Week Four Homework: Dream Diary

So this week I kept a dream diary. This was the most memorable (appropriate) one that I want to share.

Week Five Homework: Self Portrait

What I've Been Reading This Week... Panorama Island

So I guess I'm going full tilt into this whole manga thing. Wooooooooo

Suehiro Marou's The Strange Tale of Panorama Island was a book I was referred to by a friend after displaying interest in my recent obsession with manga. The story follows a young, unsuccessful writer who finds out that that his twin brother has suddenly fallen ill and has passed away. And, get this, he was stinking rich.

The less successful brother decides to take his place and uses the stolen fortune to make his wildest dreams a reality.

This story is pretty much an homage to Edgar Allen Poe in a roundabout way. The pacing is very similar so if you like Poe and pictures... man do it, I guess.

Personal Rating 7/10

Dumb Comic

heheheh its so dumb

What I've Been Reading This Week... Goodnight PunPun

This week in addition to the readings for class I picked up and read through all 147 installments of Inio Asano's Oyasumi Punpun or Goodnight Punpun. 

I haven't been too fond of manga up until I found out about great storytellers such as Taiyo Matsumoto, Satoshi Kon, and, recently, Inio Asano.

I can see how there could definitely be an immediate turn of towards picking this series up as the main character is depicted as a small bird who stands on two legs. Both of his parents and his uncle are depicted the same way. But that is just a front, a substitute for how the main characters are viewed by themselves. They are, in fact, quite human and are inundated with tons of emotional  baggage. 

The series spans the entire childhood and early adulthood of the main character, Punpun, and brings into question just what we as people want out of social interactions with others. There are some pretty heavy issues that are brought up and the childlike depictions of some of the characters should not be seen as a drawback in any way. 

It may be a little hard to get into at first. But I found that when I picked this one up I had a hard time not reading through to the end

Personal Rating 8/10

Week Two Homework: Adapt a Short Story

This week we had to adapt a short story into a comic script. I've never done this before but it was fun trying something new. I chose to rewrite Ambrose Bierce's Tramp Baby. Link to the pdf can be found bellow.

Tramp Baby

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw3yROA2UUblVTRNc2ZIdUJSaHM/edit?usp=sharing

What I've Been Reading This Week... Nausicaa

So in addendum to the weekly reading/writing assignments I've been reading some comics on the side...


This week its been Hayao Miyazaki's: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

I was first introduced to Miyazaki's work when I saw Spirited Away in theaters and I was simply blown away. Much like every other art student in school I've been obsessed with his work ever since. When I learned that his first film of the same name was originally a graphic novel that he wrote and illustrated entirely himself I had no other choice but to dive into this six installment epic.

The film version covers only a fraction of Hayao's original story and leaves out some interesting characters. If you have the time to check out this work I highly recommend it!

Personal rating: 9/10

Writing Comics on the Side

This week I took a closer look at Winsor McCay's works of the Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip. I had been fairly aware of his work but hadn't spent any time, until now, really digging into his design choices and story development in his strips.

McCay's work is incredible. His ability to seamlessly transition from a practical real world to fantastical waking dream is nothing short of remarkable. His characters are interesting and his line art is extraordinary.

His impact on other modern comic artists is noticeable. I find Calvin and Hobbes writer Bill Watterson's work to be largely influenced by McCay. They both also share a sense of imposing parental figures as well?

Here's my shot at a short McCay comic:

If its one thing that McCay couldn't do at all, it was copy and copy placement. But I hardly hold that against him.

Week One Homework: Comic Analysis

Hell on Earth

  My immediate reaction to the style was a aversion to the way the panels were framed and colored. I was turned off by the consistent use of uniform panels. But, after getting into the story, I found that I appreciated the framing. No environment was ever fully fleshed out with characters interacting and I think it helped convey a mood that fit the story. The character’s surroundings were up to the reader to imagine, much like the actual character designs themselves. This work was adapted from a short story and, in the end, it shows. Although, I think this could have been executed a lot better as the comic tends to tell the audience what is happening rather than show it. 

Nightwings

This story was laid out in more along the lines one would associate with classic graphic novel paneling. There is something to be said about the effect movies and television media have influenced graphic novels such as this one as I was constantly reminded of the similarity in camera framing for each drawing. It was reminiscent of a typical A B closeup and long shot sequencing. Dialogue worked in tandem with exposition to tell the story as opposed to Hell on Earth which used primarily exposition. Stylistically I was reminded of a combination of old, classic sic fi illustrations and settings that one would find if they read a Flash Gordon comic or watch a cheesy, 60s sci fi movie but with a large budget. This story relied heavily on imagery and composition to echo/enhance the storyline. Panel shapes varied and overlapped each other as well. 

Frost and Fire

Much like Nightwings, Frost and Fire is handled with a heavy focus on visual impact that echoes the storytelling’s exposition and dialogue. It definitely uses the same type of framing for paneling for the most part, but in this story there was more creativity when it came to layouts. It diverged from standard imagery one would find in film media and explores the possibilities of drawings juxtaposed next to each other. One example comes to mind on page 34. In the fourth panel on that page we see an interesting way in which to depict the sense of double exposed imagery typically used in movies to convey a sense of confusion or dizziness. In panel seven we also see multiple exposure to simulate movement. Everything is still confined to the boundaries of their panels, though, and elements other than text never break their borders. 

Merchants of Venus

The story starts off with an immediate breaking of the fourth wall as the protagonist introduces himself directly the the reader. There is an unique (up to this point) use of dialogue boxes that overlap each other to simulate one person literally talking over another. I thought that was pretty clever! The panel layouts for this comic are noticeably more liberated than those of the previous three and play on the use of placement to indicate a transition of depth through the picture plane. 

Demon with a Glass Hand

Sequencing and pacing of this comic remind me of an action flick. The story is quickly set up through expositional dialogue within the first few pages leaving the rest of the story to develop through reactionary dialogue as the story unfolds. Paneling is not quite as liberated as Merchants of Venus. There is a heavy reliance on lots of different panel “shots” to progress the story on each page which makes the story seem longer than it actually is (at least in my opinion). This was the first comic yet to show a sequencing technique that I just recently noticed: There is a singular static image in common with a series of panels in which characters and dialogue progress the story forward (page 30). Its no different from a single shot in film but the repetition in paneling is definitely appealing and is a nice way to set a pace in panels. 

The Magic Goes Away

This is the first comic yet to deal with multiple timelines at once through its storytelling. By juxtaposing certain imagery with dialogue or exposition the audience is helped along. Both image and text support each other. As I’ve found, depicting this form of storytelling in a way that is immediately understandable to the reader is hard to do. It is achieved early on in the story by coupling high visual contrast between past and present with that of expositional dialogue. The framing in this comic is pretty standard as far as comics go and does little to change up framing aside from depicting different timelines. 

Sandkings

Although I love George R.R. Martin, this comic does not do the writing justice. The comic was not unique at all in terms of framing, pacing, or paneling. Standard panel layouts with imagery to echo/enhance the story. Typical approach. Great story, nonetheless. Very entertaining. 

Comics? Comics! Let's do this thing!

What I want to accomplish in my comics:

I wasn’t hooked on comics the same way many other kids growing up were. I wasn’t really into the superhero comic book scene at all which definitely marginalized me to some extent. I was definitely more into the comic strip. The first book I remember buying for myself with my money was The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes in 1995 and I devoured that book cover to cover several times that year. 

I’m much the same way now. I prefer independent comics compared to the super hero graphic novel and in independent comics I’d like to make some sort of mark. I strive to create stories in which there are very real consequences for the actions of my characters. There’s something to be said about grounding real fears and concerns within works of fiction to help relate to the audience. But I’m also a fan of the abnormal and whimsical. I draw a lot of influence from Japanese writer/director HayaoMiyazaki in this regard. And, much like his work, I strive to write stories where characters remind each other how to live. 

During this course I’d like to get a better understanding of pacing and framing potential in comics. Also, by being interested in the independent scene, I want to learn as much as I can about self promotion and marketing; getting stuff out to readers. There’s a huge push for online content these days and I want to be current in my promotion of content. 

Week Three Homework: Adapt a Fable

This week I chose to read through a handful of Japanese fables that were compiled by Yei Theodora Osaki. I chose to do The Ogre of Rashomon as it had a way of unfolding visually in my mind as I read it. I'm also working on a book cover for this assignment.

OGRE OF RASHOMON
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw3yROA2UUblVTRNc2ZIdUJSaHM/edit?usp=sharing