Free Comics Workshop at the Rochester Hills Public Library!

For those of you in the SE Michigan area, I hope you'll feel free to attend my next workshop at the Rochester Hills Public Library July 24, from 2-4pm!

We'll be covering a lot over the two-hour session from character design, visual storytelling, and how to draw your character in dynamic and fluid poses.

Here's a snippet of a similar workshop I did in Saginaw last year:


You can register for the workshop here. Did I mention that it's free to attend?

Hope to see you there!


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Kids Read Comics 2010 is over, but the updates have just begun!

So I'm recovering from the wild ride that was Kids Read Comics 2010. My deepest, most heartfelt thanks to my fellow co-organizers, the Dearborn Public Library staff and volunteers, and the guests who trekked from around the world to be a part of this event. I think we wound up doing a good thing this past weekend, and it couldn't have happened without all of their support and enthusiasm.

A lot of audio and video was recorded during the event, and some of it is starting to trickle onto the web. Wanted to share some of it here.

First up, an AudioBoo I recorded with Ryan Estrada after the event's closing. It beautifully sums up what Kids Read Comics is all about. You can check out Art & Story 136 to listen to all of the AudioBoos that I recorded over the weekend.


Photos of the event can be found here. See the cool cartoonist guests we had and the fantastic workshops they put on for us!

Kurt Sasso of the TGT Webcomics Podcast interviewed virtually everyone who came. The TGT guys are posting new video interviews every day on their website.



My good buddy and A&S co-host Krishna Sadasivam posted a KRC wrap-up on his PC Weenies site.

I'm also putting together some KRC podcasts of audio recorded at the event. I've recently posted the panel discussion I moderated with three Ann Arbor District Library staff entitled "Comics Programming in Libraries". More will be posted soon. You can subscribe to the podcasts here.

Thumbnails - Where the REAL Writing Happens

In last week's Art & Story we talked with veteran animator and cartoonist Raul Aguirre Jr. about thumbnailing--that is to say, the sketching you do in order to pre-plan your comics story.

This is my favorite part of the process for many reasons, but most importantly because this is where the majority of comics creativity is at work. It's at this stage where you decide your moment choices, character acting, paneling, page composition, pacing, and flow. Yes, drawing the final pages is tough, but comparatively speaking, it's not as intellectually grueling as sketching your thumbnails. Thumbnailing is the stage where I smack my face into the desk in frustration like Don Music. A lot of cartoonists seem to agree with me on this one.

As a supplement to the audio from the episode, I thought I'd share some examples of the thumbnails I work from when going to final. here are the pages from Equalizers of the Divide #1, a comic I collaborated on with Sara Turner.

Page 01
Page 02
Page 03
Page 04
Page 05
Page 06
Page 07
Page 08
Page 09
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Back Cover

You can compare the thumbnails to the final pages by checking out Equalizers of the Divide on the Sugary Serials site. Of course the comic is there in its entirety, absolutely for free.

Mark Rudolph and I also recorded a commentary track to our comic Switch Runners a while back. In that post on the A&S site we posted some of his thumbnails to compare with the final pages. If this post is interesting to you, you may want to check out that ep.

Free Comic Book Day this Saturday!

I hope you've all marked your calendars for Saturday, May 1, as it's the day where you can go to participating comic book stores to get some free comic books! Find a store near you on the Free Comic Book Day website.

As for me, I'll be tabling with Art & Story co-host and Sugary Serials collaborator Mark Rudolph at Green Brain Comics all day long! I'll be giving away free Sugary Serials comics to kids and drawing crayon sketches for anyone who wants one.


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And on Sunday don't forget to check out the Comic Artists Forum at the Ann Arbor District Library. This month's guest advisor will be Ryan Estrada of Aki Alliance and Flight Volume Four.

It's going to be a very sequential weekend!

Comic Artists Forum Sunday & Kids Read Comics Teaser!

Just wanted to throw out a reminder that the next Ann Arbor Comic Artists Forum is this Sunday, April 11! Mark Rudolph will be again acting as the advisor to this session, and we'll be talking some more about the Forum's upcoming appearance at Kids Read Comics!


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Speaking of that, we're getting pretty close to the event this June 12-13 in Dearborn, MI. For those who couldn't make it last year, we've put together a teaser video highlighting some of the activities and excitement of KRC 2009:



If you are an educator, librarian, or just want to lend a hand with promoting this event that endeavors to make comics accessible for kids again, you can download some printable fliers from our website to post and distribute in your area.

More iPhone Wallpapers

Just a quick note to share some more iPhone wallpapers with you!

First up, one of the perennial fave Transformers!

I really am enjoying working in this "construction paper" style. I just create a very rough sketch like the one below, then layer on the colors in Photoshop using the lasso tool.

Then we have two from a comic I created a while back with Mark Rudolph, namely, our sci-fi action adventure Switch Runners!

Enjoy!

Two Comics Classes Beginning April 14!

If you or someone you know is a young person interested in comics and living in the SE Michigan area, I hope you'll consider checking out my Graphic Novel Academy at the Ann Arbor Art Center! Starting April 14, I'll be leading two 8-week sessions of the class; one for ages 9-12, and one for teens. Through the course we explore tons of strategies to building your own comic, from character design to paneling to world building and beyond.

Registration is now open on the Ann Arbor Art Center website. We had a full class last term, so sign up soon if you want to secure a place!

In other news, I've got another iPhone wallpaper to share with you. I've been looking for some Transformers wallpapers for my phone, but couldn't find any that I liked, so I decided to make my own. I've been having some fun creating these "construction paper" style illustrations in Photoshop (you can see a few on the UP! Fair website), and now it's Bumblebee's turn to be rendered in that style.

Enjoy!