The Seneca Collective Issue #2: New Beginnings by The Seneca Collective

#2 the new beginnings issue:

FREE! take one!

new beginnings illustrations new beginnings comics collaborative mural

interview with

andrew gregoire, character animator!

Zine copyright © 2014 by The Seneca Collective. All art and characters contained within are ™ and copyright © 2014 by their respective creators. All rights reserved. The Seneca Collective is registered with the SSF as a club but is not directly affiliated with Seneca College itself. The Seneca Collective logo designed by Amanda Sandland. Cover illustrations by Nathan Younger and Andrew Gregoire. Editors: Amanda Sandland, Tim Lai and Armin Karimloo www.thesenecacollectivezine.tumblr.com E-mail: senecacollectivezine@gmail.com Twitter: @TSCzine

Contents Contributors......................................................................2 A New Beginning................................................................3 Illustration Showcase........................................................4 Fanart Showcase.............................................................26 Comics Showcase............................................................28 A Collaborative Mural.....................................................34 Podcast Spotlight............................................................40 Website Spotlight............................................................41 The Andrew Gregoire Interview......................................42

Contributors Amanda Sandland Editor/art director

Website: www.sssandland.tumblr.com

Armin Karimloo

editor/coordinator Website: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

Tim Lai

Editor/reviewer/interviewer Websites: www.timlai.brushd.com, www.lemon-inc.com, www.timlai.tumblr.com Twitter: @timrlai

bob hagan

contributing artist Website: www.alabastermoon.tumblr.com

gwen tingston

contributing artist Website: www.nathanyounger.deviantart.com, natecyounger.tumblr.com

nathan younger

contributing artist/cover artist Website: www.nathanyounger.deviantart.com, natecyounger.tumblr. com

samantha tomlinson contributing artist

Website: www.sammytsketches.tumblr.com Twitter: @sammysketches

Zachary Gusky

contributing artist Website: www.zachguskyarts.blogspot.ca

A new beginning It’s a new year and a new issue of The Seneca Collective, a bimonthly illustration zine. This issue we have all-new illustrations and comics, a collaborative mural and an interview with Seneca Animation graduate and author of the webcomic, I Am Arg, Andrew Gregoire! This is an undertaking of the School of Communication Arts and Animation students of Seneca College, to spread the visual arts student’s work around campus, as well as the Toronto area. So, if you attend Seneca College for visual arts and would like to submit to our zine, feel free to submit to the next issue. Here’s what you need to know to submit: • Submissions are only open to those who are currently attending or have previously attended Seneca college! • Submissions will be printed as BLACK/WHITE/GRAYSCALE because colour printing is insanely expensive! Please keep this in mind for your submissions! In some instances we may accept submissions with VERY LIMITED colour. Please consult us about this. • Submissions must fit within a 5.5” by 8.5” page (double paged spreads are allowed, just make it 8.5” by 11”). • Submissions must be submitted as JPEGs or TIFFs and be AT LEAST 300 DPI; 600 DPI is preferred. • When you submit any sort of submission, we’d love it if you include a little doodled self-portrait for the contributors page. Grayscale photos are also acceptable for the contributors page. • NO EXPLICIT PORNOGRAPHY (some nudity is fine), EXTREME GORE, EXCESSIVE SWEARING (just bleep it out!) OR HATESPEECH IS TOLERATED. • Please try and avoid all copyrighted media! We’d really like to not get sued! Any copyrighted media included in submissions will be denied. This does NOT include fanart. You can submit that. Just don’t submit other people’s work. • E-mail all submissions to SenecaCollectiveZine@gmail.com, or visit TheSenecaCollectiveZine.tumblr.com and use the submission form. • Each contributor will receive some copies of the zine to distribute however they’d like! We’ll have to be able to give it to you at the school, however; we will not be sending out copies in the mail, as that’s rather expensive. If you cannot receive your copy for whatever reason, we’re also putting together PDF versions of the zine, so we can e-mail you one! -Amanda Sandland, Tim Lai & Armin Karimloo, Editors

illustration showcase Every issue The Seneca Collective will have a suggested theme which will be used by the artists as inspiration for their illustrations. These themes will be simple words or ideas. The theme for this issue is NEW BEGINNINGS. This theme may be interpreted in any way which the artists choose.

Artists: Pages 5 to 6 by Nathan Younger Pages 8 to 9 by Bob Hagan Pages 10 to 11 by Armin Karimloo Page 12 by Zachary Gusky Pages 13 to 15 by Samantha Tomlinson Pages 16 to 18 by Tim Lai Pages 20 to 25 by Amanda Sandland

nathan younger

bob hagan

Armin Karimloo

“Tribute To Battlefield”

zachary gusky

Samantha tomlinson

tim lai

Gwen Tingston

Amanda Sandland

Fanart showcase Every issue The Seneca Collective will have a suggested theme which will be used by the artists as inspiration for fanart. These themes will be simple words or ideas. The theme for this issue is NEW BEGINNINGS. This theme may be interpreted in any way which the artists choose. This time we have Nathan Youngerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of Loki. You could say that Lokiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always coming up with the beginnings of a new scheme.

nathan younger

comics showcase Every issue The Seneca Collective will have a suggested theme which will be used by the artists as inspiration for their comics. These themes will be simple words or ideas. The theme for this issue is NEW BEGINNINGS. This theme may be interpreted in any way which the artists choose.

Artists: Pages 29 to 32 by Nathan Younger Page 33 by Zachary Gusky

nathan younger

zachary gusky

A collaborative mural In November 2013, The Seneca Collective participated in Seneca@Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club Day where we gave out copies of the first issue

of the zine and welcomed students to submit to this issue. We laid big piece of paper over our table and invited people who came by our table to draw on it. These are the results.

podcast spotlight written by Tim Lai

Where to listen to it: www.guyswithpencils.tumblr.com/tagged/podcast Twitter: @GuysWithPencils Is it on iTunes?: Yes Status: Currently updating Why you should listen to it: Guys With Pencils is a podcast about what it’s like to work in the professional animation, illustration and videogame design industries in Toronto and the surrounding area. It’s hosted by local artists, Andrew Murray, a storyboard artist and Adam Hines, a flash animator. The hosts talk candidly about their thoughts on the industry and while it can occasionally present a dishearteningly realistic view of what it’s like to work in Toronto’s animation scene it, also highlights the many vibrant and exciting aspects of the local arts scene. Andrew and Adam will also frequently interview guests on the podcast. They have interviewed many noteworthy artists such as Scott C., Kris Pearn, Natasha Allegri, Katie Shanahan, Adriana Blake, Drew Green, Barry A. Sanders and Seneca College professor and writer of Skullkickers and the Samurai Jack comics, Jim Zubkavich among others.

website spotlight written by Tim Lai

Website address: www.brushd.com Twitter: @brushd Type of website: Portfolio hosting Fees: Free option with 20 image limit or Pro option with unlimited images and pages at $12/month What it is: Brushd is a free portfolio hosting site which allows you to upload up to 20 images to your portfolio for free. The site provides many easy to use and customizable portfolio layouts that would be suitable for illustrators, animators, graphic designers or photographers. With the professional and user friendly design and the high customizability of Brushd’s layouts, Brushd makes for a much more professional alternative to using a Deviantart gallery or a Tumblr or Blogger account for your primary portfolio. Brushd also allows for a high amount of social media integration, allowing you to sync your Tumblr, Deviantart, Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts among others with your Brushd site. You can even set up your Brushd website’s blog so that it will update whenever you update any of those accounts. While Brushd has many positives I have noticed that it can occasionally be pretty slow to load when you’re using some of the more complicated layouts, particularly if you have a lot of images on one page. I also can’t recommend paying for the Pro option yet since at $12/month it’s more expensive than hosting your own website.

The andrew gregoire interview edited by Tim lai

Every issue The Seneca Collective will interview a professional artist about what it’s like to work in the visual arts industry. Our new interview is with Andrew Gregoire a local Toronto based animator, cartoonist, illustrator, and the author of the online comic strip I Am Arg, which can be read at www.iamarg.com. You can view more of Andrew’s art on his DeviantArt page at www. iamarg.deviantart.com. Tim Lai: Could you provide a brief overview of your career so far? What area(s) of visual art have you been involved in? Animation, illustration, comics, graphic design, etc? Andrew Gregoire: I’ve been all over the place in terms of an Art career. I started just after high school making websites for bands and doing freelance illustration. Since I was three I’ve always wanted to be an animator, so in 2004 I went into the Art Fundamentals program at Seneca College and that really whipped me into shape. I applied for Animation Arts the following year and spent 2 years learning classical animation before taking the Maya Animation stream in my third year. During my time at Seneca, I worked on a documentary feature and was a teaching assistant in both life drawing and Animation. After school I worked on various TV shows and short films and started my own web-comic “I am ARG!” in may 2011. TL: Do you make a living off of your art? If so, what areas of your art do you make your living from?

AG: I do, I make my main living as a Character Animator and supplement it with the income I make off my web-comic. TL: Could you name some of the clients or studios which you have worked for? AG: I’ve worked for the National Film Board of Canada, Seneca College, Core Digital Pictures, Gallus Entertainment , Nelvana and Pipeline Studios. I’ve also done various freelance projects and Illustration gigs based around the web-comic community. TL: I understand that you yourself are a graduate of Seneca’s own Animation program. Would you care to let Seneca’s current animation students know what is in store for them? What advice can you give to students to make their time at Seneca successful? AG: Don’t be too specific in your skill set. Don’t be JUST a modeler, or be JUST a rigger. Broaden yourself. It’s a little different with animators, but animators that know another skill set are valuable and you’re more likely to get a job that way. Also, don’t do unpaid internships. Your time is better spent making your demo reel more polished to get a paid job. Spend your free time Life Drawing. Go to extra life drawing and sit in on other life drawing classes if you can. Life drawing has taught me to see things I couldn’t see before in my art and animation. It’s taught me to see mistakes I’ve made and informed me how to fix them. Life drawing man. LIFE DRAWING. TL: How did you get your first job in your field? AG: I applied for a paid internship through Seneca College, did a test piece of animation and was accepted onto the project. After that I applied to Gallus, showing some of the work I had done on the short film “The Spine”. I did some test pieces of animation for a show and was offered the position. TL: What advice can you give to visual arts students about how to get work in the industry?

AG: Make a strong demo reel, portfolio or whatever it is that’s required for the job you’re applying for. Pick only your best pieces and if you’ve got doubts leave it out. Show a range of stuff but make sure it’s all good. That’ll get you in and at that point, be a nice person that does great work on time and you’ll probably never have trouble finding work again. Probably. It’s a small industry, especially in Toronto and word of mouth about people has been huge. I’ve gotten interviews just on the word of mouth about me or a lead from a show recommending me.

“Life draw. Life draw everyday if you can. Man Life drawing was the single best thing I did to improve every facet of my art and animation.” TL: You have recently self-published a printed edition of your webcomic, I Am Arg. Could you describe what was involved in getting your book printed? Do you have any advice for someone who is thinking about self-publishing their own work? AG: It was always a dream of mine to have my own book. It was a lot of work. And definitely a learning experience. I started an Indiegogo campaign to determine whether or not I even had the audience to do it. Turned out I did. I then took all my hi-res comic art and formatted them for the book, laid it all out in InDesign and made PDF’s. I applied for an ISBN with the Canadian Government (ISBNs are free for canadian authors!) I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for a great printer. I eventually worked with a printer in Quebec that was gracious enough to go over the whole proofing process and then sent them the finals to print my book! My advice is keep your layouts simple and easy to read and invest the money in decent quality paper. It’ll show. My book feels like it’s worth the $15 I sell it for. There’s lots of great resources out there for self publishing a book. like Webcomics.com and Webcomics alliance.

TL: What is an average workday like for you? AG: I animate for 8-9 hours, 4-6 hours of commuting back and forth from the studio and home and then making comics for another 4-6 hours. I barely sleep during the week. That’s my schedule and I fully understand it’s ridiculous. TL: Could you describe your workspace? Do you work from home or in a studio environment? AG: I keep my desk space at work simple. I used to have a bunch of figurines around, but they just get dusty and the whole desk looks cluttered. I keep a sketch book and a cup of coffee around. Sometimes whiskey. At home I use a two computer setup. I have a Tablet PC which acts as a portable cintiq that I do all my comics and illustration work on and then I have my main comp for reference, music and movies. My wife and I split the office space. Her side is yarn and her computer. My side is computers, art books and Lego. TL: What materials do you use? Do you work traditionally, digitally, or both? Are there any materials or software programs that you would recommend or any that you avoid using? AG: I animate primarily in Maya, that’s what work uses so that’s what I’ve gotten used to. I use flash for 2D animation for freelance. For illustration and comics I mostly work digitally in Photoshop. I’ll ink in Manga Studio 5 because it’s inking tools are amazing. If you can’t afford Photoshop I recommend Manga Studio it’s great and if you’re looking for a cheap sketchbook program Autodesk Sketchbook pro is amazing as well. I did the first year of comics entirely in Sketchbook pro. TL: You use a lot of social networking sites such as Twitter and Tumblr to promote your work. Which websites or services do you personally find to be the most effective for promotion and why?

AG: I primarily use Facebook and Twitter and occasionally post to Deviant Art. I’ve built the ARG Facebook group up so much that there’s now a ravenous horde of readers anxious for a new update right at midnight. Facebook also lends it self well to having a comic go viral. I find Twitter a great way to talk to other cartoonists and readers and it’s actually lead to some freelance work. Deviant Art is just another giant community I can throw my work at, plus it’s lead to some nice commission work. I have sharing tools on my comic site so readers can share the strips to reddit and other social media sites which is more genuine than me trying to promote comic on those sites alone. I also have a small advertising budget. (Editors note: you can find Andrew’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IamARG, follow him on Twitter as @iamarg and find his DeviantArt page at www.iamarg.deviantart.com.) TL: I know that you have been exhibiting at local comic and gaming conventions such as ConBravo and FanExpo. Have you exhibited at any other types of events? Which of the events that you have been to have been the most successful, professionally and personally? AG: I exhibited at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle earlier this year and while not a financial success, it was still a great experience. I met so many awesome creatives and readers there that it made it worth it professionally. I’m going back next year. I’ve found both FanExpo and ConBravo to be really great cons for me. Financially and professionally. I was a guest at last years ConBravo and had a blast giving a talk about webcomics at a panel and meeting local readers. I was consistently busy that convention. Fanexpo is huge but I’ve always done well there. I love meeting readers, that makes my convention. TL: Who are your favourite artists? Is there anyone who you feel that visual art students need to know about? AG: Bruce Timm. Everybody should love Bruce Timm.

TL: Do you have any skills that are unrelated to art that have helped your career as an artist? AG: I play drums, it makes me crazier I guess. TL: What has been the most challenging aspect of your career so far and what have you done to overcome it? I think overcoming my self doubt has been the hardest part. I think every artist has some self doubt but you can really only go forward if you try. So I just go for it now. When it doesn’t work out, you’re still only at the same spot you were before so what’s the harm. TL: Where do you see your career going in the next five years? Ten years? AG: I’d like to still be animating. It’s fun for me and I enjoy it immensely. I would love to make comics all day too, but there’s not much job security in webcomics. If I can get the comic deal stable I’d make comics for the rest of my life. TL: Do you have any other general advice for visual arts students? AG: Life draw. Life draw everyday if you can. Man Life drawing was the single best thing I did to improve every facet of my art and animation. TL: Do you have anything that you would like to promote? AG: I guess I can promote my geek humour webcomic, “I am ARG!” at www.IamARG.com.

Well, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the end of this issue. Look for issue #3 in March 2014! For information on submitting to the next zine go to: www.TheSenecaCollectiveZine.tumblr.com

A bimonthly collection of Seneca Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest illustrations, comics, doodles and much, much more. Want to contribute? For more information, visit us online at: www.TheSenecaCollectiveZine.tumblr.com E-mail us at: SenecaCollectiveZine@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter at: @TSCzine