Posted By Jerzy on July 1, 2009

It’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:

• Art & Storrior Gerimi links to this interesting talk about comics economics with Jeph Loeb
• Optimum Wound’s 23 Ways for a Comic Artist to Survive and Thrive in any Economy
• Big Illustration Party Time - the definitive podcast for those seeking a freelance career
• Webcomics Weekly - A great podcast for those who want to know more about the business end of comics

Other Newsy-links:

• The BIPT Art Auction is still going! Bid early, bid often!
• Krishna Sadasivam’s first book is available for preorder! Get 2 of them!
• Art & Story now has a video podcast site!
• Still looking for voicemails with testimonials for A&S Extreme!!

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

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Tags: Artistic Development, business model, Character Design, freelancing, Illustration, storytelling, Teaching Arts

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!

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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

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:

• The Front, Part 5, pg 14, where Dick and Torpedo Black use puppets to taunt Thirsty
• Curse of the Pharaohs, pg 1
• Switch Runners, pg 4
• Diana Nock’s Imaginary Friends Forever, pg 3
• Mulligan’s Run, pg 8
• John Oxbow, Man Out of Time, pg 4
• Echoes From Asteroid X, pg 5
• Mark’s Bionic Man tribute comic

Other links mentioned:

• Krishna Sadasivam’s Rebootus Maximus is now available for pre-order!
• Art & Story Extreme!! is updating Mondays through Thursdays!
• Mark and I were guests on Big Illustration Party Time, episode 23!

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

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Tags: Adobe Illustrator, Color, Composition, dialogue, fonts, Lettering, Word Balloons

Posted By Jerzy on June 16, 2009

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:

• Art & Story Extreme!! episodes Equestrian!!, Elbow!!, Kids!!, and Yayus!!, where Mark, Sara, and I wrapped up our experience on a day-by-day basis
• Art & Story Alive! episode 70, where Mark, Krishna, Ryan Dow, and I did an informal discussion about the event
• Kids Read Comics podcast episode 03, featuring a recording of one of the panel discussions from the event
• Photos of the event on our Flickr page

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!

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

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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:

• The Big Illustration Party Time Benefit Auction is running now! Ends next week, so get in there and bid to show your support of the BIPT guys!
• Kids Read Comics is this coming weekend! Come on out and say hello to Mark and me.
• Art & Story Extreme!! is still going, and will be updating extra days this week.
• Tiny Hamilton and the second edition of Echoes From Asteroid X are now on sale in our Etsy store!
• The entire 6-part video series of my Graphic Novel Academy is now online for viewing!

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

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Tags: brainstorming, Character Design, character development, structure, theme, Writing

Posted By Jerzy on June 3, 2009

We 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:

• Be sure to check out Art & Story Extreme!! our new daily (Monday-Thursday) show!
• The Kids Read Comics! convention is less than 2 weeks away!
• The Big Illustration Party Time Benefit is still going strong, with lots more entries posted. Why not throw in your hat and draw for a good cause?

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

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Tags: all-ages, organization

Posted By Jerzy on May 26, 2009

To 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!

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

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Tags: Process, teaching, Teaching Arts

Posted By Jerzy on May 19, 2009

This 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!

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

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Tags: brushes, digital tools, Inking, Penciling, Process, tools, Winsor Newton Series 7 Sable brush #2/3

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 Theory

Form and structure

• Anatomy
• Draftsmanship
• Detail

Fluidity

• Gesture
• Acting
• Movement

Line

• Penciling for inks
• 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 page

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

• Equalizers of The Divide, page 1
• Equalizers of The Divide back cover
• The Cosmic Adventures of Gena Kranz, page 8 pencils
• The Cosmic Adventures of Gena Kranz, page 8 inks
• John Oxbow: Man Out of Time, page 19 pencils
• John Oxbow: Man Out of Time, page 19 inks
• WAR! pencils
• WAR! inks

Other links mentioned in this episode:

• Google Sketchup - A great resource for designing buildings and vehicles
• Art & Story Extreme!! - Our new daily podcast
• Art & Story 57 - The ep where we covered Thumbnailing, the step that precedes penciling for us.
• Art & Story 46 - Mark and I go deep into our process with lots of examples while talking about our comic, Switch Runners
• Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comics From the Ground Up - A fantastic resource to help you with your environments in your comics

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

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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:

Information 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

Panel 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
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!

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

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Tags: Art, condensed storytelling, Layout, Lettering, page layout, Visual Rhythms