Alternative Comics Studio Tour and Commissioned works

OASIS ALTERNATIVE HIGH SCHOOL TOUR at Wolselly Street...

Another extensively exhausting day in the life of an Alternative Comics artist. This morning I cleaned studio because I couldn't find my pen cap, blank drawing boards, or ink refills or just about anything at all! This place was a mess. Then two o’clock I met up with a group of students from the OASIS Alternative School here in downtown Toronto. I took the Kids on a tour of EXTEMPORE STUDIOS a shared workspace and gallery were I hold  my business meetings. I showed them how the co-op works and shared with them all the advantages of working with a group. Then we got into the comics. I told a bunch of stories and the kids asked a lot of good questions. They really got into it, I haven't had this much fun since the streets!

OASIS STUDENTS at Extempore Studios

Following the studio tour we walked through graffiti alley and I took the group over to the Wolselley street mural (first picture). The class is focussing on public art and murals for the next few weeks and will studying the likes of Diego Rivera and Freda. I think they enjoyed seeing a large scale local monster-piece as an introduction to there new studies. It was really fun to take them over and show off the wall. After the March break I'm going to go into the alternative school and do a little lecture and live painting demonstration. It's going to be really wild and the kids, a rowdy as they are, seemed to enthusiastic towards the HEY APATHY! ideologies.

Following the question and answer sessions I made my way back to the home studio (where I do most of my non-business business) to get some drawing done. I worked on the Gary Bartz portrait throughout the afternoon and got enough of the outline done to post a picture below. More updates on Gary's construction and new pages of the online comic are on board (in ink) for tomorrow. I'm extremely tired!

 

Gary Bartz portrait in progress