Art School Confidential part two

rough sketch of image for back page of our final project, a 4-page comic, which had to be 'about the sea'. ack. as it was our interpretation of 'the sea', i went off on a tangent and did something about revisiting the normandy beaches.

CB: tell me about skool
H: it was FUN. it made me feel happy
H: and kind of unblocked
H: and more creative
H: all of which are good
CB: wow. that's the best ever!
H: i forget how stifling office environments are
H: we went to the comics museum one day too, that was cool. it's only tiny but interesting


couple of panels from first page of final project, about normandy beaches

CB: is the class done? will you keep drawing?
CB: what were the other students like?
H: yeah it was only a week long
H: yes i think i will... although i'm still not much of a drawrer (that's so not a word)
H: other students were a real mix - almost as many girls as boys, ages from.. 18 to 40-ish... some had previous illustration experience, some had none
H: a couple of people dropped out by about the second or third day, which is kind of lame
CB: yeah! in a week class! losers
H: exactly
H: one guy was talking about getting us all to keep in touch and starting a quarterly comic where each have four or five pages to fill
H: which could be cool


panel from third page of normandy beach mini-comic.

H: looking at all the different kinds of comic book and graphic novel, there are so many that are like.., my style - ie, relatively basic - of drawing - like quite a few of the autobiographical graphic novels and stuff
H: you know what i mean?
CB: yeah! that's what I was saying
CB: I mean look at Scott Pilgrim
H: yeah - i did a few sketches and stuff from those american manga style books, they're pretty easy to copy
H: and i can copy quite well. guess it's just another way of learning.
CB: it totally is! that's what I did from when I was 9
H: lolCB: I mostly copied the Dungeons and Dragons manuals. LOL*
H: hahahah brilliant

So in summary:
I had a good week, it was good to be in a creative environment again and have the opportunity to just sit and draw and sketch all day.

In terms of what I learned, I think the Eisner and McCloud books actually do a better job of teaching the theory and work behind it all, of which I thought there'd be more in this course. However, for me personally, I can't underestimate the powers of the practical side of the class; I have sketch books coming out of my ears but I can never quite bring myself to sit down and properly do some work - so the act of actually *having* to was a good breakthrough, and I'm kind of hoping I can keep that momentum going. I have those three books I've just referenced on my shelf, which I totally intend to re-read once I've waded through the three stacks of books I have to read (most of which are on loan from schminnie or the library, so I really should get cracking).

I mean, it's not like I'm going to go off and become an illustrator. We all know this isn't a new career path for me. It was mainly about branching out and opening up - and escaping the office - all of which it did.

The one downfall of the week: the proximity of Central St Martins to Gosh Comics... It's been recommended to me before, but this was the first time I'd actually visited. And needless to say I went most days and spent too much money.

*CB, don't disown me for publishing that...

The finished back page image