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5/7 - Again,
no update. Between preparing for a job interview,
nursing a wrenched ankle, and recovering from the
crashed hard drive I haven't had time for comics lately.
I'll be reworking the AWFW comics soon, and have a new
CS up soon.
And if not, I
have a little something from a friend to post...but it's
much too late to post it today. Something for a
rainy day.
Again, no
comic this week - had a massive hard drive crash that
took out the comics I'd worked on. I'll try and
have something next week. Bear with me, folks.
No comic
tonight, but they are being worked on:
Ten Years of
Comics Anniversary thing I do when I don't have a comic presents...
1991.
1991
was my junior year of High School, and it's when I
signed up for my first, and last, year of art class.
I'd signed up because I was obviously proficient at art,
and if I was gonna do comics professionally, then I
might as well try to learn new techniques.
My
art teacher wasn't interested in expanding our talent,
or nuturing any artistic creativity that any of us had.
Nope. Her idea of art class was "I painted a
picture of three pussy willows on a pond in front of a
mountain. Everyone copy it." It went on like
this for most of the year.
And
for god's sake, don't even THINK about mentioning comics
around her. That's not art, that's crap.
It
was a complete disaster, but not a total loss.
Toward the end of the year, we finally were allowed to
explore art on our own. Assuming she'd approve it.
Which she almost never did. Eventually, I learned
to give her something she'd approve, then do whatever
the hell I wanted anyway. The opinion of the class
was that my art pieces were really nice. The
opinion of the art teacher was "I didn't approve this.
You get an F." My AWESOME ceramic P-Chan piggy
bank said otherwise.
I still have a few of those pieces,
though. And I think they're pretty darned good.
One track I got on, was what was called "High Contrast
Contact Paper," where you have a white sticky backed
paper, pressed up against a dark acetate. You cut
the white away, leaving the black behind. It was a
really stunning look, and I did several pieces in that
two-toned black and white. One of which, a
Japanese woman looking wistfully into the distance,
got a begrudging B from the teacher (best part of the
pic? It says, in Japanese, "My art teacher is a
bitch").
I
was still fooling around with comic art, however, and I
really liked that high contrast look. I was also
nursing a story idea called "Awakenings." Here's
the (As usual, unfinished) first page of that comic,
merging the new story with the high contrast art I was
really digging:
The
awakening involved a bodyguard, who suddenly woke up in
the middle of a battle test. She knew she had to
fight, and did, but wasn't sure how or why. Just
did. Eventually, over time, we realize she's one
of many bodyguards this happened, to, and, eventually,
that they're robotic...and she's the only one sentient
enough to question who she is.
The
plan was to try and make the comic in this high contrast
scheme, using very few colors, all solid, and deep dark
blacks. I was also still using marker colors for
strong bold lighting effects, like the laser shot in
Panel 6. That bold "special effects" coloring is
still used in AWFW for magic effects.
I
ended up staying in that style until the end of the
school year, expanding it into linoleum block stamping
(the only art project the teacher was enthusiastic
about, a fairy by a stream), and even glass etching (I
made an awesome aquarium scene that she didn't approve
of, therefore failed). My last project was going
to be a cut glass piece that was a woman arranging
flowers, but done in only three colors (red, blue,
purple, black). She didn't approve of it, I didn't
care any longer, and it never got past the planning
stage.
I
swore I'd never go back to that art class again, but
found myself one credit short of what I needed for my
senior year. I begrudgingly went back to her for
Art 2. She said no. And then she gave me a
suggestion that really turned my artistic world around.
"You want to do line art? Go take drafting."
I
did. I aced it. I still use it to this day.
Thanks, teach.
--Jenn
I don't like to beg, although I seem to do
it a lot, but the combination of medical bills and
prescriptions is killing me Anything you can offer to
help would be appreciated. FOUR(!) of those bills are
already paid!
--Jenn
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2011 Move in Fees $576 paid, $424
remaining. |
$1000 |
|
Overdue Utilities (New House): $92
paid, $464 remaining. |
~600 |
|
Hospital Bill: $1707 paid, $482
remaining. |
$2190 |
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2008 Move In Costs: $184, $1816
remaining |
$2000 |
|
Overdue Utilities: PAID |
| Hospital
Bill (2): PAID |
| Doctor's
Bill: PAID |
| Hospital
Bill (3): PAID |
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