• Art & Story Photostream

    Setting up for Comic Book Academy

    Pied Piper Play Begins

    Door Prizes!

    Setting up for my character design workshop

    Another shot of our table

    Another look at Artists' Alley

    More Photos
  • What is Art & Story?

    It is a weekly podcast where two comics creators share their experiences making comics and try to wrap their brains around the larger ideas behind their chosen art form. We are published creators, we also self-publish, we make webcomics, and we lead comics workshops. You can email us at artandstory-AT-gmail-DOT-com.

    Art & Story 96 - The Big Money

    Posted By Jerzy on July 1, 2009

    moneyIt’s all about the bills this week as we answer a question from Stef of Sarah Zero–namely, how do we make money doing what we’re doing? And what does all this nerding out over comics process junk have to do with making the monies?

    It may surprise none of you to hear that we believe that delving deeply into the process of comics making figures in largely to making a living as a cartoonist. We break down our strategies for survival into the following categories and sub-categories, explaining at every point how our love of comics has made us more marketable to clients:

    Freelancing

    • Comics
    • Illustration
    • Storyboards
    • Character Design
    • Logo Design

    Teaching

    • Illustration
    • Storytelling

    Links related to this episode’s topic:

    Other Newsy-links:

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  096 - The Big Money [98:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story Video Podcasts Are Go!

    Posted By Jerzy on June 29, 2009

    We’ve finally got the site up for our video podcasts, with a couple already in the can! We’ll be updating the site more in weeks to come, so stay tuned for that.

    One of our first vidcasts features a tutorial showing some of the strategies I like to use when lettering comics with Adobe Illustrator:

    Lettering with Adobe Illustrator, Pt 1 from Art & Story on Vimeo.

    You can subscribe to our video podcasts using the feed links in the sidebar to the left.

    Like I said–more to come!

    Art & Story 95 - The Big Balloon II

    Posted By Jerzy on June 24, 2009

    This week we try to answer an email from Storrior Jose Gonzalez, specifically about some tricky word balloon uses he plans on trying in one of his comics.

    We take the opportunity to revisit a topic we haven’t formally explored since episode 08–namely the role and function of word balloons in a comics narrative. We broke our discussion into the following areas of concern:

    Definitions

    • Word Balloons
    • Thought Balloons
    • Caption Boxes
    The Front, by Jerzy Drozd

    Marmalade Bear and Yuki Bear, as played by Dick and Torpedo Black

    Theoretical

    • Balloon shape
    • Distance between the text and the outside of the balloon
    • Tails & Trunks
    • Fonts/hand lettering
    • Color

    Practical

    • Allowing space in the illustrations for balloons
    • Using Adobe Illustrator to letter our comics

    We’ve also created a video podcast to show some of our Illustrator techniques, as supplementary material for this episode!

    Other examples mentioned in this episode:

    Other links mentioned:

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  095 - The Big Balloon II [94:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 94 - The Big Chelsea

    Posted By Jerzy on June 16, 2009

    Kids Read Comics!The first Kids Read Comics convention is over, and we’re back with our full report of the event. We’re joined by Sara Turner for a blow-by-blow retelling of the event along with our commentary and analysis.

    Overall, we agree that the event was a great success. While there were a few minor setbacks and conundrums that faced both the artists as well as the organizers, the positive outcomes easily outweighed any frustrations.

    More links to check out for Kids Read Comics coverage:

    Also, we’ve added a new Thankcast to our site, featuring a discussion with Sara Turner about our top 3 film influences on our work. Contribute any amount via the buttons on the upper left of the website to get access to it. And thanks for your support!

    Follow Mark, Jerzy, and Sara on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  094 - The Big Chelsea: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 93 - The Big Open Source Protagonist

    Posted By Jerzy on June 10, 2009

    Mark and I return to the creative end of the spectrum in our comics discussions this week with a modeling exercise first explored in Episode 53, only this time we focus on creating a protagonist.

    We turned on the mic and let you listen in on our process of generating an idea for a protagonist/hero starting from scratch. Some of the techniques used in our discussion include:

    • Starting with a theme
    • Starting with a premise
    • Starting with a plot
    • Letting the visuals determine our choices
    • Inspiration from other sources

    But as we stated during the discussion, there’s no one “tried and true” path that we use every time, and had we chosen a different starting point for our character, he/she would have turned out differently. This discussion is more or less a means to let you in on the back and forth in our decision-making process, and to show how ideas can quickly be thrown out to make way for more interesting ones.

    We’d love to hear your take on our starting point. You can email us or post your thoughts in the comment thread.

    Other links/news of note:

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  093 - The Big Open Source Protagonist [87:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 92 - The Big Anthology

    Posted By Jerzy on June 3, 2009

    Sugary SerialsWe answer some listener email this week, and it just so happens that two of the questions are about our experiences running and participating in the Sugary Serials comics anthology.

    Robin White asks us about our experience with the business end of starting a comics anthology, specifically:

    I’m wondering about how you deal with contracts, expectations, etc, with contributors to Sugary Serials.  I’m sure the creators retain copyright of their creations, but what do you offer them in terms of payment, if anything?  I think you’ve said on the show that you haven’t made much money off the project, but what if you do?  Are the creators going to receive a cut or do you guys get to keep it?  Do the creators sign a contract with you before you use their material?

    From there we cover some topics that not only apply to an anthology, but any comics project–having a clear vision for the project, knowing how to express that vision, drawing in the right people to participate in the project, and managing contracts and compensation for all parties involved.

    Links and tips mentioned during this segment:

    • Private forums (PHPbb is a decent one): good for managing a group project
    • Basecamp, from 37 Signals. You can sign up for a free, one project account, and it’s a terrific tool for managing a group project

    We then move on to answer an email from listener Mark Harmon, who asks us to share our thoughts on marketing all-ages comics at conventions. Long-time listeners will no doubt recall our experiences at Wizard World Chicago versus our time spent at events like the Detroit Urban Craft Fair, but we revisit the subject in an attempt to explore some options that cartoonists have when thinking about a potential audience for their project. The most interesting part of the conversation, for me, was hearing myself suggest that maybe pointing out that it’s an “all-ages” comic is not the best idea at a convention, book show, or art fair.

    Other news/links of note:

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  092 - The Big Anthology [91:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 91 - The Big Teachable Moment

    Posted By Jerzy on May 26, 2009

    classroomTo our (pleasant) surprise, we got some requests for more information about our roles as workshop leaders/teaching artists, so we spend this episode exploring some of the strategies we’ve developed in bringing comics content to the classroom. I like to think that this topic also speaks to general ideas of fostering one’s own creativity in the studio as well.

    For more on our teaching check out:
    • Teaching For The Future episodes 102 & 103: Host Dave LaMorte interviewed me about my work in the classroom
    The Idiot Engine Podcast, where I talked art philosophy with the amazing Ted Seko
    • The Ann Arbor District Library website, featuring a video of one of my comics workshops

    Also, be sure to check out Art & Story Extreme!! our new daily (Monday-Thursday) show!

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  091 - The Big Teachable Moment [98:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Big Art & Story Party Time - Episode 2

    Posted By Jerzy on May 19, 2009

    asbiptlogo-smallerThis is part two of a special podcast crossover event with the fellas of Big Illustration Party Time. In Episode One we explored some of the more theoretical aspects of inking–the roles of form and structure, draftsmanship, as well as the role of the line itself and how we use them to communicate what we want in our illustrations and comics.

    In this second half we explore the practical aspects of inking: what tools do we use and why, how tightly we ink, how inking differs between inking one’s own work and inking the work of another, and what our procedures are when inking a page of artwork.

    We refer to several examples throughout our conversation, all of which can also be found in the show notes to Episode One, but here they are again for your convenience:

    Kevin Cross’ Monkey Mod:

    A page from Mark’s Mulligan’s Run:

    Some examples of my inking procedure on The Front:

    A reminder–Episode One of this crossover event can be found on the Big Illustration Party Time website. You can’t have Episode Two without Episode One, so check it out!

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  Big Art & Story Party Time - Episode 02 [88:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 90 - The Big Pencil

    Posted By Jerzy on May 13, 2009

    This week we spend the majority of our discussion on penciling–that is to say, the preliminary drawings we do before taking them to final printable art. While we pencil using actual graphite and paper, I think our exploration easily applies to illustrators and cartoonists who work entirely digitally.

    We break the discussion into the following areas of concern:

    Penciling Theorypencils021

    Form and structure

    • Anatomy
    • Draftsmanship
    • Detail

    Fluidity

    • Gesture
    • Acting
    • Movement

    Line

    • Penciling for inkspencils03
    • Type of line

    Penciling Practical

    Tools

    • Blue line
    • Graphite
    • Digital Process
    • Lightbox Process

    Tightness

    • Penciling for yourself
    • Penciling for others
    • Line/production values

    Procedure

    • 1st stage blocking
    • 2nd stage blocking
    • Final pencils
    • Using a lightbox vs. doing all the art on one pagepencils01

    We refer here and there to some examples of our own pencils and inks:

    Other links mentioned in this episode:

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  090 - The Big Pencil: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Art & Story 89 - The Big Visual Narrative II

    Posted By Jerzy on May 6, 2009

    We return to a topic first broached back in episode 85, where we explored some of the various advanced storytelling techniques available to us cartoonists in creating our narratives through visuals.

    Once again we broke the discussion into the following topics, with examples of our own work to show that we practice what we preach:

    The Replacements, Book 3, pg 26Information Compression
    • Delivers LOTS of story content with visuals–but intuitively
    • Usually takes advantage of the simultaneous nature of images on a page
    • Can be used to defy “linear” storytelling to deliver a wider sense of story or pacing
    Examples:
    The Replacements, Book 3, pg 26
    Equalizers of the Divide, pg 1
    Closing Doors, Part 1, pg 7

    Multi-Moment Panels
    • Economical–get multiple moments out of one panel
    • Can lend a “zoom” to pull back from a subject and regard a larger scene
    • Can’t be happening all at once, so the cartoonist must construct the scene to guide the eye through the sequence in proper order
    Examples:
    Galactic League of Marshals, “The Ballad of Silver & Gold” pg 6
    Switch Runners, pg 12

    The Front, Part 5, pg 14Panel Unity
    • Can be used to lend a rhythm to an overall scene through repeated use of similarly-sized panels
    • Shape of panels is less about “time” as they are about symbolic and tonal unity
    Example:
    The Front, Part 5, pg 14

    Panel Border Unity
    • Can lend tonal rhythms within a page
    • Offers opportunity to use the symbol of the panel to communicate the tone
    Examples:
    The Front, Part 2, pg 10
    The Front, Part 2, pg 16

    For more comics that use these techniques (much more effectively than we do!) check out the following books:

    Links mentioned this episode:
    Basajaun, by Rosemary Van Deuren
    Guy Davis
    Matt Feazell
    The Second Thankcast!Another reminder–a new Thankcast, a recording of my presentation called “Why Superheroes Communicate to Us” is available for a contribution amount of your choice. Just check out the buttons on the top left of the site!

    Follow Mark and Jerzy on Twitter!

    Subscribe through iTunes
    RSS Feed

     
    icon for podpress  089 - The Big Visual Narrative II [109:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download