Thursday, February 26, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Art Forum Artists Challenge!

This Thursday night, February 25th, at 5pm in room 347 we will kick off the SCAD-ATL Art Forum with a challenge to our guests!

First there will be introductions and a show of work from each guest: Matt Kindt, Stuart Immonen, and Cameron Stewart!

Then they will each be given the same page from a comic book script and do breakdowns for it simultaneously. The breakdowns will be done on Cintiqs which will also be connected to large, flat screens so those in attendance can watch as they work! Once our guests have finished, they will individually explain their reasoning for how and why they did their breakdowns the way they did. It's an opportunity for students to glimpse into the minds of professional artists and what considerations they make when creating breakdowns and thumbnails.

This is a private event for SCAD students only! You do not need to sign up for Thursday night, only show up.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sergio Aragones Report

Graduate student Allen Spetnagel went down to UGA along with a few other SCAD-ATL folk and came back with a history of Sergio Aragones along with a short comment about the event itself:

Sergio Aragones is a well-traveled man. Born in Spain, his family emigrated to Mexico during the Spanish Civil War. Aragones eventually moved to the United States to pursue a career in cartooning--a career which has taken him all over the world.
Last night, the lecture hall S151 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia was filled with universal awe and laughter. Sergio was there drawing and lecturing. In the tradition of the great showman cartoonist Winsor McKay, Aragonnes was entertaining an audience with his drawing skill.

"Giraffe!" someone yelled. "A race-car!" shouted another. "Ninjas!" "Shadows!" With each demand, Sergio calmly produced a masterful sixty-second cartoon, every gag more spontaneous and funny than the last. One could not help but be impressed by his speed--a gag that would take your average cartoonist a week to come up with shot instantly from Aragones's pen.

All this was the finale to a lecture from the acclaimed "MAD" Magazine cartoonist and creator of "Groo, the Wanderer." Aragones first made money from cartoooning in the third grade by charging his schoolmates a centavo for cartoons. Since his youngest days, he had been drawing behind the sofa and telling stories on the school bus. It was the moment when he discovered the existence of other cartoonists that opened his eyes to the possibility of cartooning as a profession.

While still in high school in Mexico, he would sell memeographed cartoons to the magazine "Ja-Ja" (pronounced "Ha-Ha") for one Peso each. Local hotels were the only source of foreign magazines where he lived. Aragones began to pick up and emulate material he found in these periodicals from abroad. He found more enjoyment in the pantomime cartoons of the European magazines, simply because he could not understand the puns and punchlines of the American comics. This caused an important realization that it is more universal to tell stories without words. He tried to get his unwilling peers to translate "MAD" for him, and would literally chase down classmates more proficient in English to get them to explain the jokes to him.

Moving to New York City in 1962 with $20 and a portfolio of cartoons drawn on any scrap of paper he could find, Sergio attempted to sell his gags to the syndicates, which he misunderstood to be a type of worker's union. Everywhere he turned, he was told: "This is very weird--you should go to 'MAD Magazine'." Aragones was terrified to present his work to "MAD" because he knew they typically ran satirical storylines, not gags.

When he finally took his work to "MAD," he had a stroke of luck. He encountered Cuban cartoonist Antonio Prohias, then cartoonist on "SPY vs. SPY." He spoke as little English as Sergio himself, and paraded Aragones around the office introducing him as his "brother." Soon, Sergio had $100 and a published 2-page cartoon entitled "A Mad look at the United States Space Effort."

By 1976, Aragones had multiple 2-page features, one cover, and his singular margin cartoons under his belt at "MAD." Bill Gaines took the "MAD" staff on trips around the world--Switzerland, Russia, Tahiti, an African Safari, and a Mexico trip organized by Sergio himself. When Aragones "MAD" family met his real family in Mexico, he knew he had acheived success.

Watching Sergio receive the ceremonial "shoe" at the UGA Jack Davis Lecture last night was almost anti-climactic. The celebrated cartoonist had already been accepted into the "fraternity."

"Once you become a cartoonist you become part of a universal fraternity... no matter where you go, you'll have a very good friend."
--Sergio Aragones

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sketchbook Binding Workshop • Friday

Friday the 13th (oooh!) • 11am • 346

For everyone who’s been itching to put together their own sketchbooks, with your own paper choices, this is the time. You’ll need the following supplies. Some, like the glue and clamps, can be shared by a few people.

Clamps.
You can get a big bag (16-20 in different sizes, I think) in the Wal-Mart hardware section for around five bucks. Spring clamps are fine. You needn’t spend five bucks or more per clamp for fancy ones.

Glue.
Plumber’s Contact Cement. I use Goop, but anything that says Plumbers Contact Cement is fine.

Artist Tape.
Blue or white, provided it won’t rip your paper when you peel it off.

Cover. This can be posterboard, Bristol, whatever. Just make sure it’s bigger than 11 x 17 (doesn’t have to be much bigger).

Metal ruler.

Paperclips.

Paper with which to fill your book.
For convenience sake, we’ll keep it at 8.5x11, though if you want to bring in a different size, then feel free. Just make sure that all of your paper is THE SAME SIZE.

Pick paper that you like to draw on. I like a very smooth surface, so I use Hammermill 28# color copy paper.

For slightly more toothy paper, use sketch paper, parchment paper, or regular copy paper (but make sure it’s thicker – 25-30 pound is good – and not the rubbish in the printer trays).

For smoother paper, a good Color Copy paper or Laser paper will have an extremely light chemical coating that lets ink slide on.

We’ll make books from 11 to 12:30 or so. See you then!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Batgirl Challenge!

Areta Harabatch
Clay Nash
Cara McGee
Remington Veteto
Allen Spetnagel
Nolan Woodard

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

NYC Comic Con

Professor Shawn Crystal will be at the NYC Comic Convention this week, February 6-8. He's teaching a workshop on "Words and Pictures: The Language of Comics" from 7:15-8:15pm, Friday February 6th, in room 5, 1A17. He'll also be at the Oni Press, Marvel, and SCAD booths during the con.


Also, Shawn just finished the Deadpool annual (and now Lee Loughridge, SCAD alumn no less, is busy working on color) so look for it at comic shops this March!