Outside the Box

For Peter Kuper's “Outside the Box” class, we create a variety of different comics with a new theme each week. Below are some of my favorite assignments from the class.

This was one where we had to do nine or more self portraits. I decided to tell my life story in art and my introduction into the cartooning world.

Here, we were to draw a specific neighborhood in NYC and try to capture what it is like there. I live in and decided to depict Crown Heights, Brooklyn, an area that many people in New York tend to stay clear of. Most people only know the rumors that surround the place or of the riots in the 90s that took place there, not of the people there who love it and call it home. I based the page layout on a map because most people can point out where the area is (streets, subway stops, etc.) but not who or what is actually on street level.

This was the second assignment. We were to depict a certain place, well known or personal, and show it in certain periods in time. I chose the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island because it was a great site to witness different historic events in American history both celebratory and tragic. From the arrival of countless immigrants to the fall of the Twin Towers, New York has been the place to witness history (for me anyway...)

And this was my favorite piece. We had to take a song by a musician and, using all or a few of the lyrics, tell a story. I chose David Bowie's "Space Oddity", a song i've had fond memories of since middle school. I decided to use as many negative black areas and as few words as I could to try and create an illusion of space; I think I did alright :)