This week in high school comics class: working on outlining and structuring our minicomic stories. The structure is there to support them when they’re stuck and for them to rebel against when they’re not.
P1: Introductions – We learn about the characters and setting
P2: Characters interact – We learn more about how the characters see themselves and each other, particularly through dialogue
P3: Conflict – Some kind of problem shows up
P4: Characters react to conflict – We learn more about the characters through their reaction to the conflict
P5: Twist – Some kind of surprise shows up–could be big, could be small
P6: Characters react to twist – We learn more about the characters through their reaction to the conflict
P7-P8: Resolution – I always think about this part as answering one of two questions: *How* is the world different, or *Why* is the world the same?
If you’re at the Buckeye Book Fair this Saturday, November 4, be sure to keep an eye open for some Doctor Baer art drops I’m leaving around the convention center. Like this one, which is also a sneak peek at the next Doctor Baer story I’m working on now.
If you’re anywhere near NE Ohio this Saturday, November 4, I hope you’ll come out to the Buckeye Book Fair! I’ll be there with copies of Rockets, The Warren Commission Report, and Boulder and Fleet. And at 1pm I’ll be leading another drawing game show with fellow kidlit author/illustrator Merrill Rainey.
I’ll also be hiding some art drops around the conference. It’ll be a lot of fun!
But I haven’t yet found as many tools for efficient flatting as I’ve found in Clip Studio Paint. If anyone has any tips or resources for Procreate flatting, I’d love to hear about them!
I’m back to doing Art Soundoff again, this time to follow along with my Interactive Media students. I try to model how I think about articulating what I’d like people to know about me.
Years ago I was leading a comics workshop at A2 Inkubate (a pre-conference for the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival). I joined the participants in the hands-on activity where we all made zine-style minicomics. Minutes passed and everyone was drawing away. But a good friend next to me sat and stared at the blank page, pencil tip circling inches above. I whispered to him, “just make some marks and respond to them.” He did, and minutes later he was drawing along with the rest of the group. He told me afterwards how helpful that nudge was.
The paralysis inflicted by the blank page is something we’ve all experienced. But what’s behind that? I thought this bit from a recent episode of This Jungian Life captured it pretty well.
I run into this a lot with students. Each one has their own words for what that moment of staring at the blank page is. They might be a perfectionist. There are too many good ideas to choose from. There are no ideas. We freeze up under the pressure to do it right. But sometimes the best move is to just make something. Even if we don’t like what we draw, the momentum will help us get to the good drawings. Instead of letting hesitation jam our energy, make some marks and respond to them.
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Visit my resources page for FREE creativity tools and comic books, including a handy-dandy downloadable cheat sheet of this list. – http://resources.gerimi.net
My Top 10 tools for drawing comics
1. Ticonderoga HB pencil
2. Red Prismacolor col-erase pencil
3. Pencil extenders
4. Staedtler leadholder with F lead
5. Staedler 25% Rag Vellum
6. Blick round synthetic brushes – sizes #00, #2, #4
7. Assorted Sakura micron pens
8. Sakura Electric Eraser
9. Pentel Presto correction Pens
10. Speedball Super Black or Higgins Black Magic india ink
I’m not sure when I got The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20. I think it might have been Christmas of 1990. My parents, resigned to the fact that I was hopelessly in love with comic books (especially Spider-Man), got me a Marvel Comics collecting starter kit. I’m pretty sure it was this one—a short box that came with a sampling of the various Marvel Comics that had come out in the past few years.
Or it might have been in the back issue bins of Levi’s Bookstore, my first regular comics shop. Either way, this comic became a clear explanation for why I loved Spider-Man so much.
The story, based on an original story by Fred Schiller, written by Ken McDonald, Penciled by Mark Beachum, inked by Bob Wiacek, lettered by Jim Novak, and colored by Bob Sharen, starts with Arno Stark, the Iron Man of the far future time of 2020. He’s pretty much the character portrayed by the Marvel movies. Irreverent, brilliant, funny, and infuriating.
His mega-headquarters is suddenly invaded by a terrorist by the name of Robert Saunders. Iron Man quickly does the hero thing to stop him, but Saunders is killed during the conflict. Problem is that Saunders’ retinal patterns are the only thing that can shut down the mega bomb he activated within Iron Man’s compound.
But no worries—future Iron Man has a time machine. He’ll just go back in time and scan the retinal patterns of the young Saunders before he became a terrorist. You need a ticking clock, though, so in the case of this time machine, time moves forward for everyone, both past and future. Iron Man has to get those retinal patterns quickly and get back to 2020 before the bomb goes off and kills everyone he loves.
Once in 1986, Iron Man tracks the boy Saunders down to New York City, and his path accidentally crosses a battle between Spider-Man and The Blizzard. Iron Man shows more macho brashness from Iron Man as he swiftly dispatches The Blizzard. And without verbal explanation he grabs Saunders to grab the retinal pattern.
Enter Spider-Man, who isn’t okay with powerful people barging their way into scenes and pushing around the powerless without a word. Still, Iron Man’s one of the good ones, so there must be a reason. He gives Iron Man a chance to explain. Iron Man tries to shoo Spidey away, and the resulting action destroys the retinal scanner.
We get a speedy chase where Iron Man, again without explanation, announces he needs to take the young Saunders. Spidey bobs and weaves, but Saunders is gravely injured.
And then we get to this terrific scene. Spider-Man unloads on Iron Man and nearly beats the armor off of him. Peter Parker has a button, and it’s when you push around those smaller than you. Especially kids.
And the part that gives me goose bumps is that he can’t even summon a proper insult.
The part that makes me laugh and cry at the same time is when Saunders’ father, who is quite wealthy, offers Spider-Man a reward. And Spidey not only asks for a loan instead of an outright reward, but he asks for the exact amount of his rent, which is due tomorrow.
I won’t spoil the ending for those who care about that (though it’s a nearly 40-year-old story). But for me this is peak Spider-Man. He’s the humble guy down on the ground with us, but he’s not afraid to question when the bigger fish are doing something he finds questionable.
