It is hard to start a new entry
after being away for two months. Really, two months seems like a short time,
but now that I have to summarize everything that I have learned and done in the
past sixty days it seems overwhelming. In any case, I’ll do my best to describe
what I’ve been through in these, busy but fascinating couple of months. Actually,
it could be summarized in one sentence. I HAVE BEEN DRAWING… A LOT! I’m so
relieved that this semester is over because now I can take a breather and
simply do nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I miss drawing but I figured having a
couple of weeks just clearing my mind and focusing on my procrastination will
do tons of good for my next semester, which I know it will just get harder. I
really feel I’m in a boot camp of sorts. I’m exhausted for doing 100 push ups
and just when I finish my trainer tells me to drop down and give him a 100
more. I’m up for the challenge though; I just hope I don’t burn out anytime
soon. I realized that taking everything to an extreme would prove futile to the
cause. The truth is that I was so eager to become the artist I want to be that
I stressed out not just my mind but also my body as a whole, hence, my hand
suffered. The good news is that it is only Hand Tendonitis and not Carpal
Tunnel Syndrome as I suspected; and that according to my doctor I have no signs
of Rheumatoid Arthritis or any other autoimmune disease. Now you can see me for
what I am, a hypochondriac overachiever who aims at perfection. Now, I still
work my ass off but applying more common sense, I guess. I try not to worry too
much and live one day at a time meeting my immediate goals without ever losing
track of my long-term goals. I really hope I’m making sense now since it’s too
early in the morning to write such a complicated and meaningful statement.
So I’m halfway through to get my
Bachelor in Fine Arts majoring in Cartooning, and 1/10th of the way to complete
my journey and my commitment to you through this blog. In other words, I need
to do three more semesters (a year and a half) in order to get my degree and probably
around 9 more years (I hope sooner) to complete my 10,000 hours that I need to
be the MASTER of the Universe, or at least MY universe. I’m up to 1072 hours so
far and if you forgot or need to be reminded of my rules of engagement in this
project, please feel free to read one of my first entries explaining my
commitment to you, my loyal fan base, and myself, my most demanding critic of
all.
http://www.masterartskill.blogspot.com/2010_09_05_archive.html.
I also got my grades back and let me give you a heads up; they are not as good
as my previous semesters. I don’t mean to justify myself but because the
purpose of this blog is to portray my journey, I feel I need to explain to you
what I think it may have happened. Saying all this, my grades are not bad and I
really believe that they do not represent my all out effort that I have given
in this fall semester.
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| Grades for Fall Semester 2011 |
What could have happened? Should
I blame the teachers for failing to see that I did my best? No, I don’t think
so. Should I blame my hand tendonitis? Mmm… I guess I could, to some degree,
since my injury hurt when I drew too much, which unmotivated me somehow. Still,
I wouldn’t go as far as to blaming my grades entirely on my injury. Should I blame
the fact that I’m taking hardcore classes from sophomore and junior year in
order to get my degree in 3 years rather than the usual 4, and that because of
that the workload is just a bit heavy to handle? Yes, I think I could assign
most of the blame on that. You see, I’m doing the best I can, but the day has
only 24 hours, and the week has only 7 days. The workload, especially in art,
requires a lot of time, and sadly, this is something I have not much of nowadays.
I had to prioritize and focus my best work in some of the classes that I felt
were more important for my artistic development than others, and even in those
cases I just simply ran out of time. For instance, in Principles of Cartooning
(a sophomore class) the professor told us that I could present my homework
assignments in pencil, but that if you presented them in ink (which obviously
requires… MORE TIME) you could boost up your grade up to one letter grade. In
other words, if you got a B but presented the piece in ink, you automatically
got an A. The logic in this, which I agree, is that this shows a commitment to
the assignment, the sad part is that I don’t lack any commitment, on the
contrary, I can affirm without a doubt that is something I have tons of. What I
really lack is time, so I had to do all my work just in pencil. It is hard for
a teacher, especially in regard of grading improvement in art, to give an
accurate grade of your commitment. It is not a multiple choice test that either
you got it right or got it wrong, it is very subjective. And I’m pretty sure
that my teacher, Klaus Janson, did not stop to think that I did not have ONE
day off for the entire semester. I don’t blame him though, it is perfectly
understandable, and as long as I know I did my best and still learned what I
was taught (at my pace) I’m completely satisfied. I didn’t see that B- in
drawing coming though >:[ More on that later.
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| Acupuncture for Hand Tendonitis |
I’m going to describe what I have
learned in each class as I usually do, but this time in order of effort and commitment
given to each class:
Pictorial Problems. This
is my Junior Thesis, and that is why it has my undivided attention. Mainly
because it is a comic book of around 18 pages, so this will be my first comic
book made entirely by me that has a beginning and an end. The comic I’m drawing
is “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. I’m doing a faithful adaptation
of the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. By the way, when I was doing my
presentation to the dean Mr. Thomas Woodruff of the pages I had done so far, he
made fun of me because I pronounced the name of the doctor as Jeek-Al and not
Jeck-Ell. I know my English is kind of shaky but I knew that I have heard that
name pronounced that way before. I went on a massive research just to have the
opportunity to some day prove him wrong and you know what? I was right! In the
famous movie from 1931, which I saw recently, it is pronounced Geek-All.
Coincidentally enough, I came upon a magazine named “Freaky Monsters” (Which I
highly recommend to all Monster Lovers from yore) which also stated the same
thing. Finally, I found over the Internet in a forum a statement by
“bookworm1992” (I guess this nickname adds credibility to this statement) that
said: “Although most people assume and use Jeck-Ell, and there is nothing wrong
with this, Stevenson ALWAYS used Jeek-Al, so that Jeek rhymes with Seek. Hyde
and Seek. It could even have meant Jeek-All, Seek all (as in seek everything)” I
just found that very interesting and wanted to share it with you. Also because
I guess it is the only way to fight back to he dean since I’m not going to go
to his office to correct him. Mr. Woodruff if you’re reading this, I respect
you and all but YOU WERE WRONG J To produce 7 pages
(without counting the Splash pages I uploaded in my previous entry) is very
time consuming. Remember that to produce one page in pencils equals one day,
and if it is inked it means half a day more. It probably doesn’t sound as much
but believe me, mixing it with assisting to other classes and doing their
assignments it is a lot. I spend my weekends doing these pages. You can see the
clear improvement between page 1 and page 7. My favorite is page 6. What have I
improved? Character placement, composition, figures, attention to details, backgrounds.
The most amazing thing is that once it is learned it gets imprinted in your
subconscious and therefore comes naturally. It’s not that I make a conscious
decision, well; sometimes I do, but not all the time.
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| J & H page 1 |
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| J & H page 2 |
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| J & H page 3 |
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| J & H page 4 |
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| J & H page 5 |
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| J & H page 6 |
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| J & H page 7 |
Principles
of Cartooning. I can’t stress enough that this is my favorite class of all. I
am learning all I need to learn for creating comics. Not only that but I really
like my teacher and the way he handles the lectures. Also, he is involved in
mainstream comics, which I can relate even more. Granted, he gave me a B, but I
rather get that grade knowing that I’ve learned a lot rather than getting an
easy A and not having learned anything. This class is also very challenging
regarding homework, but in these couples of months there have been less
assignments than the previous ones. I’m including a Gepetto 3-page story; I’d
really like your feedback on how you interpret it. Also some exercises in perspective.
One of them is my room. I’m really excited about the following semester since I
have to take the second part of this class. Now we have to do what Klaus Janson
calls a “sophomore thesis” and it consists on a 21-page comic book about
practically anything we want. I’m going to do the Greek legend of Theseus
against the Minotaur for several reasons; I think it will improve my action
scenes and also I’m going to practice a lot of perspective designing the
labyrinth (If you don’t know the story don’t fret, I have your back, you just
have to wait 4 months). But who am I kidding? I want to do that story because
the Minotaur kicks ass!!! I’m including some character sketches that I’m pretty
sure will evolve as I draw page after page.
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| Gepetto page 1 |
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| Gepetto page 2 |
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| Gepetto page 3 |
Perspective:
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| My room |
Drawing for Cartoonists. I have to admit that I am a little surprised
with my grade. Sometimes I just don’t get what my teacher, Phil Jimenez, wants
out of my drawings. I’m very good with proportions and observation, at least
compared to most of my classmates. For some of them this is their first attempt
to draw the figure and not just a cartoon of the figure. I’m more comfortable
drawing from life but it seems this is the class I have had less room for improvement.
So why does this stagnation happened? Probably because what I will improve
regarding the human figure will come slowly with more experience and hours
invested in them. I can see some of my classmates that really didn’t know how
to draw at the beginning, but they have improved a lot and the teacher is happy
with those improvements. Anyways, It’s not as important as it is frustrating,
but I really have no idea what he expects from me. For instance, when I get the
proportions almost perfect (at least I see them that way) he says that the
drawing is uninteresting and I should really exaggerate certain areas to give
the model more dynamism, but when I do that in other drawings, he tells me that
the proportions are wrong. AAArrghhh!!! In any case, for next semester I’m not
only taking this figure drawing class but also another drawing class by Nelson
De Castro who I have heard deals more with rules of proportion and perspective.
I’m pretty sure that in that class he will see a vast improvement. Our only
homework for this class was a semester project in which we had to draw 10 feet
and 10 hands, with a picture of the real thing right next to the drawing. I
spent around 20 hours doing this project. I’m including some of my drawings,
especially my brother’s infamous foot that Jimenez presented to the entire
class and said, “This foot is really bizarre” I could not stop laughing because
it is indeed an aberration of nature J. It is important to add
that I do have fun in this class. For instance, once we had to be the models
for the class (with clothes on, don’t be getting any funny ideas). Now I can
really appreciate what figure models do. I spent only 10 minutes in a sitting
pose and my neck and hands were killing me. Some of the models spent up to 40
minutes (with one break) in a single pose, and they tend to be more dynamic and
energetic than my humble drunken pose. And for all sketch collector fanatics
out there, I got two sketches of Phil Jimenez for free (tuition does not count)
just for being a really good student and had the nerve to ask him.
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| Infamous Foot |
Sketches:
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| Sketch # 1 that Jimenez did NOT LIKE |
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| Sketch # 2 |
Digital
Coloring. The great thing about taking this class is that now I can really declare
I can digitally paint. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be great, but I know
the basic set of skills to make it happen and give a sense of completion to my
work. I noticed that people (not necessarily comic book fans) see the pencils
as incomplete. In a way they are right, but in most of the cases, the artist
job (penciller) is to finish 20 or so pages in a month in pencils. This is
called original art. After one page is penciled it is sent to the inker. In
this step the process could be complete only if the intended final product is
meant to be in black and white (for instance NOIR comics), but for the regular
Joe this is still incomplete. But adding color to those pages gives a sense of
completion and most of all, admiration that the artist can finish the process
all by himself. At least for me is kind of liberating to know that if I wanted
I could send to print my entire work and still give a sense of a finished
product for the shelves. This is exactly what I did recently in this class
since I had to color some of my personal work for my final project. I colored
the first three pages of Jekyll and Hyde and another that you may remember from
previous posts that consisted on a portrait of my cousin. In the latter case my
teacher Andy Pearlman told me that I have used too much “Mexican colors”. I
couldn’t help feeling a little offended but I understood what he meant. He
knows more about color so I can only guess that Mexican comics use more intense
colors. It is valid to say that I am not Mexican but Ecuadorian. Anyways, I
found an interesting article written by my professor over the Internet
regarding coloring comics using Photoshop that may prove useful to digital
painters enthusiasts.
http://knol.google.com/k/coloring-comics-with-photoshop#
Also I’m including two pages that I needed to color that were scanned from old
stories of X-men and Spiderman.
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| J & H page 1 RGB |
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| J & H page 2 RGB |
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| J & H page 3 RGB |
Other color projects:
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| Daniel's portrait RGB |
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| Spiderman RGB |
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| X-Men RGB |
Gouache.
I can only say that the problem with this class is that I didn’t have enough
time (because I put other classes on top of this one) to make quality work. I
spent around two hours on each assignment, which is not nearly enough of what
you need to do a great painting. I really like the medium and I will probably come
back to it for painting covers or illustrations, but the problem is that it is
so much easier to paint with Photoshop (Also considering that there are great
colorists that can enhance my work) than to master the Gouache technique.
Still, I find it better than acrylic and watercolor. Oil would be my favorite
technique if it weren’t for that damn smell and the fact that it takes days to
dry. I totally deserve that B+. I’m thinking of taking a portrait painting
class with the same teacher for next fall. I’m including one illustration I had
to do consisting on SVA (School of Visual Arts) fashion and another one of
expressions that does not have much to do with color but at least it was
painted with Gouache.
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| Expressions |
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| Fashion Model |
Culture
Survey. This is a literature class that I really enjoyed but I’m glad its over.
Mainly because I want to focus my time on my art, and although I found the
stories very appealing and the teacher very passionate on the subject, it just
felt to me that I could have been spending more of my time drawing. Still, I
don’t regret having taken it and maybe I will drop by for a couple of classes
just to enjoy a good analysis from a great storyteller.
In conclusion, this has been a
very productive and busy semester. What I like the most about taking all these
classes is that art is intertwined. What I mean by this, for example, is that
by learning digital color I understood better shading and volume, by drawing
poses I could better placed my figures in my comics, and by inking with a brush
I could use more accordingly my brushes for Gouache. Each class is so
different, yet they are all routes that take you to the same place, to become a
better artist. I will also be uploading my work on Deviant Art (
www.deviantart.com) if you are just
interested in my art and not my prose. Just search the nickname bielero (in
Spanish Ecuadorian slang means Beer Drinker
J).
To wrap up this entry I will give
you one rant, one art definition, and one motivational phrase.
- RANT: I had to go to my home
country for Thanksgiving (not that we celebrate Thanksgiving back there but I
had two important weddings to assist). When I got back to the United States I
passed through immigration and the only thing the officer (Marcano was his last
name) came up with by looking at my I-20 (document for International students)
was: “Are you spending all this money on cartoons??? Why don’t you take those
online courses that teach you the same thing?” I could not hide my discontent
with his comment, but really, people think this is easy. It’s a shame that
something so hard it is seen by some people as something effortless. In any
case, I wasn’t expecting any royalties because of officer Marcano buying any
future book of mine.
- ART DEFINITION: Exposition. -
It is the fiction-writing mode for conveying information. According
to Robert Kernen, "Exposition can be one of the most effective ways of
creating and increasing the drama in your story. It can also be the quickest
way to kill a plot's momentum and get your story bogged down in detail. Too
much exposition, or too much at one time, can seriously derail a story and be
frustrating to the reader or viewer eager for a story to either get moving or
move on”. In regards to comics, too much exposition is wrong most of the time.
It is better to show it rather than explaining it.
- MOTIVATIONAL PHRASE: To get on
the dean’s good side, I quote an inspirational phrase Mr. Thomas Woodruff told
us in our presentation “Inspiration never visits a lazy household”.
That’s all for now folks. I hope
you enjoyed my entry and I wish you happy holidays and a happy new year. See
you in 2012.
Godspeed,
José Luis
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