More Memories from The Getty Villa

We went on a Wednesday, when the museum is only opened to schools and educational groups.


The Getty Villa staff was fantastic! They granted us a room so we could work and go over our story progress and sketches. They lent us audio devices so we could all learn more about the artistic and cultural background of the artifacts that related the most to our Herakles graphic novel project.


Finally, without the general public there (and less people altogether), it was much easier to sketch!

Immersing Graphic Novel Artists in the Age of Herakles

A few weeks ago, all of us, students, professor, and a surprise guest, Richard Pose (a frequent contributor to the Flight Comics anthology) met at the Getty Villa in Malibu to discover the art and architecture of the Antiquity. Although the layout and architecture of the Getty Villa derives from Roman houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum (and not Greece, the territory of Herakles' Twelve Labors), the majestic residence and its incredible collection of Greek art and artifacts gave us a glimpse of the visual experience of living 20 centuries ago. Roman artists also admired their Greek predecessors, and so Roman art often includes many Greek influences. Last, the Getty Villa contains an important statue of Herakles, the "Landsowne Herakles."

The Herakles Graphic Novel Project

It's a go! 29 students are writing and drawing the 19 chapters of the graphic novel of the life and labors of the legendary Greek hero, Herakles (Hercules in the Latin version). The class as a whole has fine-tuned the story to make for a less episodic and more passionate saga, thus giving it a "personalized" signature. When all 95 pages are scanned, lettered, and laid out, they will constitute a labor of their own that you will be able to read and own from Lulu.com.