Conquering Comics

Welcome to my Comic Creator's Journal! This is where I will post comics I have worked on for my Rhetoric in Comics class for the spring semester of 2017.

[lschubertcomics]

Journal Prompt 10: My Evolving Process

Comparing the adaptation project with the final one, there will be obvious improvements and that partly has to do with my motivation going up for the final. From the choices given for the adaptation, I wasn’t as inspired to work as hard but now that I have the option to choose what I want, I feel much more confident. Aside from that, I’ve been testing various looks for characters. I’m going with cartoon-style characters in 8-bit like the retro video games on the original Nintendo console. I wasn’t sure about this decision at first since I’m placing the characters in various video game environments but then thought it would be really cool to implement this idea. This has a much deeper and intense narrative compared to the adaptation project. I’ll be using Photoshop to move around the most important portion of the narrative: the backgrounds involved.

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Journal 9: Things I’ve Learned/Things to Steal - Try a Tutorial

For this prompt, I chose to try the tutorial about drawing a cartoon body. I always have trouble with deciding how to draw it and make it look more cartoonish so I found this tutorial would likely be helpful. It was somewhat helpful for me. I attempted to draw a character with a pear body and it turned out really weird yet looked natural. I like the way the face, hair and shoes came out though. I would like to use this method for my final project if I can make the body and clothes look better than the one in this picture.

[lschubertcomics]

Idea Workshops Reflection 2 This week helped with my story-telling of the comic. The only difficult part was to come up with questions about my comic since I have a good idea of what to do with it. The thumbnails allowed me to lay out my ideas really well to where I didn't have many queries. If anything, it affirmed my purpose and ideas plus developed them. Marissa again provided the best feedback on what I presented. I used that time to work on the script for the comic.

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Workshop Task 2: Thumbnails

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Idea Workshop Post 1 From the workshops for this week, I learned that I should incorporate real video game backgrounds from different games into my comic. Not only that but I'll include some dialogue from the games and switch between them too. It could work really well for an ongoing story. I'm still trying to come up with a solid idea for character designs. That's probably the most difficult part of this past week considering the project. The information changed some of my original plans in that it wasn't even my plan to input real gaming backgrounds or have the characters fight a number of monsters/bosses and then having all of it still make sense to the comic. This applies to starting out with difficult games and then more lighthearted, easy games. The best insight I received during the week was from Marissa and it wasn't necessarily criticism -- it was just helpful in giving me direction as to how to deal with the panels.

[lschubertcomics]

Workshop Task 1

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Journal 8

At first, I didn't know what to work on for the final project. I got to thinking more about issues I care about though and came to something I've been dealing with for the past few months at an increased capacity. And that is mental health. The audience I have in mind is those who've experienced troubles with their mental health in their lives. I'd like for them to know that they're not alone and people are there for them. I'd like to do this in sort of a satirical way. I may also like to explore some fantasy themes to bounce off of the satire. Having some mythical creatures like dragons might be cool or just have some depictions of real characters in the comic. This could be video game characters or Disney. I'd like to make it a very easy piece to pick up and read.

[lschubertcomics]

Discovery Task 10 I used Ross' description of a page from Dropsie Avenue to do my discovery task. He gave me three sets of dialogue/descriptions and I made four panels out of all of it to portray what he wrote as accurately as I could. I had trouble reading some of his handwriting but nonetheless I felt like I did well even though I knew it wouldn't be accurate at all to what is provided in Dropsie Avenue. In the second panel, I tried to show the character walking and being hidden in the crowd which was a bit difficult. As for the last one, I didn't know how to show the character "taking control" so I just drew him operating two puppets.

[lschubertcomics]

Journal 7: My Evolving Process - Adaptation Project

Tackling the adaptation project didn’t really change anything for my process. I spent more time brainstorming and took notes of what each panel would be according to the lyrics provided from Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Since this was such a large comic compared to the others, I had to implement new strategies to my work. Like dealing with repetition but still making it different in the panels was one of the challenges I had to overcome. I still wouldn’t say the product is crisp and clean though. I’m a very sloppy artist so it was going to take a lot of paper for it to be perfect even if I were to use pencil first. For adapting a work, the material is already given so there’s not as much leigh way in dealing with it. It’s fun to work on it though because the artist is putting their spin on a work that inspires them in some way for a new audience to see.

[lschubertcomics]

Journal 6: Things I’ve Learned/Things to Steal – Ms. Marvel

In the first panel, Zoe is so ignorant of Nakia’s culture. Somebody her age should have more knowledge about how Muslims practice their religion. This also pertains to Kamala. Even though Zoe throws backhanded comments at Kamala, she still says goodbye to her which at least with my experiences would be a rare sight with an individual like Zoe. Even then, Kamala still sticks up for her when others say she’s just being nice to be mean. It’s possible Kamala has a crush on Zoe since despite her actions, she claims Zoe’s nice and adorable. To add onto that thought, it seems like Kamala is ducking down as Zoe is speaking in the first panel. She’s lowering herself because that’s how she looks at herself and maybe flustered by her.

With art direction, it seems obvious Zoe is meant to look as though she is this happy, innocent teenager just greeting her friends. Then we have the typical jock boyfriend of hers who doesn’t talk much and just tells her when they need to get going. The details on the items in the next three panels are so well done. In the first set of the three, there’s Dylan’s Hot Flya sauce, Asian River Water, Roundhouse Cola and some other products. The names are humorous and also give a taste of what life is like in Jersey City. Onto the next one, Bruno is barely recognizable but we’re not supposed to pay much attention to him anyway. The business hours for the store state “all of them” and we can tell why in the next panel. In that panel, the storefront is visibly reading, “Circle Q” to parody Circle K which is a round-the-clock convenience store. Behind it is Books An’ Ting, Ting An’ Books which could be poking fun at a specific store in Jersey City or just the city itself. It adds a great deal of humor when there are parodies like the ones mentioned – along with the branding in general.

[lschubertcomics]

Journal 5: My Evolving Process - Comic Tools

I chose to read the blog post on four cartoonists’ takes on the brushes they use during the creation process. Even though I’m not working with brushes, I can kind of relate to them in that my work didn’t look too good until I switched to the Sharpie pen from just a regular pen. It makes it look bolder and more serious. Viewers probably look at what I draw in a different light now that I’ve amped it up. For these artists among many others, it takes a while for them to feel comfortable enough with a brush and paper to use those materials consistently. That adds a whole new level of complexity to drawing that I never really thought of. I found it tough enough to draw but finding comfortable materials for the task? Wow.

In my own work, I will try to always make my work public with updates, inking slowly and doing so for the projects I care about. I always have difficulties keeping to these three ideals as I am impatient and don’t like to waste time, ink or paper if I feel my idea isn’t going to come out well.

[lschubertcomics]

Journal 4: Possibilities for Adaptation Project

When considering the Adaptation Project, my first thought was to do Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” The other choices I considered were The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and Jimmy Fallon’s interview with Sandra Bullock. “Don’t Stop Me Now” is the one I’m going with though. I already have some memories with the song from playing a game with my friends. The song would be triggered to play every time the “tank” character approached the scene in Left 4 Dead 2 due to a mod. Moreover, it’s just an insane song with such power in it. In a comic, I imagine chaos erupting while the main character is exclaiming to not stop him. The audience includes those who need to break free from whatever may be holding them back in their lives and just have fun. Living by this philosophy is vital to my day-to-day life. The purpose is to inspire these individuals who are too afraid to branch out and not let any restraints bring them down.

[lschubertcomics]

Discovery Task 9

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Discovery Task 8 My drawings of the location turned out pretty well in comparison to how I thought it would turn out. Locations are more difficult to portray than the usual people with their expressions that we've been drawing for class. Making the objects look correct according to distance is the hardest part about it. An "outsider" can understand the comic in that there is a parking lot leading to several stores. Transitioning from one panel to the next, there is a close-up of O'Stromboli which the reader can tell is a restaurant and bar. The scaling for the most part seems accurate. As for the mood, it gives a surreal feeling while letting you know it's at night from the shadows. I wanted to enhance the surrealism of being there because this is exactly how I saw the place. I enjoyed every second of being there in a very city-like location and kind of give that off. I understand perspective and scaling a bit better now. Those are two aspects of drawing that I've always had trouble with. What I drew is a foreground so it's purposeful on its own.

[lschubertcomics]

Discovery Task 7

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Discovery Task 6 Working on this task was a lot of fun. The way my art turned out was surprising in a good way. Two of the panels I drew didn't turn out that great but just creating this whole comic felt great. I was reminiscing and trying to pick out moments where I felt happiest in 2016. The 9-panel grid works better than my previous layouts. This is my first time creating a comic in 9-panel grid format so there is no way I've maximized its potential. There is always room for improvement. The third and ninth panels were my worst ones. I'm not sure readers could tell that the third one is showing me and my brother in a car, looking out to my old apartment. That was an important moment but very difficult to draw. My best panels are the first, fourth, fifth and eighth ones. Some of them are simple but they are drawn and get the point across well.

[lschubertcomics]

Possibilities for Final Project

I've been creating satirical kinds of comics so I'd probably do that for this project. I would prefer to create something based off of a video game or a show. I'm also considering drama for this comic since dramas tend to be very appealing to me. It's very likely I would go with simplistic artwork to make it all cartoony and the incorporation of blood is an option (if that is also allowed here). The tropes included in the show or game would be the focus of the comic. It's in the realm of possibility that I might just do one about me and my friends. For better identification to the characters, coloring will have to be implemented. I could actually create a sense of closure for myself by completing this assignment applying to certain shows listed. Going on the assumption that this will be based off of a show or game, these would be my choices: Undertale Town of Salem Mario Party The 100 The Walking Dead How to Get Away With Murder LOST Breaking Bad The Legend of Zelda Splatoon

A brainstorm of random titles: Friendly Quarrels (IRL) Not so Much of a Mario Party Sans x Papyrus (Undertale) Everybody Dies (TOS) Little Misconceptions (TOS) The Cure? (TWD) How we Got Here (TWD)