Friday, January 13, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
TOUR
Tour Dates for Frank Santoro signing / workshop
Thursday Feb 2nd - Escapist Comics Berkeley CA
Friday Feb 3rd - Mission Comics SF CA
Thursday Feb 9 - Floating World Comics Portland OR
Saturday Feb11 - Fantagraphics Store Seattle WA
Thursday Feb16 - Lucky's Comics Vancouver BC
Thursday Feb 2nd - Escapist Comics Berkeley CA
Friday Feb 3rd - Mission Comics SF CA
Thursday Feb 9 - Floating World Comics Portland OR
Saturday Feb11 - Fantagraphics Store Seattle WA
Thursday Feb16 - Lucky's Comics Vancouver BC
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
March 1st Course Overview
8 week Correspondence Course for Comic Book Makers
The course will focus on making a 16 page comic - which is a "signature" in printing. Week one is choosing a format for the comic and what scale to make the original art.
-------------------
Week 1
Format Fever / Printing process / What is story? / What images already formed?
One pager exercise - clear action / Fast drawing story composition / Scale jumps
Large drawing exercise / 16 page story first take layouts homework
-------------------
Week 2
Story Structure / 16 page layouts for story / Grid choices / Fast scale drawings
Editing / Pacing / Figure ground / Is setting clear? / Tracing paper exercise
Contour line simplicity / Landscape exercise / Figure exercise / Building of planes
Faces with blockout color demo
Harmonic grids
Geometry exercise homework
-------------------
Week 3
Geometry Class / Dynamic versus Static symmetry / Full up layouts / Harmonic grids
Spread harmonies / Fast drawing exercise / Mapping fast drawings / Tintin example
Draw, draw, draw / Backgrounds - find lines with geometry of page
Tracing paper originals - Xerox class - transfer tracing paper to board
---------------------
Week 4
Color Class / Tracing paper originals / Work up originals / Color thumbnails
Blocking in exercise / Contour line and color / Matisse / Moebius / Drawing in color
What not to draw, removing lines / Grid harmonies relate to color harmonies - music
Color layouts at scale / Color coding / Draw, draw, draw / Abandon idea of "inking"
------------------------
Week 5
Full up originals / See as spreads - like paintings / Pacing of color
Balloon placement exercise / Coloring through balloons / Color coding dialogue
Executing color "finished" ink lines and color at same / "All on one board"
Draw, draw, draw / edit, edit, edit
------------------------
Week 6
Editing Lab / Brutal honesty about what works and what doesn't / Corrections pasted on
Lettering exercise / Lettering on separate layer - too much pressure
Words change image / Editing words / Editing image / Late changes work in grid
Covers - front, back and inside covers - part of narrative?
------------------------
Week 7
Editing Lab / All 16 pages due end of this week / Preparing for print
-------------------------
Week 8
Final changes / Printing / Final Crit
------------
Week one is format fever. Week two is story structure and finalizing layouts. The geometry of the page and spread will determine your layouts and pacing. We will do a lot of fast sketching for the layouts using harmonic grids. Week three is geometry, pacing and figure ground relationships. Scale. Color in week four. Then drawing, drawing, drawing in weeks four and five. Editing in week six and seven - and preparing the comic for printing in week eight.
But! it may turn out you want to do a collection of single images - 16 of them - and they hang together as a narrative. So then we would work on that and how we could find tension between symbolism and narrative of single images. The 16 page signature is the vessel - we just have to figure out how you want to fill it - what story you want to tell. So we can design it together, essentially, in the first week.
For me, the key is the 7 spreads and 2 "covers" that create the 16 page signature. It is like a musical progression - and that is really what the course is structured around. Sort of like a traditional song structure. Something to study, I say!
-------------------
APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR THIS COURSE IS FRIDAY FEB 24th.
Class is limited to 10 students.
Application guidelines:
-submit one six page cromic you have written and drawn in the last year - meaning a comic that is AT LEAST six pages long -
-3 figure drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-3 landscape drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-email me jpgs - not too big - by Feb 24th -
capneasyATgmailDOTcom
------------
Overseas students are welcome. Last course had two Brits and two Aussies. I can understand French pretty well too.
Course is 500$ for eight weeks. Payment plans are available. I will work with you. Take the course. It is worth it!
The course will focus on making a 16 page comic - which is a "signature" in printing. Week one is choosing a format for the comic and what scale to make the original art.
-------------------
Week 1
Format Fever / Printing process / What is story? / What images already formed?
One pager exercise - clear action / Fast drawing story composition / Scale jumps
Large drawing exercise / 16 page story first take layouts homework
-------------------
Week 2
Story Structure / 16 page layouts for story / Grid choices / Fast scale drawings
Editing / Pacing / Figure ground / Is setting clear? / Tracing paper exercise
Contour line simplicity / Landscape exercise / Figure exercise / Building of planes
Faces with blockout color demo
Harmonic grids
Geometry exercise homework
-------------------
Week 3
Geometry Class / Dynamic versus Static symmetry / Full up layouts / Harmonic grids
Spread harmonies / Fast drawing exercise / Mapping fast drawings / Tintin example
Draw, draw, draw / Backgrounds - find lines with geometry of page
Tracing paper originals - Xerox class - transfer tracing paper to board
---------------------
Week 4
Color Class / Tracing paper originals / Work up originals / Color thumbnails
Blocking in exercise / Contour line and color / Matisse / Moebius / Drawing in color
What not to draw, removing lines / Grid harmonies relate to color harmonies - music
Color layouts at scale / Color coding / Draw, draw, draw / Abandon idea of "inking"
------------------------
Week 5
Full up originals / See as spreads - like paintings / Pacing of color
Balloon placement exercise / Coloring through balloons / Color coding dialogue
Executing color "finished" ink lines and color at same / "All on one board"
Draw, draw, draw / edit, edit, edit
------------------------
Week 6
Editing Lab / Brutal honesty about what works and what doesn't / Corrections pasted on
Lettering exercise / Lettering on separate layer - too much pressure
Words change image / Editing words / Editing image / Late changes work in grid
Covers - front, back and inside covers - part of narrative?
------------------------
Week 7
Editing Lab / All 16 pages due end of this week / Preparing for print
-------------------------
Week 8
Final changes / Printing / Final Crit
------------
Week one is format fever. Week two is story structure and finalizing layouts. The geometry of the page and spread will determine your layouts and pacing. We will do a lot of fast sketching for the layouts using harmonic grids. Week three is geometry, pacing and figure ground relationships. Scale. Color in week four. Then drawing, drawing, drawing in weeks four and five. Editing in week six and seven - and preparing the comic for printing in week eight.
But! it may turn out you want to do a collection of single images - 16 of them - and they hang together as a narrative. So then we would work on that and how we could find tension between symbolism and narrative of single images. The 16 page signature is the vessel - we just have to figure out how you want to fill it - what story you want to tell. So we can design it together, essentially, in the first week.
For me, the key is the 7 spreads and 2 "covers" that create the 16 page signature. It is like a musical progression - and that is really what the course is structured around. Sort of like a traditional song structure. Something to study, I say!
-------------------
APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR THIS COURSE IS FRIDAY FEB 24th.
Class is limited to 10 students.
Application guidelines:
-submit one six page cromic you have written and drawn in the last year - meaning a comic that is AT LEAST six pages long -
-3 figure drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-3 landscape drawings done on 3 x 5 index cards
-email me jpgs - not too big - by Feb 24th -
capneasyATgmailDOTcom
------------
Overseas students are welcome. Last course had two Brits and two Aussies. I can understand French pretty well too.
Course is 500$ for eight weeks. Payment plans are available. I will work with you. Take the course. It is worth it!
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Course Announcement
2012 spring course schedule
three separate courses available
March 1st - 8 week course - Full course - layouts, color, figure drawing - you will make a 16 page comic over the 8 weeks. 500$
April 9th - 3 week course - Color Workshop. 200$
April 23rd - 1 week course - Landscape / Figure drawing intensive. 100$
--------
Application deadline for all courses is Friday February 24th.
Submission guidelines:
- a six page comic you have written and drawn (from the last year) - meaning a comic that is AT LEAST six pages long
- 3 figure drawings - each done on a 3 x 5 index card
- 3 landscape drawings - each done on a 3 x 5 index card
- email me (not super big) jpgs of images to capneasyATgmailDOTcom
-------
If you are serious about taking the any of the courses - please email me capneasyATgmailDOTcom - and I will send you an invite to the private course blog that exists for the course that is just now wrapping up. You can see for yourself what it is all about. Thanks!
Tour Dates - signing / workshop
February 2nd Thursday - Escapist Comics in Berkeley
February 7th Tuesday - Floating World in Portland
three separate courses available
March 1st - 8 week course - Full course - layouts, color, figure drawing - you will make a 16 page comic over the 8 weeks. 500$
April 9th - 3 week course - Color Workshop. 200$
April 23rd - 1 week course - Landscape / Figure drawing intensive. 100$
--------
Application deadline for all courses is Friday February 24th.
Submission guidelines:
- a six page comic you have written and drawn (from the last year) - meaning a comic that is AT LEAST six pages long
- 3 figure drawings - each done on a 3 x 5 index card
- 3 landscape drawings - each done on a 3 x 5 index card
- email me (not super big) jpgs of images to capneasyATgmailDOTcom
-------
If you are serious about taking the any of the courses - please email me capneasyATgmailDOTcom - and I will send you an invite to the private course blog that exists for the course that is just now wrapping up. You can see for yourself what it is all about. Thanks!
Tour Dates - signing / workshop
February 2nd Thursday - Escapist Comics in Berkeley
February 7th Tuesday - Floating World in Portland
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Format Fever
Here's a list of formats available to the comic book maker in 2011/2012
The template numbers on the following list are for templates used in my Correspondence Course.
Next course begins late February / early March 2012. Please email me capneasyATgmailDOTcom for information.
1. comic book
2. mome / new love and rockets
3. french bd album
4. manga
5. trade paperback - think chester brown collections
6. american magazine size
7. standard digest zine
8. magazine ratio digest zine
9. mini-comic
10. tabloid
11. no format - web format - 920 dpi wide scroll - whatthingsdo / ny times ratio
12. movie screen
**The "no format" of webcomics is it's own subject. I am forefronting the WhatThingsDo aesthetic because it jibes closely with the current wide screen tv screen / movie screen aesthetic. I understand that most webcomics are thinner and incorporate headings, sidebars, etc - in that case one would "find the square" and create a system of periodicity for the scroll.
FORMAT FEVER
1. comic book
2. mome / new love and rockets
3. french bd album
4. manga
5. trade paperback - think chester brown collections
6. american magazine size
7. standard digest zine
8. magazine ratio digest zine
9. mini-comic
10. tabloid
11. no format - web format - 920 dpi wide scroll - whatthingsdo / ny times ratio
12. movie screen
**The "no format" of webcomics is it's own subject. I am forefronting the WhatThingsDo aesthetic because it jibes closely with the current wide screedn tv screen / movie screen aesthetic. I understand that most webcomics are thinner and incorporate headings, sidebars, etc -
The template numbers on the following list are for templates used in my Correspondence Course.
Next course begins late February / early March 2012. Please email me capneasyATgmailDOTcom for information.
1. comic book
2. mome / new love and rockets
3. french bd album
4. manga
5. trade paperback - think chester brown collections
6. american magazine size
7. standard digest zine
8. magazine ratio digest zine
9. mini-comic
10. tabloid
11. no format - web format - 920 dpi wide scroll - whatthingsdo / ny times ratio
12. movie screen
**The "no format" of webcomics is it's own subject. I am forefronting the WhatThingsDo aesthetic because it jibes closely with the current wide screen tv screen / movie screen aesthetic. I understand that most webcomics are thinner and incorporate headings, sidebars, etc - in that case one would "find the square" and create a system of periodicity for the scroll.
FORMAT FEVER
1. comic book
2. mome / new love and rockets
3. french bd album
4. manga
5. trade paperback - think chester brown collections
6. american magazine size
7. standard digest zine
8. magazine ratio digest zine
9. mini-comic
10. tabloid
11. no format - web format - 920 dpi wide scroll - whatthingsdo / ny times ratio
12. movie screen
**The "no format" of webcomics is it's own subject. I am forefronting the WhatThingsDo aesthetic because it jibes closely with the current wide screedn tv screen / movie screen aesthetic. I understand that most webcomics are thinner and incorporate headings, sidebars, etc -
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Santoro Correspondence Course
My correspondence course for comic book makers is going very, very well. I am happy. I am thinking about offering it again beginning March 1st 2012. Please pass this post around to anyone you may know who might want to take the course.
Right now - we are in Week 5 of an eight week course. I thought this post reflects the thorough approach we are taking in this course. Please enjoy.
Questions about the course? Please email me: capneasyATgmailDOTcom
--------------
SANTORO CORRESPONDENCE COURSE - Lesson example
--------------
TINTIN HOMEWORK - WEEK 5 / EXERCISE 1
PRINT OUT THE TINTIN PAGE
TRACE THE GRID MAP PROVIDED HERE ON TRACING PAPER OVER THE TINTIN PAGE - use colored pencils
TRACE THE FIGURES and OTHER ELEMENTS LIKE I HAVE DEMO'D HERE
TRY AND KEEP IT TOGETHER IF YOU LOSE YOUR MIND
LISTEN TO MY AUDIO DESCRIBING WHAT IS HAPPENING - WHAT HERGE IS DOING
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