XXX

My narrative is about dealing with an alcoholic parent and how the issue affects sibling relationships. I chose to create my whole comic predominately in black and white, while using color to emphasize certain aspects of the story (i.e., the "hero" figure's hair and eyes are in color, as well as the heart in the last panel). I also tried to use a minimalist approach so as to portray important aspects of the story/issue in a stronger manner.

The first three pages set up the hero character's awful job working at McDonald's, utilizing many symbols to convey just how miserable her job is. The fourth and fifth pages show the main character getting off of work, and how even though she is glad to be off of work, she is dreading going home. 

The sixth page shows the hero character arriving home to find her little sister upset, and shows the two sister's father passed out on the couch drunk, surrounded by trash and beer cans, as well as depicting the trash full of empty beer cans, and the refrigerator empty save for a six-pack of beer. I intentionally exaggerated the house's state of disrepair to show the strong impact alcohol is having on the characters' emotional states.

The seventh page's first panel shows the hero character embracing her little sister and offering to take her to the park. In the second panel, the little sister is seen enjoying the park, as the hero character watches the bittersweet moment, as she knows it will be fleeting and end when they arrive back home.

The eight page shows the two sisters hand in hand walking home. In the first panel the younger sister is expressing her dread of returning home, while in the second panel the two are shown once again embracing, while expressing their love for each other through a speech bubble containing only a bright red heart. This break from the black and white standard in the use of the red for the heart is meant to make their love for each other to be overwhelmingly strong, and that is what will get them through the difficult aspects of their lives resulting from the alcoholism that surrounds them.

For the cover design I found a vodka ad in a magazine that was mainly in black and white, and added the "XXX" symbol over the label to be consistent with the way I portrayed alcohol in the rest of the comic. I also outlined the bottle in bold black lines, once again for consistency.

Poor Joey

Angel and Demon

In many graphic novels and books of a saga in comics, the author and artist usually incorporate their version of a director's commentary. Given that I've tried to replicate such a comic style, I'll proceed in a similar manner.

So here we have the cover of my comic. I thought that slightly altering the title of the popular book "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown would be appropriate for my comic since the superheros are an angel and a "demon." This cover picture is pretty important since I use it to establish both characters and their tendencies. If you check out the next pages, you won't see a detailed picture of the angel with his wings out (a mistake I noticed after I finished the drawings) so this picture connects the face to the hero. As for the two heroes, they are based of off Islamic mythology in which there are angels and jinn (ie. genies). In the mythology, jinn live on this earth but are made of a sort of fire and therefore invisible to the human eye. Jinn also have free will and so there are Muslim jinn, Christian jinn, etc., a characteristic unshared by angels, who must always follow God. Additionally, jinn have the power to possess humans, which is the case for the jinn in my story, allowing him to shuffle between human and jinn form.

On the first page, we get to see the jinn in action. I got the idea of him killing a pimp from Frank Miller's "Batman and Robin." I like the set up of the middle panels because it narrows the perspective to focus on the flame behind the pimp. This page also establishes the jinn's powers as well as his mercilessness.


On the second page, I use the angel's actions to contrast those of the jinn. The angel captures the mugger and drops him off to the police. The bottom panel was a challenge since I wanted to show that the two cops describing the angel to the rest of the police force (hence why one of the officers is waving his arms). Also, in the corner, we see the comic's antagonist--an officer who seems to despise the actions of the vigilantes. As a result, he talks with the mugger in order to figure out the identity of his capturer. The scene cuts to show the officer making a phone call while looking at a file.

This scene was my personal favorite since it really compares and contrasts both heroes. The pages show that both characters as Muslims, washing for prayer and subsequently praying. I have the jinn drinking a beer as he washes his feet (he was also smoking on the cover and first page) to show him as a more liberal Muslim in contrast to the steadfast angel. These pictures were the most enjoyabe to draw due to the power they have for me.




The left side of this page was the one of my biggest challenges. I hate drawing guns and automobiles, but I knew they'd be necessary to show the capture of the heroes. Basically, this page is the result of the phone call made by the antagonist. On the other side, I have the jinn, eyes ablaze with rage, about to fend for his freedom. I think I portrayed him well--very fierce and angry. Behind him, the angel reassures him and as a result, the jinn unhappily retreats. (I am actually not a fan of this ending--I'd rather draw the heroes battling the SWAT team but this ending works better due to its simplicity and for the overall message of the comic book).

On the last page here I have the court scene in which the antagonist argues that the angel is a terrorist. He provides no argument against the jinn even though the jinn is Muslim and killed a man earlier in the comic. The policeman is using the stereotype of a Muslim terrorist against the heroes and, as the final panel shows, is successful in getting the angel convicted. As a result, the fiery eyes of the jinn are stronger than ever, showing his fury at the results. As is usual for superhero comics, the story never really ends but is "to be continued..."

The back cover here is a pretty simple design, showing the heroes' sudden departure (to be reminiscent of Batman).

DJ: "The Battle"

DJ: "The Battle"

I decided to do my project on the issue of "Man vs Machine". I really got my idea from the story of John Henry. When choosing my topic initially I believe I was thinking too hard. I simply sat back and let my mind naturally pick a topic and "Man vs. Machine" was the first topic that arrived. To be honest as a child John Henry's story seem to pop up alot, so it was an easy choice to base my story around . I basically took the storyboard for John Henry triumphant Man vs. Machine tale to create DJ, an adolescent disc jockey who battles a robotic disc jockey and is victorious when the two battle head to head seeming to be at a disadvantage to the robust, advanced robot.





To show how I came up with the idea I will give a short version of John Henry's tale and you can see how my story and his are similiar in many ways , but also contrast because of the time period in which they occurred. John Henry in every form of the tale is presented as a massive man of great strength who was the most skilled "steel driver" in the world. John Henry was loved by all as he was a monstrous man, but full of love and pride. This tale is based upon a true story of a man named Henry supposedly. But in short John Henry was challenged when his owner purchased a steam powered hammer . John Henry challenged his owner that he could drill more spikes in the railwasy than the machine. The battle occurs and John Henry is succesful, but loses his live shortly after the victory.He is a hometown hero when he is living, but after his death he becomes a legend.
DJ is my modern day John Henry as you can see after viewing my project DJ is loved by the people for his skill with music. I played off the enemy the steam machine with a robot character who in comparison to DJ had four arms and a strong backing from his robot community. The two battle and DJ's skill and variations are too much for the robot to handle as he overheats and eventually blows up.Unlike John Henry DJ stays alive and all is back to normal as the people still love DJ , because he is the best disc jockey around.

Here is a link to John Henry's story (or you can just click the picture above):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGglKPqG16s

Transitter

The name of my comic book is "Transitter". The characters in this comic are the mother and father of Donovan, Robo a friend of Charles's and the babysitters Charles and Jermaine. Charles and Jermaine are the best of friends that live togethter and their own apartment. Donovan is the baby.

The story line is that this family needs a babysitter because they are thinking of going on a vacation. While playing in their living room, Charles and Jermaine(a bug) see this commercial on TV that is offering a quick job for babysitting but Jermaine realizes that he will not get to spend as much time with Charles if Charles takes this job. Charles gets a phone call from the family in the need of a babysitter and arranages the time to meet them at their house. At this time Jermaine is highly upset with Charles's decision. Charles knows that Jermaine loves him and that he is jealous of the opportunity but Charles takes the job anyway.



After Charles and Jermaine settle in the house to babysit Donovan, Donovan starts to cry like all babies do. The day passes and Charles is thinking he better watch over the baby, so he lets Donovan sleep with him and Jermaine. While sleep, Charles has this nightmare that some weird creature is trying to kill the baby(not knowing that was Jermaine's plan). He awakes after a night full of terror and goes to wash his face. Around this time the baby discovers that Jermaine is a harmful bug and starts to cry. Charles runs to where to Donovan is and immediately looks at the news flash on the TV. Meanwhile, Jermaine is in a room transforming into a monster. Charles realizes that Jermaine is not around so he goes around the house searching for him. Once he finds the room Jermaine is in, he realizes that Jermaine is dangerous and has transformed into this enormous bug. Nervous and paranoid, Charles runs to a telephone to call his friend Robo and tells him about the situation. Robo speeds over to the house and rings the doorbell. Charles answers the door in paranoia. Suddenly, they both hear a cry and rush to find the baby.



The baby is being choked by Jermaine and crying in pain. Charles rushes over and pulls Donovan away from the raged monster and hits him as hard as he can. Jermaine falls in defeat and realizes that he has no more strength. Jermaine is dead and Charles feels that he has killed his best friend but also realizes that he has saved Donovan from death. Charles is happy with himself and so are Donovan and Robo. Together, they wait for the arrival of the mother and father of Donovan and soon they come. THE END

Third Floor Triple

Thought Process :

I decided to focus my project on the social issue of racism. As a black person, I obviously love talking about race (i should not generalize. i simply like talking about race), and so, I decided to focus on racial issues at a university. Although racism at Duke is not as blatant as it is in the story I tell, it exists. I just wanted to start the dialogue.

I decided to make the black people the majority in this situation instead of white people, because it just didn't seem right to make a story in which I pit the antagonists as white racists. I thought that'd be bad. So, I decided to reverse the situation.

Story Line:
The story is about three roommates living in a triple. The main character is the black boy without the afro. The main character has already met one of his roommates who is the other black kid with the afro. They are busy setting up their room when their third roommate comes in. He's white. At first they are stunned. I tried to show this with their shocked/"are you serious" expressions. The next panel shows their fake smiles. They are nervous about the whole situation, but they still want to try to be friendly.

The next two panels show that the chemistry between the white kid and the black roommates is somewhat lacking. However, there is hope. The second panel on page 2 shows this, as the main character breaks the 4th wall and smiles at the reader.

The next page deals with the boys discussing the white roommate. The boy with the afro asks his roommate what he thinks about the white kid. He's not yet sold on him. However, the main character says he doesn't seem like a bad guy. They walk discussing the roommate, race, and how they should behave toward the new roommate.

The next page is a whole different day. I tried to illustrate this with the change of clothing. The main character just finished talking to a pretty girl, and a couple of black frat brothers see this. They think if they add him to their frat they will be able to hang out with a whole bunch of pretty girls. I tried to illustrate that with the last panel where the black frat brother strokes his chin as he thinks about an equation in his head.

The frat brother invites him to his frat's party. The backgrounds for that whole scene was a pain to draw since I hate backgrounds for the most part. I tried to make the first setting on that day based on Bryan Center Walkway. The second for that day was based on the Main Quad.

Nevertheless, the main character has been invited to a party. I tried to show a white hand looking at the flier as a form of foreshadowing. I illustrated that the two black boys were getting ready for the party as the kid with the afro helped the main character pick out a good shirt. Suddenly, their preoccupation with themselves is broken as their white roommate asks if he can come to the party also. I tried to make it evident that he is pointing at himself in reference to the party.

The kid with the afro is not sure what to say. I feel his expression shows this. However, the main character, set on bringing everyone together, waves that he should come along.

I set the next scene by showing the picture of the frat house. The boys walk up to it and see a frat brother looking at them strangely. I then tried to show with the hands that the frat brother points to the two black boys, says they can come in, but tells the white boy to stop. He is not allowed in. The main character, who first got the invite, speaks to the frat brother and says he can't do this. The other two roommate are outraged, and I think their expressions show that.

I showed the frat brother's resolve to not let them in by drawing him with folded arms. He boys turn around and begin to leave when they run into the girl the main character previously talked to. She is with a friend, and they were heading to the frat house. She points to the house and asks them why they aren't heading toward it like she and her friend are.

The main character says it's because they won't let white people in. I think I conveyed that with the talking bubble and the faces. The girl's expression changes to anger because of what she has heard. She and her friend get out their cell phones, and the next panel shows that she calls her friend at the party.

The last page shows how the party room in the frat house suddenly becomes empty. I especially like the expression on the frat brothers' faces. The one looking at his watch is my favorite. Nevertheless, the last frame shows how the main character and his friends are now hanging out with a lot of the people from the party.

The main character, his roommate with the afro, and the other black people around won't tolerate racism. They don't mind that the kid is white. Rather, they enjoy his company, and they are all having a good time hanging out.

Programs:
I made the comic with Adobe Flash. I used to program to draw, layer, and add color to everything. I then exported the images from Flash and placed them in Adobe InDesign in order to lay them out properly.

Style:
My style is very simple. I try to avoid black lines wherever possible and simple use color to differentiate things from one another. I feel my style is reminiscent of Invader Zim. I use the same eye shape. My drawings also reminded a fellow classmate of mine, Emmy, of Foxtrot, which is my favorite comic.
I put a lot of effort into character design, because that is my favorite part of drawing. I especially tried to dress the characters well.

Global Warming: When the Sun's Life is Threatened.

I created this narrative sequence with the perils of Global Warming in mind- this is an issue that is really important to me, as an Environmental Science and Policy major and an environmentally aware citizen.  And the issue is becoming more and more important in our daily lives- we're starting to think of hybrid vehicles, reducing water consumption, and limiting our emissions, but there are still so many people who a)don't care b) don't think it's a problem c) don't think that their actions can make a difference.

I used the sun as my central character to approach global warming (or climate change if you will) from a different perspective.  A lot of times we only focus on what this phenomenon means to us or "future generations", but it means a lot more to the environment.  Yes, I realize that global warming is not actually heating up the sun, but this illustration shows that there are more things to consider in the situation.  

I thought of using a tree or plant as the character, but their lifetime would be so short, especially if they were a victim of forest clear-cutting or changes in weather patterns that caused draught or torrential rains.  The sun provided a character that could be all seeing, from the beginning to the end of time.  The sun will outlive us all and is often seen as a symbol of life- without the sun there would be no humans.

The narrative starts with the sun "chilling" around the earth, nice and comfy in the daytime and wearing a scarf during the evening (this is to show that the sun is not too hot yet).  It follows the sun from good times with Adam and Eve, the first fire by a caveman (without fire we would have no burning of fossil fuels), to the industrial revolution, massive amounts of smog, and then rapid industrialization of the whole planet (this is a little exaggerated to get the effect in).  Viewers can see the sun turn from happy to surprised at the fire, and can see him from breathing easy to needing a dust mask to survive.  More modern issues then come into play: deforestation and melting of the icecaps- where we begin to see the sun really  breaking a sweat and even crying into the ocean (raising the sea levels).  

Then we get the drama.  The sun is on fire (its head is literally burning) and it has a thermometer in its mouth- definitely an ill sun.  The sun is imagining its own demise, showing viewers the gravity of the problem.  

But there is hope.  We people begin to see a world without the sun they are awed and inspired to take action (depicted by a thought bubble with the sad sun, a band-aid and a tree ready to plant).  The people, horrified by the thought of a world without a sun, start planting trees and commuting to their jobs on bicycles.  It is really important to see the humans as the heros in this narrative- they are the ones capable of taking action to save the planet (or in this case the sun) from the horrors of global warming.  The final frame shows the sun hugging 3 people, showing its gratitude with a wink- letting us know that we too can make a difference by taking some action.

One of my favorite parts about this comic are the front and back cover.  One the from you see a match with the globe as its head burning up- this is surrounded by a frame of sorts, but looks really scary and hopeless.  On the back you see someone mounting this "picture"- in a real frame on their wall, showing that this is not reality, but something to think about and keep in out sights.