The Indie Romantic Comedy of the Year!

A CCS assignment that I created with my classmates, and then was given to an alumni to illustrate is up on Slate! We wrote a movie pitch based on prompts and specific genres. It was fun following the tropes of a Hollywood RomCom, with a big helping of satire and a sprinkling of the racism that is usual in Hollywood movies. We then distilled our story down to twelve panels. Check it out!

Thesis Guts

Having been in post graduation haze I forgot to post images of the insides of my thesis comic, Long Division. Here's to remedying that. While not perfect pictures, I think these spreads can give you an idea of the comic. They are some of my favorites, and make me a little nostalgic for the Pacific Northwest, where this story is set.

I am working on the advice I received during my thesis review and ironing out the kinks in the story before continuing it. It will be ready for reading eventually!

Graduation!

On Saturday May 18, I graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies! It was a wonderful ceremony, my classmates looked flawless and all our thesis projects were amazing.

Speaking of which, check out the book design of my thesis:

I'm so grateful for the wonderful education and friendships I have gained from these past two years at CCS. You all rock!

Next on the agenda: Get a job, move, and keep making comics.

65 Pages

Yesterday I hit 65 pages penciled for my thesis project, Long Division! That's 61 pages penciled in 3.5 months (I completed the other four in the fall) I'm pretty excited, as you probably can tell, and I have about twelve more pages to pencil until I start inking. I'll only have the first half of the story done, but I can work on the rest after I graduate (!) in May.

Stack of penciled pages in my studio space 

Winter Sketchbook, Part 4

During our Visiting Artist class at CCS I tend to doodle. Since I've been having trouble getting the fabrics of character's clothing to look different I found myself drawing wrinkles.

A study in wrinkles

CCS Year One Assignment: Bibliomancy

This comic came of random passages from a collection of E.E. Cummings poems during my first semester of school. Right now, having just finished my first semester of my second year, the art makes me cringe. Not to mention some storytelling flaws, but, it's important to remember where you come from.

CCS Secret Santa

My class had a week to create secret santa drawings/comics/holiday cards. I got James Sturm and made him this comic about what would have happened if he and Jason Lutes were friends when they were little.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Christmas, but this was really fun.

CCS Year Two Assignment: Thesis Synopsis Posters

These posters are going to be hung up in the Center for Cartoon Studies gallery soon. The exhibit is for the seniors to display our thesis summaries that will accompany the presentations we are giving the whole school over the next few weeks.

CCS Year Two Assignment: Dream Comic

We were asked to create a comic based on a dream we had. Like all our assignments we were given certain perimeters and guidelines. I used it as a chance to play with color and texture. 

Character Designs

I've been writing and editing the script for a long formet story I am writing for my CCS thesis (yet to be named) and doing these character sketches:

Fall Sketchbook, Part 4

concept sketch for my thesis

Birthday Zine

For his 23rd birthday, his friends created Mr. Josh Lees, CCS first year, a birthday zine full of illustrations. You can check out his comics, including his ongoing web comic Bello Fortis, at josh-lees.com.

Here is my contribution:

CCS Year One Assignment: Anthology story

Last December my class broke into four groups to create an anthology. Our assignment was to come up with a theme and presentation that would tie all our stories together. My group's anthology is called SCIense, and was an exploration of the five senses (there were five of us) through the use of technology. It turned out pretty cool, we had a screen printed cover with a translucent overlay and bellyband. Unfortunately some of our copies fell apart due to lack of experience perfect binding by hand. Oh well, now we know.

I experimented by cutting down my bristol board and doing on panel at a time. Which kinda worked out. Also I did the text separately and dropped it into Photoshopped word balloons. Which did not work out.

So, on to the story: We Hear.

CCS Year One Assignment: Fable

Since I started this blog after my first year at the Center for Cartoon Studies, I should really put some of my assignments up. Like this one, an adaptation of Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.