Yep, it's here! There's a lot in this little box. It came with the coursebook, supplies, tracing paper, homework sheets, mailer for shipping the homework in, and a DVD. Neat!
The coursebook is big - 11x17. I read through it quick last night, since it's not very long and all. There are five sections, each made up of six one-page lessons, with a 2-ply Bristol board in-between for practice.
The lessons seem pretty basic, not scary at all. I'll admit, I was expecting to get hit with something along the line of Burne Hogarth's stuff - crazy details overload.
But no, they're short, sweet, and straightforward. You're encouraged to take your time, practice, and only approach the homework assignments when you feel comfortable and ready.
As you can guess, it's all about superheroes. Mainly using supers to learn the basics of anatomy, how to exaggerate that into a superhero form, how to design your costume, backgrounds, and page layout. It seems like the goal is to slow you down and make you think about what you're actually drawing. Research is encouraged, which is nice. I appreciate that.
But, this means I'll need to dabble with superheroes and create one for the final assignment. So, Matt and I were joking around last night, just tossing ideas back and forth, and out of all this came CONDORA, Queen of the Condors! A sweet natured archeologist who, when danger strikes, or when she's just in a bad mood, turns into CONDORA! At the moment, Condora's power seems to be her ability to ride around on an over-sized Andean Condor without getting eaten. Oh, and her name, when spoken, pops up in giant, sound-effect fonts that stick around for a few panels, much to the annoyance of everyone else. Yeah, we're still working on that. It'll give me the chance to research Andean mythology, which is cool.
Some of the assignments require inking (which needs to be done with the nib pen and brush) and the last one wants hand lettering (also with a nib pen). A little intimidating for one with a shaky wrist. But, we'll see. I haven't checked out the DVD yet, so there may be more details and examples for each lesson there.
All in all I'm excited. Both supers and humans are things I haven't messed with much. I know, bad Darc, I should have been drawing more humans for a while now. It'll be nice to shake things up a bit. But, not right now. My wrist has been stiff and sore since Wednesday night, so no tight work for the moment. Good thing Monday's Supporters page is in the hopper.
For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Holly, our corgi. Not only does she hate strange packages popping up on her doorstep, she also despises cameras. All hail the corgi, nature's little maniac.
"Sequential art isn't great art, or profound. But it is sophisticated, engaging us in a way that other visual genres cannot. And, within its limited format, it allows for a lot of variety and interpretation."
-- Lennie Bennett
2 comments:
The course looks groovy, less of a cookie cutter kinda thing one might expect.
Let's see where it takes ya--am sure you will post some stuff when you get farther into it. Don't know how your fur art could get more professional looking but at the very least should be effin' fun
Thanks. I'm hoping it'll help me iron out some of the rough areas in my anatomy. :D
Post a Comment