Month: March 2014

The Tipping Point

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Bruce

Years ago Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about how when a certain number of events occur then someone goes out a tips a cow… or something like that.
I think right now I’ve reached that proverbial tipping point when it comes to My Geek Odyssey.  As we start our fifth year I’m going back and looking at some things I’ve done (mostly what I haven’t done) and after a series of events am thinking about the direction we are headed.

Basically the recent events that I elude start with Watching Dear Mr. Watterson on the flight to visit family over the holidays, & then on the same trip visiting the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.  From there it seems that a lot of little and not so little things have been pushing me.  From the submissions for the Circle City Aerodrome art show. Having my first table at a Con (next week’s INDYpendent Show) which led to having a banner made.  Watching Stripped a wonderful documentary about the history & future of comic strips.  Hanging out with some wonderfully creative people  in the Indy Webcomics Group and teachers passionate about the power of comics in education. All added weight and then today- the proverbial straw the broke the camel’s back- A retrospective of Bill Watterson’s work at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State.

Cecil is ready to take a look at the exhibit.
Cecil is ready to take a look at the exhibit.

I came in thinking I needed to change some things up and had started taking some steps in that direction (signing up for a few MOOCs on Comics, rereading some of the classics like Scott McCloud’s Making Comics).  I left shattered… the whole “I am not worthy” vibe but also thinking “What can I do to become worthy?”

Last night I got to a point in Making Comics where a small card fell out of the book… it was the original card I had made up when I started this whole crazy endeavor.  It was pretty simple.  one side was a section of my original drawing of Tink and me, on the other was the dictionary definitions of “Geek” and “Odyssey”.  As I looked at this card, I started thinking that maybe I’d strayed from my original intent… I still don’t know, but thank you Bill Watterson & the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum for giving me an idea as to what I need to do, and where I need to go.

Like I said, I left the exhibit shattered… an emotional wreck.  Not something you would think could happen to someone looking at comic strips, but it happened to me.  I looked at the concise storytelling, the art, the layout of the comics… all were genius.

IMG_1701The exhibit is divided into various sections including the original strips and pitch , something on each character along with the various reoccurring themes, the tools he used and his inspirations.  I started with the original concept and moved around the room taking it all in.  I know I need to return some weekend and just sit at every section and really take it all in.  It’s like watching a movie and knowing that you missed a bunch of things so you have to see it again, and again.

Because of what I saw I am going to reexamine my past strips and see what I can learn and improve upon.  This is going to be a long process and with the real world intruding it will take more time than I can imagine, but I will update you as to the process and how it is going.  I’m not going to stop drawing, but as you have noticed my productivity has not be great recently… hopefully with this renewed vision it will improve, but that will take time.

If you are in the area for the INDYpendent Show, I’ll be there and we can chat.  If you have the opportunity to visit the exhibit in Columbus, I recommend it… but if you ask me to come along, bring tissues.

I still get torn up by this comic... even in just pen & ink.
I still get torn up by this one… especially in just pen & ink.

 

Reflections on my part in Brickworld Indy

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Bruce

Last weekend I had the opportunity to have a table at Brickworld Indy. Brickworld is a series of Lego Conventions throughout the midwest and having a table basically means I had a display. I did the same thing last year sharing the space with a friend. This year I figured I’d build bigger and better and need the entire table… I was wrong.

To start off let me explain how Brickworld works- Think of it as a juried art exhibition.  Displayers are asked to contribute their work for the public to see,  vendors pay for booth space, and activities are put together for the attendees.  Activities include large piles of “playbrick” to build with, cooperative mosaic builds, stuff like that.  Some displayers may have remote control cars for kids to operate, or robots, mostly this show is about seeing the potential in a little plastic brick.  Displayers do not pay for their space (as far as I’m aware), they instead get a small percentage of the profits from the show after plugging things into a long complex formula dealing with how engaging their display is.

One of the great things is that most displays are team efforts.  So IndyLUG or MichLUG get together and build a massive layout.  The night before Brickworld opens they gather and put it all together.  Yes, it’s mostly built, but there will always be some last minute tweaking.  IndyLUG for example has a massive M-Tron layout (M-tron is a Space set from the 1990s- basically lots of red & black) along with other cooperative builds (Castle, the Lego Movie, the Great Ball Contraption, etc.).

Cecil poses next to "Just like Beggar's Canyon" on the first day of Brickworld Indy.
Cecil poses next to “Just like Beggar’s Canyon” on the first day of Brickworld Indy.

I started with the idea of the improving the Death Star trench display I had last year having it go the length of a 96″ table. For about a week, I worked out how it would look and started with a great idea of incorporating the “Palace Cinema” into the design. Then I was asked if the Cinema could be part of “The Lego Movie” display. So it was time to redesign. Which really wasn’t that bad, I didn’t like how it was turning out.

As Friday rolls around, I’m bouncing between schools and decide on a new idea on how I want it to look. So when I get home I start tearing apart what I had, and rebuilding. Remember the show is Saturday. I bring what I have done to the Fairgrounds that evening and lay it out. Then I start to add detail- towers, guns, and ships. After a while I head home leaving things to sort out in the morning.

Saturday morning as the local news crew is going around I’m back building more and getting ready. The biggest problem- the trench. You see, it’s going the wrong way. Last year I had it cut the width of the table so everyone could see the details in the trench. By making it longer- kids were unable to see it. since it was only viewable on two sides it basically looked like a bunch of grey base plates on a table.  At the last minute I took all the Minifigs I had from school put them on two base plates so the space was filled and walked away figuring I would tweak it throughout both days.

Over 19,000 people came to Brickworld Indy this year (thank you Lego Movie), and I watched as kids ran over to see what I had built… and then stare at the MiniFigs. “Look! There’s Emmet! and Lord Business!” Some people were impressed by the actual build, some AFOL (Adult Fans Of Lego) liked it but but commented on the lack of greebling (that’s the term for using small pieces to add random and excessive detail to spaceships). Star Wars fans commented on the fact the trench was too narrow.

So what did I learn from this? If I do it again I’ll work smaller, and add more detail. I have an idea on improving the build. I really do like the way the Lego Movie has a design element to it that makes thing fanciful and yet detailed.  I joke that I need more bricks, but even with the tubs I currently have, I used the grey 2×4 bricks I had purchased for school to complete my build.  Then again, if I just buy about a thousand more MiniFigs I could just cover a table and be done with it.

If you’d like to see some of the photos check out my Flickr photostream.