Writing 3 (blog posts) for Crit 2

So, we had our first critique awhile ago. It was fun to finally see so many of my classmates' works in person. As for my own work, I think the ten comic pages I did went over well. Jamie had a couple comments about a few panel compositions and some suggestions for changes that I intend to follow. My classmates said they really liked how I drew my characters' hair and expressions. There were a couple anatomy errors that they noticed, some of which I knew about and others that I hadn't. Glad the latter got pointed out. :D

For this upcoming critique, I'll be bringing eight pages of a different idea for a webcomic. I'm trying to pay closer attention to anatomy (which is proving tricky with a character that has animal anatomy, something I'm not used to drawing). I'm also trying to come up with more interesting compositions. Another new thing for me to puzzle over is how to convey action in a comic. I've never done fight scenes before, and trying to show movement in a still picture is very difficult for me.  Here are a couple preview images:

For the creatures in this webcomic, I'll be drawing a lot of inspiration from horror-based sources, but particuarly from Stephen Gamell, who is best known for his child traumatizing illustrations in the "Stories to tell in the dark" series of books. Here are a few of them:

Even years after first seeing those pictures as a kid, they still freak me out.  :)

So, for this post I'd like to direct your attention to the blog of another one of my classmates. Her name is Gaga, and she does some really interesting things with non-traditional materials:

http://nanxuanzheng.blogspot.com/

I like how she takes mundane items and connects them in a unique way. I also think her jewelry is adorable. ^_^

Writing 2 Blog Post for Crit 1

Since I was told I could bring in-progress work to the critiques, I'm going to bring sketches for a future comic. I'd rather get feedback when I can still easily change things than have a glaring issue pointed out to me after I've inked the pages. It's going to be a scene from one of my books that I've wanted to make into a comic for almost a year. Here's a couple pictures of what I've got so far:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

This actually gave me an idea for my senior exhibit. I've always wanted to do a webcomic, and recently I've had 2 ideas. This story about Samhain is one of them, and the other is about an immortal Southern Belle named Savannah. I've decided I'm going to make the intro to Savannah's comic as well, then display both and have people vote on which story intrigues them more.

This week I'm going to share one of my fellow student's work with you. Her name is Hannah Coward and she does primarily 2D art. I like how she uses color and texture to make her work pop.

https://hannahcoward.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/introduction-3/

My personal favorite is the picture of the amusement park ride with the splatter on it. :)

A couple weeks ago I went to the ID series of lectures on campus. I saw the presentation about art therapy as it was used after the Joplin tornado. I had mixed feelings on it. While I think that art is important, I think that it could've been put on hold to help people find basic amenities. When the speaker said that this big fundraiser was held and all the money was donated to buy instruments and art supplies, this feeling intensified. As I said before, I think the arts are very important, but at the time of this fundraiser, I know there were still people without shelter, food, or facing massive medical bills. The $25,000 they raised could have helped a lot. Buy instruments and art supplies after everyone has a roof over their heads. I felt similarly about the 'spirit tree,' because the tree died as a result of the paint they covered it in.

I'd like to see this college bring in some non-fine arts speakers. I'd like to hear from someone who works in the graphic design industry, or makes comics. Something that's a little more applicable to what I'll be doing after school.

Writing (blog posts)_1 : About Carlie

I've always loved stories, and from a young age I had a cast of characters that I wrote about. Around age 8 I wanted to be able to show others what these characters looked like, so I began to learn how to draw. Fifteen years later, I've been lucky enough to have one book published at age 16, and I'm currently studying Commercial Art. I've got plans for several more books and webcomics, and ultimately I'd like to end up in the field of video games as a character designer. I still have many characters rattling around in my head, and they're all clamoring for their stories to be told.

This series of inked pictures were projects I did for school a year ago. They feature some of my favorite villains that I've created:

I've been inspired by many artists, including Hiromu Arakawa, Tracy J. Butler, and Shamine King.

The first of these, Hiromu Arakawa, is a Japanese Manga artist who wrote and drew my favorite Manga/Anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist.These next two pieces are hers: 

I love how she depicts her characters, and her ability to tell a story both through word and picture is phenomenal.

the next artist, Tracy J. Butler, works at a video game studio in the midwest and is also the author/artist of a webcomic called Lackadaisy. I greatly admire how polished her style looks, and how she can so clearly get a character's personality across with how they look. Plus, she also has a lot of extremely helpful tutorials. These next three pieces are hers:

One of my favorite Lackadaisy "Extra" Comics

The last artist I mentioned is Shamine King, who is another art student studying at Lasalle College of the Arts. She is studying animation and character design, two things I'm really interested in. There's a certain quality about her work that I really admire. I love how fluid her characters' motions are, and how expressive their faces can be. It's a bit hard for me to find examples of her work, as her Deviantart Account is on hiatus. These next three pieces are all hers:

 

Example of Miss King's comics

So, after taking some time to look at which artists inspire me, I realized that they are artists who deal primarily with character design and storytelling. Also, all of them make comics. I'd never really considered comics that much before going to college, but now that I've dabbled in it, it seems like a perfect marriage between what I love to do most (Writing and drawing). Almost every bit of art I do has a story behind it.
Here is some more of my work, all of them either characters I've created for stories or for Pathfinder (a tabletop role-playing game similar to Dungeons and Dragons).

 

It's been a long time since I've worked with colors, and I'm hoping to get back into the swing of that this semester.