The Science is Impossible

Friends, it has been a year…what should I change my icon to?

I’ve had a lot of discussions with people, both artists and non-artists about comics and about why chose comics as my art-medium of choice (especially considering that for years I wanted very badly to work in video games, and intended on going to school for animation originally).  I got asked this question during my Senior Jury at school this year, and I gave the same answer I usually give, about how comics are the marriage of writing and visual art I was looking for, as well as allowing a lot more creative freedom than I would even get in games or studio animation. 

But I was kind of unsatisfied with my own answer.

And I realised recently that I’ve always been missing in these discussions is the art aspect.  I usually specify I like comics because I consider myself as much a writer as an artist, but that is equally applicable to animation, video games, film and various combinations thereof.  I think what I always neglect to mention, is that I love that comics has remained a manual craft.  I was reading a comic recently and it occurred to me, that looking at someone’s hand drawn art is increasingly becoming…well, archaic.  You just don’t see it much anymore, least of all in things made for mass consumption by large, conglomerate companies. 99% of comics done today are still draw by hand, with a pencil, paint brush, tablet, etc.  There is still, and probably always will be, a strong emphasis on drawing, and draftsmanship - something that is disappearing or never existed in other mediums.

I’m not trying to say that CG is bad, or only hand-drawn art is good, or more real or valuable than any other type of art.  I don’t think that at all. It’s just that, I love drawing.  My favourite thing about art….is drawing.  We all have things we love the most about art, and for me, it’s the basic, pencil on paper (or whatever medium) act of putting together lines and shapes and making something out of them.  It’s where I started in art, it’s what I love today about art, it’s what keeps me passionate, and it’s what I want to still be doing 20, 30, 40 years from now.

Comics are a medium that still, and likely always will, embrace drawing.  Just, lines on paper.  I let go of my aspirations to work on video games, film and animation because I wanted to draw, and those mediums are very tied up in technology.  And that’s great!  That is what they are supposed to be!  I just realised a while ago that I want to draw, and I want to tell stories, and I want all the other stuff to stay as out of the picture as possible.

I love that there is a medium for everything, for everyone, and for me, I love that there is a medium that marries perfectly the two things I love most, and that they are not only expected to go together, but wanted, and for all intents and purposes here to stay.

It just makes me happy that no matter what, even with all the incredible technology we have at our disposal for telling amazing, and wonderful stories in film, and games and television, and no matter what demands those technologies put on us as viewers and as creators, there’s still room in today’s world for people who just want to write stories and draw pictures, and people who want to read them and look at them.

After a few pretty rusty days for art, WHAM, BAM inspiration is back. 

I am very excited.

dcjosh:

SO

MTMTE 17 is here and i’ve had quite a few people here and all over teh interwebz asking about a few pages that seemed to look maybe just a little extra speshul-er than the others.

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Wow this is really awesome…these pages all look spectacular!  It’s really interesting to see the break down of how both artists’ work came together to create some really amazing effects in this issue!

The visual look of this comic just gets better and better, and I’m continually awed by the skilled artists who work on it!!! 

How am I going to wait until next month???