Recap: Academic Year Highpoints + Postscripts

As of late there has been many moments of small wonders and opportunities to look back over the academic year from a far-enough-away perspective that all the speed bumps and frost heaves disappear. One of which was donning a cap and gown for the first time ever in my academic career and participating in a formal commencement ceremony. Decades as an adjunct meant not serving on any committees, and the extent of my interaction with art majors was usually just at the Beginning Drawing level, and thereafter seeing their thesis show. Now I get to be in a more engaged and supportive role and remain a part of the process as they take addition upper-level courses and I can sit on their respective committees as a full-time faculty member. And the rebellious self-righteous hippy who dropped out of highschool is a wee bit more assimilated now as far as meeting institutional expectations, and realizing that it's not a damn bit about me. It is a good feeling to be so proud of other's accomplishments, and acknowledging their artistic efforts. Maybe, just maybe, I even finally graduated myself.

Speaking of amazing events, there were several standout samples of student achievements. I have an open studio door policy, and when former students walks through to do a show & tell of recent work it always makes not just my day/week/month/semester, but inspires everybody else who is working away on their own respective efforts. Follow below after the jump break for more...

Blackboard Wisdom: Semester Recap

One of the best ways to start a day is to open the door of the drawing studio and see some anonymous doodles left behind upon what I can only guess is the last remaining blackboard on campus. Most "smart classrooms" have long since evolved with dry-erase paneling and/or digital projections of virtual blackboards. But this is entirely in line with my presumably also being the last professor using those iconic little green grading books.

There was also a recent day when I was introducing Beginning Drawing folks to the usual unit on figure drawing, and all my demos just crashed and burned, as in nothing was working out, and I was having the quintessential "bad art day."  

Rather than be overly embarrassed it served as a meta-lesson in both perseverance and tacit acknowledgement that shit happens, and it's far better to be open and honest about what happens to everyone, even to the best of us. That might be a reason why there some instructors that either/or don't ever do public demonstrations so as to avoid potential displays of failure. Be that as it may, I resorted back to my comfort zone, ie what works fastest and bestest: “Whattaya wanna be: Beaver? Moose? Bear?” “Bear” “Polar, Grizzly, or Black?” “Dealer’s choice” "Done."

My favorite exchange occurred whilst working again from models in the morning Beginning Drawing classes, and while sitting one-on-one with a few students through a 5-minute gesture and after talking them through the process from building up loose, simple underlying shapes, slowly dialing it in & refining a basic contour line before dropping in some value etc. I then asked:

"And what did we learn from this demonstration?"
"Just keep scribbling until it looks like something”

"no lies detected"

"Frazetta in Alaska"

Nostalgia: I have a sweet spot for the work of master fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta, ever since during high school as a budding art major I was turned on to his pen & ink work, which, along with his graphite pieces, are simply stunning examples of craftsmanship and technique (as evidenced by one particular piece posted below). Unfortunately 99% of the public never sees that stuff, instead only remembering classic album covers and cover art for pulp paperbacks (*update: check out the recent record-setting auction of one of his iconic paintings here) mostly big men with big muscles and big swords fighting big monsters while defending women with big, uh, hair. I always take the time to showcase samples of his lesser-known works, including meticulously rendered concept work and process pieces, to all of my drawing classes. Just look at the energy of each individual stroke as they coalesce into such a powerful, dynamic composition.
This scenario recalls the epic shot taken while on a semesterly field-trip up to the UAF Museum of the North with a Frazetta homage (documented a couple years ago on this post), I still have the prop pencil in a corner of my office as a sort of obscure reference to the giant penny in the Batcave. Also this keeps getting pushed back in the production pipeline as far as getting printed (always something "better" to swap out in the schedule), and will in all likelihood never the page of the newspaper, and so why not: here's an exclusive for the regular readers.

"Wet Kuspuk"

The initial doodle is posted here only because it's a prime example of a judicious edit following some reflection, and bouncing it off a few friends as well to get an objective perceptive on a potentially problematic panel. Simply deleting what may for me be only a casual reference to an infamous pop culture phrase was done in order to redirect any connotations associated with a notorious abusive adult entertainment series. 

The core concept is funny enough on its own, so I voluntarily dropped the top caption to keep focus on the gag, and avoid any additionally implied racist overtones. Ostensibly as a member of the media, I'm cognizant of depictions of other folks, and consequently always try to be as inclusive a possible, not to mention that the kuspuk is a cultural icon up in our neck of the woods.

"Interior Cave Redecoration"

When obsessive/compulsive interior redecorating meets cabin fever: it's like a monthly Rubik's Cube rearrangement of everything you own. In theory there's only so many possible configurations in a one-room cabin, but after a long, dark and cold winter, I'm convinced the inner space transcends space + time, somewhat similar to a log TARDIS.

Nice turkey leg there cAtticus. Bonus: obscure Obelix homage?

"OG Door Dash"

I actually haven't ever used this service, nor any air b&b's, or uber either, or any of the recent hipster shit. Probably the only person you know that hasn't ever ordered anything off amazon (originally thanks to their early history of obliterating independent bookstores for that). Now get the hell off my snowbank.

Also one of the reasons I rarely read contemporary syndicated comics is also on account of such self-imposed purity: the fear of contamination from other ideas because I still adhere to equally outdated concepts of authorship and originality. So when I accidentally saw this in a recent comics section (saved and used as holiday wrapping paper) I was reminded of the theory of multiple discovery (or simultaneous invention and/or synchronicity). Great minds and all that.

And sometimes I feel a little twinge when I see some fabulous artwork and a feature story rubbing shoulders on the page with a particularly tasteful panel of mine. Touch of class, that's me. (Featured is work by a former student Phoebe Flanagan, and story by a great writer and reviewer, David James).

"Murmuration"

 

Technically referring to flocks of starlings (though the behavior is seen in other species), it would actually be a welcome sight (video here) if exhibited by mosquitoes, since all we really have is incessant swarms. 

Bonus trivia: this was one of the demo panels done in this year's pen & ink course, for the stippling assignment of course.

"Sour Doe"

This is an excellent example of the sudden shift in direction that can occur when editing on the fly (hence to existing sketch: the initial concept doodle evoked a very similar look/feel to a piece published a couple years ago, "Lack Toes." Since that day whilst drawing I evidently had my self-plagiarizing radar on I recalled the inadvertent mirroring - which is understandable given the success of of that particular panel - it's one of my current all-time favorites in terms of content (ie the gag) + coloring + composition. Plus it's now a bonus backhanded commentary on other big, dumb mammals of the north. Hat-tip to the brewery and a favorite brown ale I fell in love with while visiting the wife when she was earning an MFA in painting in Montana.

"Buffet"

Tangential to the topic is the current administration revoking bear baiting in federal lands, including national parks. I never miss an opportunity to point out using the term "hunter" is a misnomer (excepting with the prefix "slob") in this context, as it's ethically and morally equivalent as bringing a gun to a restaurant buffet or supermarket and shooting packaged meat.
Note how much compositional tweaking happened between the initial doodle, and the sketchbook version, and the published panel with a few more minor adjustments for a cleaner compositional arrangement of the visual elements.

"Fir Baby" (aka "His Name was Douglas")

At first the caption said “His name was Doug.” But nobody understood it, so then I changed it by expanding it to his full name, “Douglas.” Now more people will get it. Just kidding, it’s another hyper-regional reference that only True Alaskans®™ will know anything about, with a big chunk of the Venn diagram overlapping the huge arboreal scientists demographic. There were a few guffaws after reading the main gag component, so the attempted two-fer isn’t actually necessary. But hey, “A right!” “Then a left!.” Though sure enough it was pointed out to me that there weren’t any fir trees up in our neck of the woods. There are however non-native Balsam, Siberian and Subalpine firs. So the print version had the bonus caption gag deleted.

By the way, the picture isn’t posed, MoochieBear, a poseur nonetheless, really did sack out in his usual spot sprawled halfway out his cubicle that sits in-between the drawing board and the computer desktop section. It goes without saying it goes very, very difficult to maintain discipline and focus in the face of such overwhelming peer pressure (“paw” pressure? “purr” pressure?). 

Also as a bonus to Ink & Snow readers, here's a one-minute video of how I ink my spruce trees using, appropriately enough, a stick. The YouTube algorithm will no doubt ban it on account of the accidental/incidental background music - as of late I’ve been blasting an INXS mix in the studio, and the song “Burn For You” can faintly be heard in the background of the classroom. Michael Hutchence has been on my mind a lot as of late, following an emotional introspection of a similarly-themed Chris Cornell (another charismatic and spellbinding frontsman whose song “Seasons” was featured in a new comics-poem uploading here back in April). 

Update: And just what I feared came to pass with tripping an automatic flagging, which is under appeal: "I am a professor of art at the University of Fairbanks Alaska and the video is of a technique I teach in my Cartoon & Comic Art and Pen & Ink studio art courses using a stick to create black spruce trees when published in my weekly cartoon. The incidental background is less than 60-seconds of music playing in my classroom during this demonstration. This educational short is entirely afforded copyright exemption under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution under the fair use provision as it is an educational video.” We’ll see if they rule in my favor – I’ll know in thirty days, but in the meantime....
Update II: as of this posting my appeal worked and the clip remains!