Thursday Afternoon Comics: Swine in Space

It's time for another edition of Thursday afternoon comics!

I drew this one pager over the summer for a comics class, but then it took me forever to scan it in. Anyway, enjoy "Swine in Space"!

Comics!

This summer I took a short form comics class with Shannon Wheeler (creator of Too Much Coffee Man). My Topsy comic went over really well with the class, so my peers decided I was going to draw the cover. This is the result:

Handlettering and patterns are fun! I need to do more of both.

Thursday Afternoon Cartoons: Ooodles of Noodles

Another very silly idea:

Thursday Afternoon Comics: Ooh Baby!

The concept for this comic popped into my head a little while back, so I had to draw it out in comic form:

 

I am going to be in some art shows this month! Yay! Now I just need to make artwork for the shows!

Thursday Afternoon Comics: Fat Wolf

Fat Wolf! Fat Wolf! I love Fat Wolf. Fat Wolf will be in future comics.

A Tale of Two Cupcakes

This was originally a mini comic I created last year - I scanned it all in and cleaned it up for your viewing pleasure!

AmeriComics, Part II

Just in time for Independence Day, here are some comics reflecting on my AmeriCorps term of service:

 

I learned a lot this year!

 

One of the mentor leaders did work with a student to get her several thousand dollars in scholarship money. So awesome.

 

Advising at Portland State is a bit of a mess. I'm sure students have similar experiences at campuses all over the country. We need better advising systems so students aren't taking classes they don't need!

Materials: Micron pens

Better Things to Do

I've had a hard time staying motivated as I finish up my term of AmeriCorps service. I don't have a cat, but if I did, I'd totes let it sleep on my head sometimes.

Materials: Micron brush pen

Tuesday Afternoon Comics!

A sort of continuation of last week's "Adventures of Tiny Worm" comic. Tiny Worm not pictured.

Materials: Micron Pens, Prismacolor Markers

Thursday Afternoon Comics!

I wanted to make a cute and simple comic. That resulted in "The Adventures of Tiny Worm":

Keep an eye out for more comics from me in the upcoming month. I have time to draw these things now!

Materials: Sakura pen, Prismacolor Markers

Friday Afternoon Comics & More!

Hello dear readers!

I've been horrible at posting recently, and I apologize. I've been occupied with getting into the Ooligan Press Book Publishing Master's Program at Portland State University (woo!) and I spent last weekend at Stumptown Comics Fest (double woo!). I also had to deal with some other way less interesting and more stressful stuff.

Blah, blah, blah, enough about me - here's a comic!

This happened right outside my window the other night so I felt compelled to draw it. I like that the dude looks like Strong Sad from Homestar Runner. But Strong Sad probably wouldn't yell at a cat. Also, the cat was unharmed. I don't know what was going on but that cat was pissed.

Here are some sketches from the week:

Kids in sunglasses. The sketch on the right is from a photo of my little brother. I love little kids with big sunglasses on. It's so great.

And some bunnies! Because who doesn't like cute bunnies?

That's it for now. I'll get back on track with my posts next week. Thanks for viewing!

Comics Jam

My sincerest apologies for taking forever to post. Mea culpa.

To make up for it, today you get not one, but THREE comics. Of which I drew a third. So in total I drew one comic, but I drew panels in three different comics. It's confusing, but you'll see what I'm talking about in a minute.

The comics jam (or whatever you want to call it) was part of the first meeting of a comics-drawing collective I started in order to coerce me into drawing more. Our first meeting had 3 members, but after seeing these amazing comics, we're going to have more people at our next meeting. I know it.

Each of us started a 9-panel comic and assigned a rule to the comic. We had 3 minutes to draw our panel then had to switch comics after time expired. As a result, each member drew 3 panels in each of the comics.

"Fill in the Middle" by Dan Duncan, Shane Hosea & Erika Schnatz

Dan started this one. He drew the first panel, Shane drew the third panel, and I had to draw the panel in the middle. It got really crazy really fast. Notice how the truck becomes anthropomorphic halfway through the comic!

"Everybody Dies by the End" by Shane Hosea, Erika Schnatz & Dan Duncan

Shane's rule for this comic was that everyone needed to die by the end. As you see, it didn't take long for us to start killing off characters. Shane drew the 1st panels, I drew the middle panels, and Dan drew the 3rd panels. The Shark Transformer is a stupid idea/theme song I made up in the shower earlier that day. I'm glad it was incorporated into the comic.

"Backwardz Comix!!! (Gay Penguins)" by Erika Schnatz, Dan Duncan & Shane Hosea

I started this comic, and we drew this story backwards. I love this story so much. I drew the 3rd panels, Dan drew the center panels, and Shane drew the 1st panels. We had to pause drawing for a minute or two because I couldn't stop laughing after the "Timothy! Look at my new magic trick" panel.

I can't wait to do this again. It was crazy fun.

Friday Afternoon Comics: Drunk Bear

Your bear drinks beer!

A bit of back story about this image - I started using a free online program to refresh my Spanish a few weeks ago. The program's called Duolingo, and it's quite an excellent learning tool, especially since it's totally free. One of the most entertaining parts of re-learning Spanish on Duolingo is translating the sometimes-wacky sentences they give you.

I'm not sure when I'll ever need this particular line, but it makes learning a bit more fun.

Materials: pen

Week of Lincoln: Day Four

I've realized that posting every weekday is not something that is ever going to happen. I just can't manage my time that well. But here's the fourth post for this week, which is pretty rad.

This Friday Afternoon Comic is half Abe Lincoln, half Valentine's Day-lovin'. The idea for this popped into my head a few days ago, so I'm glad I had the time to draw it today.

Enjoy it lovebirds/Lincoln enthusiasts!

Week of Lincoln: Day Two

Today, an Abe Lincoln-themed comic for you!

Written by Dan Duncan & Erika Schnatz. Illustrated by Erika Schnatz.

Let's see if I can get another Lincoln post ready for tomorrow!

Friday Afternoon Comics: Your Brain on Jazz

So I've been a major slacker on the art front this week - my apologies, loyal followers.

The Year of Gnomes project is going on a bit of a hiatus, so I have more time to make comics. However, there will definitely be gnomes in some of my comics. So don't despair, gnome fans.

Without further ado:

This is based on a silly idea I wrote down on a Post-it note months and months ago.

Enjoy.

More comics on the way next week!

Friday Afternoon Comics: AmeriComics

Welcome to the first installment of something that will hopefully become a permanent fixture of my sketch blog: Friday Afternoon Comics!

I created the comics below as a response to some personal reflection questions in my AmeriCorps mid-year report. For those of you unaware of AmeriCorps, it's like the Peace Corps, but within the United States. There are AmeriCorps programs all over the place focusing on different themes and missions, this year I am working in a program called Oregon Campus Compact at Portland State University. Our focus is on student retention through mentoring programs. I've gained a lot of great knowledge and experience serving so far.

You don't really need to know any of that to read these, but they probably make a bit more sense if you do.

AmeriComic 1:

 AmeriComic 2:

Materials: a pen!

I am pretty good at writing in ALL CAPS.