Down with Meetup!

You guys,

(You can ignore the following if you've never attended the class.)

I have had it with Meetup.

Seen from my end, and through my grouchy-old-man eyes, it's a mess. Non-intuitive website navigation; a crummy app with limited features; unfriendly fees, non-existent customer service-- even though they make money on me.... They are only as good as they feel they need to be: i.e., not very. F 'em.

There are a (very) few alternatives. The one I chose is UK-based groupspaces.

Our new home:

• groupspaces.com/SaturdayComicsClass­

To help the transition and make sure no one needs to double-pay, I WON'T TAKE ANY DUES PAYMENTS AT TILL 2018. The first of the year, you'll pay your $18/mo dues through groupspaces. Sorry to make you register for one more thing... 

You'll need to apply to the groupspaces Saturday Comics Class. I'm going to give preference to people who've attended or at least RSVP-ed to a few semi-recent sessions. Maximum group size for us will be 50. (We had about 350 and could have gone higher on Meetup, but I had to pay for that and they ignored me when I asked to drop down to the cheaper scheme. Meetup sucks.)

All else about the class remains the same! I await seeing you guys on our next meeting, 2 December. Contact me if you have questions.

Happy Thanksgiving,

John

So Much from Which to Choose

John Buscema, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way

Hey Everyone,

This Saturday's class has an abundance of possible subjects:

• Figure proportions and construction
• The "Scribble Method" of figure construction
• Drawing females who look female
• Head proportions
• "Breakout" drawings
• Ear placement

Heck yeah, you heard me: ear placement! We may not get to all of them, so please pick the ones you're most interested in and we'll at least cover those.

As always--or at least until I can find a service less crappy than Meetup--details are at:

https://www.meetup.com/Saturday-Comics-Class-SF
Please RSVP and get paid up there.

Hope to see you Saturday. Don't forget that two pages of rough layouts are due NEXT Saturday, the 25th!

John

11 November Items

Undated pic of the studio of Milton Caniff, late creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon

Hey Everybody,

How are you liking the cold weather?

Well, I didn't get through everything I planned to last week.

So this Saturday 11 Nov., we will:

• Return to faces, in particular the ins and outs of the ¾ view, as well that view in relation to profile and frontal views
• A little more on old-school drafting with rulers and French curves, pencils and pens, demonstrated better this time and with a brief exercise to lock in that skill
• Freehand drafting
• When to rule a line and when to freehand it
• As usual, we'll have time to see each others' work in the Show and Tell section, and time for Student's Choice topic.
• I'll reset, as broadcasters say, the nature of our ongoing "Dream Job" assignment in relation to our May 6 Minicon.

John

This Saturday's Session

Saturday Comics Class loyalists, newcomers and folks who are just curious about the class:

I hope you guys all had great Halloweens. This week, we're covering...

• Exploring "The Far Side of the Face," (more on that below), 
• the use of drawing aids like french curves, rulers, ellipse templates, etc.,
• freehand drafting (yes!),

and as usual,

• Student's Choice

So what's doing on the far side of the face? In three-quarters views, it's that territory beyond the nose. It most reveals the individual character of a face. Also, whether the artist knows what he or she is doing.

And yet how-to-draw books don't pay it special attention. We're going to go one better by examining the far side in relation to different facial types, aided once again by STEVENS BOOKS treasure trove of old LIFE magazines.

To be effective cartoonists, we've got to have our comfortable conventions, our customary ways. So we'll begin with a one size-fits-all strategy for arranging facial features. Then we'll see how different facial types can depart from formula. Should be fun and useful.

Hope to see you there.
John


FIRST VISIT ALWAYS FREE. Repeat attendance requires registering with Meetup, joining Saturday Comics Class (free) and paying $18/month dues there.  That's 3-5 sessions for a low price. Please always RSVP so I know how many handouts to print.

P.S.:

Here's a pre-formatted, ready-to-print-out board for drawing conventional pages...

Print this one on 11x17 two-ply bristol

... and one for drawing comics traditionally for digital presentation. It's to iPad proportions.

This one can be printed 8.5 x 11 in.

Raymond Rules

Alex Raymond. Known for Flash Gordon, revered by cartoonists for Rip Kirby. Every mark made with total assurance. Almost unrivaled among non-humor comic strip artists, IMO. A great stylist but all founded on impeccable  drawing.

If you like his work you may like that of Alex Kotzky and Leonard Starr! I'll post some of their work here too.

John