Ortega, Jace - 024

I like to submit comics to the signal newspaper but recently I've been having difficulties coming up with ideas. I don't like forcing anything on myself so I figured I'll just draw for fun until I come up with something I like.There's not a lot of incentive to submit comics for them anyway, so I'm under no obligation to (unless they pay me). I wanted to go back to my routes for a little bit and draw traditionally rather than digitally. Recently I've been absolutely captivated by Gustave Dore's work:   I liked this image so much that I wanted to flesh out the story of Jacob wrestling God in comic form. It would go like this:   Jacob is alone sitting at a fire, contemplating the flame, filled with anxiety. All of a sudden, he sees a flash of light in the forest. He runs over to investigate. In the darkness Jacob sees two eyes like beams pierce his soul, it stands up on its legs like a bear of 8 feet tall. The creature attacks Jacob, but Jacob fights...

Last Thursday my former roommate/PAL (peer academic leader), who was fired from his job in housing due to accusations from another former roommate, invited me to attend a dinner party for housing students that made it on the dean's list. Of course, I didn't make the list, I went as his guest, I don't even know what my GPA is. I had forgotten that he invited me. It wasn't until he phoned me during my intro to drawing class that I was reminded. I called my drawing instructor to the side and whispered if I can leave class early to attend the event. He practically announced to the entire class that I was allowed to leave because I was ahead of everyone else because they failed to follow instructions on our last assignment. Although I know I'm outperforming everyone, it's another thing to hear it from the instructor every class. What a way to inflate one's ego. At the time I held myself in such a high esteem. I likely carried myself in a "pompous" man...

I have a better outlook on college. My mindset has shifted and I want to learn new things. I realize that the ability to articulate and form arguments is the most powerful tool one can learn from college. You become a force to be reckoned with if taken seriously. Just look at all the greatest heroes and villains in history. Of course, I'm just regurgitating what I've learned from someone greater than I am. I'm also more optimistic compared to last semester. As a result, the chaos in my life has become manageable. Now there is only one thing that is spoiling my college experience. One of my roommates has finally shown his true colors. From the beginning I never really liked him. He was a religious ideologue type. A hypocritical one at that. I still gave him the benefit of the doubt because that's what I'd want anyone to do for me. It wasn't until the beginning of this semester that I had a genuine reason to dislike him. He's been known to have petty...

Pardon my terrible punctuation Recently a good friend of mine asked me if I could refer to her with male pronouns, Gender being a subject that is rampant upon most college campuses. It's a subject I wanted to avoid all my life but now I had to deal with it head-on. I told her no and she respected that. But the situation made me upset and frustrated toward her even when there was no clear reason as to why. I truly wanted to know why I was frustrated because frustration is a catalyst for knowledge, wisdom, and character building. My reason for saying no was because I was brought up to refer to people who I recognize as female as she and her. Being the heterosexual male that I am, I'm pretty good at recognizing and distinguishing who is and isn't female, most likely because of evolutionary purposes. The way these distinctions are manifested by my speech is through the use of female pronouns. To refer to a female by anything else would be fundamentally false by my stan...

3 days ago one of the journalism people asked me if I'd be interested in creating a comic strip for the December issue of the newspaper. I emailed her for further details on what the paper would like me to make. She said I have full creative license over the comic strip--whatever I'm interested in--as long as it's not too graphic or controversial. I probably had the scheming grin of the Grinch upon reading the message. How far can I push the limits of whats acceptable in the paper? How bizarre can I make it? These thoughts were flooding my head until I read: " I am thinking like the artists who do 'Peanuts' or 'Family Circle.'" She would like it to be in the styles mentioned, I'm guessing because it will be around Christmas. I was gonna throw the suggestion right out the window but I figured it would add to the absurdity of what I plan to make while also satisfying the theme of Christmas. So the comic goes like this: a student cries for help ...

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I love art for its aesthetics, skill, and storytelling.  In printmaking, we were instructed to make thumbnail sketches for the ideas we had for our next project (this one is about portraits/self-portraits.) We do this before every project and every time I don't have any sketches ready to show. It's not that I'm lazy, well I am, I just don't have any good ideas until I'm pressured to. The instructors go around giving suggestions to the students about there sketches. Everyone had sentimental stories and meanings behind their sketches. When it came to me, I did not.  I have a philosophy that if I have to explain what is going on in my art than I have failed as an artist. I don't care about deeper themes or meanings, at least that's not my top priority, I mostly care about how it looks. He told me I was very combative. Perhaps, but it's because I want to be a comic artist or animator and meaning is always ...

On Friday the 13th, there was a first-year seminar picnic at the University Pergola for students in the first year seminar classes. My first-year seminar class being the comic seminar. I went in hopes of having comic related discussions with like-minded individuals and perhaps make new friends, specifically with a frizzy-haired girl of dark complexion who wore glasses. I go out of my way to sit next to her each and every class. The August I arrived at Stanislaus to settle into the dorms was the first time I saw her. It was during a stupid icebreaker game where somebody goes in the middle of everyone's formed circle and says something they're interested in and everyone who has the same interest scrambles to find another spot in the circle. When I was in the middle I said comic books, and she was the only one who stepped out of the circle. The second time I saw her was during an assembly dinner for the dormies. She had a shirt of my favorite anime JoJo's Bizzare ...