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A review by saroz162
The Bristol Board Jungle by Bob Pendarvis, Mark Kneece, Megan Levens
2.0
My boss handed me this book just before she left the state to start a new job. Her husband was very into writing and drawing "sequential art" (comics), and my guess is she got it through him. She knew that, as a writer, I had an interest in comics creation and would probably find it interesting.
And I *do* find it interesting, even if the concept is a little insular. Basically, it was written by a pair of sequential art professors from Savannah College of Art and Design, with each chapter illustrated by a different one of their senior students. There's a variety of art and styles in the book and I think every reader would find at least one or two that "gelled" for them. All of that is good. However, the story follows these self-same professors teaching a class of new students as they become aware of how sequential art works. And that's fine, too, but unless you know these people (and I don't) there's not really much to it. All of the characters are archetypes, some more common than others. Even the professors boil down to "the strait-laced one" and "the zany one." I think I would gain more if I knew these people, or if - frankly - I was an artist. I look at things strictly from a story perspective, and I recognize that this book is basically meant for artists who are really interested in things like line width and panel placement. I understand the significance of those elements, but I can't say I really find them interesting, per se.
Overall this book feels like what I assume it may well be - a "textbook" written by two professors to use in their own classes. That's fine. If I knew a burgeoning young comics artist I mind well hand it to them. For my purposes, however, it's simply a pleasant little examination of the different styles that are possible in sequential art. It took me about 45 minutes to read, and that was good enough for me.
And I *do* find it interesting, even if the concept is a little insular. Basically, it was written by a pair of sequential art professors from Savannah College of Art and Design, with each chapter illustrated by a different one of their senior students. There's a variety of art and styles in the book and I think every reader would find at least one or two that "gelled" for them. All of that is good. However, the story follows these self-same professors teaching a class of new students as they become aware of how sequential art works. And that's fine, too, but unless you know these people (and I don't) there's not really much to it. All of the characters are archetypes, some more common than others. Even the professors boil down to "the strait-laced one" and "the zany one." I think I would gain more if I knew these people, or if - frankly - I was an artist. I look at things strictly from a story perspective, and I recognize that this book is basically meant for artists who are really interested in things like line width and panel placement. I understand the significance of those elements, but I can't say I really find them interesting, per se.
Overall this book feels like what I assume it may well be - a "textbook" written by two professors to use in their own classes. That's fine. If I knew a burgeoning young comics artist I mind well hand it to them. For my purposes, however, it's simply a pleasant little examination of the different styles that are possible in sequential art. It took me about 45 minutes to read, and that was good enough for me.