Culminating Blog

In all aspects of the Capstone project, I used critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. I used critical thinking when supporting the thesis for my Capstone paper. I knew that all comic book stories and characters had influence from society to some extent. What I needed to do was interpret that societal influence from the information I found because not all influences where obvious. I used my communication skills when contacting people from Image. I introduced myself, made arrangements to meet my mentor, and frequently let him know about my posts on my blog through emails. I used both collaboration and creativity in many instances during the hours with my mentor, including the last project my mentor and I worked on: the mock cover issue for Spawn. He took a sketch I did, scanned it, opened up the file on Photoshop, then added highlights and shadows after adding basic color to the black and white sketch. The art was then given a Spawn logo, Image logo with the issue number, and price. Mr. Chan let me create the issue cover exactly how I wanted, and I was amazed by the results. 

By completing the Capstone project, I gained a lot from the experience personally, socially, and intellectually. Because of the Capstone project, my love for comics has deepened. I was at first hesitant on whether or not I should consider going into the comic industry, but now, I know that I definitely would like to do something in that area in the future. It also has motivated me to start my own comic book series. Because of the contacts I know have from interning at Image, I know that I can make that happen. I am a very shy person, and I felt that meeting new people in a professional and friendly manner has helped me to become a little bit more comfortable in meeting people in general. The hours done with my mentor has definitely benefited my knowledge of professional work not limited to comic books. I understood more on how much time and work is put into creating a comic book. I also learned how to use InDesign in a professional manner. InDesign is used for many projects in the professional world, so I feel that knowing how to use this program will help me on potential jobs that may be available to me. During the hours, I also learned how effective double-(and maybe even triple-)checking your work is. When I was placing the pages of an issue, I did not notice that I had made a mistake by duplicating a page. I noticed this mistake when I was going through the links page as part of the checklist on the office pass around. 

While completing the Capstone project, I overcame many challenges. The first challenge I encountered with this project was figuring out what I wanted to do. I knew for sure that I wanted to something with either science or with comic books. I had always loved learning in science, and I was particularly interested in chemistry, so I wanted to do pharmacy. I knew that I would be able to find a career that I liked if I went in that direction, but I deep down inside, I had another passion: drawing. In particular, I wanted to draw for comic books. When I was trying to decide whether to go in the pharmaceutical or comic book direction for my Capstone project, I asked my English teacher his opinion on which direction I should go in. He suggested I go in the comic book direction and told me that he would also be able to help me find a mentor. Needless to say, I choose the comic book direction, and I loved every bit of it. I also had a difficult time figuring out how I was going to travel all the way to Berkeley to meet with my mentor for the physical part of the project. In order for me to be able to do this, I needed to first convince my parents to let me take 5 classes for the 2nd semester instead of the normal 6 classes. Using the 6th period class time for my mentorship would definitely help me with getting my hours completed. I explained to my parents that if I was able to get off of school after 5th period, I would have more time to be able to get to Berkeley and back and do my school work afterwards. This was enough to convince them, and I was able to take  only 5 classes. The next hurdle I was confronted with was how I was going to actually get to Berkeley. My parents didn't want me riding on BART by myself, so I knew that they or someone they trusted had to go with me. Luckily, my dad was able to get on a work schedule where he would get off around the time I would get out of school with my early schedule. Another challenged I faced was during the physical project. My mentor put me in the position where I had to put everything he had been teaching me into play. He had me on the computer placing the pages myself with him over-watching everything I was doing. I was very nervous and unsure if I was ready to do this myself, so I made sure to ask a lot of questions and to pay really close attention to detail. I was able to successfully place the pages for an issue during that session.

The Last Session

April 29, 2014

This week is that last session of my mentorship with Mr. Chan at Image. We began by working on my presentation for the project. Mr. Chan helped me clarify some things as well as figuring out how to present and explain certain concepts and ideas. I knew what I wanted to say and how everything I was talking about worked, but the biggest problem from me was how to say it in the presentation. My mentor helped me a lot in wording my presentation. We spent a good amount of time working on the PowerPoint, then Mr. Chan began to work on my drawing again in Photoshop for the mock Spawn issue cover. I was so excited seeing how the art looked better and better the more depth he gave it using shadows and highlights. My mentor did give me some good tips in improving my drawings like creating shapes to help a colorist get a feel for the 3-dimensional shape you are trying to draw (which I think was very helpful). He also added a glowing effect on Spawn's eyes that reflected on Wanda's face. After he finished the glowing effect and adjusting the background color, I chose which Spawn logo I wanted along with the number of the issue and the price. I was very pleased with the results. The cover looked like a legitimate cover for an issue to me, and I felt I got a good feel on how art goes from a sketch to a digital file to a finished art piece to a comic. 

Image was very kind to have given me this amazing opportunity to learn about something that I really love. I will always be thankful for this experience as it has truly inspired me to want to do this type of work as a career sometime in the future. 

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 27 hours

The Eighth Session

April 22, 2014

This week, I placed the pages for the issue Mice Templar #10. I went through the same procedure as I did in my fifth and sixth sessions: I checked the ink levels of the pages of the issue then looked at them again without black color after placing them. This procedure for this issue was a little bit different from the previous ones because it had 2 different covers and included crop marks to indicate how the pages should be positioned. I liked how this issue was a bit different because it made me realize how creators have a different techniques of preparing the pages for production.  After I got a good review of everything by placing the pages, Mr. Chan began to show me how the artists create a cover from a sketch to a final cover of a comic book issue. I brought a sketch that I had drawn of Spawn and Wanda facing each other for a mock issue cover of Spawn that I would customize. My mentor scanned it and pulled it up on Photoshop. Using layers, he colored the drawing after sharpening and darkening it. I was instantly amazed at how my art work was given more life and character. I was extremely excited to be able to get a feel for the more creative aspect of comic book-making. I wanted to make a whole comic book after seeing the work done in that short time. After the basic coloring was done, Mr. Chan helped me get together the necessary screenshots of the work that was done over the weeks for the presentation portion of the project. 

Next week, I hope to continue the work on my mock issue cover and to touch a bit on the presentation part of the project.

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 24 hours

The Seventh Session

April 15, 2014

This week, Mr. Chan asked me to assist him in checking the work on two trade paperback issues after initial layouts and checks were completed. As my mentor explained to me, several people review the work laying out and checking the color saturation, the porportions of the files and the pages, and the resolution as I mentioned in last week's work. Most of these things are checked again in what they call an inside office pass around, but is more formally called a production checklist. I went through the checklist for the first trade paperback of Burn the Orphanage and the Invincible Universe trade paperback that Mr. Chan helped me lay out last week. The checklist consisted of identifying the title on the inside cover of the book, the volume number of the collection, the numbers of the issues that the book collects, the legal rights and credentials for the creators and the office, and the place it was printed and published. It then goes into the content of the work: checking to see if any pages were duplicated. Mr. Chan went through the first part of the checklist for Burn the Orphanage with me dealing with the interior of the book fairly smoothly. The content check was much more tedious. I first went through the entire book checking for duplicate pages just by flipping through the sample print-outs. At this time, Mr. Chan also told me to make sure the basic structure of the story that could be inferred from the art made sense. As I went throught the pages of the paperback, I appreciated the all aspects of the work done to produce this comic from the creative to the production point of view. Whenever someone sees a comic, they usualy see the book and think about the work put into it from the creative standpoint. Most people don't realize how much work is put into it in production. Working in production really has brought to my attention how much creators rely on production to get their hard work out into the public in the way that they want it. Going back to the checklist, after I went through the book phyisically, Mr. Chan assisted me in going through the links list that shows the document(s) names that are on each page of the book. We made sure that each document was on the correct page. After we went through the first book's checklist, we moved onto the next trade paperback: Invincible Universe Volume 2. I went throught the same procedure for this book as for the first. This time, however, I found a mistake: I accidently placed the same page twice. This mistake was an important one to catch, so I was immediately thankful for the checklist. This step in the production process may take up lots of time, but in the end it is very much worth it. I feel that this checklist can be very much useful in pretty much every job by making sure your own work is thorough and correct.

Next week, I hope to learn a slightly different aspect of comic book making while also reiterating what I have been working on throughout these weeks.

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 21 hours

The Sixth Session

April 9, 2014

This week, I was able to do the same type of work as last week. I was very excited to place, edit, and check the pages of the Invincible Universe: Volume 2 trade paperback. This project was a collection of 6 issues, so I knew that it would be very easy to make a mistake. This time, I wasn't as scared of accidentally making the computer explode as last time, but I was still nervous about making a small mistake that makes a big difference in the process. This assignment did help me reinforce everything I had learned, and I was also able to learn a few new techniques to do certain things such as placing artwork in the comic that takes up two pages of the issue. I now feel more comfortable with the procedure. I did make some mistakes, but I was very thankful Mr. Chan was there to let me know. He was overseeing my work on the assignment and making sure I was completing each step correctly and thoroughly. All of these mistakes were easy to fix (mostly because my mentor caught it right in time). After Mr. Chan went through the procedure placing the pages with me, he went back on the computer to show me how to make the pages at the end of each chapter in the trade paperback. These end pages needed to be done in Photoshop. The creator provided the directions for what they want on each page in the book, so we used the images they instructed us to use. The background image on the page needed to have a half-tone effect on it, and the main image needed to be cut out of the panel it came from. He went through exactly how to do both. 

Next week, I hope to continue to learn how to use Photoshop and reinforce what I know about InDesign.

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 18 hours

The Fifth Session

April 1, 2014

This week, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to do some of the work myself. Mr. Chan had me on the computer and placing the pages on issues of comic books using InDesign. At first, I felt that I was absolutely not ready to do this and that I was going to embarrass myself (or even somehow manage to make the computer burst into flames). As he walked me through the process, however, I felt more confident in my knowledge and in myself that I could do this completely and correctly. It was one thing to watch the issue being put together and another to actually put it together yourself.  I was able to lay out The Walking Dead #126 and Thief of Thieves #20. To make it easier to remember and work more efficiently, Mr. Chan has a checklist that he goes through when working on comic book issues. I followed this checklist when I was working on the issues.The steps are: place the pages for the issue, check the size and position for each page, check the ink levels on each page, and then view each page without black color for any mistakes in coloring. The checklist was very helpful and a good tip to keep and use for other things in life. I was able to get a really good feel for the program by working on these issues. Mr. Chan also quizzed me on requirements and the names of different things on the program as we went along, so I felt I was getting reinforcement on the knowledge about the program and the process. After he walked me through the process of placing the pages, he sat back at the computer and began to work on the Outcast advertisement he did in the third session. He received feedback from the creator about the ad and they wanted some things fixed, so those changes were made accordingly. Fixing certain things almost felt like starting the entire ad completely over because he still needed to somewhat guess how the creator wants the ad to look and feel. 

I really enjoyed actually doing what I have been learning from the sessions this week, and I hope to do the same in future sessions. Next week, I look forward to continue to learn different aspects and requirements in the process of making a comic book. 

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 15 hours

The Fourth Session

March 25, 2014

This week, I assisted Mr. Chan in creating the flyers that Image will be distributing during the Emerald City Comic Convention this upcoming weekend (March 28 - March 30). The flyer was created by using the program InDesign. Because this program is so often used during my sessions, I feel that I am getting a better and better understanding of what the program consists of and what it is capable of doing. We began to work on the flyer by putting in the signing schedule. I read Mr. Chan the times and table for each creator for all three days so that he was able to type them into the document.  I was constantly paying close attention reading out all the names and times correctly because I knew that the details were important. Once the signing was "completed," the next task was the creators and tables listing. I helped out by making sure the names of the creators and the table already listed on a separate document were correct. As Mr. Chan and I were going through all these names, I had the urge to look up all of these creators myself to see the work they have done. After that part was done for the moment, the panels were the next thing to be taken care of. Mr. Chan took the information that was already provided and placed it on the flyer to edit it and make it more appealing and easier for the eye to see. The last part of the flyer that I helped Mr. Chan put together was the "grid view" of the signing schedule on the other side of the flyer. This was provided as a visual supplement to the signing schedule already given on the other side. He used Excel to make the actual grid that was later placed on the actual flyer document. This project took a great amount of pre-planning and experimenting, just as all other projects do. We both became so focused on the work, we didn't realize how fast time was going. I feel that I am getting the gist of the work my mentor does and the skills and qualities needed to successfully complete that work. Next week, I hope to continue to learn about and recognize the different programs that are frequently used in the production of comic books.

Time logged for this session: 3 hours

Total time logged: 12 hours