Graphic Storytelling

I mentioned before that I have lately been interest with cartoons. Particularly pen and ink ones. Political cartons and such.

One of my sons goes to Portland State University and he is taking a course on short stories. The text book is "The Sory and it's Writer", by Ann Charter. In this book, toward the end is a chapter on Graphic Storytelling.

In this, she mentions a few artist and so I thought I would share them and some of their work:
Scott McCloud-"Understanding Comics"
Will Eisner-"Comics and Sequential Art"
Art Spiegelman-"Maus; A Survivors Tale"
Gilbert Hernandez-"Heartbreak Soup"
Keiji Nakazawa-"Barefoot Gen: A Story of Hiroshima"
Jiro Taniguchi-"The Walking Man"
Marjane Satrapi-"Persepolis"
R. Crumb's take on Kafka's "A Hunger Artist"

Marjane Satrapi was here in Portland last week, so I checked out her two books, "Persepolis" and "Persepolis 2" from the library. They were quite easy to read and frankly I don't think there is any other venue that a person like me, A 57 year old American would be able to consider the thoughts of an Iranian woman. That is to say that i found them interesting.

Here is a link to a radio interview done on comunity radio (KBOO) here in Portland.

Persepolis director Marjane Satrapi interview on KBOO, 1/22/2008.

VW Vans

This is a sketch that started off as a doodle and I just kept on drawing it.

When I was about 20 there were a group of 4 or 5 of us that all got Volkswagen Vans. I used to throw my surfboard in and go to the beach as much as possible. On any given weekend you could go to where the waves were the best and find 2, 3 or 4 VW vans parked. Or at the jetty park at night. It was free back then.

So, now with my arthritis and stuff I can only look at it and say, "Those were the days my friend. We thought they'd never end."

So even thought it would be impossible for me now, the memories are stored to conjure up and enjoy from time to time.

Saturday Part Four

Here is another song. I am posting it just because it is the song I am listening to the most right now. Just click on the play button.

It's Colin Meloy is the lead singer for The Decemberists, a group from here in Portland, Oregon.

Saturday Part Three

Persons of integrity. Some people are able to stand up and make a difference. Here is to good people of conscience everywhere!





Martin Luther King Jr.
On a small sketch pad. 4 1/2"x5"

Saturday Part Two

Here is the other thing I have been interest in lately... Cartoons. I have been looking at a lot lately and thought I would sketch out a few and see what they might look like. I don't consider myself to be that politcal, but it seemed like a good place to start.


This is supposed to be John McCain. I was really disapointed in him when he made that joke.



Baracks people called me twice this week asking for money. I told them I was broke the first time and so I asked them not to call me again. I don't know who I will be voting for this time.

Saturday January 26, 2008

Good Saturday morning! Well a few thing have been going on with my artwork and so I thought I would share them with you.

The first being that I found is a gel pen that I have been enjoying quite a bit. I found it by searching the journalist blogs while looking for a lightfast ball point pen. I found that when I doodle or sketch the first thing I look for is a ball point pen. I don't know why this is, but I have natural preference for ballpoints. The pen I found is a Uniball 207.

Pretty good for sketching I think and here is the link for the pen:
Uniball 207

Politicians

There were several pictures of politicians in the paper this week. I thought these were the most expressive of the poses.
The teacher.
The nurturer.
The crowd pleaser.
I guess we all pose when we have our pictures taken, but these people are very good at it.