So as I have posted I’m taking a class from the Smithsonian about comic books. Our final project is to create a superhero. Many of the ideas are fantastic, mine was Gizmo Girl, an all-ages comics with a “strong female protagonist.” The class requirements were to complete a slideshow defining your character. Week one: define your mythic inspiration. Week two: define your character’s superpowers, weaknesses, and origin. Week three: define your villain’s, origin, inspiration, powers, etc. Week 4: Construct a basic story. Week 5: Make three panels from your scene. I’ll share all of this when it’s ready, but for now I thought I would at least share an updated drawing of Gizmo Girl. There might be some subtle changes, but I think this is the design I’m sticking with. I’ve learned a lot over the past 6 years, and I know I’ll end up tweaking things, simplifying them as I draw more and more. I’ve really enjoyed the class and have until the end of the month to get the last work done… wish me luck. Now it’s off to figure out a villain (yes, Cecil would be an easy choice, but I’m trying to push myself a bit).
Category: Blogposts
Posts not connected to a comic… sometimes information, sometimes just ranting, it’s a bit of a gamble when you read these.
Comics for kids?!? That’s crazy talk!
It’s the “off season” so like any pro athlete, I spend my time “training” and getting ready for next season. For me it means going to conventions and learn new things or be reminded of things I have forgotten. Next week is Kid’s Read Comics in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A comic convention focusing on books for kids (and teens). Some of my favorite creators are going to be there, so Cecil and I are really looking forward to it. If you are in the area stop by and get some great kid’s comics, and if you happen to see a guy with a monkey on his head, that’s probably me. I won’t have a table but I’ll be wandering around like a fan boy. Here’s the a link to the program if you want to check out what’s going and who is going to be there.
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #2010
So what do teachers do during the “Off Season”? Some of us go to “camp.” Today I went to #edcampindy. My second edcamp or “unconference.” Yes, this is a lot of quotes. Let’s start with the bigger idea- the unconference. An unconference is a conference that doesn’t have a set agenda. The sessions are determined by what people want to learn and what people want to teach. So you get a room full of people, in this case educators, and someone says I’d like to learn about… whatever- is there anyone willing to lead a discussion about whatever? Or someone who is a proponent for lima beans in the classroom gets up says they will present about lima beans. As long as there is room in the schedule you present. Attendees vote with their feet. I presented about Comics in the classroom… (it’s my schtick) but got a lot of great ideas about nerdy books, and video production on the iPad. The final session was interesting and I look forward to trying it with my class next year , I just won’t call it “Things that suck.” 🙂 Thanks to my dear friend @shighley for putting #edcampindy on today. I’m looking forward to going through the notes of the sessions I missed- because it’s all held together by the interweb.
When I was a kid I went to Acorn Camp and then in Boy Scouts, Camp Emerald Bay. My one big memory of Scout camp (besides almost cutting off my finger and my brother getting beaten up) was getting a “suicide” each night (Suicide=a mix of everything available from the soft drink fountain). Fortunately at edcamp I wasn’t asked to use a knife, my brother was in another state, and while doughnuts and bagels were available- only water was the only free option.
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #6715
RIP – Sir Christopher Lee
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1820
“Call me Ookmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely (according to the “true story” the book was based on, let’s say around 30 years, but who’s counting?)- having little or no money in my purse, you see, I carry a wallet, it’s nice, I picked it up in Turkey to make sure it could hold other currency besides dollars, and nothing particular to interest me on shore. What do you expect? All my shows had had their season finales and there really wasn’t anything good on TV. I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world, even though I really hate water since it is so very wet. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and the appendix, and the gall bladder, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth or I get those little hairs growing in my ears; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, rather than a light a wonderful June in my heart (June is busting out all over!); whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, which I really should talk to someone about, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet… No I mean it, I’m concerned and should seek help. I quietly take to the ship, because have you seen what psychiatric help costs?!? Definitely not a nickel like in the comic strips!”
I know there are many books that are required reading in high school. I guess I was fortunate enough to avoid many of them. Either by dodging the class (I took a class in “Biography” in which we read romance novels based in historic time periods, and my favorite “Science Fiction”) or just buckling down and trying to get through books I didn’t have the life experience to really grasp (Great Expectations & Huckleberry Finn). So I missed Moby Dick (darn) although I’ve seen a few film adaptations and read Jeff Smith’s Bone It’s something I probably should add to my bucket list or at least try to listen to it on a long trip. Moby Dick was based on tales told about whalers and the whales that hate them. The big story was about the sinking of the Essex in 1820.
This is what happens when I ask people how the MINIon number is significant… Rigoletto was written the same year as Moby Dick! Inspiration comes from the strangest people… I mean places. 🙂
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1851
Chainsaws would have taken too much time to draw. After yesterday’s post- any thoughts about the reason for the number?
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1932
As I keep doing this (somewhere around 156 MINIon Badges so far) people have asked me about the significance of the MINIon number… “Do all the numbers actually mean something?” The answer is “Yes.” In some cases, I have no idea because the MINIon has been drawn for a specific person, and they gave me the number. It has meaning for them, and that’s all that matters. As for the rest, each number is related to the actual MINIon. Which has started to become a more difficult task than drawing the monkey. Today’s MINIon is a pretty good example.
From that bastion of knowledge known only as “Wikipedia”:
John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to the United States, patented the sock-knitting machine in 1868, and began knitting socks on an automatic machine Rockford, Illinois as early as 1870. On September 15, 1880, the Nelson Knitting Company formed, producing the “Celebrated Rockford Seamless Hosiery,” selling them under the name of the “Nelson Sock.” The iconic sock monkeys made from red-heeled socks, known today as the Rockford Red Heel, emerged at the earliest in 1932, the year the Nelson Knitting Company added the trademarked red heel to its product. In the early years, the red-heeled sock was marketed as “De-Tec-Tip”. Nelson Knitting was an innovator in the mass market work sock field, creating a loom that enabled socks to be manufactured without seams in the heel. These seamless work socks were so popular that the market was soon flooded with imitators, and socks of this type were known under the generic term “Rockfords”. Nelson Knitting added the red heel “De-Tec-Tip” to assure its customers that they were buying “original Rockfords”. This red heel gave the monkeys their distinctive mouth. During the Great Depression, American crafters first made sock monkeys out of worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks.
In 1955, Nelson Knitting was awarded the patent for the sock monkey doll. Events leading up to this included Helen Cooke of Aurora, Colorado receiving the patent in 1953. However, her patent was proven invalid after she sued a Stanley Levy for selling the dolls when it was discovered that sock monkeys were being made before Cooke received her patent in 1953, such as the doll crafted by Grace Winget of Rockford in 1951. Winget gave the doll to Nelson Knitting as evidence that sock monkeys had been made before 1953, which forced Cooke to give up her lawsuit and transfer the patent for the doll to Nelson Knitting in 1955.
So what number should this MINIon be? 1868- the year John Nelson (no relation) patented his sock-knotting machine? 1880- the year the company was founded? 1953- the year the Sock Monkey was patented was established or was that 1955? or 1932- the year the Nelson Knitting Company started putting red heels on their socks… you know which won. This is what happens with every MINIon, I draw it, and then hope I haven’t used that number before. If I have I look for another number that might work. The Logan’s Run MINIon ended up with two numbers 0029 & 2274, I changed my mind after making one badge… don’t ask me why, I just did, and you’re not the boss of me.
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1974
He’s a lumberjack and he’s OK, he sleeps all night and he works all day.
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #3-5
“Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin’ arse!”
A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1803
Mmmmm… donuts.
What else can I say?