Final Project Process Entry

The end is nearing, and I feel like my project is just one frustration after another. There were some highs but mostly lows for me. I will have a product finished by the end of the sixteen weeks, but it's definitely not what I expecting to complete at all.

If I could re-do my project, I definitely would. I've learned that I need to be much more vigilant about every part of my project - the journal, the research, and the work. I would've changed the plot to the one I'm working on now, to keep myself interested in the project.

But of course, I can't go back in time. So I can only take a lesson from my experiences.

Progress Over the Long Weekend

Most of Saturday I spent at a regatta, so I wasn't able to produce any work. Though, I did think about specific details of the chapter.

On Sunday I spent a lot of time doing chores, but I wrote down most of the details I had conceieved the day before. I also began drawing that night, though only able to complete half a page.

On Monday I completed three and a half more pages as well as writing the dialogue, skipping one page (since I'm still deciding on how the "teacher" is supposed to look). I'm up to the part where the thug attacks Olivine and Lance, but now, until I learn to effectively draw ugly people I can't really draw the action part where Lance fights the thug.

I think in total the chapter should span fourteen pages.

What makes a person ugly?

This is a question I've been seeking to find the answer for over this long weekend. I need one of the characters in Ace of Spades to be a really ugly-looking, muscular guy - so I've been going back through some of the manga I've read to look for particularily ugly characters.

From what I've seen small eyes, large lips, and excessive wrinkles can make a person look ugly. In fact, exaggeration of almost any facial feature is sure to make someone look ugly. Still, it takes some time to practice and observe how much hyperbole I can put into someone's face before it just gets completely unrealistic.

Mentor Meeting

This Friday Ms. Backus and I met up again.

Frankly, this Tempus plot does not interest me at all anymore. Though, it has inspired me to write a completely distinct plot that I've been jotting down here and there: it's called Ace of Spades.

Since I'm planning AoS to be a much more complex plot, what I think I'll do now is write a so-called "pilot" chapter for this new plot of mine. I'll be explaining details later.

Yes, I have two weeks left. But now that crew is over I have more free time, and I still know where my priorities lay. I've promised my mentor that I won't show up to school on Tuesday empty-handed.

Dear Future WISE Student

Besides what I learned as a direct result of research in my WISE project, I’ve learned a number of other things. The first thing is that procrastination never pays off. It’s something that I’ve actually learned time and time again, but after all, a WISE project is huge, and procrastinating on something like this means that the consequences are greatly magnified.

Another thing I’ve learned is that while I don’t always have the ability to produce what I want, but it doesn’t matter. This is something I learned recently. Hold high standards for yourself, but remember that whatever you’re doing is a learning process and that you’re still in your intermediate stages.

The biggest thing is something I’ve learned about myself. Actually, I was just thinking about this earlier today, but I’ve developed a huge desire to create. I find that I’m beginning to always feel guilty if I don’t work on something that I can show. On the other hand, I feel like any time spent drawing is never time wasted for me. It’s not just because I have an obligation to my class to work, but because I have an obligation to myself in order to grow. I hope others will feel the same way about their own separate passions.

New Direction, Again

Progress has been slow again, so I've decided to make some changes.

So after talking with my teacher and my mentor today, I've made a lot of resolutions to follow. At first, I thought about changing my project focus from creating the graphic novel to only practicing to draw - but with some thought and advice from Ms. Lord, I think I'll stick with the continuing to write a chapter of Tempus. I really want to have something presentable by my presentation date.

I've come to the realization that part of my lack of motivation comes from working on the computer. It's distracting, and somewhat more difficult than drawing on paper. So from now on, I'll be continuing the novel on paper.

I don't have many days left. Thankfully, with crew ending next week, I'll have many more hours per day. But it's time to crunch.

Looking into the distance

Today I've also been practicing, and I drew one additional page to the comic.

I've found that I've been getting a lot better at drawing this view (looking off into the distance), which I had had trouble with before.

Progress Today

I drew another page of the novel today. For some reason, the inspiration that I had for the past few days has been particularly absent today, and I don't understand why. I also spent time practicing on paper too, since I didn't have my laptop with me in the morning.

More Progress

I sketched two more pages today, which was pretty good work, I think.

Since starting at a slightly later point in the story, I've gotten four pages done. What I mean by "slightly later point" is this: I did start from the very beginning a few weeks ago, but I've run into a lot of trouble since starting it. The biggest part of it is Terry's lack of emotion as drawn in the first few pages, which kind of makes any dialogue between him and Leo... extremely boring. I couldn't really figure how to transition out of the beginning scene, so instead I'm starting from a later point, after Terry and Leo arrive at the planetary base. I hope that makes at least a little bit of sense.

I'll probably be scrapping the first few pages for that reason.

Mentor Meeting (Journal #4)

On Friday Ms. Backus and I talked again about the future of the graphic "novel". At this point it seems highly unlikely that I will finish 60+ pages like I originally planned. A much better goal, I think, is to finish one "chapter" - about 15 - 20 pages.

As I've learned, most manga artists don't actually publish directly into volumes, but rather in a weekly magazine first. They write and illustrate one chapter every week - so basically, it takes them five whole days (drawing is their full-time job, of course) to produce one chapter.

I obviously don't have the same amount of time, but I think if I devote this month to finishing a "chapter", it's definitely a goal I can reach.

Today

I felt pretty good about my progress today - I could actually sit down and work on the graphic novel for two hours and enjoy it as well.

I don't know what suddenly made it more enjoyable to write, but I sure hope it stays with me throughout the week.

Another Update

Because of AP's and everything I haven't really gotten the progress that I've needed this week. Time for some serious crunching over the weekend, I think.

It really feels like the end of the year is approaching fast. For once, I wish I had more time before the school year is over.

Spring Break Update

Frankly, I didn't spend my Spring Break as productive as I should have.

I was away until Wednesday, which meant I still had a couple of days to work on the graphic novel, but I struggled to get much done. I was a bit sick then, but it was mostly a lack of inspiration and motivation for me. I was stuck in a tough spot, where I had to transition scenes from the airship to the base. I then tried to skip a few "pages" in the plot, but I had another problem: the way I portrayed Terry in the first few pages is incredibly dull. He should've been a quiet, thoughtful guy, but now he's just a quiet guy. Anything that comes out of his mouth seems out of character.

I don't know what to do right now.

Modified Plot

I've said before that I was getting frustrated with the way my plot was working out. Well, now I feel like I have one that makes more sense, without really taking away the fundamentals or anything.

Here's a summary that I just wrote:

A background of Mr. Hart and the Time Beacons


Professor Max Hart was the world's leading chronologist*. He was invited into the Tempus research and development team to engineer a creation known as the "Time Beacons" - which were giant structures placed all over Tempus that would stabilize the length of day on Tempus. While the beacons were set up on Tempus, Hart chose to remain home with his family during the construction (which wasn't a problem because of the ease of communication between Hart and the crews on Tempus).


Construction finished on March 25, 2031, and Hart and his son Morgan embarked on a trip to Tempus to inspect the beacons shortly after, planning to stay for three months. The voyage to Tempus lasted more than one full month, and they arrived on May 1st, 2031.


Eleven of the time beacons were fully inspected before a catatrosphe occured at the base, where strong, unidentified animals began to attack the base. In the process, Morgan and many others were killed. Hart, with his extensive knowledge of time flow, modified the beacons to warp the entire planet back in time two months, back to May 1st, 2031. Any research that had been done in that time were preserved by being transmitted to Earth.


Hart and the rest of the residents of Tempus were then informed of everything that happened in the next two months. The residents agreed to let him re-modify the time beacons so that it would allow them to loop back two more months in case another catastrophe occured. It did, and this time it was even stronger - everybody was killed. Thankfully, the beacon sent the planet back in time, reviving all of the residents.


Hart decided that he would keep looping the planet back in time until the creatures had been identified and eliminated. But the creatures attacked so close to the last day that not much could be researched about them. After a year, Hart resolved to keep the beacons permanently in loop mode, and plans were made so that it would be as effortless as possible to modify the time beacons after each loop.


(graphic novel starts here)


It's now May 1st, 2032 on Earth (May 1st, 2031 on Tempus), and the first group of researchers are arriving on Tempus - among them is Beryl Hart, Professor Hart's daughter. Beryl then mysteriously disappears, which triggers a series of events that causes the creatures to come well before their expected arrival... meanwhile, Terry and Beryl are stranded at one of the time beacons, Morgan is dead again, and it's a difficult choice for them to either destroy the central time beacon and potentially save the rest of the students, or preserve it but leave Morgan forever.


*When I say "chronologist", I do not mean in the sense that he is a historian (more or less the actual definition of "chronologist"), but rather one who studies and manipulates the passage of time (which is completely possible in the scope of this fictional universe where a planet such as Tempus exists).


Probably the first thing that might come to mind is how confusing it is. I understand that, but I think it'll be a lot more clear when I can take the time to explain through the graphic novel.

The two differences in this and my original plot (which I don't think I've posted, so don't look for it) are 1) the backstory is much more developed here, and 2) it actually has a conflict now. I have to admit, my original plot was rather aimless and didn't really have too much of a struggle going on anywhere.

Mentor Meeting (Journal #3)

On Monday Ms. Backus and I met to discuss my plans for the next week. We've agreed on this: by this Friday, I would have a total of ten pages of the graphic novel. I'm on my fourth now. It's important for me to work up to this pace because I want to get several dozen pages (at least 50) done by May 1st.

Speaking of which, because I didn't have so much time last week, I might postpone my May 1st deadline for penciling a week or two; details on Friday.

In-class journal for April 5, 2011

I'm looking at a book excerpt called "Happiness Revisited".

Happiness, the author claims, doesn't come from pure self-indulgence or hedonism. Instead, it comes from "flow". Flow is an experience that results when one is so involved in what he/she is doing that he/she has no reason to stop or give up. I completely agree with this idea - nothing makes someone like me happier than accomplishing something difficult, or meeting a goal. Sure, I'd be glad to play video games and eat junk food all day, but after a short while I think the guilt of not doing anything overcomes any bit of happiness I might have felt before.

Flow is illustrated on a graph comparing skills and challenges. In a situation where one has "high" skills but is faced with "low" challenges, he/she experiences "boredom". In a situation where one has "low" skills but is expected to confront "high" challenges, he/she experiences "anxiety". But flow is different - it's when the skill level is roughly equal to the challenge level, forming a line with positive slope on the graph passing through the origin. (The graph is below.)

It seems logical, but my classmate Tomer has a slightly different model in mind. He believes that "flow" is achieved when the challenge level is above one's skill level, forming still a line with positive slope, but situated higher up on the graph. Not too much of a difference, but I agree with Tomer's interpretation.

Where am I on the flow chart? Skills I'd say a quarter of the way from the left, and challenges probably three-quarters the way up. Not really set in stone of course, because it's not like drawing a graphic novel with ease takes exactly three times more skill than what I have right now - but that would drop me on the "anxiety" side of the graph.

From this point, there are two ways to achieve flow. I can either decrease the challenge level or I can increase my skill level. I could try a little of both. But really, the best to do by far is to increase my skill level. Lowering the challenge is almost like giving up, which I'm all for not doing at the moment...

The Weekend

Like last time, this weekend I had a lot of commitments, so I couldn't work on my graphic novel.

I knew that the graphic novel would be a lot harder than one would expected, but I definitely underestimated exactly how much harder. It really takes a lot more than the ability to draw to draw comics - the biggest barrier for me is to illustrate interaction (person-object and person-person). Drawing someone sitting down is challenging enough, but drawing them while leaning back leisurely on an office chair is a lot harder. Similarly, drawing a person walking can be pretty difficult to execute properly (without making the character look stiff or awkward), but what if their arms are wrapped around someone else? Or if they're giving someone a piggy-back ride?

I'm also getting frustrated with my plot. I read other graphic novels and their plots are so... interesting. I feel like mine isn't so much, and is rather inconsistent when it comes to the placement of action scenes and dialogue. I need to give it more thought.

Red Flag Journal Entry #4

This week I've spent quite a bit of time working, now that I've started the graphic novel. I know it's at least eight hours, that's for sure. Most of it has been illustrating the graphic novel itself but I also took time to read a few more graphic novels like the Bleach series and American Born Chinese.

I haven't met with my mentor this week (because my mentor meetings are usually on Fridays but this week our red flag day is also on Friday, but I will be meeting with her on Monday.

Since the last red flag journal, I've had six entries, though two of them are just images. I should have an in-class journal which I still have not gotten to, but I'll be doing on right after this.

I think my fulfillment of WISE requirements has been very good this week, and I hope to keep this up for the weeks to come.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. I discovered the novel while compiling my annotated bibliography before the start of the project, and this resource was an especially exciting find because of my own experiences as a Chinese-American.

ABC has three plots - and the novel cycles between chapters of each plot. The first plot is a brief retelling of the classic Monkey King legend that almost all Chinese know: the story of a monkey, ruler of his mountain of monkeys, who wants to become a god, and ends up helping a monk deliver scrolls to India (the fable itself is called "Journey to the West").

The second plot revolves around a Chinese boy named Jin Wang, who attends a school in California. He is stereotyped by his classmates as a classic dog-eating, buck-toothed Chinese kid. He then meets a Taiwanese boy named Wei Chun who becomes his best friend, and later falls in love with a white girl named Amelia.

The third plot is about an American high school student named Danny. Although he is white, he seems to have trouble with his cousin - a hilariously exaggerated Chinese stereotype named Chin-Kee, complete with buck teeth,  braided hair, and a generous reserve of spittle.

Though I can't reveal more about the plot, I admire how well-devised it is. I would definitely recommend it to anyone for a read - it's quick and simple, and I know that any fellow Asian-American will have an easy time relating to it.

Begin

I began the graphic novel today - just penciling the first two pages so far. I'll probably be sharing them tomorrow in English class.

 

Full Metal Alchemist Series

Over the past week I began reading Full Metal Alchemist, a manga series by Hiromu Arakawa that follows the adventures of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Edward. They are both alchemists, which are in the context of the manga people that can create and destroy material on the principle of equal exchange. After a horrible alchemy accident, Edward loses multiple limbs and Alphonse loses his entire body, so the former utilizes prosthetic limbs called "auto-mail" while the latter manifests his soul in a giant suit of armor.

Though not the first, this is the first mange series I've read in a long time. I've started a few manga series like Hikaru no go, Death Note, and The Prince of Tennis, but that was a long time ago and I don't exactly remember much about them or the medium itself.

I admire many things about the series, including its complex yet intriguing plot, its uniquely designed characters, and the artistic style. I experimented with drawing Japanese style back in eighth grade, when my father bought me a guide book. I think that has had a huge imfluence on the way I draw now, as with each new face I still start out with the basics as taught in the book: lines that define the middle of the face, the brow line, the nose, and the hair line. I have deviated quite a bit though, especially with the eyes.

Characters die all along the way in Full Metal Alchemist, so it would seem like a pretty somber series if I had just told someone about the general plot. But really, it's not. There's plenty of comic relief: for example, there exists what's called a "strong-arm (?) alchemist", named Major Armstrong (pun intended), who frequently flashes his enormous bulging muscles, though he is also comically shown to have a weak spot when it comes to tragic, moving stories. Edward's height and seniority to Alphonse is also a running gag: though Edward is older, Alphonse is much taller and bigger so many of the characters believe at first that Alphonse's that Full Metal Alchemist. This is a huge thing: I'm trying to find ways to implement comic relief into my own graphic novel.

I am really enjoying reading FMA so far. Also, I just started Bleach today, so a journal for that will come up in a bit.

In-class journal for March 29, 2011

The highlight of the class period: a voice recording of Bryan Grazer talking about stepping out of one's comfort zone. It's interesting; nothing I haven't heard before, but he makes one very good point: being a film producer he could retire immediately and have enough money to fund a comfortable life, for the rest of his life. But is that really considered living? Sure, it'd be great to spend your life in your lavishly decorated, air-conditioned living room watching TV on a flat HD screen with surround sound but it'd be much more interesting, say, to travel across the country by foot, or to perform music on the street, or in Grazer's case - experimenting with surfing, a pastime usually left for a younger generation. I really admire the author for taking purposely taking a more difficult path in order to expose himself to life's full potential.

Busy Weekend...

I spent most of my weekend on a math team field trip, so I haven't had time to start the graphic novel. I have read a few volumes of Full Metal Alchemist, however.

Though, since tennis is effectively canceled tomorrow afternoon, I will start it on Monday.

Luna

Here's Luna, a fellow geologist of Terry's:

Red Flag Journal Entry #3

Though I did again spend around 8-10 hours on my project this week, I am still not up-to-date with journals.

Again, I spent most of my time on the project practicing to draw. I have also read the first two volumes of Full Metal Alchemist - once I read the third I will journal about it for research. Though I still can't draw a lot of body poses or faces at many different angles, I've gotten much more consistent at what I can draw, and I have been experimenting with what I can't.

I met with Ms. Backus on Monday, and I will again tomorrow.

So the thing is, even though I've spent an ample amount of time on this project, I still feel like it's not enough. As I've said before, my spare time has been very limited just in the past few weeks and will be until about June, which is when the project ends.

Mentor Meeting (Journal #2)

I met with Ms. Backus yesterday, and we talked about my most recent journal ("Head Angles") and my plans for next week.

I said last week that I would start the graphic novel as part of my plan for that week, which so far I have not gotten around to doing. I have gotten plenty of drawing practice, though. I'll start it this week... if not by Friday then over the weekend.

My schedule is going to be much more packed now that spring season has started, with crew and tennis taking up a lot of my time. Though, I think I can still get in one or two hours a day, and I still plenty of time on weekends.

I'm planning to meet with Ms. Backus again this Friday.

Head Angles

Here's something I've been struggling with, these past few days as I've been drawing. Part of drawing humans is being able to draw from any angle, including above- and below-shots. Unfortunately, these are the hardest to draw as I have to consider facial feature placement, angles, and the dreaded space under the chin in the case of below views.

I know these aren't the most extreme of facial angles, but here are some examples. As for the first face, according to my reference sheet the nose and and mouth should be drawn closer together than in a straight-on face. It's hard to do that without making the mouth look too high. Another difficulty is the shape of the nose - if I try to draw the entire thing, it looks too long and sharp. So here I've resorted to just drawing a few lines to indicate that the nose actually exists.

In this second picture, the head isn't really angled up that high but for this kind of view and higher up, I now have to draw lines to separate the front of the chin from the bottom. If you would feel your chin for a moment, there is no definite "edge" to your chin - it smoothly curves to the bottom of your head. Unfortunately there is hardly a way to draw a smooth curve with lines, so it looks like the chin stops abruptly on the face.

Leo

Here's a sketch of Leo, Terry's roommate:

Red Flag Journal Entry #2

I spent maybe 8-10 hours so far this week on my WISE project, with a large portion of that time on Wednesday.

Most of my work on the project this week was to practice drawing. I drew every day of the week, but some days not as much as others - Monday I did a lot, and Wednesday I spent almost all day drawing because it was a snow day. (If you're wondering why these drawings aren't up here yet, they will be.) In terms of research, I've only read one graphic novel this week (a volume of Scott Pilgrim), but I have visited an online tutorial for inking drawings.

I did meet with my mentor on Friday, and we talked about how I would start the graphic novel this week. I haven't started it, but I will devote the coming three-day weekend to doing so. I will meet with Ms. Backus again on Monday.

Hmm... I've only had one journal entry this week, so far. I will get two other entries up tonight. I was in class, so that's something I'll be writing about (though the class period was mostly spent on talking about applying for grants for our projects, which I most likely won't be doing).

This week, while my journal count have not been up to par (yet), I still think I have spent an adequate amount of time this week. My plans for next week is to... practice more drawing, and be well into "penciling" my graphic novel (I say it in quotes because it will be done on the computer).

Terry (first drawing)

This weekend was very busy for me, but I did manage some time to sit down and draw for a bit. Here's an excerpt, a sketch of Terry (the main character).

Red Flag Journal Entry

I think my last week has been much more productive than the last few. I've been blogging almost every day, and I've spent at least one hour working every day. Some days I work on my plot, which is now almost halfway finished - though if I work on a lot more tonight, I could get much more than halfway. As for practicing and hands-on work, since purchasing a sketchbook on Tuesday I've been practicing drawing hands (which is very difficult, especially at obscure angles). I'll be posting pictures either later tonight, or tomorrow night. Also, I read several graphic novels which would count as research.

I met my mentor Ms. Backus on Monday, and we talked about restructuring my project timeline. I'm meeting her again tomorrow (Friday).

Overall, I think for the first time, I've been doing enough work to fulfill WISE requirements this week. I'll definitely work as hard in the coming weeks, because I still have much, much work to do.

Sketch Book and Practicing

Today in English class we got an article print-out explaining the importance of hands-on practice. One thing the article emphasized was being able to step out of one's "comfort zone" as the only way to really improve at something. I've heard the phrase too many times by now, but the author makes a good point. As an example, the author explains that if one only plays the same songs over and over again on a guitar, they will be good at those songs but unable to play others or adapt to learning quickly. But if one steps out of their "comfort zone" and actually practices something with which they're not familiar once in a while, even though it is not fun it is much more constructive than playing well-rehearsed songs over and over. On the other hand, it's also important to practice with repetition, of course.

Link to the article

I do practice drawing in my spare time, but I always get the feeling that I don't do enough. I draw on loose-leaf paper which gets scattered all over the place, so to help organize better I puchased a small sketch comic that I can draw in. In addition to being a place to store all my sketches for Tempus, I think it'll be easier to show other what I've done, when I get around to it.

Mentor Meeting

I met with my mentor Ms. Backus today, and we went over what my plan was for the next two months - basically, how much time I would set aside for everything.

One thing that came up was that I realized that just as part of my personality, I cannot get things done unless I have a definite deadline. So I've set deadlines for myself. Plot done by this Friday; penciling done by May 1st, and inking by June 1st.

As I've said before, I've gotten a good part of my plot written down, but not as much as I may have made it seem - I'm about halfway done with the first part (the entire graphic novel will be broken down into three).

Restructure

So by now, it seems like my two-week plan was far too optimistic. It's been five weeks now, and I still haven't finished the plot yet (though I've got a good portion done).

Though I am pretty far behind (I've gotten red-flagged), I am finding myself with a better sense of timeliness. These past few days I've been working more than I have in the weeks before, as I've been reading comics (doesn't sound like research, but trust me, it is) and writing. Hopefully by the end of the week this week I will be caught up in journals and have the plot done.

I know I've made a lot of... seemingly empty promises in previous posts. By now it seems like the ones I make now are equally void. But now I know where my priorities are, and though I couldn't tell you for sure that I will meet them, I sure as hell will try.

Barry Deutsch

Barry Deutsch is a cartoonist who recently published a graphic novel named Hereville. The novel follows an "eleven-year-old troll-fighting Orthodox Jewish girl", but I don't know much more than that, since I've never read it. Anyway, Deutsch visited my school today and I attended one of his presentations. It was pretty exciting - he first drew a caricature with strange facial features, then moved on to read an excerpt from Hereville.

What I found most exciting about his presentation though, was that he walked us through his process of drawing. Like what I'm planning to do, Deutsch creates all of his artwork on the computer. He uses much more sophisticated art equipment than I do, namely a Wacom Cintiq tablet and Adobe Photoshop. I suppose that makes it easier for him to draw, but nevertheless it is time-consuming: in an hour of drawing (compressed to a four minute video for the purposes of his presentation), Deutsch could finish about one panel to his comic book. Of course he's a professional, and he colors and shades his work, but that's still quite a long time, so in my graphic novel I won't be focusing on those things. In any case, it was very interesting to see how a professional drew comics.

Scott Pilgrim: Precious Little Life

Having heard of the recent movie adaptation, I decided to read the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series.

They're pretty short. I read the first volume, Scott Pilgrim: Precious Little Life on the bus ride home. Yet, the author Bryan O'Malley is able to convey so much information for the reader in these few pages. Right at the start of the graphic novel Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year-old who is part of the band "Sex Bob-omb" is revealed to be dating a high school girl, Knives Chau. Chau's character is ingeniously used to simultaneously reveal much about Pilgrim's personality and lifestyle and create a conflict when Pilgrim falls in love with another girl, Ramona Flowers. O'Malley's style of artwork is cartoonish, yet he's still able to draw distinguishable characters whose appearances reflect their personalities, as well as convincing settings.

Maus I

Maus I: My Father Bleeds History is a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman about the Holocaust. The novel is told in the point of view of the author, the son of a Holocaust survivor, who visits his father's house from time to time to learn about his experience in the Holocaust. One notable aspect of the graphic novel is that Spiegelman chooses to represent the different groups of people with different animals: the Jews being mice, the Poles pigs, and the Nazis cats. This was to easily distinguish between the three different kinds of people, and allowed Spiegelman to easily depict the times when his father would pretend to be a Pole (a mouse wearing a pig mask).

Compared to the first graphic novel I picked up for this project, Watchmen, Maus has a much simpler art style and seems to focus more on conversation and description rather than action. Narration or dialogue accompanies each panel, and events like shootings and hangings seem to all happen at a distance - for example, in a scene where Vladek (Art Spiegelman's father) volunteers to help bring his family to safety, he is simply drawn looking around the corner at a shooting represented by only sound effects.

Maus transitions seamlessly between two worlds: the world of Vladek Spiegelman struggling for survival, and the world of Art Spiegelman as he interviews his father. Yet, the two worlds could be no more different - one takes place in work camps, attics, and secret bunkers in Nazi-controlled Poland, and the other in a relatively peaceful neighborhood in New York. In the 1940's Vladek would be scavenging for food, digging hideouts, and making decisions that could determine the fate of his wife, his family, and himself, and in the 1980's he would be counting his pills, pedaling his exercise bike and having arguments with his second wife Mala over his will. To show this contrast is a great way to expose the true nature of the Holocaust. Over the course of the novel, Art Spiegelman's interviews also reveal much of his father's true personality, which runs consistently with his actions during the Holocaust.

The graphic novel ends on a cliffhanger, as it is continued in Maus II.

The Base

Today I made a sketch of a design of the main base - including dormitories, a lab, a cafeteria, a garage and a dish system to communicate with Earth, all topped with solar panels. I can't use my scanner at the moment, but I'll have this (and other sketches) up over the weekend when I can.

Also, here are some characters:

Terry - main character, 19/male. Majoring in geology. Introverted and dedicated to his work.
Beryl - 19/female. Majoring in... also geology? Maybe biology. Also a good student but antagonizes her father early in the story, setting the plot in motion.
Beryl's father - 47/male. Chronology* professor. Built the time beacon, and heads the research facility.
Beryl's brother - 23/male. Also studies chronology. A rather minor character, really.
Luna - 20/female. Beryl's roommate. Majoring in physics, or earth science. Complete opposite of Terry, extroverted but not studious.
Leo - 19/male. Terry's roommate. Majoring in biology. Fun-loving and open-minded, though maybe too much of the former.

*A chronologist as defined in our world is someone who puts historical events in order - usually either human history or the history of our earth. However, in the world in which this graphic novel takes place, Chronology is an imaginary science that deals with manipulating the passage of time.

I don't have any last names in mind yet. I currently have graphical designs for Terry and Luna.

"Making Comics" by Scott McCloud

During Winter Break I read the book Making Comics, a graphic novel-style comic tutorial book by Scott McCloud, author of the graphic novel series Zot!. Making Comics answers the Five W's of drawing comics not by explicitly teaching a certain style to draw, but rather focusing on concepts and details such as pace, perspective, dialogue, and most importantly facial and body expressions.

Here's one thing I learned. Did you know that there are six basic emotions? Joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. Every other emotion is either a variation or a composition of these emotions, for example: joy and fear make desparation; anger and disgust make outrage; sadness and surprise make disappointment. What's important about this is that each one of these six emotions evoke different facial muscles, so to convey a convincing emotion I should learn what parts of the face are stressed and when.

The General Plot

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but the plot of Tempus is based around the concept of time travel - hence the name.

Soon after humans built their base on Tempus, a large machine was placed on the highest point on the planet (which was quite a distance away from the base) that controls the flow of time on the planet. The machine basically retracts time back to a point a certain time interval (say, two months) in the past - which means that time on the planet is reset every two months. For example, if the machine was activated on May 1st, then on July 1st time would be rolled back two months, erasing everything that had happened within that two-month interval.

What did it mean for people on the planet? Say if someone was on the planet before May 1st, and they came down with some terrible disease sometime afterward, then it wouldn't really matter because after two months they would be reverted to their original state. But if someone landed on the planet after May 1st, then they'd have to leave the planet before July 1st or their existence would be erased. Keep in mind that the scope of the time beacon's power is only the planet itself, so Earth is unaffected.

You might ask why people would bother with this seemingly utterly useless if not dangerous technology. Well, it gives one practically an infinite amount of time to do research on the planet. One can begin on May 1st, take notes on a newly discovered plant, and have the data transferred back to Earth all before July 1st - that way once time is rolled back, they can use the same two months' worth of time to research something else. It's complicated, I know. Also, maybe the entire research colony might come down with a really bad uncurable disease. As long as the time beacon doesn't break, it wouldn't matter because again, as in the example in the previous paragraph, they would be reverted to their previous, healthy state.

It's not realistic, of course, and this was kind of a struggle for me - I wanted to keep the novel somewhat realistic, but the time beacon is just so central to the plot (along with the existence of the planet itself).

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I have the general plot written down by now. I just felt like this time stuff needed to be understood before I actually revealed the plot. As for the plot itself, I haven't actually gotten around to naming all of the characters yet, but when I do, I'll post it.

Road Block...

So in these last few days I've been working on bringing more details to my plot, but I'm feeling a lack of inspiration at the moment. I mean, I have the basic plot down, but when it comes to details I haven't made great progress yet.

I have decided that the main character's name will be Terry, which comes from Terra which means Earth. He is either studying to be a physicist, astronomer, or geologist - though no matter whichever career path I pick for him, other major characters can fill up the other "spots".

Terry doesn't have a last name, or a face, or a backstory yet. As for the planet Tempus however, I figure I'd just re-write history (in this alternative universe of course) to account for an extra planet between the Earth and Mars - e.g. NASA sends probes and rovers to Tempus instead of Mars in the 1990's and 2000's. The first humans arrive on Tempus in 2029, and the plot of Tempus takes place in 2031.

Welcome

I'm Kelvin Jin and I'm a senior attending Ithaca High School. I'm involved with a special English course called the Wise Individualized Senior Experience program, or WISE. The main difference between this and a regular English class is that instead of going through two semesters of standard English class, we have one semester of English followed by a large project spanning our entire second semester.

More info about the WISE program

For my WISE project, I am illustrating a graphic novel called Tempus. The graphic novel follows a group of college-aged students that travel to a nearby life-bearing planet called Tempus (in an alternate universe where such a planet exists) to study its ecosystem. The entire plot I haven't actually worked out at the moment, but that'll come in the next two weeks.

From my journal:

Dear reader:

Needless to say, I'm excited for this project. Drawing has always been a hobby for me. I began to draw comics in third grade, and at the time I wanted to be a comic strip artist. I wanted to be like Jim David, Bill Watterson, or Charles Schultz - all famous cartoonists.

My interests have changed since I started high school - somewhat. I still enjoy drawing, but my aspirations have changed from being a comic strip artist to a graphic novelist. Whether I'd like to pursue this as a career I'm not entirely sure, but I knew when I was presented the opportunity to take this class that this was a perfect match for a WISE project, and that WISE was a perfect match for me.

My graphic novel focuses on a group of college students that travel to a nearby, life-supporting planet in an alternate universe where such a planet exists. The planet's name is Eurasia (now Tempus, latin for "time"). The students, however, are trapped in a dangerous situation where animals begin to act out of order and raid their research facility, and a time paradox threatens to erase them from existence. The plot details I haven't worked out yet, but that's the big story.

I hope to finish this in sixteen weeks. It's a tough project because I have a lot to learn and there's plenty to do. My biggest fear is I won't be able to finish the project. But what's a project without its challenges, anyway?

Kelvin Jin

February 5, 2011

And how about a two-week plan (also from my journal):

The first two weeks do not involve the actual creation of the comic at all. It's all about writing the plot, and learning.

When I say learning it seems ambiguous. And it is. I want to learn how to draw humans, animals, buildings (to an extent), trees, plants, and pretty much everything else, and at every angle. Of course, taking place on a different planet I'm going to have to take a few creative liberties and dream up my own alien flora and fauna as well.

I also need to learn how to ink. This also seems to be an ambiguous goal. I'd have my own standards for inking, but if I don't reach those standards by the end of the two weeks it won't matter too much - after all, the inking comes after sketching. I'll have to sketch every panel first before I ink, so I can afford not to finish this in the first two weeks.

My most definite goal is to write the plot to my graphic noel. In terms of detail, I want to have all the dialogue written exactly as it will be in the graphic novel itself, but descriptions and settings may be broad because after all, I want to be creative in my project.

These two entries come from my journal, and they will be the last of their kind. From now on, I will track my progress through this blog. If you want, you can follow me.