Admission: 10$
Date: February 19, 2020 (Wed)
Time: 7PM
Location: The Center for Fiction | 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217A couple weeks ago, I was invited by Professor Woolley to attend a panel containing about graphic novels that reveals more about culture, sexuality, and race – more about a more realistic term of hero, than a mythical superhero.
It was led by Joseph Illidge, an editor for DC comics and Warner Bros., interviewing comic writers and artists, such as Robin Ha, Khary Randolph. and Vita Ayala.
- Robin Ha
- Khary Randolph
- Vita Ayala
The interview mainly entailed about how these artists grew up drawing what everyone else was drawing in the art community. During their younger years, it was mostly about heterosexual or white culture and then one day, they realized, Why aren’t there any stories about my ethnicity, culture, or sexuality?
They spoke about how they grew as artists, some of their perspective and personal stories about why they decided to write more topical statements, such as sexism, racism or homophobia.
At the end of the interview, the artists were doing a signing for their comics and Professor Woolley nudged all the City Tech students to network and get to know the artists that were interviewed.
I’m not someone who really enjoys the action genre, so Robin Ha’s work really resonated in me. She was a Korean-American artist, so I understood her culture and the troubles she went through, and although our backgrounds were completely different, I somehow understood what sort of things she had experienced. So, I bought her book (which I also got for 10$ off because I was a part of the meeting), and lined up to meet her.
Once I got to her, I told spoke to her more on a personal level, about how I really understood where she was standing. I also managed to talk to Khary Randolph and Robin Ha about how they just push their work out on social media and they ended up giving me tips!
The day after is also an interview I am moderating with another classmate for Robin Ha, which is another networking group that I will blog about!
Admission: free
Date: February 6, 2020
Time: 6:00 – 9:30PM
Location: NYC College of Technology, P122
Professor Sara Woolley had meticulously prepared networking events with a variety of artists for her class, Advanced Strategies of Illustration (COMD 3633). For our second week of class, she had set up an interview secession with Steven Harris.
Steven has won many awards, such as winning the Glyph Award four times, Glyph Award for Best Female Character twice and the VLA (Virginia Library Association) Graphic Novel Diversity Award. He has also worked and credited on many DC Comics, such as Aztek: The Ultimate Man, a character which he co-created along with Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, Batman: Officer Down, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, and more. He has also participated in gallery shows in New York, Philadelphia, Georgia, Chicago, California, and Japan.
See Steven Harris’ works:
Portfolio: nstevenworks.com/
Instagram: twitter.com/NStevenHarris
Twitter: instagram.com/nstevenharris
During the class, the students have worked together to create a list of questions in preparation for their own path. These are their notes:
Creator Owned – rights are kept by the creator
- Line/Imprint –
Work for Hire – rights are owned by the company
Royalties – continuing income from every edition
- Storyboard – art director, ad agency
- Storyboard for production art doesn’t get royalty fees
Network – internship, conventions
- Conventions – never bring your originals (bring binder/portfolio); possibility of damages
As an artist:
1. Be focused
2. Be disciplined (time-keeping)
Artist Representatives
Freelancer – an entrepreneur, responsible for themselves:
- Negotiations – ask for money upfront (minimum – 33% or 50% at least)
- Don’t take a job without a contract
- In perpetuity – ‘law talk’ for forever
- Ask advisors for assistance for contracts
Graphic Artist Guild:
Pricing Ethical Guidelines – Industry-standard how to price your work (i.e. animation, storyboards, etc.); ask friends for input
Working in the Comic Industry:
Types of Jobs:
- Pencil/Drawer
- Inker
- Color
- Letter
- Editor
- Writer
Comic Process (varies from artist to artist)
- Read te script
- Look for reference
- Thumbnails (strategize placement, composition)
- Develop Sketch
Admission: 20$
Date: Tuesdays (nude models) & Thursdays (themed sketch night)
Time: 6:30 – 9:30PM
Location: Museum of Illustration, 128 East 63rd Street, NYC
Phone Number: 212 838 2560
societyofillustrators.org
On the 4th of February, I went to the Society of Illustrator’s Sketch Night. I was invited by my friend to accompany her with a group of other City Tech students.
The event was located on the third floor of the museum, it included a bar section and a small complimentary buffet(our night had salad and pasta; from what I heard from the others, it was pretty tasty).
This was a totally new experience for me. I was nervous but excited! My anxiety led me to believe that if I was the artist with the lowest skillset, then I would shame my entire family, but there was a surprisingly large variety of skill levels! And, everyone was rather friendly for the most part! I sat next to my friend, but in front of us sat two elder men that were super friendly and willing to chat with us.
One of the downsides was that it is a bit of tight space, so expect to squeeze around some people. Onto my right, I sat next to a taciturn artist that apparently shot daggers at me and my friend whenever we tried to go up and chat with other attendees.
2 minutes (total: 10 minutes) 
5 minutes (total: 30 minutes) 
10 minutes (total: 50 minutes) 
20 minutes (total: 40 minutes)
It begins with one artist calling out the time. The first five poses were 2minutes. The second five poses were 5 minutes, and we got an additional bonus pose. The third set of poses was 10 minutes. Then, finally, the last two poses of the night were 20 minutes. There are breaks in between each secession as well!
In total, we drew for 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes). A couple of City Tech students have left a little earlier, but four remained (including me and my friend). We ended up going out to find bubble tea before it got too late, and I strengthened some bonds with them as well! I entered their little artist group chat on Instagram and now we chat, update, and ask each other questions about things related to our interests!
I definitely would go again because it was a good way to brush up on my drawing skills and anatomy proportion, but also it was just a fun, chill night with other artists you can chat with.
