Sry but been working on Moxie!

Like the title says I've been busy busy busy! I'm still working on my submissions of Moxie and also coordinating/promoting the book too. If this is successful, I'm probably not going to submit again, cause editing/producing and contributing is a fucking nightmare. I can tell you the three stories I've settled upon, two o which are done the last i'm still working out the kinks:

-I Hate You: A story about the aftermath of a high school fight.

-The Burning Dog: A harsh fairy tale from a harsh land.

-Adventure Story: A boy and girl's adventure...that's all I can say not to ruin it.

so Come Friday on Kickstarter and search "Moxie 01" and all will be reavealed

Sorry for the in-activeness but it was worth it and I still got more work to do!

take care,

AACRO

This boy has Moxie!!

Hey there, been a while but my spirits are up, short on money but long on time(love that song!) and working my ass off! Moxie has been going smoothly and is being made so we can have a successful Kickstarter! We want to finish 90-110% of the book so we can raise the money print it and get people their rewards ASAP, something i know the KS community likes, expedience. I come to the realization that "The Man Who jumped off the World" is too long of a story to pull off(saving it for Moxie 02) so i'm thinking of shorter stories to do that will compliment "I Hate You" and live up to what kind of stories that are representative of me, genre stories with a emphasis on theme and allegory. I have two ideas in mind brewing in that afro-turkish kettle of a head. more on that later, but until then gotta make Moxie a reality!

Take care and until nxt time!

AACRO

Working on my last comic for Moxie, a second opinion would be nice to hear.

I want to write this summary out so I can finally refine it and draw the comic for Moxie. Your help is more than welcome. I know there are problems with it, but I need to hear them from other people.


The Man who Jumped off the World by AACRO


Our story begins with a Man, father of two girls, husband, and a copywriter living in NYC. his day goes about like the days before this one ending with him walking home during a spectacular thunderstorm in the distance, eating dinner, and falling asleep.

The next morning, The Man awakes and falls on top of his kitchen counter, breaking the coffee-maker. The Man is unscathed. His family comes down wondering what the commotion is, he tells them he slipped and took the coffee-maker down with him and he and his family resume their daily routine.

The Man catches his bus and dozes off as he waits for his stop. he wakes up and sees his stop is just ahead, he suddenly is "flung" at his bus stop and clips a baby stroller and hits the ground. The Man bruised his left arm and shoulder and gets up only to be berated and attacked by the parents of the baby in the aforementioned stroller.

Overwhelmed by the situation the man runs away, but is periodically flung a distance as he runs. He begins to realize that he can warp himself anywhere he thinks of and then warps himself to the front of his house. He tries to control the power by chanting "right here, right here, right here..." to keep the power under control as he goes into his home. his wife and youngest daughter is already home and ask about what's going on referring to the news showing his picture on TV.

The Man says to his wife and daughter, "I have to figure out whats happening to me and only then I can do something about it. I will be right back once I can control this." and looks to a photo of a Mongolian landscape on their wall and warps away.

In a distant valley in Mongolia The man learns to tame his ability, as a nomadic family in the distance watches the "crazy black man" disappear and reappear all over the valley. The Man realizes his ability is to create personal wormholes that fling him upon entry and exit. the ability has the following properties:

1. On impact he's invulnerable due to a "spacial bubble", any further impacts will injure him i.e tumbling, thus he must land correctly to prevent injury.

2. its easier to fling to a place he can directly see or has a strong memory of, which is instantaneous. Going to a place based on a photo or faint memory takes 3-5 seconds.

3. The more he flings himself the faster and harder it is to control his trajectory. To maintain control, he must fling in 20 sec intervals

The nomadic family warms up to him and he stays with them for some time until he gains mastery of his ability by being able to warp himself into orbit through gaining momentum through a series of warps. Their child calls him in Mongolian "The man who jumped off the world".

The Man now confident that he is in control of his ability after several months of training warps himself in front of his house. camped out behind him is the press who get up and bombard him with question before he warps into his house. His wife is relieved that he is back but his daughters are ambivalent to his return.

The Man finds out he has killed the baby in the stroller from that day  he discovered his ability and begins to prepare of a legal battle, the lawyer representing him is an ambitious younger woman with intentions to run for DA of NYC. She convinces The Man to plead not guilty.

The court case commences with a jury and judge clearly against the man, his lawyer states the case that accusing him of murder for having an "ailment" is like accusing patient zero of a plague of genocide; he had no idea he had such an ailment and even went out of the way to isolate himself from doing anymore harm and taming his condition. The Plantiff lawyer argues that his awareness of the condition is not relevant as he still ruined a family and did not turn himself into the authorities, he cannot be his own judge and jury.

As the court battle lingers on, the plaintiff lawyer brings The Man's neighbor's son to the stand who testifies seeing the man fall through his floor the morning of the bus stop incident and late bring his own daughters and wife on the stand to testify on what happen that morning. The plaintiff lawyer concludes that his ability was not realized at the bus stop, he knew about it since that morning and neglected to inform anyone of the potential danger he was capable of and resulted in the babies death. The Man's lawyer questions him about that morning and counters with that 4 vague assumptions don't make a fact, the man woke up hitting the coffee machine, this was unintentional and his dismissal of it was a rational choice anyone would make in the moment. The jury is unconvinced of the defenses case.

The Defense Lawyer convinces the man to take a plea bargain for a reduced sentence and a manslaughter charge as the jury will find him guilty if they continue. The man reluctantly agrees and is charged with involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years.

Before he his sent off to prison, The Man sees his family. His wife promises to wait for him, His eldest daughter refuses to speak to him, and his youngest daughter questions him on "why can you disappear?", he is unable to reply but with a kiss to her forehead as the police take him away.

Though he is cooperating with authorities, the prevalent question among police and the media is "how to make sure a man who can teleport will serve his sentence?". The man insists that he will serve his sentence and not try to escape, but a grassroots group called The American Families Alliance propose a proper prison be built to ensure he is unable to escape, thus he must be experimented on to know how to properly deal with his power and anyone other people who may have it. The Man is advised by his lawyer to ignore them as for every reply to their accusations, he keeps their cause alive longer.

Over the course of several months The man is quietly serving his sentence, all the while the AFAs official and unofficial attacks are soon directed to his wife and daughters. His lawyer is running for DA now and has a new lawyer who gives him the same advice to stay quiet and also not watch TV. The attacks on his family are having its toll his wife and kids and The Man loses his temper when a commentator proposes that they should experiment on his girls to see if they also have his power.

The Man warps himself to the studio and punches the man and then angrily rants everything he bottled away, saying he never wanted this power and predicted all this would happen, even considered suicide, but he wanted to pay off his mortgage, watch his daughters graduate from high school, and make that short film his wife written when they first met. he concludes the fact he exists with this power is the problem the world will fear the idea of him and says goodbye to his family then warps away.

The Man is in Mongolia, in the same valley he learned to tame his powers. He searches for the family but they clearly moved on and he warps about the Mongolian plains trying to find them, hoping they could take him in.

sound off in the comments and tell me how is it and what needs to be done.

A piece of comics history

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/neh-preservation-project/2012/aug/24/senate-subcommittee-juvenile-delinquency/

The link above is to none other than the senate sub committee on the impact of comics on Juvenile Delinquency. Enjoy  

Starting over with Moxie.

OK, I'm saying this to myself as I write "commit! commit! commit!" this blog WILL be more active! I will dump my thoughts here more often, move mountains to get my work out there despite being a decent bus ride away from a copy machine/ large enough scanner(I hope to buy a nice Brother all-in-one. only home scanners I found with a 11x17 flatbed!). Here we go!
For some time I been wanting to put together an anthology since I learned what the word meant, the romantic idea of artists presenting their work together for the masses was always alluring to me, the only problem was I lived in a city with few cartoonists and a school that was concerned with weekly testing and core academics. I was mostly on my own. 

I tried to make my own anthology, but at the time the content was not school appropriate(all the typical tropes of manga) and I was barred from using the scanners or copiers in the school, so that and being broke stopped my first and later attempts in HS. I tried again at Holyoke Community College, but this was a turning point for me as I drifted away from manga along with the talent-pool there was slim pickings. The few good cartoonists(who are also good friends) there were too busy to make comics. When I got to SVA, I was kid in a candy shop, scoping out people to work with, but artist are people. Rapport was the ultimate decider in who I chose to work with or wanting to work with. Friends, people who I respected, and/or people I saw a hidden potential nobody else did were the reasons why I chose them for my next shot at "the anthology".

Over time the anthology became a magazine then a publishing company with a grand vision and at that time I was gathering the people I wanted to start it with. In short I told them the vision, how it would be done, what I needed, and asked when I get everything situated could I call on them to join me to make this a reality. Some said yes, some said maybe, one said no(She was someone I saw being my "COO". It rly hurt that she declined.) but by then I got back into doing research on setting things up again and asked for advice from some professors. One gave me the most practical I needed and said if you just print something then your a publisher, he helped focus my vision/goal on "the anthology" i wanted to make for so long. 

What I want to make is something to aspire to, a young cartoonist's North Star. Where when they make that bold and gutsy decision to want to be a Cartoonist they turn to this anthology, which is why It's called Moxie. 

Moxie will be an anthology highlighting young and mostly unknown cartoonists with a strong personal voice. Each cartoonist featured in Moxie will be given a minimum of 30pgs to tell two or more self contained stories along with a short bio and interview. For now it will be an annual publication but the goal is to be quarterly in print and later implement a very unique digital format. The anthology will be distributed to comics publishers, press, and art directors to expose those featured in conjunction with online and convention sales. all profits will go into the production of the next book.

The goal is to give young experienced yet inexperienced cartoonists a fighting chance. A platform to collectively say "This is who I am!" and for their ultimate potential be noticed by publishers, press, and art directors to give us a chance at doing what we love to do for a living. 

Were not looking for a easy way out of paying our dues, just a definitive long shot. Moxie is something we want young readers and cartoonists to aspire to and know when they honed their cartooning skills and feel ready, they can test them with us and return with hard, unwavering, yet passionate feedback to take back to drawing board when they fail or succeed in getting into our anthology.

In the 30pgs they earned, we only ask that they be shameless, say in their pages who they are with pencil, ink, and pixel without a shred of doubt; For this their opportunity to shock and awe the people who can give them that chance at a creative career. We offer no guarantees, only a chance.

As I make progress on Moxie, I will reveal more about this publishing endeavor and the cartoonists that will be featured in the first volume.

Sincerely,  AACRO

Competetive Cartooning

This was a rticle i wrote for the cartoon allies blog, but they seem to either be too busy to post it so im throwing it our there for yall to read.

Competitive Cartooning???

The comic book industry is a friendly one, you really have to make an effort to piss somebody off and even then, people are quick to make up, with that said it’s like all other industries it can be VERY Clique-ish. Now I know there are negative connotations that come to mind immediately with that word, but I see it more as a natural reaction equivalent to coming to a new country. You just got to art school and your surrounded by a mildly diverse group of individuals and so you most likely bond with someone similar to you in any way you can find, whether it be major, tastes, or whatever. Now we focus that to a major, same scenario; you now mingle with artist similar to your major and along the way we find our “Aesthetic Cousins” or people whose work resonates with our own and have a empathetic eye for. Now the million dollar question I’m getting to is “what about the people we don’t bond with?”. I speak from personal experience in that I can say I know well enough about a third of my senior class that I can have a meaningful conversation with at the drop of a hat, oh I also forgot to mention SCHEDUALS, which can play a big factor in mingling with others. When we get comfortable in our relationships with other artists we become less inclined and more cautious of meeting new people, almost like there’s some sort of “Comrade Real-Estate” and people we don’t know we tend to be OK with not knowing unless circumstance allows other wise. now meeting at CA is all well and good but what about those who can never make it? Who have insane commutes from NJ and even CT and often are relegated to only befriending and connecting through classes and serendipity?

I say we as cartoonist need to not only connect more beyond “likes and dislikes” and “critiques” but something else that’s been stewing in my mind for the past 2 years(For new readers: I’m the senior class’ rogue/mad/iconoclast/experimental dark-horse under-dog Cartoonist…so this is a common occurrence for me.) we need SPORTS!

I say sports meaning we need a new Ice-Breaker, something to warm our blood and get us to know others we never had the chance to rly get to know before we graduate and my suggestion is Cartooning Battles!!! I will now pause for you to get those Stephen Chow over-the-top physics-breaking comics battling fantasies out of your system……you done now?

The Cartooning Battle is something born out of my love for fighting games where how even when my ass got handed to me, I had a great time(albeit the salty after-taste of defeat) and made great friends along the way through the spirit of competition. Constantly being in a analytical critiquing mentality @ SVA can be boring at times and eventually devolve into group-think, compliment showers, and awkward silence peppered with the occasional cringe. I want a new way to know a person as an artist besides through sketchbooks and homework assignments, I want something more in a aggressive and playful manner. Now you might be thinking that’s what Jam Comics are for, but my retort is they are more akin to the “Hi my name is…and I‘m a…” circle we go through in the first week of class(or not), and is more a preview of a person than a full on expression of their aesthetic personality. In a page were seeing them in their element as opposed to a panel where we get a snippet of them.

　

RULES

In a Cartooning Battle there are three levels of battling, the first is the default “1-Page Battle” where two people draw a SELF-CONTAINED and PENCILED ONE PAGE COMIC in 30 minutes(if you want to play around with the time limit jus don’t go beyond 45min). To up the ante there is the “2 Page Battle” which is where again two people draw a SELF CONTAINED and INK ONLY(using a ball-point/gel pen is lovely in this!) TWO PAGE COMIC in 60 minuets(80min max). The final format is the “Three Page Battle” Where you and your opponent draw a SELF CONTAINED Three page comic ANYTHING GOES(both artists must agree on) in 120 minuets(140min max).

Now when both players are finished or the time limit has expired, a neutral judge(s)(I prefer a random stranger, so ask a security guard @ SVA and give them something fun to read!) then decides on the winner based on these three questions.

-Is the comic legible(is it clear)? Worth 1 point(can choose both comics)

-Is the comic self contained(does it follow the rules set)? Worth 1 point(can choose both comics)

-Which comic is more entertaining or in other words which would you publish first? Worth 1½ points(can only choose one comic)

Now when a winner is decided, the winner rips up the losers comic and then their own. Yes, yes, yes this may seem counter productive to my initial desire for cartoonists to connect more, but there is a lesson in this act. It’s the lesson of detachment, one of a vaguely important lessons I ever learned back in Holyoke Community College. I often sat in on a painting class taught by the head of the art dept. Frank Cressotti who walked around the class with a small can of grey enamel paint and a brush. The moment he spotted a student “getting precious”(putting in details and/or finishing a painting prematurely) with their work he would casually walk over and make modest sized mark on the painting and often walk away saying “it’s not that good of a painting…” or “have fun with that…”. I asked him why he did that and he said “As an artist its not your job to make your “best” work, that’s for everyone else to decide. It’s simply your job to make art and keep making it till you die or get tired of it. We do it for the process, not the finished product.”. With that in mind. the reason why you competed in the first place was to understand one another; to see how the other thought and made art, how they commanded the page, not to see if their “artistic chops” were above or beneath your own. Keeping the pages from your battles imo is akin to like recording every conversation you have. you battle for the experience and connection with another artist not for the page you conceive. Now, if this rule is still not to your liking(guessing most of you) I do have an alternative, you simply swap pages as a sign of friendship. The victor taking the losers comic and vice versa as a means of understanding and a record of communication between two artists in-synch towards saying “This is who I am and I want to know you too”.

Now I hope you all give Cartooning Battles a whirl with somebody you never talked to or had a class with and this creates a friendship in the process, but try it with your friends too! If you have any questions or suggestions to the rules or variations I consciously left out of the essay then please leave a comment below.

So now that you've the read the article I wanted to add that im open to any changes of the rules, cause i feel ssome things can be tweaked. that aside comment away.

AACRO

Winter Break summary

Look I posted! now that im a slightly better blogger than before i wann recap on my winter break.

-Got 7 first draft pages of Glenda done!
My baby is making some progress and I hope to get more done before Wed! I sent of some pages to Mazzuchelli, I hope he gets a chance to see them before classes start up.

-Did some reading on Theater and read parts of plays, all leading up to still  not sure what play i want to make a set for.
I checked out Corilianus and im hoping i get into the story so I can sketch up a set.

-Too much gaming inbetween all that, still procrastinating on buying Freedom.
nuff said.

-Still jobless...
:_(

-Went to the Met!
I love the new Islamic Art section! they even had minature paintings on display that i've seen in some books. some particulars is the persian ceramics which is this luminescent blue with black patternwork. its almost unworldly to look at! i did some drawing in the cclassical art section but having no chair was rly taxing and i ended up drawing most of the same sculptures i drew my last visit(2 yrs ago).

Overall i was rly productive and im looking forward to my final semester @ SVA.

take care and until then,
AACRO

I'm a Terrible Blogger

Yeah, I should use this blog more often. It's been months since my last posting and I been busy and doing alot of stuff comics and art related, but thats all over with and i don't feel like explaining it all. Im still working on 3D comics but that has taken the passenger seat to working on my Senior Portfolio @ SVA. I wish I had a scanner/camera to show all the work I been doing, but being a poor college student I have to wait till the library opens up. I'm not giving up on this blog!

Best, AACRO

Its been a while but some developments

Wow, *blows dust off blog* for those who by miracle are still following me hello! alot has happened since the last post so let me recap:

First the Kickstarter for The Time Machine did not meet its goal in time so is was more bust than boom, but something interesting happened! I'm gonna be tight lipped about it for now until there's some finality to the sittuation but rest assured its good news.

Second I spent two weeks working @ Multiarts in Amherst and that was a GREAT experience! I was teacher's aid/ counsoler for the art classes for kid ages 4-11 and had great time teaching a making a few projects with them(also was a origami slave for the 7-9 yo class). working with the kids made me draw more and kept me on my toes, so i definitely won't mind teach art classes for kid down the road as B&B. Sadly i was unable to stay for the whole summer cause of the long commute from Springfield to Amherst.

Finally, I regret to inform that I actually lost interest in continuing work on The Time Machine. bummer but im now back to the drawing board on what to do as my next 3D comic, but im going in the direction a original piece.

so sorry for the inactiveness and take care

AACRO 

Kickstarter is up and Running!!! + progress on the time machine!

Hey its been a while, but I was busy prepping for the Kickstarter which is now up and running! My goal is $3500 to build a 6-8ft(estimate) long 3D adaptation of the Time Machine.  here's the link
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/527833255/the-time-machine-a-3d-comic-adaptation

Please donate whatever you can or spread the word to whoever can donate so I can realize this project.

Sincerely
AACRO

It's about time!!!

 The photos of my thesis, here they are! I honestly forgot to post them, so do forgive me and thx to the first poster of my blog(besides me) for reminding me. 

Pg-1

Pg-2

Pg-3(Not a fan of it, had a totally different concept but needed to make a few creative compromises cuz i had no money to pull it off in the time I had)



Pg-4

Pg-5



Pg-6

Pg-7

Pg-8...Yeah i hate that page too much to show, trust me its crap.

I'm going to get around to posting more often during the summer(I hope) but I plan to post my findings on the principles and my observations on making 3D comics.

until then,

AACRO 

My Next 3D comic...

Yes, I'm working on a sculpture comic adaptation of the Time Machine!
I Also am setting up a Kickstarter(my proposal was already approved) so affording the materials to build it wont be a problem. I'll post the kickstarter link when I have everything in order.

I'll have more on it in the coming weeks...

wish me luck,
AACRO

Thesis Photos update

The thesis is done! I just want to get that out there I'm just having trouble in getting them set up to be shot and getting a good camera(so buying a camera ASAP!!!)

Art Director's Club

Here it is the Art Directors Club Exhibit!

The Chruch of SVA

The assignment: design a church pew based on something you worship

Here's my Church Pew, my thing I "worship": Nintendo!

 It has a screen witha playable game of Mario Bros.(and Duck Hunt but no light gun sry)

A Goomba!

How does he intend to get that mushroom?

and to top it all off a Pihrana Plant!

This was a enjoyable assignment to work on and was compensation to not getting itno the cartooning illustration thesis show. also it was featured on the news(for a moment)!

The link is here:

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/136847/students-transform-church-pews-into-works-of-art?ap=1&MP4

If you can, you should head to the show before it ends on sat, it's on 106 W29 St, Manhattan.

Thesis 99% done and some disappointing news with some good news!

Yes my 3D comic on the legend of John Henry is almost complete! i only have to complete one panel which ill get to by weeks end with photos by sunday! On a more disappointing note I was unable to get into junior thesis show which i wanted to get into SOOO BADLY. The dept. chair Thomas Woodruff said it felt like a trasitional piece and that the materials did not transcend thier intial forms and become something new, it lacked harmony. from that eye opening crit and this great experiment I now have the experience and knowledge to make a second one work this time, i'll start drawing out the plans for it after this semester ends.

Now the good news! during this semester I was also taking 3D design and illustration and we had a exhibition assignment, design a church pew based on something you "worship". I decided to go with Nintendo and after juggling this assignment and my thesis on a tightrope since january, I finished the pew and got into the Art Directors Club! I'll be attending it tonight and i'll have pictures up on Wed or Thurs.

now if you excuse i'll be killing time till I have to regester for senior year

thank you and take care,
AACRO

Thesis progress

Pages 1 and 2 are 98% done! all that needs to be put in is the lettering and they'll be done done. Pg 3 needs some re tooling i hope to finish later today and i'm working on Pg 4 right now. im not going to think of Pgs 5-8 till 3 and 4 are in the green and i'll have pics of the completed pages up ASAP!

THESIS PICTURES!!!

yes they are here! and i hope you enjoy them!

more work is being done on them as I post this, so expect more finished boxes soon!