Jerzy Drozd

Teaching Artist and Cartoonist. He/him. When life is feeling heavy, I enjoy creating and sharing stories of cute heroes showing extraordinary courage.

A Primary Influence on Doctor Baer

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The Palace of Doom! The Roof of the World! The Pit of Chaos! The Amusement Part of Terror! These are the wild locations in my favorite 100-odd minutes of animation. The Revenge of Cobra mini-series is a huge influence on my upcoming book, The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. The world-spanning MacGuffin chase, the alliance-building of the heroes, and the internal dysfunction of the villains is just perfect in this mini-series.

I’ll probably be creatively chasing the feeling this cartoon gave me for the rest of my life.

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by Jared comics

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Some years back when I was finishing my first graphic novel/webcomic The Front: Rebirth, I created a series of comic strips as if they were created by Jared, the abominable snowman mercenary with the heart of gold. It was a fun exercise in thinking and drawing like a kid:

These are also useful to demonstrate to my students that you don’t need great art to tell a story.

I hope to eventually get all my old webcomics on here. I have the plugin running, just need to do the work of gathering and uploading all the pages.

Get The Front: Rebirth here!

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Bussin’ Chips and Clip Studio Paint v Procreate

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(well, not really versus, more of comparison from a taste perspective)

A lot of fun chatting happened during this recent live stream. I was ready for a quiet flatting session, but a lively group showed up to talk about Clip Studio Paint, Procreate, and youthful slang!

I live stream almost every Saturday at 3pm ET. Follow me on Twitch to be notified when the next stream starts, and we can hang out and talk about creativity.

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Loving Ink Lines

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I’m working on a new illustration of Baba Yaga (for an as-yet-unannounced project) and I was taken by the ink lines while flatting. Something has happened in the last 15 years or so where I absolutely love the way ink interacts with different papers.

Back in 2002 when I was penciling, inking, and halftoning my first mini-series, PPV: Pay-Per-View, I thought of inking as a largely utilitarian thing that made the art more printable. This page was where I switched from inking with super-dark pencils to a crow quill and technical pens.

It’s not bad, but I can see how crisp younger Jerzy kept things. Lines weren’t there to express, but to describe. It’s clear work that reads comparatively stiff when you consider the energy and character of lines in Baba Yaga’s hood.

I honestly never imagined I’d ever ?love? inking. But here I am! Let’s all promise to never stop learning, because we’ll always find new ways to love making art.

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Teaching: the Tension Between the Arbitrary and the Algorithmic

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This snippet of a recent episode of the Emerge podcast does a terrific job of framing the adaptation that I think is necessary for a good experience in a classroom. Yes, I write lesson plans (that’s the algorithmic part), but I change the plan based on what the room needs in that moment (that’s the arbitrary part). Here’s the whole discussion:

I explore this artful way of planning and teaching in a webinar I led for the Ohio Arts Council back in 2020:

While this series of microcasts explores the adaptive, in-the-room quality of being a teaching artist. You can start with the episode below:

TPD 264 – Ways I talked myself out of teaching

Interested in something more interactive? I regularly offer training for teachers and teaching artists. Click here to find out more about how I can help inspire your students!

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Heavy Metal War – Four Million Years Later, episode 16

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Prime channels Judge Dredd! Megatron cheats! Starscream won’t shut up! Two Constructicons don’t talk at all! Wait, what are Constructicons?? Find out in this episode of FOUR MILLION YEARS LATER!!

http://FourMillionYearsLater.com

Befriend the FOUR MILLION YEARS LATER page on Facebook!

Closing theme by Nick Mehalick.

Please email us! FourMillionYearsLater@gmail.com

Watch the episode before listening to our commentary:

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A Plague of Insecticons – Four Million Years Later, episode 15

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SEE: Three new characters debut! HEAR: A tale of young Jerzy walking into an electric fence!! AND BE TAKEN ABACK BY: An episode WITHOUT Starscream!!!

Befriend the FOUR MILLION YEARS LATER page on Facebook!

Closing theme by Nick Mehalick

Watch the episode before you listen to our discussion:

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TPD Special: Influences: Indiana Jones, with Jerzy Drozd & Ben Hatke

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I’m starting a series of special discussions with some friends, focusing on art that influenced The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. In this first TPD Special I’m joined by Ben Hatke, author of the upcoming Things In the Basement, for an enthusiastic exploration of the Indiana Jones movies. We look at how they resonated with us as young people, how they influenced our work, and what we take away from them today.

Lots of story analysis and philosophy in this one!

If you prefer video, you can listen to the episode on YouTube below.

Links mentioned:

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