Jake Wyatt - Narrative Burden

Jake defined the spectrum of visualization from Blueprint, which would incorporate storyboards and occupy time, to Essays, consisting of illustrations, which are more dependent on the text they accompany.

The text of any particular story must carry a portion of the storytelling burden, Jake recommended choosing wisely where to put the majority of the burden. Of the utmost importance, stressed by Jake, was getting your story across. If you must rely on visuals to communicate this, then do so, don't be afraid to commit to communicative imagery.

Then I had to leave and you all got a lot more information than I did. Jerks.

Jake Wyatt - The Boy Wonder

See the entire 6 page comic here.

Younhee's Response to Jake Wyatt's Presentation

His presentation was very helpful and I hope he comes again for the future classes for other students as well.

Something that wasn’t covered yet in any of the previous posts is his brief Photoshop “tutorial”. He showed us how to lock transparent pixels to color the lines, and also about the Blue channels to import just the lines from a scanned in drawing. It was very short, on the side note thing, but it was a very valuable thing for me to learn and would have saved me so much time! It was also inspiring thinking about all the different ways those tips could be very useful in, and all the effects I could rather easily add to my works.

I’d like to add few quotes as I paraphrased in my sketchbook from his presentation just in case it helps the previous posts and insights:

“Illustration is essay that has relationship to existing work.”

“Illustration is comment to text that gets across information, comment that gets story across and get the readers to feel the intensity of the story.”

“The play between the words vs. pictures is what makes comic cool”

“Idea becomes worth something when it is executed, otherwise it is worthless.”

Jake Wyatt - Kevin Merriman

trying my best to add, not repeat anything that's been covered already.. was thinking a little bit -- got some Kung Fu Panda/Bruce Lee Philosophy to throw down in relation to comics and stuff. makes sense to me, hope it makes sense to somebody else. here we go:

-i thought it was fun how when asked if Jake followed any template or something when dividing up panels and stuff in his comics, he said he just made it up as he went along.

this taught me of a couple things and how they relate to comics:
"there is no secret ingredient."
when making comics, you're responsible for the information you present or don't present in a story.. no amount of templates or style guides can tell your story for you. Jake talked about doing "what's best for the story." some compositions/drawings may be "cooler" choices, but hurt your story telling. likewise, following "cool templates" or other processes you find will do the exact same thing if you're not thinking about what you're trying to say, and how you're saying it in the language of comics.

this leads into something else i was reminded of, never really thinking how it applied to comics before.

"using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation"
this was a personal motto Bruce Lee had, and it was written on the back of a medallion he wore. the idea was basically that anything is possible. there are no limits - but as soon as you develop a routine or style for doing things, you're endangering yourself from progression and create your own limitations on what you're capable of doing or expressing.

this is really cool to me in the aspect of making comics and drawing in general. there are many different "styles" or "ways" of creating a comic or drawing. we can learn from these different ways others have already found, but as soon as we adopt one of these ways, the possibilities of creating our own unique expressions are limited to that one way.

so basically, as we speak the language of comics - it takes good old fashioned hard work and practice to use that language and have the unique expression that is yourself come from that.

Jake Wyatt-Oppenlander

Comics Shown:

-Blankets by Craig Thompson

-Good-bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson

-Catwoman When In Rome by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

-Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli

-The Amazing Screw on Head By Mike Mignola

-Asterios Polyp By David Mazzucchelli

-Little Star By Andi Watson

-Kylooe By Little Thunder (french)

-Luna Park by Kevin Baker and Danijel Zezelj

Comics brought up:

-Wednesday Comics

-ElfQuest

-I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly

Jake talked about comics, but everything he said could be applied to animation, illustration, film, pie making. Maybe not everything related to pie making, and the getting into the comic industry was pretty comic specific. But whatever your here for, you've got to want it. Don't settle for a half developed story, or the current version of the piece your working on just because you've gotten pretty far on it. Don't be afraid to throw that pie crust away when you know you can bake a flakier one. And why make a strawberry pie in the middle of winter, when if you waited a few months to when they were in season and could get the freshest, juiciest berries?

Don't do the minimal your classes require to pass, and expect to leave school with an invitation to be a new pie creator at Marie Callender's.

Paul Petty Comments on Jake Wyatt

I really like how Jakess enthusiasm glows from his drawings. I've been a big fan since I met him and Anthony Holden in the HFAC.

Everything was very uniformly presented and informative as Chad mentioned. It was very easy to follow. I know I wouldn't seek comic making as a career, but I'd love to make my own on the side. This lecture was very inspiring to me.

Jake said that an idea is worthless without a drawing. I think it would be helpful for us to apply that in blogging our ideas for the final. That's my plan.

On a side note, I was very grateful for the string of artist that were named off. I wrote them all down in my notes for future reference.

In fact, here's the names I caught in class listed below:
James Jean
Luna Park
Dino Batagglia
Bastien Vives
Joe Kelly
Chris Bachalo
Kevin Baker
Danijel Zelelj
Little Thunder
Andi Watson
Frank Miller
David Mazzucchelli
Jeph Loeb
Tim Sale
Craig Thompson
Mike Mignola
Sean Murphy
Francis Vallejo
Yoshitaka Amano
Paul Pope

Jake Wyatt - The Real World of Comics

I found Jake Wyatt's presentation to be both informational and entertaining. I feel like he pulled no punches, was completely honest, and let us all in on what the real comic book business is really like and what to expect if we ever want to be a part of it. That is what I found most helpful to me as an artist and a comic book fan. It let me know what to expect if I chose to live the life of a comic book artist. It is hard, there are a lot of obstacles, and you must be very persistent if you want to make a name for yourself. You have to be able to look at your work and critique it honestly. He said "If you know you can do better, you must be able to trash whatever you have and start over. Even if it take four or five tries until you have something that is working and viable." It is a business and you must produce. If you do not produce or you do not produce what they want you to produce you will not be in the industry for long or at all. But if you first work on the things that they want, then sometimes, they will let you do your own projects with your own ideas. Everything Jake had to say was very educational and in summary I learned a lot from his presentation.

Jake Wyatt - Britta Kind of Stole One of My Ideas

When Jake mentioned that a comic has the responsibility of telling its story through either words or pictures, and that one often has to carry the bulk of the burden at any given time, I almost immediately tuned out. Time passed a little slowly in reality while speeding incredibly fast in my brain as I thought about all the possibilities and permutations of this single facet. But then I came back to the present, and it turned out I hadn't been "away" all that long. Neat.

Anyway, I had thought a little about examples I'd seen in my own readings and some examples passed around class, but I really tried to visualize how this would be achieved in my own story that we're hammering out.

For some of us this idea may seem a little intangible, but I believe that you can see this same idea readily manifested in a media like film. In both the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings sagas, you can notice that at times very little is happening in way of dialogue, but all of the emotion is controlled via the scenery or sweeping orchestra (i.e. Luke gazing out on the Tatooine sunset during his last few moments as a simple moisture farmer [goodbye Tosche Station!]); the opposite is also true, where "what's being said" is more important than the "where" or the "what's happening" (i.e. the Council of Elrond scene where the shots aren't very diverse [a lot of close-ups, fewer zoomed out with scenery/architecture], and music plays little role, but there's a huge amount of backstory given and the set-up for the rest of the film is laid out).

When you find out about the "rules" that exist within art--in all its forms--you will more frequently find that your ability to be creative increases. You can't push against limits that aren't there. Honest.

Jake Wyatt - for the win!

I particularly liked Jake's comparison between storyboards, comics, and illustrations. I'd never considered them the way he did.

• Storyboards are blueprints for a film. They have to show time progression, but there is less burden on them because they will later be interpreted as moving pictures.
• Illustrations can be stand alone pieces of art, but they will be accompanied by a narrative that helps explain them. Illustrations usually do not need to show time progression.
• Comics have to stand alone. They have to show time progression without the luxury of film, and they have to tell a story without a lengthy narrative. The key is finding the balance between words and pictures. How much is too much? What is necessary for clarity? Also, a unique concern with comics is that you have to worry about real estate, how much space is each frame of the story taking up? You need to figure out how each panel fits with it's neighbor and how their size affects their importance.

Jake Wyatt - Booyah!

So Jake's presentation was especially enlightening for me for three reasons:

1. Entering the Comic World as a reader
2. Entering the Comic World as an artist
3. Process

First off, I found it odd that he would tell us that as newcomers into the comic world that we should steer clear of Superhero comics. The independent stuff him and his wife brought were great, but I love superheros. I also was wondering about content for comics in general. What is the ratio of comics that have nudity/mature content in them vs comics that don't? Jake made it sound like comics were not for those bothered by those things.
Second, I was surprised about how much work goes into making comics and how little the payoff was. That alone is disheartening. How could an artist make a 600 page comic and never be reimbursed for it? And why can't an artist try and distribute his own stuff? Is it just too hard? I suppose people wouldn't make comics if it wasn't lucrative but at the same time, it seams that talents would better be implemented somewhere else.
Lastly, Jake's process was super helpful. He is the second artist I have encountered who begins on paper and finishes digitally. Something that I am excited to try, as well as focus on iteration like Christina talked about.

Jake Wyatt - Editorial Decisions

Something that Jake Wyatt emphasized how important editorial decisions are. While I already knew this, I guess I didn't realize how much you really have to redraw everything in order to get it right. And when he gave examples and spoke he wasn't just talking about drawing thumbnails over and over again to get them right. Many of his examples were large completed drawings that ended up having to be scrapped and redrawn. It can take dozens of attempts to get a comic book page right. But, it’s not just comic book pages, its character designs, settings, etc. Even the story needs to be worked over and redone over and over again.

Along with editorial decisions and drawing and redrawing things he mentioned how ideas are worth nothing. It isn’t until you can draw it that it is worth something. Then, once you draw it, of course, you have to redraw it over and over again in order to get a quality page, design, or whatever idea it is that you are trying to convey.

The point is to not settle for the first attempt, because it is likely not going to be good enough. It will be mediocre if you settle for that first attempt. In order to make something good it needs to be done over and over again, improving each time.

EDIT: And here is a little strip I did quickly to "illustrate" the point.

Okay, so this little strip is also an example of not redrawing it over and over again to make it good, so the result is mediocre, or just plain crappy. But, this strip was just a quick little thing I did to try and make a point and I felt like it was fairly readable. (let me know if you can understand what's going on)


Note: Do not actually throw your drawings away as I do in this strip! (obviously!)

Assignment 5; Final Project (weekly) - Comic Book Treatment in 4-Parts

Label “Treatments”

Post title: “(Title of Story) by (Name)”

-These are weekly stages:

1. Idea

2. Story

3. Appropriation

4. 1st draft, 2nd draft

-One post only: re-edit original post every week as you complete each stage

1. Idea stage: (Consider Orson Scott Card’s Chapter on World Creation – 1. Where Ideas Come From.) Write 2 one-sentence ideas. Come up with 2 seemingly unrelated ideas, with the intention that the two ideas will combine into one story (which you'll deal with in stage 2). Also, please note where each idea came from (i.e. dream, news, doodling, watching or reading something, etc.). 1 week to complete.

2. Story stage: (Consider Freytags Five-Part Dramatic Structure) Write a 5-sentence synopsis. Write a sentence for (1) Back-story, (2) Rising action, (3) Climax, known as the “turning point” (4) Falling Action, and (5) Denouement. !! Big Picture vs Short Story: Some of you will be working on really big ideas, stories that could take hundreds of pages to tell - this could pose a serious problem for you during stage 4. of this final assignment, because you will have to create a 3~30 page beta comic based off of this 5 sentence synopsis. So if your story is too big for a short story comic, you will need to write an additional 5-sentence synopsis of a Short Story that takes place in the Big Picture. 1 week to complete.

Example for Big Picture & Short Story all-in-one:

(1) The Turtle and the Shark is one of the most popular Samoan legends. (2) It tells the story of a man and a woman who are to be separated by the King Malietoafaiga. (3) To avoid separation, they flee to another island. (4) However, fearing their act of disobedience would bring dishonor on their families, they willingly gave up their lives at the cliffs of Vaitogi. (5) The gods had mercy on them and transformed them into a turtle and a shark to live together, forever. (c) Ryan Woodward 2009

Example for Big Picture story synopsis with an additional Short Story synopsis:

Big Picture: (1) When a rogue faction of an advanced alien race invades the inhabitants of an early industrial planet, the alien’s peaceful faction initiates a premature first contact in hopes to offer protection. (2) But because alien resources are limiting, society is gathered into major cities; the alien protectors must limit their hand in technological advancement despite the dangerous and strange things that are happening everywhere. (3) As a result from these two races living together, a handful of individuals across the planet, both native and alien, are forced to deal with a strange metamorphosis as they begin to develop peculiar abilities – abilities that were the rogue faction’s aim since the beginning. (4) While estranged on both sides, it becomes clear that these special individuals are the key to stopping members of the rogue faction – most of who have full command of these new abilities. (5) Conflict leads to the uncovering of the planet’s secret origin – leaders of the aliens and natives acknowledge that they are on the brink of a new evolution, and that they are in it together. (c) Jared Greenleaf 2011

Short Story (30 or less pages): (1) A doubtful young alien-girl hybrid, who is an alien ambassador, is on route via the ropeway to deliver the all important (hand-sized) detection device to a city recently connected to the ropeway system. (2) A “grinner” attacks; taking two “guardians” out, the girl is next. (3) She surprises herself (and the grinner) by putting up an amazing fight – with powers she never thought she had. (4) The grinner is too powerful and is about to finish her off, but decides to take off - reinforcements arrive. (5) The ambassador reaches the city, puts on a strong show to distance herself from the city leaders; the first moment she is alone she breaks down crying. (c) Jared Greenleaf 2011

3. (a) Appropriation & Style test + (b) Short story supplement stage: Find a place in Provo (or the surrounding area, or from pictures of a place from your hometown growing up, or a place you’ve visited and have photo or sketch documentation), and appropriate that place into a scene in your world. Make a fully-realized three-panel style example, and while you don’t need to push any sort of plot or narrative, at least one panel needs text. In this stage of the assignment, you will give us a taste of what your finished comic will look like in terms of style and execution.

Example:

(c) Jake Wyatt 2011

In addition to the 3 panel style example, you will need to answer these 4 questions:

What is your story's (b1) dominant MICE quotient?

(b2) Primary Conflict?

(b3) Theme?

(b4) Major World rules and limitations?

I'll post an example on Miazaki's Nausicaa here.

1 week to complete both parts (a) and (b).

!! Make a NEW POST for your Beta Comic. Make sure the post title has the word Beta Comic in it !!

(Blogger has irritating bugs when it comes to adding a lot of images to an existing post, which is why its easier to just make a post exclusively for your Beta Comic)

4. Beta comic Stage: Create a 3~30 page beta comic (beta-comic example). Go over the Paul Pope example that is posted. In addition to that is Jake Parker's well thought out presentation on Panel Layout. And finally, you can also refer to the Short Story Comic Examples provided on the column of this blog. Then, rough out a 1st draft on your own. Post it so that I can make a brief check on readability. Taking into account my notes, work on readability and then post your 2nd draft. 1st draft due 1 week after part 3.; final draft due last day of class.

-Note that while 2 is contingent on 1, and that 4 may be contingent on 2 & 3, there is nothing stopping you from starting on 3 as soon as possible, as that has to do more with a look and feel than it does the development of a story from an idea.

By the end of this final, you will have the components to create a very sustainable property or treatment - Check out Catfish Deluxe for great examples of this.

(extra) 5. Don’t Stop! From here on out its up to you; come up with goals, work parallel to other story-makers, give and receive help, keep in contact! Now you're ready to take the sequential-art class provided by the Illustration Area.