The Comic Book

     This week we looked at the natural next step in the comic strip, ... the comic book. The development of the comic book took form with the creation of serial episodes of strips the were sold as a pamphlet of combined strips with continuity that could be taken in all in one sitting as opposed to having to wait for the sunday newspaper. When I was younger I would scoop up any comic book I could get my little hands on and try to emulate the drawing style. This is what fueled my ambitions to be an artist.

     I still own comic books to this day and reference them often for composition and color ideas. I enjoy looking at all the different page layouts that are out there, and will sometimes do some original page work myself.

The Comic Strip

     This week We delved into the comic strip and read quite a few. I remember them very much from my youth. My father used to call them "The Intellectual Section." I remember feeling grown up because I had a mug of coffee, and was reading the comic strips like him. I enjoyed the seamless continuity they created with very little line work and color, at the time it seemed so effortless, but now I understand just what a huge undertaking and pressure it must have been for a comic strip artist to always have something fresh and funny every week. 

     There was no particular assignment posted for this week, so I figured I would just relate a story from my youth and something I have learned since.