Avignon; The Popes Palace

I was able to go on the trip to Avignon to see the Pope's Palace with the Travel Portfolio class twice while I've been here since I am, or rather was using the palace as reference for my pages in Visual Storytelling II. It was really impressive, if not as....High Gothic as I wanted it to be.

Regardless, I really thought that the general history behind why the pope moved there because of all the turmoil in Rome at the time and all the changes that had been made to it over the years because the Popes that lived there kept adding and changing things was really interesting. When we were able to actually go inside, I think the most interesting thing, and most disappointing thing is that during the revolution the palace was sacked and looted so none of the original furniture is still around.

Very inconvenient since I needed interior shots of what the rooms would be set up like for my comic. At least with the interiors I was still able to get a sense of just how big (or small in certain instances) that some of those rooms would be in a castle.

Oh also there were a few rooms with the frescos still on the wall, that unfortunately yet understandably so we could not take any pictures of, but it was really cool to see all the colours and patterns in the rooms like the popes bedroom and such.

On a side note, Avignon...is kind of ghetto, just saying. and the inner city has this large stone wall surrounding it which I find kind of cool. Had to protect the Pope and all that you know.

















Here is a shot from the very top of the Pope's Palace. There was a tower like structure at the top where an archer could have been situated and I wish I had had more time to stay up there and get some more photos for reference, but sadly I literally ran up to the top snapping pictures as I went and then bolted back down. I'll just have to steal photos from a few of the other students that had gone up there sooner and had more time to take photos.


Lastely, while not nearly as historically significant the rest of the things that we saw in Avignon, but just as cool is this graffitti of Bender and Zoidburg from Futurama that we saw near the parking lot where we parked the vans. I thought I would share this find.

Anguoleme

One of the whole reasons that I wanted to come to France was so that I could go to one of the worlds largest comic book festivals. And I got to say, despite all the craziness that has happened this last month (hence why I've not updated in forever) it was totally worth it. I bought way more BD than I probably should have, and my suitcase is going to way a ton when I head home in about 8 days, but that's the price to pay for beautifully coloured and overall great comics.

For the most part while we were there it was either snowing or raining, but the very last day I was actually able to get a few nice shots before it became over cast yet again. Oh, and my goodness the freakin stairs and hill there! I thought when I saw it that Lacoste would have prepared me for it, but no, that wasn't the case. Not to mention I fell in a hole from where a tile in the floor had been removed and bruised/scrapped up my knee; that was fun.... Anyway back tot he festival.

I meet a lot of really cool people. A couple of Italian guys that spoke English really well and ended up getting into a debate with Billy about politics. It was funny. I had them look at my work and gave them my contact information, whether or not I will here back from them is a whole nother matter, but one of the reasons that we were there was to try to network, so mission accomplished. I also got to meet Mobius which was a complete accident but totally awesome. We were walking past a table and noticed this really old gentleman signing books and upon doing a double take Billy and I both realized that was Mobius sitting there. If we had been a second sooner I might have gotten a drawing from him, but as it was he only had the energy to sign my book, which frankly was good enough for me.

I also meet Julien while I was on a tour at the game design school that was located in Angouleme. He's a grad game design student there, and his school was participating in the Global Game Jam, which I think SCAD was also taking part in at the time, and is why I was even there (even though I totally am not remotely involved in the game design department at SCAD)... He even has a few friends in the school with him that are going to GDC this year, so Jolie is hoping to meet up with them maybe and network a bit more. Anyway, Julien was kind enough to hang out with Jolie, Billy and I for the majority of the last day we were there, which was really fun. And now we are friends on Facebook. I'm going to try and learn French when I get back to the states so that I can try to communicate with Julien in his native language since he spent the entire time speaking to us in English. I feel it's only fair (plus if I ever make it back to Angouleme I will be able to communicate with the locals better.)

There was this really cool BD museum that had everything from Euro comics to American comics, to Manga in it which was really impressive to see all that in one place. I love that France treats comics better than the US does. I really wish that comics were taken seriously enough to have an entire musuem dedicated to the art form. Sadly I do not expect that to happen any time soon. What was also cool was there was all the murals that were around the town. I really wish that Savannah would let us paint on the side of some of those really ugly buildings around town. Heck in Anguleme, including the mural we are standing in front of they use an entire side fo the building as ad space. That's what that painting is, an ad for some comic artists BD. It's such a great way to advertise. Everyone sees it, even if they have no idea what it is for. So when they are going through a book stores comics section and they come across it, they'll be like "oh hey, i recognize this, cool!" I want to be able to do something like that.


While we were walking around we saw these people on stilts, which was really cool even if we didn't know what exactly they were for. I really like this pic mostly because how sad the man in the foreground does. Dude, you're at a comic book festival, cheer up.







One of the things that we were required to do while we were there was visit this animation school, a BD school, and some local BD and animation artists that lived and worked in Angouleme. It was really interesting to see how they set up thier schools and programs for artist. I can't emphasize enough how much more France gives a damn about comics than the states do. Going to see the studio a bunch of artists worked at made the majority of us want to move to France and just live here and do comics. The French government, provided you get accepted into their program pays for all of your schooling or for your apartment or studio depending on what program you were applying for. There were a couple of students actually seriously considering applying for a spot in the programs to see if they could work there for a year or so on their projects. I would love to be able to do that honestly, but the selection process is super intense and I don't think at this point I have the skill to get in. Would be a great experience though if I could.

Anyway there is so much more that I can say about Angouleme but for now I think this post is long enough. Maybe I'll come back to it after I get back to the states and have more time to really go over what I bought and why they are awesome.

Maison Basse, Fontaine de Vaucluse, and Pont Julien

In Treasures of Provence last week we went to visit Maison Basse, a very old French farmhouse that SCAD now owns and is renovating and I think they said they are going to turn it into a studio space or something like that. Which, I do not envy the students that would have to use that as their class space, the hike to place is fine, it's going back up the very steep hillside that sucks. I was dying after the walk back to the dorms that day.


I'm hoping to use the Maison Basse as one of my reference pieces for my final paper in Treasures class. I want to write a comparison of the accuracy of Beauty and the Beast (the Disney version, because it is my favorite) to actual provencial architecture and clothing. And carry that on to show how the accuracy of a film effects the believability of its storytelling. Hopefully I can find enough info on it to write 7-9 pages about it.




Here's a view of Lacoste from the Maison Basse, as you can see we really didn't go that far from the town. At one point someone had built a balcony attatched to the farmhouse so that they could look up at the chateau. Which we learned is a big 'no no'. Something about how you aren't supposed to look up at the castles because it was disrespectful or something like that. I imagine that the Marquise de Sade probably would have gotten off on the attention in some way...I mean come on, it's not as if he was a modest person to begin with (nor could you really see much other than the stone work of the chateau.)



I'm not sure if you can see it all that well but there are roman numerals on the wall where supposedly an ancient clock used to be. I'd believe it since parts of the farm house dates back to the Roman Empire (I think that's what our guide said anyway.)









On Tuesday, last week I became a stow-a-way on the Travel Portfolio classes bus, as I will be for every trip they take and the space is available, to go to a little village called Fontaine de Vaucluse. There were two main reasons that they were going to this particular village. 1) there is a spring that feeds the river that runs through the town that no one has found the bottom to yet (man or unmanned) and 2) because of the paper mill there. And no I don't mean like the smelly paper mill in Savannah, I mean one that actually produces the paper we as artists use.


This is part of the mill, unfortunately they weren't actually making any paper that day, but I believe we are supposed to go back to the town later this quarter and hopefully we will get to see the machines in action at that time. Over all though, even with nothing really happening it was just cool to be able to go in there and look around. The gift shop there was small but really cool because of all the different maps, cards, single sheets or even sketchbooks full of the paper they made there. I didn't buy anything this time, but I might next time.


Here is the spring that I was talking about. What you are looking at is the sources of the river. It really made me miss home because there are some beaches where the water is close to that color, though much much warmer than the spring is. It was really awesome to see the source so calm and beautiful and then suddenly there was a raging river pouring out of it. In fact the rapids are good enough for kayakers to train there (which we saw two guys doing just that.) I think they may even have smaller competitions held there, but I'm not sure.



Finally I took this as we were leaving the village. I really don't know much about the bridge other than it was really big and amazingly cool to see. I imagine it's Roman, since there are aqueducts and bridges all over Provence built by he Romans.






This is a short video I took of the source and the river it feeds.





Speaking of Bridges, on the way to and from Apt we pass this 3000 year old bridge called Pont Julien. This one I know for a fact is Roman built, and up until 10 or 20 years ago, they still let cars drive across it. They don't do that anymore, but you can still walk across it or bike across it (which I did).

To Bonnieux!

I just got back from a 11 or 12 km hike (so a 6-7 miles). It was kind of intense since I'm not in the shape that I used to be, but it was totally worth it. My legs are just going to be sore tomorrow while we are in Apt. Which may be annoying.





Anyway, we travelled to Bonnieux, which is a bit larger of a town than Lacoste, just so we could see it and wander around. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to because we ended up stopping in this tiny little restaurant bar where we met this really interesting lady that spoke English really well because she lived in the US for about 19 years. We talked about where we were from and why we were there and she told us a bit about her self. There was also this man sitting with her that I am pretty sure didn't speak a word of English that kept repeating the names of the two dogs that were in the restaurant with us. One was names Boule and the other was named
Beethoven. But that was literally all he really said to us.








The owner of the store (which Beethoven is his dog; the little one in the chair) was really kind and attempted to speak English to us, so we left him a few euro tip for helping us. I ordered a really good cup of hot chocolate (because I don't drink coffee) and the four of us that found it plan on going back again once we get access to the bikes they have available here for the students.



Oh since I mentioned the dogs....It's really strange here to see all the dogs just wandering around without there owners and not wearing collars or leashes. Not to mention that they are all allowed in the buildings, whether they are restaurants or stores or whatever.




Back to Bonnieux; we had gone there yesterday in the rain and wind, up to a church at the top of the hill. It was really quite stunning since the man that gave us our tour had built a nativity seen along with a small town inside the church. I guess the church itself isn't used that much any more except on special occasions or something, but it was impressive. If small. Oh btw it was a Catholic church. There is a history between Bonnieux and Lacoste. Lacoste used to be heavily Protestant and Bonnieux was heavily Catholic and I can't remember suring what time period, but there was a lot of blood shed because the two religions could not get along with eachother (surprise surprise.)


Tom Also drew a picture for the guy since he was kind enough to let us see the church on his own time.

Fairy Villages and Secret Gardens

A couple of the students were wandering around Lacoste a few days ago and discovered this tiny little village built into and on the wall of the path that leads to our “skype lab”. And today I got to go see it for myself, and as you can see I took some pictures. It has been dubbed it the “fairy village” (I should find out what that would be in French) and it’s quite a remarkable, cute little find. And I am sure that there will be a few sketches of it in a lot of us SEQA kids sketchbooks, along with doodles of the fairies that we have decided live there.


I guess that Jen asked Professor Gobel, our wonderful Treasures of Provence professor, if she could write one of her papers about it, and as a result he explained to her what it really was and where it came from. Apparently, the students at the Lacoste Art School that used to be here (before SCAD came in and decided that they wanted to buy it from them) started it years ago and had the school not been taken over, students from each preceding year were to add to the village. Which frankly I think is a really fun idea.


I’m curious if they would allow us to add to it, or if it’s something that they would rather let be as a way to remember the school that used to reside here.






While we are talking about somewhat magical little places that we’ve all discovered here, there is a garden, which we do have access to, that the locals and residents call the “Secret Garden”. It actually kind of hard to get into cause you have to stick your fingers between the door and the wall and unhook a latch on the inside before you can enter. And because it is still fairly chilly out and most of us are wearing gloves, it’s hard to actually manage to unhook the latch.

Anyway, there are these really cool huts made of vines that were sculptures that a visiting artist built. What’s cool is that these things were only supposed to last about 6 months, but as you can see from the photos there are still two standing (there were originally four, but they removed two of them.) Now I’m not entirely sure how long they have been here, but it’s definitely been longer than six months.






I can’t wait till we can sit in the garden (without worry of freezing our butts off in the snow) and draw, cause it has a really nice view. Though really, most places in the village do, but still, it’s a fun place to be. I assume there are flowers that will bloom when it starts getting warmer up there, considering garden is in the name. Maybe they actually have a veggi garden in there during the spring and summer. Who knows?

First Day of Classes

Day one of classes is over and I think I am content with how things are going to turn out here. I’m kind of lucky because I am only taking two classes while I am over here, and both happen to be on Mondays and Wednesdays only, so I get early weekends and have Tuesdays and Thursdays to do whatever. Which is how I’ll manage to hopefully travel with the Travel Portfolio class on some of their excursions.

Lets start with Treasures of Provence, since that is my 0900 class. Aside from some technical problems the class went smoothly. Professor Gobel is a really nice guy and seems genuinely enthusiastic about what he is teaching. I’m a little disappointed just because it really doesn’t seem like we are traveling all that much, which is sort of understandable cause we have quite a few “travel class” and there is only so much budget. But still, we have 4 days where we end up not really having class. Odd, but it’s going to be something I have to accept none-the-less. We still go visit a lot of cool places.

We’ll be visiting the following:
Glanum and St. Remy
Casaneuve (a mosaic studio)
Abbaye de Senanque
Les Bories
And of course Angouleme (or Barcelona for all the non-SEQA students) and Paris.

Since I do have Tuesdays and Thursdays to myself, I’m going to try and just walk/bike around the countryside a bit, maybe travel to some of the other towns and explore. And I do think that there are planned trips for us sometimes on the weekends, so that will be fun.

My 1630 (4:30 pm for those of you not military time savvy) class, Visual Storytelling II, was also awesome. Unlike my 0900 we won't be traveling that much if at all in Vis II, but I'm starting work on what I hope to do for my Senior Project class, so I'm psyched about that. ( I'll tell you all about it after I have some art work to go with it.) It's going to be a bit of an unusual class since technically there is a student that is taking Vis I in it, so I have a feeling that there is going to be a lot of refresher information being throw at us. But honestly, it's been about a year and a half since I took Vis I, so I'm glad that all the information I learned is going to be talked about again.

Mostly the class consisted of power points and slide shows, which was cool, because I knew a lot of the artists/art on those slides, either from having read the books, or just having looked up the artists in the past. So I felt smart as we talked about it. Always a good feeling.

Other than that we didn't do much actual work. We have homework already. 12 thumbnails from the scripts that we wrote for the class due Wednesday. Which technically I had already written in Kneece's class last quarter, so all I had to do was make sure that I used specific ref for all the locations that could be found here.

I don't think working on these pages will be too hard, unlike the script I wrote for myself for my web comics class, I wrote this one in a plot format. Which btw, I love plot scripts so much. Even when I write for myself in full script format, by the time I get to drawing the pages, I've changed my mind about what exactly I want to have happen in each panel. So the plot format makes it so I can immediately decided what I want to happen as I go as I am sketching the thumbnails. And the character acting seem to be way less stiff when work this way. My pages sucked when I worked from full scripts that I had written.

3 Days in Lacoste....we have snow.

Bon Soir,



The flight to France was an interesting one. I made it to Paris after sitting in the Cincinnati airport for five hours before a nine hour flight. Always fun. And then when I got to the CDG Paris airport I almost thought that I wasn't in the right place, but after spotting another of the students that I knew sitting on the floor I breathed a sigh of relief. In Marsielle I found out that they lost my bags. So until this evening (day 3) I was clean clothe-less. Thank you snow.

Anyway, flight aside, I took the picture you see here from the plane of the sun rising as we passed over England.


So I just have to say that Lacoste is amazingly beautiful. Especially covered in snow. Which they haven't had snow like this in a long time apparently.

I certainly wasn't expecting any snow when we arrived, but at least I was prepared. And my mother bought me the most epic waterproof hicking boots ever. I stepped in about 5 inches of water, and my feet were still kept dry. I am so thankful. But hopefully the snow will melt soon. It is kinda treacherous tho. I mean the roads are all really steep and the melting snow is icing over at night, fairly early, so it's not entirely safe to walk around past like 6 pm.


These last few days have mostly been spent just wandering around, taking lots of photos of a medieval snow covered village and I have to say it's been breath taking. I've taken over 400 photos already and I've only been here three days. I can't imagine how many I will have taken by the time I leave here.

Oh, I should mention that the food here is pretty amazing. SCAD has there own chef which is kinda cool. I've been eating really healthy which is a tad unusual for me. I had an orange today for the first time in ages. But I imagine I'm going to be in great shape when I get back from France. My legs are going to be so toned. It's crazy.


I am really looking forward to being able to explore the area without all the snow, just because it's going to look different and be a bit safer. Not that I don't love all the snow, it's stunning. I also can't wait to get out of Lacoste and go to Apt and a few other area's around the area. Cause I bet it's going to be just as beautiful as it is here. (and I"m a reference whore.) I think there is a trip to Bonnieux which I am going to see if I can go to if I have the time.


Here is a pic of the Chateau de Sade which I visited today. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting but still very cool. There was this strange statue of the Marquis de Sade which consisted ofhis head in a iron cage, and his arms crossed, but not actually attached to the head....It was strange.

I also went down to one of the quarries near here which was so amazing. It had such a ruins feel to it, I loved it. Again I want to go down there when there's no snow just so I can see more of it. Tho the freaky thing about the quarry was that there was this headless stuffed feline in a cage. No idea why but it was creepy. The one disappointing thing about the quarry was that there was a lot of graffiti everywhere, both from the locals and past SCAD students. But oh well.

Well I'm going to stop rambling now. I'm sure half of this is repetitive and boring, but i"m kinda tired and my brain isn't exactly functioning all that well atm. I should go to bed, I have both my classes tomorrow. One of which I have to be up for before 9...especially if I want to get breakfast.

Bonne nuit!