Hilary is an undergrad at SVA in cartooning, entering her third year. She’s incredibly energetic and involved in her learning process any time of the year, but something clicked in her brain this summer, and Hilary committed herself to her work with an intensity I rarely see.
The “pictureless comic” activity, originally from Chapter 7 of DWWP, is one that we use constantly, in formal classes, in intensive workshops, and in casual talks and improvised situations. We once did it in a lecture hall at a comic convention with 200 people! It has so many advantages: at its core, it’s a study of how comics work, the elements of comics and how they work together to create meaning, even without pictorial images. It’s also a great way to learn layout and lettering skills, and to concentrate on those technical skills, again, without distraction. Finally, it’s an activity that anyone can do. Drawing skills are unnecessary (though a design sensibility is certainly a help!).
At my recent workshop at the Miami Wolfsonian Museum, I taught the students about live area, how to lay out a page, and how to hand-letter. This is the second batch of videos, on lettering.
At my recent workshop at the Miami Wolfsonian Museum, I taught the students about live area, how to lay out a page, and how to hand-letter. This first batch of short videos discuss and demonstrate live area, original size, laying out a page, and laying out tiers.
Matt gave a quick demo on making corrections by hand while at the Huntington Museum. He runs over several standard steps of correcting a page, and also touches on subtractive drawing and pasting down corrections on new paper.
Here’s a warm-up exercise whose goal is to activate your drawing and storytelling muscles at the same time. It could be a classroom activity but it also works great to do on your own, at home or in a café or bar.
Welcome to the first iteration of a regular feature, Tools & techniques. We’ll periodically post about tools and techniques of the cartooning trade here, illustrated with drawings, photos, and video. Our topic today is a handy studio item that is essential if you ink with a brush: the brush basin. Let Matt take you on a quick video tour after the jump.
