Stu, Who Took Over the World... eventually

I was lucky enough to take a couple of Saturday workshops with a local artist– on a technique/subject in which I have only ever admired others: cartooning! Jacob Spill is an illustrator and, I must add, an excellent teacher. We spent two mornings creating and sketching a cover illustration for a character, and a first page spread for what would be the story, if we were ever to finish it (ha!). We were given a short written character sketch, and from there attempted to bring the character to life. And so, was Stu (my version of him, anyway) given life.

Stu is an alien with a skull-like face and a pink brain bulging from his head. He wears a cape and bright green rubber gloves and boots, which now that I'm typing this, seems silly to point out, because you can see all of this in the illustration above. I can't remember all the details of the character description, but I think of him now as someone who sees himself as an evil genius, but who really isn't nasty or malevolent. Oh- he likes to play pranks, too, and build contraptions in his workshop. The little hints at sillyness made me feel like his pose on the cover should demonstrate a playful aspect to his character, and his little dance is meant to be a little campy. The big blank white space in the bottom left may someday be a planet-looking sphere, if I get back to finishing all the little details.

 

For the first page spread, I only got half of it done during the workshop. It's meant to be an introductory page (with someone else's words) describing some of Stu's character. The top half– above what's pictured here– might someday be an illustration of Stu in his workshop, tinkering and building impossible contraptions. The bottom half, shown above, is of Stu using his jet pack to fly leisurely through the cosmos. One of the many things I learned was that while accurate foreshortening of a person's body in real life, say in a figure-drawing situation, is difficult, making up an alien body and trying to illustrate it so that it's foreshortened is even harder!

Mr. Spill gave several excellent talks on composition and drawing basic figures, and more specific ideas about head shape (oval is so boring!) and line quality, as in quality lines are never all the same thickness. Although I have no plans on becoming a cartoonist, the general information and practice of creating something convincing out of nothing but a collection of words was exceptionally motivating. There were also a few technique-specific aspects that were important for me to think about, including planning a background before illustrating the main/foreground. The India ink used to paint the bulbous cosmos in the drawing above is not water-proof, so had I thought ahead, I would have done a green watercolor wash after having finished the figure, and then done the India ink over that. Instead, I used colored pencil to color in a light green background, and the pencil marks leave a lot to be desired. Oh well; live and learn!

As the non-trad student in the class (I bet I have at least 10 years on Mr. Spill himself, if not a few more), I was also the talker. Actually, I hope the teenagers in the room got something from our conversations, because I know I did. Jacob presented 4 things that make an artist, and I absolutely agree with him:

1. Productivity. Make, make, make!
2. Composition. Even average art is elevated if the composition is good.
3. Consistency. A sort of branding. Having a recognizable style, at least for a series of pieces.
4. Technique. The ability to render the subject. Notice technique is last, because the other things are more important than whether you can reproduce a face or landscape realistically. That can be so boring anyway. And without lots and lots of faces or landscapes with great compositions in your own style, you haven't made it yet.

Whatever "it" is for you.

Happy making!