Panel Discussion

Recent article

2012-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

It just occurred to me that I never posted a link to this article about my comics here. A very cool reporter called and interviewed me about my comics. A photographer came and photographed my basement "studio". At first I was embarrassed by the fuse box in the background, but then I thought -- actually, that's part of the message. Anyone can do this, anywhere!

The article first appeared in the Star-Gazette, and then a couple other papers. Athens' teachers comics carve educational niche.

O is for Ogre

2012-01-21T12:12:00.001-08:00

N is for Nibelung

2012-01-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

A race of dwarves from Norse mythology. Their story is told in Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The plot revolves around a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens in the river Rhine.

Memories of Mom

2012-01-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

Today is my Mom's 80th birthday! Soon I'll be leaving for her surprise party. I can safely write that because she has never been on the internet and probably never will! Each of us kids were asked to write a "Memory of Mom" for a book my sister is putting together. Here is mine:

Memories of Mom

Andy 1-14-12

People sometimes ask me where I get my artistic talent. Well, nobody else was really drawing around the house but Mom was always doing things in a very creative things. She was very methodical in her processes of baking and the decorations on them were a work of art. Her handwriting is probably the fanciest I have ever seen someone use on a regular basis.

I don’t know why, but I always liked to draw and it was my favorite thing to do. Mom made sure there was always drawing paper for me to work on. She would always buy a sketchbook for me. When each one was finished, she would buy another. I took them with me where ever I went. If she was with me, she would proudly say , “Andy, why don’t you show them your sketchbook?” She would have positive comments about whatever drawing I had just finished.

I was always interested in cartoons and funny pictures. I can remember once she came home from a trip to Mansfield and she said, “Andy, you have to see the posters they have on the walls of Pudgies Pizza.” Soon I made the trip with her. I think it was a college student who used the back of pizza boxes and drew on them to make posters. Each one was a caricature of the manager of the pizza shop. In each one he was reimagined as a different character. The one I remember is him redrawn as Spock from Star Trek with pointy ears and uniform. “Those are called caricatures,” she told me. “It still looks like the person, but each part is exaggerated to make them look funny.”

I can remember we had been at church one night. We stopped at a 7-11 to get a loaf of bread to take home. Mom sent me in with a dollar while she waited in the car. I bought the bread and on the way out the door, I saw a magazine that caught my eye. It was Cracked magazine. I quickly looked through it. It was packed with cartoons and comics. The cover was filled with caricatures of the characters from my favorite show Welcome Back Kotter. I went back to the car and excitedly told her about it. “Mom! There is a magazine in there that is fully of funny pictures – caricatures! -- like the posters in Pudgies!” She didn’t even bat an eye, but she asked me how much it was and if there was enough change from the bread so that I could buy it. The magazine was 50 cents and there wasn’t quite enough change. She gave me the extra 15 cents, or whatever I needed so that I could buy it. I became a regular buyer of this magazine and also Mad. I am sure that these were a big influence on my interest in and ability with cartooning. I learned most of what I by copying the images from the artists who worked for these magazines and they had a big influence on my style.

I can remember bringing home a piece of poster board to work on a submission for a poster contest. I got the design all sketched out and Mom said, “No, you can’t do it that way.” She had me flip the poster board over and start over. She showed me how to use a ruler to measure a one inch border all around. “All of the design should stay within that border,” she told me. Next she showed me how to measure from the top down to make guidelines for the lettering lightly in pencil. After I made the letters in pencil I outlined them in pencil and she told me I should erase the guidelines. She was right, I won the contest. I still wonder how she knew how to do those things.

There were a lot of things that she knew about art and she would tell me about them. I can remember her showing me the art of Andy Warhol and talking about them. “He is just swishing paint over someone else’s photos, but aren’t the colors and shapes just right for the personality of each one?”

Mom was a stay-at-home mom. It was a full time job for her. She did a lot for me. There is a Bible verse that says, “Train up a child in the way they should go.” Some people say that should be translated “in the way they want to go”. In other words, you look at the directions they are predisposed to go and support them. I am glad my parents did not try to make me into a farmer or some other thing I was not suited for. They looked for the signs in me of what my giftings were and they made sure I had whatever I needed to pursue it. From art supplies to musical instruments or lessons or whatever I might need. These are the memories I have of Mom.

47

2012-01-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I started this tradition of drawing a comic on or about my birthday. Here is this year's.

M is for Minotaur

2012-01-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

L is for Lamassu

2012-01-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

A Sumerian protective deity; often depicted with a bull or lion's body, eagle's wings, and human's head

K is for Keres

2011-12-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the Keres were female death-spirits. They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth and claws and with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying and wounded men. As soon as they caught a man who had fallen or one newly wounded, one of them clasped her great claws around him and his soul went down to Hades, to chilly Tartarus.

J is for Jerff

2011-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Jerff is a creature from Swedish mythology. It is a hodgepodge of various creatures, usually described as being the size and shape of a dog, with some cat like features such as the head, ears, and claws. It also supposedly has a thick coat of shaggy brown fur and a tail resembling that of a fox.

The Jerff is notorious as a symbol of gluttony because of the strange eating habits it is supposed to have. It will make a kill and then gorge itself until it is swollen and unable to eat more, at which point it will find two trees and squeeze itself in between them, pushing the meat through its own body before returning to the kill and repeating the process.

Calder & Mondrian

2011-12-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

My latest comic illustrates an account described by Alexander Calder. When he was a young artist, he visited the studio of Piet Mondrian. This event was "the shock that started everything" for him. I am working on a series of comic strips that illustrates how different artists have influenced each other. Interacting with other artists often can be inspirational for artists.

I don't often color my comics. I enjoy the black and white quality of line art, and it usually suits my purposes. However, some of these art history comics may have to be rendered in color.

I is for Ichthyocentaur

2011-12-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology the Ichthyocentaur is a fish-centaur, or a particular kind of Triton. The sea creature is described as having the forefeet of a horse in addition to the human body and the fish tail. They were said to be capable of raising or calming storms.

Obligation

2011-12-08T04:28:00.000-08:00

Obligation (2011)

Mixed Media (colored pencil with acrylic)

When I do a colored pencil unit with students, I try to have one going myself. When I do a demonstration showing how to create different color effects, I demonstrate in the context of my own drawing. From September to December, that's what this was for. I also have students collect multiple sources from different sources to create a collage to use as a reference for the drawing. In that way, when students have questions, I can point to something to show how color choices can be made. We discuss surrealism.

My own choices are random. I find whatever jumps out at me. Sometimes themes emerge. For me this drawing is about the obligations in life: getting up in the morning, grabbing quick breakfast, putting on the monkey suit, beating the traffic -- and somehow an Egyptian slave seemed to fit.

H is for Hobgoblin

2011-12-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

Hobgoblins are small, hairy little men who are often found within human dwellings, doing odd jobs around the house while the family is lost in sleep. They are also fond of practical jokes. I am sure that all of the items that I cannot find (one sock of a pair, the lids of Tupperware, etc.) are accumulated in their nests. And I am positive that they love to eat the nice white erasers I try to keep around for drawing. How else would they keep disappearing?!

G is for Goblin

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Cezanne in "Plein Air"

2011-11-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

As we've noted previously, Cezanne was a cranky old curmudgeon. His painting process was painstakingly slow. He slowly and deliberately considered each stroke. This comic strip illustrates an anecdote related by John Rewald in his biography of Cezanne.

Cezanne

2011-11-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

This comic is based on an anecdote related by Renoir's son in his book Renoir, My Father. The "pompiers" that Cezanne referred to were the artists who created the official academic paintings of the time.

According the Art History website:

Pompier art, or l'art Pompier, refers to the official style that the French Academy promoted during the mid- to late-nineteenth century. The expression ridicules conservative middle class taste which still revered classical subjects and the Neoclassical style in art.
The term comes from a play on words and images. Pompier means fireman in French and calls to mind the firemen's helmets that looked similar to Classical helmets depicted in academic history painting.

Pompier sounds like Pompeii, the site where Roman antiquity stood still under the ash of Mount Vesuvius, which erupted in 79 AD/CE. Pompeii became the go-to tourist spot for young nineteenth century artists who aspired to great history painting. Once there, they were able to study authentic antique ruins and artifacts which they tried to replicate in their paintings about Classical subjects. These artists became known as the "artistes Pompiers."

Pompier also sounds like pompeux, which means pompous, and indeed the official taste of the French Academy during the late nineteenth century was pompous. It was quite satisfied with its traditionally large and theatrical history paintings. In comparison to modest Modernist art which celebrated the contemporary mores, offical academic art (l'art Pompier) seems rigid and out of touch.

F is for Fire Drake

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Modern Art

2011-11-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

This comic was inspired by an incident described in Rauschenberg by Mary Lynn Kotz. I love reading books about artists. As I'm reading, I can picture the whole book in my imagination as if it were a graphic novel -- drawn by me. This is fun, but frustrating. I wish I could draw the whole thing out! My consolation is to draw little vignettes of books I've read. I collect stories of when two artists interacted -- and what happened when they did. If you know any good stories about artists, let me know! I am only interested in stories that we can be quite certain they really happened.

E is for Elf

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

D is for Dwarf

2011-11-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

C is for Chimera

2011-10-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

B is for Basilisk

2011-10-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

He joins the March of the Alpha Beasts!

AlphaBeasts from A to Z

2011-10-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

A whole bunch of artists are drawing mythological beasts from A to Z once a week for 26 weeks. I haven't been part of a sketch game for a while, so I thought it would be fun to try to keep up. The beast I chose is the Egyptian Axex. The rules are, it has to be the generic name (not a proper name) of a fictional beast -- and not one that you make up yourself. More info here, if you want to participate.

Gumption for Assumption

2011-09-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

People ask me, "Where did Clipboard Girl come from?" She is not meant to be a particular person, but she personifies the type of bureaucracy that prevents good things from happening. An example is when the Jones Act prevented foreign ships from helping with the BP oil spill. "Why aren't they helping? Oh, it's because of a rule." That kind of thing bugs me, and the comics with her is my revenge.

Scenes from an Art Show

2011-09-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Heroes Your Mom Threw Out Comic Shop recently sponsored an art show at the Elks Lodge in Elmira. Proprietor Jared Aiosa is very supportive of artists in the area, in addition to being a writer and artist himself. The events like this that he sponsors go a long way toward encouraging creative people from all walks of life to gather their creations and share them with others. In fact, the community that has come together as a result of the Heroes "art parties" have become a place for artists, writers, educators and other creative people to network and make arrangements to collaborate.

One of the artists was Kevin Falkenberg. His Zombie Mark Twain print is quite a hit.
Jim Duffy, artist and retired art teacher shared many of his creations, including his new hobby -- stained glass.

This artist had some fantastic caricatures that skewered Palin and other political figures.
When I set up my table, I took a page from the Paul Bozzo playbook and offered kids and curious adults the chance to "pull a print" from a block of my character, The Mystic Yak. I have learned from Paul that an interactive station at an art show is a refreshing change of pace, helps the viewers understand how your art is made, and teaches some children about an art form that they may not experience due to budget cuts.

The kids were proud of these and took them home at the end of the evening.

The next big event that Heroes will sponsor is the Herobot Con Comic Convention on Saturday, October 8th. You won't want to miss that. Comic artists from Marvel, DC, the Simpsons and (ahem) some lesser known publications will be there. It is always a blast to talk to children's book illustrator Tedd Arnold, so come on down!

The Painted Word: An Altered Book Workshop for Teachers

2011-08-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today I presented a workshop for teachers at Mansfield University. This was at a conference called "The Painted Word" put on by the Endless Mountains Writing Project and the Endless Mountains Reading Council. My workshop allowed participants to learn about and create altered books for creative writing journals.

In my session, I introduced some projects that allow for cross-curriculum connections. These are especially great for the students in our classrooms that learn best when they are doing creative projects. We looked at some examples of student projects, and then we all started our own altered book. First we used acrylic paint to decorate the cover of an existing recycled book. After a review of basic color wheel theory, we experimented with acrylic techniques such as impasto and scumbling.

These books are going to be writing journals/visual journals. Next we used watercolor paint to make some pages for the interior. Some of the favorite techniques of the day included salt technique, wet-on-wet, and painting with bubble wrap.

We listened to a short talk by Ken Robinson. He has some important points for teachers to remember about the need for schools to move from standardization to personalization.

Integrating art with other subjects is very important, especially today. The Learning Focused Schools (LFS) model is the current trend in education. One of the key ingredients for success in the studies they cite (Reeves, 2003) is the stress put on "cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating subjects currently downplayed (e.g. art, music)."

Remember, according to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, creativity is the highest order of thought! Eliminating creative projects from schools is just plain nuts! We need more of it, not less -- especially projects that help them make connections between disciplines.

What a great bunch of teachers! We all had a great time learning and sharing ideas. I sat in on a few of the other sessions, and learned some new things myself.

The picture above shows me trying to look "teacher-ish".

The Music Box

2011-07-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

This comic was inspired by an incident described in Rauschenberg by Mary Lynn Kotz.

Comics in the Classroom Prezi

2011-07-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here is an amazing presentation by Megan Crimmins. She was a participant in the Comics in the Classroom workshop I presented recently at Alfred University. She summarized what she learned from that and explored the topic further. Check out her amazing Prezi production below!

Comics in the Classroom on Prezi

A Vortex in the Nebula

2011-07-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a page from my sketchbook. As a practice exercise, I redrew a page of a Flash/Superman story and made a few "minor changes". (Names have been changed to persecute the innocent!)

I drew it in pen without penciling first, and then colored with marker.

Comics in the Classroom Workshop

2011-07-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today I presented a Comics in the Classroom workshop at Alfred University. The participants were a fantastic group of young teachers. Most had already completed student teaching and were working with students in a summer literacy program. Some have been hired for teaching positions at various schools in the fall.

It was a great group of committed educators who have a passion for teaching and compassion for the struggling learners. We completed exercises in using comics in lessons to demonstrate:

Fun reading opportunities for students.
Comic Book Readers Theater. Reading a comic together as a dramatic exercise.
Comics Conversions. Using existing comic strips as writing prompts and to teach the conventions of writing dialogue.
Comic Book Book Reports. Using comics to help students summarize what they have read.
Graphic Novel Graphic Organizers. Using comics to teach the theme of a book (or how a character changes through the course of a story).
Using comics to teach onomatopoeia, alliteration and hyperbole.
Using comics to provide opportunities to discuss bullying and violence prevention.
Strategies to help students create original cartoon characters and letter their creations with speech balloons.

Our "text" for the day was the Sunday Funnies comics section (courtesy of The Daily Review). Their Comics in Education program is a great way to get multiple copies of the same comics text to use when discussing comics with students.

Here's what one of the participants had to say:

I participated in this workshop presented by Andy and found it to be the most informative and eye opening class ever given by a guest speaker. As a result of what I learned, I am going to co-teach a comic based unit during the summer reading program in a couple of weeks. And, I just returned from the used book store with a copy of Bones for 3 dollars. The vast amount of graphic novels spanning all ages was a reality unknown to me before the presentation. I had heard of Watchmen and 300, and enjoyed the movies. But, was not aware of the many other types. My level of enthusiam regarding graphic novels has increased dramatically. I'm very excited about implementing some of the things learned in the classroom. Thanks a ton Andy. This was a blast.

The participants in this workshop read, wrote and drew to experience various strategies they might like to use with their students some day. They had fantastic questions and it was a great day for me.

Even though most participants weren't art majors, everyone created an original character and made a sketch of it. The results were creative and hilarious!

Poptastic Visions

2011-07-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is a (8x10) four color linoleum block print. It is inspired by the printing process used in old comics that I love. I was also inspired by the Pop Art of Roy Lichtenstein. To make it, I laboriously carved four blocks of linoleum (including around all those little dots!) I love how it turned out. It captures the appeal of old comics, but at the same time, you can tell it's hand carved.

If you are interesting in buying one of these prints, I sell them locally from my home. If you don't live in the area, check out an Etsy shop I recently started to sell my prints.

Vision

2011-05-17T15:12:00.001-07:00

X-Ray Specs (2011)
Watercolor

This is a watercolor study of the four-color process used in old comics. I was inspired to make it after reading the writings of John Higart on his blog, 4CP/Four Color Process. He describes why this process was perfect for the comics of earlier eras. What he does is "zoom in" on the details of old comics that might otherwise escape our attention. By doing so, he removes the page, the plot, the frame, and the context of the detail. As Higart writes, "These details are aesthetically compelling." I agree. They are mesmerizing, partly because of the dots. The accidental effects caused by colors that don't quite line up the way they should provide an intriguing abstraction.

To make this painting, I chose one of the tiny comic details Higart has curated at his online gallery. I thought that this image came from an advertisement for a pair of X-Ray specs, one of the products advertised in the comics of my youth.It's actually from a Jimmy Olsen comic. For me, the painting represents being able to attain a vision that not everyone can see, artistically. The magic of artistic discovery -- seeing something you never noticed before.

Of course, the Ben Day dot is something Lichtenstein explored, but his results are much more crisp and precise than his source material. I thought it would be interesting to make some paintings that exploited the attributes of this source material.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

Mother's Kiss (2011)
Charcoal

I made this drawing as a gift for my wife on Mother's Day. It is based on a photo of her with our son Nathan when he was a little younger -- the last picture taken before he got his first haircut. Mommy could not bear to cut those beautiful curls!

The Imaginative Approach

2011-04-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

For this drawing, I took a Pop Art approach, which is a type of Appropriation art. I am inspired by artists like Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, and Lichtenstein who appropriated images from popular culture and recontextualized them.

To appropriate is to take possession of something. Appropriation artists deliberately copy images to take possession of them in their art. They are not stealing or plagiarizing. They are not passing off these images as their very own. Not at all. Appropriation artists want the viewer to recognize the images they copy, and they hope that the viewer will bring all of his/her original associations with the image to the artist's new context, be it a painting, a sculpture, a collage, a combine or an entire installation (Gersh-Nesic, 2011).

There are many different things you can do to an existing images to make them into original statements.

Strategies include "re-vision, re-evaluation, variation, version, interpretation, imitation, proximation, supplement, increment, improvisation, prequel... pastiche, paraphrase, parody, forgery, homage, mimicry, travesty, shan-zhai, echo, allusion, intertextuality and karaoke" (Pichler, 2009).

I see these kinds of images as a type of visual poetry. Like a poem, I take all these images together and say something. What does it mean? Does it take all the fun out of it if I spell it out? I don't know. Sometimes I explain what I was thinking, sometimes I try to give a little hint in the title and let you figure it out. For this time, I guess I'll spell it out for you.

I'm doing a series of drawings that feature unusual eyewear, like the 3-D glasses in Secrets of Success. My idea is that what you get out of what you are facing depends on your outlook. You can choose that to some extent. I often see the goofy side of life, so I used the spectacles you see here to represent that. Look at what you are facing through the lens of imagination. All of these images go with that.

I wanted to superimpose this collection of images that might seem random at first over the text of something really boring. I found an old mimeographed handout from an art class. Let's just say I disagree with the professor, who begins with "Drawing is not fun" -- and goes on from there. To me this picture is about the experience of daydreaming when you are sitting in a boring class and everyone is going over the handout. Random thoughts come from all over the place. The text below each detail image is my unwritten guide to the Imaginative Life.

Are the mundane details of life getting you down? Try an imaginative outlook on life. A new pair of glasses can provide a new way of looking things -- and your new outlook may affect how others look at you.
Everyone's got something to say. Having trouble getting your point across? There may be some simple tools that you have overlooked. The solution you are looking for may have been under your nose the whole time. Using these familiar tools in new ways has a lot of appeal.
A good cup of coffee is a great way to wake up to the possibilities. Gather your faculties and begin!
We all have mundane tasks to perform. You can either do it the boring way, or the imaginative way.
Taking the imaginative approach to life will bring you new joy.
You will find that you will rise above the dreary aspects of life and accomplish great feats.
With the focal point and accessories drawn, I was ready to add the handout. I enlarged page to 18x24 at Staples, traced the objects through it and then cut out the shapes with an X-acto knife and glued it down.
Then I added the finishing touches with pastel.

Beth Gersh-Nesic (2011). Art History Definition: Appropriation. http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary_a/a/a_appropriation.htm
Michalis Pichler (2009). Statements on Appropriation, published in Fillip #11 (2010), Vancouver

Painting Below Zero -- James Rosenquist

2011-04-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just read a fascinating book -- Painting Below Zero: Notes on a Life in Art by James Rosenquist. It is very conversational in tone, as if you were sitting with the artist as he reminisced about his career, his ideas and his friendships with artists like Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg. Rosenquist was one of the major artists of the Pop Art movement and is still working today. I highly recommend this book. Below are a few quotes from the book, along with some of his work.

After being trained as an artist, Rosenquist made his living painting billboards for several years.
He eventually applied what he learned in this trade in his work as a fine artist.

On Collage

"When you look at a collage by Schwitters, with disparate things stuck side by side and laid on top of each other -- a newspaper, a train ticket, paper money, a torn piece of blue paper, a fashion illustration, an envelope with a stamp on it -- you involuntarily make connections. With collage, you are free to create your own narrative. That and an element of mystery is what first attracted me to the process."

Collage used in the creation of President Elect

On Disconnected Images

"By the time I was a teenager I'd found my way out by picking up pieces here and there, like clues to a puzzle. I'd found a way of looking at the world as disconnected images brought together for an unknown purpose. Without realizing it, I deliberately sought out the incongruities that would match my memories."

Collage used in creation of F-111

On Ideas

"Sometimes ideas come through the window, floating in from somewhere. That sounds like a poetic way of describing it, but I mean it quite literally. For all I know it might be electromagnetic signals or extra-terrestrial rays or, as they used to say in the old days, a visit from your muse. All I had to do was snatch them out of the air and begin painting. Once that idea came to me, everything seemed to fall into place -- the idea, the composition, the imagery, the colors, everything began to work."

Detail of F-111

"Often you start out with an idea or a notion and you don't know whether it's going to come off. You hope that by the time you actually get it down, there is something to it, but when things come out of thin air you don't know what they are. Ideas come unbidden, and you don't understand their meaning or know what they're going to become and that's the best thing about them. You just do it -- and then try to figure it out."

On the Juxtaposition of Disparate Images

"That was how I learned to interpret the world: as loose, unstable images whose meaning was enigmatic, and that became the template for my juxtaposition of disparate images. They are at the core of my interest in collage -- an unconscious attempt to make aesthetic sense out of the nonsense I saw around me. Collage is a very odd thing. Incongruous images pushed up against one another for some reason shock the psyche. A juxtaposition of opposites disturbs you: if the elements don't connect, it sets your mind off. It remains such a relevant art form because it interprets the fragmentary nature of urban life."

I Love you with my Ford

"Popular culture isn't a freeze-frame; it is images zapping by in rapid-fire succession, which is why collage is such an effective way of representing contemporary life. The blurr between images creatres a kind of motion in the mind. With collage there is a glint, a reflection of modern life. If, for example, you take a walk through midtown you might in quick succession see a street vendor, the back of a girl's legs, and then out of the corner ofyour eye catch a glimpse of a taxi...you see parts of things...and yourationalize them into a scenario. It all happens very quickly; the experience is almost subliminal."

Recent photograph of Rosenquist

Roy Lichtenstein: A Modern Master

2011-04-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

At first glance, the artwork of Roy Lichtenstein may seem easy to explain. Many texts dismiss his work with a couple of lines.

Not much is known about the personal life of this private man. What impressed his contemporaries most was his work ethic. One biographer remarks that his art was "not art for art's sake but art as evidence of a work ethic, validated by intensity of production and the pace of coherent change" (Mattison, 1995). His studio was characterized by absolute precision. Materials were layed out in meticulous order. He would "begin work at his studio each morning by nine, eat lunch at the same hour every day, and then continue working until seven in the evening, or even later" (Walker, 1994).

Roy Lichtenstein along wwith Andy Warhol and some others changed the art world in 1961 when they began including straightforward images from ads and comics and other sources from popular culture. At the time, their work was considered banal and vulgar to the art establishment. Lichtenstein's first Pop art painting was of a comic found in a bubble gum wrapper.He made a drawing of it, and then a painting. He enjoyed making images that were several times removed from their original source. He tried to make his own paintings look mechanical, with no artistic pretensions. Though his works are hand-painted, there are no visible brushstrokes. He wanted them to appear to be mechanically made.

After making this painting, he said, "I couldn't do any other kind of painting -- everything else I attempted to do looked like mush." His friend and gallery owner Alan Kaprow encouraged him, telling him not to worry about it not looking like art -- "if it's part of you, it will be there." Within weeks, there appeared within the same gallery works in a similar spirit by Warhol and Rosenquist. People began to recognize that this was the beginning of a movement.

Advertising.

Lichtenstin was fascinated by images used in advertising. He purposely sought out images that appeared to be crudely drawn. "Advertising is a tremendous force and it is also a very new force," said the artist. "It's a very big part of our culture -- the new part." Beginning in the early sixties he used an iconography of household objects, drawn particularly from the kitchen. In paintings like Electric Range, Roto Broil and Electric Cord he presented images from a product catalog. The objects were "presented in their completeness, with no modifying objects around it and no plane for it to stand on. It occupies the picture plane emblematically, centralized and head-on" (Alloway, 1983).

Comic Books.

"This work can be looked at as cliches or it can be looked at as classicism," explained the artist. "The ideal head is a classical idea. The idea of drawing this girl the same way or 'Brad' -- an ideal...it's standard, but it's not looked up to when it's isolated." Forcing viewers to examine something they wouldn't have given a second thought if they had seen it in a different context is an idea that intrigued him. When we read a comic, we are looking at pictures that were drawn for the purpose of telling a story. While reading, we accept these images as real, but when the artist enlarges them, we see how artificial and abstract they really are.

"I try to look for something that says something mysterious or absurd or extremely simple or extremely complicated--" explained Lichtenstein, " something that when it's a part of a painting will strike you as funny." One writer explained,

Lichtenstein intends to raise images from popular culture to the level of high art by transforming it in his work. He takes devalued forms of viusal communication, redeems them, and possesses them through recreating them in his paintings. Because he has considered and minutely adjusted every line, form and color area, his art breathes finesse and refinement.

Lichtenstein believed that he paid more attention to form than the commercial artists whose work he appropriated. "What I do is form, whereas the comic strip is not formed in the sense that I'm using the word. The comics have shapes, but there has been no effort to make them intesnely unified. The purpose is dfifferent -- one intends to depct and I intend to unify. And my work is actually different from the comic strips in that every mark is in a different place, however slight the differences seem to some. The difference is often not great, but it is crucial."

The subject of his art is the artificiality of communication. "Because you're starting with somebody else's art, it says something about communication. You're not looking at a nature garden or something. You're taking known symbols and styles of things and recreating them." - Roy Lichtenstein

When viewers first saw his work, many were so outraged by the source of subject matter that they could not begin to appreciate the formal qualities of the work. "

I always think that its' the formal part that gets neglected and that usually people talk about what the subject means, and when they do that, it sounds fairly obvious. I think it's the formal part that nobody understands. It is the kinesthetic and visual sense of position and wholeness that puts the thing in the realm of art. For most people, the formal part is not what they see. One may be influeced by the sense of formand think it's really all right without understnading why. But the understanding of form is limited because I think people don't tend to see it unless they are artists. -Lichtenstein

His critics were confused as to what his attitude toward the comics was. "I think of it as an ironic look at and use of what is usually called vulgar art," he explained. "It's using those symbols to make something else. It's really the art we have around us; we're not living in the word of Impressionist painting. For me, it has a 'you're a bad boy copying comics' thing because our art teacher told us not to copy, and if you did copy, it certainly wouldn't be commercial art."

What he saw in mechanical production of artwork was a lack of nuance. There is a red and there's 50% red. They don't care what kind of pink is used. He aimed to take the least elegant thing he could find and tried to make something elegant out of it.

Okay Hot Shot is a painting that is based on comics, but this particular images exists nowhere in any one comic. He put four different comics panels together. The reference to 'pouring" is an art world in-joke. It refers to Morris Louis' brand of modern painting, using poured paint. Lichtenstein delighted in the double take. Possibly this was his tongue in cheek reaction to critics who claimed that pouring (as opposed to his comics paintings) would have been "real art".

Conversation (1962) is one of Lichtenstein's rare drawings that were not done as a study for a painting. He was fond of visual puns. Though it is called conversation, there is no speech balloon. It was about this time that he stopped using them for a while. He emphasizes the harsh angular lines in the man's face and emphasizes the soft curves in the woman's. The man's expression is obscured from view, but seems calm, while the woman appears to be in shock. This is more than a man copying comic books. He is presenting our stereotypes and forcing us to think about them.

He emphasizees the dots between the faces in such a way that the shape refuses to recede into the background as it should. It becomes a focal point. The picture plane is all-important, as he felt that was what made paintings modern. We can tell by his sketches that he labored over each line. He would create several different versions and studies preparing for the major canvasses. The contour line itself was drawn in outlines and then filled in, giving it a distinctly object-like character. He insisted that the line both described the object and existed in its own right. "I think Matisse is like that; the mark is just the mark and it may be part of the same arm, but you can see how he does think about it as separate (Rose, 1987)."

Art History

When he paid tribute to an art history icon from the past, he didn't refer directly to a Picasso, for instance, but looked at a poor reproduction of one. As he sought to find ideas to rework in his own image, he investigated the age-old question of what constitutes art. While doing so in his homages to other artists, he was conscious of his own place in art history. He saw himself as part of a continuous line of descent beginning with Medieval art. Art began as only religious but began to include common people, beggars, still lifes, and landscapes. Cubists then began to use bits of newspaper and wallpaper. He saw this "vulgarizing" as part of recent art history and as crucial -- of things becoming more vernacular.

Astonishing Prints: An Art Show

2011-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the first night of an Art show at Heroes Your Mom Threw Out Comic Shop in Elmira, NY. It was a great time to meet many artists, and I sold copies of my comic book and copies of "Shocked" -- a linoleum block print I made recently.

Shocked - in complimentary colors

2011-04-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

I did a series of these in the opposite, corresponding colors. Green instead of red, etc. I like how the basic image is there, but different things can be said through the abstract treatment of the elements.

New Arrival

2011-04-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

New Arrival
Colored Pencil

This drawing is a gift for a friend who recently welcomed his first grandson. I tried to capture that magical moment when a precious meets those who have waited so long to meet him.

Self-Portrait 3-11

2011-03-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Self-Portrait 3-11
Charcoal

Printmaking Experiments

2011-03-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to create a four color block print inspired by Lichtenstein. First I carved the red block, carving around the little dots. This, of course, is insane, but fun. After carving the other blocks, I printed first in yellow, then red, then blue, then black.
Here are a series of the finished prints. I like the results in that it imitates a mechanical process, but that you can see that it is hand carved. It's like looking at a contradiction.
Before I did the four blocks, I experimented with printing the black block on cut-paper collages. I found some scrapbooking paper that had a Ben Day type pattern.

Catcher in the Rye Retold in Comic Form by Marissa Eddy

2011-02-28T03:55:00.001-08:00

My step-daughter created a sixteen page version of Catcher in the Rye, retold in comic form. It is amazing! I honestly think it's better than some things I've seen in print. She allowed me to post a couple pages from it. She was sixteen at the time.

I/You

2011-02-24T13:35:00.001-08:00

I/You
Sketch in watercolor pencil, ink, and acrylic

I made this sketch, thinking of this quote:

“To be yourself in a world
that is constantly trying to make you something else
is the greatest accomplishment.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Secrets of Success

2011-02-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

Secrets of Success
Colored Pencil
18x24

Halcolm's Plane Ride

2011-01-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

I made this comic to illustrate the wise and thoughtful Parables of Halcolm by Michael Q. Patton.

46

2011-01-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

Other Birthday Comics:

Nate's First Comic

2010-12-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

While I was out, my four-year-old son made his first comic book. He made four pages of story and then ran around the house looking for tape to put it together. He even used speech balloons to show who was talking. He told me what was going on in the story, so I'll narrate the comic with his words.

1. Mary Jane is falling off a building. Spider-man is catching her with his webs.
2. Now Peter Parker is saying words to Mary Jane.
3. Mary Jane is falling off a building again. Spider-man says, "I saved you!" The "Green Glob-lin" is flying in the sky on his glider.

4. Now the Green Glob-lin is in jail. Peter Parker is there with Mary Jane.

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

2010-11-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of my latest artwork in progress. You can see that I sometimes begin by collecting images from various sources and assembling them into a collage. In this case, seven different sources. The collage on the left is the source for the drawing on the right.

At first the choices are random, but sometimes a theme emerges. In this case, I had been trying to reread Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Kandinsky. This is a book that I don't understand very much of. What I do understand of it I don't even necessarily agree with.

However, what I was thinking about while I made this artwork is that you often hear someone say, "I used to enjoy making art but I stopped because I wasn't making any money." I think this is tragic, and I think there are other reasons for making art than just for financial profit. Many times that is the first thing someone will ask an artist: "Are you able to make money doing this?" What I was thinking about while I drew this is that often the ancient people created art with spiritual motivations. I wanted to contrast examples of this with some kind of imagery that shouted "Art for Money!"

Kandinsky contrasted the spiritual artist with the materialistic one. I decided Mr. Materialistic would be drawn superimposed over ads for artists that appealed to speed in creating art for financial gain. By no means am I against commercial art! I just felt like making a statement about my own reflections on artistic motivations.

To get the right shape, my classroom window became a makeshift light box. By turning off the light in my room, the hall light made it possible for me to trace the shape I needed.

I pasted the ads down over part of the drawing paper. Now I was reading to add color to Mr. Materialism.
I wanted the ads to be seen with varying degrees of obscurity -- just barely readable in some places. This had to become a mixed media piece since colored pencil didn't do the job.

Concerning the Spiritual in Art
Mixed Media (Colored Pencil & Acrylic)
2010

The drawing above is the finished work. Unfortunately, the photograph didn't turn out as well as I hoped.

As I said, Kandinsky's book is hard to read -- though it does have some good ideas to ponder. A better one on art and spirituality that has inspired me is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.

Comics Art Lesson

2010-11-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

My daughter Anna taught a lesson on comics as part of her Art in the Elementary class at Mansfield University. Part of the class involves teaching lessons to children in the community at Saturday Morning Art classes. The students really seemed to enjoy it!

Contemplation

2010-11-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

Contemplation (2010). Colored pencil.

I don't think I've ever done a realistic self-portrait, so I did this one in colored pencil. I called it Contemplation, because it's inspired by Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer by Rembrandt.

This drawing table surface shows the process.
Here I am with the finished product. Come to think of it, this photograph is a Triple Self-Portrait. Boy, this one is going to be hard to draw!

The Power of Yes

2010-09-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

The Power of Yes
Colored Pencil

The Pop artists showed us that we can appropriate imagery from commercial sources -- changing the context changes the meaning. Something I enjoy doing is collecting various images from multiple sources and moving them around to see how new meanings can be created. Once the collage is finished, I can use it as a reference for drawing. I finished this one this week.

Father

2010-09-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is a charcoal portrait of my father, George Wales. While drawing it, I thought about all he has meant to me in my life. He is the man I admire most.

Virtual Tour of my Art Room

2010-09-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here is one corner of my art room at Rowe Junior High -- the portion that was somewhat orderly when I was taking pictures. This area shows a display I have showing the comics making process.
The centerpiece of this display is a gift from graphic novelist Chris Schweizer. The creator of Crogan's series of graphic novels gave us a gift of original comic art -- a page from Crogan's Vengeance. Along with a comics page, he gave us the thumbnail sketch for this page, and another piece that shows the whole process of making a comic -- from idea to finished art.

This photo is my collection of artist action figures, including Van Gogh and Warhol. They don't make nearly enough of these, but there is a Michelangelo that is on my Christmas list this year.

Who's Pulling the Strings?

2010-08-24T05:48:00.001-07:00

Did you ever wonder who's pulling the strings?

My sister-in-law, Lea Wales makes these fantastic caricature marionettes. She made one of The Mighty Andar as a gift to me. It is made of wood, papier mache, fabric, wax, human hair, etc.

Because I read a lot, my brother suggested that I would hold a Book of Villains to consult before battle. Each page in the book is a painting of one of the villains from Eclectic Comics, recreated in Lea's style.
Maybe, we're pulling our own strings...

Mural

2010-08-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Roadkill

2010-08-02T04:06:00.001-07:00

Good Night Kiss

2010-07-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

I've got a whole list of things that Nathan has said that would make great comics. Here's one.

That Darn Beyonder

2010-07-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook comic -- a reinterpretation of a Marvel story. I did this, just for practice, to try out some various points of view and tricks.

The Bacon Strips

2010-07-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I just presented a two-day teen comics workshop. As we were working, some of the participants started talking about the comedian Jim Gaffigan's "Bacon" routine. They got everybody laughing and soon we all had ideas for comics about the irresistible power of this breakfast food. This led to a mini-comic in which everybody contributed one page. I believe that it is the first comic ever in which every single page is about bacon!

Here are some of the comics that we made during the workshop.

Cover by Shannon

Andrew

by Melinda Georgeson, Chief Educator NRM

The Package by William

One Day in the Kitchen by Lia

Chewy by Marissa

Advertisement by DavidMy contribution was a Halcolm story that I've been working on, but that I refurbished a little. I also did the bonus strip below that describes a real funny moment from the workshop.

Got Ink? Comics Workshop at the Norman Rockwell Museum

2010-07-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

I just got back from Massachusetts, where I presented a two-day comics workshop for teens at the Norman Rockwell Museum. The event was called Got Ink? I showed the participants how to create original characters, and tricks for keeping a character's look consistent throughout a story. We also completed activities important in making comics: developing ideas, drawing rough sketches or thumbnails, laying out pages, penciling and inking with pen and ink. The workshop will continue this week with Tim Callahan (fantastic comics writer) teaching other comics making skills.

As we were working, some of the participants started talking about the comedian Jim Gaffigan's "Bacon" routine. They got everybody laughing and soon we all had ideas for comics about the irresistible power of this breakfast food. This led to a mini-comic in which everybody contributed one page. I believe that it is the first comic ever in which every single page is about bacon!

Below are some pictures of the workshop. Comics created will follow in a future post!

Call to Action in the Dead of Night

2010-07-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is a comic by my daughter Anna. She made it as a Father's Day gift. The story is mostly true -- although I do not sleep in my Mighty Andar suit.

My Boy

2010-06-14T17:12:00.001-07:00

This comic is to commemorate my son Daniel's graduation from high school. Over the years, as I've watched him grow, I've often thought of the song My Boy by Neil Young. The words to this comic are the lyrics to that song. You can hear that song here. The drawings show just how quick a little boy grows to be a man - just about this fast!

Halcolm & The Evaluator's Quest

2010-05-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

As Halcolm so wisely shows us, many times the answers we seek are within ourselves!

The Disciples of Halcolm

2010-05-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here is another of Halcolm's Research Parables by Michael Patton, illustrated by me.

The News Today

2010-05-18T18:13:00.001-07:00

The Morning Times was nice enough to put info in today's paper about the Comic Art Show at Heroes this weekend.

Comic Book Art Show & Release Party

2010-05-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

If you are in the neighborhood on Saturday night, stop in at Heroes Your Mom Threw Out Comic Shop at 128 W. 14th Street in Elmira Heights. It is a really great comic shop, and is hosting an art show and party celebrating the recent release of the latest issue of Eclectic Comics. I'll have some of the original art from that issue on display, and some of my other recent projects. The event will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

The Challenge to Care in Schools

2010-05-12T14:07:00.001-07:00

This comic is my submission to a proposed book called Letters to Nell. It is a book of letters from educators to Nell Noddings, author of a great book called The Challenge to Care in Schools. Teacher College Press says that the book:

envisions a school system built on the idea that different people have different strengths, and that these strengths should be cultivated in an environment of caring, not of competition. She suggests that if we make the responsiveness characteristic of caring more basic than accountability, we can accommodate both traditional and progressive preferences in one school system to the benefit of all . . . especially the children.

My "letter" is in comic strip form. The kind of teaching described by Noddings reminded me of my high school art teacher, Kathryn Rice-Cummings. This comic is my tribute to teachers like her!

Great Writers

2010-05-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is a t-shirt design I drew for the Endless Mountains Writing Project, which I belong to. It's the local chapter for the National Writing Project. Our goal is to improve writing instruction in schools, including in subject areas like art. If you're a teacher of any subject, I highly recommend the experience.

We came up with the design at our recent retreat. I guess the idea is: join us, and the next great writer could be you! It's hard to compile a list of "Greats" without leaving out some greats. However, I think we came up with a diverse group of great writers, including some who have written in the fields of science and math. Oh, and there's a couple graphic novelists in there!

Halcolm's Guide for Gormands

2010-04-30T20:11:00.001-07:00

Here's another comic illustrating one of Halcolm's Research Parables by Michael Q. Patton. This author plans to use some of these in the next edition of his textbook on Qualitative Research.

The Drawing Board

2010-04-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

After reading Griffy's Top 40 List on Comics and their creation, I was inspired to create this "fan art" comic.

Halcolm's Research Parables

2010-04-21T14:31:00.001-07:00

(Inspired by a story by M.Q. Patton)

This comic is another that is inspired by one of Halcolm's Research Parables. Halcolm (pronounced, "How Come?") is the creation of author and qualitative researcher M.Q. Patton, who creates these stories to illustrate concepts related to being a researcher. In my interpretation of these stories, the wise master is showing me the ropes -- in this case, literally!

Teaching with the Power of Comics at Alfred University

2010-04-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting three workshops at Alfred University. I shared many of my projects that involve integrating reading and writing with art through the captivating medium of comics. Some of the activities participants tried were comic book scavenger hunts, comic strip conversions, creating original cartoon characters and comic book reader's theater. Here's a little more about each of these activities.

(1) Comic Strip Scavenger Hunt. As participants arrived, they were given their text for class that day -- last Sunday's comics sections from The Daily Review. Our local newspaper offers a Newspapers in Education program, and they provide me with multiple copies of the Sunday Funnies. I use them in my classes, and when I take the show on the road.

After doing some round robin reading from them, we searched for examples of onomatopoeia and other literary devices we want to help our students understand.

Both teachers and faculty participated. In the center of the picture above is my old chum from Mansfield University, Tim Cox (who is now Dr. Cox, English Professor).

(2) Comic strip conversions. As far as I know, this activity was created by Athens teacher Lauren Schwenke. I got the idea from her and have never seen it anywhere else, but it's a great way to teach the writing of dialogue and words to use "instead of said." What this activity involves is rewriting a comic strip into prose. Often people are surprised at just how much they need to write to translate a brief comic strip. It really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I think this was the largest group I've ever done this with. There were about 50 participants in the last session.
(3) Creating original characters. I always get a kick out of asking participants to draw. Sometimes that includes "non-artists" who may not have attempted a drawing in years. Most folks are usually pleasantly surprised after trying my method. One participant in the morning said, "This is the best drawing of a person I've ever done." What we do is copy various facial features from many different characters. Even though we're copying, by combining single elements from multiples sources, we create characters that no one's ever seen before.

(4) Comic book reader's theater. This is when I put a comic strip up one panel at a time. Participants "volunteer" (are coerced) into playing parts. Many really enjoy hamming it up and everyone's a good sport about it. The comic we enacted was The Animal Fable, a comic I drew for Curriculum Comics #2.

In addition to the above activities, I shared some other information about using comics to teach. I hope that it got everybody thinking about the potential for using this fantastic art form to give students a chance to "show what they know" in creative ways.

Comic Re-covered: Batman's New Look

2010-03-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook drawing. This is a "re-do" where I take an existing comic cover and redraw it in my own style. I colored this on the computer, which I never do!

James Warhola Visit

2010-03-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Our school recently had a visit from author/illustrator James Warhola. Here we are posing by a sculpture created by fifth graders of his uncle, Andy Warhol.

After his slide show and reading, it was a real treat to see a lot of his original art up close. He brought finished illustrations, sketches and "dummies" (prototypes of books before the finished art is begun).

You can read more about this fantastic day at my teacher blog.

My dissertation is taking over my brain

2010-03-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

sketch (skech)n.

1. A hasty or undetailed drawing or painting often made as a preliminary study.

2. A brief general account or presentation; an outline.

This sketch is called, "My Dissertation is Taking Over my Brain." The farther you go in the process, the less your brain allows itself to be used for other functions.

President's Day

2010-03-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here is another of my "slice of life" comics, meaning -- this really happened!

High Maintenance Machine

2010-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Matthew Reidsrow is a very talented cartoonist who self publishes High Maintenance Machine, a really great comic. We recently traded comics with each other by mail. He was kind enough to sketch the Mighty Andar and the Mystic Yak in his own style. This made my day!

Halcolm

2010-02-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

Here is another comic inspired by the parables of Halcolm, a fictional character of Michael Quinn Patton's. I have promised myself, that no matter what, I am always going to make a little time for making art. Right now, that amounts to about two pages of comics a week. Whenever I get an idea for a comic, I jot it down. Then, I pick the idea I like best to make into a comic.

For now, I am enjoying making comics that illustrate something I'm learning in my course work. Eventually, some of these may find their way into my dissertation.

Comics on Trial

2010-02-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

In my master's research project, I wrote about the history of comics, including the anti-comics campaign conducted by all kinds of crusaders from 1945 to 1954. This actually culminated in congressional hearings. I wish that when I was writing it, I had known about the articles excerpted at Yesterday's Papers. In Part I and Part II John Adock disects the criticism of comics, which is laughable by today's standards.

For instance, one article from 1945 begins,

“Every great police department makes the reading of certain ‘comics’ a ‘must’ because the crime pattern delineated by the cartoonist is certain to be followed by youthful imitators of the villain depicted. If parents would like to explain the erratic behavior of their children, let them do as the police do and learn from the ‘comics.’” - The Rev. William A. Gorey, pastor, St. Sabina Church, Chicago. (Southtown Economist, April 1945).

These articles described several objectionable scenes, which are published online side by side with scenes from the actual comics panels at Yesterday's Newspapers and at Words and Pictures. These comics include outrageous stuff like the comic below:

“To read some of these comics is to be lost in a labyrinth of Freudiana, a sickening reminder of the depths to which human imagination can sink,” said the Church of England Newspaper, the unofficial publication of the United Church on 13 Oct 1954.

One anti-comics article concludes,

In the final analysis, the problem is one that faces each parent in the privacy of his own home. He must solve the problem himself, in his own way. But he must solve it. The alternative is a child mentally and morally imperiled. (Southtown Economist, April 1945).

These excerpts illustrate how there were a lot of very vocal people who maintained that comics were the cause of many of the ills of society. After rock and roll music came along, they had a new scapegoat, but unfortunately all this hype did a lot of damage to the comics industry at that time.

Innovator vs. Qualitative Scholar

2010-02-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of reading from educational journals and textbooks. That reading can sometimes be kind of dry, so I really appreciate how author Michael Quinn Patton writes in an informal style and includes a lot of parables, jokes and cartoons.

This comic is inspired by one of Halcolm's Law's of Inquiry. Halcolm is a fictional sage-like character created by Patton, a qualitative research expert. The cartoon guy standing next to "cartoon me" is how I picture this character.

This cartoon illustrates how there's a lot more involved in doing research than you might think at first!

ABC #27: The Infiniternal

2010-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

This month's Art by Committee Challenge is to illustrate this random quote from a science fiction novel: "Randall's avatar was a tortoise."

Our Friend, the Follicle Mite

2010-01-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

This comic was written by my wife. She was challenged to create an "infomercial" as part of her Mary Kay business group. We thought it would be fun to include artwork. I told her it would have to be in comic form, "'cuz that's how I roll!" Anyway, it was fun to research the follicle mite and imagine their lives.

Sleepy Saturday

2010-01-23T18:08:00.001-08:00

This is another of my "slice of life" comics - meaning, this really happened. I just read it to Nathan and he got a big chuckle out of it!

Teaching with the Power of Comics

2010-01-19T17:29:00.001-08:00

Tonight I had a privilege to be the guest speaker at a class for future educators at Elmira College. It was a really great group of about 30 college students. My presentation included information about how teachers can use comics to teach and reinforce essential skills.

Activities included:

Comics reading "Round Robin" style
Comic Book Reader's theater
Comic Strip conversions to teach students to write prose style dialogue using comics as inspiration
Book Reports in comic style
How to teach students to create their own original characters
Using speech balloons and thought balloons
and much more!

They're proud of their creations!

Here are some of the participants original characters. If tomorrow's
educators can draw this well, our children are in good hands!

Beautiful Noise

2010-01-18T15:02:00.001-08:00

I had this idea for a comic a while ago, when Nathan was going through the Terrible Two's. It's been in my head for a long time. I don't know why it took me so long to get around to drawing it. When I finished, it just seemed like this one needed to be shaded with pencil and blending stump, so that you can tell when the lights are off, I guess.

I think comics don't always have to be funny. Sometimes they can be touching or even sad. To me this one is about how bad things do sometimes happen, but they can help you to become more patient.

"45"

2010-01-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

I had the idea for this comic after doing a similar one last year called "44". It's a little experimental for me. I wanted to do some more realistic backgrounds, so after getting the idea, I took my daughter with me to photograph some scenes in the setting I had in mind. I also did more crosshatching than usual.

ABC #26: "Let's Put our Heads Together"

2010-01-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

ABC Comics are something I do each month as part of the Art by Committee sketch game sponsored by the best artist website around, The Gurney Journey. Each month we're provided with a random line or scene from an unknown science fiction novel. Each artist who participates creates their interpretation of the scene.

I try to use each challenge in a comic story that is in progress in which The Mighty Andar is held captive in an alien prison on Planet X. I literally have no idea what will happen next, so it's kind of like real life. If you want to get caught up, click here -- but if you want to read them in order, you have to buy my comics, because I don't always create them in chronological order. If you think you're confused, you should try making them!

Our assignment this month is to imagine who is having the conversation below:

And, here is the comic I created to illustrate it!

Janus

2010-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Kristan gave me some really nice watercolor paints for Christmas. I'm breaking them in by doing some paintings of characters from mythology.

Janus (Pen & Ink with watercolor)

January is named after the Roman god Janus, the protector of gates and doorways. In works of art, he is usually depicted with two faces, "one looking into the past, the other to the future". He is often shown holding a rod and key. With the rod, he discourages those who are not allowed to enter. With the key, he opens the gate. Because everything in the heavens seemed to return to the same place, it made sense to artists of this time to also include a snake swallowing its own tail.

The Awe-manac, (a great resource for artists, writers and creative types) encourages us to "figuratively look into the past and savor all you have achieved and look into the future believing that it is about to serve realities unsurpassed by mere expectations" (Badonsky, 2008, p. 17).

Here's to locking up an old year and opening a new!

Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil.3)

The Comics of J.B. Winter

2010-01-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

Check out the comics of J.B. Winter. He does a lot of mini-comics and art experiments that I think are really cool. He is really pushing the boundaries of what a comic can be. Some of his experiments have included his 24-Hour Comic for this year that was drawn in 24 panels outdoors with chalk on a parking lot.

The year before his 24-Hour Comic was drawn with edible food coloring on tortillas and eaten by other participants in the challenge.

He has also done an interesting experiment where he gathered the work of 50 cartoonists (one from each state) to do a panel in his 50 States Jam comic.

However, my favorite work of his is Noodle -- I really like the visual puns and open-ended aspects. I like how he uses schematics and diagrams to show more about an incident or concept than we typically see in comics. Most comics are almost like a movie on paper, but Winter's have unique ways of showing what was in the character's pockets, what happened before, what will happen next.

A Drawing for 2010

2009-12-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

Scaling the Ivory Tower in 2010 (Crayola Marker Sketch)

The drawing above is a sketch I made to represent my major goal for the year 2010. I've been working on my doctorate in Curriculum & Teaching for a long time, but this will be the year I finish. I was inspired to make this drawing after doing a similar one (below) for the year 2009. I noticed that every single goal I noted in the '09 drawing I either accomplished, or made a conscious decision to save for later. This year I only put one goal because I'm thinking I may need to set some things aside for a time and really knuckle down and finish.

They say that many successful people write down their goals or visualize themselves being successful before attempting difficult objectives. I guess these drawings are my way of doing that. At any rate, you can read more of the rationale behind that here.

"Ropin' Fool" -- A Comic Strip about Will Rogers

2009-12-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed making this comic about a person I've always thought was fascinating, and I learned a lot more about him while doing the research. There have been many successful people who just did not do well in school, and telling their stories is a recurring theme in my comics. I think these stories remind us to try to be accepting of the square pegs who don't fit into round holes!

Two Paintings

2009-12-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

I had posted the study for this painting of my dad a while ago. I was at my parent's house, so I snapped a photo of it. I had been reading about Rembrandt's approach to painting -- how he'd paint the canvas dark brown and then build up the lights in layers, so I thought I'd give that a try. The one below is also acrylic, a painting of Dad's barn. I used a palette knife a lot in that. This one is from quite a while ago -- senior year in college.

The Greatest Gifts

2009-12-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

I believe the best gifts are things people make themselves. The painting above is from Anna to me. It is done using the Bozzo Technique. I was surprised. I guess I had forgotten that I had dropped some heavy hints about possibly getting it as a gift for Christmas!

Dan took ceramics this year and made a lot of really neat projects to give as gifts to family members. The snowmen and tree were thrown on the wheel, then details were added. The wheel-thrown bowl below was for me.

The Artistes (pronounced \är-ˈtēsts\)

2009-12-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

This is the Mansfield University art department faculty and staff, where I will be a part-time instructor next fall (in addition to my day job!). We are supposed to be posing for the yearbook. It is a very positive, creative and sometimes zany bunch. I think I will fit in pretty good.

Parallax

2009-12-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

Sketchbook drawing: scene from a DC comic redrawn by me.

EC #4 Cover Preview

2009-12-24T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here's the cover to the next issue of my comic. The original is in watercolor. I enjoyed doing some experimental techniques, like using the salt technique in the alien, and using a paper towel to blot wet paint in Andar's background.

All the comics are done for this issue, but I hope to have the rest of the work done over break!

Bird's Eye View and Worm's Eye View

2009-12-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

Artists today have a wealth of visual references online and in print. It would be very easy for us to become overly dependent on these. I think it's a real challenge to take a three dimensional object and attempt to draw the same physical thing from different vantage points. I made these drawings years ago of a simple child's toy, looking down on it and looking up at it.

Pencil Portraits

2009-12-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Two drawings that were commissioned as Christmas gifts. Pencil drawing with blending stump, which is a very handy tool.

Family Art Projects

2009-12-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

Below is a card I made for Kristan's birthday today. The heart's are cut out, so you can see a bit of the picture within.

Okay, so I swiped the idea from a card I saw in the store. But, it's just for fun, right? When Nathan saw it, he wanted to paint his own scene of the three of us eating at a restaurant. Below is his painting of (left to right) himself, Daddy and Mommy. We are all eating from orange plates. Daddy and Mommy are eating lettuce but he's eating mac 'n' cheese.

After he finished his painting for Mommy he asked me to draw the Hulk so he could paint it.

"I'll have a Non-reproducible Blue Christmas..."

2009-12-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

Here's one panel of my latest comic. This is a color scan, so it shows the non-reproducible blue pencil marks. This is my first time trying this kind of pencil, and I think I'm a convert. They never have them at our local art supply store, so when I was in Philadelphia, I bought a great big handful of them.

The idea is, that you can pencil the drawing and ink it. You don't have to erase the pencils, because if you scan it in black & white, the pencils don't show. That the idea, anyway, only next time I won't be so heavy handed with it.