by Robbi | Apr 11, 2014 | Friday Mashup |
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to the Friday Mashup! I hope that all of you had a SUPER week. That, was, of course, a bit of a pun, given that this week’s theme was Comic books. And comic books are, as you probably know, sometimes, if not often, about the adventures of super heroes.
Conrad and Beckett sent us some drawings.
Here is Conrad’s superhero picture:
According to his mom, this is “Super Conrad’s flying super hero with cape flapping in the wind. With the powers of “car”, “airplane” and “superman”. (You can see those powers in his belly.)
Normally when he draws squiggles in the body the subject has to go potty. So maybe this represents him expressing “to be a superhero, you have to have guts.”
First of all, I love this drawing, and especially the taped-on blue cape. Excellent use of multimedia! I can feel the thrilling acceleration! The super speed and super strength literally leap off my computer screen.
Second, as much as I admire Super Conrad, I wonder if he really needs ALL of these powers. I mean, power of car is one thing. Adding power of airplane seems a little unfair. (What super villain could hope to compete?) But then, to add power of Superman to the towering pile of amazing? All I can say is, look out evil-doers everywhere. I predict a plummet in crime rates. And a constant stream of kittens being rescued from trees.
Here is Beckett’s superhero drawing:
Strong work Beckett! I have seldom seen something so super as this drawing. And I commend you for your restraint, choosing just one power. The power of green is quite appealing. But I wonder: do you recycle? Make leaves grow faster? Cause people to feel queasy? Please tell us more about this power, and how you plan to use it to save the world.
If you, like me like to see artists at work, here are Conrad and Beckett, dressed as their favorite super heroes, drawing their favorite super heroes. This is the definition of genuine commitment, my friends!
Super heroes drawing super heroes
Sydney sent a picture of herself dressed as “Superhero Sydney”
Sydney says she would be Super Sydney and her super power would be running super fast and jumping super high. I would mix my powers together to make one big power. Then I would save people from high and low places.
Sydney, I commend you! First of all, your look is fresh. Not many can pull off the whole cape/boot/tuto combo, but you rock it my friend. And the purple and white is working for you. I definitely wouldn’t mistake you for any other superhero, which is a shrewd move. You don’t want Wonder Woman trying to take credit for your good deeds, after all. I also admire your stated mission: keeping people from places both low and high is a good approach. Does this mean you will focus on ants and giraffes? Someone needs to keep them in line.
Kato told us about his superhero:
My superhero name would be Super Kato. I would have Freeze Power and Bow and Arrow Power and Ice Power and Gun Power. I would make really really really really really really really bad guys dead.
Kato: I think you might be getting a little greedy on the power front. Do you really need ALL of these powers? Let’s discuss. Might there not be a certain degree of redundancy between Freeze power and Ice Power? The same worry applies as I question the necessity for Gun Power and Bow and Arrow Power. Of course, you might have perfectly good reasons for needing this degree of awesomeness. Although, I must admit that my concern stems, at least in part, from the fact that we live in the same house. I think that, being much taller than you, I could probably keep you in line if you had just one or two of these powers. But even I worry about being able to contend with all four.
Harry told us about his superhero:
My superhero name would be Clumsy. My super power would be shooting bow and arrows and killing bad people. I would freeze people who knock down other people’s houses.
Harry, have you been talking to Kato?
And here is Alden’s drawing of herself and her friend Mary Jane as super heroes:
For those of you less familiar with Alden’s writing than I am, she is saying “This game is fun!”
And if you notice a certain degree of similarity between the composition of Alden’s drawing and Robbi’s auction item for this week, then good for you for paying attention!
Alden used Robbi’s drawing as a model for her own. The funny thing is, even though she used certain aspects of Robbi’s drawing, Alden’s drawing is still 100% unique to Alden. Two people can draw the exact same thing and still come up with two completely different drawings. Thats’ the amazing thing about art. Each of us are so different that the things we make are just as unique and wonderful as we are.
Here’s a photo from this week’s Instagram feed, of Robbi’s painting right after she finished it.
It was a tough decision, to be sure, but this week’s winner, our comic books expert is Conrad! For his multi-media drawing of his multi-talented superhero (who I fear just a bit, I must admit).
Here is your trophy, Conrad! (And HERE’s the link to download it). Keep your eye on the mail for your print of Robbi’s painting.
As for the rest of you, check back tomorrow for a new theme and lots more fun.
by Robbi | Apr 8, 2014 | Drawing Prompts |
Hello everyone! Today is Tuesday, so that means it’s time to get out pencils and pens and crayons and do some drawing.
As you know, over the weekend we were at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts Festival (MoCCA) in New York. It’s a great book fair that includes a lot of amazing illustrated work that you can’t really find anywhere else.
There are, of course, the traditional action comics:
But there was also a lot of original artwork there. (As an illustrator, one of my favorite things is to see how finished pieces are actually made). So, for example, there was this piece of original comic art by Joe Flood for his new book The Cute Girl Network:
What I especially like is that you can see where he pencilled his drawing in first (light blue pencil is traditionally used for pencilling comics because light blue doesn’t show up in photocopies) and then inked over everything afterwards. It shows how carefully thought out compositions are – and shows that nobody just sits down and draws something perfect on the first go-round.
Another cool thing about MoCCA is that you can see a lot of the artists actually drawing while they sit there. Since I am TERRIBLE at drawing things for people on the spot, I admire these people greatly. Here’s Joe Flood drawing one of the characters from The Cute Girl Network:
And here’s another guy (Gregory Benton) who decided to do a full-on illustration instead of just signing his book, B+F:
I really am very envious of people who can do that!
Another great thing about MoCCA is that there are all kinds of illustrated books that don’t technically look like COMICS, but only because we generally think of comics as being about superheroes. Here’s a wonderful comic series by Kim Ku which looks very different from, say, Superman and Spiderman:
Anyway. These are all reasons why I like going to MoCCA, even though it means schlepping a bunch of boxes up to New York and eating terrible lunches behind our table where we sell our own books.
One of the artists that was featured at this year’s MoCCA was Joost Swarte – an amazing illustrator from the Netherlands. I was excited to see some of his original work (so excited I forgot to take pictures) where I could see how he used bright watercolors to put in very flat areas of color. So, I thought I’d try to do the same thing with my drawing this week (even people like me who have been drawing for a LOOOOONNNNNG time can be inspired by other artists!).
So, here it is:
I decided to draw Superman and Spiderman saying “Powee” with their pigeons, based on Matthew’s rather weird writing prompt from yesterday. I’ll be the first to admit that it doesn’t look anything like anything Joost Swarte has ever drawn, but I learned a few things doing it.
If you want a kooky picture of Superman and Spiderman (who don’t really look like themselves) and some pigeons, you can bid on the original over at eBay HERE. I have a premonition this one is going to go for VERY CHEAP, so if you know anyone who is a comics fan, this might be your chance to pick up some fan art for next to nothing!
Here’s your coloring page (you can download it HERE):
Also: if you’re interested in getting weekly Bobbledy Prompts delivered to your inbox, SIGN UP FOR PROMPTS HERE.
And: if you’re interested in getting auction notices by email, SIGN UP FOR AUCTION ALERTS HERE.
by Matthew | Apr 7, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Robbi and I spent all weekend surrounded by comic books. It was great. I was inspired! And so, this morning, I have written a story inspired by comic books.
When I say that the story is inspired by comic books, I mean that I wrote the story after spending time thinking about comic books. But since I’m a writer and not an illustrator, this story isn’t actually a comic book. Because even though it’s entirely possible to have a comic book with pictures and no words, a comic book with words and no pictures isn’t a comic book at all.
And so, here is my story about Superman, and what he might do if he were in a comic book trying to deal with some bad guys.
Superman Helps Out
By Matthew Swanson
Superman landed on the roof. He looked great in his cape and tights. “Powee!” he said
There was no one there but some pigeons.
“Why did that funny-looking man say that, Dad?” said the baby pigeon her pigeon father.
“I don’t know, Dear,” said her dad. “Eat your worm.”
Superman flew away.
Superman landed on a different roof. This roof was full of bad guys. “Powee!” he said.
The bad guys looked at Superman, wondering what was going on. “Are you going to capture us?” said one of the bad guys, “Or are you just going to say ‘Powee’?”
“I was just going to say ‘Powee,’” said Superman. “Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?”
“Not at all,” said the other bad guy. “In addition to saying ‘Powee,’” you have to actually do something, such as grab us with your super arms or put us in an unbreakable cage.
“I had no idea,” said Superman. “Thank you both for helping me to understand.”
“No problem,” said one of the bad guys.
“But we’re leaving now,” said the other bad guy.
The two bad guys jumped into their invisible helicopter.
“Wait just a second,” said Superman.
“So long, Super Sucker,” said one of the bad guys.
Super Man was disappointed. Being a super hero was so hard.
Suddenly, he heard someone say ‘Powee,’
It was Spider Man! The bad guys were wrapped up in spider web. The invisible helicopter was still invisible.
“Hooray!” said Superman.
“Want to get some french fries?” said Spider Man.
“Yes!” said Superman. “I love being a super hero.”
It would be so fun to be a super hero, wouldn’t it? The great news is, you can say ‘Powee!’ whenever you want to, even if you’re just a kid. Even if you’re just a 39-year-old guy writing a story in his pajamas. I just said it very quietly. Robbi is still asleep, and I don’t think she’s ready to deal with any super heroes this early in the morning.
Please write us a story about comic books, or super heroes, or pigeons! Write a story about whatever you are INSPIRED to write a story about. And post it in the comments below.
POWEE!
by Matthew | Apr 5, 2014 | Appearances, Theme of the Week |
YES! This week’s theme is comic books.
Have you ever seen a comic book? It’s a book where the pages are broken into “panels,” by which I mean little rectangles. Each panel is kind of like its own page.
In comics, the words that characters say appear in speech bubbles coming out of their mouths. Often, comics are about superheroes, but not always.
Here’s a comic about Spider Man.
Comics usually have very exciting covers.
And people in comics say “Pow” a lot.
Don’t ask me why.
The bottom line: comics are awesome. We’re going to spend all week talking about and thinking about comics.
But don’t get too excited. Not yet, anyway. Today’s post will be really short, because today (Saturday, April 5) we are at a comic book show. Which means that we will spend all day in a room full of people who make comic books and people who love comic books. Which means that we will have a chance to take all sorts of pictures of comic books and the people who make them, pictures which we will share with you tomorrow.
The comic book show is called the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts Festival. It’s in New York City. If you and your family happen to live anywhere near New York and enjoy comic books, you might want to consider dropping by. Here is the poster.
And now I am going to sleep, because it is very late at night, and I need to save my energy for tomorrow’s comic book show.
Stay tuned for pictures, stories, and interesting facts and observations about comic books.
If you are looking for something to do in the mean time, may I suggest you make a comic of your own? Making comics gives you a chance to be an author and an illustrator at the same time, which is something we can really get excited about.
Good night! Or good morning. Depending on when you read this.
