I still make comics (it's true)

I just haven't been posting them, I swear. Clodhopper is on the back burner, although I have page four thumbnailed and waiting for the right day to execute it. However I do have some stuff for my comics class with Paul Karasik that I'm really totally psyched about. Our first assignment for the class brought me back to the wintersession comics class I took with R. Kikuo Johnson freshman year: a one page instructional comic. As a little baby freshman I tried to do "how to rock climb" with...uh...medicocre results. It's really odd to think back to a time not so long ago when I didn't understand how comics work and was only vaguely aware of Moebius.

With two years of comics stuffed into my brain, I managed to create something with a greater level of clarity. We really finessed our instructional comics in class, and thanks to the advice of Paul & my peers I am pretty happy with the end result, below. My subject was "making a pb&j" (although if you can't figure that out from looking at the comic I failed to in my efforts at communication).

Disclaimer: I am a younger sibling, and this may have affected my portrayal of the older brother.

I'm currently working on inking the second assignment for Paul's class, which I should be able to finish over the next four or five days if I'm on my game.

Another recent development is that I made myself a new portfolio website on cargo collective, which you can find right here. It's much sleeker and more customizable than carbonmade, imo. Next step will be to get my own domain name...

Tezuka-mania

My current comics project is to make a comic of several pages that is informed and inspired by the methods of Osamu Tezuka. If you haven't heard, Tezuka was rightly considered the "God of Manga" and possibly created more comics than any artist in history. Several of his works famous in the states are Astro Boy, Phoenix, Black Jack, and Buddha. I'm a huge fan of his work and I'm currently waiting for the return of Phoenix pt. 7 to the library. I made a couple of scans from Phoenix pt. 5 for reference, they give a pretty good idea of what I'm looking to pull from in Tezuka's work.

My project will be 3-5 pages and is set in a futuristic environment inspired by Tezuka's worlds. I just finished the first page yesterday, seen below.

I've got high hopes for this project! Below is a sketchbook spread that includes the thumbnail  I used to plan this page. You'll notice that it's fairly refined, and that's because I went through two or three messier versions on the previous page. On to the next one...

Like Looking at Things? Me too!

As a sort of time capsule in the invisible blogosphere and as a (hopefully) helpful service to anyone viewing ilearndrawgood, here's a quick list of some of the sites and blogs I check in on frequently. Some are comix, though not all are even art related. Check em out.

• The Comics Journal
• Today and Tomorrow
• Jacob Ciocci
• Gills
• Hyperallergic
• The Flop Box
• Illustration Art
• Mishka
• The Stranger
• Cosmic Spread
• Puzzleoverit
• Jeff Kooons
• Radiolab

Online Portfolio!

I went to a career building program last week and they highly recommended putting up a simple online portfolio to begin gathering attention on the web. I made mine last night, check it out!

So. Tumblr.

So I've been forced to see the benefits of having a tumblr. Mainly so I can have a music blog with some of my dear friends.

My personal Tumblr

Group music blog (URL subject to change...)

I'm still a big fan of blogger though, so this blog will be staying put.

Extracurriculars

Despite my packed studio schedule, at RISD we still manage to make time for extracurriculars. Clubs and sports are of course part of this, but what I consider more important are the excursions we organize on our own -- sometimes spontaneously, sometimes months in advance. In any case, here are some things I've been up to besides working recently:

Devotchka and Gogol Bordello at the House of Blues in Boston
An incredible concert that was well worth the travel time and preparations. Gogol Bordello remains as my favorite group to watch live. Their new album came out April 27, and I suggest that anyone with a remote interest in Gogol Bordello to pick it up.















Z-Day (Or the H1Z1 outbreak)
Every year, hundreds of Brown and RISD students (and others!) join a zombie horde to shamble over Thayer St. and parts of the Brown campus.





Urban Exploration
As part of a 2D project, we explored an abandoned arcade with surprising results.







With finals month gearing up, my amount of free time is already diminishing...but hopefully I'll still have time for a few extracurriculars!

Holiday Break

Here it is, New Year's Eve, and my Holiday Break is almost over. Soon I'll be back in Providence and taking my Wintersession courses: Graphic Novel (aka Comics) and Intro to Computer Animation. Hopefully I will have more time to climb and possibly even set at the RI Rock Gym.

Anyway, here are some videos of my favorite blind dog playing with his new toy :)





Enjoy!

Quick Update!

I've been ridiculously busy and haven't had time to put up a real blog post. This one is just to say that you can find all of my photos on my Picasa account, right here.

Enjoy!