Archives for posts with tag: advice for illustrators
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Nate’s New Graphic Novel is Free, but You Can Buy It!

May 20, 2012 //
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Pittsburgh cartoonist Nate McDonough’s graphic novel Don’t Come Back is quite interesting. It is nightmarish and convoluted in a good way. There are falling angels, dogs peeing in a cemetery, and one screaming chicken demon in the pizza box. There is death and resurrection. Don’t worry about me spoiling the ending. I’m not sure I figured it out. Another fascinating thing about Don’t Come Back  – All 160 pages are available online Free! Here, the entire book, Nate’s gift.

Nate raised over $700 on Kickstarter to get this project in print. In 2011 Publisher’s Weekly reported that Kickstarter.com was the third largest source of indy graphic novels in the U.S. Today it looms even larger. Yet Kickstarter is not a publisher, but a funding site that savvy entrepreneurs and artists use to essentially pre-sell creative projects of all kinds. I’ve contributed modest sums to 7 Kickstarter ventures.

Fresh from the printer, first editions of Don’t Come Back.

Full disclosure: Nate is a close friend of my son Daniel. Incredibly, I first met Nate, by chance, as he and I were gassing up at a Sheetz in Wheeling, West Virginia. Nate popped the trunk of his red 2005 Chevy cobalt and gave me a pile of his monthly zine, Grixly.

Have Coffee with Nate: Yinz near Pittsburgh? Don’t miss the Release Party for DON’T COME BACK. Weds, May 30, 7:00pm at Copacetic Comics and Lili Coffee Shop in Polish Hill.  Here is your personal YouTube invitation. Even if you can’t make it, next time you are in Pittsburgh visit this great indy comic shop and great indy coffee shop.

Q & A with Nate McDonough.

Nate talks about his art education, Pittsburgh, his zine, and how Kickstarter worked for him. He talks frankly about the dollars and cents of the project and offers advice for aspiring comics artists. Interested in doing your own project?

To read the full Nate McDonough interview, click here…

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Categories cartooning, drawing, illustration

Angels & Demons Illustration Project

May 14, 2012 //
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Angels & Demons is a book and a movie, sequel to the DaVinci Code. The title was inspiration for our final project in Illustration Techniques class. Most of these students are sophomore C.D. majors, not necessarily Illustration majors. This course involves mastering traditional media: pen and ink; scratchboard; watercolor; and for this final project, acrylic paint. Of course, the class asked to see past students’ work. Well, I mix it up to keep it interesting. Last year was “Rare Birds” so I had no “Angel and Demons” to show.

At the end of the semester students are running short on cash, so I treated them to the masonite and gesso. They had to provide the paint. Limiting the palette saved some money. I got two 4ft by 8ft sheets of masonite (about $11 each) from Lowe’s, cut into 12 inch squares.

Project instructions: Your Angel or Demon should be largely monochromatic, with red or blue the dominant color. Close up, a telling detail, not full figure. Imagine the light is coming from the upper left. Angels or Demons can be either blue or red. No color code, but largely one or the other. Grading criteria: Originality, sense of mass, and consistency of light source. No points for originality if you lift a cherub from Rafael or devil from Bosch. Better to find a baby picture or photo of a wicked-looking person for reference. Even better –take your own reference photo of yourself or a  friend.

This was a two-week project and the results were fascinating when grouped side by side. We will do Angels & Demons again next year. If you teach illustration, feel free to use this. Let me know how it works!

One of our better angels by Bill Collier.

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Categories Faculty, illustration

Mr. Fish Will Not Get Tenure

May 2, 2012 //
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© 2012 Mr. Fish, used with permission

Mr. Fish recently came to the Kutztown University’s Rohrbach Library. He also visited my illustration class. Students are lucky to have visiting artists like Mr. Fish in the classroom. His topical artwork savages our social system. Biting social satire is not the sort of thing a tenured professor (like myself) is likely to get away with. It is safe to say Mr. Fish will not get tenure. An Ivy League college dropout, he could not even get hired to teach at a state university.

Mr Fish, photo by Kevin McCloskey

Even though this blog is unofficial, Mr. Fish’s work is so radioactive, I don’t think I should publish much of it here. It is a shame, as he gave me permission to use as many images as I like. Fortunately, my friends at Commonsense2.com, the progressive web magazine offered an outlet to share more of his work. If you are ready for a direct hit, visit Mr Fish’s own website, www.clowncrack.com.

His new book Go Fish is on sale at the Kutztown U Bookstore or from the publisher, Akashic Books.

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Categories cartooning, drawing, illustration, Visiting Artist

5 questions about illustration for Matt Phelan

April 17, 2012 //
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Matt Phelan is coming to Kutztown this weekend for the 2012 Children’s Literature Conference. Even if you can’t make the conference you might go to the KU bookstore to pick up his books at a discount. He is a prolific and popular illustrator. He writes as well. A piece of Matt’s original artwork from his award-winning graphic novel, A Storm in the Barn, was in the Dornish collection show last year at KU’s Miller Gallery. I emailed him five questions and here are his replies.

Art from Storm in the Barn, courtesy & © Matt Phelan

1. Do you recall an author or illustrator visit your elementary school when you were a kid?

Matt Phelan: I don’t recall anything that remotely cool happening at school. I don’t think author visits were a thing back then. It’s a shame because Lloyd Alexander (author of the Chronicles of Prydain and many other books I loved) lived in my town and might have been open to a school visit. Many years later, I ran events at a Borders store and I would invite illustrators in for signings mostly so I could ask them questions.

pencil sketch © Matt Phelan for cover of Around the World

2. Are more children’s books headed in the graphic novel direction, like your recent Around the World?

Matt Phelan: The children’s publishing industry is definitely interested in putting out more graphic novels for kids. The great thing is, like all of children’s publishing, they are open to many different kinds of graphic novels. So there’s room for superheroes, talking mice, and creepy historical fiction set in the Dust Bowl. I believe there will be more picture book illustrators like me trying graphic novels in the near future. It’s already happening with people like Dan Santat (“Sidekicks”), Jarrett Krosoczka (“Lunch Lady”), and multiple Newbery Honor-winning author Jennifer Holm (“Babymouse”) putting out fantastic graphic novels for kids. Eric Wight came from comics and animation and is now creating a hybrid of prose and comics for his Frankie Pickle young reader series. Innovations like that and the variety of stories makes me think that children’s publishing is the most exciting place for comics today.

3. Any advice for aspiring illustrators?

Matt Phelan: The only thing you have compete control over at the beginning is your portfolio. And that’s really the one thing that will get you work. Before you worry about mailings, contacts, or any of that marketing stuff, concentrate on making the strongest portfolio you can. Other than that, I recommend that illustrators take an acting class or two or at least read some books on acting. I studied acting in college and it has proven to be the most useful training I’ve had for my work.

"Niles" watercolor © by Matt Phelan from his blog.

4. Often students say they met/know someone who has written a kid’s book and wants illustration. I give them the standard warning that publishers prefer “unencumbered projects.” What do you think, are they better off coming up with their own original story?

Matt Phelan: Publishers do not want to see illustrations in manuscript submissions unless the author and illustrator are the same person. If you want to write, then submit a sketch dummy of a book you have also written. If you want to illustrate other people’s books, then all you need is a strong portfolio. I’d say that illustrating someone’s unsold manuscript (even if they offer to pay you) is time that could be better spent elsewhere.

5. Have you been to Ireland? or taken a trip abroad that’s influenced your art?

Matt Phelan: I actually went to Ireland on my honeymoon, Why do you ask? Does my work seem Irish? At any rate, I always bring plenty of sketchbooks on vacation. I think everything has potential to influence your work at some point. The important thing is to be open and observe as much as you can. Sketching forces you to slow down and notice. (I’ve included some Ireland sketches of one of the many walls of the Aran Islands and some sheep in County Galway.) I have taken some research trips for my work. I spent a week in Muskegon, Michigan which is the setting for my next graphic novel. Sadly, I didn’t have the time to circle the globe for Around the World. A missed opportunity there, I think.

Stone wall, Ireland, from a sketchbook. Courtesy Matt Phelan © 2007

Notes: I asked about Ireland out of curiosity after finding a web page where Matt explains the pronunciation of his Irish surname. If you haven’t read any of Matt’s work, I especially recommend Around the World. It graphically recounts three true stories of round-the-world voyages, by the reporter Nellie Bly, sailor Joshua Slocum, and bicyclist Thomas Stevens. It is like getting three good books for the price of one!

Courtesy Matt Phelan, http://www.mattphelan.com

More of Matt Phelan’s entertaining thoughts and lively sketches can be found on his own blog - planetham.

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Categories cartooning, drawing, graphic design, illustration, sketchbook, Visiting Artist

Best Camera for Illustrators?

February 17, 2012 //
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Q. What is the best camera for an illustrator?

A. The one you will carry with you at all times.

Pumpkin head and iPhone photo by John Fronza © 2011

If that has to be your phone, fine, get good at taking pictures with your phone. Here are some amazing shots taken on the iPhone by John Fronza, an artist and the bass player in the Voyage of Slaves. (Click the band’s name only if you like death metal and you are not in the library!) He always has phone handy, so he has this camera with him.

Cat © 2011 John Fronza

Fronza uses his iPhone’s $1.99 hipstamatic app for memorable images like these. He makes it look easy. Love the retro feel, it is as if they were taken by a Kodak Brownie, or a Holga, that old Eastern European plastic camera. Nice format, too. Like the song says: It’s hip to be square.

Bananas © 2011 John Fronza

Some say the iPhone will be the death of the digital camera. Maybe, but meanwhile the picture-taking ability of the iPhone is driving the point and shoot camera makers to add features and innovate. They are adding better image stabilization, Hi-def video, and some wild special effects, including miniature and toy camera modes. Next post we will take a look at the spectacular effects you can get with the Canon Elph.

Tom Huck in his office at Evil Prints @2010 John Fronza

Generally, I use the term illustration for non-photographic artwork used in the service of a story or concept.  In my work, I only use photos for reference. The fact is, creative photographers capture images that if paired with the right text make for splendid conceptual illustrations. Fronza’s work could illustrate some weird and spooky stories.

That last image reminds me: Evil Prints Woodcut Boot Camp 2012 is open for registration. Want learn how to make woodcuts? This is the place to go. It’s where I met Fronza. Talk about weird stories!

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Categories illustration, printmaking

He’s Got a Million of them –7 Great Designs by Greg Christman

January 29, 2012 //
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Greg Christman is one of the most prolific illustrator/designers to come out of Kutztown’s C.D. Dept. His work is frequently seen on the hippest design blogs. He was recently featured in a spread in a new French design publication called the Book of Creation. I asked Greg to explain a few of his inventive images the French liked so much.

Greg: Did this when I was working at Gyro. Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction was looking for some artist shirts. I made this. It’s just a fun type experiment.

I love cats.  Andy O’ Dore (also a KU CD grad) and I created/run a cat website (which has really blown up this year )… so you know I’m always making dumb cat things. This is exactly that… a dumb cat thing.

Love Harry Potter. No other explanation for this. This got reblogged thousands of times which was really, really amazing for me.

4-color screenprint for Slingshot Dakotas vinyl release of their record. Tom from Bird Apartment Printing screened this. He is also in the band. He is a talented screenprinter. I do a lot of work for him and his band. Excited that I’m doing their up and coming record on their new label.

Wonder Years? Band contacted me to do a t-shirt. Went through a few rounds and this one got made. Really happy with it.

Paint it Black poster: 2 -color screen printed poster for a show in DC.  Contacted by the band to do it. Got a great response and sold a ton.

Asked about his career path, Greg responds: “Oh ___! Day job. I worked a crazy ad job for a few years. You know… 8am – 8pm, while still having work to do at home. It wore me out… so I quit. It was great for experience and I highly recommend anyone getting out of school to do the same… but MOVE ON. It’s what I did. I took a job that was far less stressful. It is fulfilling, allows me to do my own work, as well as spend time with my kid and wife. You have to have that balance. Design and illustration is fun and all, but life is way better and that ultimately makes you a better designer.”

All images © Greg Christman. We leave you with a photo of Greg and his son, Oliver. Greg is the mature one on the left. 

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Categories cartooning, graphic design, illustration, KU alumni

Grant Snider, Remarkable Cartoonist, and Future Orthodontist

January 6, 2012 //
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Grant Snider is a talented young cartoonist. I think his work is brilliant, but you be the judge. He generously gave permission to share a selection of comics. I selected strips that should interest illustrators. More of his art can be seen at Incidental Comics. Grant is studying orthodontics. I find that mind-boggling. We did an email interview.

KMc: I am impressed you are going to dental school, like the poet William Carlos Williams keeping his day job as a pediatrician.

Grant: Thought about your William Carlos Williams comparison before, but I think dentist/cartoonist sounds less noble than physician/poet. Also, Osamu Tezuka went to medical school while simultaneously becoming the god of manga, though he never practiced medicine.

Your work reminds me of one old, and one new artist, Otto Soglow and Kevin Huizenga? Are you familiar with them?

Grant: Definitely. I’ve read Otto Soglow’s cartoons in some old New Yorker cartoon collections, and I’ve read a couple of Kevin Huizenga’s books and followed his work closely in comics annuals. That’s a flattering comparison – Soglow’s cartoons have some of the most beautifully efficient line work ever drawn. And I can identify very closely with Huizenga’s “Glenn Ganges” stories – especially the middle-class suburban-Midwest adult-male protagonist. They’re everyday life drawn with incredible attention to detail, and he experiments with comic format and convention in a way that adds great depth to the story.

Who are your influences?

Roz Chast, Matt Groening’s “Life in Hell,” and Tom Gauld have probably influenced my comics the most. Edward Gorey, Bill Watterson, Chris Ware, and B. Kliban are four cartoonists I greatly admire, but they would be very difficult to emulate. Designer and illustrator Christoph Niemann has genius graphic ideas and is a huge inspiration, though I doubt he considers himself a cartoonist. This American Life keeps my brain occupied in the long hours spent drawing and probably subconsciously influences my comics. I also frequently look to children’s books and music for ideas.

Does your online poster shop pay enough to cover your time at the drawing board or is Incidental Comics a labor of love?

Labor of love! It’s very nice when people like a comic enough to put it up on their wall, but if I tried to break down the hourly wage of time spent at the drawing board I would quickly become depressed. My comics appear weekly in the newspaper in Kansas City (where I went to dental school) and biweekly on GoComics.com (also based in Kansas City) so I get some compensation that way as well. It’s never been my intention to make it a full-time job, though I plan on pursuing my dual careers (cartooning and orthodontics) as far as they will take me.


Could you share some sketches?

I included some pages from my sketchbook that eventually became full-fledged comics (“Jazz,” and “The Diabolical Botanical Garden”). I use my sketchbook mostly for working out ideas and rough sketches, though there’s an occasional bit of life drawing or journaling. It’s full of false starts, but I sometimes come back to a long-unused idea and manage to spin it into a new comic.

Can you give any advice for aspiring web or print cartoonists?

Focus on writing and ideas! If you are excited about an idea, you will find a way to make the drawing and layout work. Nothing is going to look how you want it to when you first start, but if you make new comics consistently your drawing style will develop and improve. Some of the best cartoonists have idiosyncratic (or even “bad”) drawing ability, but their drawings look amazing when coupled with great ideas. Share your work early and often – try to get into your school newspaper, start a webcomic, print out mini-comics and give them away, don’t keep it hidden in a sketchbook until you’ve achieved some imagined level of perfection.

Thanks, Grant for thoughtful answers and great advice. Wonderful to see the sketches, showing that even great ideas need to be refined. The sketch below became “The Diabolical Botanical Garden.” Most of Grant Snider’s cartoons are available as $15 prints from his Poster Shop.


Sketchbook pages & all art reproduced above ©2011 Grant Snider

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Categories cartooning, drawing, graphic design, illustration, sketchbook

Jonathan Bean, local children’s book illustrator makes good

November 19, 2011 //
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photo courtesy Jonathan Bean

Once upon a time, a young man named Jonathan Bean  stopped by KU’s beloved old Communication Design House. This must have been nearly a decade ago. He was a recent grad from Messiah College in central PA with a small portfolio and large ambitions. He was wondering about topping off his bachelor’s degree from Messiah with a BFA in illustration from Kutztown. Of course, we might want to steer a talented young artist toward Kutztown University, but I find a second bachelor’s degree redundant. Like adding a side of cheese fries to your cheese steak. At KU a second degree, especially now with our new gen ed requirements takes three more years of schooling.

In my opinion, a recent grad who wants more illustration classes is better off earning a two-year MFA in illustration. That’s the advice I gave Jonathan. They have a limited residency MFA at Marywood in Scranton called Get your Master with the Masters,  for example. Jonathan decided to apply to SVA, The School of Visual Arts, my alma mater, in NYC. Flash forward to 2011: He has recently moved back to nearby Fleetwood, PA and he stopped on campus earlier this semester to tell me how it went. It worked out OK.

New book by Lauren Thompson, Artwork by Jonathan Bean

He has no regrets about going to SVA. It was expensive, for sure, but he found living and working in New York City exhilarating. He also said he was very lucky to be part of a really talented and supportive MFA class. On his website he has links to his SVA classmates’ work, including Paul Hoppe and Taeeun Yoo among others.

Jonathan has had great success as a children’s book illustrator. He is already working on his twelfth children’s book. His most recently published book is One Starry Night, a retelling of the Christmas Story (the original one with the birth of Jesus, not the one where Flick’s tongue gets stuck to light pole.) One Starry Night is written by NY Times bestselling author Lauren Thompson. The text is nicely complimented by Jonathan’s deceptively simple art. To my eye his work harkens back to the classic style of Wanda Gag. Kirkus Reviews calls it “an artistic tour de force. ” The Society of Illustrators has honored Jonathan by including artwork from One Starry Night in their current exhibition, on view through Dec.29, 2011.

At Night, words and watercolor paintings © 2007 Jonathan Bean

He wrote and illustrated At Night, a Boston Globe Horn Book Award Winner. Here is what the NY Times said about At Night, “Bean’s debut as an author is sweet and resonant, as calming as a mug of warm milk…he captures the solitary sense of being the last one awake…the peacefulness that comes with discovering a restful space of one’s own.”

Sketchbook page from jonathanbean.com ©2011 Jonathan Bean

Take a look at his website. He has had many more accomplishments than the few described above. It is wonderful to see the well-deserved success of this talented young man. Hopefully, we can get him to visit our illustration classes this year at Kutztown.

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Categories illustration, sketchbook

NY ComicCon guest blog by Ben Clifford

October 26, 2011 //
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Image courtesy NewYorkComicCon.com

Ben Clifford, Communication Design student, was good enough write this report of his experience at New York ComiCon 2011.

There are only three things you need to know about NYCC if you want to become a comic artist: go to the Industry panels, visit Artist Alley, and take a few copies of your portfolio with you. DC and Marvel Comics have booths set up at every convention where you can drop off your art for it to be reviewed (although I couldn’t find it). But you never know who you’ll meet, and I got an unexpected portfolio review from professional inker Rick J. Bryant (Superman Action Comics, DC). The highlight of the advice I got from him was to “fill 4 reams of printer paper with realism studies”, and “if your art doesn’t work in the pencils first, you’ve failed”. Artist Alley is full of pros in the comic book industry, and all of them are there to meet fans. It’s a fool-proof way to get your work looked at and if your lucky enough, get your foot in the industry door. Editors Note: Rick Bryant has a full gallery of his inking work here.

Captain America, photo courtesy NYComicCon website

I also attended a series of panels run by Buddy Scalera(Comic Book School) on writing and penciling for comics. Writing advice included “know what your characters want and what they fear” and “each page needs a contained story arc”. Penciling advice will come as no surprise to any artist, which was simply “do thumbnails. Then do thumbnails of your thumbnails”.

X-Men look-a-likes, photo courtesy NY ComicCon image gallery.

But Buddy’s last panel was the most useful thing I did the entire convention: the Creator Connections Panel. All the artists and writers in the room where split down the middle, and them were rotated around in a form of “comic creator speed dating”. I got in touch with at least 15 different writers, and I am already doing some freelance test pages for one writer. Look for this panel next year if you go, it could be the start of your career!

Two interesting new releases from Image Comics.

On Saturday, I got into the Image Comics Show, where I met the artist for the new series “The Strange Talent of Luthor Strode”, a what-if idea based comic where a scrawny high school kid sends away for a muscle man kit booklet and develops a strange talent for violence. Other comics to look for from Image Comics are “The Danger Club”, where all the superheroes leave earth and the teenage sidekicks are left to fend for themselves Lord of the Flies style, and “The Last of The Greats”, there the last of a group of aliens superheros agrees to save earth even after they have killed all his companions, but for a price…

Image Comics is always looking for new talent, and with their creator-owned system, you can submit your comic pitch to them at any time through their website.

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Categories illustration

TWO Star Illustrators Return

October 17, 2011 //
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Poster by Kim Beyer. KU CD, class of 2012

Kevin Cornell and Matt Twombly will present their artwork at “The David Bullock Return of the CD Grads,” Thursday October 20, from 1 until 3pm.  Location: Kutztown’s McFarland SUB, Alumni Auditorium. These are two very successful guys who do very different sorts of illustration. Some samples are posted here, but you should really check out their websites, by clicking on their names above.

Sketch by Kevin Cornell © 2010

Why is it called the David Bullock Return of the CD Grads? Professor Emeritus David Bullock was a founder of the CD dept and the longtime chair, so the event is named in his honor. Among his many contributions to the CD curriculum, Prof. Bullock developed the History of Graphic Design class. Prof. Elaine Cunfer works hard to put this popular annual event together, and this year the focus is on illustrators.

Comic page 2010 Matt Twombly

All C.D. student are expected to be there, but there will be extra seats and the public is welcome.  For C.D. students with class conflicts, this is like a field trip. KU CD faculty will ask faculty across campus to allow you to make up lost classwork. There will be pizza and drinks available prior to the event at 12:30. Prof. Cunfer has thought of everything.

Giraffellow, © 2007 Kevin Cornell

Kevin Cornell’s brilliant, entertaining, and award-winning web site, bearskinrug.co.uk gets several thousand hits some days. The artwork above was plucked from his massive gallery. Kevin has illustrated several books including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Matt Twombly’s web site, matthewtwombly.com is brand new and it showcases his illustration, comics and graphic design projects.

Life after KU and Weis Markets:

From series, "How to Get Fired from Weis Markets" © 2009 Matt Twombly

We often do a project in illustration classes, a staple of illustration programs everywhere, the old “How To… instructional illustration.’ We see a lot of “How to use Chop Sticks, Check your Oil, How to Back Up your Hard Drive.” Matt Twombly worked at the local supermarket while he attended Kutztown. I recall seeing him restocking yogurt in the dairy aisle. I guess he didn’t like it  much. He did a wild series of illustrations on “How to get Fired from Weis Markets.” He now works as a designer for Science, a Washington, D.C. based publication, and he loves his job. He gets to do a new illustration for Science nearly every week.

The illustration Concentration blog has written about both of these talented individuals before. If you missed those entries read more about Kevin here, and Matt here.

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Categories Faculty, illustration, KU alumni
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