Shapes Exercise

I quickly penciled this wonderful exercise from Matt Madden and Jessica Abel's newest publication. You can find Mastering Comics just about any where.

In a nutshell, the exercise is this:
1- start with a page full of 6 panels. Draw abstract shapes in each panel. Don't think about it too much.

2- Next, carve out a scene and a story from each panel. Use the abstract shapes you created to guide you.




3- Add details and voila!



A bientot!

*Yes, the narrative in the first two panels are from Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. To be specific, the song came from the collaborative genius of Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Why I started thinking of them while I did this, that's another post . . .

Ten Variations Obstacle Course

Writing and Illustrating Exercise

This prompt comes from Matt Madden's popular blog. We tried it in my Art group a few weeks ago. See instructions below and find more details at: http://mattmadden.blogspot.com/2011/02/10-variations-obstacle-course-preview.html

Instructions:
A- Think of a common phrase like, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

B- Create list of variations on your phrase. Example:
1- Antonym: Do take one chicken out of many baskets.
2- Missing vowels: Dn't pt ll yr ggs n n bskt.
3- Vowels only: o u a ou e i o e a e
4- Confrontational: "Bet you can't put all your eggs in one basket!"
"Heck ya I can!"
5- Minimalist: All eggs one basket.
6- Biblical: Though shall not putith all ones chicken layings in ones carrying case.
7- Affirmative: "Would you just take an egg out of the basket!"
8- Romantic: "Oh honey, put all your eggs in my basket!"
9- Opposites: All baskets don't egg in one put your.
10- Medieval: "In the name of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table, though shall not taketh poultry offspring from its nesting place!"

C- Pick a phrase from the list and make an illustration from it.

Here's my drawing:

I urge you to submit yours in the comments section below. Have fun and a bientot!

Wanna Fight? Hammering Out Conflict in a Story.

A few years ago, in Deb Lucke’s Graphic Novel and Picture Book class, I was introduced to the concept of conflict in a story. As defined, the conflict is the problem that triggers the action in a story. For example, in Sendak’s famous Where the Wild Things Are, the conflict is between Max and his Mom although we don’t actually see the argument. However, there are also stories where the conflict is literally in the story. In Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Peter disobeys his mom and almost gets caught by Mr. McGregor.

At the time, I was a little stuck on my Mama Lucia and I instantly, drew:

 I regrouped. I listed both my characters attributes and asked myself what is each character’s deepest desire:

And, after many pages through my notebook, I discovered the power struggle between the siblings for their mother’s attention.  Also, I saw how one character’s “want” got in the way of the other character’s “want”. Got any conflicts up your sleeves? I want to hear some.

And where is this story now and what have I done with it? Well, that’s another entry!

A bientot.