Monday, May 30, 2011

"Dangers of the Sun Block" (comic strip; marker)




















"I don't know where you are going with this," my husband said about my cartooning adventure.  I don't intend to become a cartoonist.  The field seems already crowded enough.  It's about thinking outside of the box, as the popular saying goes.  My "box" has always been drawing what I see as best as I possibly can.  Drawing from imagination, out of my head, was impossible, not alone desirable. 

As I become older (past 50, gulp!), I find myself less and less adventurous.  In my 20's, I used to be absolutely fearless, perhaps too fearless.  Now it's becoming harder to try new things.  The comfort zone is so well-defined, the calculating mind always busily figuring out what's doable without much risk to my self-esteem and public reputation.

So I decided to do something about it by taking a cartooning class.  I was in a mild state of shock when I first found myself surrounded by a bunch of kids (mostly boys), aged between eight and thirteen.  The teacher, Dana Yang, at The Art League School, is young enough to be my daughter.

The two-page comic strip I am sharing today is the most ambitious project I have ever done.  I even colored them with markers.  The T-Rex motif came from my recent discovery of James Gurney's Dinotopia series.  By the way, this amazing illustrator/writer is also a terrific fine artist.  Check out his latest book--Color and Light--as well as his blog, which is rated one of the top ten art blogs in the world.  I had a hard time getting some of the T-Rex poses right.  I can't get over the mind block of thinking as a realist painter, worrying about the anatomy.  Your getting a small laugh out of my first serious attempt at cartooning is my sincere hope.

Have a great Memorial Day!

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