Create dangerously
Art by year-long student Elli Rhodes
It’s a crazy time to be making comics in the world right now. Corona virus is shutting down workplaces, educational institutions and public spaces. Luckily we have such a vibrant virtual world to keep us occupied. Start with SAW’s Mighty Network! Here’s a roundup of the latest, greatest, least viral content!
TUESDAY COMICS INSPIRATION
Okay, we’ve branched out of just Tuesday Comics Inspiration into our Read This section to bring you this weeks suggestions so you have a full reading list, stuck inside, trying to work up the courage to use all this spare time to make comics.
Take your first dose of inspiration from Webtoon, the giant online comics streaming app that now has well over 15 million daily readers. It’s an incredibly simple way of distributing and reading comics online, radically changing the possibilities of comics sharing whether you’re a creator or an avid reader. Read more about it’s recent growth here.
Not quite a comic, this article on the 21st centiry Slaves of Moscow embeds illustration throughout the account of working as an artist during the trials of accused slaveholders.
Source: Weshoyot Alvitre/Library Company of Philadelphia.
This next comic comes from a collaboration between the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Native American Advisory Group and the Circle Legacy Center that sought to record a forgotten moment in Americas History. Titled, ‘Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga’ you can access a full PDF of the work here and find out more about the significance of its writing and drawing, here.
Source: https://brokenpencil.com/features/global-zine-report-state-of-the-zine-2018/
Maybe you want to read more about the booming zine culture. This Global Zine Report breaks the renaissance of this phenomenon down from Indonesia to Slovenia and back again. They take a look at the similarities and differences, and ask makers and artists about their experiences.
This last suggestion is a short comic by Reimena Yee titled ‘Passion Anger’. It’s a great call to arms for artist to create in times of extremes and danger.
She very poignantly asks,
“Will I ever remember to simply, idly, peacefully create?”
FREE RESOURCES
For those of you focusing on your drawing, ‘Fun With a Pencil’ by Andrew Loomis is available ONLINE, for free! You can find it on publication platform, issuu, here.
If you’re more concerned with how to answer that question of ‘What do you do?’ when you’re an artist who also has multiple jobs across many careers, or even if you’re someone who is just trying to practice talking about your art, here’s a guide to How to Speak Confidently About Your Art.
Thanks Beth for sharing an online free image collection from the Paris Museum, including works by Rembrandt, Gustave Courbet, and Eugène Delacroix. Beth also shared this digital archive of Paul Klee’s personal notebooks!
In a similar vein, here’s a Public Domain Dedication for 3D Cultural Heritage by Sketchfab. Each month they open up a new category for free.
IN FLOW
The FLOW group is dense with week to week exercises at this point. The most recent one is inspired by last weeks visiting artist, Jackie Davis (more on that later). She explained how she adapted an essay writing technique to her short diary comics. The Statement-Explanation-Example-Implication can be adapted and corrupted depending on your needs but provides a pretty great framework for narrative timing.
Most importantly, think about the implication as ‘What it means’ or ‘What it could mean later’.
FROM THE MEMOIR GROUP
At the beginning of February SAW hosted it’s very first Graphic Memoir Intensive workshop and the energy from that weekend has continued online with a flurry of progress, sharing ongoing work and keeping each other accountable.
The latest exercises have been focused on grounding our stories in the details of the everyday through list making. Tom included this example from his memoir, ‘Words you loved’ and ‘Words we never got to teach you’. What lists provide unique insights in your story?
A WEEK WITH JACKIE DAVIS
Last week we invited Jackie Davis to SAW for our visiting artist workshop. Here are some of the photographic highlights from her week of water color, personal stories and comics making mischief.
WANT MORE SAW CONTENT?
Do you want to hear more about what’s going on at SAW? Join us at the Mighty Network, and support us over on Patreon to receive regular updates about the school including interviews with students and visiting artists, behind the scenes of comics making and even digital comics in their final form.
COMING UP
At the moment our studio doors are staying open until it’s too much of a risk. So, if you’re in Gainesville don’t forget our regular Draw Jam’s meet every second Thursday of the month. Mark your calendars for March 12, 7pm to 9pm in the SAW space. (That’s tonight!) Bring your art supplies and your favorite snack to share!
Keep an eye out for updates on future classes and the way the school is changing in the next year. We’re excited about what’s to come!