Alexa made a lot of cute animal comics, which I am not predisposed to love. But she worked really hard figuring out the nuances of cuteness, and in the meantime, became a really good designer. The simplicity of adorableness is hard to achieve--one bad line and you move to cloying or saccharin. But Alexa avoids all of this...check out her map project from the end of the semester! I have a feeling that Alexa will get a lot of children's book illustration work. Good for her in advance. Cha-ching!
Lily Mac Hugh
Lily was a bit of a basket case at the beginning of the semester, I knew that she could draw, but she was beating herself up too much about what she was doing. But then she figured it out. Her zombie comic is a great. I am jealous of the way she can make something look good with just black and white. And her website with all of her drawings looks great too. Go look at it!
http://www.diamond-inks.com/index.html
Shantel Grant
Shantel is one of those "wildcard" students. She had never made comics before taking my class in the Spring, but obviously had a great sense of design and was a hard worker, because she was an animation major. Her first two projects were extremely ambitious, but didn't quite hit the mark, I think due to her total lack of experience. Her last project, the poster you see below, blew everyone's mind. I love it specifically because it breaks the rules. Her color choices are experimental. The subject matter is provocative, but she pulls it off, with direct drawing, and interesting space and color. She will continue to do amazing stuff, I'm sure.
http://nowhereandelsewhere.tumblr.com/
forshantelgrant@gmail.com
Joe Jurewicz
Over the summer, I want to spend one day a week highlighting the work of great students that I've had. Please email them with love. Joe took my inking continuing ed class at SVA two summers ago. It feels like you're cheating as a teacher when you get a student like Joe, because he came in to class basically totally formed, he just needed to simplify his line work a little, and find the best materials to use. He figured out the brush and proceeded to get a dream job animating for an awesome and very popular show on Adult Swim. Recently he made this comic for my website, which I love.... Thanks JOE!
Introducing... Lucretia!
Lucretia was an ace student in my "Design and Build Comics" class at SVA. She has some killer watercolor skills don'tcha think? Her comics are also very amusing. She is a star. Graduating this spring. Hire her. Check the rest of her square comics out at Student Corner...
Janice Shapiro
Janice is one of those ringer students that you pay to come to class and make you look good. She's also a published author and screenwriter, but it amazes me that she's never had any formal drawing training. She's working on a great series right now called "Crushable" that you should definitely check out. But here's a great one-off called "Jeopardy". You can email her with praise at janice@janiceshapiro.com.
The Great Cheryl Gladstone
Student Corner
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My intern Vreni is typing this and I am dictating. Isn't this amazing? She's not even getting paid. All I can do for her is plug her awesome stuff in a new section on my website called Student Corner. I also have a great backlog of student work that I'll be hyping and showing.