Saving Art for the Web - Lesson

My lecture on how to photograph, size, optimize artwork for web display. Let me know what you think. This is my first supplemental video lecture for my Web Design for Creative Professionals class at Montgomery College.

Sing Sing - 4 pages

Sing Sing: A One Act Opera, cover

Sing Sing: A One Act Opera - 4 Sample pages


The SPACE Small Publishers Expo in Columbus Ohio has nominated Sing Sing for the 2011 SPACE Prize in Minicomics / Short Story. Above are 4 sample pages, not in sequence, but the pacing is correct: light/dark/light/dark

If you have pull with the voting body... Throw some love my way. Click the images to see them at twice the size... mmmm... bigger...

These are mini-pubs, short run and hand bound until I can gather enough ducats to make an official print run. You can order one from me via an email request for details, or see if Matt Dembicki is still holding. They're printed on quality paper, so they're a higher standard than the average comic page... currently at the rock-bottom rate of $4.

Sample Drawing Lesson

This is my first-ever drawing lesson video. I have taking a position with the University of Maryland University College in the Art and Design department. I am scheduled to teach two classes this semester via the internet. I've never taught an online class, so I wanted to figure out how to lecture without creating a huge type-written document, or invest in video equipment and editing software.

My solution was to buy Camtasia for Mac, along with a $25 Logitech USB microphone. I received the software in the mail, along with a RAM upgrade from Crucial to go from 6 Gigabytes to a whopping 14 Gigabytes of Photoshop crunching power for a mere $150. The RAM was a pop-pop-click-click affair. Easy to do, and instantly recognized by my Mac tower.

So, I'm into this class for a shy $200, counting only the software and microphone... ok.

Fire up the software and tell it to use my Cintiq tablet as it's main recording region. Press record, and start talking while I start drawing in Sketchbook Pro. This is it... No script, No Editing other than applying the built-in Fade in and Fade out sequences and the titles.

Real Classes are coming, but since I'm only teaching 100 and 200 level classes this semester, practicing artists may not get much out of them... Intro stuff.

IF: Suspense

Bene Kanahele, the Hawai'ian farmer made famous by his defense of his island, village and family during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bene was shot three times in the abdomen and legs by Airman Nishiaichi, who crash landed on the tiny island of Ni'iahu. The local Japanese sympathizer, Harada stands on the right with a stolen shotgun.

I thank my friend and Hawai'ian cultural historian, Leilehua Yeun for finding a bunch of information on the incident. I ask that you click the link to read more of his, and his wife's heroism.

Bene's Story... dripping with suspense!

Entirely digital in Sketchbook Pro and Photoshop.

IF: Forward

The Angel Band

I had a dream last night. There were two top-hatted musicians, twins I think, but they were dressed in white shirts and looking very serious. There were other musicians with them, but I didn't see them as clearly. I drew them this morning in Sketchbook Pro. I couldn't help thinking of the many "societies" and causes at the turn of the 19th and 20th Century. Everyone had a band and a banner. I call this group the Angel Band... Their cause is greater than most; "Justice for all men" = Forward thinking as they witnessed some of the hardest times in the deep south.

IF: Twirl

Tia with Baton and Flashlight
This is one of a group of characters I developed for the new FEMA 4 Kids web section, however the project has been shelved while funding is resolved. I was very excited about this job, but found the wheels of government move very slowly. The folks I've worked with have been great, but the upper echelon is as fickle as congress. It's tough to get approval from multiple committees and stakeholders.

Tia as initially designed with a baton, but since she was to be explaining natural disasters and emergency preparedness, she was outfitted with a flashlight... much more practical in a blackout.

Tia's Twirling will have to wait until the storm passes. Digital illustration via a Wacom Intuos3 tablet in Photoshop.

SOPA - Boiled Frog Syndrome

SOPA: Boiled Frog Syndrome
Freedom's are taken one at a time... TSA Body scans, camera monitoring on the streets, indefinite detention of suspects... Like the story of the frog in the pot as the heat was turned up a degree at a time... by the time he realized it was too late: Cooked.

Web censorship is just another degree administered to the pot we're all boiling in.
Freedom isn't Free... It's a Buck 'o' Five