Life Drawing Classes in Anchorage

The Anchorage Museum is sponsoring life drawing classes each week, Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., through Mid-March.  The classes are $20 per class with two 10 and two 20 minutes poses with professional models and hosted by the esteemed Don Decker.  Its the best deal in town.

http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/

Inking with Michael Cho

Michael Cho is one of my favorite artists, in part due to his strong 3-color illustrations.  He's posted a set of comics illustrating the basic principals of inking , which are top notch. 

You'd also do well to check out his blog, especially his series of alley sketches .  His posts are especially noteworthy because he takes the time to explain his process deceptively simply.  

Presenting: Pat Race and Alaska Robotics.

I'll have the pleasure tonight of presenting with Juneau filmmaker and illustrator Pat Race.  From his his website:

Patrick Race makes short films and illustrates the Alaska Robotics comic. He studied computer science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and screenwriting at TheFilmSchool. He was named to Alaska's Top 40 Under 40 in 2006 and was a founding member of the Juneau Underground Motion Picture Society .

Check out his work and that of his crew, Alaska Robotics.  Awesome stuff.



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www.akrobotics.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlaskaRobotics
http://jumpsociety.com/

Presenting: Robert Goodin

I met Robert Goodin and his wife Georgene at A.P.E this past November when he was promoting his sell-out comic from Top Shelf, "The Man Who Loved Breasts".   Roberts work has appeared everywhere from a number of compilations from Top Shelf, to the New York Press, to McSweeneys, in addition to his self-published books.  Robert had an amazing array of merchandise from the normal t-shirts and mini-comics to handsome wooden sketchbooks and wooden postcards.  

Robert currently works as a storyboard revisionist for "American Dad" on top of his comics career.  Robert described the struggle of finding time to work on comics when he wasn't working as an animator. 

"I went into animation after school with the belief that I could easily get a job to pay the rent and then do comics on the side.  However, it took a year and a half to finally get that first animation job and then I found that animation can burn up a lot of time and energy, leaving little for comics.

When I started doing comic work I think I did that ass backwards as well.  I became a publisher which took up even more resources and I lost a lot of money publishing books that I was proud of, but not finding an audience.  Storyboarding in animation was becoming more demanding as well.  I dropped publishing and for a while dropped animation, living a very frugal existence and mostly off of my wife's income while I continued to draw comics.  Now I have been lucky enough to become a storyboard revisionist on American Dad.  This job is strictly 40 hours a week (no more), so I am able to finally make a comfortable living and have the time and energy for comics."

He had this advice for someone just starting out: 

"As far as finding an audience in comics, I would do as I say and not as I did.  I would begin my doing short stories and send them to anthologies.  If they get published, great, if not, collect them in a mini comic and sell that at a local convention or comic stores.  Continue this process and as hopefully one will get better, get more exposure,  and meet more people.  Over time and with more exposure some success can be found.  The key is to keep doing the work and getting that work out there." 

www.robertgoodin.com

Presenting: Shannon Wheeler

Shannon Wheeler is a pillar of the indie comics world, with his most famous creation being "Too Much Coffee Man ".  From its modest beginings, his strip has spun out into a newspaper comic strip, books, a lunch box, coffee mugs (natch) and two (!) operas.  His latest strip "Postage Stamp Funnies" is in the print edition of the Onion .

Aside from the advice above, Shannon Wheeler had this advice for illustrator's developing their portfolios: 

"What do I wish someone had told me? to trim my portfolio to target the client. I shouldn't try and show them that I can do all sorts of things - just show them that I can do what they want me to do. It would have saved me a lot of time and worry."

Presenting: Jamie Smith

 

 Jamie Smith lives in Ester, Alaska, outside of Fairbanks, and publishes the comic strips "Nuggets" and "Freeze Frame" which have appeared in newspaper's around the state as well as in three books.  He's also an accomplished editorial cartoonist.  Jamie teaches Sequential Art in at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and has been a force in the Northern Alaska comics scene, organizing various comics jams, workshops, and a 24 hour Comics Day in Fairbanks, in which participants produce a full comic book from start to finish in a days time.  He also put on the "Cartoon North" gallery show, spotlighting sequential art from Alaska and nationwide.  He's recently started a new blog "Ink and Snow" documenting his Spring 2009 drawing class.

Jamie had a lot of great advice:

"One of the finer points I frequently mull over is the divide between reclusive, in-grown artists and the contrast between them and outgoing or aggressive or savvy self-promoters etc. I think in hindsight my advice to aspiring talents is to first secure employment in the food service industry." "Being a waiter for years taught me not so much about people skills, promoting whatever's on the special and self-confidence, it basically just helped me to get over it and stop caring so much, just do the job and do it well. Training oneself to walk up to relative strangers and try to sell them stuff gives a valuable perspective on peddling artistic talent."

  

"Another key point I always try to drill into beginning art student's heads is the analogous ratio of success in sports: everyone's into it at a young age, but the field seems to exponentially narrow the older one gets until only a select few are left - which is not to say folks ever have to stop participating or (more commonly) become a spectator relegated to the sidelines. I think what sets the people who stick with it and find whatever measure of success to keep them motivated is the simple element of time, as in disciplining oneself to devote the majority of their energy towards the craft. In my most bitterest sometimes it explains the disproportionate number of retirees that flood the arts, or trust-fund babies, or being bankrolled by their significant other, or cluelessly naive/stubbornly idealistic (lots of student loans), or some combination thereof. More power to 'em."

"My challenge has increasingly been to make drawing relevant and real to students: by the time I get them at college age they are damaged goods in the sense that the majority of them have long since written off art, and/or are seeking an easy "A" for a humanities credit. Seems there's always been somebody in about middle/high school in the class that is the designated artist, who can draw rocket ships or dinosaurs really good (i.e. look realistic) and everyone else just gives up & bails on trying thinking they suck. So years later they are still carting around this baggage and I take it upon myself to deprogram them and reinstall some validity if not vision. In that way as a cartoonist it doesn't come across so high & mighty artsy-fartsy; it is a low-key, non-intimidating back door into art as it were. Like teaching figure drawing for example - I always now start out with a lesson first in caricature; it really helps approach what is normally the hardest subject matter in a looser, less stressful way."

Cartoon North
Jaime Smith's Books
inksnow.blogspot.com

Presenting: Jon Adams

I met Jon Adams a few years ago through his four-issue comic series "Truth Serum" that was published through Slave Labor comics and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with him at his booth in the Alternative Press Expo the last three years.  He's published three exquisitely designed collections of his comics and is producing a weekly comic strip on his website City Cyclops.  Jon recently quit his day job and made the transition to the life of a freelance artist.  He's got this to say about that move and his philosophy on building an audience.   

"Having a day job means steady income, but little time for emotionally fulfilling enterprises or a balanced life. Living as a freelancer means happiness, but the constant threat of an unstable income. At least until one reaches the point of being wildly successful.

Speaking of income, I've been incredibly fortunate to not go broke. I simply don't have the time, know-how or energy to properly market a book. That's what publishers are for. 

The only thing I think I do well is creating marketing that is at the very least not offensive. Every time I send out a newsletter, design an ad or post something to my blog, my main goal is to make it entertaining. Nobody wants to read a bunch of dry quotes about a product or look at a visually bland design. I try to make my marketing enjoyable and hope for the best."

When not creating, Jon prefers to spend his time pretending to be deceased in public.

CityCylops.com

Truth Serum on Facebook

Now Presenting: Ben Walker

In preparation for my talk at the 2009 Alaska Arts and Culture Conference, I was able to reach out to a number of artists I've meet over the years to ask about their experiences and for any advice to young artists. 

 Ben Walker is such an artist.

I met Ben Walker at San Francisco's Alternative Press Expo and have talked to him periodically over the years.  Ben has some excellent bear and western themed worked and has done an excellent job translating his work seamlessly between gallery prints, t-shirts and books.  Ben had this excellent advice on building a fan base and a long term career as an artist:

"I think when it comes to selling paintings, just getting cool art up in galleries isn’t enough. Art buyers want to have a connection to the artist. A successful artist needs to be "Out There." In other words an artist needs to be available for one on one contact with those interested in his art and be part of an art community in general.

Aside from painting and illustration work, I run an alternative life drawing studio called Pompsicle. Pompsicle allows artists of various backgrounds and skill levels the chance to draw awesome models in cool outfits and costumes. My painting career feeds into the growth of the drawing studio and vice versa. Folks see my artwork at galleries and hear about my drawing studio (because I'm there, meeting and talking with lots of people). They think “Yeah, I’d love to hang out with this Ben Walker guy and get some tips on drawing!” Attendance of Pompsicle studios grows. On the flip side: regular attendees of my drawing sessions are often the ones who are end up buying my artwork at gallery shows. They buy art because they feel a connection to the artist. The art career grows.

So my advise is to (of course) work on your drawing/painting/etc every day and also get “out there”. Go to gallery openings, attend workshops and conventions, talk to people and generally be part of the scene. If your town seems to be lacking a "scene" start making one! As your art career progresses I hope that you will find your level of involvement in the art community grows with it."

www.benwalkerart.com/
www.myspace.com/pompsicle
Ben Walker on Flikr