Erik Christensen (7-2)-Art preparation reflection

Action line Drawings:

I felt quite confident on this part as it seemed simple and quite easy when you only need to know how to draw very rough shapes, lines and faces (and to make it even simpler we had to make the hands rough mitten shaped and the feet were triangles). I personally do think I did well on this topic however it is after all supposed to be something quick to get ideas. Below are some drawings of action line figures which I made myself.

Someone playing basketball (this one was the easiest)

someone sitting down

This one of someone with a hula hoop seemed to look the best however at the same time looked very cartoony

Shading:

For the shading sub-unit/activity I didn`t do the best to begin with such as cross hatching or the scribble methods (first two on picture below) however I began doing well with the ones including liquid ink from the bottle, water and gouache. I may use the gouache and ink way as it makes the change from black/grey to white very gradual and realistic however this method is probably the most time consuming and it was simple on a little ball however for other shapes it may be very hard, if this is the case I may use the Pen and water method instead.

From left to right: From left to right: Cross hatching, "scribbling", pen and water, pen and water (again), ink and water and finally Ink, gouache and water.

I found out about other graphic novels which used these techniques such as the "Teufort Comics" published by Dark Horse Comics.

http://www.teamfortress.com/tf06_thenakedandthedead/#f=90

This novelist has probably used the ink and water or pen and water technique to shade some of the shadows as they don't seem as messy and for the fact that you cannot see any lines in the shading

Developing Ideas:

My three main ideas (Following the pattern) were: Donald trump banning Immigrants from seven major Muslim countries (recent news),"Science experiment gone wrong" (real life 1st person story) and "The Great War Never Ended" (Story Retold).

For my "The Great War Never Ended" story I didn't have much time to write all my Ideas however it isn't so major as I wasn't going to choose this one mostly due to the sensitivity of the topic and the fact that I couldn't finish it due to lack of time.

This Idea would be the one I would have chosen if it weren't for the fact that I had a great idea about what I could do with the last story. This story is about how someone dropped something in science class which reacted with the oxygen in the air to make a toxic gas. The story might, as a whole, be based around 10-15 minutes, some panels representing 5 seconds, half a second or a few minutes.

The story which I chose was about how Donald Trump has recently decided that no people from Syria and 6 other countries can enter the united states in 3 months. I'm going to tell the story from a Syrian refugee family's point of view to give it a more emotional feel. The whole "narration" is going to happen through a radio which sometimes cannot be heard due to a gunshot or the occasional crack from the bad signal. I may try to make the whole speech in Arabic and write the translation in a yellow box underneath on the panel if I have time to give it a sense of realism and a graphic novel feel.

Mood board:

As I have mentioned said my story is going to take place somewhere in Syria and I'm trying to make the area around where my story takes place look dry and hot, somewhere in the desert where there

is barely any water and where most of the battle is happening.

http://insurge.net/2013/08/30/syria-intervention-plans-fuelled-by-oil-interests-not-chemical-weapon-concerns-nafeez-ahmed-environment-the-guardian/

http://www.lifegate.com/people/news/syria-the-environmental-crisis-behind-the-civil-war

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/world/middleeast/syrians-find-optimism-at-a-tent-city-in-turkey.html

The last one is actually in turkey however it is in a refugee camp where people may be waiting to go to the United States