Cheap Aprons

We losers lurk around the 17th floor...

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:23:00 +0000

By the way, my best-17th-floor-friend (because we both know our friendship doesn't extend past the dorms), Maelle Doliveux makes fantastic diary comics. I am ALWAYS excited to see new work from her, and think she should ditch illustration and pursue her true calling, cartooning (though she's equally good at both). Anyways, she's now posting these comics online now over here:

The Pretentious Fool

Check it out. You'll love it. Not only do her comics include ME, but you'll also see some sightings of Carey Grant, David Bowie and Taylor Mali (a hilarious spoken word poet-- youtube his stuff, you will not regret it!)

Swamped!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:17:00 +0000

I don’t have much to show right now. I’m swamped with work and trying to catch up (fell a bit behind, but I’m catching up quite well). Sorry for the low quality pictures. My camera is dead right now, so all I have is my phone. Better ones to come soon!

This self portrait was to be included in a grouping of drawings from the AMNH, so I tried to make myself look wilder. I’ve always been a fan of the Adam Ant stripe. Seemed like a perfect time to throw it in.

Drawing of bison bones, which was part of the grouping.

Doodle of a character that appears in something I’m working on.

Clara Bow sketches! I find her to be stunning.

I’m designing a portfolio website, and this is just a tiny snippet of what’s going on (don’t want to give it away too much!). I did the original drawing in my sketchbook, scanned it, and coloured it/amped up the line work in photoshop. This was my first stab at taking anything on paper, into photoshop, and colouring it. The colour being fairly flat was a personal choice (not laziness).

I recently finished Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly, and David Small’s “Stitches”. Stitches was really disturbing (I didn’t want to believe it was true!), but I had a good cry at the end. The only thing that bugged me about it at points was the lack of backgrounds. Too many panels zoomed in, and not enough energy spent on the backgrounds as on the figures. I understand that at some points it’s meant to emphasize isolation, or the eeriness/sterility of hospitals, but I found myself wanting more information in some panels. This is a problem I’m sure I have so that’s why I’m so aware of it in others.

My closest friend (who actually has a fantastic art history blog: http://www.michelangeloscave.wordpress.com) shared this quote (from our favourite author) with me, and I thought I would pass it along:
"Why are you afraid of women?" I asked a group of men "We’re afraid they’ll laugh at us," replied the men.
"Why are you afraid of men?" I asked a group of women "We’re afraid they’ll kill us," replied the woman.- Margaret Atwood

It has been a long time!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:11:00 +0000

You’ll have to excuse me for the long wait for a new blog post. You’ll also have to excuse me, because for the next little bit, I’m going to get fine artsy on you guys! Which isn’t a bad thing! I enjoy the fine arts, but I miss having some free time to make some cartoons or comics, or just doodles.

As of right now, I am a month and a half into school at SVA. My experience thus far is amazing. The block I currently take has the best teachers (so say the students and I can’t disagree), but also the most work. I get one free day in the week, Saturday (spent cleaning, doing groceries and laundry). Four days of classes, but 6 days spent on homework (and I don’t slack either!). Life as an art student is thrilling, I know. In all seriousness, I am having fun. Stressing out, but not too much, and I’m constantly surrounded by interesting artists.

I briefly interned on Monday’s for a wonderful cartoonist, but some things came up, so the internship will be resumed next semester (hopefully). Regardless of how short, I had a really amazing time and can’t wait to do it again! For now, I have more free time to do homework (and post a blog! Gasp!)

So, all that being said, don’t be too disappointed if you don’t see a lot of original stories, or fun sketches. Right now, we’re mainly doing still lifes and figure drawings and I’m loving it. I try to sketch when I can, especially since our drawing teacher likes to check up on our sketch books, so there will be some stuff like that.

By the way, if any of you have any questions, feedback, etc. feel free to e-mail them to drweckaart@hotmail.com

Okay, no more chatting! Here’s some new stuff:

First off, here’s some pictures of the mini-comic I assembled that I mentioned in my last post:
Some pages...

And the final result (silk-screened cover)...

School work:

1. My first oil painting, a b/w still life
2. This was an interesting excercise. My drawing teacher inserted a slide upside down, and had it so unfocused that when we began this drawing, we had no idea of what it was. Since it was so unfocused, there were no sharp edges, only blurry shapes and values. We drew this and as the day progressed, we focused the image a little more and more, adding more fuzzy shapes and values. In the last 20 minutes (once most of the shading had been built up) the image was completely focused (but still upside down) and we could put in some details. It really altered the way I looked at how to create a drawing (and helped me with how to build up shading).
3. One of our assignments was to do a mood drawing, using expressive lines and shading (my teacher puts a strong emphasis on line and what it can do). This is a corner in my dorm (by the door). My mood? Disgusted. I made the paper dirty on purpose.

Book design for Sylvia Plath's, the Bell Jar (my favourite book). My photoshop skills are not the greatest...

Sketches:

1. Sketch of my friend, Maelle, and the Reverend Mother from the Dune TV mini-series (based off of Frank Herbert's novel)
2. Animal sketches from the Museum of Natural History
3. A sketch of an idea I have for a comic
4. A plan for a book cover for class that we created in photoshop.

Cosmic comics near my dorm, has a 30% off sale and I took the opportunity to pick up Vampire Loves, by Joann Sfar, and Local, by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly.
Vampire Loves was something I borrowed from my library in the summer to read. I fell in love with Sfar’s sense of humour, and yes, even his wobbly lines. Sfar portrays a bunch of mythical creatures (vampires, golems, etc.) experiencing everyday problems (like relationship problems). The dialogue is excellent and hilarious, this is a book that is sure to make you laugh!

One more thing! My friend Stephanie Mannheim, a brilliant young cartoonist (who has always inspired me), had her mini-comic, Roxie #2, reviewed at this blog:
http://strengthinbrooklyn.blogspot.com
Check it out, and congratulate Steph!

GAH

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:16:00 +0000

I swear I will update soon. I have so much to do right now. My family barely sees me, let alone my friends and the internet/blog. I have to finish my final art project tomorrow before 5, then go to photocopy it, and put the mini comic together.

Thursday is the art show, "Freshly Squeezed" (and my birthday) and I have to help set up, grab dinner, then be at the show from 7-9.

Friday, I'll probably skip my morning class to finally get some sleep. Then, go in for my afternoon classes to finish up final projects.

Wednesday is my art exam (from 12:00-2:30). Then, oh THEN, I will be a free woman! No more high school!!

So, I hope you understand.

WANT A FREE SHORT MINI COMIC?!?!?!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:50:00 +0000

I haven’t updated in a while, sorry! I am SWAMPED with final projects. High School is almost over for me, dear readers (if any of you exist—feel free to leave me comments, anonymous are fine too! I welcome constructive criticism!!).
Anyways, I had my friends Steph and Sally come to Canada, to go to TCAF. It was a great time! We got to meet some of our favourite artists! And we passed out some mini comics.

Sally stayed longer (Steph was only there for the weekend), and because of that I slacked on some work, which I am now making up.
Some progress…

I made a very short (6 pages plus cover and info page), and very simple mini-comic for TCAF. I printed a lot because the photocopier I used wasn’t taking money from my copy card, so I took advantage of that…haha… SO, with that in mind, I’d love to send out some of them to you! I have 18 left! If you want one, e-mail your address at drweckaart@hotmail.com
Seriously, it’s no trouble. It would really make my day!
PREVIEW…

Death, Making Comics, SAME THING!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:41:00 +0000

I'm not dead-- just a cartoonist. Pretty similar though! Been working on a REALLY simple comic (the pages are crap!) to shove in people's faces at TCAF, which requires making 2 pages a day. And then back into my page a day for my summative.

P.S. If you're in the GTA, GO TO TCAF!! IT'S FREEEEEEEE!!!!!

My friend's are going to be here so soon! I'm really excited to be able to have them here, and to be surrounded by people who are genuinly interested in my rants about amazing inking and story telling. Haha.

No pictures, sorry!!

Everything's Gonna Be Hunky Dory

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:39:00 +0000

Doing a mini-comic for my art summative/senior project (worth close to 40% of my final mark). It's two stories about the most important women in my life: my best friend, Krissy, and my mom, Elizabeth. This is the first page of the story about Krissy. It's called "Everything's Gonna Be Hunk Dory" We're both Bowie fans, haha.
I have to pencil a page a day (totaling 20), and then ink 2 pages a day afterwards. While silk-screening covers to be able to sell mini-comics of this at the art show (june 11th, my birthday!)
Started inking early because I really wanted to ink

Page two pencils

The cover which will be silk-screened, and this will actually be put sideways (I just have it this way right now so it’s easier to view). It’s supposed to be Krissy, my mom and I (though it didn’t really end up looking like me).

On a non-art note: Jeff Buckley’s music is AMAZING, no doubt, but when I saw this jacket it was love at first sight. Anything out there is mucha $$$, so I’m going to kill my hands and try to make something similar myself. Hell yes. I’ll be best dressed at the art show, haha.

Long Time No Post!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:48:00 +0000

I realize I haven’t posted in quite awhile. I’ve been catching up in my art class (finally), and today we just wrapped up with our installation piece. I have a lot to post today though!!

I wanted to do something about the conditions my mom, an immigrant, would have lived with arriving to a new country. I really enjoy the idea of exploring my roots. I used a used mattress, a cardboard box to hold up a T.V, and a new stuffed animal (it would have been my sister’s birthday gift—the first new thing she received, not something fished from trash). Added some family photos (no stand on the back, so we taped paper cups to them). And had the projection of my sister curled up in the corner (who would come home crying because the kids picked on her in school because of the language barrier). It’s titled “FREEDOM”. The reason for calling it "Freedom" is because so many people run from countries under a communist rule (my family), or a dictatorship, but end up living in squalor, and in poverty. This is the “freedom” they get.

Here’s something a classmate did (Styrofoam cups)…

Here’s a Jeff Buckley drawing I’m doing with pencil crayons.

Speaking of Jeff Buckley, I do this thing for fun sometimes, called “Adventures with Jeff Buckley”. It’s just basically me hanging around with Jeff Buckley’s…ghost?

And here are a bunch of sketches I’ve done recently:

If you want to see the photos larger, click them to go to the flickr page where they have that option. That’s all for now! I leave you with a photo of my super cute dog, Luc!

Quick Update...

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Quick post because my mom needs the laptop for work.

The great comics race is over, but Sally and I are trying to make a page a week. Except for right now because we’re very busy with school and other priorities. I’m behind on some projects for art class, so that’s what I’m focusing on. Figured I’d post some doodles though…

Current “muse”: the Greek Goddess, Artemis (or Roman Diana).

I’ll talk more later. Au revoir!

--Kate.

So...

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:11:00 +0000

The next page for the Great Comics Race...

And here's some doodles, where I wanted to go straight to ink (I used the pentel brush pen):

So, I wanted to mention this in my last post

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:30:00 +0000

But I didn’t want it to get lost within a jungle of text.

I’ve talked about one of my inspirations in comics, and I wanted to ask you readers a couple of questions (particularly cartoonists, but feel free to apply this to whatever it is you do). Don’t worry about writing too much. I love long comments! And I love short comments.

1.Which artist(s) influences your work the most? Feel free to talk about comic artists, comic writers, fine artists, authors, poets, musicians, etc.

2.Why do you want to make comics, or are currently making comics? And at what point in your life did you come to this realization?

3.What is your favourite thing about comics (storytelling, the accessibility of it, the sense of community among artists, etc.)?

These are all questions easily applicable to any field, so feel free to talk about whatever it is you do! Post anonymously, or under your name, and share your own art, writing, etc.

More art...

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Hmm. So, I still have about a page to do today to catch up with yesterday’s slacking off (it was so nice outside and my little dog was just begging to play with him in the backyard).

Here’s another page:

I should mention, that I end up cleaning up my pages a bit later on. Right now, I’m just set on getting a page a day done for “the Great Comics Race”.

I have a lot more I could share, but I figured that I would just spread it out. That’s all for now!

--Kate D.

The Great Comics Race!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:05:00 +0000

So—it’s been awhile since I updated.

News: I got the Silas H. Rhode scholarship for SVA, which means I will be able to attend the cartooning program! I’m really excited to go and see some of my friends and just to be in the city again.

Speaking of friends, my friend Steph and Sally are visiting me in Toronto mid-May for TCAF (click on names for links to art or TCAF info). I’m unbelieavably excited.

It’s spring break for me right now. And, as it turned out, for Sally as well. We decided to start (as I call it) The Great Comics Race. Basically, we’re penciling a page a day and posting the progress for the other one to see.
Here are my first two pages (a lot of the picture will be inked black, so it might look a little weird right now):

Ah, and I got my entry for the MCR Venganza contest done today. Although, all my acrylic ink kept on tipping over, so my carpet is horribly stained (even more so than before). The price of progress.

Photos of my room/studio (although there’s only photos of the workspace part of my room) on my flickr, HERE

Waiting for Sally's post now. She's sent me some sketches and I'm super excited to see this project of hers unfold!

--Kate D.

Twin Peaks.

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Anyone seen that movie?

I'm talking about Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

I got it for free in some magazine that I picked up in Poland, and was going to just leave it behind, when I read "David Bowie". Okay, must watch.

Have you ever experienced a bad acid trip? Well, it's kind of like that. Amusing, I'm sure, and I'd probably have to watch it again, but at the end of 2 and a half hours, you have no idea what the hell is going on.

Anyways, there's this one scene where the girl looks at this picture she owns (or was it in a dream?) and it's a picture of room. The door is slightly open, and through that room, you see another that is identical to first one, and even that second room's door is open, and you see that it's the same room again. It goes on and on. If that confused you, you should know it's one of the more straight-forward scenes. Hah.

So back then (this was about a year ago), I kept a sketchbook and drew everyday. Not the best drawings, but it's something. And it's based off of the previously mentioned scene, and another scene where you see this kid wearing a strange mask.

--Kate D.

An introduction, if you please

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Drwecka) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:52:00 +0000

So, I've joined the bandwagon. I've made an art blog (although I'm following in suit of my friend who has a journalism blog).

I suppose this is where I introduce myself, no? I love all aspects of art, but comics, specifically, is my passion. I go to NYC this summer to study comics for 4 years at SVA. I also enjoy film, music, literature, philosophy, women's studies.

I hope to post art (duh), comics (double duh), and talk about some great comics, books, artists, or music that I've encountered recently.
Most importantly, I'm hoping this blog will force me to make comics as often as I can.

So, to begin with what's been going on. I've been...busy.
Just finished up a piece today that might be published in a book (I'm 90% sure it will, unless they make some real desperate cuts) by SMITH magazine. I scripted and thumbnailed a 5 page colour comic that I need to get done this week (God help me). I'm coming up with thumbnails and sketches because I'm designing something for a friend (who offered to pay, over and over, but I told her just having that on a resume was good for me). Finally, I'm planning out a box sculpture comic, a painting and getting in contact with some of my instructors.
I'm not complaining though. It's much better than being bored.

Here's what I hope to have in the book: