30DaysComics Day 21 Movie Night

#30DaysComics Day 21 - "Movie Night"

There's always someone who either wants to sit directly in front of me when there is nobody else in the theater, or someone in my row has a very small bladder and has to squeeze across my seat in the most inopportune times.

30 Days Comics Day 20 Land Grab

#30DaysComics Day 20 - “Land Grab”
This is a little weird. :)

#30DaysComics Day 19 - A Dimension of Sight & Sound

#30DaysComics Day 19 - “A Dimension of Sight & Sound”
Trying out a silent comic for one of these.

30 Days Comics Day 13 - "Small Talk"

My newest submission for 30 Days Comics challenge. I tried using a fun palette instead of coloring it more realistically. I think it made it pop a big. Reminds me of the cartoon "Witch's Night Out."

As you can tell, I hate small talk while trying to dash in and out of a store. Less disingenuous human interaction, the better.

30 Days Comics 11 Asthma

45 minutes before November 11th, I was able to squeeze another page for #30DaysComics. I’m having fun using this time to experiment with storytelling, layout, and color palette. Generally I aim to print my minicomics, so more often than not they are grayscale.

Figured I would try a more contemplative entry, almost journal comic like.  I find thoughts on the day or even researched pages like my Jack-o-lantern page easier than jokes. Jokes just don’t fall into my lap, I have to squeeze them out of my brain all day like the final drops of toothpaste in a tube.

I like this one quite a bit. I wonder what other asthmatics would think of it.
Regarding the art. My brush pen died after the 2nd panel. I have to order more from Jet Pens. Can you tell the shift?

Side Note: I have Captain America vs The Asthma Monster comic framed in the living room with several other cherished comics.

30 Days Comic Challenge Day 7 - Pacific Rim

Drew this a few days ago, but hadn't much time to finish inking or coloring it until today. Really slacking with this 30DaysComics  challenge! Well, if anything, I am working out some ideas. Some are interesting, and some are duds. I'm not sure if people will like the ridiculous absurdity of this one.

My Comics Process Part 2

If you haven't yet seen part one, please check it out here!

So since part one, I have drawn thumbnails for my pages. The thumbnails are atrocious, mostly just scratches and near stick figures. The thumbnail process is essentially doing long hand division by hand on scratch paper before writing the final answer on an exam. On the thumbnail stage, I need to make sure the page make sense and carries the story. Once I'm confident it will work, I start penciling, ruling out panels, then inking.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Page 2 of 8

Page 3 of 8

Page 4 of 8

The first thing I like to do is rule out the panels. I use a ruler and pencil them, then I set the ruler aside and rule it by hand. I actually was thinking of just digitally ruling my panels for precision, but since my portfolio review with Jen Vaughn, she made me see how well it complements the art in a hand done style.

After I ink the panel borders, I start penciling the pages. I think part of the reason I've been so pokey slow with this project is because I've been working  in sequence. Since I have a script, I have thumbnails, I don't really need to work in sequence. My last project, Clashing Swords, I think I worked faster for two reasons. 1) I worked on 8.5"x11" pages and 2) I jumped around to the pages that intrigued me at the time. Opening this comic has been a little tedious, which is why I haven't inked page 1 yet. If I start page jumping, I think I'll get moving a little quicker.
Regarding paper size, I actually switched from 8.5x11 to 11x14 after inking two pages. I felt things were getting too tight on such small paper, and needed to move up. Also, with  every new project, I'm trying to add one or two new tricks to my bag. For this project, I want fuller backgrounds, which means bigger paper. Redoing two pages kind of killed some of my drive. But now that I have three complete pages, and page one is coming along, I have mojo again.

Seeing your finished work pile up builds mojo. It's like magic. I remember having the pile of pages for Clashing Swords, plus interior spot illustrations, and the cover and feeling like I just did a triathlon. I think that's what drives those artists who make Odyssey or Ulysses size comics.

Now it's 1:05am, and time to crash. Hoping to get page one completed, then I'm going to return to the script and see which of the final pages excites me the most and get cracking. My deadline for this project is August 1st, which means wrapping up by the 15th so I can set time aside for toning, lettering, and file prep, then finally printing and putting together the books.

My "portfolio" review

So Saturday was probably the craziest day ever. My niece had a graduation party, her graduation, I had to help with her senior all nighter party, and right between it all I had to shoe horn in a portfolio review at the Saranac Arts Projects building. Sadly, I had to miss a portion of her lecture because I was so short on time.

Artist Jen Vaughn was having a little tour across the US, talking comics and cartooning, and doing portfolio reviews. Somehow this didn't end up on my radar until the night before, so instead of a traditional portfolio, I had her review my Clashing Swords comic. I kind of liked it that way, she was able to see a complete eight page story, my craftsmanship of putting together the book, and it was my most recent work.

She had a lot of great things to say too! I was kind of surprised by that. I guess after reading portfolio review horror stories for years, I imagined I was going to be fed to a mutant lion-shark. She was quite the opposite, she was very kind, and actually interested and engaged in everyone. She said that my toning was really great because it draws the eye where it needs to focus on. She liked my varying line weights. She also pointed out that I didn't use any dialogue captions to "explain" the story, and instead just stuck to dialogue on the sequential pages. She said it's always better to show than tell.

I told her that my next project I'm going to try hand lettering. She really liked that idea, because the balloons and text do stand out a bit, clashing against the hand drawn art. She liked that I free-handed the panels, because it helped carry the hand tooled feel of the art. I'd have to thank Gabriel Ba for that cue, sometimes you have to mimic those you are impressed by!

She also suggested I check out Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim's Dungeon graphic novels, Carl Bark's work on Uncle Scrooge comics, Little Lulu, and Archie. She said that the last three are really great at telling stories of various sizes.

I am glad I was able to make it downtown Saturday to meet up with her, she really boosted my confidence in making comics. Now it's time to get back to the drawing board. I want to have a couple more mini comics to show her at Emerald City Comicon next year!

24 Hour Comics Day Challenge!

It's that time of year again! The 24 Hour Comic Challenge is fast approaching - this international event, now in it's 8th year, will be held October 1st - 2nd, 2011.

The Challenge is simple; you have 24 hours to create a 24 page comic - this means writing, drawing, lettering, all in one 24 hour period. This is the 5th year that the Challenge has been hosted in Spokane, and this time there will be two locations available for local participants.

The Comicsmiths' Guild will be hosting the Challenge, in a location that should be very convenient for those in the Spokane Valley area or coming from across the border in Idaho. You can RSVP at the Facebook event page: 24 Hour Challenge - Spokane Valley

The Valley Challenge will run from 8 am Saturday to 8 am Sunday, and will be held at:
Otis Orchard Community Church (Annex Bldg.)
23304 E Wellesley, Otis Orchards, WA 99027

Guild members will be in attendance, and there will be additional activities for attendees - we'll have updates on activities as more information becomes available. This is a kid-friendly, all-ages, event and all are welcome!

If you'd like to find more information about the Challenge, and 24 Hour Comics in general, please see the official website: 24 Hour Comics Day