Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 10 - 11

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The final exercise for Mike Kunkel’s Cartooning class was to design a 'Cartoony Logo Mascot.' We were given five options to choose from, and I picked the energy drink company Supa Soda. As someone who has fond memories of watching Banana Man as a kid, this was really fun to work on. I initially started with some sketches of a superhero-like character shaped as a can. Then I moved toward a Rocketeer/stuntman-type character, similar to Evel Knievel, with can-shaped rockets on his back or hands

I settled on my initial idea—a can-shaped character. I wanted it to be cute and fun, like a children’s cereal mascot, but also full of energy.

The final black & white version.

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 7 -8

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This was a really fun exercise to do. I’ve read lots of comics, and it’s how I learned to draw as a kid by copying artwork from some of my favorite artists, like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. However, I’ve never actually sat down and tried to draw a comic before. These were just a few panels, though, and Mike gave us the script and character designs, so I know creating an entire comic would be exponentially harder than this. I must say, though, the features of Clip Studio Paint made it a lot easier to complete once I roughed out the sketches. Making the dialogue bubbles was so easy, and once I figured out the paneling feature, it was smooth sailing from there.

Roughed Panels

Final Panels

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 5 - 6

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The subject for Weeks 5 and 6 in Mike’s class was comic strips. This was something I was really excited to learn more about. Growing up, I always picked out the Sunday comics from the newspaper to read all the strips with artwork I loved. Garfield, Peanuts, and Family Circus were a few of my favorites. For the assignment, we had the option to use a provided script or create our own. I chose the latter since I've had an alligator character living in my brain for the past 40 years. One of the few core memories I have left as a child was seeing a sketch of an alligator in my mom’s sketchbook when she was studying fashion. For some reason, it stuck with me and I think it was the impetus for me to even start drawing at an early age.

First Rough

Revised rough after getting feeback.

Final

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 4

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Sorry I’m late in posting this! The week 4 assignment was to illustrate a greeting card, and it turned out to be such a fun exercise. I’ve bought so many greeting cards based on the cover art, but I never once thought it could be a career option. I also did a final pass on my one-panel cartoon using traditional pen and ink. I had been practicing with pen and ink for a few weeks before the assignment, so it was nice to finally use it for this!

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 3

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This week’s objective was to sketch a gag panel cartoon based on some ideas. It was a really fun exercise that brought back many childhood memories of reading cartoons in the Sunday newspaper, especially The Far Side. I remember going to the library, borrowing Gary Larson’s books, and trying not to laugh too loudly. I chose the idea about an elephant who loves pizza and sketched several panels, exploring different camera angles and character designs. I ended up liking the one with the mother and child staring at him—it’s probably the one I can relate to the most, haha!

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel Week 2

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I’m really enjoying learning from Mike Kunkel. Every time he goes over my drawings, my mind is blown. He see things that makes my drawings a hundred times better. For week 2, we were tasked with scribble sketch 3 individual stories given a few parameters. I had so much fun with this assignment and tried to let my mind go free and literally put pencil to paper. The foundation shape exercise was super tough, but it really pushed my creative brain!

Cartooning with Mike Kunkel

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In addition to enrolling in Animation Mentor, I started taking a cartooning course with Mike Kunkel at the Cartoonist Academy. Mike Kunkel is a talented artist who has worked on numerous animated projects for television and feature films. He also has his own children’s book series, Herobear and the Kid. I’m really looking forward to learning from him this fall and improving my cartooning skills. My first assignment was to sketch a cat holding a cake and a balloon using different drawing tools.