M.I.A. - $20

This was a project that I did in Francis Jetter's Storytelling class. In this class, we not only wrote and illustrated our stories, but we also made them into legitimate books! We were done with most of our assignments and summer was coming up fast. We had the option of doing another book, but with a week left, most opted out. However, I was listening to a lot of the world artist M.I.A. at the time and was moved by one song in particular; 20 Dollar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CYa7nf4Aig

After a few dozen times of listening to the song, I decided to crank out a small book anyway. And honestly, I liked it better than what I did the first 10 weeks or so of class! Its pretty small, 5'" by 5" but folds out to tell the story of the first verse of the song, regarding life in Africa. It was one of my favorite pieces of sophomore year.

Quick Update!

The project that has been consuming most of my time Junior year is DONE!! We were to do a story based on a Greek myth. Those that finished and did exceptional work were chosen to be in the end of the year show.. and I made it in!! To the right are a few teasers of the piece. I just have to scan and edit a few pages and then I'll have the first 5-6 pages within the... month... I'll try my best to get more of the images up very soon! 

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 :)

Drawing On Location

Well, it's been quite a while! I've been busy with my Junior Thesis since January, but now I'm done! I got into the show, but that's another post... These are a few pieces from my “Drawing on Location” course with J. Ruggeri, an extraordinary artist in his own right. In the class we go to different places in New York City and just draw! It's just an all around great class for exercises in sketching environments and people in the environment.