First of all a big THANK YOU to Ben Majercak who colored today’s strip. Ben is a former student of mine who is a really talented comics artist in his own right and I asked him to help me out with this experiment. I think he did a great job. Ben- you’re hired!
Today is the first of hopefully a continuing series of Sunday strips (I just need to get my act together and make sure they are drawn in time). These may not be in continuity (it’s a comic geek term) but hopefully you’ll like them.
Today’s is pretty much a true story. While attending a fine Midwestern liberal arts college (Let’s call it Faux Pas University) I was courted by the Art Department. It started during orientation when they asked to see my portfolio. See, I was stupid and had my AP Studio Art score sent to them. They looked at my portfolio and rejected it. While “good” they still wanted me to take all the basic classes (Meaning they needed the enrollment so they could get more $$$). So for freshman and sophomore year I took some art classes. Some were interesting, some weren’t. The class I took before this event was “Art Teaching Methods for Elementary School Teachers.” In that class I felt that I was the unpaid Teacher’s Assistant, yet they didn’t let me skip the basics (Studio Art 100). So I arrive to meet with some members of the department and go over my portfolio. I will admit, it wasn’t that great… I hadn’t kept any of the bonehead assignments from the other classes I had taken so most of what I had were things I had drawn for my fraternity house. The final blow was when they started plotting out my classes for the rest of my time in college… and one of them said “You’d be pretty good if we can get you to stop drawing this silly creatures” Followed by the question (since I was looking shocked) “What do you see yourself doing in five years?” I answered (like any snot nosed college know-it-all) “Teaching third grade.” It was their turn to be shocked. “Art is a hobby.” After a few more minutes of discussion I picked up my stuff and politely walked out. I never walked into the Art Department again. I do regret that, a little bit… but nothing I can do about it now.
The funny thing is (funny sad, not funny haha) is my room mate switched to Art as a major. When he went through his critique they told him (after recruiting him) that he really didn’t have any talent and he should switch majors. I recall this discussion happened at the end of his Junior year. Leaving one year to pick up a new major or spend another year in college. Kids- this was back in the day when if you didn’t graduate in four years you were considered stupid or lazy. Not like today when six to eight years in college is fine.
Enough! I do hope you enjoyed today’s special strip (I’ll work to make it happen more often). I also hope you don’t mind the “silly creatures” aka crazy monkey bent on world domination. He keeps me company when Sue won’t talk to me because of something stupid I said.