A Special Bond

Finally!

I know I promised this weeks ago, but I finally have decent images of the 4-page comic, which was my final project for Carol Tyler's Comics class.
This project took hours and hours and hours... I lost count after 25.
Ms. Tyler is a bit of a sadist, I think!

Thanks to Joey for helping me compress the file without the images being blurry!

It there's anything I learned from this class, it's that writing an entire graphic novel would be a terrifying and difficult task. I definitely appreciate it and respect it as an art form, and take my word for it, you should too.
If you are interested in reading some amazing graphic novels, I've listed some of my favorites below.

Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Green

Justin Green is generally acknowledged to be the father of the Graphic Memoir genre. I may have never read this book, but Mr. Green is Carol Tyler's husband, and I was curious. It was really, REALLY good. Almost as good as Ms. Tyler's masterpiece, You'll Never Know. I know that including it in this list may seem like brown-nosing, but I SWEAR it's worth reading.

This is Book Two; she's currently working on Book Three. I can't wait to read it!

Maus by Art Spiegelman; this is volume one of two

Maus by Art Spiegelman is one of the most haunting books you'll ever read, graphic or not. It tells the story of Mr. Spiegelman's father, who was a holocaust survivor. If you decide to read only one book that I recommend, make it this one!!

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch

More books on my short list: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Epileptic by David B. Everything I've mentioned so far has been a memoir; it's my favorite type of graphic novel. But I also read pure fiction. Recently, I read Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch. Deitch has a twisted imagination and a sick sense of humor, and he puts them to good use in this very strange book.

My next post will be about printmaking. MUCH less stressful than cartooning!

Need a little inspiration?

I am compelled to list three of my favorite inspirations as an artist. These are subject to change at any moment, and usually do, and I'm gonna list them in chronological order (of when they inspired me).


FIRST: My mom and my grandma, who are both very creative and crafty. My mom is a bit Martha Stewart-y, a little Betty Crocker-y, and somewhat Bob Ross-y. With better hair. Thanks to her, I'm not afraid of any new or mixed media challenge.

I remember her looking like this: Winona Ryder in Reality Bites

SECOND: There was this really weird girl in high school- really angst-y and goth, you know the type- and I went to a music festival with her once and it rained (of course). She sat down at a picnic table and proceeded to draw with her fingertip through the collected raindrops, some sort of swirly pattern, and it just really impressed me: she exploited every opportunity to be express herself and leave her mark- however fleetingly- and I try to emulate that as much as possible. One night, at a crowded bar, I used burnt  matchsticks to draw portraits on coasters in exchange for drinks. I owe the next day's hangover to that weird girl from high school.

Joseph Cornell, Untitled, 1948

THIRD: Joseph Cornell, one of my favorite artists of all time, inspires my mixed media collages. I love the way he combines found objects to create a mysterious, nostalgic, intimate little world.