Frankly, it is hard to believe that we have reached the midpoint of the Fall 2024 semester. That being said, I am cruising along with my art classes at Marywood University.
In my Basic Illustration class, we are currently in the process of creating our very own comic book! For the project we are required to create our own, unique character, formulate at least two pages of the comic book, and illustrate the cover. Strangely enough, our professor is having us create the cover last. One would assume that the cover would be created first. However, my professor explained that our cover would have a stronger impact if we create it after we have our character and comic pages fledged out. He also mentioned in the creative field of comics, covers are generally created last. Anyways, as it stands at the date of writing this post, I am currently finished with my comic pages and character!
Comic Character: Bonkers
Bonkers The Clown:
Bonkers is your standard clown head from the infamous carnival water gun game where the player’s objective is to fill the clown’s mouth with water in order to pop the balloon. Bonkers takes on a humanoid form draped in carnival tent fabric. His hands are the water guns. Don’t be fooled by his pleasant smile. He is fed up with being filled with water. With an evil agenda to kill anyone who dares to mess with him he filled his guns with acid. Any unsuspecting player will meet their acidic demise when faced with Bonkers.
Comic Book Pages:
I opted for a cartoon design with hard, black outlines. Black outlines are often seen in comic books so it was something I wanted to incorporate in my own. As for a color palette, I stayed very limited. Besides grayscale, I only utilized red and green. I chose red to illustrate the circus, and the complementary color green to illustrate dramatic contrast with the acid.
The background is illustrated with black watercolor to enhance the ominous ambience. Also I purposely occasionally colored out of the lines to illustrate the messy, humorous personality of Bonkers while also capturing the old timely carnival feel.
WRAP-UP:
Overall, pun intended, I am having a “blast” creating my comic book and I am excited to continue with the second half of my semester at Marywood University in the Marywood University Art Department.