Jerzy Drozd - Cartoonist/Teaching Artist

Comics Are Great! 45 - Balancing Act

2012-01-26T08:37:00.001-08:00

Comics Are Great! episode 45 is up! Talking with Skottie Young and Katie Cook about balancing personal life, paying gigs, and passion projects. It's a spirited one!

Full show notes and links can be found here.

Initial thumbnails for the new Front story are done!

2012-01-22T18:20:00.001-08:00

Clocking in at around 33 pages, the new Front story will be called "Petty Dreadful". I'm going to take the next 9 days to combine these messy notes into the final draft of thumbnails, then I can begin updating this comic online!

So jazzed about this.

LIA Cast 20 - Working with CSS

2012-01-20T13:09:00.001-08:00

New Lean Into Art Cast, where Rob and I go through a basic walkthrough of how to customize CSS on your webcomics site. A refresher course for those who are familiar with CSS, and a great intro for those who have found customizing a website to be a stressful scenario.

Also, we've got a new workshop event planned for February! Only 4 seats available.

Comics Are Great! 44 - Great Comics

2012-01-13T10:23:00.001-08:00

New episode of Comics Are Great! where I'm joined by Gale Williams, Stephanie Mannheim, and Eli Neiburger for a big boatload of book recommendations in the spirit of showing just how rich and varied the comics landscape is.

Download and subscribe to the audio podcast here.

Doing mic checks w/@kelvarin!

2012-01-11T09:03:00.001-08:00

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Streaming shortly at http://comicsaregreat.tv

Rob is going to be on the big screen today at the Comic Artists Forum!

2012-01-08T09:48:00.001-08:00

At AADL downtown from 1-3 pm today!

Lean Into Art Cast 18 - Time! Time! 2

2012-01-06T10:23:00.001-08:00

New Lean Into Art Cast, where Rob and I revisit the topic of time management, and I share some observations after using David Seah's Emergent Task Planner for a week.

Drawing for Myself - Cindarr

2012-01-03T08:45:00.001-08:00

CINDARR Pencil, brush pen, and Photoshop on 5.5x8.25" bristol.

Today's warm-up sketch got a little involved as I tried my hand at digital painting (at least at the coloring level). More thoughts on my blog.

Comics Sound Design Workshop!

2012-01-01T11:18:00.001-08:00

Less than a week left to register for my 3-session interactive online workshop where we'll explore sound design in comics!

Starting January 7, we'll explore sound balloon design, picking an appropriate font, word balloon placement, the three aspects to interesting sound effect design, and even how to integrate the finished sound elements into your comics pages.

Here's a video preview of the workshop:

Signing up for a workshop also grants you lifetime access to the Lean Into Art forums, where you can post your assignments and get feedback from participants and instructors.

LIA Cast 16 - Cheating!

2011-12-23T15:24:00.001-08:00

New Lean Into Art Cast, where Rob Stenzinger and I share some of our favorite art cheats!

You can download and subscribe to the audio podcast here.

Matt and I reflect on CAG this year.

2011-12-14T09:13:00.001-08:00

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Broadcasting soon at http://comicsaregreat.tv

Make the Comics photos

2011-12-08T18:51:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

I believe a good time was had at the first Make the Comics Drink & Draw! We had 14 show up, some of whom drove over 40 minutes to be there!

My deepest thanks to Roos Roast (http://roosroast.com/) for letting us use their terrific space for the event.

Everyone took Ryan Estrada's (http://ryanestrada.com/) cue and drew a Bad Garfield, and there was lots of shop talk and joking around.

Looking forward to the next one!

Setting up for the Drink & Draw w/ @storrieville

2011-12-08T14:22:00.001-08:00

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At Roos Roast in Ann Arbor!

Comics Are Great! 41 - Digital Painting

2011-12-08T09:12:00.001-08:00

Comics Are Great! 41 is up, featuring a digital painting demo by the terrific Brandon Dayton. Lots of great tips and tricks shared!

Download and subscribe to the audio show here.

Touring the CAG Studio

2011-12-07T09:11:00.001-08:00

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Setting up shortly and streaming live at http://comicsaregreat.tv

Lettering with Adobe Illustrator workshop!

2011-12-06T11:59:00.001-08:00

Registration is open for my online workshop on creating sound elements in Adobe Illustrator!

In this multi-session workshop amounting to 6 hours of material, I'll share the way I choose my fonts, design word balloons from scratch, design unique sound effects, and incorporate them into my comics pages.

Sound design is one more layer to putting your idiosyncratic stamp on your book, and Adobe Illustrator offers some terrific tools through which you can achieve it.

Live classes are scheduled for January 7, 11, and 14, but you can also sign up to participate in a time-shifted manner.

Assignments and review will be conducted in the Lean Into Art private forum. This is one of my favorite topics, so you can expect a lot of excitement and fun.

Comics Are Great! 40 - Jim Henson was Complicated

2011-12-02T09:39:00.001-08:00

In this special extra episode of Comics Are Great! I'm joined by Dave Roman for a discussion on the new Muppets film. We compare and contrast the movie with what's come before, and dig a little at the special considerations that come out of creating a franchise out of an intellectual property, and how the performance aspect of the Muppets complicates our relationship with them as fans and in terms of keeping the series relevant.

SPOILERS AND OPINIONS, in case you haven't seen the new film yet.

Listen to the audio here, or download and subscribe to the show here.

Setting up for CAG with Producer Matt Dubay

2011-11-30T09:06:00.001-08:00

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We'll be streaming live at http://comicsaregreat.tv at 12:30 ET!

Comics Are Great! 38 - Ideas are Crap

2011-11-26T12:05:00.001-08:00

Comics Are Great! episode 38 is up, featuring a discussion with Kim Holm and Jono B about how ideas are crap and a story's real value lies in its execution. You can download and subscribe to the audio podcast here.

Comics Are Great! 37 - Adobe Illustrating

2011-11-21T09:13:00.001-08:00

Comics Are Great! 37 is live, with an Adobe Illustrator demo led by Jannie Ho. We get some talk on living like an adventurer with Ryan Estrada, and some thoughts on managing your social presence and art style.

And you can win the sketch Ryan did while on the show! Just check out the comments on the post for episode 37.

The Dread Torpedoes!

2011-11-20T14:39:00.001-08:00

Finished preliminary designs on the characters we'll meet in the new Front story I'm working on. The Dread Torpedoes, a group of super-villain punks that Torpedo Black ran with before he became Torpedo Black.

Character descriptions and individual character designs on my blog.

Wait–Torpedo Black?

2011-11-19T15:16:00.001-08:00

Working on more character designs for the new Front comic. This one needs a bit more work, but I like where it's headed.

Can anyone say Torpedo Red?

2011-11-19T13:06:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

Working out new character designs for The Front revamp. Going to learn more about Torpedo Black's past.

Sam Re-imagined

2011-11-19T12:06:00.001-08:00

And now for Thirsty's love interest!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Just a few more characters to go in this series of re-imaginings of characters from my graphic novel, The Front: Rebirth.

Check out the whole series on my blog.

Opal and Jared re-imagined

2011-11-18T14:31:00.001-08:00

Down to the last few of the character re-imaginings for a relaunch of my comics series, The Front.

See the entire series on my blog.

See the full gallery on Posterous