24 Hour Comic Book Day 2008

So last weekend was 24 Hour Comic Book Day. The idea is to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. It was started by Scott McCloud a few years ago to show how capable an artist can be.

I was lucky enough to be near Jim Hanley's Universe, which was apparently the only place in NYC doing it. Here's my 24 hour comic.

Shodown is rated PG-13 for language and violence. Yeah.















It's interesting to see how the quality of work drops as time goes on... Compare the first 6 pages to the last 6 and you'll sorta see. See the Negative Laser Pew-Pew on page 16? Yeah, that's my way of getting rid of all the black space I'd have to color in. I thought it was clever....

Another way to save time was the use of splash pages; those pages with just one panel of stuff happening (pages 4, 24, etc.)

The idea was sorta random. I just drew some crazy UFO thing at the top corner of the first page and went from there. Very spur-of-the-moment. you get a good idea of what goes on in my head.

I learned quite a bit from my first comic book. It sorta reinforced the fact that I'm not a sequential artist....But I had fun. Making a 24 page comic in 24 hours once a year is alright with me.

More work!

Here are the latest versions of the 2D design project. It's the same broken name design, but using value to create form differences.




Both are pretty metal-esque, yeah? The first one may imply some sort of obsession with blades and other pointy objects. The second is sorta like some metal animal thingies on a neutral background.


Here's a painting I did in Painting I. We use oil (almost) exclusively, this is the first time I've ever used oil paint (well, second or third time in class). This is also the first time painting on an actual canvas. Oh, and this is also also the first time I've painted with a palette knife. Last week in painting, we've finally started using brushes with our oil paints.

It's a greyscale painting of a Morandi painting. We've been looking at a lot of his work in this class because of the way he uses color. We actually haven't seen any of his paintings in color yet, just these greyscale photocopies that we make paintings of. There's a Morandi exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art over here, which we'll be visiting Thursday. Should be interesting.

3D Design: Funnest class so far?

So here are some pics of my first 3D Design class project. The basic idea is to create a 3D form using 13 parallel planes. I didn't want to do something boring, so I came up with this:



I'm not religious or anything, but the cross is a simple form that looks complex in this context.



The center piece is a 7x7 inch square. For the first piece, each corner has a .5 inch square cut out. Every plane after that has another half inch cut out until you arrive at the cross, which is 1 inch wide on all four arms.




A time consuming project, but really fun. I like constructing things.

Our next project is a bit more complicated. More details on that one later.

More 2D Design

So, here are the projects for 2D design. We're taking the name design idea further by taking one of the designs and creating a more geometrical composition.

I took this one:


And turned it into this:


After that, we had to rearrange the shapes. Mine turned out like this:


I think they look too similar, but there are some interesting negative spaces.

This is the next part of the project, using line to define the shapes instead of solid black and white.

Not sure how I feel about it, but it's interesting.

Current Projects

Life so far in the city has been quite nice. After getting past the noise and mess of the city, it doesn't seem all that much different from Durham. Just bigger.

Here are some pictures of my first 2D design class project. We first had to do various compositions using our names, then use a viewfinder to zoom in on three areas to enlarge. This project is about figure/ground relationship and positive and negative space.


Taken from a "broken letters" name composition.


From a "large and small letters" composition.


Overlapping letters

Movin' on up!

New York City, here I come!

I'm moving up there to begin my education at the Fashion Institute of Technology where I will do Fine Arts and eventually Toy Design.

Waking up at 4 AM to make the drive up.

=_=

GanPen production will be put on hold until I can find a workspace. I'll be taking a few with me if I find some space and time to paint them in.

Will update blog with cool stuff soon! Expect to see more of the artsy side in future updates.

Lazy Summer Days

*insert lame excuse for no updates here*
This might be a pretty long post...

Summer has been pretty darn good since the last update. Recently, the Durham Arts Council opened their annual exhibit featuring the work of members of the Durham Art Guild. As a junior member, I had this piece on display:
The Death of Tomorrow

I think this is the first time any work of mine has actually been in a public exhibit place, so I feel honored to be a part of it. Apparently, the drawing was awesome enough to win 2nd place and score me some munnies!



Pictured above is what is currently on my makeshift workbench. Production has been slow because of a lack of space.


I got tired of using black, so here are some experiments...


Another PenZilla for my karate master.



And a friend wanted a ZombiePen, so here is a new version. As you can see, there are exposed rib bones and a number of new wounds.

I move to New York City on the 15th of August. From the 6th of August to the 13th of August, I'm going to be in California for a few weddings. Time is running short, so I'm trying to tie up some loose ends here. A lot of that is finishing some games and work that I can't take with me. GanPen production will probably be put on hiatus for a few months, at least until I figure out if I can work on them un the city.

On to some other news! On July 12th, I officially earned my black belt in Ishhin-Ryu Karate!
It was a very exhausting test, especially since I was testing alone; this meant there was little time to catch my breath and little energy from the outside to feed off of. As per tradition, I walked away with a few injuries. Both my feet had bruised heels from attempts at breaking bricks. The big toe on my right foot was black and blue underneath the nail because of a brick falling on it after a break. We had to take a drill bit and drill a few holes in the nail to release the blood and pressure. And my right wrist is bruised because of another break attempt.

All my injuries were pretty much self-inflicted...
Weird.

Other notables include having to fend off 5 really big guys (and promptly being thrown around like a rag doll), showing off my hand speed, and having a board broken over my head.

Here's a parting pic of me and my master, Shaw-sensei



Until next time!

Long time no update, eh?

After a nice two week period of (relative) relaxation, it's time for me to be productive again!

Now, now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Wait a sec, Jordan! It's been almost a month since you last updated! You've been relaxing for a really, really long time!"

And I'd like to respond: "Incorrect, Dear Reader! My last few weeks of high school were rather hectic! I hardly had time to update my blog in between the final projects and sessions of Team Fortress 2!"

In short, yes, I have been quite lazy. But since summer is here (has been here for a few weeks), I can finally update on a semi-regular basis. Here's a look at the latest GanPen variation:

(The following images may be considered graphic by some, so TURN BACK NOW if the thought of zombie penguins makes you squeamish!)

ZombiePen!
Commissioned by B.Dean



Check out the brains on this guy!









Forgive the low quality of the shots, but I only had my cell phone camera on me. The "zombification" was done using a handy Dremel Stylus to cut away material and Fixit Sculpt to add in some fleshiness, mainly with the brain. Painting was very simple, just a base coat of white, a grey blend, and lots of drybrushed red/pink. The feet and beak were painted with this funky old yellow I got on accident recently. It actually comes out of the bottle looking like it's been sitting around for a few decades.

I have another ZombiePen I'm trying to finish up. Pics of that one coming shortly. I also have a UniPen (UNICORNS!), another PenZilla, and maybe a few other variations, as well as a few standard-issue GanPens coming along.

If you're interested in commissioning a particular GanPen, e-mail me at
jordan.liv@gmail.com
and we can try to work something out. I'm not sure how many more GanPen variations I'd be able to do, but remember! Regular GanPens with a tie color of your choice are still only $20 (plus shipping if you live far away!).

Whew! Time to do something productive!

Ganpen Director's Commentary and Making Of!

Here are the proper ones!
Watch The Rise of GanPen below first!