Chapel & Her Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World of Fashion

Hello all! It's been a little while since I posted on here, mostly because I was stuck with a horrible case of mono that ensured that I remember very little of the entire month of April. But, I'm back to 100% now! And I wanted to talk a little bit about one of my inspirations...

My mom found this image the other day when she was on a spiritual Google pilgrimage reminiscing about dolls she'd owned as a child in the 60s and 70s. I immediately fell in love not only with this poster (one repetition of the word "mod" wasn't enough to drive the point home! They had to repeat it FOUR TIMES!!) but also Francie the doll's own clothes. I love 60s mod clothes and aesthetics both for my own outfits but also because of how they can inspire my illustrations and comics. The super-bright colors, overloads of interesting patterns, and fearlessness inherent in the mod style really appeals to me.

A sketchbook drawing I did of the mod style I like!

I love to do crafty things -- I've been knitting for years -- and it's something that's very relaxing for me. I also have a super hard time finding clothes that fit me, as I'm very small. So, I asked my dad to teach me to sew! I've now been sewing for a while. Here's the first dress I made a few months ago.

As with anything, I feel like having sewing as a hobby will help me understand the construction of clothes more, and will improve how I draw them in both Chapel and my other comics. In this vein, I decided to draw what Chapel might look like if "The Chapel Chronicles" took place in 1966!

Chapel hits the museum scene!

For those of you who follow my Chapel Chronicles facebook page, you should all have heard the news of my exciting museum exhibit. Basically, I was asked to contribute my artwork to an exhibit at the Los Gatos Art Museum -- and Saturday was the opening reception! It was amazing. I got to meet some of the other five artists in my exhibit, "Storytelling in Pictures: From Idea to Art" as well as the museums' docents, supporters, and visitors. A lot of kids were really excited to meet me, as they had heard that one of the artists was only a couple years older than they were (everyone else in the exhibit is an adult). It was amazing to meet so many people and celebrate the exhibit opening!

My section of the exhibit turned out looking amazing. They're displaying two of my Chapel comics printed at really huge sizes, which really enables you to see all the detail nicely! They also have a TV screen hooked up that plays one of my process videos on constant loop:

Since a big feature of the exhibit is showing not just the finished pieces but also the preliminary sketches and process pieces, they have two frames showing a step-by-step progression from original sketch, ink, to final Chapel comic (click on the pictures to enlarge):

There's also my non-Chapel comic "Jam Days," which won a gold medal in the 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and even a glass case with my Chapel thumbnails sketchbook and a handmade Chapel storybook! Again, click the pictures to enlarge:

I'm so happy I was able to be a part of this AMAZING exhibit!! Thank you so much Museums of Los Gatos for inviting me and for putting in the hard work to curate and set up such an excellent exhibit. As a reminder, I'll be back at the museum on February 3rd and 10th to teach free comics workshops for all ages. More info on that here and here!

826 Valencia Wrapup!

Me teaching a different workshop, last October

Yesterday, I taught a comics workshop at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit tutoring and arts center in SF. I've taught about six classes there before, each with a different theme for the kids to base their comics around. Yesterday's theme was politics, as it just so happened to be the day of Obama's swearing-in.

I was a bit worried going into the class of how much knowledge the kids would have about today's politics and whether or not they'd be able to make jokes based on politics. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised!! The kids knew much more about politics than I expected: When I had them list basic political facts they knew, one 10-year-old student ripped off a long description of swing states and why winning Ohio was crucial to Obama's overall 2012 victory. Wow.

Once I explained my comics process and started circling around to chat with each student and develop their ideas one-on-one, you could hear little but the scratching of pencils for the next two hours. The group was totally invested in their work and stayed remarkably focused for the entire span of the class -- it was one of the best student groups I've yet had in terms of their ability to focus and their dedication to their work. When you're in the 8-11 age range, it can be difficult to work on one comic for two hours straight, but these kids rose to the challenge!

The first page in my Comics Process syllabus 

My philosophy for teaching is that the comics are borne from the kids' own imagination. I guide them through the process of developing jokes and designing their comics panels, but they are the ones who draw, plan, brainstorm, and write everything themselves. I try to teach them in a way that fosters their own creativity and shows them how to create more of their own comics in the future. When a student wrote that her favorite part of my class was how it was all about "the students' own creativity," I was proud and happy that I was able to communicate my core creative values through teaching!!

At the end of the class, even I learned a thing or two! One of the students tugged on my sleeve and said, "Emma, I really like my comic. Could I share it with the group once everyone's done?" I was surprised and delighted at this great idea, and got a quick show of hands of other students who would be interested in a "share time." Everyone loved the idea! At the end of the workshop, once each student had filled out their class surveys, I had them stand up around the table and everyone got a chance to share their comic if they wanted to. Seeing the kids read their comics out loud and laugh at each other's jokes was such a rewarding experience! I'm definitely going to incorporate a final "share time" into all my classes from now on. This was a great example of a time when the teacher is the one learning from her own students!

Posting again!!

Hello! I had stopped using this blog for a while, mostly because I didn't feel very comfortable writing in the blog format. After a year of writing mini-blogposts for the commentary on my webcomic "The Chapel Chronicles," I decided it was time to return to blogging! While the commentary on my comics serves as a "behind-the-scenes" look on just the comic itself, this blog will be sort of a behind-the-scenes on my life (and art) in general.

As you read this, I'm working on tomorrow's Chapel comic! Here's my top-secret notebook of thumbnails (which are like miniature little "first drafts" of comic strips) for this last arc of The Chapel Chronicles' Season Three. I've had to blur out the text on the thumbnails because -- as Doctor Who's River Song might say -- SPOILERS!

Also note the life drawing which I somehow turned into a VERY DRAMATIC drawing of Hamlet...don't ask me why!

On another note, here's a music video for the song "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra, who I've only just started listening to. The aesthetics in this video are REALLY fantastic -- in particular, the color palette of bright reds and weird pastels is intensely pleasing to me for some reason, and I would kill for her swishy 50s-style dress (minus the weird pom-pom sleeves).

Until next week, thank you for reading this li'l blog of mine! Here's a picture of my dog to see you out, because who can resist adorable doggy photos? Nobody, that's who!

This is her "it's 9 am why haven't you taken me for my piddly morning walk yet" face.

"Bad Machinery," scarf scanning, and a work-in-progress

So today I was working on this sketch of Poppy and her BFF Tessa (it will have a background and proper shadows soon). I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! I usually have trouble drawing people sitting, but not this time. Also, for Poppy's scarf/headband, I scanned in my mom's twilly scarf from Hermes and then traced over the pattern in Photoshop (my mom's hair is too short to wear the scarf on her head, though, so she ties it onto her purse). Also, Poppy's hairstyle here is inspired by the character Shauna Wickle of the excellent webcomic Bad Machinery, as Shauna wears her hair in pigtails sometmes.

Rather apropos of this, this morning I was all excited because it's Monday and hey, a new Bad Machinery comic would be up! So I read the new page (which is fantastic) and then I decided to go fart around on Facebook for a while.

WHAT. WHAT. WHAT?!*

Here's a little clarification: John Allison, who as you can see above just followed the Chapel page on Facebook, is the guy behind Bad Machinery, and a handful of other webcomics as well. I love his work. Just adore it. And now he liked the Chapel page. Wow!

*Also, if anyone got that very subtle reference to a certain science fiction show, good job!

Welcome to the land of drawing improvement, grasshopper!

So maybe a month ago I started getting really frustrated at my art style. It seemed really stiff, not as expressive as I wanted it, all these things. I would sit down just to do a doodle and before long my thoughts would turn to: BOO HOO WHY CAN’T I DRAW WELL WOE IS ME MUST JOURNEY TO THE ANCIENT CHINESE MOUNTAINS ON PATH OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND INNER ZEN.

This picture and the one above are doodles of my character Poppy Fairfax in a new, more expressive style.

Luckily, lately I feel like I’ve been gaining a lot of headway towards improving my art style! I’ve been experimenting a TON with digital coloring and have gotten WAY better, and I’ve also re-taught myself how to draw more expressive faces. I’m also getting better at making hair less static., and body positions that would’ve taken me AGES just a week or two ago are suddenly a lot easier! I'm one step closer to attaining DRAWING NIRVANA!

On 826 Valencia, flights of fancy, and BOURBON ICE CREAM!

So last Sunday I had the honor to teach a 2-hour comics class at 826 Valencia in San Francisco!

I was really excited about being able to teach there, and I had written up a blurb and advertised the class on both 826 Valencia's site and my Facebook page. The night before I spent hours collecting books, rehearsing my comics introduction, and drawing a comic strip that I photocopied during each step of the creation process as an example (See the steps below!) I also dragged my mom and my best friend on a CalTrain trip with me to go to my favorite art store (Accent Arts in Palo Alto - visit them!) to buy Copic multiliners and lettering guides.

The first step in the comic process I created for the class - making a quick, small sketch or "thumbnail" of your strip.

I was incredibly excited for the class, and the night before I couldn't go to sleep because I was envisioning myself inspiring 8 preteenagers to create their own comics! I imagined that 826 would love me and invite me back to teach a week-long course, and lo and behold, I’d go on to teacher fame! Yeahhh, I got a bit ahead of myself there. This is one of the reasons I have a hard time going to sleep – I’m a hopeless romantic and I’m always envisioning how things will turn out and they never, ever turn out that way. When I’m sick and at home, I always imagine my grand homecoming back to school from The Land of Influenza, showered with hugs from people who missed me dearly and...yeahhh, it doesn’t work out that way. Ever. (Okay, I’ll admit it, sometimes it does).

Anyway, on the day of the class I got there early to set up, drew out the panel borders for all 8 of my students' comics, got the books I'd brought as examples organized, distributed the art supplies I'd bought, and set up a camera so I could film the class.

The second step, sketching out your actual comic.

A little before 3:00 pm, the time my class was supposed to start, my first student, Landon, showed up with his mom just as I finished getting everything ready. We decided to wait for more students to show up before I started my introduction. We waited five minutes...10 minutes...15 minutes...20...finally, at 3:30, I decided I’d start the introduction. Aw geez, I thought, I’ve only got one student! I had been hoping that everyone was just really late, but by then it dawned on me that not a single one of the 7 other students were going to show up.

As Landon moved from planning to drawing his comic strip -- which was really funny! -- I chatted a lot with both him and his mother. By then I felt really calm. I thought, If he gets a great comic out of the class, then I'm happy. I was silly for being all depressed earlier!

Then when I was cleaning up all the materials that hadn’t been used and my dad came and he was wondering why 7 of the spots hadn’t been occupied. I couldn’t say anything in front of the TA (“yes, no one showed up”) because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. I started getting really sad thinking about how I had been imagining this amazing class and it hadn’t worked out that way. My dad tried to take me to my favorite ice cream shop, Humphrey Slocombe, (go there for the bourbon-cornflake ice cream but not on a day when the line’s excruciatingly long), but I couldn’t stand the wait and when I got home I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

The final step, inking your comic!

Then the sun broke through the clouds (metaphorically, though, ’cause it was sunny and scorching) when I got an email from Landon’s mom, Susan. She told me that since it was such a nice day out Landon had wanted to stay home and not attend my class, but she had been trying to stress the importance of keeping commitments and made him go. Landon had a great time at the class and even used the supplies and techniques I'd given him to make another comic that very night! Awwww!

This made me feel like it had all been worth it! Now I'm going to try again and teach another class in the fall. Hopefully it won't be sunny then and I'll have a full class roster! (We decided the gorgeous weather that day was the reason I had so many no-shows).

Landon -- thank you for keeping your word and coming to my class. I hope you keep on drawing!

Susan -- Thank you for your lovely note. Here’s hoping it’ll be rainy next time I teach my class! No, not rain, that’ll keep kids indoors, too…fog then! It’s San Francisco, so that shouldn’t be a problem, right?