The Week in Review

Maybe the week went so fast because I had so much work due, or maybe because I got so little sleep... staying up till 4am most nights! But it started pretty well - last Saturday - an evening out with the Fireman at The Local, spent listening to Brad Myrick and drinking whiskey sours. And drawing. That part is what really makes it so enjoyable. (And it ended well, tonight, with more music and drawing.)

I gave the drawing to Brad - and now we are friends. :-)

I added this weekend's events to the comic that was due on Wednesday. Here's a picture of the sketch:

I got some good feedback during the critique and I've been making some of the changes. Once I get those fixed, I'll put together a PDF for you all to download. I worked really hard on this one and there's some funny stuff, so I think (hope!) you'll enjoy it.

On Tuesday, we had a great workshop on how to create ebooks. Not just pdfs like I usually do, but real ebooks - with html coding and everything. Rather complicated and I'm not completely sure what the benefits are since each ebook format is proprietary, whereas pdfs can be read by anyone. Some of the ebook platforms allow you to do some nifty special things like overlays, interactivity, page flips, embedded video, etc.

Our presenter was Adrienne Nunez, a Center for Cartoon Studies 2012 graduate, who now works for A-star Publications.

Thursday, we had a school wide book discussion of Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan, a cartoonist from Israel.

After we had discussed the book, characters, coloring, etc. for a while, we were joined by Rutu Modan on Skype, from Tel Aviv. It was 11pm her time and she had spent the day teaching cartooning and illustration and looked very tired. But she was interesting to talk too and some of the stuff we had "read into" the pictures and story line turned out to be just that - our added details. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, eh?

It was interesting, though sad, that bombings are so commonplace in Israel that the characters barely talk about them or the reasons for them. The politics are so confusing, Rutu said she has no desire to write about them or try to explain.

After class - I had intended to write this blog and work on the comic some more, but I had stupidly doused my laptop in water and killed it. I am still in mourning and don't know what I will do to replace it. Agh. So - after class, I was feeling sad, disappointed, and a little depressed from the subject matter of class - I decided to go see the latest play at Northern Stage. I'm about to launch into my final project for school and thought this might be my last chance to see it.

"The Mountaintop" by Katori Hall is about the last night of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, spent at the Lorraine Hotel. It's an amazing-sad-funny and very human portrayal of this incredible man. I can't tell you much about it without spoiling the twists and the ending, but it was performed on Broadway by Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett.

What I can say is that, during the first part, I felt very "white". I felt guilty and ashamed for being "white". By the end I felt "human". This is the story of a very human man and all his imperfections. And yet, he stood up and made a difference.

"The Mountaintop" is running for a few more weeks - so go see it if you can.

Today (Friday), I actually made it to Life Drawing for the first time since February! Although I didn't draw the model, I worked on a few extra pages for the comic (due on Wednesday). In the afternoon, the Fireman brought Lilah up here and we went to dinner at the Tip Top Cafe, then wandered around town enjoying First Friday events. Musicians everywhere and Open Studios and it was WARM outside! Really wonderful!

Lilah really hit it off with artist Kathy Cadow Parsonnet who does the most interactive paintings - they are magnetic! You can move the elements around on the canvases. She had just moved her studio (in the Tip Top building) and we explored and chatted for quite some time.

Lilah helped create this cool painting...

And this is a sample one that is out in the hall...

We spent the rest of the evening in the lobby of the Hotel Coolidge listening to bluegrass music coming from one direction and a band playing in the Boho Cafe - from the other direction. Lilah borrowed some paper from the store next-door and started drawing...

...she soon attracted the attention of another, younger girl - whose mother was the singer in the cafe. The two kids hit it off and were floored to find out they are both named "Lilah"! (Although one was a "Lila" with no "h") A little while later, a much younger girl begged to draw (good thing I always have art supplies with me). Three little girls lined up drawing. The littlest one's mom came over to talk to me - she's running for state rep! And asked if her kid was being a bother. I said, "No bother. Her name wouldn't happen to be "Lila" too, would it?"
I was joking!!!

She said, "Actually it's Delilah"!
Close enough, right?

What a fun night!!