art – Page 7 – SKETCHMAN BORIS

Cartoon blog day 35: English teacher

20181122 CBD35 English class

i sometimes think back on how arrogant I was. My plan seemed simple then: Quit my corporate job, find a teaching job (to teach English/French) to make money and pay the bills while I try to make a name for myself as a cartoonist, comic book artist.

Why teaching? I figured it would be a job which would give me enough free time to work on my art.

I said I was arrogant because I was so sure that I would find a teaching job easily. As achievable as it was I forgot that I chose to do it in Bangkok, Thailand. I love it here but there are still a lot of people who think only native speakers, meaning people from the U.S, UK, Australia and so on who can teach proper English.

I am proud of myself for finding the teaching job and spending the free time creating cartoons, webcomics, podcasts, videos about movies and blogging. I am also proud of the company which hired me as teacher.

When I see my friends on WhatsApp group complain about MONDAYS and waiting the test of the week for FRIDAY. I see the time fly as I enjoy teaching and creating. So I consider myself lucky.

I am a strong believer in learning by doing because I don’t have a choice and I hope I will get better and give better content here and the other platforms on which I create. I am only getting started, If you are an artist talk to people and keep yourself informed.

Always have a plan even if the plan only makes sense to you.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 31: RIP Stan Lee

20181113 RIP Stan Lee

I am still sad. Even before knowing Stan Lee, you sort of knew him. In certain documentaries about comics, people criticized him for taking the credit for solely creating characters like Spider-man when Steve Ditko came up with the brilliant design we now know and love.

But Stan always took the time to mention the talented artists who worked with him Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita and so on.

Everybody loves Stan Lee, he was our link to what people referred to as Golden Age of comics.

I truly mean it, his legacy lives on. An artist always puts a little bit of himself in everything they do, in that way those who looked up to his characters also looked up to Stan Lee, the author.

He taught me that it was cool to be good, you can use your superpowers to help people. When most boys went to the gym to impress girls in high school, the loser I was I went to the gym to look as close as I can to his characters hoping it would give me superpowers.

We have lost a living superhero who made even a skinny, shy kid from India dream his way out of his shell, thank you Stan Lee, Rest In Peace.

Cartoon blog day 29: Geekdom

Everyone is geeky about something … or someone right?

How is buying more shoes than you need is tolerated more than buying comics to read stories you can see nowhere else.

Again we keep coming back to the same topics: ATTACHMENT, whether it’s your national sports team, your favorite TV show or your nation itself. You have to be receptive of criticism, because there are some good ones out there.

Because it’s by being critical that we improve ourselves and the environment around us.

Balance, as complicated it is to grasp should be the path to follow. But we rarely think about BALANCE.

Stories I consume in different mediums (comics, movies, series, novels, etc.) feed my imagination. And unlike what most people tend to believe, imagination is always based on something human. So I always learn something which is why I created a whole Youtube channel for that (check out my Youtube channel MOVIE MESSENGER).

When students ask me how can I draw things from nothing, you can’t. You have to express intangible concepts from your mind to the canvas, meaning ideas from other ideas which exist in your head.

All this ARTxplanation is good but how do you know if you are off balance?

This is where ART comes in, art keeps things in check. Here is one way in which you can test yourself from obsession: If you are a pseudo-religious Batman fan and you are comfortable laughing at yourself, in other words laugh at comedians who make fun of Batman fans, you are in a healthy mental relationship with what you love.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 28: When do you become an artist?

This is my favorite topic.

Why is this question difficult to answer? Whenever you create something you are an artist, right?

Defining an artist comes down to defining ART itself. Many have given definitions to ART, for me ART is a language.

OK, language means we communicate something. So what do we communicate as artists? FEELINGS.

It’s DIAGRAM time (that’s not a diagram):

Artist lives his life –> Experiences life –> He learns something and feels something –> He creates what he can with that feeling in mind in the attempt to transfer that feeling –> the audience is exposed to the art work and feels what they feel.

So then an artist is someone who communicates his feelings successfully. Well if it was a brochure, sure it’s pretty straight forward but in most cases experiencing experiencing ART is like doing the Rorschach test you get what you get.

So what’s the point?

I think genuinely artist is one of the rare professions where others have to in a way knight you as one.

Anyway for business purposes don’t just introduce yourself as “ARTIST”, what kind of artist are you?

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 26: Unique

Do you exist as an unique human being or are you an unique combination of human beings?

Let’s take an example, imagine you want to become an illustrator. You might have an unique style of rendering an image but that style is the result of many influences you have been exposed to.

This idea of being unique has to come in part from the belief in soul, the importance of the individual in a democratic society which is the best system we have come up so far.

Before I say anything stupid you have to understand the nuance for the benefit of balance in my statements.

Between “You are the same as your social group” and “You are the only version of yourself that exists” there are many versions.

It all comes down to the question of what your goal is, the goal linked to the meaning you have assigned to your life. Your opinion, your contribution is important not because you are unique but because we are all different.

I think uniqueness can lead the unwise to become self centered whereas thinking you are different makes you consider about the state of others. And if you are wise you might even take a moment to put yourself in others’ shoes.

Bonne journée.