Black Belt Society Ceremony

There will be a short ceremony on Thursday, November 15th at 6:30pm in room 347. Come celebrate the accomplishments of your fellow students and enjoy the mini-comics they've developed during Fall quarter!

If you are one of the students completing their first belt for the BBS, please have ten copies of your mini-comic to share with the department. And congratulations on your achievement!

Spotlight: Irene Strychalski

This spotlight is long overdue as this student has already moved on and is now working at Cartoon Network on "Archer". Irene just graduated and was one of our most talented students to date. Her talent is only equaled by her work ethic as she is also one of the most prolific people we've ever known. She was published by Marvel Comics even before she had graduated so her skills and portfolio has been recognized by two separate industries. It's our pleasure to make Irene our Fall spotlight on the Temple. We expect big things from her! Check out her blog to see more amazing work.

Q. Where are you from and what originally got you interested in sequential art?
A. I was born in Taiwan and lived there until I was 17, but for some reason I was always an American citizen and I spent lots of summers in NY. I think my first contact with sequential art was a Chinese version of the Smurfs comics (haha), along with staple Japanese kid’s stuff like Crayon Shin-Chan and Doraemon. In general, comics (manga/manhwa) seem to be a much larger part of pop culture in Taiwan than in America; it is still seen as kid’s entertainment by the older generation, but many people my age grew up reading comics and still do so into college. Taiwan is also heavily influenced by Japan, so there were at least seven or eight manga bookstores in my city, including one that opened smack across the street from me. My mom was convinced that television was evil and we never got cable, so like any 13-year old would do I instead took to reading piles and piles of crime, horror, and fighting manga. By the time she discovered I was set on doing comics as a living, it was already far too late!

Q. What books (comic or otherwise) do you regularly read and why?
A. I’ve always been interested in crime and adventure stories, whether in comic or novel form; I had a hopeless addiction to the Cased Closed manga series throughout middle school, and in high school it was GTO and Fullmetal Alchemist; I loved the Bourne books and also read every John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon book I could find. I’ve read much less prose but many more graphic novels since college, and recently my favorites are Chew, Scalped, Y: The Last Man, Blacksad, Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Urushibara’s Mushishi, and Hiroe’s Black Lagoon.

Q. Who are your major influences?
A. I take a lot of influence from animation. Besides from totally being my childhood, I think Ghibli’s films are great examples of unconventional storytelling and I still look to them for inspiration. I loved the work of the late Satoshi Kon (Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika), and I take a lot from his art style as well as camera direction. I’ll also always be a fan of Kenji Kamiyama’s Ghost in the Shell work. As for comics, I reference all of the series previously mentioned for storytelling, and right now I often look at Takehiko Inoue, Hiroaki Samura, Feng Chin Pang, Sean Murphy, and Stuart Immonen for artwork.

Q. Do you have a specific process in your work and, if so, what is it?
A. I change up my process and art style for every project, depending on factors like the genre and whether or not it will be in color and tones. But basically I usually begin working by scribbling rough layouts while I read the script, sometimes just in the script margins or on some scrap paper, to get the beats of the story down. Then I’ll work those into 2x3” thumbnails, scan those in and fit them to print size in Photoshop, and print those out in blueline or light grey. I like to ink my thumbnails just so my composition is more solid, and so when I get to penciling and inking in full size I can focus on rendering pretty, pretty details 8D

Q. What tools do you prefer to use in your work and why?
A. I get really obsessive with details, so I mainly stick to a huge stash of PITT or Micron markers and I’ll occasionally use a G-pen or brush for effects and spotting blacks. I also use a lot of white gel pens. A lot.

Q. Do you have any professional work that has been published? And are you working on anything currently?
A. Yes. I did an 11-page one-shot for Marvel’s Deadpool Family earlier this year. Hopefully they didn’t hate me and I’ll be adding more to this list soon, haha. I’m currently working at Floyd County Productions painting animation backgrounds, and juggling that with my own projects plus something in collaboration with an independent writer.

Q. Are you working on any personal projects and, if so, what are they?
A. I’m definitely aiming to do something creator-owned sooner or later. I have about three ideas that are still rough sketches, and two more fleshed-out ones that I’m currently working on pitching, though I am taking my time to round them out. One is shorter and aimed at a teen audience, about a shaman’s apprentice who has to sail out to an angry ocean god, both to prove her abilities and to save her seaside hometown from destruction. The other is aimed at an older audience, and is about a disturbed Hong Kong detective who, while searching for a missing policeman, both falls in love with him and uncovers a children’s organ trafficking operation that is tied to her own abduction as a young girl.

Q. How do you juggle your work load between college and your freelance life?
A. Don’t stop drawing. Just… don’t stop. Also, coffee is your friend.

Q. Who would you love to work with one day and why?
A. Oh, there are so, so many people… anybody mentioned above will do.

Q. Where do you hope to see yourself professionally in five to ten years?
A. I honestly have no idea. I’m young and not prone to thinking far ahead, haha! But no, I want to diversify my skills and as long as in ten years I’m still working in the entertainment industry, not in my mom’s basement, and am able to get a personal project out, I’ll be a happy.

SEQA-Atlanta Alum do "DEADPOOL FAMILY"

Three of our best and brightest at SEQA-Atlanta have a Marvel comic coming out this week called "Deadpool Family"! Between C.B. Celbulski and Axel Alonso's various trips to SCAD-Atlanta they both saw potential in these students (now alum) and hired them to work on "Deadpool Family" last year. We've been privileged to have these students at SCAD-Atlanta and now the world gets to bask in their work too. On top of the great writer line-up mentioned below, the entire book is also colored by the amazing John Rauch. Here's the cover, by Jason Pearson, to look for on the shelves. Pick yourself up a copy!



First up in the issue is Dominike Stanton. He penciled Cullen Bunn's story focusing around Deadpool Kid and Deadpool Dog. Domo got lucky and also was able to draw a giant robot and lightsabers for Deadpool Kid!





Next is Mark HK Choi's Lady Deadpool and Zombie Deadpool story penciled and inked by Irene Strychalski. This one is not for the faint of heart. Lady Deadpool and Zombie Deadpool share a little too much with their therapist.




And finally, Darnell Johnson's Deadpool Dog story written by James Asmus. This is a sort of palette cleanser for the book as Deadpool Dog tries to eat Antman and hilarity ensues.




We could not be more proud of these blooming artists and fully expect this is just the beginning for them. Go out and get their first published work through Marvel this week in "Deadpool Family"!

Spotlight: Jackie Lewis

Our latest student spotlight came to us without a background in drawing at all. Jackie's BA is in Theater Studies from Emory and needed to take some provisional courses to prove she was up to snuff and could make it in our graduate program (since we don't let just anyone in). Not only did she prove herself but she excelled. Jackie Lewis took to drawing and storytelling like a fish does to water. The transformation from newbie to literally everything to proficient and accomplished artist as one of our lead graduates has been an amazing thing to behold and we at SCAD-Atlanta feel blessed we got to be there when it happened. Editors have taken notice of her work too and even before she has completed her studies she has already been published in an anthology and is also hard at work on her first graphic novel with Oni Press. You can check out more of her work and follow her at her blog aptly named Jackie Makes Comics. And, boy, does she ever!

Q. Where are you from and what originally got you interested in sequential art?
A. I’m from Atlanta, and I’ve lived here all my life. I started watching the X-Men Adventures on Saturday mornings, and became completely obsessed. Like every ‘80’s kid, I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man, and Thundercats, so taking that step into the world of comics from the X-Men cartoon was not that big a stretch for me. My gateway comic was Wolverine #74, and I read that thing until the cover fell off and I had to buy another copy years later. I’m still kind of obsessed with Wolverine…

Q. What books (comic or otherwise) do you regularly read and why?
A. I’ve mostly been reading self-contained stories, whether they’re collected shorter stories like Blacksad or graphic novels like Asterios Polyp. As I find artists and writers who inspire me, I have taken to following the creators instead of following a particular character. I used to read a lot of X-Men titles, like Astonishing, New Mutants, and Uncanny. I still love them like crazy. I also used to pick up anything Wolverine touched, but I’m not really up to date with my Wolvie trivia anymore. He has a son now, right?

Q. Who are your major influences?
A. One huge influence is Jeff Smith. Bone was one of the first independent graphic novels that I read, and I connected with Smith’s storytelling and drawing style immediately. I love the way he uses line and texture, and he’s wonderfully talented with mixing his cartoony style with realistic proportions. Jen Wang, Juanjo Guarnido, and Eric Canete are fantastic artists and storytellers, all with different strengths that I admire and hope that one day I’m in their stratosphere of awesome. Chris Sanders draws lovely characters full of life and personality. Chris Schweizer (who is also a top-notch cartoonist) recently introduced me to Pierre Alary’s art and OH MAN his stuff is beautiful. I also grew up on Disney movies, and I have to admit that I draw a lot of influence from pretty much every Disney movie ever. I’m drawn to fantasy adventure stories, and I think I can blame Disney (and the ‘80’s) for that.

Q. Do you have a specific process in your work and, if so, what is it?
A. If I’m drawing a story from a script, I’ll take it in 25-page chunks. I’ll do little doodles right on the script pages, trying to figure out what size I want certain panels to be, depending on the varying importance that different panels carry. I then design my pages in thumbnail form, no fewer than eight thumbs to one sheet of paper. This helps me keep my drawings tight and readable. Also, if I hate what I just drew, it’s no big deal because the thumbnails are so small; I’ll just redraw until it looks like I wanted. I then take my thumbnails and blow each of them up to the size that I want to pencil at (usually 10”x15”), and I light box that onto the bristol. I tighten up my pencils, then ink directly on top of that. One day, when I save up enough money, I’ll get a large-scale scanner/printer so that I can just print blue line directly onto my bristol. I dream of that timesaving day, and hope it gets here soon!

Q. What tools do you prefer to use in your work and why?
A. I like Holbein inks, Col-erase pencils, and Pentel pocket and color brushes. I like the pocket and color brushes because I can get a good line weight range from them, and they’re easy to break out when I find that I have a few minutes to ink. When I’m feeling fancy (and I am dedicating a few hours to nonstop work), I’ll break out my Kolinsky hair brushes (which lay down ink like a dream). I like to use the Strathmore 300 series vellum bristol board that comes in loose sheets, mostly because it’s cheap and it works just as well as the fancier papers.

Q. Do you have any professional work that has been published? And are you working on anything currently?
A. I did a 3-pager in Jam! Tales from the World of Roller Derby, put out by Oni Press this past June. You should totally check it out. It’s chock full of awesome artists and writers, and there’s not much that’s better than roller derby chicks. I’m currently working on an unannounced project for Oni Press. It’s written by Christina Weir and Nunzio Defilippis, it’s about baseball, and it’s awesome!

Q. Are you working on any personal projects and, if so, what are they?
A. I have the seeds for four different projects laid down right now. There are a couple that I want to start pitching soon. One is about a teenager who’s lost her sister, and her quest to find her. The other is about a young pilgrim girl and her adventures in the New World. They’re still in the early stages of development, but I’m so excited about writing them that they’re moving along pretty quickly.

Q. How do you juggle your workload between college and your freelance life?
A. I try to incorporate my professional work into my course workload, wherever possible. I don’t find it all that trying right now, but it has been difficult in the past. Basically, I try to make a little time for myself each day (like reading, knitting, etc), and work like a crazy person the rest of the time. Luckily, I am happiest when I’m working, because I get to make comics!

Q. Who would you love to work with one day and why?
A. Neil Gaiman, call me.

Q. Where do you hope to see yourself professionally in five to ten years?
A. I’ll be Supreme Ruler of Inkiness, and I’ll live in a castle surrounded by a moat filled with rainbows. Talking unicorns and dragons will live in harmony in the Magical Forest of Cintiqs, and Kolinsky weasels will romp through the Blue Line Meadows. If all that doesn’t work out, I’ll happily be busy making awesome, awesome comics.

And here's some of Jackie's amazing work. Go out get a copy of "Jam!" now and be ready for when her graphic novel hits the shelves this coming year!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Deadpool Family #1

"Deadpool Family" has been announced! The entire book was drawn by three of our SEQA Atlanta students: Darnell Johnson, Dominike Stanton, and Irene Strychalski!!!!

SCAD SEQA Student Gets Zombified!

Tune in to AMC's new "The Walking Dead" show on 10/31, and see if you can spot SCAD/Atlanta SEQA student Megan Porch shambling through post-Apocalyptic Atlanta in full-out zombie mode. That's our Meg in the upper right of the accompanying pic, definitely dressed to munch. Meg spent long hours in zombie make-up, and wouldn't reveal the ultimate fate of her ghoulish alter-ego, saying only, "You'll have to watch & see!"

SEQA alum storyboard work

SCAD-Atlanta SEQA alum Alex App worked on the storyboards for "Good Intentions" and it's getting some play on cable and a local viewing. Check it out:

"Good Intentions" airing on Showtime
An off-beat, southern comedy about blackmail, robbery...... and family values!
Feature film, "Good Intentions" makes its TV premiere on the Showtime Network beginning October 1, 2010. "Good Intentions" is an off-beat, southern comedy with heart and stars country music superstar LeAnn Rimes in her feature film acting debut. The film also stars Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210), Elaine Hendrix (The Parent Trap), Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite) and Jimmi Simpson (Date Night). Check out www.GoodIntentionsMovie.com for more movie updates and behind-the-scenes photos.

Big Screen Viewing

In celebration of the Showtime Network TV premiere, "Good Intentions" will be screening at The Dixie Film Festival in Athens, Georgia on Saturday October 2, 2010. Actors and filmmakers will be on hand for a question and answer session after the screening. An after-party will be held following the Q&A. Details:

• Morton Theatre - downtown Athens, GA
• Saturday, October 2, 2010, 7 p.m.
• Q&A with actors & filmmakers
• More info at www.DixieFilmFest.com

"Wasteland" #29 by Remington Veteto

Remington Veteto, who just graduated from our department as one of our most gifted students, has begun a run on "Wasteland" as penciler and inker with issue #29. Check out his blog and get yourself a copy at comic shops now!

Welcome to the NEW Temple

We've got some new featured and TONS of exciting news with the NEW Temple of Cartoon Mojo. But first...

Why is it important to get involved with the Temple? NETWORKING and EMPLOYMENT! Darnell Johnson landed himself a concept art job when the company saw his work on this blog. He was also recently hired by Marvel Comics to do a special project. All this right before he graduated. Congrats, Darnell! The Temple is a great place to help with networking to land that first job. So if you're a SCAD-Atlanta SEQA student, it's a no-brainer. Get involved with sketch challenges and send us work and news to post. You never know who is going to see it.

Darnell wasn't the only student to recently be hired by Axel Alonso at Marvel Comics. Irene Strychalski and Dominike Stanton were also nabbed for a special project. Congratulations, guys! All of this was due to the three of them taking part in the SCAD-Atlanta SEQA Writers' Forum last May. Getting involved with your department events pays off. Stay tuned for more news on their Marvel project.

Faculty member Nolan Woodard was also hired by Marvel to color the upcoming "Lady Deadpool" #1. This follows professor Shawn Crystal's long run on "Deadpool" books for the past year. Marvel sees what we're doing at SCAD-Atlanta's SEQA Department and is liking it. How many professors practice what they preach? All of SCAD-Atlanta's and the comic industry recognizes it.

Marvel isn't the only company hiring SCAD-Atlanta SEQA students. Oni Press, who publish professor Chris Schweizer's Crogan graphic novels, hired Remington Veteto to pencil and ink a multiple issue run on "Wasteland" starting with #29 and Erin Gladstone, Cara McGee, alum Justin Wagner, Falynn Koch, and Jackie Lewis to pencil and ink stories for "JAM! Tales from the World of Roller Derby" which came out last week. Cara is also currently working on a graphic novel for Oni called "Confessions of a Virgin Sacrifice". Jackie also illustrated a book called "Play Ball". How did this happen? They all got involved in the SCAD-Atlanta SEQA Publishers' Forum last winter. Yet another reason to get involved with events.

As for the NEW features:

The new header is by Irene Strychalski. We had quite a few submissions but she really captivated the concept and humor of our department. Nice job, Irene.

MEMBERS - An updated list of our faculty, students, and alum. In order to become a member you must be a SCAD-Atlanta SEQA student, alumni, faculty, or staff. If you have a blog or website or LJ or Deviant Art account devoted to your artwork, please email templeofcartoonmojo@gmail.com the link so it can be added to this list.

CALENDAR - As of right now it contains just a link to ConventionScene.com where you can see the schedule for all upcoming comic conventions in the world. We'll be adding SCAD-Atlanta events and schedules in the coming month. Fall quarter will see a BIG update in this section.

SHOWCASE - Just like our physical showcase boards outside of room 347 in Building 1600 on SCAD-Atlanta's campus, we now have an online version. This same showcase can be viewed as a slideshow in the sidebar. If you are a SCAD-Atlanta SEQA student, alumni, faculty, or staff and have amazing (student) work you'd like to share, please email your work as a JPG, GIF, or PNG to templeofcartoonmojo@gmail.com so it can be added to the Showcase.

WEBCOMICS - We now feature a collection of links to student run webcomics. If you are a SCAD-Atlanta SEQA student, alumni, faculty, or staff and have a webcomic you'd like to share, please email the link and a banner (200x75 pixels) to templeofcartoonmojo@gmail.com so it can be added to this list.

SKETCH CHALLENGES - This is a HUGE collection of all open sketch challenges and submissions for each one. Now you can easily view challenges you can take and see what's been done in the past. As before, you can vote on next week's challenge in the sidebar where the current theme will also be posted. Sketch challenges are not limited in any way except that they must focus on the theme. When you complete your sketch, email templeofcartoonmojo@gmail.com a 72dpi image (JPG, GIF, or PNG). If you have a suggestion for a theme, send it in an email to the same address to add it to the vote.

SPOTLIGHT - We'll be featuring a new Spotlight each quarter now. There is actually a backlog of deserving students. Our next one is Dominike Stanton who is now alum but still more than worth promoting. Check back tomorrow for his Spotlight Q&A. His work is already featured as a slideshow in the sidebar.

FORUM - The Temple now has a Google Group. It's a place where students can post news, work, tips, tricks, and get critiques from their peers. In order to take part, email templeofcartoonmojo@gmail.com so you can be added as a member. We're also looking for student and alum moderators. Let us know if you're interested.

TEMPLE GOSSIP - At the very bottom of the page is a Chatbox. It's there for anyone and everyone to chat and share ideas. Have fun with it.

It's now summer quarter so we hope everyone is having a great break or enjoying their summer classes. Enjoy the new Temple and have fun with the upcoming sketch challenges!

SEQA 380 A01

The next couple of installments of our students' webcomics are online. Prepare for a redesign of the Temple blog (and sketch challenge for it!) to come this quarter with links to all of their websites. For now, check out week two!