Art of the Comic Book | David Marshall, Instructor

Breakdown: Week One: First Assignment, basics; Week Two: Storytelling, Inking; Week Three: Full Script; Week Four: Full Script (cont); Week Five: Marvel Method; Week Six: Marvel Method (cont); Week Seven: Spring Break Catchup Week!; Week Eight: Wrapup, Grades; Week Nine: Wrapup, Grades

Spring 2012

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Week One: Orientation, Required Materials, Essential Elements

january 26

Class Time

Attendance
Orientation
Demos
- Tools: Pens, brushes
- Technique: Straight lines, thumbnails
- Pencilling: Measure off 10" x 15" live area
Orientation
Studio
- Work with this week's Tools: Pens, brushes, freehand and straight lines
- Life drawing: draw someone in class
- Start thumbnails for "My Day"
Lecture
- History: Windsor McCay, George Herriman, Hal Foster
- Technology Triangle
- Essential Elements: Title, credits & page numbers

Homework

Email to Instructor
3 life drawings in sketchbook
3 hours practice with ink
Straight lines with pen and brush
Measure off 3 blank 10" x 15" pages on bristol board for "My Day"
Finish thumbnails for "My Day"

Week Two: Lettering, Storytelling, Thumbnails, First Assignment [Back to top]

February 2

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
3 hours practice with ink
Straight lines with pen and brush
Measured off 3 blank 10" x 15" pages on bristol board
Finished thumbnails for "My Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Lettering: Ames Lettering Guide | Demo
Studio
- Practice lettering
- Start pencilling for "My Day"
Lecture
- Storytelling: Staging, camera angles, page design, copy placement
- Thumbnailing: Many Processes
- History: Walt Kelly, Roy Crane, Will Eisner

Homework

3 life drawings in sketchbook
2-Hour lettering practice
Finished pencil art of "My Day"

Week Three: Themataic Lettering, Pencilling Basics [Back to top]

February 9

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
2-Hour lettering practice
Finished pencil art of "My Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Thematic Lettering: Logos, Sound Effects, Custom Dialog
- Pencilling: Loose and Tight
- Digital Production: Scanning basics, Photoshop cleanup, 60% reduction template
Studio
- Practice bordering and lettering
- Letter "My Day"
Lecture
- Thematic Lettering: Logos, Sound Effects, Custom Dialog
- History: Tom Orzechowski, John Workman, Will Eisner

Homework

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finish bordering and lettering "My Day"

Week Four: Inking Techniques, 1-Point Perspective [Back to top]

February 16

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finished bordering and lettering "My Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Ink techniques with brush and pen
- Perspective 1 (1-point perspective)
Studio
- Practice techniques with brush and pen
- Inking "My Day"
Lecture
- Importance of solid-black inking
- History: R. Crumb, Jason (Iron Wagon), Jaime Hernandez

Homework

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finish inking "My Day"
Measure off 3 blank 10" x 15" pages on bristol board for "Zip's Last Day"

Week Five: Scripts, Character Design, 2-Point Perspective, Research [Back to top]

February 23

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finished inking of "My Day"
Measured off 3 blank 10" x 15" pages on bristol board for "Zip's Last Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Working with Scripts
- Research Methods
- Character Design
- Perspective 2 (2-point perspective)
- Word balloon placement
- Digital Production 1: Scan + Retouch
Studio
- Thumbnails + pencils for "Zip's Last Day"
- Character Design for "Zip's Last Day"
Lecture
- Research Methods
- History: Dave Gibbons (Script, thumbnails to finished art), Harvey Kurtzman (Frontline Combat), Wally Wood (22 Panels), Alex Toth

Homework

Scan + Retouch your pages for "My Day"
3 life drawings in sketchbook
Character Design for "Zip's Last Day"
Loose pencil art with word balloon placement for "Zip's Last Day"

Week Six: Pencil Techniques, 3-Point Perspective [Back to top]

March 1

Due Today

Scan + Retouch your pages for "My Day"
3 life drawings in sketchbook
Character Design for "Zip's Last Day"
Loose pencil art with word balloon placement for "Zip's Last Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Pencil techniques: Eraser shield, smudge prevention
- Perspective 3 (3-point perspective)
Studio
- Discuss Scan + Retouch for "My Day"
- Tight pencil art for "Zip's Last Day"
Lecture
- History: Marshall Rogers (Detectives Inc.), Steve Rude, Alex Toth vs. Steve Rude

Homework

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Tight pencil art and lettering for "Zip's Last Day"

Week Seven: Spring Break Catchup Week! [Back to top]

March 8 (Spring Break)

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Tight pencil art and lettering for "Zip's Last Day"

Class Time

Attendance
Last week's homework
Demos
- Perspective 4 (Moving objects for scale)
Studio
- Lettering for "Zip's Last Day"
Lecture
- History: Todd Klein (Balloon Placement), Dan DeCarlo, Trina Robbins

Homework

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finished inks for "Zip's Last Day"
Scanned + Formatted all stories:
- My Day
- Zip's Last Day

Week Eight: foo [Back to top]

March 15

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finished inks for "Zip's Last Day"
Scanned + Formatted all stories:
- My Day
- Zip's Last Day

Class Time

Attendance
Sign off on all assignments:
- Two 3-page stories (total Six pages)
- 24 life drawings
Studio
- Catch up on old work
Final Grades

Week Nine: Wrapup [Back to top]

March 22

Due Today

3 life drawings in sketchbook
Finished inks for "Zip's Last Day"
Scanned + Formatted all stories:
- My Day
- Zip's Last Day

Class Time

Attendance
Sign off on all assignments:
- Two 3-page stories (total Six pages)
- 24 life drawings
Studio
- Catch up on old work
Final Grades

Art of the Comic Book

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