BSCC - Week 13 Prep

Next class... NOTE DATE CHANGED TO after 2011
LOCATION AND TIME: TBD Sometimes in Jan

Homework for Week 13

1. Read Chapter 13
2. work on your comic! Let's see some progress! yay
   

Agenda for Week 13

1. Comic Jam! (30 min)
   
2. Discussion about core chapter material (30 min)
3. Break (10 min)
   
4. Peer review of comics (40 min)
5. Plan for next class (10 min)

Note: Do we want to go to the Pixar show during the afternoon of 11/13?
Please respond.

BSCC - Week 12 Prep

Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (10/23/2010)
Last class was awesome.. thanks so much for everyone's feedback on my comic. Can't wait to see everyone's stories thumbnails!

And thanks you Hojo! For his presentation of "Tips for Panel Layouts". Here is a summary that he has kindly written up for everyone's reference: Link here

Homework for Week 12

1. Read Chapter 12
2. Characters Pin ups. (page 146)
3. Continue to work on your thumbnails (page 146)
   
4. Revise your thumbnails (page 166)
   

Agenda for Week 11

1. Comic Jam! (30 min)
   
2. Discussion about core chapter material (30 min)
3. Break (10 min)
   
4. Peer review of thumbs and stories (40 min)
5. Plan for next class (10 min)

Note: Oct 23rd will NOT be the date for our Pixar Concept Art Convention. Our next tentative date is Oct 30th, but we will take a vote during class.

BSCC - Week 11 Prep

Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (10/02/2010)

We got some GREAT stories last week. Awesome.

Homework for Week 11

1. Read Chapter 11
2. Characters Pin ups. (page 146)
3. Continue to work on your thumbnails*

* Some people are working on short comics, some are long... some got different deadlines... etc. At this point, becuase everyone's project is very different, it's gonna be hard to enforce the same schedule on everyone. So work at a pace that is good for you, and bring your work in for peer review. (let's talk about this next week.)

** Chip comic - I finally finished mine.. if u finished yours... idk.. maybe you can bring it in, and we can compare.

Agenda for Week 11

1. Comic Jam! (30 min)
   
2. Discussion about core chapter material (30 min)
3. Break (10 min)
   
4. Peer review of thumbs and stories (40 min)
5. Class discussion and vote: remaining 4 classes of BSCC (10 min)

Discussion points

• Comic Mini Secret Santa Project?
• BSCC FIELD TRIP!!!!? PIXAR CONCEPT ART!
• BSCC remaining class schedule?
• post-BSCC semi regular peer review meets?
• The BSCC Year book project?
  

BSCC - Week 10 Prep

NO class this week. Due to many people not being able to make it this week.

Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (9/25/2010)

we are moving into the FUN part of this class. There is only 5 or 6 more weeks of class, and we will be doing our own short comic! The hw is to think of a story around 6 pages... flush it out and get the thumbs started! (read book for more hw instructions)

Homework for Week 10

1. Read Chapter 10
2. Do Chapter 9 HW (page136)
   

Agenda for Week 9

1. Build up your story a little more ( 20 min)
   
2. Discuss your story! (30 min)
   
3. break (10 min)
   
4. Activity: Play your cards right (60 min) This is a long one.
   

BSCC - Week 9 Prep

Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (9/11/2010)

Last week class was on inking via the "traditional nib pens." And it is the last week that we are working on the kind of painful story about the brat name Chip and his cookie eating ways.

so... starting this coming sat.. we are going to be turning over a new page and be working on "the good stuff": creating our own story.. and then working on it! Yay!

We are moving on from the fundamentals!


Homework for Week 9

1. Read Chapter 9

* Chip comic - you don't have to finish it by this week. You can have an extra week to do it. So please bring it for Sept 18th if your not finished.

Agenda for Week 9

1. HW review (20 min)
   
2. Discussion about core chapter material (10 min)
3. Activity: Analyze this Page 132 (20 min)
4. Break (10 min)
   
5. Activity: TV Writer Page 135 (40 min)
6. Going over the next HW Page 136 (10 min)

I won't be there this weekend. Will be camping. =( so sad
Notes for Mike:

1. HW review guide is on page 242. If someone put in the time to do this assignment, it was painful. So the least we can do is to really give them the time during class to critique the work.
2. This chapter's material should not be "news" to anyone. So it can be quick to review. Just an open discussion of "after thoughts" would be good
3. Same as number point 2. Should be an casual open discussion
4. break...
5. TV Writer, I think the key the book is pushing is repetition. I know if Steve if there, it will be tons of fun. Have fun!
6. IMPORTANT: This is the first stage of a project that will last through the end of the book. So don't f it up.. or u will be suffering for a looooong time.
   

For reference:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-9/ (MIKE READ IT)
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-9-structuring-story/

BSCC - Week 8 Prep

IMPORTANT: no class this week!!! (8/28th)

Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (9/04/2010)

Many people could not make it to the previous class, and many other people also might not be able to make it to class this week. So as a result, the Week 8 class is going to be pushed back to Sept 4th.

It will give people who missed last week a chance to catch up, and get feedback on their thumbs.

Homework for Week 8

1. Complete Ch 6 HW: Thumbnails. (if you have not already done so)
2. If you like some feedback on this, please post up your pictures on the forums
   
3. When you are happy with your thumbs, complete CH7 HW.
   
4. Read Chapter 8
5. Bring in any tools or WIP stuff to share your inking process with your fellow comic students! Let's learn from each others' processes!
   

Note: OK.. people have different processes for doing a comic and different ways for inking. It's cool if you really don't want to follow the way described in the book. Just do your process, and bring in the work in progress from that.

Extra Credit:
Do the activity in Ch 7. Here is a very cool examples from here

Agenda for Week 7

1. HW review.. (30 min)
2. Discussion about core chapter (30 min)
3. Break (10 min)
4. Show and Tell: your inking tools/process (30 min)
5. Activity: sharing inking tools (20 pm)

Activity:
I'm going to modify the activity. Bring in some pencil drawings of single panels. They can be copies or your fav panel from our Chip Sunday Comic or just about anything. And we will spend 20 min inking them, while sharing other people's inking tools. I will try to bring in my set of pens. So people can check them out... please do the same if you can =)

For those that ink digitally, hmmm... i really wanna chance to see how that works.. but i guess it would be hard to do in a cafe setting. I guess we could just talk about it... =\

Reference:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-8/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-8-inking-the-deal/

some sample thumbnails of the Chip comic:

By Ratcabob http://www.ratgirlproductions.com/

BSCC - Week 7 Prep

yay. week 6 was cool.. we followed the agenda pretty close, and finished right on time! i really enjoyed giving and getting some critique on panel/page layout... I really value everyones comments! yay

Sorry that I was pretty mean about make everyone write down your comments. The idea was that the writing down would encourage people to be more specific and detail oriented... did it work? hmmm (please give me some suggestions for the future! =3)


Next class...
LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (8/21/2010)

Homework for Week 7

1. Read the next chapter... Ch7
2. Complete Ch 6 HW (page 84)
3. Show and Tell: bring in a comic that something special about it's lettering. (no essay this time)
   

Extra Credit:

1. Do the activity in Ch 6.2. It is really important! Here is a video to guide you.
2. If you want the group to give critique on your works.. bring in a copy for someone to take home (could be like.. a print out.. or a link or a digital copy).

Agenda for Week 7

1. HW review.. (30 min)
2. Discussion about core chapter (20 min)
3. Show and Tell: with a focus on lettering (20 min)
4. Break (10 min)
5. Activity: A comic with no pictures (40 pm)

*note: we probably can not finish this last activity in the alloted time.. so finishing it will be HW.

Supplies:

So... from here on out, it seems like that the list of supplies needed is long. I am not going to list them out every time, because 1) the list is not going to change for a while.. and 2) i don't know if people will bring them regardlessly. I think most people might not even own all the supplies! After all, most people use the computer for everything. So just bring what you can and do what you think would help you get the most of this class.

Traditional vs digital.. personally.. im going to try to stick to the book.. I will have plenty of time to "try other things" later. Since I am studying the book now, might as well try to go all the way.

The "Official" Supplies list from the Book:

• Ames Lettering Guide
• mechanical pencil
• T-square
• bristol board
• pens (technical pens, nib pens (if you know how to use them), or pigment markers)
• beveled ruler
• sheet of bristol board (at least 14″ x 17″ in size)
• triangle
• waterproof india ink
• graphic white or white acrylic or gouache for corrections
• brushes for applying blacks and graphic white

info taken from:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-7/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-7-lettering/

BSCC - Week 6 Prep

there's a lot of hw this week.. so start early!

1. Check this out! (if you have not already) It's the Jack/Jill HW Sample2
   
2. Complete Ch 5 HW
   
3. Read the Ch 6
4. Read the first couple pages of Appendix B (page 237)
5. Show and Tell - mini essay on comic layout!
   

*Instructions on Task 5:
Bring in a comic book and pick out a page (or just bring in a one page comic). Analyze the "one pager" layout like the samples in Ch 6. And write it up! You can type it up or just write up notes on your sketch book.. It could have bullets and/or diagrams... Whatever helps you get your thoughts down.


Agenda for Week 6:

1. Critique of Ch 5 HW (30 min)
   
2. Discussion of Ch 6 core material (30 min)
   
3. Break time! (10 min)
   
4. Discuss the Ch 6 Activity and HW(15 min)
   
5. Show and Tell - mini essay on comic layout (30 min)
   

So... i read over the Activity.. it seemed a lil too involved for a cafe setting.. so we are gonna just talk about it.. and then take it home =)

BSCC - Week 5 Review

This is an extremely chill class.. awesome..

We followed the agenda posted really closely.. so just check that
Some scans of the HW to come! =)

BSCC - Week 5 Prep

LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (8/7/2010)
(2 hours only)

Please complete these before class

1. Reading of CH 5
2. Closure comics (Chapter 4)
3. Self critique of your HW comic (read the HW critique section on the bottom of this page first)
   

Reminders about the HW:
Just to do thumbnails, not finished pages. But please make them "full" enough to be critiqued.

Supplies you will need:

• bristol board
• office paper
• tracing paper
• ruler

Collectively, this list is what we call “penciling tools”

• graphite pencils: B, HB, and H types
• erasable colored pencils, especially “light blue” ones
• erasers: white plastic and kneaded types
• mechanical pencil

Optional: Bring any thumbnails you might have that you’re struggling to pencil

Note on supplies:
"It’s not so tough to come up with a pencil, but as we go on with the book, having the proper supplies on the proper day will be more and more important so as not to disrupt class with lots of trading, or drag a demo down with too many students who can’t follow along."



Agenda for Class 5

1. 30min - HW Review from Chapter 4
   
2. 30min - Open Discussion on Ch5 Core Material (Pitfalls, Strategies, Tools, and your own experiences. Share any penciling samples you might have brought)
   
3. 10min - Break
   
4. 45min - Activity time (this will be a casual open format; feel free to walk around and look at what other people are doing)
   
5. 15min - Closing remarks

Note: we will not be talking about figure drawing topics from 5.2 (well.. maybe over lunch)

Info taken from:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-5/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-5-penciling/

BSCC - Week 4 Review

alright kids... two few intro notes

1) sry i made a fuss abut the tables... im paranoid that Red Rock will kick us out.. and i want us to sit closely together.. as to make it easier to hear each other w/o talking too loudly
2) some of us were especially chatty during class.. hmm i understand that we are all friends.. and its like an social thing.. but please dont talk why someone else is presenting their thoughts.. :(

ok.. summary of what we did in Week 4: Bridging the GAP!

1. Round table discussion about the chapters core concepts: Transition and Closure
2. Show and Tell: Some of of fav comics/manga (with a focus on how the artist set up her/his Transitions
3. The Wrong Planet (from Ch3) Steps 3 and 4
   
4. Homework review from previous chapter
5. Comic Jam!
   

BSCC - Week3 Action Shots!

Activity time: The Wrong Plant!






Thank you Lifepoint1 for taking and processing these pictures! yay!
Location: Red Rock Cafe @ mtn view

BSCC - Week4 Prep

LOCATION AND TIME: 10:30 am - 1:00 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (7/31/201)

Homework to complete by Week 4 Class:

• Compare your Ch 3 HW, Gag Me, with the one posted online
  
• Complete Chapter 3 HW ( drawing simple thumbnail sketches ONLY and not finished, inked art)
  
• Read Chapter 4 from the DW-WP (that would be our text book)
  
• Optional: Read Chapter 3 of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (please bring it in .. if you have a copy)
  
• Required: If you have not done so.. please “How to read Nancy”
  

Things to bring:

• Bring in one or a few comic books: An old American comic book, a new one, and a manga. You can use these to compare styles of closure.
• Some sample thumb nails for a comic you have drawn in the past.
  
• Optional: If you have it, please bring in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics

References:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-4-bridging-the-gap/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-4/

BSCC - Week3 Review

Wow! what an awesome class. I am so happy =)
Here is an overview of what we did

1. Pass around our HW from Chapter 2 and practiced adding gag captions
2. General Discussion: HW feedback and review
3. Activity time: The Wrong Planet from Chapter 3 (Steps 1 and 2. did not do Steps 3 and 4)
   
4. General Discussion: your fave comic strip.

Posted below are the creations from Step 2 of the Wrong Planet activity. (credits at bottom)

Team A

Team B (story 1)
Team B (story 2)

Team A members:
Kim T.
Rainbow Ichi
http://rainbow010101.deviantart.com/
victorybear
http://www.doorkicker.net/
yaki-ika
http://studiomieko.com/studio.mieko/_home.html
MysticEden
http://mysticeden.deviantart.com/

Team B members:

lindaBear
lindabear.deviantart.com
Ultramike
Ultramike82.deviantart.com
Lifepoint1
lifepoint1.deviantart.com
0bakeh
Obakeh.deviantart.com

BSCC - Week3 Prep

LOCATION AND TIME BACK TO NORMAL
MEETING: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm @ Red Rock Cafe (7/24/201)

Homework to complete by Week 3 Class:

• Complete Chapter 2 HW: Gag Me (to be critiqued during next class)
  
• No new reading assignments. But make sure you have read these from last week!: ( 3.1, 3.2, “How to read Nancy”)
• Bring in a comic strips for analysis (it can be a new paper cut out.. or photocopy from a book or a print out of a web comic.. as long as it's a strip)
  

Supplies you will need:

• several pads of 3″x3″ white or light-colored Post-it notes
• several sheets of office paper
• pencil
• eraser
• pen

Information taken from
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-3/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-3-the-strip-club/

Please do not be late, we are over one hour of scheduled drawing time. =) So get your pencils (and office paper and Post-it notes) ready!!!

mildly related cool link. odosketch!

BSCC - Week 2 summary

This was a more talk and less draw class.. next class will be more drawing. I promise!
Thanks so much for coming and giving us your ideas!

For those that want to know what we did in week 2, here is the recap:

1. HW Review: Who followed the instructions!?
   
2. HW Review: Open critique around the table.
   
3. Activity: "Label that Apple"
4. Activity: "Gag Reflex"

Sample HW & Activity from Ultramike82!
Great drawing finished via HW and captions added by other students.. which is the most ironic/unexpected?

Sample from Victorybear!


This one is HW from chapter 3. But is pretty much the same concept of juxtaposing words and pictures.

BSCC - Week 2 Prep

IMPORTANT: one time only!!! LOCATION AND TIME CHANGE!!!!!
MEETING: 10am - 12pm @ Fremont/Newark (7/14/201)

Please note the full Address:
5980 Newpark Mall Rd. Suite A
Newark, CA 94560

I have never been here before. This is the work office of one of the BAAU members. Thank you Hwangie. =D This ONE TIME loc/time change is so that we can all make it to the BAAU BBQ at a reasonable time.

Homework to complete by Week 2 Class:

• Complete Chapter 1 HW on page 12 (to be critiqued during next class)
  
• Read 3.1, 3.2,
  
• Download & read “How to read Nancy”
  

Supplies you will need:

• sheet of office paper or sketchbook paper
• pencil
• eraser
• pen

Information taken from
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/teaching-guide-chapter-2/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-2-every-picture-tells-a-story/

Note: due to us running over time today.. i reexamined the 10 syllabus that i was trying to follow onine.. and after some deliberation, i decided to throw that out.. and just follow the chapters sequentially. reason: The 10 week syllabus is a little too ambitious for us.. i am guessing that each week of material is intended for 3 to 4 hours of class room time.

BSCC - Week 1 summary

Awesome start! Thank each and everyone of you for coming and contributing!

For those that want to know what we did in week 1.. here is the recap:

1. open discussion about the "food for though"
2. activity: Drawing Time (from Chapter one Part 1)
3. follow up critique
4. Activity: Drawing Time (from Chapter one Part 2, Scenario 1 and Scenario 3)
5. follow up critique

Some sample pics from the drawing activities!

First one is from Lifepoint1


The 2nd one is from Fanaritst!


That's enough samples from lesson 1. On to Lesson 2!

BSCC - Week1 Prep

Meeting info: July 10th, 2010 10:30 AM @ Red Rock Cafe

Prep guide

Required Readings:

• 1.1 Know ‘em when you see ‘em
• 1.2 Comics terminology
• 2.1 Word and image

Supplies you will need

• pencil
• eraser
• sheet of office paper or sketchbook paper
• sheet of office paper or sketchbook laid out into a 9-panel-grid

Optional: Food for Thought

Chapter 1 :

1. In one sentence, what is your definition of a comic?
2. Beyond words and pictures, what are some of the parts of a comic?
3. What are some of the ways action can be shown in a comic?
4. Does it matter if you know how to draw to create comics? Why or why not?

Chapter 2:

1. What are some of the ways words and images interact in comics?
2. How might the meaning of a drawing change when combined with different words?
3. How might a combination of word and image create humor?
4. Think of some of the single-panel comics you’ve run across: What was their function (humor, political commentary, simple illustration, a combination, other functions)?

Info taken from:
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/syllabi-10-week-course/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-1-building-blocks/
http://dw-wp.com/2010/03/chapter-2-every-picture-tells-a-story/

The BAAU Summer Comic Class (with Drawing Words and Writing Pictures)

Summary:
Starting July 10th, there will be a regular weekly BAAU meet up on Saturday AM's (10:30 am to 12:30 pm) in Mountain View to developing our comic-ing skills, following the book Drawing Words and Writing Pictures..

Details:
The agenda is build around the book. "Drawing Words and Writing Pictures" It's a text book on comic-ing, complete with readings, HW, extra credit.. etc. Every meet up, we go thru this book together like students in a classroom.. (like.. do the activities.. give each other feedback.. etc) There are also additional student resources online.

When?
We start Sat. July 10th at 10:30 am .. and then go for 12 weeks...(or more) Please arrive 15 min early to find parking/buy drinks/eat breakfast/setup/use the restroom/etc.
note: Late ppl will be punished.

Where?
This event is going to be in the down town Mountain View area. For now, the meeting place is Red Rock Cafe. If this place dose not work well, we have a long list of back ups we can switch to.

Who?
Anyone that can dedicate the time would be welcome!! If you wanna only join us for "some of the time" or drop in randomly, that's cool too, but please respect the agenda and help us stay on track. =)



A few extra words:
This type of learning is most effective when done in a group. (the book even STRONGLY recommend readers to set up this kind of meet up! lol ) Having a group.. committing that time upfront ... keeps ppl motivated and on track.. I am looking forward to working with everyone this summer.

I will be posting the pre-class prep work in about 1 week. Look for that post. Thanks!

Fanime 2010!

Commissions & Anime Portraits:
It was cool getting a bunch of commissions at Fanime..
Here is one i did at the con..

i still got 25 ish that needs to be done by the end of June. Here is a list of commissions that i still need to do..

Starlight Star Bright:
I think my comic, Starlight Star Bright was ok received. A few people told me that they really enjoyed the story... and that was tremendously motivating for me. yay!
And!!!! i think im going to table share w/ my friend at APE and bring some of my comics there. yay!

SteamPunk!!!
Lastly there were some really cool cosplay at Fanime.. wow.. looking thru flikr is amazing!!!! I dressed up too, but nothing fancy.



(thank you robert for taking pic's for me! its like the BEST pictures of my outfit ever!)

Ｇｒｅｅｎ ｌｉｆｅ．． ｏｎ ｔｏｐ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｃａｒ ｐｏｒｔ

roof top garden awesomeness!!!

we have Purple Sage, Oregano, Peppermint, Parsley, cucumber, Basil, Cilantro and LOTS of Lettuce
＝Ｄ

sharing responsibility w/ the upstairs neighbor.
i still wanna plant more!

Star Light Star Bright

New comic is all done..
start reading at the first page here

Atlantic City 2010

I finally drew something. yay
=D this is everyone that came to the 2010 Owego Delta Zhang reunion at Atlantic City.

mic check?

one two .. one twoo.. is this thing on?

im planing on re starting the blogging..
today.. i turn the big two five.. which is pretty young i guess... i mean.. i can finally rent a car without extra fees. but at the same time.. im now a regular mid career working woman.. been working full time for like five years now.. YIKES!

Starting next week, i will be taking off 2.5 month from work to do all my health stuff..

wish me luck!
and since this is a drawing blog.. there will be drawings to follow ... blah!


This blog was originally started to do a 100 day drawing challenge. (which lasted 50 ish days.)
but now.. im going to just us this as a regular blog.. (still art focused tho!)