Senior Presentations and Poster Exhibit!

These photos (the four below) were taken by Abe Olsen, our school's own paparazzi, and posted on the school's Flickr page. If you click the image, it should take ya there!

These pics might give one the impression that I was super calm and knew what I was doing! That last picture proves I said something amusing - wish I knew what it was?!

I'm going to post my presentation here because I know you feel terrible that you missed it! And you are also wondering what the heck my Thesis is all about, right?

Here goes, My Presentation...

I am going to talk about these 10 things [numbered above]1 - my thesis poster2 - my advisor3 - my tools4 - CCS5 - Zentangle6 - the Lilah Beans7 - my glasses and biz card (me and my kids)8 - my cat (Minou)9 - The Fireman10 - my calendar and autobio comics

#1 MY THESIS POSTER "Two Years and a Lifetime"

That collaged, organized chaos represents - my thesis, the 2 years in question, and, the Lifetime.

#2 MY ADVISOR - ALEC LONGSTRETH

I had originally thought of asking for:
-Glynnis Fawkes
-Eileen Christelow or
-Judith Moffatt
But I worked with Alec this summer in the Cartooning Studio Workshop. With his prodding - I wrote, drew, inked, and printed a 12-page comic about my Inner Demons... in 4 days!
The perfect thesis advisor?!

#3 MY TOOLS

I am a bit of a pen junkie - I just keep ordering more... But my favorites are these--
the Sharpie Pen and the PaperMate ballpoint pen. I've started adding color with -- these -- Papermate colored ballpoint pens.

I also use:
- Moleskine notebooks
- a Quo Vadis journal/planner
- mechanical pencils
- white Gelly Roll pens
- an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil (with ProCreate and Photoshop Sketch)

This image is of a review I did for the Quo Vadis planner company (Exaclair) - drawn IN the actual planner.

#4 CARTOON SCHOOL

It took me 5 years to escape from 3 different colleges and art schools - where I majored in Egyptology, Art Therapy, Photography, and Illustration.

When I graduated, I vowed I'd go back and do it right. Someday.
But the "Lifetime" part happened. Lots of it...
20-something years later, my son's Spanish tutor, Marek Bennett, told me about a new cartoon school in VT, where he was a teacher.

I had to make a lot of scary choices to come to the Center for Cartoon Studies. As an example... this is a journal page I created from the six envelopes that arrived in one day (in 2015). I turned each envelope into a door. And I glued each letter that came in the envelopes, behind their doors.
They included:
- notice of hearing for a pre-trial conference
- change of time for that pretrial conference
- deposit due and agreement for mediation
- royalty statement and check from my publisher
- supply list and tuition bill from CCS
- guardian ad litem report.
All in one day.

#5 ZENTANGLE

Learning Zentangle in 2008 changed my life:
- I taught classes
- wrote and illustrated books
- I created the first Zentangle blog, the first ZT books, and the first ZT retreat.

Zentangle gave me the confidence to escape my marriage and Begin Again.
Now...
- I'm looking for ways to integrate ZT into my comics.
- and many of my blog followers and students are my Kickstarter Backers!

#6 THE LILAH BEANS

My daughter designed the Lilah Beans when she was around a year and a half old.

They've become spokes-beans for Zentangle - at least on the school/kid level. This image is from a website called ArtSonia where school teachers post art from their classrooms. These Beans were all drawn by first graders!

They are very helpful creatures - this image shows a few pages from my book - Zentangle for Kidz. The Lilah Beans help with supplies and interact with the tangles and instructions too.

In my Thesis, they'll serve as a sort of Greek Chorus - explaining and commenting from the margins and gutters [between the comics panels].

#7 MY GLASSES and BIZ CARD

Me and my kids.
My character (in my comics) wears glasses - which helps distinguish her from my daughter - Lilah.

Lilah just turned 10, is a cartoonist and my art director. I also have a son, Alex, who is in college. He's a musician-composer and knows five languages. (Spanish, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, and Arabic)

#8 MY CAT - MINOU
Minou - which is French for "little cat" - is in a lot of my comics... and ON a lot of my comics too!

She also represents the introverted, clumsy, loving side of my personality.This comic is called "Cat Toy Love".

#9 THE FIREMAN
Yes. He really IS a Fireman. In Boston. But he got the name for two other reasons - he's VERY private, so I don't use his real name...

... and he is Un-predictable.

He's also popular with my Kickstarter Ladies - and now he has his own Facebook Page!

#10 THE CALENDAR and AUTOBIO COMICS
My Thesis is taking form in two parts:

- The Calendar Comics...

these are Daily comics from August 2016 on...

- and the AutoBio Comics.Some are school related and others explore events or stuff in my head.

I'm still working on pulling this Collage of material together in a way that makes sense.

And THAT is my Thesis... "Two Years and a Lifetime"!
Thank you.
[Applause - Applause!]