I am going sleepless and you're out of lullabies

[turtlesoup]

Diary comic for this week! I'm going to try and keep these pretty simple for awhile, as we've just been assigned our big end-of-semester project, which is a doozy. Anyway, bizarre dream I had a few nights ago! The title (suggested by my friend Joyana) and final panel reference Winsor McCay's brilliant, classic, often-disturbing early 20th century comic strip, Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. The people teaching the class are my friend Dave (one of our seniors), and Mrs. Patmore, the cook from Downton Abbey (a British period drama I've watched a lot of recently).

I have a couple more homework assignments to share, in the interests of keeping these posts smaller (and more frequent)!

We've been doing a number of design-oriented projects lately, including a concert flyer, suitable for stabling to bulletin boards and telephone poles. I did mine for a fictional band, one which a number of my friends invented some years back:



I had a lot of fun working on this, but I'm not fully satisfied with the final product, and crit gave me a few things to think about. (I'm having some issues with the relative placement of the umbrella to the people standing behind it, for instance - and also, the white text doesn't pop well from a distance.) I also did at least half a dozen alternative design thumbnails that I really liked ... so this is one of those projects I might like to revisit, if I ever (ha) have more time.

Inspired by one of Tezuka's techniques, we were also challenged to express a moment of intense emotion visually, using abstracts, patterns, and emanata (those little symbols cartoonists use as visual shorthand for various things, like surprise lines emanating out from a person's head, or bubbles for a drunk, speed lines, and so forth). I tend to be a pretty direct, representational artist, so this was a challenge, but I had fun with it.



We were allowed to use one figure/character if we wanted, but I thought that it would be a real challenge to try and avoid that ... something I guess I pulled off about halfway, because I couldn't divorce the imagery from physical personification altogether. Even my less literal/verbal associations for emotions are fairly visceral. That said, I'm pleased with this: to my eye it does a good job of expressing the emotions I had in mind. I think it would probably read differently to a viewer, but that's as it should be; all art does that to one degree or another (we all see something a little different, informed by the differences we bring to work), and with something like this, well. There's nothing harder than trying to explain exactly how you feel to another person, I think.

On a somewhat different note, it's Halloween week! My favorite holiday, and a big damn deal around these parts, as you might imagine. I have a rather simple but eminently cartoony costume planned, which I look forward to sharing later! The town of White River Junction hosts a huge seasonal shindig this Saturday, with a festival (including such things as a haunted house, bellydancing and a monster petting zoo), followed by a parade and a dance at the American Legion hall.

CCS is providing decorations for said dance!



We had an awesome evening drawing various monsters and ghoulies, using the projector to blow them up and trace them on huge pieces of paper, and painting over those outlines. Here are a couple examples:





Several people were commenting that it was a good idea to try not to be super intricate, Allie ... everyone has my number. Fortunately, my classmates are amazing! The whole run of decorations looks fantastic, and I can't wait to see them hung up at the event.

I should probably try to catch up on some sleep while I have a chance. Coming up soon: a 1970s romance comic cover with some, ah, punch, composite creatures, and more ... I love this school.

Comments

[fleurdeliser]

*__________________*

A Halloween DANCE! How exciting.

Everything looks GREAT, bb.

[turtlesoup]

I'm hoping it will be a fun time! If not, some of my friends are having a party right down the street. Tomorrow should be generally awesome (although really COLD, for a costumed parade).

Awww, thank you for checking it out! <333

[(Anonymous)]

Awesome stuff! And I feel like the drill and the tupperware would be a good challenge for Beth to knock stuff out with. I love me some craft books.

[cjjoughin.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, that was me. I am not some strange anonymous person stalking you. Just strange. Maybe stalking. Happy Halloween!

[turtlesoup]

Hee, thanks! I have no knack for crafty stuff myself, but I'd certainly be fascinated to discover a way to actually use those "methods."

Happy Halloween to you too! Thanks for commenting! And hey, someone actually using OpenID, that is neat. :)

[archersangel]

seriously creepy decorations at that dance.

[turtlesoup]

I certainly hope so! We did our best. :) If it's not too dark, I'll have to take pictures of the interior.