compo2 week 10 grand final with chorus, elephants and… ok no elephants!

Last week of the compo 2 course, and it’s the second time I take it (first time was not an easy run for me, but Glenn pushed me to hold on, and was right, as now I’m getting some results!!)

I’ve already said how all the class has progressed, and in this final assignment, we can see that we have all reached a  point of equilibrium: we’ve reached a place that is home, easy, simple, sustainable (nothing worse that being able to do a drawing one week and unable to do the next one in the same style the following week!). We have all reached a point where we can and should (must?) do something out of what we have developped: illustrations, paintings, comics, you name it. There is much to learn by working day after day on a project (while doing other things like courses, other projects etc), it teaches you to relax and trust yourself and find the right pace for you.

The next session of the Vilppu Academy online classes starts on the 11 of may (we are in 2015 as I type this!) and two new classes have just been added (meaning Glenn had to create syllabuses, videos etc. for each) both are ten week long I think: applied anatomy and sketching (outdoor preferably). There are still some (not many, hurry) spaces left if you are interested (and there are payment plans of course). (vilppuacademy.com don’t hesitate to email them with questions!)

Personally, I’m going to take both anatomy and sketching at the same time (the weather is getting better so that is good for outdoor sketching), and I shall also work on developing and publishing something with my mice and bulldozers night world (I think we are aiming for a webcomic, I wanted to do a webcomic before, but this world is so comfortable to work in for me that I have no excuse).

This week I decided to “start” something. You may remember my comic page from some months ago about a pilot being stranded with the mail in the Andes by his giant butterfly (his ride) who had decided to go on strike. It was silly, surrealistic and had strange animals interacting with humans – this was already a part of the world of sentient animals and machines I am currently developing (re: this week and the past ones). Could I easily link the two “units”? Could my butterfly-less pilot meet my boy and dog and mice and skunk and bulldozer? Would it work?

I arranged a meeting between them (of course our main mouse knows the pilot and is trying to remember his name – only a few humans know of sentient animals and machines.)

Here is the result:

 

I’m quite proud of my idea of the sleeping traffic lights with eyes half closed (registered the image like the others from this universe at the Library of Congress).

Glenn has one technicality to point out: the back leg of the pilot was too dark and difficult to see against the background (this is the corrected version). The rest of what he had to say was about the coherence, the storytelling, and the fact that I’ve reached (at long last! says I) a style/universe/tone/topic that is totally me, and is as a consequence clear, simple, and to the point, and…. professionally useable! (same for my classmates! as one of them commented on our student group on facebook “we break for nobody!”).

Got the names, the domains, the (R) for my webcomic site, I’m studying SEO (search engine optimisation), google analytics (statistics about who read you)  google ads, web marketing and social media use for info circulation about my work,  and WordPress (which I hate, but is home to a wonderful theme written by a webcomicer for webcomicers: an easy one to add daily strips, keep archives, manage comments, etc. I’m also learning to use Indesign (got to plan the strips for future possible book publication. Don’t thing all this has gotten to my head, but most people think “oh, I’ll never print anything!” and bitterly regret that attitude when, a year later, they have to redraw all their strips because the dpi and or lpi were wrong for printing! I also start working with Montage, a script-writing software that works also for comics.

Yes I know: being an artist is not just about drawing – you have to be able to do more than draw or come up with fun stories.

But trust me: if you start believing in a project, all the boring stuff (SEO is the most boring topic in the known universe) become “just this thing” you do because you have to, and it’s ok.

This is the start of something, but the studies go on (and will forever). Considering that this blog is getting more readers by the week (I echo it on several forums and in one of them I’m reaching 3000 readers) and so that it seems of some interest to some people (I think a blog or text about art is useful for an artist: even if you disagree with it… why do you disagree? It spurs you to think about it) I shall go on with this blog, this time on the sketching class. I already know it will be totally new for me, so it should be fun!

So join me, and if you are on Facebook follow me to see more of my work: Anton Von Flugelhorn  (and don’t hesitate to pm me)

Draw, never give up, reread my depressing first time at compo 1 and see where I stand now…. I’m not particularly gifted, just very lucky to have a great teacher, and I’m very very single minded!

See you next week! back to work!

AVF