Comics Camp Day Five

The final assignment was to design our cover!?! That does seem weird to do the cover last, but now it makes sense.

I thought designing the last page was really hard, but this was worse. It took me two hours to think what it should look like and what to use as a title! I ended up using the same layout as for the Ostroboglin page and had the shadows of the Demons mimic the shape of the clouds in front.

As for the title... I searched all potential ideas on Amazon- that was illuminating! If I used a particular word in the title, what other books would show up when someone searched for it? Were those my potential readers? Um, no. I elimated anything with “Demons”. I eliminated all versions with “glitch,” “glitches, glitching....etc.” Also nixed “Begin Again.” Although appropriate, that belongs to my comic magazine series. I realized this story is ultimately about MY relationship with... myself.

FINALLY, I decided to use the original title from the first mini-comic, “We Will Never Leave You”.

We spent this last day of class in the rare book library at Dartmouth (one of our teacher’s husband is the librarian there) - comparing some very strange books and placing them on a chart - text to graphics, and fiction to propaganda. It was fascinating. One of the books we got to handle was from the 1500’s!

Leaving this workshop and group of people was really difficult. Coming home to my empty house was worse. All the grown up stuff I’d left behind (the stuff that makes me miserable and lonely) was waiting for me. Along with three different kinds of molds on the bread on the counter. Sigh. Yes, I could write a comic about that... but I will probably crawl into bed and watch Netflix until I pass out from exhaustion.

Comics Camp Day Four

Today's in-class exercise was about Dialog. We were paired up and given two characters and commanded to create a comic that used dialog to show the characters interacting and changing in some way. Part of the challenge was brainstorming and working with another person!

This first one is the one I did with Hannah. We were given "Worried Salesman" and "Enraged Astronaut"!

Morose Traveler and Anxious Cat (page 1)

Morose Traveler and Anxious Cat (page 2)

Panicked Baker (not sure?) and Confused Teacher

Angry Teen and Stressed Teacher (page 1)

Angry Teen and Stressed Teacher (page 2)

If you'd like to see the sketches I did today (actually, incredibly late last night!) for my Demons comic, take a look at my Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/SandyBee

Comics Camp Day Three

As usual - I'm not working on the project I thought I would. I've been working on the Demons, and their new friend(?) and other stuff from inside my head. I am so so so tired! But I don't want to go home and lose this momentum and unlimited possibility. I've been posting some of the group projects here on my blog, but I'm only putting the personal comics on my Patreon site. https://www.patreon.com/SandyBee/posts

Today's group exercise was a hoot!

We each folded a sheet of paper in half (the long way). Then wrote a sentence at the top, ie, I wrote "Mickey Mouse eating Nachos." (See the second strip in the picture below).

We each handed our paper to the person to the right of us and they drew a picture of what we had written.
Then that person folded the text part over so it couldn't be seen, and handed it to the next person.

That person wrote a detailed description of the image, then folded the image over so it was hidden, and handed it to the next person. This continued on, alternating between image and description until the paper was filled.

Here are all the strips, unfolded. It's a bit like that game "Telephone." A few of the strips stayed remarkably on track, most others went... wrong... in hilarious ways!

Comics Camp Day Two

This was a fun, exhausting exercise we did in class today! If you'd like to see what I've been drawing for my personal projects, take a look at my Patreon page.

Each student got a large sheet of paper that was divided into twelve sections (we have 10 students and 2 teachers).

Each person had two minutes to draw the beginning of the comic in the first box.
Then each paper was passed to the person on the right, who drew the next panel in the comic.
The process was repeated until the papers each returned to the original person, who drew the final panel of the comic.

Some of these got REALLY bizarre! Enjoy!

(I drew Box #11)

(I drew Box #9

(I drew Box #6)

(I drew Box #7)

(I drew Box #8)

(I drew Box #10)

(I drew Box #4)

(I drew Box #2)

(I drew Boxes #1 and #12)

(I drew Box #5)

(I drew Box #3)

Comics Camp Day One

It feels really good to be back in White River Junction, VT! There's so much inspiration all around the town. Even the alleyways have art!

I'm taking the Young Adult Graphic Novel Workshop with Tillie Walden and Jo Knowles. This is a very sketchy comic done in about 45 minutes that interpreted the first page of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Andersen.

I've been posting this kind of behind-the-scenes stuff, sketch-notes, and the more personal comics - on my Patreon page. It's a membership/subscription page, but that means I can post material that doesn't feel appropriate to let loose unsupervised onto social media.

If you'd like to see what I'm working on, I encourage you to become a patron here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/28948391

Ready, Set... Interview!

I'm the featured Illustrator today in Mira Reisberg's "Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books" course! It's a closed group on Facebook and I can't send you to the page, so I made a screenshot of Mira's introduction of me. It made me blush. And giggle "Sandy lives somewhere beautiful with kids and barns." Yup, that's New England... where the leaves are already changing color and I haven't been to the beach yet.

I've been answering questions on the page all day while also cleaning out The BeeHive and hosting an impromptu yard sale in the Studio! I'd be talking to someone about how to use something I had for sale, and my back pocket and laptop would be binging with Facebook notifications! It was surreal.

My plan had been to run into Concord for a few hours, sell a few things people had asked to pick up, throw some more things into boxes, pack them into the car, come home and do the Facebook thing...
I didn't get home until after 9:30pm! I am so tired. I should just save time and have that tattooed on my forehead: "I'm Tired"

Rambling.

Right. Here is the interview that I had with Mira when I finished the Ready, Set, GOrilla! book and she featured in her online class today:



Ready, Set, GOrilla! should be out around November 13th.

You can Pre-order the book directly from Clear Fork Publishing!
Please please encourage your libraries and local bookstores to pre-order - here's the link to share: https://www.clearforkpublishing.com/store/p127/ReadySetGOrilla

You'll also be able to pre-order on Amazon.



There's another short video on YouTube which has a glimpse of a book I wrote and I'm illustrating -  and a testimonial for the Children's Book Academy classes. (Here: https://youtu.be/LT_MzOF7XUI )

Graphic Medicine Conference - Day Two

Here are my sketch-notes from today's conference:

I was STARVING by lunch - which was also Day Two of the Marketplace. I stuffed bites of sandwich into my mouth between conversations. I did sell a few comics and buttons, but I think I spent a lot of it on other people's comics (there were more that I wanted but didn't get).

 I got it signed! Yah! It's nice to have so many famous cartoonists in one room.

I cleared my booth, ran to my car, tossed it all in and...

...then off to another workshop...

 This is what the group created for the Interconnected Energy Exercise in the "Cartooning in Education Workshop. Kind of like artsy dominos!

In case you were wondering - Sketch-noting a lecture is exhausting. Normally, you doze off and perk up as needed. But when you are Sketch-noting, you're hyper "On". You have to be listening incredibly carefully and FAST - almost like you know what's coming next. All the time. You LISTEN and interpret and draw SO fast... It's incredibly exhausting. These Notes are drawn in real time, scanned in an App on my iPhone, then I go to the next lecture.

I was FRIED. No other word for it. And add in all the talking and noise at Marketplace... F-R-I-E-D.

I was supposed to draw notes for one more Field Workshop and the evening Keynote. But I excused myself and ran. Actually I sat in my car trying to breathe for half an hour.

I decided to go to the Co-op and get some sushi to bring back to the hotel. I was standing near the deli, trying to remember why I was there.

The probably-also-exhausted-deli-lady said, "Can I help you dear?"
I almost burst into tears at her obvious concern - "I need a chocolate chip cookie!"
She said, "Of course you do. It's just about that time of day."
She understood! And pointed me toward the locally made cookies - where I took an oatmeal one as well. I deserved it.

My hotel room smelled like a florist's shop! The white and purple flowers smell like honey...

 I had to post two pictures because the flowers on the back are completely different! And there was even a VASE this time! :-) I think I'm getting spoiled...

I'm still thinking a lot about depression - all the talks mention it, the speakers suffer from it, and most of my head is consumed by it. I've been wondering if cartoonists become depressed... or depressed people become cartoonists? Either way - seems like a school for depressed cartoonists, and a conference that seems to be focused on mental health issues and cartooning - should be able to find another model for educating - other than sitting for hours on end in semi-dark rooms. And don't get me started on anxiety and stress!

OK. So, I'm fried, depressed and reaching the conclusion that it may be best to give up the studio in Concord (talked with a fellow cartoonist who is also considering it).
Nutso.
I'm going to a movie. I want to watch someone else's life and not have to talk Notes!

Graphic Medicine Conference - Day 1

While packing books to sell at the Comics and Medicine Marketplace... I had this overwhelming desire to create pins to go with my "We Will Never Leave You" comic. So I drew my favorite Demons and the Kid and I headed off to the studio and punched and pressed a bajillion super cool buttons!! Big and small...

It was fun today (at the Marketplace) seeing people try to decide which Demons were their favorites and then pin them onto their shirts and lanyards. Here's mine:

There are famous cartoonists all around me!

Here are some of the fascinating comics and artists I've met so far:

The crowds and the noise level in the Marketplace sucked out my energy, but there were a few folks I spoke with that got me all excited again.

In the evening, the first lecture was with Steve Bissette about the Process and Practice of Graphic Medicine at CCS (The Center for Cartoon Studies). I'm one of five (I think) Sketch-noters hired by the conference to record the lectures! Here are my notes from this evening:

There's a lot in this conference about Depression and Anxiety. Part of me is relieved to know I'm not alone, another part is repelled and horrified. And another part is a little ashamed... I try to make light of my issues, find the humor, and hide what I'm feeling so I don't scare people. "Protect" them. I can't imagine what would happen if I drew comics about what's really going on in my life --- the bad stuff. The stuff I'm not supposed to talk about. Would it be cathartic - or grounds for a lawsuit?

I truly, truly believe that "Thoughts become things" and when I'm enthusiastic and lost in the process of creation and brainstorming and imagining all the possibilities (I frighten people then too) - that I attract the most amazing things to me. Really weird coincidences happen. I meet bizarre, super cool people. People give me money. I get offered exciting projects, or go on an adventure! And I'm happy.

But when stuff goes wrong... it comes out of nowhere... and knocks me over. I can't think. More and more bad stuff bombards me. It just doesn't stop!!!? I start to drown. I forget what I want. What really matters. And I drag anything good down with me.

Tonight, leaving the conference, I was walking alone through White River Junction. Nothing new for me - but everyone seemed to be in groups. And there were groups in the outdoor cafes, with twinkly lights and laughter... I felt really alone - but also - didn't really want to be with people. As I walked, I noticed a dark shape sitting on a bench and recognized Kieran - a dark shape on a bench, even in bright sunlight! And I felt relief and excitement. One weird cartoonist in the shadows was just what I needed! Talking and laughing, I felt the positive elements of the day returning to me and I remembered WHY I draw comics of my Demons the way I do. Remembering WHY... having a purpose, even if it's to serve as a Bad Example - hey, it's still a Purpose.

The next few days will be a challenge. Long days listening to talks about serious illnesses and mental mishaps... and drawing the Sketch-notes that help to lodge the info in my brain - but.... this is a step on my Path. It feels really important to me. I have to do this, it's taking me somewhere I'm supposed to Be.