One of my favorite activities to do with young artists. Pick a font and write your name in that style! I’ve also made notecards with a different style written on each one and have the students “pick a mystery font” to start the class. A lot of kids really dig this challenge.
Been busy making tons of art but unfortunately, it’s nothing that can be posted online yet. A couple of children’s picture books are coming soon and I’ve been doing a lot storyboard work which is awesome. Storyboarding is a lot of fun as it combines my interest in film technique with illustration. The ad work is all very “top secret” but a short film has already been shot so hopefully I can share that soon.
The school year is wrapping up so I’m also busy with my after-school cartooning class. Below is a handout for a lesson on “special effects”. There are some really talented cartoonists this year and several of them have utilized these techniques to make some awesome comics. I thought I’d share the handout for other artists (and fans of cat fights).
Speed Lines
SFX, Emanata, Breaking the Panel
Credit goes to Mort Walker (creator of Beetle Bailey) for coining the term “Emanata”.
I’ve been very busy wrapping up the second volume of the Skyclan trilogy and the school year. Twice a week, I teach a comics and cartooning classes to elementary students in NYC. At the end of the semester, I compile all their work in a comics anthology. This group of students did some exceptional work and I just had to share!
This drawing was from an assignment where I had a number of different nouns, adjectives and situation prompts on index cards. The students had to pick random cards and design a character based on the combined description. This was a “dumb” “scientist” with “long hair” who “smelled something funny”. I just love this illustration!
Below are more comics and cartoons that appeared in the anthology…
I created this guide to drawing Graystripe a few years ago. It’s always cool to see other artist’s interpretation of a character I designed so please send me any of your drawings!
You can download the pdf with additional pages here: Graystripe Drawing Packet.
His look and my style have evolved a bit since I drew this but the basics are still the same. Creating a character for a comic is all about deciding on features that make your character UNIQUE and EASILY RECOGNIZABLE. You want your audience to know “That’s Graystripe!” even if he’s drawn in a different style or by a new artist. For Graystripe, it is the spikey tufts of hair, furry cheeks, bushy “eyebrows” and dark shadows under his eyes that make him so unique.
Here are some drawings of Graystripe as he has evolved from “Lost Warrior” to an appearance in “Crookedstar’s Promise”.
Heading to Rochester this weekend for the Teen Book Festival and I made a new “How to Draw Ravenpaw” packet for the event. You can download the pdf here: drawing ravenpaw.
James L. Barry 