Art & Comics by Katherine Roy

About a week ago a group of us from the Center for Cartoon Studies had the chance to visit Mirage Studios in Amherst, MA, home of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Peter was a gracious host, answering our questions and telling us stories before giving us great toys! We also got to tour Jim Lawson’s studio, who has been penciling and inking the Turtle comics since they began. We all had a fabulous time. He also posted an image of the mini comic I gave him on his blog– thanks Peter!

http://plairdblog.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Got up at 5:00 am to layout and color some drawing samples to send to Sorche Fairbank, a friend and talented agent working on a book for Ten Speed Press. It’s been fun to work on whether I am chosen for the project or not– it’s a great way to kick off the summer!

Tim drove us home from New York after his three week internship at First Second followed by his birthday celebration. After so much rain, the clouds were incredible. I did this quick sketch in the car– I miss drawing and intend to do a lot more of it this summer.

I first met Jules Feiffer when he spoke at the Center for Cartoon Studies with Jeff Danzinger in April. He was charming, enthusiastic, and quite the ham in front of a crowd. He liked my sketchbook, which later resulted in the opportunity to be his teaching assistant for the summer during his Montgomery Fellowship at Dartmouth College, just a few miles away from White River Junction. He arrived yesterday. I’m already having a blast!

Jules Feiffer’s pets Lily and Daisy are up here for the week while his daugther, Kate Feiffer, and his granddaughter Maddie stay as his guests in Hanover. Lily is “the dog that winks” in their book Which Puppy?. She was terrific fun to draw.

This week I had the privelege of attending the Politics of Cartooning panel discussion at Dartmouth College, with guests Jeff Danzinger, Jules Feiffer, Ed Koren and Ed Sorel. What a group! I loved them. But more fascinating than the work that they showed and their conversation was the audience’s attitude toward the future of cartooning—and publishing in general—as all but extinct. “You’re all of a certain age…” one woman began. “Just what the hell does that mean?!” came the response. But many audience members were nodding in agreement; are these cartoonists the last generation?

The Center for Cartoon Studies couldn’t exist without a new group of visual storytelling enthusiasts rising to the occasion to step into the giant shoes of past creators and continue forging new ground in the medium of comics. Graphic novels and comics format picture books are turning literary heads, snowballing onward as more titles are published every year. The new future in cartooning won’t rely on newspaper syndicates, but instead on book deals and digital media. Fingers crossed!

This weekend Jules Feiffer hosted his long-time friend Margie King Barab as his guest at the Montgomery House at Dartmouth College. Margie is the widow of Alexander King, author, memoirist, famous media personality of early television and editor of Americana Magazine, a Depression era humor publication. Margie visited Jules’ class “Graphic Humor in 20th Century America” and told the story of her move to New York City from Nebraska, and how she met and fell in love with Alex King, her super (and 33 years her senior), and of their marriage and his rise to fame. On Sunday night we watched the first of 13 episodes of Alex’s show called ”Alex in Wonderland,” in which he reflects on art, literature, humor, Africa, and love, among many other things. A young Margie King is seated next to her host and husband, offering prompts, laughter, encouragement, and an occasional song. Margie still sings around the house at 77 years old.

We’re back after a delicious whirlwind trip to New York City! I hope all of the SPXer’s had a great time; I’m sorry to have missed it.

It was a great honor to meet David Small and his wife Sarah Stewart on Tuesday night after David’s presentation on Stitches with his host Jules Feiffer. The book is his first graphic novel after a long career as a children’s book illustrator, and it looks to be a wildly successful addition to the canon of the genre. It is deeply powerful in its silence and masterfully drawn. I enjoyed hearing his thoughts on walking the line between absolute fidelity to Truth and telling a cohesive story. David’s and Sarah’s combined energy and shared passion as a powerhouse creative couple is very encouraging. Good luck on your tour!

"Cut the adjectives-- they tell you what to think."

This week I’ve been working on writing scenes for a graphic novel idea about a wedding. Writing is hard! But I’m learning so much by really trying to understand structure and character development, building moment after moment into a comprehensive story. I’ve had positive feedback on the project this week from an agent with Sanford J. Greenburger Associates and from Rich Johnson (Publishing & Graphic Novel Consultant, formerly with DC Comics) during their respective visits to the Center for Cartoon Studies. My hope is to have a full proposal and a rough dummy by the end of the semester!

This week I’ve been exploring the dream sequence in my graphic novel, trying out images and ideas that have been floating around in my head for some time. I’m sure very little of it will last to the final version, as I’ve jumped far ahead into my story to riff on scenes that have yet to be written, but I needed to shake things up a bit. It’s been lots of fun, even if I don’t keep my version of Cerberus in the story (the multi-headed hound that guards the gates to Hades in Greek and Roman mythology). Huzzah!

Through a set of serendipitous circumstances I find myself committed to the terrific and terrifying prospect of spending sixteen days traveling abroad through Egypt in winter of 2010. I have no idea what to expect, but plan to keep a sketchbook and comic diary for the duration of the trip entitled The Purple Gorilla and Other Caterpillar Tales* that I may publish portions of upon my return. This collection of drawings and comics will comprise Volume Three in my ongoing series starring the Caterpillar (see my About Page for further explanation) and may inspire me to pursue other derivative works too.

I have traveled in 14 countries, but this will be my first trip to Africa, my first time in an Arabic speaking country (so there’s no hope of deciphering signage and conversation), and my first chance to turn down a camel ride. I’m just beginning my research on what we have in store for us, but already sense some strong story leads and adventure possibilities for my comics. Expect to see a lot more of Egypt in the upcoming months!!

*Note: In the early 1950’s, publishers accidentally discovered that sales went up when comic covers featured a purple gorilla, even if the interior content had nothing whatsoever to do with gorillas of any kind, purple or otherwise. No one knew why this worked, but it did. I have braced myself for the possibility that inspiration found in Egypt will completely thwart all current thesis plans and establish a whole new project direction, but whatever I may work on as a thesis, a cover with a purple gorilla will guarantee interest. If not, I will blame Steve Bissette for telling me about the marketing power of said species.

Back in Vermont! After a great holiday at home and a good start to the new year, I am back at home in the New England cold, swinging away at my thesis project to make some significant progress. Expect to see a lot of drawings and comics over the new few weeks from my sketchbook and desktop. Here are a few more figure drawings from Kriota’s workshop:

Structure of the figure while standing and at rest:

Various added deformities to our two models (Cave-Man & Scoliosis):

And of Kriota (such a wonderful model herself!) as she drew ON the models:

Back from Egypt! To a small beautiful town in Vermont full of hills and friendly faces, patches of mud and twenty degree weather, where my thesis awaited me with open arms and lots of questions.

Here is just a small sampling of sketches from Egypt. I had grandiose dreams of keeping a comic chronicle of all events and happenings, but when traveling with 45 other people and seeing several sights per day, it just doesn’t happen. Other plans are in the works– I’ll write more about that soon!

More sketches from Egypt! Our guides Moustafa and Amgad were simply fantastic. Here’s a glimpse of their classroom.

I’ve been thinking a lot about color lately. Every time the sun comes out and shines down on our little corner of New England, the snow melts just enough to slip into the street and reflect bright blue patches of sky among streaks of white salt on black asphalt. The warm yellows and cheery reds of brick buildings throw themselves at every window pane, and all of a sudden Main Street is alive and vibrant in spite of the season. I would rip off my coat and boots and dive into the color if only it weren’t so damn cold.

Last week Joe Quinones and Maris Wicks visited the Center for Cartoon Studies and gave a wonderful presentation of their work and current projects, and between their pages of comics and Alec Longstreth’s recent crash course in color theory, I am inspired to get back into figuring out what it is to use color well. This week while sitting in our local coffee shop I couldn’t help but notice a conversation in front of me, and, in my best SNEAK-ATTACK drawing style, Wacom tablet and computer already in front of me, I tried out a little color study:

And then right before I left I did another quick one, trying different colors:

And now I’m completely addicted. Expect to see more of these over the coming weeks.

A regular local. Iced coffee and a muffin for $4.04 every day.

A short cartoon story about kissing! I had a lovely time finishing this in pencil and watercolor last week. Hope you enjoy!

About two weeks ago I wrote about a potential project based on my travels in Egypt, and promised to finish thumbnailing the pages for a full length story by February 23rd. “Did she finish?” asks one. “Is it brilliant?” asks another. “Can I read it right now Katherine? When will it be available on Amazon? Will you be doing a promotional tour across America?” That last part, I am quite certain, no one is asking.

The answers are as follows: YES! February 17th (5 days EARLY!!) I finished, printed and bound a 186-page booklet of a thumbnailed graphic novel. NO! It is not brilliant. Not even close. I’m lucky if half of it is even legible to anyone but me. BUT! I think I know where it is going, and that was really the point of the journey: to see if anything was there underneath the mental snapshots of our two week trip, and I think I’m onto some good leads. Tim Stout (my wonderful, talented husband) sat down with me on Sunday and helped me to extract the POINT (theme) of my story from a certain thumbnailed sequence I’m rather attached to, and I’ve spent the week diving into the pencils based on what I’ve learned about that same scene. I am excited about the road ahead over the next two months as graduation closes in. By May I should have a solid idea of where this project can go, and some sample finish pages to show for it. And, in the meantime, I will continue to do shorts, to try out different styles and approaches to cartooning. I will post excerpts from the process as I go.

Here is a sample thumbnailed spread from the Midpoint. This was executed by drawing with a wacom tablet and using photos from our trip to create page layouts on my computer:

And here is a sample thumbnailed spread from the latter half of Act 2:

This method of working has treated me very well. Using photos feels a little like “cheating,” but, hey, I took them, right? They are placeholders for drawings until I get a little farther along, but when trying to get through 10 pages a day, it was one of the best ways I found to keep moving. “Hey, I already composed this image– in a photo!– so I’ll borrow from myself. Thanks self!”

We’re in the thesis homestretch!! This semester is going by so fast I can hardly believe it. I’ve finally started a binder with empty plastic sleeves to hold the drafts of my Egypt project, moving from the full 180+ page thumbnailed rough first draft into the penciling stages for a section of the story. Here’s a sample two page spread from the section I’ve been working on this week:

Above is a spread of my initial thumbnails, executed on the Wacom tablet and printed to fit on 8.5X11 paper.  They are clean, but really boring: see all those medium “two-shots” I am using? This is fine in an early writing stage, but I think the panels can do a lot more to tell the story. So using a light box I then put a new sheet of paper on top of the thumbnails and do a first pass at penciling, which looks like this:

There is a lot of mess and clutter, I’ve taped in new panels, struggled with the perspective of the lounge chairs on the cruise ship, all the while trying to focus on composition, composition, composition. “What is this panel doing for the story? Can it be cut? Do I need more information? Do I need all this dialogue? Is the story moving forward? How’s my pacing? Where do the word balloons go?  Why would a grown person spend so much time filling in little boxes with pictures?” I then scan in this drawing and use the Wacom tablet again to clean things up, resize, and drop in some Google Sketch-Up lounge chairs to get them to look right, and print it again:

Now I’m pretty happy with this spread. I stick it in my binder on top of the first two drafts and keep moving forward. This is pretty much ready to pencil onto Bristol board with blue pencil, so that I can ink on top of the blue lines and delete them in Photoshop. This week I’ve done about 9 pages like this, a scene that falls in the latter half of Act 2 of my story. I’m hoping to get through about 30 pages like this, and then ink and color a sample by the time the year is through. Back to work!

Another round of Tucker Box color…

Last week we had the honor of meeting Art Spiegelman at The Center for Cartoon Studies! He happened to be in the area and offered to meet with students and hold an informal discussion about his work, his career, and his experience with comics publishing. He was funny and charming, and, to our amusement and awe, chain smoked through his entire lecture. I can’t even remember the last time I saw someone smoke indoors in a public space.

Sorry for the delay in posts this week, folks! Our apartment is too warm to use my computer, so I’ve been delinquent this week about checking email and updating my site. I’m busy working away on an independent picture book project, along with my graphic novel and another Caterpillar Tale in the concept stages. White River Junction is lazy in the summer heat, but as beautiful as ever. I hope to get to go swimming sometime this weekend. More soon!

Just went live! An article in comics on what it’s like to campaign for governor in Vermont, by myself and James Sturm for Slate Magazine. James and I followed Matt Dunne on his last day on the campaign trail on Monday, August 23rd, from 5:30 am until about 9:30pm. All day Tuesday was spent working on compiling the piece: James wrote the story, I did the drawings, and together with Keny Widjaja we completed all the production and color completed by early Wednesday morning (today). I loved doing the work and hope to get to do more projects like it in the future.