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So here is a great website for all things graphic novel:
http://www.artbomb.net/home.jsp
I would consider looking through it (it also has some more obscure books that are popular in Europe and haven't made it over here). There is an "online comics" section that you might want to check out to look at examples or different styles. Have I converted any of you yet?
Kao Lee Thao
Here is the website that I found most of Kao Lee's photos
MNartists.org
Her myspace. It seems like Kao Lee is inspired from everything. She's been known to paint photos of Myspace friends.
Myspace.com
Her Folklore Studio web with her 3D stuff and animation
Folklore Studio
From photographic reference.
This is the front of the postcard that i plan on using, the text on the back says:
Hello Cousin Vaughn-
How do you think I look. Mama says I look the most like myself. What do you think? With love, Mabel Cullen.
I want to do my graphic novel based on a really jealous girl who is concerned with her looks, and takes her jealousy too far??? Something like that, the little girl on the front just looks kind of unhappy and has an evil look on her face.
this is the postcard i am going to use for my graphic novel. the text on the other side reads:
Dear Bruce,
We saw the Ocean. Were
the waves
ever big.
Jerry M
it's addressed to Master Bruce Seebeck
for my style i want to use the dark shadow feel, like the tree is in the picture, with colorful/more detailed backgrounds. for my story i'm developing a story line around Master Bruce being a jewel thief who sends his sniveling assistant Jerry M on his missions to get the jewels. The message on the card will be a code message for Jerry to let Bruce know he got the goods.
I will be using the postcard above. When reading the postcard it felt like old friends who had lost touch with one another and the one writing the postcard, Rosa, is trying desperately to keep the friendship she has with Anna (the receiver). So my narrative will be about two friends who as kids promised to attend a catholic college together when they get older (idea from the front of the postcard that says St. Mary's). But as people grow ideas and views change, Anna decides not to attend a Catholic school so Rosa says some harsh stuff because she feels that a valued promise had been broken. As for the drawings I think I will be using a lot of flashbacks to help build up the story and bring more emotions into these two characters.
This is the post card that I am planning on using for my graphic novel. My idea came to me after reading about the Ganges river and the problem that has been going on for some time now with people dumping dead bodies into it and tanneries not disposing of chemicals properly and raw sewage getting dumped into it as well. (While it's not the only place on Earth that is heavily polluted, it happens to be what I was reading about the other day). Anyway, my narrative is about the two girls in the picture that were on a ship when it sank, but they survived and made it to a remote island that had been inhabited by other people. With the worsening situation of the environment they have had to create ways to sustain themselves. One such way is living in a bubble that protects them from the harsh particles that are in the atmosphere. This is just the beginning. I'm working on developing the idea and am already looking at changing the narrative.
post card:
Front reads: Calls are what get results
Back reads: Dear Luella: Thank you very much for the grand assortment of postmarks you have sent me. Say I have a little friend that would like to exchange cards. Here name is Neoma Burnham.
Sincerely, Nita
These are designs for a logo and heading that I am working on for a new theater company in the twin cities area. If you have any ideas or criticism send em my way.
My graphic novel was inspired by the postcard below. I got the idea during our brainstorming session. I'm going to have the writing on the back of the postcard be secret FBI code for an undercover cop that is communicating some type of secret information to his superior.
The story will start out with the undercover cop watching some drugs or illegal items being traded or dealt. Then the cop will go to his room and write the postcard. I haven't decided on the age of this undercover cop yet, since the handwriting is very "child like" and the sentences don't show a high level of thought or intelligence.
Anyway...I'm thinking that the undercover cop will end up being discovered and abandoned in the middle of nowhere by the drug lords.
For the graphic novel, I will be creating a story about a boy who is haunted by "killer" waves. I got the idea from the postcard with the boy describing the large waves. I pictured this boy seeing the waves and thinking they are evil and out to get him.
Because the photo on the postcard was taken from "17-mile" drive, I would like the story to start with a family in a car driving alongside the ocean. The boy is in the back seat and is observing the "killer" waves. The waves will sneak onto land and alongside the car, frightening the boy. The parents don't notice because every time they look back, the waves disappear.
While at the hotel room, the boy is writing the postcard about the large waves. An evil wave sneaks up to the window of the hotel room...
I'm not sure where to take it from there. Here is an example of a cover I did in illustrator.
For this entry I would like to share with you the script I came up with for the graphic novel assignment. I picked the postcard with the three white-tailed deer on the front. The message on back read:
Dear Grandma and Grandpa
I have seven pet frogs.
I am catching lots of fish.
Love, Rod
The first shot is of a spaceship and you can't tell who is inside it, but talk bubbles are saying ...
"It's time to put our evil plan to action." and "The earthlings will never know what hit them."
Then I want to cut to a shot of alien frogs. One smart and diabolical looking, the other quite the opposite.
The slow talking one says, "Uh........Martin? What exactly is our evil plan?"
Then to a picture of Martin the frog saying,
"I went over this with you a thousand times, Marvin! We find an innocent, feeblish earthling child to fall victim to our devilish mind control powers. Then, in a bout of our extreme intelligence we take what we want & BOOM! ..... Earth will never be the same again."
Then a picture of Marvin. Scratching his head thoughtfully,
"Oh, yeah."
Now a picture of the control room of the spaceship with earth huge in the window. The seven frogs backs to the viewer looking at the earth another anonymous frog says,
"Alright, it's time to land."
A shot of the spaceship careening down to earth. Talk bubble says, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Then a picture of the crashed spaceship on land. Talk bubbles coming out saying things like,
"Ribbit" "MARVIN!" and "Sorry."
Next a picture of the frogs outside the crashed spaceship in a group with Martin in front pointing and him saying,
"Alright everyone, looks like we're in luck! There's a small ignorant-looking boy straight ahead!"
Everyone else simultaneously, "Let's get him!"
Now a picture with 7 frogs surrounding the boy who says,
"Aw! What cute STUPID little frogs!"
The frogs all have their eyes closed and are saying, "mmmmmmmmmmm" (they are trying to use their mind control powers)
Next a picture with the boy really close to one of the frogs saying,
"They look like they're sleeping ....... such stupid frogs."
Now a close-up picture of the little boy's "Dennis the Menace type face" (face with an evil evil expression and also he's also holding a scissors) and a talk bubble that says,
"Come here little froggie woggies!! We are going to have lots of fun!!!"
next close up of the scissors cutting a rope
Snip!
Then a picture of a huge net falling over the frogs that appear to be meditating but are trying to use their "mind control powers" Swoosh!
"HA HA HA HA" evil laugh from little boy over the shot.
A picture of the little boy walking away carrying the frogs in a net. Talk bubbles coming from the net,
"Uh......Martin?" and "WHAT?!"
Lastly, a shot of all the frogs squished in the net, legs, feet, arms, and hands everywhere and Martin and Marvin's faces squished close together.
"Is this what you meant by Earth will never be the same again??"
THE END!
This is the back of the postcard that I got this weekend, I love he little message cause there are so many things I could do with it. The front is pretty great.
These are the slides from the presentation, MIchael Chesworth's site is crashbangboom.com and these are all available on his site. The file is a power point but if it's too big everything is on the site.
I'm choosing to use the postcard with the woman standing alone on the front written to Pam. My storyline uses the fact that the card was mailed to a P.O. box instead of an address and Pam is a homeless person. The two frames at the bottom are my start to describing her, living in a box and covering up with a newspaper. The other part of the card that I wanted to focus on was that "Al" is having health problems but the reading was a little hard to understand so I'm making up a plot where "Al's" wife is the writer of the card and he is forcing her to tell his sister that everything is ok. Still working on how it ends, any ideas?
I sat with this angle to practice foreshortening and challenge myself.
I really liked how the clothing lay on the body and concentrated on drawing the wrinkles in the clothing.
Me is very tardy.
You can download the slides I showed, or you can check the Interwebs for more information.
I focused in on the clothing of the figure and tried to get all the important detail of the cloth
I was not inspired by the pose of the figure so I abstracted the perception to make it interesting
I really focused in on the fabric the figure was wearing and tried to make it seem realistic
Alright, If you want to check out more of James Jeans work I recommend the following:
Process Recess
This is his blog, where he posts images of projects he is working on and sometimes comments briefly on his process. Prepare yourself to lose an hour or two going through the blog archive.
This site also has his store where you can buy his book, prints of various projects, and if you have a ton of extra cash you can buy some of his original art.
This is his online portfolio. Shows all his published work, as well as a lot of unpublished stuff from his sketchbooks.
This site is basically an illustrated story/conversation going back and fourth between James, and Kenichi Hoshine. It hasn't been updated in a long while, but it's got some really interesting stuff.
enjoy.
Luke
Some dark force is apparently working against me in my attempts to post my figure drawings. First My digital camera breaks, then the loaner camera I got dosnt have a charged battery. I contemplated taking some pictures with my phone but they would have ended up about 20 x 30 pixels. FINALLY I borrowed my sisters camera.
sorry 'bout the rant...
Here is some more information on the Artist/Designer I did my presentation on.
tori amos (sleeps with butterlies)
Did the digital background information.
Aya's Homepage
http://www.geocities.jp/b_ba_a0530/
Link to Hitachi Ad Site
http://www.expecttheunexpected.tv/
Aya did all the design and concept work for this online game/advertisement
" I am purely making this pleasureful moment a remembrance of being alive. This is foundation of all my work." A.K.
challenging perspective for me. Think it worked out ok for the most part.
I tried to draw a different perspective. This was very difficult because of her position. It was hard not to make the drawing look awkward. It still has an odd look, but it looks a lot better than it did before. Her leg appeared to continue off the page. I added a little closure to it.
Industrial Light and Magic effects artist
Paul Churchill will present a lecture
at 1:00PM on November 29th.
The Twin Cities Chapter of ACM's SIGGRAPH
and The Arts Institutes International Minnesota
are proud to present ILM effects artist
Paul Churchill as he discusses visual effects
shots from recent ILM feature film projects.
The talk will take place from 1:00PM-3:00PM
in Room 201 of Opus Hall on the Downtown
Minneapolis Campus of the University of
St. Thomas at 1000 LaSalle Avenue.
The lecture is free and open to all.
Paul is a pioneer in Minnesota computer animation,
having worked at Bajus Jones, and Lamb & Company, in
the 80's and the 90's. Since 1998 he has been an
artist for ILM, creating effects for several
feature films, including Transformers, Pirates of the
Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.
Directions and parking information can be found at
http://www.stthomas.edu/campusmaps/mpls/ust_parking.pdf
i did this one in a very short time and was surprised how decent it turned out...
I am awful at drawing faces so for this figure drawing I wanted to concentrate more on the face rather than the body.
"Sit. Turn your head and cough."
In this figure drawing I was really trying to work with the different textures of the fabric and develop her hand. These two areas I find to be where I struggle in drawing.
Since we're allowed to pick the best two out of all drawing that we've done for the figure drawings, I'm replacing my previous sketchbook 9 with this one.
"It's ALL above my head"
For this figure drawing I wanted to focus on maintain accurate proportions of the head, especially since I didn't include one in my last portrait.
John Diebel & James Wrayge
New Work
www.rosaluxgallery.com
Location:
1011 Washington Avenue S
(Open Book)
Minneapolis, MN 55415
612.747.3942
Gallery Hours:
wednesday-thursday : 12-8pm
friday-sunday : noon-5pm
Take Two
(last one was sideways)
