Cartoon Wonderland: 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Jail Comics Deleted Scenes and Outtakes

Hi everyone, the comics I drew while in the LA County Jail System are up online, you can see them here. LA WEEKLY SITE

*Update... here is the unedited interview I did for 90.7 KPFK's show Deadline LA https://soundcloud.com/deadlinela/jail-cell-cartoons

So before they come out, here is a little treat: some outtakes that didn't make it into the final cut.

This was the very first comic I drew. Just a little sketch on a scrap of paper torn out of the back of a book. There was this godawful dish they served us at dinner that resembled oily catfood dumped on overcooked noodles. It was literally the worst food I have ever had in my life. To cheer up my roommate (and myself) one night after being served that garbage I drew this comic. And then I decided to draw a couple more.

The food and lack of exercise made you constipated. So you were constipated (which isn't pleasant on it's own), and on top of it you had to poop openly in front of another human being. One day I drank cup after cup of hot water and paced around saying this little prayer to myself. The fact that I am sitting here now writing this to you is testament to its success.

The "school" part of the jail was where you wanted to be. The regular teacher was excellent, and we covered some great material, like the difference between relationships based on power and control, and ones based on respect and equality. Anyways, he was great, but one day he was out sick and we had a substitute who was literally bat shit crazy. She got up in front of the class and spent hours just spouting off this cornucopia of false information. Things that didn't make any logical sense or have anything to do with each other at all. The above comic is all direct quotes she said during class that day. Yes, she even said Stephen Spielberg made the Jetsons! Huh? You know those movies where a huge meteor is about to strike earth, and one guy knows it and no one will believe him? That's how I felt listening to this trash, and then trying to explain to people afterwards that the "teacher" was full of crap. Everyone was so conditioned to believe a teacher knew everything that they thought I was the one who was wrong. It was awful and bizarre all in one.

I was over-detained in the jail. People sentenced to a year or less serve between 10 and 15 percent of their sentence, and at that point I had been there around 18 percent. They had also transferred me to a jail where no one was "county" (less than a year) but me. None of the deputies would listen to me and I started to feel like something was very wrong. I wrote this note in the hopes that it would get someone's attention and get me out of the jail. It worked. Later that day someone called me down and explained to me that no mistake had been made, but oddly enough the next day they let me go. Jailers, like all authority figures, have a difficult time admitting they are wrong.

Stay tuned for more comics and writing tomorrow, and go pick up an LA WEEKLY paper January 1st.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Cartooning the Head and Figure

Young cartoonists: here is a good book to study from, Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. It has a lot of good ideas for construction drawing and charts of noses and eyes, etc. if you feel like you've been drawing the same thing over and over.

Here is a study I did.

Never stop studying.

Elana

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Will This Ever Be Finished?

1st Half Circus from Elana Pritchard on Vimeo.

Not without some kind of funding.

I did the first half on a bamboo tablet, but it's frustrating and takes twice as long as a Cintiq would. I need some decent equipment, not to mention money to live on. Anyone who animates knows how time consuming full, finished animation can be.