Lauren A @laurencomicjournal-blog - Tumblr Blog

My Evolving Process

As I look through my comic creator journal and notecard exercises I really can see a difference in my drawing. All year I have basically used the same character, which is a comic version of me. With each assignment I have gotten better at the ‘image’ of what my character could look like. In my first assignment--that was about a quirk I have--my character was rough and looked a little odd. I kept trying to draw glasses and it just didn’t work at all. Now, I have eliminated the glasses and focused more on the character’s gestures rather than icons like glasses. It makes for the character to be simpler but also helps me draw a more even face.

I know my limitations as a drawer now and I don’t have to experiment with what I can and can’t do. In the beginning, it was frustrating not being able to draw what I really wanted to say. Now, I’ve just accepted what I can’t do and use it to my advantage. I’m not great at drawing life-like so I stick to a more cartoon style that works for. What I want to say is still clear on the page and I think that is all that matters.

Even though I have accepted what I can’t do, I’m still attempting new things. For my final project I am going to attempt digital coloring. With my adaptation project I used colored pencils and I think that did hurt my overall look for the comic. The harsh lines didn’t look great and I don’t want to do that again for my final project.

I’m excited for how my final project will turn out! :)

#journal prompt 10

I clicked the link that had a tutorial for easier ways to to include a background. My comics for the past semester have always lacked a setting because I every time I tried to draw a background it just turned out weird. So, for the most part I avoided backgrounds altogether. I liked this tutorial because it gave really simple ideas to include a background without it being overwhelming. I tried the silhouette background and it turned out alright. Honestly don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier because it’s so simple. Glad I clicked this link though because I think it will give my final project a more complete look with a background and everything.

#journal prompt 9

gestures and emotions

Workshop day 3 & 4

Rough sketch of my thumbnail.

workshop day 1 & 2

Journal Prompt #8

The idea I’ve been thinking about is a comic for young tweens about feminism. Kind of like and “Understanding Feminism” type thing. I really enjoyed Jane, The Fox and me and how the creator approached important themes like feeling isolated to young readers. I would also like to present an important topic like feminism with grace and come at it with care. I see this comic in print form rather than a webcomic but i’m not too sure if I want to make it about myself and my experiences or be more separate from the piece. I don’t want this comic to be completely aimed at young girls but boys as well but I’m not sure how to get this to appeal to boys too.

my characters livin life

My comic focuses on a small corner of the Harry P. Leu Gardens. I decided to draw the sculpture and I’m worried in drawing form it looks like I just drew cartoonish people. The moments I focused on were where the concrete meets the garden. If an “outsider” saw this I don’t think they would get that great of an idea of what the gardens are fully like but they would get a glimpse of experiencing the gardens. In hindsight, I kind of wish I didn’t choose the gardens to draw because petunias are hard to draw :/

I absolutely loved Ms. Marvel and I’m guilty of choosing this class because I liked superhero comics. This is a superhero comic but the themes mean so much more and the girl power displayed is an awesome story. This page in particular I really liked the men below her are looking up to her. She is the strong and mighty in this one. The use of drawing her above everyone else in a strong pose is a really awesome technique to characterize strength and at this point in the story, development within herself. Most panels before this page had dull-ish yellows and overall orange tone to it but this picture is clear. I think it is very symbolic of how Kamala sees herself in that moment. She’s never been more sure of who she is and the colors reflected that. If I had the skills with photoshop I would like to create something like this.

#JournalPosting7

Journal Posting #6

Throughout this semester I have really tuned in on the character I use. I enjoy drawing sort of life-life characters but clearly still cartoonish. I used to hate seeing the bodies that I drew that were oddly shaped and I couldn't get the right dimensions. By now, I’ve learned that drawing an anatomically correct body just isn’t going to happen so I’ve learned to like the bodies that have a little bit of a quirk to them. I’m not sure why but I draw myself as the main character in my comics, I’ve gotten used to how I draw myself and I like the way it looks. I guess I found something I liked and didn’t let go of it.

One thing I wish I would do more often is draw a background in the panels. I’m so focused on the character and their words that I completely forget to draw something behind them. Some panels I think it’s okay for no background but I have fallen into this habit of never including a setting. Without a background the comic isn’t interesting as it could be. I put my time in the details of the characters’ faces rather than what’s around them. For some reason, I’m okay with sacrificing a background for the details in their faces. I do think a mixture of both can be good. I should try to apply myself more for the final project to create a dynamic comic with a background and all.

Journal Posting #5

I decided to read, “Erase your Fucking Pencils” simply because I thought it was a funny headline. When I started reading it I realized I am also horrible at this. When I finally turn in my finished product I always notice I forgot some pencil lines under my pen. It drives me crazy and it also drives this author crazy. Matt bernier, the author biggest suggestion was to draw lighter so that all marks can be erased. I do often find myself drawing too dark and when it comes time to erase the pencil, there’s always marks that I can’t get up. I know there is a simple solution but somehow I always find myself drawing dark lines.At the end of the blog post he showed how I can get those hard to erase marks by putting a rubber eraser to a point. A quick, easy trick to get those pesky lines out of the way.

He did talk a lot about scanning in threshold and a lot of that was lost on me because I don’t use any of that. He also mentioned dry brushing that, something I never do. I probably won’t ever use it either because I don’t have photoshop. His drawings turned out great as he showed the process of dry brush but those skills are a bit beyond me at the moment. For now, I think I’ll still to pencil and paper.

Journal Posting #4

With my adaptation project I decided to add color. A small edition but all of my comics have been black and white before. I chose to use color because I wanted my comic to be flashy, to be something someone is compelled to pick up. I adapted CDC’s flu prevention and made sure that the comic was something someone would actually want to read. With my characters, I also spent a lot more time with them. Usually, I do the circle head rectangle body but this time I wanted to make them more life-like. I use life-like very broadly because they still look very cartoony but they at least have more human-like features. My main character that was a doctor went through about 5 or 6 drafts. I couldn’t decide if I wanted him serious or completely goofy and towards the end I fell more in the middle. I do like how he turned out.

I don’t always do this for my comics I either choose pen or pencil, never both. But this time I started with pencil to make everything look good and have the possibility to erase and then once I was finished I outlined the comic in pen. Once I was done with that I colored everything in. I made sure the pen lines were crisp and I was little more lenient with the coloring in. The tone of my comic isn’t completely serious and I wanted to show that by not having the color perfect.

I never felt constrained with this project but I did take much longer on outlining what I was going to put in each comic. Usually I just wing it and go panel by panel but this time I made a legitimate plan. By doing that, the finished product did feel more together and have clear focus to it.

Discovery Task #9: Maps and Diagrams I sort of made two maps for my comic; one of the whole store and a closer up look of just my department. As I look at it completely I’m not sure it’s super obvious that the bottom part is supposed to be just the domestics section. With the layout I didn’t try to make the panels look traditional, I kind of just did what I wanted and hoped it would put the focus on the maps. Not sure if I succeeded in that or not. I also wanted the writing to be in red but it didn’t show up well on my first try so I had to scrap that idea. I do like how this comic turned out overall, though.

My collage project. I think this has been my favorite exercise so far! I enjoyed finding something to add for the collage and I settled on the instruction manual in one of my Too Faced eyeshadow palettes. It was fun to show the train wreck I go through every time I apply makeup. The brown smudges are from the eyeshadow palette; I wanted to show the brown mess that always ends up on my eyes.

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Lauren A