan and include, and a couple of sugar packets for my "BRUNCH SUCKS" spread. HA!

Anyway. Have you guys seen the latest political news? Colin Powel is endorsing Obama. It's pretty exciting, but this is a bipartisan blog (right?) so, here's some "exciting" news from the McCain camp: SNL featuring Sarah Palin?.

Here's some design/illustration sites that I've got bookmarked - I've been meaning to put these up for a while, but my old computer was dropped last year and I had everything backed up but only found time to find my bookmarks this weekend:

http://overproof.org/ - Overproof Affliliates - Minneapolis, MN design group that supports local artists, and sells their wares on the site. Some cool shirts, jewelery, etc. I don't know if it's honestly still updated, the last events they have posted are from June/July, and the Jewlary, art, dresses, bags sections are not stocked. But here's a shirt by Deuce 7 if you're interested: Crown.

The Ultimate Guide to Designing With Black - Spoon Graphics has a GREAT blog for designers, I suggested subscribing to it if you read blogs. This is a great informative post about the differences between CMKY and RGB blacks, and how to deal with it when designing. Good read.

GRL + MC YAN - Heba showed us some examples of what Graffiti Research Lab does, but I don't know if she ever posted a link. So, here's a link. This is a video they did with MC YAN, a Hong Kong MC, when they bombed China. ;)

I might save some more sites for another sketch post.

Posted by Micah Spieler at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I am still having trouble deciding how I want to spin the dog drawings for my book. The sections I'm thinking about including now are feeding, clothing, and loving. I think I want to call it something like "Dogs Are People Too: A Guide to Taking Care of Your Little Poopsie". Hopefully that gets the message across from the beginning that this book will be ridiculous. Ill post more illustrations soon.

Also, I've been getting into design slumps quite a bit lately, and have been looking for ways to pull myself out. One thing I've been doing is looking at other artists work, ripping out ads from newspapers and magazines, and taking pictures of anything that I think is cool in some way. I find that when I look back at that stuff I get inspired and am able to go back into design mode. My favorite book to look at is Illusive, the one Heba recommended in the beginning of the year. I can't wait to order Illusive 2!

Posted by Joann Dzon at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.mikegiant.com

Here's an interesting artist I found when I was researching was artist to do my artist presentation on. I didn't decide to do it on him but here's his link.

Posted by evenx016 at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First off...I am SOOO dang sick. ugh. cough, sneeze, blow, repeat repeat repeat. Alright. Enough of that.
I'm kinda diggin' the whole zine thing, even if it's taking me FOREVER. I'm assuming that most people don't just up and make a really cool zine in no time flat the first time out. It's the photocopying, definitely, that will make or break it. I've done a few practice copies to see what something that printed real nice looks like photocopied and there's a huge difference. Really huge. I probably won't get it right by the due date, but I've learned a few tricks already, the most important so far being to print on the best paper you can to start with. I was just printing on regular 20 lb stuff and a) the print is dull and b) any drawing that you do on it after you print will run. I had some sample packs of some really bright, smooth paper and printed on that - made a ton of difference.

This is a page from my zine. I'm not sure what text I'll put in there, but something like bad eyesight is no excuse for not keeping up with fashion. I dunno. I'm kinda bummed because I was going to color my main character to pop her from the background, but I just have cheap markers and they look awful. So, for now I'm sticking with black and white. I've put the 36 count Sharpie set (flesh tone, even!) on my Christmas list.

Posted by hicks130 at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been out of town all weekend so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow to get back into working on our zines. Mine is still pretty much in pieces but they're almost all there so it's just a matter of piecing them together and assembling the dern thing. As of now, I'm looking into paper options as well as how I'm going to go about printing them...price might be an issue if I get too carried away. I like the fact that they're pretty cheaply made and simple as well, so I might have to limit myself a bit to keep that integrity. Other than that, going well. I look forward to getting some opinions and see what everyone's been working on : ).

Posted by austi147 at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been working on my zine, and it is pretty much complete. All that is left is to add the actual photos of what the little "pirate" is imagining, which I think I will add after a scan my pages in and scale them down to fit the 11x17 template. I'll scan in pictures tomorrow before class, because I don't have access to a scanner right now, so check back tomorrow before class.

The rest of my time I have been doing homework, but besides that I have been thinking of a Halloween costume. At first I wanted to be a pirate, than I thought being a rag doll would be fun. I started looking for costumes but didn't like any of them completely, so I tried to find things I could piece together to build the costume, but in the end I think I'll be a mime. I already have the black clothing, and the face paint, so now I just need to find the right "face" to wear.

Posted by stree073 at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm still working on my cupcakes. Trying to decide if the comic is going to be 2 pages or 4 pages. I decided to type up the recipes and ingredients rather than write them out to aid in readability. I just really need to work on getting all these pieces together, and then add in a lot of sparkles.

I also need to finalize a title. Cupcake Manifesto? I'm not sure.

Posted by grah0214 at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm working on my zine right now, and several problems have arisen. The most prominent being the layout of the pages. I'm using the standard 11 x 17 folded template we learned in class. Each animal is a spread, rather than an individual page. This poses a problem because I have to chop them all in half and line them up to get them to be a spread, since some pages are upside down and on opposite sides of the paper.

It's going to be interesting. I think something good may come from this though. I have a few ideas to fix the problem, and I will post pictures of it if that's what I end up doing. Tomorrow before class I'm going to take what I have and make a copy to see how it's coming along, and that will gauge what more I'll need to do.

I know that these entries are supposed to be more picture orientated, but I feel I am not ready to post the pictures I want to post. I hope it is okay to do so later this week!

Posted by gess0029 at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was doing some more research for my zine because I want to also include resources about tattoos, tattoo artists, etc. So I came along this tattoo artist's blog that I thought was really interesting. Along with showing his portfolio I found two interesting posts on his website. One is called "13 Reasons NOT to get a tattoo". The other was To Ink or Not to Ink (Tattooing Ethics)" which was interesting because it was a blog post about his personal ethics when it came to tattoos. He talks about pleasing the customer but also using his best judgement (such as not doing "hate" tattoos such as swasticas). I think resources like this would be an added bonus to my zine.
An Artist's Journey

Posted by ostby014 at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

(This wasn't posting when I put it under a category so I am trying it again, sorry if it shows up like ten times.)
OK so here is the thing, I have decided to change my zine topic. I know it is a little late, but the idea just so far from what I originally wanted it to be. I maybe wouldn't mind so much with another project, but this is going out for people to see and it isn't how I want my family represented. I (think) have a a good start on a new zine (don't worry Heba it will be at a good place for class). I recently got really excited for Christmas and thought how much fun to make a "Guide to a Sleigh Ride" It will include proper attire, food for the trip, appropriate conversation topics, and of course my favorite carols. The zine will include fun illustrations. So chances are in class tomorrow I will be in my corner listening to Christmas music and drawing a snowman. Let me snow what you think.
Also I will be putting images up later, when I get my scanner working again.

Posted by pabic001 at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK so here is the thing, I have decided to change my zine topic. I know it is a little late, but the idea just so far from what I originally wanted it to be. I maybe wouldn't mind so much with another project, but this is going out for people to see and it isn't how I want my family represented. I (think) have a a good start on a new zine (don't worry Heba it will be at a good place for class). I recently got really excited for Christmas and thought how much fun to make a "Guide to a Sleigh Ride" It will include proper attire, food for the trip, appropriate conversation topics, and of course my favorite carols. The zine will include fun illustrations. So chances are in class tomorrow I will be in my corner listening to Christmas music and drawing a snowman. Let me snow what you think.
Also I will be putting images up later, when I get my scanner working again.

Posted by pabic001 at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By request:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule

Posted by Heba Amin at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Text/Messages: Books by Artists

Walker Art Center
December 18 - April 19, 2009
http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=4665

Posted by Heba Amin at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Paper Tiger, Works by John Vogt"

Soo Visual Arts Center,
Sept 1 - Oct 26, http://www.soovac.org/ps_08_johnvogt.php

Posted by Heba Amin at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"How Many Words? The History, Theory, and Implications of the So-Called Word/Image Dichotomy"

Weisman Art Museum
Thursday, November 6, 12pm - 1pm.
http://www.weisman.umn.edu/events/eventscal.php

Posted by Heba Amin at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Walker Art Center
Thursday, October 16
Free!

This year’s Student Open House is a total free-for-all featuring an eclectic mix of music, film, and art-making. More information here

Film: Bomb It
Cinema, 6 pm
Bomb It, directed by Jon Reiss, investigates the subversive art form of graffiti. Through interviews (Taki 183, Cornbread, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One) and guerrilla footage of painters in action, the film tells the story of graffiti from its origins in cave paintings through its explosion in New York City in the 1970s and ‘80s, and samples the current state of graffiti globally. 2007, video, 93 minutes.

Posted by Heba Amin at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Balthazar Korab Lecture Write-Up

Posted by grah0214 at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alex Grey was born in 1953 and began drawing at an early age. His father was a graphic designer, and encouraged Alex to continue creating artwork. In the 70's, he went to art school for 2 years, but dropped out. Later, he worked at Harvard Medical School in the anatomy department preparing cadavers for dissection. This job prepared him for the creation of the "Sacred Mirrors" [seen below]. His paintings accurately portray the nervous, vascular, skeletal, and other bodily systems with anatomical realism. So much that he did medical illustrations for a while. But his paintngs go beyond real-life illustrations. He moves from bodily systems to spiritual/energetic systems that allow the viwer to journey toward their own divine nature by examining the body, mind, and spirit.

After completing the Sacred Mirros serious, Alex went on to create the "Progress of the Soul" where he concentrated on how bio-psychic energy passes through and between bodies. These paintings have descriptive titles, such as "Painting" and "Kissing" and are rendered with such scientific precision that they appear to be illustrations. He really blurs the line between science and art, and that is what I like most about his work.

For more information go to Grey's website: www.alexgrey.com

Posted by gess0029 at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Basia Konczarek

Basia Konczarek, is a young contemporary illustrator who lives in Krakow, Poland. Very little is know about Konzarek since she is still a new and rising artist but I think her work is worth taking note of, not only because of her beautiful designs and sense of style, but to learn about your peers by absorbing as much visual information as possible.

Elenore Abbott
1875-1935

Elenore Plaisted Abbott, was an famous American illustrator that who was born in Maine. Elenore Abbott studied and various different schools such as, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and in Paris where her work was exhibited at the Academy Des Beaux Arts. Abbott's work has appeared in many different magazines and books such as, Scribner's Saturday Evening Post, Harper Magazine, Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Old Fashion Girl, and one her most famous Grim's Fairy Tales.

Michelle Silva

Posted by silva039 at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I've been sketching ideas on how I want my zine to look like I've had some trouble getting ideas. I guess right away I wanted to make it look like a manual or rule booklet. Does anyone have any ideas where I can break away from that theme but still convey a similar message?

Posted by evenx016 at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For my zine, I decided to go ahead with the nature zine. This weekend i did a few sketches of some simple items i ran into on my journeys. My zine has been altered and narrowed a little since it was a pretty broad idea to start with. I decided that I want to go exploring areas in and around the campus. My goal is to find some places to go that are peaceful, full of nature, and safe...a good place for students to check out for stress relief, rewinding, and feeling less crazy in a big campus that is surrounded my people, and noise. My work this weekend consisted mostly of exploring and finding these places. I have St. Paul and west bank marked, I am still yet to explore east bank in depth. When I am finished, I plan to make some map sketches and mention a little about each place. I will also include some nature sketches from along the way or at the sites.

Posted by pasc0090 at 1:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Some sketches I've been working on, as you can see i have some various different unicorn representaions within my sketches. :D

Posted by silva039 at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I decided to change the topic for my zine, so instead of a shopaholic theme I've decided to do something about the ridiculous way my family takes care of dogs. The topics I want to cover are health (feeding, cooking, "natural" meds), clothing (party, sleep, holiday, and everyday attire), family events (vacations and holidays). I want it to be a guide as to how to take care of a dog, and I want to personalize it with a dedication in the beginning (or end?) and use drawings of the three chihuahuas and and maltese that are the most over privileged members of the family. I would like to try to use Stina Persson's technique of ink and watercolor enhanced by Photoshop to be the style for the illustrations, and possibly just keeping the dogs in color while the rest of each drawing in black and white.

Posted by Joann Dzon at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After not being able to find ANYTHING on food phenomenons for my zine, I have changed my topic to the funny things that three year olds say... Problem is, I need to figure out how to link the different sayings into a narrative rather than pages of statements. Some examples of the funny things I have gathered (all from the mouth of my nephew) are:

"Look at my pants! They're running!" (as he ran around the room)
Mommy, how bout you sit in the car seat and I drive the car?"
"Mommy! That man had no shirt, just a belly!" (commenting on some shirtless construction workers)
"Mommy, I got an owie on my toe. I was thinking we should get some ice cream so it can feel better."

If anyone has any ideas on how to link these (and more) into a narrative I would appreciate the suggestions!

Posted by picke070 at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Some of us have families in close/far states or overseas; would you then like to share your zines with your family or friends? If that's the case, then you must think twice about sending your zines by mail because, like everything in the 21st century, there is a rule otherwise be warned your zines (+spirit) will be crushed before it reaches its destination.

ZineWorld is a resourceful blog about zines, and it has limitless helpful tips and articles about zines. But the most interesting link they have is "The Zinester’s Guide to U.S. Mail." Just when we started thinking that zines are small publications unnoticed like a guppy in a big pond, they just become more interesting. I say graduate from this project but do not leave your zines unnoticed under your sophomore or junior bed and start sending it far far far away to be noticed.

Posted by Kaamil Haider at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So to add a little more substance to my mixology zine, I decided to tweak the content to instead include insights into the mind of a server/waiter. Frustrations, things we enjoy, things we appreciate, humor, all to be included. I'll then add in a few drink mix instructions as supplements, rather than having them the main focus of my zine.

Just to brainstorm a little, some conversation topics for my zine:
*Brunch shifts suck. A tip for customers: don't order 4 different drinks at a time (water, coffee, orange juice, and a bloody marry).
*Always tip 20%!
*It's helpful to stack your plates/cups when you're finished with them. Also, it's always a good way to see who is in the industry.

more to come of course!

Posted by Micah Spieler at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I recently decided to change from my original idea for my zine. I am now going to be doing a zine about "tattoos you'll regret when you're 50." Not sure if that will be my title but the idea will be somewhat along the lines of that. I will be doing illustrations about different tattoos I think people would regret. For example the "I love (insert boyfriend/girlfriend's name)" tattoo. I also want to do interviews with tattoo artists and local tattoo places and get their opinions on bad tattoo ideas or find out if they have had any interesting experiences with customers. I plan on using micron pen for the illustrations. I want this zine to be mostly comical....I may even insert fake tattoos as a safe alternative.
If you have any ideas of hideous tatto ideas or tattoos that someone may like now but maybe not so much later, post your comment.

Posted by ostby014 at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've decided to go with the zine idea of "An Outsider's Guide To Dinkytown". It's going to be rather satyrical but I don't want it to make fun of anyone really...just point out my view and perspective on the dinky neighborhood. There will be an illustrated map, "Trendspotter", "How to drink like a towner", "Warning!", and a bio section on people about town. I'd like to do all the text by hand with a micron pen. This is some of the text/labels and a photo I did in the lab of my friend Paul at Espresso Royale (one of my interviewees).

Posted by austi147 at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm having the same problem Matt is having. I need to try and come up with more of a narrative theme for my animal idea. I really want to stick with the interesting fact things, but as long as I am doing something with animals I'll be happy. I have all the backgrounds I want, as well as the facts. Below are the backgrounds I will use for an elephant and a giraffe...

If anyone has any suggestions (again) I'd love them.

Here are some of the facts I found. I don't know if I want to make it a comical zine or a more serious one... I also do not know exactly how many animals I am going to use at this moment. Somewhere around 6 - 8 I'm thinking.

Anteaters prefer termites to ants.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
All elephants walk on tip-toe.
A hippo can run faster than a man.
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
Camels have 3 eyelids.

There's something about my idea I don't really like anymore. It's probably because there needs to be a narrative. It's kind of frustrating. I thought I knew what I wanted to do (and by now I SHOULD know), but, the more I think and plan, the more I don't like my idea. Maybe I need better facts? I guess we will see what happens.

Posted by gess0029 at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I am having a little trouble right now with my zine. I am working on a family thing, but I am not sure that it is what I want to do anymore. I am struggling with how to create a narrative from my family without making it a novel. I am going to continue working it out, but I may also dabble with a few other ideas. I'll keep you all posted.
I forgot to post this earlier. Ryan Adams has a new album coming out at the end of the month. The lyrics for his single are online as an illustration. I think it may be fun to do something similar to a song I like and maybe I could use my family as characters.

Finally my internet is crazy. Sorry for the multiple posts.

Posted by pabic001 at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I just wrote a long post that was deleted accidentally, so this probably won't be very long as I am frustrated. =/

I wanted to share that there will be an article bout zines in the next issue of "The Wake", the student magazine. My roommate is writing it, and I guess he interviewed a zine artist for it, so you should check it out.
I also wanted to share his myspace that shows a little of his zine, although I realized there aren't many pictures. I really suggest requesting a book from him; they are hand made and full with love. There are cute drawings and quirky/intelligent writings that go along with them....
www.myspace.com/thisisyellowthisisblue

Also I wanted to share a tattoo artist. Some of my friends really don't like his work, while others have found it really inspiring. I personally like it a lot, its creative and genuine. I guess when one makes an appointment with him he will basically doodle on their body according to their body type and personality.
www.yourmeatismine.com

Posted by attin002 at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well...2 midterms and portfolio review sucked the life force out of me last week, so I haven't made much progress on the zine. I have decided to call it Confessions of an Older-Than-Average Student, and I plan on using a style similar to the picture below. I've used it a lot, I'm comfortable with it, and it lends itself to my zine topic.

Also, I found a blog that I really like...check out the Frida Kahlo look-alike contest (left side bar, click on Modern Art, then go to the August 12th, 2008 entry.
www.growabrain.typepad.com

Posted by hicks130 at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I have been trying to work on my zine, its a a pirate one, and it is based in a little kids imagination, so I plan on drawing (cartoon like) scenes of him finding the items he needs to be a pirate and how he imagines them to be the real thing by placing the photo of the item in a thought bubble. I am having a hard time drawing the kid and the items the way I want them to look like, but they still work.

Posted by stree073 at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am doing my zine about cupcakes. Here are the three recipes I plan on using:

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

French Toast Cupcakes

Margarita Cupcakes.

These are all really good. I also plan on having facts about cupcakes, reasons you should eat cupcakes(a short comic), and why cupcakes are better than muffins. I'm very excited about sharing these :)

Posted by grah0214 at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

When: Saturday, Oct. 11, 1 p.m.
Where: The Spruce Room, MCTC, 1501 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis

Celebrated comic artist Jaime Hernandez (Fantagraphics) makes a rare Twin Cities appearance to discuss his work and the release of Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 with MCAD Visiting Artist Zak Sally (La Mano 21) in a Twin Cities Book Festival event co-sponsored by Rain Taxi Review of Books and MCAD's Comic Art Program.

more >>

Posted by Heba Amin at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am excited to start working one the zines yet I cannot decide what exactly to do it on. I think that i am so excited to make a book about anything i possibly want to that no idea will satisfy my anticipation. The two thoughts i decided might be most fun for me to draw are: from stick man to suer hero, and feeling trapped in the cities? with a mini adventure into the wilderness of Minnesota. A lot of people tell me that they can't draw but wish they could, and i love drawing super heroes. So that would be pretty easy and enjoyable for me. But there are also a lot of people getting stressed in college in the cities that don't take the time to notice the beauty of the nature around them. I also find that by taking the time to go out into the wilderness, it takes your mind off of things and really helps to relieve stress.

Posted by pasc0090 at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For the zine, I'm having the idea of a book with descriptions and sketches of friends I haven't seen for a while. The title would be something like: " If seen....."

There are a lot of friends, family members, and teachers that have made a positive impact on my life that I don't see or keep in contact anymore. The idea of the book would be that everyone is important. I won't only show friends and teachers, but also people I have never spoken to, whether its been too intimidating or embarrassing (for example, mabye someone i see at a coffee shop a lot i've wanted to talk to but been to afraid). Overall I want to give the message that people are important.

I've started a few sketches, one being my best friend from fourth grade whom I don't talk with anymore. I want to put love in each page, with fun caricature-like sketches and whitty comments. and I hope it will be humorous for the reader. I'm thinking of including metaphorical people, with a dotted sillouette or something. Mabye "my sanity" or something along the line. Overall i'm excited to get farther on this. It will probably be black in white, with possibly a colored title page. The title might be fabric or some other material. We will see....

Posted by attin002 at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is something I collage together on Adobe Photoshop using some of my sketches and drawings from my sketchbook for some colorful visuals. As for my Zine I have decided to do a Unicorn Fan Zine! I want to include a little history but mostly Ii just want to show different unicorn artist representations for other Unicorn lovers to enjoy. :D

Posted by silva039 at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My presentation artist will be about Paul Rand, who made simple designs from young age till his death in 1996. He most remembered for his IMB, ENRON, ABC, NeXT Computers, and many more identities. He was a graphic designer by career.

I came across Paul Rand's designs when I was interested in finding out who the individuals behind big corporate logos- this was prior to deciding if I wanted to become a graphic designer or not. At that time with my stupidity thought it was simple to be graphic designer if you had the right idea. However, this proved to be wrong when I started reading his articles on design and its aesthetic forms. Mr. Rand was influenced by Surrealism and Picasso.

Posted by Kaamil Haider at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My idea for the Zine: Mixology (aka how to make decent cocktails). I'm thinking of clever titles, like a play on "shaken, not stirred" or something like that, maybe with "how2 make a decent cocktail" as the tag line. Still in progress.

I recently acquired a "bible" from the bar I work at of the recipes and instructions on how to mix them properly. I thought that it would be fun to choose the most ridiculous, both in terms of name and content, and make a zine about how to make them. Some that I've chosen so far:

Sex with an Alligator, Surfer on Acid, Tequila Sunrise, Big Ginger, Buttery Nipple, Mind Eraser... I'm not sure how I feel about all of the x-rated names though (i skipped citronmyface, screaming orgasm, etc).

Posted by Micah Spieler at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I decided to have my zine to be about Somalis: Who Are Somalis? The Origins & History of Somalis. I do not want to sound to patriotic or anything, but there are an eminent of Somalis in Minnesota, and I feel some Minnesotans do not have a clear picture of who Somalis are, where they come from, religion they follow, their cuisine (there are close to 25 Somali restaurants in Minneapolis), etc.

I intend to include illustrations of agriculture + livestock (primary source of food), clothing types, cultural haircut (the beginning of Afro-cuts), government (3 presidents in its whole existence), language (officially adapted in 1972 in Latin form), influence from eastern Africans, and many more I cannot crop in here.

Posted by Kaamil Haider at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When I was thinking about ideas for my zine, I figured I should focus on something that interested me and that I knew a lot about. The two things that came right to mind right away were cooking and shopping. I decided to go with the shopping theme because I want to make a humorous zine that focuses on the ridiculous habits of a shopaholic. It would be called something like "You Know You're A Shopaholic When... ". I have a few ideas already, like buying something you don’t need solely because its on sale (shown with a girl buying something dumb like a bag of marbles), or thinking that spending foreign money doesn’t count. If there are any other shopaholics in class with any ideas it would be much appreciated.

Posted by Joann Dzon at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm pretty excited about making this zine. I've had a few different ideas from a type of introduction to multi-functional items (ie dental floss for sewing) to a manual for the "outdoor community" from the little nuances and things I pick up from my job in the outdoor industry. I think what I've decided to do is An Outsiders Guide to Dinkytown. I think it would be interesting to leave it at coffee shops, bars, etc. and see what people say. I would include sections like a pop-up illustrated map, warnings!, trend spotter, a bar/coffee shop guide and a few bios of "dinkytowners". It would kind of be a commentary poking fun at while still containing what I consider pertinant information about the neighborhood. I'd like to include a hand drawn illustration in each as well...just because I thought that was really neat in the few we saw that did this.

Posted by austi147 at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have had a difficult time trying to come up with a topic for our next assignment. I want to do something that is simple and easy to read through - I thought that a lot of the zine examples that we saw last week in class were so packed with text or illustrations that it was too overwhelming to look through the whole zine. My hope is to do something that is simple and lighthearted that would be very enjoyable for viewers.

One idea that I have come up is to do a zine based off a recent discovery in my sisters kitchen... Last week, my sister cut open a green pepper while making dinner and found a very distinct, smiley face in the center of the pepper! Amazed, she showed it to her three year old son who said "Mommy, why is the pepper so happy?" She took a picture and wrote a story that was published in the pioneer press a few days later about the "Happy Pepper"... I want to look for more stories like this one and see if I can maybe put a compilation together.

Posted by picke070 at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So when we started talking about zines in class and learned a bit about them I immediately thought that it would be interesting to make a family photo album. Taking my favorite images of people in my family and illustrating them. I think it would tell a bit about me and I think I would really enjoy making it. I don't though that was just one of my first thoughts so I will continue brainstorming and see what I end up with.

Posted by pabic001 at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been checking out some of the sites regarding zines, and I've gotten some small amount of pleasure out of it, but I was actually most inspired by seeing some of the the zines that were created in previous classes. I think that's partly because I could actually hold them in my hand, and partly because they were interesting/entertaining to me. A lot of the zines that I've run across (including many from the pile that Lacy brought in for us to look at) I just didn't find interesting. It seems like a lot of chaotic stuff, which just turns me off. On the other hand, if it was MY chaos, it would be more interesting...hmmm.
Being a generation older than most of my classmates, I thought it would be fun to do a zine about 'the older than average student'. That's what I'm called, I guess. It has it's own set of issues that could be presented in a humorous way, and that (if I am looking for a PURPOSE) could enlighten younger students, and perhaps encourage the other older students out there.

Posted by hicks130 at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I came across this half zine, half blog website while researching zines. "Steve, Don't Eat It!" was one of the categories...so gross, but the guy is a hilarious writer. Check it out

The Sneeze

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the term "man law." My guy friends always refer to man law in their conversations so I was thinking about doing my zine on it. Here's the link to the facebook group that spells out all the specifics...

Man Law

Posted by evenx016 at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just figured out what I want to do my zine on and I'm really excited! I think the title is going to be something like "It's a Jungle Out There" and I want the theme to focus around exotic animals. I have an idea for each background to be a different animal skin blown up large to fill the page. Then I'll use a collage like composition and hand draw each animal, an elephant for example, and cut and paste it onto the background. Then, I want to have an interesting fact about that animal, such as "Elephants have funerals for their dead" which is true! I'll post pictures of a few pages when I start working on it.

I had a really hard time thinking of ideas. I think I can make this zine appeal to most people if I use interesting enough information that's really shocking. Most people don't realize or care about how intelligent some species are. I'm excited to see how it turns out and even more excited that I figured out what I'm doing! I know I don't have much to show for it yet, but any feedback would be appreciated.

Posted by gess0029 at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Georges Seurat was a French painter in the 19th century who became a leader of the neo-impressionist movement of this time. He created a unique technique of painting called Pointillism where he used tiny, detached brushstrokes or dots of pure color on a large composition that was too smalll to be seen when looking at an entire work. He was known as somewhat a scientist of art because he spent a lot of time studying color theories and effects of different linear structures. One of his most famous works of art is "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte".

Posted by ostby014 at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been continuing to research zines in order to come up with ideas for my own zine project. I found a really good resource that shows a variety of examples with a wide range of subjects. It's called Art Zine Distro, and it's a non-profit distro that focuses on zines.

It gave me some ideas on different styles and techniques I could use by looking at what other people have done. Even though I will develop my own style, I find inspiration in looking at other examples. For my own zine, I am thinking of doing something music-related, possibly something that involves my favorite lyrics that I have collected over time. Any ideas for this, let me know.

Posted by ostby014 at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Amazing Paper Cutouts

I found a pretty cool set of images through the program StumbleUpon. These are all paper cut-outs with amazing accuracy and craftsmanship. I can't imagine having that kind of skill with an exacto knife. All the designs are brilliant.

I wonder how many rough drafts this person has to go through before they can get those final results.

Posted by grah0214 at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found another interesting blog while looking for pirate inspiration (because I am thinking of doing a pirate themed zine), this blog has tutorials on how to do high designed things in Adobe Illustrator, nicely designed site too.

Its called Spoon Grapics check it out, you might learn something.

Posted by stree073 at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)