In this episode, Adam and Palle discuss a wide range of topics. Whether it’s the inside scoop on Palle’s techniques as an artist or the various ways and differences artists are treated and respected between Denmark and the United States. They even touch on taxes. Taxes! We know, what do taxes have to do with comics? Well, directly, not much. But in the overall grand scheme of things, no one can escape them. Even underpaid artists.

Make sure you give the Gutter Talk podcast a rating and review on iTunes and check out the MakingComics.com site for all your comic creating needs.

Palle’s Links:

Palle’s site (@Palle_Schmidt)

Stiletto

Thomas Alsop

Comics For Beginners

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this first episode of 2019, which was admittedly recorded in 2018, Adam is joined by writer, artist, director, and overall swell guy, Graham Annable. If the name sounds familiar, it could be because he was a guest on the podcast a few years back. However, there’s a pretty sizable chance you know the name from his wonderful work, such as the Laika production, The Boxtrolls, which he co-directed. It could also be from the hilarious and sometimes poignant sketches and comics, Grickle. Or maybe it’s from his more recent graphic novels, Peter & Ernesto, in which he is both artist and writer. And as you’ll see, most recently, part-time editor.

Graham’s Links:

Graham’s site (@grickle)

Graham’s books, including Peter & Ernesto

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We have bold new experiment ready for you to enjoy this week – the very first ComicFuel Workshop podcast! Bizhan Khodabendeh’s “Panel Layout: The Golden Ratio” from 2014 is our most popular article ever posted on our website. So, for season 1 of Gutter Talk we’ve decided to revisit the article in the form of a FREE WORKSHOP.

That’s right! We said FREE WORKSHOP!!!

I hear you asking:

“But, Patrick… This is just a podcast. How is a podcast a FREE WORKSHOP?”

Great question! The idea is super simple:

1. If you haven’t yet, read through Bizhan’s Article “Panel Layout: The Golden Ratio”
2. Come back to this post at MakingComics.com/guttertalkpod
3. Start playing the podcast and follow along with the tutorial below
4. Skip ahead to the future and you will have 1 full page of comic art completed that utilizes Bizhan’s Golden Ratio theory.

I told you it was simple. (I know, that last step is a doozy).

This is a crazy experiment for MakingComics.com and the Gutter Talk ComicFuel series. We want to know if you liked it, if you hated it, something was confusing, or even if you just want to say hi. All of the feedback is welcome and encouraged. To give us feedback, comment below or email us at patrick@makingcomics.com.

Oh, and hey, if you like this episode please let us know by signing up to be a Patreon patron, giving us a one-time donation, or giving us a tip on the RadioPublic app.

For your convenience we’ve broken the podcast down into chapters:*

• 00:00:00 – Pre-Roll Ad
• 00:01:30 – *NEW* ComicFuel Theme Song
• 00:02:17 – Patreon Updates
• 00:04:10 – Show Intro
• 00:06:14 – Bizhan Introduction
• 00:10:55 – Workshop Agenda, Goals, & Deliverables
• 00:12:28 – Materials Overview
• 00:19:04 – Step 1: Thumbnailing
• 00:27:07 – Steps 2 & 3: Page Layout 1
• 00:33:54 – Steps 4 & 5: Page Layout 2
• 00:42:53 – Step 6: Penciling
• 00:52:44 – Step 7: Refining Pencils
• 01:01:00 – Step 8: Inking
• 01:14:03 – Steps 9-11: Refining Inks
• 01:25:25 – End of Lesson & Next Steps
• 01:27:31 – “Flats” Definition
• 01:32:31 – Closing The Loop: Golden Ratio
• 01:36:51 – Closing Credits

*If you are versed at all with “enhanced” podcasts, we’ve also included chapter markers directly in the episode so you should be able to jump to sections fairly easily from within your podcast player. If none of that makes any sense – ignore me.

Credits

Lesson & Photos by Bizhan Khodabendeh (@mendedarrow). Support him and his work by visiting MendedArrow.com.

All music was graciously provided by our friends “Another Dead Clown” from the instrumentals of “This May Not Work.” Support Another Dead Clown by purchasing their albums at: https://anotherdeadclown.bandcamp.com/

Music Tracks, in order of perception:

• Pre Roll Ad – Fuzzy Analog
• New Show Intro – Akashic Fields
• Transitions – “Space Demons” by Christopher O’Keeffe
• Step 1 Break – For the Aeroplane & 27 Second Kiss
• Step 2 – Evas Guitar
• Step 4 & 5 – Akashic Fields & Holy Fuck
• Step 6 – Penny Proposition & Eight Miles To Ludlow
• Step 7 – Pyramids
• Step 8 – Guns & Currency & Frank O
• Step 9-11 – Drinking Song & Spencer’s Bad News

The Golden Ratio Workshop

Audio Walkthrough

The Objective

To complete a full page of comic art utilizing Bizhan’s application of the Golden Ration compositional theory.

Materials

If you are interested in downloading all photos used below in high resolution, the script below, comic page templates (in both 11×17 & 8.5×11 – multiple formats), and more then we got you covered! Go check out our Patreon page where a donation of $2 a month will get you a download of all the materials for the workshop: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

Required Materials:

1. Pencil & Eraser
2. Pen (Specific ones outlined below, but any will do)
3. Paper (11×17 suggested, but copy paper can be made to work) 
4. A ruler

Suggested Materials:

1. Mechanical pencil
2. Bristol paper
3. Printed template
4. Light box
5. Staedtler 01
6. Staedtler 03
7. Pentel brush pen
8. Uniball white gel pen
9. Eraser

00:19:04 – Step 1: Thumbnailing

1.) Sketching thumbnails of page: I usually sketch multiple thumbnails per page because my first solution often isn’t a very strong solution. It’s also better to figure out a concrete solution before hand so that you aren’t constantly adjusting to make a better page.

00:27:07 – Steps 2 & 3: Page Layout 1

2.) This can be done beforehand, but you need to transfer your printed copy of my template to the paper. To do this we use a light box which makes it easier the trace an image. Sandwich the template between the box and a sheet of bristol paper.

3.) Now turn the box on and trace it using a pencil and ruler.

00:33:54 – Steps 4 & 5: Page Layout 2

4.) This is what it should look like. Notice how I don’t trace the circular shapes. I just have a general idea of where they go.

5.) Pencil panel borders laid out in the sketch using the notches surrounding the template.

00:42:53 – Step 6: Penciling

6.) Next sketch your environments and characters with pencil. I use basic shapes to build them – knowing that I will add a lot of detail during the inking process. While penciling I am considering both my thumbnail and the overall grid system. I often make adjustments to my initial idea while doing the pencil drawing.

00:52:44 – Step 7: Refining Pencils

7.) This is approximately what my final pencils would look like for my page. Not a lot of detail, but enough to remind me what my plans were for these drawings and to nail down the composition. For example, all of these fish will be covered in scales, but it would be a waste of time for me to pencil every scale since I will be inking them anyways. It’s like making myself draw it twice for no reason. It’s more important for me to nail down the overall gesture of the fish.

01:01:00 – Step 8: Inking

8.) Next we start inking. I first start with the 01 Staedtler pen. I like these because they tend to take awhile to dry so I can ink for long periods of time.

01:14:03 – Steps 9-11: Refining Inks

9) Next I use the 03 Staedtler pen to fill in smaller shadowed areas and draw a thick outer line. This helps separate the character from the background – after I ink the background also with an 01 pen.

10) The larger black areas and the “alligator teeth” shadows are both often illustrated with a Pentel brush pen. To fill in the black areas with a bit of texture I turn my pen sideways almost against the page and drag it perpendicular to itself. Areas that can’t be filled in this way I use the brush as I would any writing tool.

To get the  “alligator teeth” I turn my pen sideways and press gradually harder as I pull my hand away from the tip of the pen. When these are stacked close to each other, the affect is a jagged edge.

11) I’ll now use my white gel pen to either cut into some of the black areas with highlights OR to clean up a mistake with my inking. I will also use white out tape or white out to do this.

01:25:25 – End of Lesson & Next Steps

12.) Finally I erase the pencils and this is what it looks like.

To show how it gets wrapped up which I won’t go into detail because that should be left for yet another tutorial.

13.)  I scan the inks, clean them up and add panels. You might notice that I added some dock pilings in the background. After a bit of drawing. I’ll often use parts of previously drawn pages to save time or add complexity to a panel. This is more useful with the backgrounds than the characters. Sometimes repeating a character drawing can make the comic feel stale so I avoid it unless it contributes to the narrative.

14.) Then I color the page.

• Patrick’s 4 Part GIMP Comic Coloring Tutorial Series
  • DIGITAL COLORING FOR COMICS – GIMP EDITION
  • Tutorial Part 1
  • Tutorial Part 2
  • Tutorial Part 3

15.) Finally I add the type and word. bubbles digitally.

• Patrick’s FREE Adobe Illustrator Lettering Template

With Gutter Talk’s mid-season intermission behind us, Adam Greenfield is back at it with another incredible interview – this time with Eisner Award Nominated writer and publisher Norm Harper!

This week’s episode is filled with engaging conversation surrounding Norm’s breakout comic, Rikki, and what it means to take an old, well-known tale and spin it with a fresh, comic-style twist! Adam and Norm’s conversation also finds itself exploring the ideas behind belonging to a clan and finding oneself, walking between film and comics, jumping into the world of indie comics, fighting off imposter syndrome, and starting an incredible publishing company!

Also, for those of you who love listening to the sultry voice of our host and the plethora if diverse guests on the regular, please consider helping us make more episodes by donating at least $1 to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics. Hitting our goals means more episodes, which means more tips, tricks, and insight into the comic world for you!

The Sequels Info

Intro & Outro Song

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Songs Behind Ads

“Elmore Heights” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org)

“Dirty Wallpaper” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org)

For those about to listen in for the first time, here’s a little episode information: Our hero Adam Greenfield is joined today by Graham Annable, the co-director of the Academy Award nominated movie, The Boxtrolls, as well as the amazing animator and artist behind Grickle. One of the more gracious guests we’ve had on the Gutter Talk podcast, the conversations were open windows into Graham’s thought processes as not just the great artist he is but also what it takes to be a director, even if a co-director, on a major stop-motion picture. Give it a listen, Tweet out some of your favorite moments, and let us know what you think!

The Original Episode

91: Graham Annable

Book Club Book

• Physical Book: Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths
• Digital Book [Nook]: Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths

Jump-To Sections

• [00:00:00] Support MakingComics.com Ad
• [00:00:25] Show Theme
• [00:01:10] Introduction
  
• [00:04:10] Graham Annable Book Club Announcement
• [00:06:10] Season Intermission Announcement
• [00:08:00] Season Patreon Campaign Announcement
• [00:12:50] What happened to the ComicFuel podcast?
• [00:20:15] Question #1: Am I too old to make a living off of comic books?
• [00:25:15] Question #2: How do you start outlining a big comic idea that you have?
• [00:29:27] Question #3: How do you manage a long-form comic project?
• [00:31:34] Ad Break
• [00:33:35] Question #4: How do you learn how to draw?
• [00:43:20] Question #5: Who makes comics? Only aspiring comic creators?
• [00:47:35] Question #6: How do you collaborate with a team making comics together?
• [01:01:00] Closing Statements
• [01:03:00] Show Outro

Show Notes

[00:00:25] Show Theme

[00:01:10] Introduction

— Gutter Talk Season 1 Episode 4 (115)
— ComicFuel #7
— What is ComicFuel?
— ComicFuel was a podcast started on May 14, 2016 by MakingComics.com leader, and teacher, Patrick Yurick. The podcast is a Q&A show with questions supplied from students within the “How To Make A Comic Book” MOOC on Coursera (which has over 27,000 enrolled students from all over the world). The show sometimes includes inspirational audio clips referred to as “AudioFuel”.  As defined within the first episode of the course, Comic Fuel is defined as: Any kind of inspirational piece of wisdom that directly results in the encouragement of artistry. Aka – psychological fuel, like coffee, designed to conquer your demons and keep going.

[00:04:10] Graham Annable Book Club Announcement

Announcing Our First Season Book Club Book: Graham Annable’s “Peter & Ernesto – A Tale of Two Sloths”
– More news to come
– Graham on a future episode
– Buy the book on Amazon
– Keep an eye on
— the Gutter Talk newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dGp7c9
— MakingComics.com Facebook page
— Instagram
— Twitter
— The podcast feed itself…

[00:06:10] Season Intermission Announcement

Apologies for the brevity of this episode
– Teaching animation to some of my students who are sailing around the world in a yacht.
— Not returning until the 30th
— No internet
– Mid-season break

[00:08:00] Season Patreon Campaign Announcement

– Patreon Readthrough
— Patrons: 32
— 1-5 Monica Sampler
— Pledged: $46
— Current Cost of MakingComics.com
—- Per Year: $2,100
—- Per Month: $175
– RadioPublic
— Week 1 RP earnings:
— 13 Listens
— $3.00 – New Listener Bonus
—- Total = $3.26
— Tips are live!
— Download The RadioPublic App and search for MakingComics.com Gutter Talk
— Listen to 3 episodes
– MakingComics.com
— Paypal One Time Donation
— Go to MakingComics.com
— Scroll to the bottom of the page
— Click on the link that says “One-Time Donations”

[00:12:50] What happened to the ComicFuel podcast?

– Where has ComicFuel been? (aka – updates)
— Milestones in my life
—- June 2017 – Cambridge back to San Diego
—- April 2018 – Baby due (Calvin) in January 4 2019
—- June 2018 – Podcation & Jupiter Saloon
—- August 2018 – Finished at MIT (gradx.mit.edu)
– MakingComics.com
— What is the site for?
— Is it working?
— What is the next level for the site?
— ComicFuel a little lost in that shuffle
— Season 1 of Gutter Talk Is a Great fit.
– The Wiki – comicfuel.wikidot.com
— The wiki isn’t up to date exactly
— Should the show still have a wiki? Contact me at patrick@makingcomics.com if you’d like to help curate the ComicFuel wiki.
– Past Episodes of ComicFuel
— 108: Patrick Yurick & Adam Greenfield (ComicFuel 6)
— 101: Patrick Yurick & Rachel Beck (ComicFuel 5)
— 99: Patrick Yurick & Adam Greenfield (ComicFuel 4)
— 97: Patrick Yurick, Ulises Farinas, & Lucy Bellwood (ComicFuel 3)
— 96: Patrick Yurick (ComicFuel 2)
— 95: Patrick Yurick (ComicFuel 1)
– Old Show Notes
— ComicFuel.WikiDot.com
— Old Soundcloud Stream

[00:20:15] Question #1: Am I too old to make a living off of comic books?

“I’m about to turn 43, I’m too old to start to draw comics and turn it into my work?” – Papayrus, 42, Spain

— Notes
— No
— Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (10,000 Hours) or, Alec Longstreth = 2,000 pages
— Honesty – it is hard to make a living off of comics alone

[00:25:15] Question #2: How do you start outlining a big comic idea that you have?

“I have an idea that spans many angles – it’s kind of a comic that deals with journalism/psychology/therapy – how on earth do you start to conjure up an outline when the idea is so fuzzy?” – Emma, Hamilton, New Zealand

— Notes
—- Up to you. I’d probably start with trying to format the project into a pitch packet
—— “Here Comes The Pitch” series by Jim Zub
—— Remnants from “Get A Grasp!” Course
——— How to Start Making Comics
——— Worldbuilding
——— Project Management
——— Pitching Your Project
——— My Punisher Pitch Packet

[00:29:27] Question #3: How do you manage a long-form comic project?

“How can we make long comic novels?” – Dhyaan, 11, India

Notes:
– Planning
— My Article Series on This:
— Ability Calibration
— Defining Scope
— Project Management
— Spreadsheet Tutorial
— Establishing A Schedule

[00:31:34] Ad Break

[00:33:35] Question #4: How do you learn how to draw?

“What advice would you give someone who would like to start a webcomic but has no experience in drawing, illustrating etc. as I’ve only been a reader and trying to navigate helpful articles online has been tricky.” Angus, 19, Western Australia

“How can I get started with drawing – something I’ve always wanted to do – as I have no experience in doing so?” – Frank, 30, New York

Notes:
— Just start
— Practice A Lot
– workbooks are great
— Zen Tangles
— 10 Books to Explore
– Principles & Elements of Art
— Video Explainer
— PDF breakdown
—– Elements – Color, Form, Line, Shape, Space, Texture, & Value
—– Principles – Rhythm, Balance, Emphasis/Contrast, Proportion, Gradation, Harmony, Variety, & Movement

[00:43:20] Question #5: Who makes comics? Only aspiring comic creators?

“Are there any comic artists who have backgrounds in fields other than art, graphic design, or other non-visual areas of study (literature, science, philosophy, etc…)?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– My MIT Comic
– Nick Sousanis
– XKCD & Randall Munroe
— Comics are a communication medium.
— Often the mistake is made that what we’ve commercially seen popular is what comics are (superheroes).

[00:47:35] Question #6: How do you collaborate with a team making comics together?

“What’s your advice: should we do it all from A to Z or find a more collaborative approach, say one does the script, another the environments,  the characters, and so on? If so are there any collaborative forums?” – Nuno, 33, Portugal

“How can an aspiring writer begin to collaborate with an aspiring illustrator to create a comic or graphic novel? What is the relationship like between writer and illustrator in the comic world?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– Start by knowing, as an individual, the entire process
– Collaboration requires new time in the process spent communicating
— MIT comic
— Assess your weaknesses and decide how to address them
—- Evaluate your goals
—— Commercially viable?
—— Specifically reflective of your own vision?
——— In narrative? Art? Or both?
—— Budget
—— Time

– Collaborative Forums
— Digital Webbing
— MakingComics.com Underdog community
—- Facebook group
—- Reddit
— MakingComics.com Slack
— Reddit
—- #makecomics
— Potentially Andy Schmidt’s “Comics Experience”

[01:01:00] Closing Statements

[01:03:00] Show Outro

Songs Used

• Patreon Info Segment:“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Intro & Outro Songs:“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• #Comic/Audio Fuel Segments
  • “The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
  • “Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Daily-Challenge Segment: “New Boots Rag” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

Raise your hand if you’ve ever wanted to see your comic book on the shelves at your local comic book store! Do you know what it takes to get your comics through those sacred doors and into the pulls? Besides hard work (and a healthy dose of tears), there are some fine intricacies that go into understanding what makes a comic sell. Which is why this week, Adam sat down with Glynnes Pruett, owner and operator of one of America’s (and definitely L.A.’s) finest comic shops, The Comic Hideout.

Sporting her blue hair and kick-ass attitude, Glynnes dove deep with Adam into the trends that she sees comics heading. From women’s involvement in kicking down age-old gender stereotypes and embracing comics, to building offline communities around comic books and friends, Glynnes proves that sometimes it’s best to be weird and crazy and silly as she channels that energy into fun, creative projects that make her Eisner-nominated business one of the hottest spots around and a place you definitely want your comic to call home!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

I hadn’t seen the documentary until now, for whatever reason. I think its because I know a lot about what is being covered in the doc. I remember, when the film came out, that I wasn’t sure I agreed with the premise. Watterson didn’t want attention for himself as a person and wanted his comic to speak to the public for him. I knew all of that and I remember just thinking that the documentary premise was kind of crossing a line.

Watching it – its actually really good. I like the way that the filmmakers are educating the audience on the history and process of how comics work.

But that isn’t what this post is about. About halfway through the film someone mentioned a speech that Bill Watterson gave in 1989 at a comics conference. I immediately googled it, found it, started reading and then immediately realized a copy of the speech needed to be on MakingComics.com.

And, so, here it is. If I’m not supposed to have it posted on this site – please let me know.

-Patrick

“The Cheapening of the Comics”
A Speech by Bill Watterson
10/27/1979

Originally found on brunothebandit.com

Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin & Hobbes) delivered the following speech at the Festival of Cartoon Art, held at Ohio State University in October 1989. Here he reflects on the Golden Age of comics, attacks the miserable state of modern strips, and suggests ideas on how the situation could be improved.

I received a letter from a 10-year-old this morning. He wrote, “Dear Mr. Watterson, I have been reading Calvin and Hobbes for a long time, and I’d like to know a few things. First, do you like the drawing of Calvin and Hobbes I did at the bottom of the page? Are you married, and do you have any kids? Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” What interested me about this last question was that he didn’t ask if I’d been apprehended or arrested, but if I’d been convicted. Maybe a lot of cartoonists get off on technicalities, I don’t know. It also interests me that he naturally assumed I wasn’t trifling with misdemeanors, but had gone straight to aggravated assaults and car thefts.

Seeing the high regard in which cartoonists are held today, it may surprise you to know that I’ve always wanted to draw a comic strip. My dad had a couple of Peanuts books that were among the first things I remember reading. One book was called “Snoopy,” and it had a blank title page. The next page had a picture of Snoopy. I apparently figured the publisher had supplied the blank title page as a courtesy so the reader could use it to trace the drawing of Snoopy underneath. I added my own frontispiece to my dad’s book, and afterward my dad must not have wanted the book back because I still have it.

Peanuts, Pogo, and Krazy Kat have inspired me the most over the years. These strips are different in almost every way, but their worlds captivated me. Looking back on them, I think they can teach us something about comic strip potential.

Peanuts was my introduction to the world of the comic strip, and Peanuts captured my imagination like nothing else. Because it was the first strip I read, its many innovations were lost on me, and I suspect most readers of Peanuts today have forgotten how it single-handedly reconfigured the comic strip landscape in a few short years. The flat, simple drawings, the intellectual children, the animal with thoughts and imagination – all these things are commonplace now, and it’s hard to imagine what a revolutionary strip it was in the ’50s and ’60s. All I knew was that it had a magic that other strips didn’t.

A lot of the magic for me is in those deceptively simple, stylized drawings. For me, the few lines that make up each character, their faces, and gestures are remarkably expressive. Two dots with parentheses around them have become the cartoon shorthand for eyes looking uneasy or insecure. When Charlie Brown’s eyes do that, you know his stomach hurts.

Peanuts has held my interest for many years because the strip is very funny on one level and very sad on another. Charlie Brown suffers — and suffers in a small, private, honest way. Schultz draws those quiet moments of self-doubt: Charlie Brown sitting on the bench, eating peanut butter, trying to work up the nerve to talk to the little red-haired girl — and failing. As a kid, I read Peanuts for the funny drawings and the jokes, and later I realized that the childhood struggles of the strip are metaphors for adult struggles as well.

Peanuts is about the search for acceptance, security, and love, and how hard those self-affirming things are to find. The strip is also about alienation, about ambition, about heroes, about religion, and about the search for meaning and “happiness” in life. For a comic strip, it digs pretty deep.

Of course, the strip has a flair for weird humor, too. Snoopy in goggles, his doghouse somehow riddled with bullet holes, yelling, “Curse you, Red Baron!” is, I submit, as bizarre an image as anything ever seen on the comics page. Peanuts defined the contemporary comic strip.

And Pogo? Pogo was an almost opposite approach to the comic strip. The drawings were as lush as the foliage of its Okefenokee setting, and the dialogue was as lush as the drawings. With the possible exception of Porkypine, there was not a soul-searching character in the cast of hundreds. Pogo was trusting, good-natured, and innocent, which generally meant it was Pogo’s larder that got ransacked whenever someone got hungry. Most of the other characters were bombastic, short-sighted, full of self-importance, and not just a little stupid. What better vehicle for political satire and commentary? Pogo was largely before my time, so, like Peanuts, I can only imagine how it must have shocked its first readers. Considering how controversial many papers find Doonesbury in the 1980s, one has to wonder how Pogo got away with its political criticism 30 years earlier.

Again, much of Pogo‘s magic for me was in the beautiful drawings. where the animals looked so real and animated you imagined their noses were probably cold to the touch. Part of the magic was the amazing dialects they spoke, which mangled English with awful puns and unintended meanings. Part of it was the gutsiness of attacking the fur right on the “funny” pages and pulling no punch. Part of it was the strip’s basic faith in human decency underneath all the smoke and bluster. Part of it was the rambling storytelling, where every main road to the conclusion was avoided in favor of endless detours. Part of it was that Grundoon talked only in consonants, P.T. Bridgeport talked in circus posters, and Deacon Mushrat talked in Gothic type. And, of course, part of it was that it was very, very funny. The strip had a mood, a pace, and atmosphere that has not been seen since in comics.

I discovered Krazy Kat when a large anthology of the strip was published in 1969. The book is an editorial disaster, but it did show a lot of Krazy Kat strips, and I admired the work immediately. Krazy Kat seems to be one of those strips people either love or don’t get at all. Krazy Kat is nothing but variations on a simple theme, so the magic of the strip is not so much in what it says but in how it says it. Ignatz Mouse throws bricks at Krazy out of contempt, but Krazy interprets this as a gesture of affection instead. Meanwhile, the law — Offissa Pupp — futilely tries to interfere with a process that’s completely satisfying to all parties for all the wrong reasons. This weird, recycling plot can be interpreted as a metaphor for love or politics — or it can just be enjoyed for its own lunatic charms. The strip constantly plays with its own form, and becomes a sort of essay on cartoon existentialism. The background scenery changes from panel to panel, and day can turn to night and back again during a brief conversation.

Similarly, Herriman played with language and dialect, inserting Spanish, phonetically spelled mispronounced words, slang, and odd, alliterative phrases, giving the strip a unique atmosphere. The drawings are scratchy and peculiar, but they provide a beautiful visual context to the equally idiosyncratic writing. Krazy Kat‘s sparse Arizona landscape, like Pogo‘s dense Georgia swamp, is more than a backdrop. The land is really a character in the story, and it gives a specific mood and flavor to all the proceedings. The constraint of Krazy Kat‘s narrow plot seems to have set free every other aspect of the cartoon to become poetry, and the strip is, to my mind, cartooning at its most pure.

These three strips showed me the incredible possibilities of the cartoon medium, and I continue to find them inspiring. All these strips work on many levels, entertaining while they deal with other issues. These strips reflect uniquely personal views of the world, and we are richer for the artists’ visions. Reading these strips, we see life through new eyes, and maybe understand a little more — or at least appreciate a little more — some of the absurdities of our world. These strips are just three of my personal favorites, but they give us some idea of how good comics can be. They argue powerfully that comics can be vehicles for beautiful artwork and serious, intelligent expression.

In a way, it’s surprising that comic strips have ever been that good. The comics were invented for commercial purposes. They were, and are, a graphic feature designed to help sell newspapers. Cartoonists work within severe space constraints on an inflexible deadline for a mass audience. That’s not the most conducive atmosphere for the production of great art, and of course many comic strips have been eminently dispensable. But more than occasionally, wonderful work has been produced.

Amazingly, much of the best cartoon work was done early on in the medium’s history. The early cartoonists, with no path before them, produced work of such sophistication, wit, and beauty that it increasingly seems to me that cartoon evolution is working backward. Comic strips are moving toward a primordial goo rather than away from it. As a cartoonist, it’s a bit humiliating to read work that was done over 50 years ago and find it more imaginative than what any of us are doing now. We’ve lost many of the most precious qualities of comics. Most readers today have never seen the best comics of the past, so they don’t even know what they’re missing. Not only can comics be more than we’re getting today. but the comics already have been more than we’re getting today. The reader is being gypped and he doesn’t even know it.

Consider only the most successful strips in the papers today. Why ate so many of them poorly drawn? Why do so many offer only the simplest interchangeable gags and puns? Why are some strips written by committees and drawn by assistants? Why are some strips still stumbling around decades after their original creators have retired or died? Why are some strips little more than advertisements for dolls and greeting cards? Why do so many of the comics look the same?

If comics can be so much, why are we settling for so little? Can’t we expect more from our comics pages?

Well, these days, probably not. Let’s look at why.

The comics are a collaborative effort on the part of the cartoonists who draw them, the syndicates that distribute them, and the newspapers that buy and publish them. Each needs the other, and all haves common interest in providing comics features of a quality that attracts a devoted readership. But business and art almost always have a rocky marriage, and in comic strips today the interests of business are undermining the concerns of the art.

Part of the problem is that the very idea that cartoons could be art has been slow to take hold. I talked about Krazy Kat, Pogo, and Peanuts to show that the best cartoons have a serious purpose underneath the jokes and funny pictures. True, comics are a popular art, and yes, I believe their primary obligation is to entertain, but comics can go beyond that, and when they do, they move from silliness to significance.

The first comic strip cartoonists were staff artists of major newspapers, and consequently, from the beginning, cartoonists were regarded as simple employees of their publishers rather than artists. when the creator of a popular strip left his employer, the cartoonist was rarely able to take his creation with him intact. Very early strips, such as The Yellow Kid, The Katzenjammer Kids, and Buster Brown, all appeared in two versions, one by the original creator and one by an imitator hired by the publisher who lost the creator. The comic strip came into being as a staff-produced graphic, and comics have never escaped the perception that they are a newspaper “feature,” like a weather map, instead of a forum for individual expression. In fact, despite the grim violence of Dick Tracy, the conservative politics of Little Orphan Annie, the social satire of Li’l Abner, and the shapely women that have graced dozens of other strips, the comics have somehow come to be thought of as entertainment for children. Cartoonists are widely regarded as the newspaper equivalent of Captain Kangaroo. The idea that comics are potentially one of the most versatile artforms is sadly foreign. Our expectations and demands for comics are not high.

Today, comic strip cartoonists work for syndicates, not individual newspapers, but 100 years into the medium it’s still the very rare cartoonist who owns his creation. Before agreeing to sell a comic strip, syndicates generally demand ownership of the characters, copyright, and all exploitation rights. The cartoonist is never paid or otherwise compensated for giving up these rights: he either gives them up or he doesn’t get syndicated.

The syndicates take the strip and sell it to newspapers and split the income with the cartoonists. Syndicates are essentially agents. Now, can you imagine a novelist giving his literary agent the ownership of his characters and all reprint, television, and movie rights before the agent takes the manuscript to a publisher? Obviously, an author would have to be a raving lunatic to agree to such a deal, but virtually every cartoonist does exactly that when a syndicate demands ownership before agreeing to sell the strip to newspapers. Some syndicates take these rights forever, some syndicates for shorter periods, but in any event, the syndicate has final authority and control over artwork it had no hand in creating or producing. Without creator control over the work, the comics remain a product to be exploited, not an art.

Why does this happen? As the syndicates will tell you, no cartoonist is forced to sign the ridiculous contracts the syndicates offer. The cartoonist is free to stay in his $3.50 an hour bag boy job until he can think of a better way to get his strip in the newspapers. Simply put, the syndicates offer virtually the only shot for an unknown cartoonist to break into the daily newspaper market. The syndicates therefore use their position of power to extort rights they do not deserve.

Sacrificing ownership has serious consequences for the artist. For starters, it allows the syndicate to view the creator as a replaceable part. To most syndicates, the creator of a popular strip is no more valuable than a hired flunky who can mimic the original. Some syndicates can replace a cartoonist at will, and most syndicates can replace a cartoonist as soon as he quits, retires, or dies. This attitude is simply unconscionable, but it’s the standard practice of business.

Cartoonists and syndicates alike tend to exaggerate the syndicate’s role in making strips successful. Ultimately, though, the level of sales is determined a lot more by how good the strip is than by who sells it. Reader polls across the country shows surprising consensus about which strips are good, and editors do their best to print what the readers want. The syndicates bring the cartoon to the market, but they can’t keep it there. Only the cartoonist can do that. Syndicates simply do not need or deserve comic strip ownership for the job they do.

By having complete control over the comic strip, the syndicate can ruin the work. Although there has never, ever been a successor to a comic strip half as good as the original creator, passing strips down through generations like secondhand clothes has been the standard practice of the business since it began. Incredibly, syndicates still today tell young artists that they’re not good enough to draw their own strip, but they are good enough to carry on the work of some legendary strip instead. Too often, syndicates would rather have the dwindling income of a doddering dinosaur than let the strip die and risk losing the spot to a rival syndicate. Consequently, the comics pages are full of dead wood. Strips that had some relevance to the world during the depression are now being continued by baby boomers, and the results are embarrassing.

Suppose you’re a painter and you go to an art gallery to see if they’ll represent you. They look at your work and shake their heads. But, since you show some basic familiarity with a paintbrush, they ask if you’d like to continue Rembrandt’s work. After all, you can paint. Rembrandt’s dead, and some buyers would rather have a Rembrandt forgery than no Rembrandt at all. It’s an absurd scenario, but this is what goes on in comic strip syndication.

Comic strips have a natural lifetime, and any cartoonist ought to be able to quit or retire without fear that his syndicate will hire some hack illustrator to keep the work going. It’s time syndicates stopped maiming their comic strips by passing them on to official plagiarists. It’s also time that the would-be successors of comic strips had more respect for their own talents and for the work of those who created something original. If someone wants to be a cartoonist, let’s see him develop his own strip instead of taking over the duties of someone else’s. We’ve got too many comic strip corpses being propped up and passed for living by new cartoonists who ought to be doing something of their own. If a cartoonist isn’t good enough to make it on his own work, he has no business being in the newspaper.

Syndicate ownership of strips also gives them control over comic strip merchandising. Today, newspaper sales can’t bring in a fraction of the money that licensing can bring. As the number of newspapers has diminished, and as the remaining papers run pretty much the same 20 strips everywhere, the growth of a syndicate now depends on dolls and greeting cards more than newspaper sales. Consequently, the quickest contracts are going to strips with licensing potential. One syndicate developed a comic strip after it had settled on the products: the strip was essentially to be an advertisement for the dolls and TV shows already planned. The syndicate developed the characters and then found someone to draw the strip. Lots of heart and integrity in that kind of strip, yes sir. Even in strips with more honorable beginnings, the syndicates are only too happy to sell out a comic strip for a quick and temporary buck, and their ownership and control allows them to do just that.

Of course, to be fair to the syndicates, most cartoonists are happy to sell out, too. Although not to the present extent, licensing has been around since the beginning of the comic strip, and many cartoonists have benefitted from the increased exposure. The character merchandise not only provides the cartoonist with additional income, but it puts his characters in new markets and has the potential to broaden the base of the strip and attract new readers. I’m not against all licensing for all strips. Under the control of a conscientious cartoonist, certain kinds of strips can be licensed tastefully and with respect to the creation. That said, I’ll add that it’s very rarely done that way. With the kind of money in licensing nowadays, it’s not surprising many cartoonists are as eager as the syndicates for easy millions, and are willing to sacrifice the heart and soul of the strip to get it. I say it’s not surprising, but it is disappointing.

Some very good strips have been cheapened by licensing. Licensed products, of course, are incapable of capturing the subtleties of the original strip, and the merchandise can alter the public perception of the strip, especially when the merchandise is aimed at a younger audience than the strip is. The deeper concerns of some strips are ignored or condensed to fit the simple gag requirements of mugs and T-shirts. In addition, no one cartoonist has the time to write and draw a daily strip and do all the work of a licensing program. Inevitably, extra assistants and business people are required, and having so many cooks in the kitchen usually encourages a blandness to suit all tastes. Strips that once had integrity and heart become simply cute as the business moguls cash in. Once a lot of money and jobs are riding on the status quo, it gets harder to push the experiments and new directions that keep a strip vital. Characters lose their believability as they start endorsing major companies and lend their faces to bedsheets and boxer shorts. The appealing innocence and sincerity of cartoon characters is corrupted when they use those qualities to peddle products. One starts to question whether characters say things because they mean it or because their sentiments sell T-shirts and greeting cards. Licensing has made some cartoonists extremely wealthy, but at a considerable loss to the precious little world they created. I don’t buy the argument that licensing can go at full throttle without affecting the strip. Licensing has become a monster. Cartoonists have not been very good at recognizing it, and the syndicates don’t care.

And then we have established cartoonists who have grown so cavalier about their jobs that they sign strips they haven’t written or drawn. Anonymous assistants do the work while the person getting the credit is out on the golf course. Aside from the fundamental dishonesty involved, these cartoonists again encourage the mistaken view that once the strip’s characters are invented, any facile hireling can churn out the material. In these strips, jokes are written by committee with the goal of not advancing the characters, but of keeping them exactly where they’ve always been. So long as the characters never develop, they’re utterly predictable, and hence, so easy to write that a committee can do it. The staff of illustrators has the same task: to keep each drawing so slick and perfect that it loses all trace of individual quirk. That way, no one can tell who’s doing it. It’s an assembly line production. It’s efficient, but it makes for mindless, repetitive, joyless comics. We need to see more creators taking pride in their craft, and doing the work they get paid for. If writing and drawing cartoons has become a burden for them, let’s see some early retirements and some room for new talent.

And while cartoonists and syndicates continue to cheapen their own product, newspapers worsen the situation by continually shrinking the comics to ever smaller sizes.

The newspaper business has changed. Afternoon papers are failing everywhere, and few papers are in the competitive situation that comics were invented to promote. Television brings that latest news at six and 11 in full-color action. Newspaper circulation is not increasing with the population, while newspaper costs continue to grow. Consequently, over the last several decades, newspapers have been squeezing the comics into less and less space to cut expenses.

When Krazy Kat was drawn, comics regularly ran a full page on Sunday — an entire newspaper page all to itself. Comics were like posters. Now most papers commonly print strips a quarter of a page on Sundays, and sometimes even smaller. Daily strips have shrunk, too. Strips had already lost a lot of space by the time I cut out a Pogo strip in 1969. Today, 20 years later, I work with almost a third less space than that. As comic strips are printed smaller and smaller, the drawings and dialogue have to get simpler and simpler to stay legible. Cartoons are just words and pictures, and you can only eliminate so much of either before a cartoon is deprived of its ability to entertain.

The adventure strip, a newspaper staple in the ’40s, has all but pasted away, and we’ve lost much of the diversity of which the comics are capable. It’s not too surprising. At current sizes, there is no room for real dialogue, no room to show action, no room to show exotic worlds or foreign lands, no room to tell a decent story. Consequently, today’s comics pages are filled with cartoon characters who sit in blank backgrounds spouting silly puns. Conversation in a comic strip is a thing of the past. The wonderful dialects and wordplays of Krazy Kat and Pogo are as impossible now as the beautiful draftsmanship that characterized those strips and others. All the talk about how “sophisticated” comics have become shows a woeful ignorance of what comics used to be like. Comics are simpler and dumber than ever.

The situation is ironic. All across the country, newspapers are going to great expense to add color photographs, fancy graphics, and bold design to their pages in order to entice readers away from the steady blue light of their TV screens. It is strange that after all that expense and work, newspapers refuse to take advantage of the comic strip, the one newspaper graphic that television cannot imitate. When 20 strips are reduced and crammed into two monotonous columns on one page, the result is singularly unattractive and uneffective. Newspapers pay for their comics and then refuse to let comics do their job.

Here, then, is the situation: despite the proven popularity of the comics, newspapers print them miserably, while syndicates have taken it on themselves to control, exploit, and cheapen their product. Between the two, cartoonists all but abandon the artistic responsibilities of their craft. Somehow, I can’t shake the idea that this isn’t how cartooning is supposed to be … and that cartooning will never be more than a cheap, brainless commodity until it’s published differently.

What can be done? I’m not a businessman, but I’ll toss out some ideas just to start some discussion.

First of all, we should keep in mind that newspapers and syndicates are by no means essential to the production of comics, There are all sorts of ways to publish cartoons, and if syndicates and newspapers won’t hold up their end of the bargain, maybe there’s an opportunity for a new kind of publisher. Let’s start with eliminating both the syndicate and the newspaper. Consider for a moment that there may well be a market for comic books that has never been tapped simply because comic books have traditionally been an even sloppier, dumber, and more exploitive market than newspaper comics. But suppose someone published a quality cartoon magazine. Imagine full-color, big comics in a lush, glossy format. Why not? Just because cartoons have always been treated as schlock doesn’t mean that sleazy packaging, cheap paper, poor color, bad writing, and crude art are what comics are all about. Imagine a publisher who recognizes that the way to attract readers is to give them quality cartoons … and that the way to get quality cartoons is to offer artists a quality format and artistic freedom. Is it inconceivable such a venture would work?

Or let’s say we keep the syndicates but abandon the newspapers. So long as newspapers refuse to respect the legitimate needs of the comic strip, why don’t the syndicates take control of their product and publish the comics themselves? Each syndicate could put out a weekly comic book of all its strips. Comic books originally started as reprints of newspaper comics, and they were so popular an industry was created to produce new comic books to fill the demand. Suppose the syndicate gives each of its cartoonists five pages to draw and color any way he wants, then binds the results, and sells them at chain bookstores and in supermarkets with the magazines and tabloids. Offer subscriptions, too, what the heck. Think of all the kids who unload $10 a week collecting miserably done super-hero comics, and you know there’s got to be a market out there somewhere. What syndicate is going to try something new to showcase the talent it’s collected?

Or let’s say we keep the syndicates and the newspapers. There are still ways to improve comics. For one thing, the syndicates could again take over the printing, and the comics could be sold to papers as a preprinted insert. Or the syndicates could print the insert with advertising, and let the ads pay for its inclusion in the newspaper. Either way, the syndicates could start printing their comics big, in color, and on good quality paper that people could keep and collect. If advertisers are paying for the comics section inserts, for example, editors can hardly complain that they don’t get a citywide exclusive on their strips.

Or, if we assume no syndicate has the foresight to promote the quality of its own product, at the very least one would think an imaginative newspaper editor could come up with a way to add another half-page of space to the comics section and print the work as it was intended to be published. Given the readership of the comics page, couldn’t an advertiser or two be persuaded to sponsor the comics section for a single ad of his alone at the top of the page? I don’t believe all the possibilities have been exhausted.

I admit my ideas here are rough. Obviously, if I had any business savvy at all myself, I’d lump the whole business tomorrow and self-publish — see, that’s another alternative! My point is simply that cartoons are not necessarily doomed to increasing stupidity and crude craftsmanship. With the right publishing, comics can move into whole new worlds we’ve never seen. Moreover, I think any effort to improve the quality of comics would very likely be rewarded in the marketplace. Think of the people who cut out certain comics to put on refrigerators, or to put in scrapbooks, or to send in letters, or to stick on their office walls. Give them a nicely printed, big color comic on good paper and see if they don’t jump. I think the public would respond if there was a publisher out there with an ounce of vision. For too long, syndicates and cartoonists have been congratulating themselves whenever things don’t get worse. I don’t think that’s good enough. This very weekend we’ve got syndicate executives, cartoonists, readers, and newspaper people all together. let’s knock some heads together and see what we can do. Let’s ask people what they’re doing to improve the state of comics.

I started out talking about Peanuts, Pogo, and Krazy Kat. These strips suggest a world of possibilities that cartoons can offer. Comics are capable of being anything the mind can imagine. I consider it a great privilege to be a cartoonist. I love my work, and I am grateful for the incredible forum I have to express my thoughts. People give me their attention for a few seconds every day, and I take that as an honor and a responsibility. I try to give readers the best strip I’m capable of doing. I look at cartoons as an art, as a form of personal expression. That’s why I don’t hire assistants, why I write and draw every line myself, why I draw and paint special art for each of my books, and why I refuse to dilute or corrupt the strip’s message with merchandising. I want to draw cartoons, not supervise a factory. I had a lot of fun as a kid reading comics, and now I’m in the position where I can return some of that fun. I try to draw the kind of strip I’d like to read, but I’m not entirely able to. This business keeps me from doing the quality work I’d like to be doing … and because I’m being cheated, so are my readers.

Newspapers can do better. Syndicates can do better. Cartoonists can do better. The business interests, in the name of efficiency, mass marketability, and profit, profit, profit are catering to the lowest common denominator of readership and arc keeping this artform from growing. There will always be mediocre comic strips, but we have lost much of the potential for anything else. We need more variety on the comics page, not less.

Those of us who care about the comics need to start speaking up. This is an excellent place and time to do it.

Click here to visit the Calvin & Hobbes Archive

You see, one of the most-heard bits of feedback we get from our beloved listeners is that they love listening to Gutter Talk while doodling or sketching or inking. They love the inspiration it brings as they push onward with their often tedious work. It’s sort of a way to give the brain something to focus on while the hands do all the heavy lifting.

Well, we took this feedback and we thought, “Hmm, what can we do to really up the ante in terms of entertainment and inspiration?” Suddenly the answer struck! “We’ll take our listeners to the theatre!” Adam joyously proclaimed. And thus Gutter Talk Theatre was born!

Not long after, we decided to team up with Podcation, (another project from the inimitable mind of our fearless leader, Patrick Yurick), to take you, our loyal listeners, away from your studios and drawing pads and send you deep into the furthest reaches of the galaxy, on an epic adventure filled with love, loss, and a maybe a stiff drink or two.

It is with great pleasure that Gutter Talk Theatre presents: Jupiter Saloon!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

About Jupiter Saloon

This sci-fi comedy audio drama centers on The Jupiter Saloon — a dive bar in space. It’s a place where weird characters from all over the galaxy come for a heavily poured drink, interesting conversation, and the possibility of adventure. Plus, patrons who are short on credits can settle their tab by telling a good story.

Sort of like Cheers meets Tales from the Crypt. In space!

Full credits for the Jupiter Saloon podcast are available here.

To learn more about Jupiter Saloon visit JupiterSaloon.com

Intro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ad Songs:

“Abracadabra” Silent Partner
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“Elle va au Japon” Nic Bommarito
Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
http://freemusicarchive.org

“Upbeat” Jon Luc Hefferman
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Transition:

“InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav”Herbert Boland
www.freesound.org

In case you haven’t heard (how that’s possible at this point, we’re not entirely sure), Gutter Talk is releasing in a new seasonal format. This season, we’re releasing 8 episodes each Friday – all filled to the brim with invaluable insights, terrific tools, and a little dash of Adam’s signature wit on the side. Okay, maybe a little more than a dash. You can even sign up here if you’re in the mood to get email updates (and possible behind-the-scenes goodies) from each episode on the day they drop. Because in this fast-paced day and age, a little reminder here and there never hurt anyone.

Anyhow, moving on to Episode 1! Esteemed host Adam Greenfield sits down in an unexpectedly pleasant park with artist, writer, and director Scott Marcano. Known the world around as the writer of the inimitable 90’s hit movie “Bio-Dome” and head of the Diablo Comics publisher, Scott’s enthusiasm for all things media is unstoppably contagious. Adam and Scott’s conversation jumps naturally between topics that range from video games and film rights for comics books to censorship and profanity to even the merits of print versus digital comics. This episode is brimming with deep industry knowledge that even the most battle-hardened comic creators will find enlightening. But don’t take our word for it. Give Episode 1 a listen and tell us what you think! And while you’re at it, drop us a little love on iTunes (or wherever you find your favorite podcasts) with a quick rating and maybe a review if you’re feeling especially happy to hear us back on the air!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

Scott’s Links:

Diablo Comics (@mister_diablo77)

“The Void Divine” by Corey Snowden

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Songs Behind Ads:

“Plant Food”  Nic Bommarito

Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

http://freemusicarchive.org

“Please Listen Carefully” Jahzzar

Licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License

http://freemusicarchive.org

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Ad Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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The conversation began with a discussion on their latest collaboration, The Margins, and what it meant to them as creators. After their history was dredged up, but in a good way, the talk turned to the comic creating process, from the David’s writing to Amanda’s first foray into the world of comics.

If you enjoy these podcasts and want to hear more of them, please visit our Patreon page and help us make that happen. We at Making Comics would very much like to get back to our roots and put out podcast content on a regular, weekly basis. But in order to do that, we need your help. Also visit us on iTunes and give us a rating and review. This increases the podcast visibility and more listeners means more opportunity for more content. See the big, beautiful circle we’re drawing?

David & Amanda’s Links:

David’s site  (@daccampo)
Amanda’s site (IG page)
THE MARGINS Resources:
Website:   www.TheMarginsComic.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMarginsComic/
Twitter:    @TheMarginsComics
Purchase Link:  https://fanboycomics.ecrater.com/p/30006833/the-margins

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ad Song:

“Caprese” by Blue Dot Sessions
Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License
(http://freemusicarchive.org)

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Because of this, Adam was eager to have co-creator of that series, Sebastian Kadlecik, on the show. As Comic Con 2018 neared, the well-deserved hype for his latest creation, Quince, was growing so getting to record a conversation at the convention just seemed both the wise thing to do and fate. You know, if you believe in that stuff. The conversation ranged everywhere from Sebastian’s background and growth in writing, comics, and even acting, to the necessary decisions when determining the artistic layout of scenes within a comic. And don’t mind the group of people behind them having their own good time outside of the convention. Speaking of….

Before that chat with Sebastian, you’ll hear a portion of a conversation during a Comic Con after-party about the vagueness and even capitalistic aspect of what can and can’t be released in a podcast when it comes to background noise. Participants included Gutter Talk alumni Dean Haspiel and Chris Miskiewicz, as well as Glynnes Pruett, owner/operator of Comic Book Hideout in Fullerton, CA. As stated in the podcast, no one makes a claim to be any kind of legal expert on this stuff. It just seemed applicable. And some of it was just plain silliness that needed to be shared.

And finally, please find us on iTunes and give us a rating and review. It really helps get the visibility and word out about this podcast, and in the end, more listeners and support means more content for you. Please also check out our Patreon page by clicking here.

Sebastian’s Links:

QUINCE Resources:
Website:  www.QuinceComic.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quincecomic/
Twitter:    @QuinceComic
ComiXology:  https://www.comixology.com/Quince/comics-series/86597?ref=cHVibGlzaGVyL3ZpZXcvZGVza3RvcC9saXN0L3Nlcmllc0xpc3Q
TPB Purchase Link: https://fanboycomics.ecrater.com/p/25558197/quince-trade-paperback

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Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

We at MakingComics.com are working on designing a new Gutter Talk project (which may potentially be unveiled as a panel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2018 – yes, THAT Comic-Con) and both the questions and the guests will be determined by you. We’ve been so blown away by the overwhelming positive response by learners in our “How To Make A Comic Book” Coursera course that we’ve decided we want you to be the center of what we are doing next.

But we don’t want you to just email us questions or guest suggestions.

No, we have something cooler in mind.

Using your phone or a webcam to record yourself, make a video that is posted to YouTube*. Record yourself saying your name, where you’re from, the artist or writer you want to ask a question, and your question. If you prefer to just ask a question but not for any specific guest in mind, send us those videos, too!

*Instructions included below.

Then, during the panel/podcast, we’ll play the video live and get your question answered right there on the spot. Won’t be at Comic-Con? No worries! We’ll be releasing this as a Gutter Talk podcast so you can hear if your question was asked and answered during the panel.

Read the instructions below for information on your chance to get your question featured at 2018 San Diego Comic-Con.

Start sending in your questions today!

Sincerely,

Patrick Yurick | Lead Instructor | MakingComics.com

Adam Greenfield | Gutter Talk Podcast Host | MakingComics.com

——————————————————

Video Requirements For Consideration

• Please keep your question to under a minute or less.
• Please do not do any fancy editing to the video (swipes, animations, drawings, etc.). We are planning to edit the videos all together and to do that we need “pure you” on the webcam. So try and center your head in the video. On that note: Please don’t obscure your face in the shot. Make sure it is you. And please no music underneath the audio.
• Professional attire and language please – this is an all-ages site, course, and comic-con panel.
• If you don’t have YouTube access where you are, please host it on another video site and send us the link. We can’t accept video files directly from anyone – so make sure it is uploaded and there is a shareable link where we can access the final footage.
• In your video please use this order of information flow for your video:
  • Introduce yourself (first name only, unless you are comfortable giving out your entire name),
  • then say your age and what country (and town/city if you are ok with sharing that info),
  • at this point please pause(one full breath),
  • then say the professional comic book artist and/or writer you’d like your question asked of,
  • pause again (one full breath), then state your question.
• The pauses are for us to be able to edit a montage of the submitted videos together. The other reason for the pauses is if we can’t get the creator your question is for to help us with the panel, we’d like to be able to ask another creator. If you do the pausing for us it allows your question a higher likelihood of being incorporated into the panel.
• Once you’ve made your video email it to us at makingcomicsdotcom@gmail.com

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam sits down with Jimmy Palmiotti, whose attributes run a marathon but to list a few, he created Painkiller Jane. He’s also one of the co-creators of Marvel Knights, which comes up as a discussion topic in the conversation between Adam and Jimmy. Then there’s Harley Quinn, a character in which he and his wife Amanda Conner helped increase popularity levels to great heights. Oh, and Painkiller Jane… and Deadpool… and the Punisher… Also, Jimmy is the co-founder of PaperFilms, along with (again) Amanda Conner, and has some pretty amazing talent on board, like Justin Gray, Craig Weeden, Frank Tieri, and more. Pretty impressive.

Make sure to also subscribe in iTunes or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Also, please, for the love of all that is podcast holy, give us a rating and review. We won’t hold it against you if you don’t but you’d be our new best friend if you did. And who doesn’t want more best friends?

Jimmy’s Links:

PaperFilms (@jpalmiotti)

Killing Time in America (Kickstarter)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Because there are many questions to get to, not all of them will be answered in this episode. But if you are one of the ones that sent in a question and didn’t hear yours in the next hour and twenty or so minutes, have no fear. Adam and Patrick are planning on sitting down and recording another episode and, if needed, will record yet another until all questions are answered. It is the least we in the podcast department here at Making Comics can do.

In this episode you’ll also hear Adam provide a little reasoning behind why it’s almost April and this is the first episode of 2018, as well as Patrick talking about future plans with the Making Comics site. Oh, and “The Man from Kurosawa,” which… well, just listen. It’s better that way.

Our info:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

If you’ve listened to the first half and are ready to go, enjoy. Again, if you’re a weirdo and haven’t listened to the first half yet, you’ve been warned.

Again, this is the first half of the two hour conversation. The second half should already be in your podcast feed, or you can find it here in this separate post. No, we’re not trying to confuse you. Keep you on your toes, maybe. But not confuse you. Definitely not confuse you. In this case it may just be an unfortunate side effect, and for that we apologize. However, we won’t try to stop you if you want to head over to our Patreon page and help us figure out a way to make this not happen again.

Dean’s Links:

Dean’s site (@deanhaspiel)

The Red Hook on Webtoons (The Red Hook)

Harakiri Kane play

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Well, now that we successfully planted that ear worm, today’s Making Comics Gutter Talk episode with Jessica Abel deals a lot with chaos and the things creative folk like us can do to not only minimize the chaos but (*GULP*) even get things accomplished, too. You know, like that comic you’ve been sitting on and tinkering away at here and there for the last seven years. Or one of the many short-lived attempts at something cool that you think you’ll eventually get back to… even though deep down you know you won’t. Okay, you get the picture. Point is, this podcast and Jessica’s latest book, Growing Gills, can help.

We also take a brief look back at how Jessica became the teacher and artist she is. And if you ask her, which Adam did, if she considers herself an artist or a teacher, she’ll straight up tell you…. Wait, did you really think we’d just tell you what she said? Well, it was worth a shot. Take a listen to the podcast and find out.

Also subscribe on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use. Be sure to rate us, give us a review, or even bake us some cookies. We wouldn’t turn away cookies. But most of all, it’s the rating and review we’re after.

Jessica’s Links:

Jessica’s site (@jccabel)

Growing Gills (book)

Audience building course on 9/10/17

Other books

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

The last time Adam and Lucy spoke was way, way back in January of 2015, nearly two and a half years prior to this talk, and at the time, Lucy was just starting to toss around the idea of doing a Kickstarter project for a Baggywrinkles book. Well, since that time, not only did she start and fund that project, she’s just finishing up yet another Kickstarter project that was also funded, and this time in about 24 hours. Yes, that sound was your jaw hitting the floor. We’ll wait for you to pick it up….

Listen in as Adam and Lucy discuss her pride and joy and struggles and fears with not just her current endeavor, the 100 Demon Dialogues, but also with being an artist on an overall level. From self-care to the financial burdens and planning as a freelance and independent artist, all of it is in play.

Also be sure to subscribe on iTunes and give us a rating and review if you haven’t already.

Lucy’s links:

Lucy’s site (@lubellwoo)

100 Demon Dialogues Kickstarter project

Crowdcast “Demons and Monsters” talk with Jessica Abel

Conosaurus (not Lucy’s site but discussed in the show)

Light Grey Art Lab residency (discussed in the show)

Emily Cheeseman’s diagram (discussed in the show)

Our links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

5 января 2014г

Разминка — ключевая часть творческого процесса. В спорте профессиональные атлеты знают, что добиться от мышц максимального результата можно лишь постепенно повышая на них нагрузки. Эта логика применяется и в искусстве, с одной лишь разницей:  хоть контролю над мышцами и уделяется внимание, но в первую очередь наши упражнения тренируют ум.

Звучит странно? Что ж, может быть вы слышали о книге Бэтти Эдвардс «Откройте в себе художника»? В ней говорится о том, что каждое их двух полушарий мозга контролирует собственные процессы мышления. У большинства людей в течение дня активно левое полушарие, которое позволяет логически и вербально ориентироваться в окружающем мире. Но мы с вами попытаемся разбудить правое полушарие, заведующее визуальным восприятием и творческим процессом. При ежедневной практике эти разминочные упражнения помогут вам значительно улучшить своё визуальное мышление.

У каждого пути есть первый шаг, если вы решили рисовать, вот с чего вам стоит начать.

У художников нет единственного “верного” способа держать карандаш, ручку…да и вообще любой другой инструмент. Вместо этого есть несколько вариантов, из которых можно выбрать наиболее подходящий каждому. На первом рисунке показан используемый также при письме стандартный способ. Он позволяет прекрасно контролировать точность движений, но степень нажатия (насколько сильно инструмент давит на бумагу при рисовании) при этом будет чувствоваться не так хорошо. К тому же вам скорее всего интуитивно захочется напрячь запястье для контроля движения при рисовании (через пару минут мы более подробно разберём этот момент).

Другой надёжный способ изображён на втором рисунке. В отличие от первого, он снимает нагрузку с кисти и позволяет лучше контролировать степень нажатия. Из минусов стоит отметить неравномерное использование инструмента (что, на самом деле, не особо важно) и непривычность использования такого хвата на первых порах.

Лично я предпочитаю первый вариант.

В этом — ключ.

Когда вы рисуете, убедитесь, что каждое ваше движение начинается в плече. Поначалу это может показаться неестественным, но вскоре вы заметите, как начнёте куда лучше контролировать руку, пользуясь плечом, а не запястьем. Попрактикуйте это движение, чтобы мышцы хорошенько его запомнили, и лишь затем принимайтесь за бумагу. Нашей целью будут ровные неспешные линии, так что держите запястье и локоть расслабленными.

Это отнюдь не значит, что вы вообще не должны двигать запястьем. Вы всегда можете использовать запястье и локоть для регулировки точности; главное, чтобы это было продолжением движения плеча.

Стоит сразу упомянуть, что представленные здесь упражнения вы можете делать в каком угодно порядке. Попробуйте заниматься ими каждый раз, когда в вашем распоряжении окажется несколько свободных минут.

Первое упражнение поможет вам немножко размяться и приспособиться к тому, что мы успели изучить в этой статье. Начнём мы с рисования параллельных линий с одинаковыми интервалами между ними.

«Но у меня ведь не получится прямая линия,» — наверняка думают некоторые из вас. И это вполне нормально. Выберите точку начала и направление, а затем плавно, начиная от плеча, проведите ручкой вдоль листа бумаги. Сосредоточьтесь на самом движении, а не на линии, которая будет у вас получаться. Затем отступите немного и принимайтесь за следующую линию. Постарайтесь сохранять линии прямыми, а промежутки между ними — одинаковыми.

Теперь нарисуйте четыре-пять параллельных линий под углом. Потом ещё несколько, но уже в другом направлении. Затем снова. Группы линий должны располагаться близко друг к другу, а по возможности — соприкасаться.

И наконец, нарисуем непрерывную петляющую линию. Изменяйте направление её движения, не прекращая выводить петли. Представьте, что ваша линия — трёхмерный объект.

Круги посложнее линий, но зато, рисуя их, вы почувствуете, насколько движение от плеча действительно помогает контролировать руку. Сам процесс будет отчасти похож на первое упражнение: выбираете начальную точку, сосредотачиваетесь на самом движении и пр. Только теперь вам придётся проводить линию, равноудалённую от предполагаемого центра круга. Вам скорее всего захочется закончить её побыстрее, но куда полезнее будет рисовать неспеша. И не волнуйтесь, если круги не будут получаться идеальными. У меня, вот, не получаются.

Затем принимайтесь за круги разных размеров. Ничего страшного, если они будут пересекаться. Чередуя малые и большие кружки,  вы со временем заметите, как растёт ваш контроль над движениями.

И наконец переходите к концентрическим (описанным вокруг одного центра) кругам. Поскольку вы уже пробовали рисовать круги разных размеров, в этот раз сконцентрируйтесь на сохранении равных промежутков между слоями одного круга. Не расстраивайтесь, если у вас не будет получаться — задача это непростая.

В третьем упражнении мы начнём работать над глубиной. Овалы рисуются почти так же, как и круги, но при этом две их “стороны” ближе к центру.

Лучше всего представлять, что овалы — это повёрнутые боком круги. Те, что больше обращены в вашу сторону, выглядят более круглыми, другие же направлены в другую сторону и оттого на вид более тонкие. Но, взглянув на любой из них под прямым углом, мы увидим круг.

Нарисуйте несколько овалов разных размеров и ширины. Если у вас не получается представить их глубину, разделите ваш круг посередине в его самой узкой и самой широкой частях. Вы увидите, где находится центр фигуры, и как изменяется расстояние до её дальней стороны, которая уходит глубже в пространство.

Пришло время объединить уже известные вам элементы в трёхмерные формы. Впоследствии вы будете постоянно ими пользоваться для построения фигур и объектов, так что все старания на этом этапе обязательно окупятся позже.

Сперва нарисуйте овал (толщину можете выбрать любую) — он послужит видимым основанием цилиндра. Представив, что будь у нас вместо цилиндра консервная банка, легко понять: взглянуть на оба её основания одновременно не получилось бы.

Затем добавьте две линии, и у нашей консервной банки наметится боковая поверхность. Причём параллельными эти линии будут, только если вы смотрите на цилиндр точно сбоку. В других случаях в дело вступает такой важнейший элемент рисования, как перспектива.  Из-за объёмности этой темы, её мы рассмотрим в отдельной статье. В двух словах: чем сильнее по отношению к вам наклонена банка, тем острее будет угол между её основанием и  боковыми линиями. Если основание по форме походит на круг, значит консервная банка будет им почти полностью развёрнута по отношению к вам. Из-за этого будут не так хорошо видны боковые линии; они не только будут казаться укороченными, но и сойдутся в одной точке, если вы решите продолжить проводить их дальше. Это называется перспективным сокращением, и согласно ему удалённые объекты кажутся нам меньше своих истинных размеров. Зато если овал выглядит более плоским, значит цилиндр повёрнут к вам боковой стороной, и она будет виднее основания. В этом случае угол схождения боковых линий будет ниже, и свести их вместе будет не так то просто.

Теперь нам остаётся нарисовать лишь кривую линию, которая ограничивает второй конец цилиндра. Несмотря на то, что не весь овал основания нам виден, некоторые предпочитают рисовать его целиком, прямо сквозь цилиндр. В этом нет ничего страшного, но я всё же советую остановиться только видимой части. Вид этой линии зависит от основания, которое мы рисовали первым. Чем круглее оно было, тем более изогнутой будет кривая (вплоть до полукруга) и наоборот.

Чтобы усвоить всю эту кучу информации, потренируйтесь изображать цилиндры разных размеров. Регулируйте наклон, изменяя ширину их видимого основания.

Более продвинутой версией этого упражнения будет нанесение поперечных линий на боковой поверхности цилиндра. Угол его наклона будет определять внешний вид линий. Постарайтесь держать расстояние между ними одинаковым. Не забывайте, что чем больше объект (или его часть) удалён от нас, тем меньше будет дистанция между линиями.

Кубы во многом похожи на цилиндры. Они – одни из самых распространённых фигур, которые вам понадобится освоить. Почти всё, что создано человеком, будь то какой-то простой предмет или целое окружающее пространство, скорее всего будет включать в себя кубические или прямоугольные формы. Поэтому зачастую нарисовать без их помощи задний план практически невозможно. Отличаются кубы от цилиндров, количеством лицевых сторон — их у кубов шесть. Все стороны соприкасаются под углом в 90 градусов. Нужно быть внимательными, ведь с ними легко напортачить и получить вместо куба не пойми что.

Сперва нарисуйте квадрат, повёрнутый в пространстве под углом. Если расположить его прямо, то четыре стороны квадрата сойдутся под углом в 90 градусов. Но, поскольку он повёрнут под углом, нам придётся применить упомянутый раньше принцип перспективного сокращения. Вне зависимости от угла поворота, одна из сторон квадрата всегда будет ближе к вам, чем остальные. Нарисуйте сперва её, а уже затем остальные три.  Помните, что, хоть линии и должны быть параллельны, но стоит продлить их достаточно далеко, и рано или поздно они пересекутся. Стороны квадрата, находящиеся дальше от вас, будут казаться меньше тех, что находятся на первом плане.

Поскольку мы рисуем квадрат, будьте внимательны к соразмерности сторон. Заметили, что одна из них оказалась длиннее других? Сразу же поправьте её.

Расскажу по секрету: нарисовав одну сторону, вам осталось разобраться всего лишь с двумя, поскольку у куба их одновременно видно только три. Из них одна всегда будет повёрнута от вас под острым углом и будет казаться тонкой; другая обращена в вашу сторону и имеет почти квадратную форму; а третья представляет из себя нечто среднее — уже не квадратная, но ещё и не такая тонкая. Благодаря этому первая сторона, которую вы нарисуете, определит, какими (квадратной, средней или тонкой) будут остальные две. А уж с какой стороны их расположить выбирайте сами.

Практикуйтесь, практикуйтесь и ещё раз практикуйтесь. Как и в упражнении с цилиндрами, попробуйте менять размер и угол наклона фигур. Повращайте их в разные стороны.

Если вы добросовестно выполняли предыдущие упражнениям, то к этому моменту уже наверняка стали гораздо ловчее. Мы отработали, как проводить плавные линии, контролировать их и соблюдать между ними дистанцию; не говоря уже и о трёхмерном мышлении и применении перспективы к базовым формам. В этом последнем упражнении вы соедините всё вместе.

Нарисуйте несколько групп уже известных вам простых форм, которые будут касаться друг друга. Но в отличие от предыдущих упражнений, в этом вы должны не допустить, чтобы они  накладывались друг на друга. Пользуйтесь разными формами — сферами, кубами и цилиндрами. Попробуйте располагать из под разными углами, прежде чем присоединять к ним другие. Хорошенько обдумывайте каждую форму и помните, что при удалении от вас они будут уменьшаться. Это упражнение в первую очередь тренирует ваш мозг.

Если вы уже знакомы с анатомией и построением фигур, попробуйте применить ваши знания. Почти всё тело человека можно представить в виде простых форм. Изображайте его настолько точно (или наоборот абстрактно), насколько вам самим хочется.

Конец?

Вот, собственно, и все упражнения! Повторяйте их, каждый раз, как только у вас появится несколько свободных минут. Если вы найдёте другие полезные упражнения, которые не вошли в эту статью, можете смело поделиться ими в комментариях.

И…спасибо!

8 января 2014г.

Создайте конфликт.

Не каждый комикс начинается с конфликта. Некоторые авторы любят начать с более неожиданного элемента, например, с развязки. Откройте свой любимый комикс и обратите внимание на его первые страницы. Со временем вы начнёте замечать, что почти все сюжетные линии начинаются с конфликта. А теперь попробуйте поместить своих персонажей (можете придумать новых) в ту же конфликтную ситуацию. Как изменится конфликт, если в нём будут участвовать другие персонажи? Какие его элементы придётся изменить?

Однажды я был на встрече с Джозефом Майклом Стражински, в ходе которой его спросили, с чего стоит начинать историю. Он ответил (я немного перефразирую): «представьте комнату, в которой повсюду идёт бешеная пальба, а ваш главный герой – прямиком в центре всего этого. Что произойдёт? Это и будет началом вашей истории». Он намекал на общее правило: если не знаешь, с чего начать, – начни с конфликта.

В этом примере Стив идёт по коридору и вдруг замечает странную сцену: его друг Хоук лежит в кровати, а какой-то старик читает ему на ночь сказку. Конфликтность ситуации становится нам ясна, только когда мы узнаём, что Стив сам привык опекать Хоука, играя для него роль отца. Стив с подозрением думает: “Кто этот старик? Что он делает в комнате Хоука?” Можно взглянуть на ситуацию и с другой стороны: Стив почувствовал, что авторитету его роли “лучшего друга” угрожает какой-то незваный человек. В результате у нас рождается конфликт, который толкает Стива бросить вызов сложившейся ситуации.

Не можете создать конфликт? Список слов придёт на помощь!

Из тупика на самом деле есть множество путей. Одним из лучших будет создание списка ассоциаций. Сосредоточьтесь на ваших персонажах и их мире и начните записывать любые слова, которые приходят в голову, – наподобие ментальной карты. На этом этапе очень важно писать быстро и расслаблено, не заботясь особо о точности и аккуратности. Не судите себя, если, к примеру, вашу фэнтезийную историю про эльфов вы вдруг опишете словами: эльфы, мистическое, слизняк, банан, арахис, масло, Элвис Пресли, смерть и т.п. Постарайтесь писать не прерываясь хотя бы десять минут, заполняя бумагу всем, что приходит в голову.

Сделайте перерыв.

Ограничьте время перерыва пятью минутами, чтобы ум не успел потерять гибкость и связь с историей, которую вы хотите рассказать миру. Оторвитесь от компьютера или блокнота. Очистите свой разум – займитесь растяжкой, немного походите или помедитируйте. Появляющиеся в результате творческого кризиса тревога и умственное напряжение будут мешать вам писать и могут значительно замедлить творческий процесс, наполнив голову негативными мыслями. Очистите свой разум.

Рисуйте наброски.

Вернитесь к своему списку и попробуйте набросать, как некоторые из идей могут быть связаны между собой. Например, можно взять слова “эльфы” и “банан” и нарисовать несколько ситуаций, в которых присутствуют эльф и банан. Главное здесь, как и при составлении списка слов, работать быстро и расслабленно. Сделайте как можно больше набросков (ситуаций или просто идей) за 10-20 минут. Рисуйте как курица лапой. Но при этом следите: если вы слишком много времени тратите на один рисунок, остановитесь и расслабьте кисть, а затем вернитесь к быстрому и расслабленному ритму. Не задерживайтесь дольше минуты над каждым наброском, чтобы за 20 минут у вас получилось 20 штук.

Пишите.

Выберите одну из придуманных вами идей и начните писать! Любым способом проложите ей путь. На этот раз дайте себе больше времени, чтобы детально описать свою задумку. Если вас настигнет кризис, отложите свои заметки и возьмитесь за другой проект. А к этим наработкам вы всегда сможете вернуться позже.

Поздравляю! Теперь у вас есть заготовки настоящей истории!

19 января 2014г

Рисование фигур — занятие непростое. Для умелого изображения тела человека вам одновременно понадобятся знания об анатомии, весе, движении и перспективе. Научиться этому столь же сложно, сколь и полезно: если только героем вашего комикса не задумывается неодушевлённый объект, то увильнуть от изучения фигур всё равно не получится. А раз не получится, значит стоит научиться получать удовольствие. И не волнуйтесь: у нас вы найдёте информацию по каждому шагу этого пути. А первым из них будет умение видеть, как тело человека можно построить из простейших фигур и понять правильное соотношение их размеров (пропорции).

Эта статья посвящена не тому, как рисовать фигуру, но как научиться её правильно видеть. Сам процесс рисования мы детально разберём в дальнейших статьях.

На первый взгляд изображение человека представляется сложной задачей, но стоит лишь разбить его на несколько базовых форм, как строение фигуры окажется довольно простым: голова и грудная клетка вписываются в овал; таз изображается в виде короткого цилиндра или горизонтального овала; а руки и ноги состоят из двух длинных цилиндров, сгибающихся в центральном суставе. Сами же плечевые, тазобедренные и коленные суставы имеют форму шара. Кисти рук и стопы можно упрощённо представить в виде плоских клиновидных фигур.

Внимательно изучите наброски и присмотритесь к лежащим в их основе фигурам:

Умение видеть фигуру в качестве суммы простых форм поможет вам с их помощью нарисовать абсолютно любую позу. Каждый из набросков я начинал с головы, поскольку её положение и угол наклона отобразится и на всей остальной фигуре. Далее движение развивается благодаря туловищу. Оно малоподвижно (может только немного скручиваться и сгибаться вперёд) и, в свою очередь, состоит из двух основных частей: грудной клетки и таза. Цилиндрические ноги и руки отходят от туловища; их положение может не зависеть от основной направленности движения тела.

Теперь давайте поподробнее рассмотрим каждый из элементов.

Если точностью других элементов можно поступиться, то с головой такой фокус не пройдёт; придётся потрудиться. При взгляде спереди она представляет собой овал; со стороны же (в профиль) — идеальный круг (содержащий основную массу черепа), на который наложен сплюснутый овал лица.

Теперь перейдём к тому, как размеры отдельных черт лица соотносятся друг с другом. Ровно посередине головы находится линия глаз — воображаемый ориентир, который поможет нам правильно выбрать место расположения глаз. Разделив нижнюю половину лица на три части, мы получим уровни основания носа и контур нижней губы.

Подобно тому, как размер головы используется для определения пропорций тела, размер глаза применяется для определения пропорций лица. Сами глаза находятся на расстоянии одной ширины глаза от края лица и друг от друга. Длина носа равна высоте трёх глаз, а рот находится на один глаз ниже основания носа.

Рот находится строго по центру, а его ширина составляет две ширины глаза. Так что, если провести вертикальную линию от центра каждого глаза вниз, мы увидим, где будут располагаться уголки рта. Расстояние от одного из них до другого также служит основанием воображаемого треугольника, третьей вершиной которого будет переносица. Линии между ней и уголками рта подскажут, где расположить крылья (внешнюю часть ноздрей) носа. Как показано на рисунке выше, этот приём можно использовать и при рисовании лица в профиль.

И, напоследок, пара слов о соотношении размера кисти руки и лица: если расположить основание ладони на подбородке, то кончик среднего пальца будет едва-едва касаться линии роста волос. Это может помочь вам определиться с размером кисти.

В упрощённом виде туловище состоит из двух овалов и подвижного цилиндрического пространства между ними. Нижняя и верхняя части способны на самостоятельное движение в ограниченное объёме, диктуемом возможностями подвижного стержня (позвоночника), который проходит вдоль спины и скрепляет грудную клетку с тазом.

В грудной клетке есть несколько важных ориентиров, которые стоит запомнить. Представьте, что она соединена с головой цилиндром шеи. У основания этого цилиндра находится рукоятка грудины, которая связывает ключицы с грудной клеткой. Сами ключицы тоже важны: рисуя фигуру, сразу вслед за головой я обычно черчу линию, обозначающую примерный угол их наклона. Это помогает определить, где будут располагаться плечи, и каким будет положение остальной части туловища. Но не будем пока в это углубляться.

Ключицы вращаются относительно рукоятки грудины в зависимости от движения плеч. Прямо под рукояткой находится тело грудины. Поскольку оба этих элемента неподвижны, проще всего их представлять в виде единого целого, прикреплённого к грудной клетке. К тому же вместе они похожи на галстук, который решила приодеть ваша шея!

Основание грудины образует ещё один треугольник. Его нижние вершины обозначают края грудной клетки, которые могут быть видны у человека в зависимости от его телосложения.

Как мы уже упоминали раньше, руки и ноги состоят из двух цилиндров, соединённых шарнирными суставами. Каждая конечность крепится к туловищу при помощи шаровидного сустава (руки — плечевыми, ноги — тазобедренными). На другом её конце находится ещё один сустав с прилегающей к нему сложной клиновидной формой: кистью или стопой.

Из-за сложности строения и подвижности кистей и стоп может потребоваться немало времени, чтобы приноровиться к их изображению. Представьте пока, что вместо стоп вы видите кусок сыра, спереди и сзади напоминающий по форме прямоугольный треугольник. Раскрытые ладони можно упрощённо представить в виде подвижных плоских клиньев, а сжатые кулаки — в виде кругов (при этом артикуляция больших пальцев может отличаться от остальных).

Амплитуда движений конечностей ограничена, но, чтобы полностью оценить её возможности, понадобится немало наблюдения и практики. В шаровидных суставах, которые связывают конечности с туловищем, они вращаются свободно, но в локтях и коленях сгибаются лишь в одном направлении. Предплечья содержат две параллельные кости: локтевую и лучевую. Они прикрепляются к локтю и вращаются относительно друг друга в области запястья, что позволяет нам крутить ладонью. Форма предплечья при этом немного меняется. Более детально анатомию человека мы изучим в последующих статьях.

Теперь, когда вы видите, как фигуру можно составить из простых форм, мы можем обсудить пропорции тела и то, как измерить разные его части благодаря размерам головы. Большинство художников начинает рисовать фигуру с овала головы, что весьма разумно, ведь её размер можно использовать, чтобы задать пропорции остального тела. Они могут отличаться от человека к человеку, но всё равно как правило попадают в определённый диапазон “художественного стандарта”, с которым я вас и познакомлю. Рассказать здесь есть о чём, так что медлить не будем.

Рост взрослого человека в среднем составляет семь с половиной голов, но в художестенном стандарте эту величину обычно приравнивают к восьми. Это измерение относится только тому, как размер тела зависит от размера головы; рост и пропорции — не одно и то же! Например, женщины в среднем ниже мужчин, однако пропорционально различий между ними нет, поскольку женская голова меньше мужской.

“Героические” пропорции используют соотношение 9:1. Такими обычно изображают сверхсуществ: героев греческих мифов или супергероев из комиксов. Героические фигуры превосходят обычных людей на целую голову, а следовательно и все их части тела будут больше.

Стоит нашей фигуре начать возвращаться в детство, как её голова будет становиться меньше, а соотношение высоты головы к размерам тела — увеличиваться. На схеме видно, что рост пятилетнего ребёнка составляет шесть голов. Чем моложе ребёнок, тем больше кажется его голова, поскольку пропорции тела по отношению к ней сокращаются.

Эта схема также показывает положение ключевых областей тела. Основание таза (область паха) находится обычно посередине фигуры. Если считать сверху, центр груди будет на расстоянии двух голов, а пупок — трёх. Прямо над ним (в середине туловища) проходит уровень локтей. Кисти опущенных рук свисают между основанием таза и коленными суставами.

Запомните также, что изменение размера головы отразится на размере всего тела, а значит и его ширина тоже будет увеличивается. Ширина плеч взрослого человека составляет чуть меньше трёх голов, а у ребёнка — две и менее.

Разницы пропорций мужской и женской фигур

Помимо первичных и вторичных половых признаков, между фигурами мужчин и женщин есть и другие различия, которые необходимо учитывать. Одно из них заключается в разнице ширины таза и плеч. У мужчин более узкий таз, но широкие плечи, так что их корпус по форме напоминает квадрат и иногда может расширяться кверху. У женщин туловище скорее походит на песочные часы; их тело обычно меньше по сравнению с мужчинами, а мышцы не так чётко выражены.

Попробуйте (незаметно!) понаблюдать за мужчинами и женщинами и подметить, как эти особенности определяют женственность и мужественность человека.

К сожалению, далеко не для всех идеально подойдут стандартные пропорции. Например, в них явно не впишутся слишком худые или тучные люди. У некоторых могут быть удлинённые конечности или туловище. Так что, как только вам покорится система обычных пропорций тела, не бойтесь экспериментировать с размером базовых форм. До тех пор, пока вы уж слишком не увлечётесь с пропорциями, у вас будут получаться уникальные и реалистично выглядящие персонажи. Переборщите — и фигуры начнут выглядеть мультяшно и преувеличенно.

Дальнейшие шаги

Есть немало достойных источников, из которых можно многое почерпнуть о пропорциях и основах рисования фигур. Бесспорный фаворит среди них — книга Эндрю Лумиса «Обнажённая натура. Руководство по рисованию», в которой автор излагает очень подробный и логичный разбор фигуры человека. Вся информация о соотношении размеров тела была основана на материалах этой книги.

Я также порекомендую книгу Майкла Хэмптона «Рисование фигуры. Композиция и создание». Это, пожалуй, самое всестороннее руководство по анатомии и рисованию фигуры из тех, что мне встречались. Автору удалось феноменально хорошо разделить фигуру на простые формы и группы мышц. Но при этом книга довольна сложна для понимания и содержит много материала повышенной трудности. Так что если вы только начинаете рисовать, лучше начните с первой книги.

Несомненно, есть множество других удачных материалов и в дальнейшем мы обязательно к ним обратимся.

24 февраля 2014

Итак, у вас есть пачка листов с описанием персонажей, заряд мотивации и 5 пустых банок газировки. Но на этом всё: вы понятия не имеете не только как закончить, но и как начать свою историю. Знакомо? Тогда давайте набросаем план!

*звучит воодушевляющая музыка*

Что же значит “набросать план”?

Словарь определяет набросать как «бегло, в предварительной форме, в общих чертах изобразить (рисуя, излагая), наметить». Почему это для нас важно? Потому что мы не будем пока прописывать всю историю целиком, а лишь наметим её ключевые моменты.

Зачем нам заниматься планированием?

Предположим, вы собираетесь нарисовать комикс из шести выпусков, где сюжет будет перетекать из одного тома в другой. И при этом вы не стали планировать ключевые моменты сюжетной линии. К чему же вы придёте, если будете выпускать каждый том по мере его готовности, спросите вы? Каждый раз вы будете сжигать за собой мосты. К шестому выпуску у вас скорее всего не будет ответов на ключевые вопросы ранних томов, необходимые для логического завершения истории. И что вам останется в таком случае? Только поплакать в углу.

Важно не только набросать план каждого выпуска, от первой до последней страницы, но и понять, как каждый из них будет связан со следующим (или следующими пятью). Если к концу повествования ваша история утратит всяческую логику и останется незавершённой, клейма дилетанта вам скорее всего не избежать (да, я намекаю на вас, сценаристы Lost).

Как набросать план своего комикса?

Эта задача запросто может показаться пугающей, но возьмитесь за неё сразу, и вы избежите многих проблем в будущем. Помните, что это всего лишь план, а не полный сценарий. Если вы ещё точно не решили, что будет происходить в вашем комиксе через 4 тома, полезно будет набросать коротких, в одно предложение, идей того, что должно случиться для продолжения истории. Планируете вы веб-комикс или графическую новеллу — неважно. Выглядеть это будет примерно следующим образом:

Не можете придумать, что будет после первого выпуска? Не беда; главное — начать. Работа над первым выпуском поможет вам сгенерировать идеи для продолжения истории. Следите, чтобы они логически вписывались в глобальную сюжетную линию. Размах сюжета будет зависеть от задумки вашего комикса. Ежедневный юмористический комикс не требует чёткого планирования, поскольку обычно его выпуски мало связаны друг с другом. Комикс в несколько томов потребует плана целостной и активно развивающейся от начала и до самого конца истории.

Например, несмотря на одностраничный формат моего комикса «Frik’in Hell», я набросал для себя план каждого тома, чтобы понимать, как много выпусков будет посвящено каждой конкретной сцене, и в результате уложиться в объём тома. Я не только объединил все выпуски в одну сюжетную линию, но и приправил их комедийным элементом (поскольку комикс был в первую очередь комедийным). Для меня было важно, чтобы каждый выпуск был смешным сам по себе (По крайней мере так всё задумывалось. А если вдруг вам мой комикс покажется несмешным… Ну что ж, скучные вы. Поработайте над своим чувством юмора).

Я крайне рекомендую к прочтению статью Тима Стаута How to Use 3-Act Story Structure in Comic Strips. Построение истории, которое он рассматривает, широко применяется в комиксах, фильмах, новеллах и любых других формах искусства, связанных с повествованием. Не важно, состоит ваш комикс из трёх  фреймов или двенадцати выпусков, эта статья поможет вам спланировать свой комикс маленькими кусочками, а значит позволит точнее понять, когда должны происходить ключевые события истории.

Спасибо за внимание!

Статья Тодда Тевлина «How To Write An Outline For Your Comic» находится под действием лицензии Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

4 января 2014

Хотите написать историю?

Можно без преувеличения сказать, что цивилизация зиждется на историях. В полном неопределённости и ненадёжности мире мы часто обращаемся к ним в поисках понимания и поддержки. Религии используют мифы о сотворении мира, дабы помочь обществу обрести свою цель и индивидуальность, политики произносят речи для получения нужного им преимущества. В обоих случаях эти рассказы влияют на наше видение мира. Истории помогают расти, познавать новое и учат сопереживать. Они переносят нас в миры, в которых мы без них не побывали бы, и позволяют общаться с людьми, которые иначе бы не существовали. Величайшие истории повергали целые империи, но и самые скромные из них могут тронуть сердце человека. Каждая история (да, и ваша тоже!) способна привнести в мир изменения, которые вы и не предполагали возможными. Всё что вам нужно – это рассказать её.

Звучит здорово, правда?

Но написать историю – задача не из лёгких. Хотя основы могут казаться простыми, но создать “хорошую” историю крайне тяжело. Любой автор подтвердит, что развить зерно идеи в полноценное повествование невозможно без тяжёлой эмоциональной работы. Необходимость отказаться от полюбившейся сцены наполнит вас печалью, а творческий кризис и вовсе может внушить ужас. Не будем забывать и о страхе того, что никому не нужно будет ваше произведение, когда вы его закончите. Подобные сомнения могут преследовать автора повсюду.

Всё ещё хотите продолжать? Надеюсь что так, потому что, только справляясь с подобными проблемами, мы растём над собой. А вместе с этим и история, начавшаяся с простой идеи, может вдруг обратиться чем-то гораздо большим!

Вы всё ещё здесь?

Превосходно.

Тогда вот вам задачка: с чего начать свою историю? Этот прямой вопрос вполне может оказаться самым важным из тех, на которые вам понадобится ответить. Он определит, откуда начнётся ваша история. Начальная точка подобна зёрнышку, из которого при необходимых усилиях и заботе однажды прорастёт могучее древо.

Но довольно метафор! Давайте перейдём  к деталям.

Независимо от длины истории для начала вам понадобятся две вещи: персонаж и конфликт. И теперь весь мир у ваших ног! Ну…почти весь. Прежде чем переходить к персонажу и конфликту, прежде чем даже браться за бумагу, у вас должна быть идея. Первым шагом на пути к написанию истории будет поиск вдохновения, которое будет с вами до самой последней страницы. Только когда у вас появилась эта идея, это вдохновение, вы сможете решать, кто и что будет делать в вашей истории.

Поиск вдохновения может показаться пугающей затеей (вдохновение ведь довольно абстрактная штука), но, поверьте, всё не так плохо. Этот поиск поможет вам чувствовать себя свободнее. А нужно вам будет для этого просто записывать случайные мысли и услышанные фразы на лист бумаги. Не существует единственно верного пути черпать из мира вдохновение. Главное – оставаться открытым! Многие авторы в поисках вдохновения носят с собой пустой блокнот, в который они смогут в любой записать мысли, приходящие им в голову в течение дня. Я, например, люблю ездить по городу на трамвае и слушать разговоры попутчиков. Самые интересные моменты попадают в мой блокнот, а потом могут лечь в основу спора или глубокой философской дилеммы в одной из моих историй. Кстати, ещё одним отличным местом для отлова витающих у вас в голове мыслей и обрывков чужих разговоров служат парки.

Ещё один прекрасный способ найти старое доброе вдохновение – это испытать новые эмоции. Сделайте что-нибудь, чего вы никогда бы не сделали. Поставьте себя в ситуацию, которую вы иначе избежали бы. Полученный опыт может стать основой конфликта, в котором будет участвовать ваш персонаж, даже если он отреагирует на эти события по-другому. Например, если вы пишете детективную историю, то можете использовать приложение для телефона, позволяющее слушать полицейскую частоту; оттуда вы почерпнёте много информации для диалогов. А может ваш герой – усталый путник? Тогда поездка по глухим краям поможет вам прочувствовать свойственное персонажу состояние одиночества и отчаяния. Даже просто передвигаться по городу и подмечать интересные виды и разных людей – надёжный способ набрать свежего материала (а уж остановка в самом грязном мотеле в округе однозначно будет плюсом!).

Я вовсе не призываю вас бегать за пожарными машинами, если вы задумали писать о пожарных, но, если поиск вдохновения подталкивает вас к чему-то, что вы уже давно хотели сделать (при условии легальности и относительной безопасности идеи), не бойтесь пробовать. Как только вы найдёте своё вдохновение, слова сами польются настоящей лавиной. Тогда и начнётся ваша история.

As for this episode, Adam sits down for a second recording with artist and creator Megan James. She is the mind and skill behind Innsmouth, a magical story that is part Lovecraft, part Book of Mormon, and has fish people. That’s definitely on you if you don’t find that exciting. Adam and Megan actually spoke late last year but life has a funny way of becoming an obstacle to things and the conversation was shelved. However, Adam made sure when he returned to the scene, Megan had to be the first guest and a new conversation was to be had. The topics in this episode range from figuring how to lay out a page for maximum effect, comedy or otherwise, to finding a ton of usefulness in taking a scriptwriting class.

If you’d like to support us and help keep Making Comics Worldwide going and allow us to do cool things like sending out the Daily Challenge, please go to our Patreon page (click HERE) and join our Patreon community. Support good people, people!

Megan’s Links:

Megan’s site (@meg_emmy_james)

Innsmouth (Sink/Swim Press store)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

The Question:

I know that the challenge is to write within 16 panels for the course assignment. I also know its good for me to write within that constraint. But, I have a much longer comic in mind. Why is it so hard to write within a 16 panel constraint? (paraphrased question).

My Answer:

Concision is key! I’m also a person who likes longer form better as well. However, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is how to hone in on that feeling of “done-ness”. Without crafting a feeling of completion you can run into the bigger roadblock in the creation process – not knowing how to finish. Small projects are really key.

My friend is a competitive cyclist. One day he was teaching me how to climb hills on a bike. He told me that the only way to get good at it is:

1. Start with small hills and work up to larger/longer climbs
2. Have a routine training schedule. It is key to have that in order to improve consistently – otherwise you’ll only ever be as good as where you are at with no experience.
3. You have to fight your instincts. Most of us try to climb a hill by charging it – but the problem is that you lose all your speed halfway up and because you hit your heart rate limitations early it is almost impossible to make it the other half up the hill. Instead you should start slow, almost at a crawl, then gradually build up speed. When you see the top of the hill, then you can charge it with all of your strength. Even more important is, as you are slowly climbing, to concentrate on your heart rate and breathing. You don’t want to over exert so you should try to slow down to the level of intensity where you are working hard, but in a reasonable manner. Always being in that sweet spot of balancing between over exertion and a good workout – that spot that is maintainable.

I think it’s the same with making comics, or any project really. Each one of those steps necessitate a mindset that is difficult to attain, so you need to focus on them each separately and practice combining them.

Mindsets:

1. Starting small even though you want to go big. This take humility and honest self-reflection.
2. Creating habits (the one I struggle with the most) – this is all about you understanding that a quantity of work trumps a density of a work session. You can’t get good at making something by try to cram in 25 years of experience into 25 hours. No, you have to layout how you are going to get 25 years of experience in a craft in the next 25 years. Jason Brubaker had a quote I always liked from his book Unnatural Talent: “The best time to start a project is 5 years ago. The second best time is right now”.
3. Fighting your instincts takes a great deal of humility as well because for you to fight your natural inclinations you need to admit to yourself that the way you’ve been doing things before now isn’t the right way – otherwise you’d have everything you wanted. This is a gut punch to the ego because it means, on some level, you can’t trust yourself.

So I designed the course with these lessons in mind. They are appropriate for beginners. I’d argue that they are important for everyone. These are the basics, the fundamentals. We all need to remember these as we work.

When Stephen talks about the history of comics, he’s not just talking about what has happened in the past. That side of the timeline has been well-documented and will forever be. In this episode Stephen does talk about the past but he also is sure to talk about the history of comics as both the present and the future. This also includes when he is teaching young, impressionable minds at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT. And yet when his students challenge him on a topic, Stephen becomes the student in order to return to being a more effective teacher. In the example he gave, a student challenged him on Native American comics and culture. This caused Stephen to do his own homework, a great example that no matter who we speak with, we can never stop learning.

To open the Gutter Talk episode, just as we have done in previous Halloween episodes, we have a reading of an Edgar Allen Poe story. This year’s story was “The Cask of Amontillado” and was read by a horror master in his own right, Vincent Price. Boy, Poe sure does like burying things in his stories, huh?

Happy Halloween!

Stephen’s Links:

Stephen’s website (@SRBissette)

Center for Cartoon Studies

Our Links:

“The Dracula Files” by Storyforge Productions

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by Bizhan and James to discuss how this story came about and what makes this story have such an impact. There’s also something to be said about the use of animals as the characters, a la Animal Farm by George Orwell, which is another side of the story Adam and his guests dive into. Following this discussion, Adam and Bizhan are left to their own devices as they discuss another project Bizhan was a part of. It involves violence between civilians and police, and soon the conversation turns to a more personal experience for both Adam and Bizhan. In the end, both host and guest ensure the audience they are far from experts on the subject and only drives home the point that there simply is no easy or right answer to the burning, violent questions we face as humans today. But at least there’s comics!

Bizhan’s Links:

Bizhan’s site (@MendedArrow)

“The Little Black Fish” comic

James’s Links:

Sink/Swim Press (@sinkswimrva)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

As we walk out into the world we are entering a story. This story defines us and the way that we interact with our beliefs, actions, society, etc. As much as we are always entering into the story that others have defined for us, we are also given the gift of writing our own story in every action we take. This month I sat down with Rachel Beck, founder of Storyforge Productions, and we discussed the nuances of story telling. We looked at our society and how we are working to rectify our long history with marginalizing females – specifically in the comic industry. We also looked at the basic construction of worlds and characters and how those construction create compelling reasons that keep us reading.

Reflecting on the talk I am reminded that complications are what keep us interested in the world around us. As comic artists we create fiction where our character confront and battle those contradictions. Theoretically that gives us the inspiration to fight our own demons. That’s what the #ComicFuel show is all about right? For us to join together to turn away from just consuming art and to bring us into the battle – the battle to create art.

So get out your pens and papers. Sit down. Join us as Rachel and I provide the fuel you are going to need for the coming battle.

Jump times to go to different parts of the podcast:

• (00:00:00) Alan Watts on Play & Work
• (00:03:20) Introduction To Show
• (00:13:20) Question 1 – Female Comic Creators
• (00:46:20) AudioFuel – Maya Angelou “And I Rise”
• (00:50:00) Question 2 – Tension & Resolution
• (01:02:00) Question 3 – Character Driven Storytelling
• (01:19:00) Question 3.5 – Scenarios
• (01:27:40) AudioFuel – Morgan Freeman recites Invictus
• (01:30:40) Question 4 – Drawing As A Writer
• (01:48:30) AudioFuel – Alan Watts on the State Of Nothing
• (01:59:20) Question 5 – Onomatopoeias
• (02:05:20) Question 6 – Short & Sweet
• (02:13:00) Show Outro

• Let me know what you think of the show by tweeting @patrickyurick

• Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

• As always – the entire show notes catalog is on the Comic Fuel Wiki: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-5

Songs Used

• Patreon Info Segment:“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Intro & Outro Songs:“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• #Comic/Audio Fuel Segments
  • “The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

Audio Fuel Used

• Desaturated from Maya Angelou’s reading of “And I Still Rise” video on Youtube from her book of the same name, “And I Still Rise”.
• Desaturated from original video “Why Your Life Is Not A Journey” by David Lindberg featuring Alan Watts.
  • Music:
    • Sleeping at Last – Saturn
    • Sleeping at Last – Uranus
• Desaturated from original interview of Morgan Freeman on the Charlie Rose show reciting Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley.
• Desaturated from original talk on “The State of Nothingness” by Alan Watts. Transcribed version of talk available here

How do you write a script? Todd Tevlin wrote a great, succinct article on the basics of writing a script. From developing an outline (which was your task from last week!) to determining whether you’re writing the script for an artist or if you plan to be your comic’s own artist, all the basics are here in Todd’s article and should help get you started on how your script should look.

When it comes to actually typing up the script, a lot of folks use Microsoft Word or even Google Documents. While I love those programs for what they are, there are quite a few pieces of free scriptwriting software out there that not only speeds up the process, but gives you great comic book templates to follow. I wrote a lengthy article on these scriptwriting programs and I’d encourage you to give it a look and maybe test out a few of the programs to see if any of them might help you in your scripting quest!

Now that you’ve got the technical aspects down, what should the content of your script look like? Todd Tevlin also answered this question in a series of scriptwriting articles he wrote up for Making Comics Worldwide. Check out his article on the techniques of writing dialogue and pay attention to the section on “Less is More,” as this is especially true when it comes to dialogue. Your panels are only so big and if you fill the panel with one massive dialogue bubble, readers are going to close the book right there. They came for a marriage of art and text. If they wanted to read massive chunks of dialogue, they’d go pick up a novel. Keep the thoughts and words of your characters brief and on point!

But dialogue is only half of the script! The other half are panel descriptions and can take up as little or as much space as you want, depending on whether or not you’re the artist. Damian Wampler wrote up a fantastic three-part guide on writing up effective panel descriptions and even includes sections from his scripts and the products that came from his descriptions. Read through all three of his articles and keep a close eye on his descriptions of pacing and using the gutter (the white spaces outside of your comic’s panels) as its own form of storytelling.

Finally, head on down to our podcast center and listen to Episode 2 of our new and exciting ComicFuel podcast! Professionals answer questions that readers and comic fans send in to us. And who knows? Maybe one of the questions we answer will be the very one you’re having as you sit there, palm on chin, frowning at the blank screen in front of you!

Your Task

Write your script! Make it as long or as short as it has to be. Make it fit your story by drawing on your outline and expanding the story’s major arcs so that you’ve got a fully developed journey for your characters to embark upon. Also, peruse the writing section of MakingComics.Com and read over a few of the other articles we have there. Your comic’s story is everything. Without it, you’ve just got an art book. So take your scripts seriously and put some deep thought into how you want your story to grow (or shrink)!

In this Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by Australian artist and creator Cristian Roux, whom he met while peddling a book of poetry at easily one of the largest comic conventions in the world. Cristian was drawn to the table by the amazing work of Ted Washington and began conversations with both Ted and Adam, both of which were equally impressed with Cristian’s work. By the time Cristian left the table, Ted pretty much made up his mind that he was taking Puna Press to Australia for their comic and zine conventions and Adam made up his mind to ensure Cristian was added to the long list of stellar guests on the Gutter Talk podcast.

We also would be remiss in pointing out this episode is our 100th episode. From the bottom of our ink-filled hearts, we want to thank not only the talented guests we’ve had on the podcast and panels over the last two-plus years but we also want to thank you, the listener. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or this is your very first Gutter Talk episode, thank you for being a part of this creative endeavor. We do this for you. The website, the podcast, the Daily Challenge, all of it. A world without art and the knowledge it takes to create art is not a world any of the Making Comics Worldwide staff wants to be a part of. This is why educating the masses is so darn important to us. Thank you for being a part of our world.

Cristian’s Links:

Cristian’s site (@woohooroo)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Rocky Balboa’s inspirational speech to his son in the 2006 installment into the Rocky franchise is definitely the inspiration for this show. There’re a lot of projects I work on right. Art, design, and educational experiences I am currently slaving away over. I spend a lot of time, and incur a good deal of mental anguish, trying to figure out what the “right” thing to do is as a day job. When Rocky talks about taking hits, in my context that is all about my own personal demons regarding my design process. My own shadow/devil on my shoulder telling me I’m wasting my time.

Last month, I’ll be honest, I almost considered #ComicFuel a waste of my time. Three episodes in and I was ready to give up.

I almost didn’t finish episode 3. Even during the process of doing it, I didn’t want to finish it. I did finish, barely, and then I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to do another episode the same way again (if I did another episode). So I called Adam and asked him to record a quick episode where we powered through a ton of questions. It turned into a longer episode.

As I sat down with Adam Greenfield this week to record the fourth episode of #ComicFuel I was reminded why I do this. Sure, this episode is WAY too long ( cough-2hoursand14minutes-cough ), but who cares? I got to sit down with my friend and answer some student questions and talk about how to practice art. In my ideal retirement scenario I would spend every day doing this.

I was reminded that MakingComics.com is the purely “good” thing that I have in my life. For me this is the one sacred space in this whole universe where everything we do is just good. We aren’t always active, or on time with our products, and they aren’t always produced with the kind of quality I’d like – but at their core they are good. We’ve made decision after decision to not turn this into a project that will go anywhere (i.e we are staying here for good). It isn’t a startup business – it is a public service. That is what makes it “good”. It hasn’t been tainted by the threats of being economically unviable – because it isn’t.

I thought I was done after my 2 hour session with Adam. Then…

…I said to myself – I’m not going to do Audio Fuel this month. Monday I mixed the two hour long episode and then I saw a tweet to me that I missed:

@patrickyurick haven’t listened yet to #ComicFuel 3 but can I just say thank you in advance?

— Heavy Load Comic (@HeavyLoadStory) July 13, 2016

So I responded:

@HeavyLoadStory Did you listen to it? Ep4 drops Friday

— Patrick Yurick (@patrickyurick) August 9, 2016

@patrickyurick I did. Best so far! It was mostly useful and inspiring. I’d keep the intro a bit shorter! Looking forward to the new one

— Heavy Load Comic (@HeavyLoadStory) August 9, 2016

@patrickyurick that’s probably the best bit of the podcast. So many times we get lost into technicalities and forget about the why’s

— Heavy Load Comic (@HeavyLoadStory) August 9, 2016

So now I have a reason to get back up, despite the obstacles, fight Apollo for the champion belt, and follow through on making an awesome episode of #ComicFuel. So thanks for being my “Paulie” Marco (Adam is my “Mick”).

I got back up.

I did more work.

I may not feel like I took the belt – but I did get a reward. I did something good. Good for myself and, hopefully, good for some others as well.

This month’s episode features answers to questions on creating depth, writing, visual comic vocabulary, drawing for exposure, story vs art, and what to do when art isn’t fun anymore. AudioFuel this week comes from Sylvester Stallone, Martha Wainwright, and the late Joseph Campbell. As always, I encourage you to jump to the section in the show that you fancy the most (times indicated below) and be sure to check out the show notes at comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-4.

Jump times to go to different parts of the podcast:

• (00:00:00) AudioFuel: Rocky Balboa Lead-in to Show
• (00:02:10) Show Opener
• (00:02:53) Introduction to Show
• (00:12:50) Question 1 – Creating Depth
• (00:35:00) AudioFuel: Joseph Campbell – Myth As A Mirror
• (00:39:17) Question 2 – Writing
• (00:55:59) Question 3 – Visual Comic Vocabulary Resources
• (01:00:00) Question 4 – Drawing for Exposure
• (01:16:00) Question 5 – Story vs Art
• (01:27:00) AudioFuel: Martha Wainwright (Employee of the Month)
• (01:30:36) Question 6 – When Art Isn’t Fun Anymore
• (02:13:00) Show Outro

• Let me know what you think of the show by tweeting @patrickyurick

• Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

• Check out our Patreon explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4TBhT_m2RQ

• As always – the entire show notes catalog is on the Comic Fuel Wiki: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-3

Songs Used

• Patreon Info Segment:“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Intro & Outro Songs:“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• #Comic/Audio Fuel Segments
  • “The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

Audio Fuel Used

• “Rocky Balboa: Speech” – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Sylvester Stallone / Desaturated from original
• “Myth As A Mirror For The Ego” – Jospeph Campbell / Desaturated from original
• Martha Wainwright Employee of the Month Interview – / Desaturated from original

Yet when it comes to Gerhard’s work, it’s all original, all the time. From his recent comic “Stella Noir” to his graphic illustrations that are eye-popping and brilliantly composed, Gerhard walks his own line between stunning art and simply being productive for productive sake. And isn’t that what being an artist is about? The ABC of art? Yes, always be creating. Sure, he may have a day job and family responsibilities but Gerhard is quite satisfied with that arrangement. In fact, it’s what he wants. His job as a marketing director still taps into that creative part of the brain so the juices are constantly on flow.

And while you’re listening to this stellar Gutter Talk episode, feel free to take a break from your own work and head over to our Patreon page and support us. But not if you’re driving. Please, if you are behind the wheel at the moment, keep your eyes on the road. Heck, if you’re driving, why are you even reading this?!

Gerhard’s Links:

Gerhard’s site (@kaaihue)

Instagram

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Ulises and I cap the entire episode off with a very important discussion regarding how race and equity is reflected in the comic industry. In fact, in writing the show notes for that segment, I was delighted to find several amazing articles that dealt specifically with how the comic industry is connecting to these important topics.

This episode also includes some amazing borrow audio clips from Jason Brubaker, Ven. Robina Courtin, and art educator John Spencer. Such an amazing third episode. Easily the hardest I’ve worked on yet. Hopefully I can keep it up!

[Tweet “ComicFuel Episode 3 was awesome!”]

• Let me know what you think of the show by tweeting @patrickyurick

• Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

• Check out our Patreon explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4TBhT_m2RQ

• As always – the entire show notes catalog is on the Comic Fuel Wiki: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-3

Jump times to go to different parts of the podcast:

• (00:00) Show Opener
• (00:43) Introduction to Show
• (10:10) #ComicFuel Break #1: Not A Delicious Chocolate Cake” by Ven. Robina Courtin
• (12:40) Question 1: Inking
• (24:40) #ComicFuel Break #2: “Growing A Tree” by Jason Brubaker
• (28:17) Question 2 & 3 Style
• (51:46) Patreon Ad
• (52:12) Questions 4: Backgrounds
• (54:58) #ComicFuel Break #3: “Can’t Live Without Art” by John Spencer
• (1:00:00) Show Closing – Race & Equity in the Comics Industry
• (01:23:00) How can you, yes you, contribute to the comic fuel cause?
• (01:26:00) Show Outro

Questions answered in this episode

(jump-to specific question times listed below)

• Josh: What are some good resources to improve your digital inking? I feel like I know the basics, so beginner books aren’t really teaching me anything new. I’m completely self taught, and would love to learn some subtly with my inks.
• Maya: How do comic artists deal with improvements in their style while making a comic book? Should a comic artist keep a consistent style? If so, how much should one practice style before starting to make comics?
• Michael, Poland: What are the elements of style of particular artists if I want to use their style in my own work? I usually think of such elements as: the coloring method used (with computer or water colors), shading, …. but what is it that distinguishes the one from the other? There are general groups of artists (e.g. European, Asian, …) who have similar style – how come they can be grouped – what is the key?
• Jasmine: How often would you focus on comic backgrounds? Are details like that important?

Thanks to this week’s cohosts!

Ulises Farinas

• His website
• Buño
• Amazing Forest
• Judge Dredd

Lucy Bellwood

• lucybellwood.com
• lucybellwood.tumblr.com
• Lucy’s Patreon
• facebook.com/baggywrinkles
• @LuBellWoo (Twitter/Instagram)
• And people can pre-order my new book as a softcover through Amazon here or get the hardcover directly from me here.

Songs Used

• Patreon Info Segment:“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Intro & Outro Songs:“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• #Comic/Audio Fuel Segments
  • “The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
  • “Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
• Daily-Challenge Segment: “New Boots Rag” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

Audio Fuel Used

• “Facing Obstacles” – Robina Courtin, used under Public Domain / Desaturated from original
• Excerpt from the audio book “Unnatural Talent” by Jason Brubaker. Available on Amazon and Audible as well as CoffeeTableComics.com.
• “Can’t Live Without Art” – John Spencer, used under Public Domain / Desaturated from original

In this episode, episode 2, we’ll discuss project management, the comic creation process, coloring comics, penciling comics, and hosting comics online. The questions came from places like Ireland, India, Brazil, California, and Indiana. For legit #comicfuel we’ll hear about why we do art from Stephen McCranie, transitioning into fame and what is at the core of what artistry is really about from “How I Met Your Mother” actor Josh Radnor, and we’ll also hear about the art of really listening by famed audio producer Chris Watson.

Questions answered in this episode (jump-to specific question times listed below)

• How many pages should a comic issue be to be printed?
• How long would it take to make a comic by yourself; scripting, storyboarding, art and lettering; and self publish it?
• How do you keep up momentum on making comics?
• How long does it take for a comic book artist to make a comic book?
• What is the step-by-step process I should go through to choose colors that will look good?
• What kind of colors can i use?
• Am I just not being patient enough with myself, or am I trying to fit too much, too zoomed out, into one panel?
• What websites are best for starting to post a webcomic?

Another big announcement is that I spent a lot of time this month creating the Comic Fuel Podcast Wiki (http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/) which will serve as a repository for all questions, notes, and links that are mentioned in the show. Check it out. It took me FOREVER to make, but I’m really proud of it.

The show notes for Episode 2 are at: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-2

Jump times to go to different parts of the podcast:

• (00:00) Show Opener
• (00:44) Show Introduction
• (06:43) #ComicFuel Break #1: Chris Watson on The Art of Listening
• (14:25) Question 1: Project Management

Question 1 from Kevin in Eire: How do you keep up momentum on making comics? I make a lot of progress when i take a class or a mooc, but when it’s over I feel a bit like OK where to next?

• (22:55) #ComicFuel Break #2: Stephen McCranie Asking Why We Do Art
• (31:55) Questions 2, 3, & 4: Comic Creation Process Overview

Question 2 from Anjali in Bangalore, India: How long would it take to make a comic by yourself; scripting, storyboarding, art and lettering; and self publish it?
Question 3 from Nate in Brazil: As an independent artist who primarily works with digital comics, I’m interested in publishing my material, but I’m afraid the format won’t translate as well, and I’ll need to cut many pages from chapters so it could fit into what the market deems ideal for print. How many pages should a comic issue be to be printed?
Question 5 from Andrew: How long does it take for a comic book artist to make a comic book?

• (40:40) #ComicFuel Break #3: Josh Radnor Talking About Transitioning as an Artist
• (44:30) Questions 5 & 6: Coloring

Question 5 from Alan: If I have an uncolored comic page, what is the step-by-step process I should go through to choose colors that will look good?
Question 6 from Anonymous: I am not professional in using coloring applications like photoshop and gimp If i ‘d like to do it manually, what is your advice to me, what is kind of colors can i use?

• (51:13) Patreon Ad: Spotlight on Scott Bachman
• (53:58) Question 7: Penciling

Kiana, Indiana: So, I adore sketching pretty much everything, It’s what I spend the majority of my time doing! Although, when I attempted to begin penciling my comic, I found it to be tedious and frustrating? It seems that whatever I try to draw ends up too small to look nice or have any detail. Am I just not being patient enough with myself, or am I trying to fit too much, too zoomed out, into one panel?

• (1:02) How You Can Help Comic Fuel
• (1:04:40) Question 8: Hosting a Comic Online

Question 8 from Julia in California: What websites are best for starting to post a webcomic?

• (1:19:05) Show Outro

Media Used:

Intro & Outro Songs:
“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

#ComicFuel Segment #1
“The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
Chris Watson interview – The Art of Listening by SNYK RADIO is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

#ComicFuel Segment #2
“Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
Stephen McCranie Interview Gutter Talk Ep. 64 is owned by MakingComics.com

Patreon Info Segment:
“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

#ComicFuel Segment #2
“Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
JOSH RADNOR discusses art, film, TV, happiness, and knocking heads with the Dalai Lama. by EMPLOYEE of the MONTH is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

“Patrick! You’ll never guess what I discovered today!” I was annoyed at the sound of her voice. Mostly I was agitated at being behind on my assignment and was only thinking about how quickly I could get off of the phone with her.

“Yeah, what exactly did you discover?” I grumbled into my bulky Nokia cell phone (it was 2004).

“I’m an artist! I just took an elective art class and I absolutely loved it! I’m an artist like you!” I choked at the sound of this. How could she think that she was an artist after taking just one class? I had been trying to become an artist since I was ten and here was my 19 year old sister claiming that she was an artist after only one day.

“Well, that’s great sis. You know though, you aren’t a real artist.”

“W-what…?”

“You might be able to come to be one someday, but right now you are just thinking about becoming one. It takes years to become a real artist.” There was a silence on the other end of the phone.

“Well, I think that I’m a real artist…” Her voice quivered on the other end of the line.

“That’s insulting. I’ve been working to become an artist for over a decade. It is insulting to me that you feel like you could just be like me after one day…” More silence.

“W-why are you so mean?!” She yelled into the phone crying.

“Look, it’s just insulting for me to think of you as an arti-” Before I could finish I heard a ‘click’ of a dead phone line as the phone went dead. For several minutes I stared, angrily, at my computer screen. I felt righteous and annoyed simultaneously. How could she think she was an artist? I sat there for another 15 minutes, then  I bowed my head in shame. By telling my sister she wasn’t an artist I had become all of the people that had told me I wasn’t an artist as I was forming my perception of myself. I tried to call her back but she wouldn’t pick up the phone.

It’s ok, we get along now. Mostly

As I became filled with shame, I equally became filled with resolve. I wasn’t ever going to tell someone that they weren’t an artist ever again. I had to break the cycle. I was a person that had to fight against that judgemental cruelty from other “artists” ever since I decided I wanted to become one, and now I had become one of those cruel, arrogant, artists. I vowed then and there to not only never again tell someone that they weren’t an artist, I vowed to go one step further and go out of my way to encourage artistry in others.

…

That happened to me about 11 years ago. In a lot of ways that story is exactly where the “How To Make A Comic Book” MOOC came from. When I received the $10k from Coursera to design the course there was a lot of suggestion that the course was to be more technical. I knew though that, especially when working with new artists, the emphasis has to be on encouragement and safety to pursue trying new things. This podcast, the #comicfuel podcast, is all about embracing the sentiment of encouraging artists to think about the important things in their practice (happiness, harmony, and balance). Each month I will be answering questions submitted to me by the students in the “How To Make A Comic Book” MOOC.

This is the first #ComicFuel podcast. I’d like to dedicate it to my sister.

Jump times to go to different parts of the podcast:

• 00:00 – Pre-Show Patreon Ad
• 00:39 – Show Opener
• 01:21 – Show Introduction
• 12:07 – Jared Cullum On His Return To Art
• 17:03 – Question 1: Scaling Work
  • Matt, Canada: Every instructional book I read is geared towards making 22 page monthly comic books or just cartooning in general. What how to advice is there for someone who wants to write a 100 page plus graphic novel
• 27:28 – The Ven. Robina Courtin Discussing How Opinions Limit Us
• 31:35 – Questions 2 & 3: Beautiful Work
  • Gustavo, Colombia: Is beautiful artwork really that important to create a good comic? (Most comics or graphic novels, i have read tend to have beautiful art, great story and inspiring too. But when i try to imitate them, i feel depressed as i cannot draw that well.)
  • Sourav: I am currently writing comics in my country, and I am worried because it seems that my ideas are not commercial enough. There is an emotional content, but not the spectacular they want to see. How can i add excitement and action to my stories without sacrificing its substance?
• 46:00 – Daily Comic Challenge Ad
• 46:50 – Question 4: Character Consistency
• George, Canada: I try to make all my characters look different when I design them, but I end up putting the same face on everyone. How can I make sure each character looks unique every time I draw them?
• 54:15 – How You Can Help Comic Fuel
• 56:50 – Show Outro

All show notes are available on the Comic Fuel Wiki: 

• Episode 1 Show Notes: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:episode-1
• All questions ever asked on the show: http://comicfuel.wikidot.com/wiki:all-questions

Media Used:

Patreon Info Segment:
“Story To Fall Through” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

Intro & Outro Songs:
“Unexpected Hoedown In Bagging Area” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

#ComicFuel Segment #1
“The Kid In The Bins” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
“Gutter Talk Ep. 58: Jared Cullum” owned by MakingComics.com / Desaturated from original

#ComicFuel Segment #2
“Dry Run Well” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original
“Facing Obstacles” – Robina Courtin, used under Public Domain / Desaturated from original

Daily-Challenge Segment:
“New Boots Rag” by Dr. Turtle, used under CC BY / Desaturated from original

In this Gutter Talk episode, we are releasing the audio from the first three weeks of the How to Make a Comic Book MOOC. The course itself is video based so when you sign up to take the course, you’ll be able to visually take in the knowledge. However, we thought it would be a great idea to publish the audio for you, the podcast listener, so you can also benefit from the information found in the course. We definitely urge you to take the course online because a lot can be gained from video tutorials, as well. Plus, the amount of love put in to this course by Patrick and others is inspiring to see as well as hear.

However, before we play those audio clips, Adam and Patrick sit down to discuss the cool things they have going on in their lives, from audio projects to moving to working at MIT in Boston. This is followed up with some of our awesome Patreon pledgelings (totally made up word) calling in to answer questions and be in the spotlight. These are just some of the cool Patreon perks and rewards of helping us at Making Comics continue to spread the good word on comics. And fair warning, things get a little silly sometimes, as is wont to do whenever Adam and Patrick get together.

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transition Song:

Prelude No. 20 by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/preludes/
Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

More Links:

Patreon

How to Make a Comic MOOC

Do note: this weekly series will be like a Sparknotes version of our much more detailed “How To Make A Comic Book MOOC” course that we are currently offering. If you’re serious about making a comic book, I highly encourage you to enroll in that course (it’s free, after all!). But if you’re looking for quick tips and brief examples of the steps to making a comic book, then this Graphic Novel Project Blog will be just what you need.

Now, before we get started, it’s important to know the steps involved in making a comic. It’s a lot of work and, though it might sound fun to make a comic at first, the process can get long, involved, and frustrating. Devin Larson wrote a brilliant article outlining each step along the comic making journey. Read that article and become familiar with each step and the terminology involved, as we’ll be following this outline in the coming weeks.

Once you’ve come to terms with the amount of work you’ve got ahead of you, it’s time to think about what story you’re going to tell. Have you come up with a totally original super hero tale? Maybe a more down-to-earth story about bullying in the school setting? Or an intrepid explorer lost in a city of trees? Your imagination is the key to, well, everything that’s to come!

But it’s easy to just think about a fun story and run with it. The challenge is coming up with a story that will stand on its own when you’ve finished writing it. A story that doesn’t need you to be there to explain essential backstory items that you didn’t have the forethought to add into your comic. I wrote an article about finding that inspiration and crafting it smartly a while ago. Give it a read (it’s short, don’t worry) and think about main topics – specifically finding a character and developing a conflict around that character.

If you’re looking for a more technique-centric resource, this article by Chuck Frey discusses the top seven idea creation (or ideation) techniques that professionals use in almost every industry that involves some form of creative thinking. It’s a heavy article and isn’t as fluffy as mine, but some folks operate on wavelengths that demand specific, focused language. I still want you guys to read the article over and mull over some of the techniques Frey talks about.

Finally, I recommend you give our latest podcast series, ComicFuel, a listen. The podcast revolves around questions that you guys (yes, you!) sent in regarding the creation of comics, which Patrick then gives over to professionals in the comic field. In just about an hour, you’ll come away from this podcast with such a wealth of knowledge that you’ll be able to help others in their comic-making adventure!

Your Task

Come up with an interesting story and jot down some notes. Develop your story’s large acts, the characters within the story, and the other big details you’ll need in order to bring your story to life next week when we discuss scripting. Form these notes into a rough outline and get ready to give that outline some serious pizzazz next week!

How is it revolutionary you ask?

Well, Mark will be talking to 100 people live through a virtual reality classroom space designed by GatherEducation. If you have a 3G connection or better you will be able to join this AMA from any mobile or desktop device. Mark will be able to answer your questions in this virtual space.

RSVP:

This is AMA is being hosted on GatherEducation – a virtual reality learning platform:

https://vimeo.com/155329344

If you’re not familiar with the Graphic Novel Project, it’s an after school student volunteer program that is designed to teach students the ins and outs of making a comic, from conceptualization to production to even the business side of marketing and selling the product. What made it really special was that the students got to participate in this year’s Gutter Talk panel. Imagine being a 15 year old student sitting up on stage at one of the more major comic conventions in the country and talking about yourself and the work you put into the project. Those opportunities don’t come along all that often and as you’ll hear in this episode, the students understand this.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam narrates the way through the various topics. On the panel along with the students is the Making Comics CEO and head elf, Patrick Yurick, his wife and our education guru, Kay Flewelling, and the student mentor and Making Comics editor-in-chief Kevin Cullen. We cover a wide range of topics from an artist’s diet to the transformation from a single comic into a collection of comics to how and why the group shrank from thirteen students to five. And no, it wasn’t because they ate the weak ones.

Click the image below to see a photo gallery from the con:
https://goo.gl/photos/FrTstWUdLV1ZX6z58

Here is the powerpoint used during the presentation:

We presented student testimonials from the “How To Make A Comic Book” massive open online course during the panel presentation. Here is the final cut of the student presentations:

Here are the full videos from each of the students in the MOOC:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In society, the word “expert” is bandied about way too much. Rarely do you find the person it is referencing is actually an expert, someone with a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of a particular subject or skill. And, if humility is in play, that person wouldn’t call themselves an expert, either. Then there are nerds, or those that are highly focused on a particular subject or skill, and boy, do they seem to be everywhere. Most nerds would think they are experts but any expert would say they’re not.

In today’s Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Adam is joined by one of the leading experts- uh, nerds- no, great minds in the field of writing about and analyzing comics, Glen Weldon. He has written several books about comics already, including “Superman: The Unauthorized Biography,” so we’re pretty sure he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. It also helps that he’s a weekly contributor to NPR’s Monkey See about all things comics and pop-culture.

A majority of the ground covered by Adam and Glen in this Gutter Talk episode has to do with Glen’s book that was recently published by Simon and Schuster called “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture.” Topics included whether or not there actually is a singular Batman or if everyone’s Batman is the right Batman, as well as how nerd-dom has simply become part of the current culture, sports included. Who knew Adam was into sports cosplay?

As a side note, if you happen to be at Wondercon the weekend this episode drops, please be sure to check out the Making Comics Graphic Novel Project table at DL-56. To top it off, we have a panel on Saturday at 11am in room 515A. Don’t miss it! But if you do, no worries. The panel will be released as a podcast in April.

Glen’s Links:

NPR Bio (@ghweldon)

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of the Nerd Culture

More books by Glen

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In today’s episode, Adam is joined by Graham Annable, the co-director of the Academy Award nominated movie, The Boxtrolls, as well as the amazing animator and artist behind Grickle. One of the more gracious guests we’ve had on the Gutter Talk podcast, the conversations were open windows into Graham’s thought processes as not just the great artist he is but also what it takes to be a director, even if a co-director, on a major stop-motion picture.

The topics ranged from the difficulties and processes of what it’s like to be an effects artist on such an intricate movie (18 months to do a sub-two minute ballroom dance scene?!) to finding the time to create the Grickle shorts while still maintaining a happy, healthy family. It’s not easy but it appears Graham has found his groove. And yet he still manages to find ways to challenge himself within the craft of creating extraordinary art.

Graham’s Links:

Graham’s site (@grickle)

YouTube Grickle page

Grickle books

The Boxtrolls

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

The ultimate goal of Making Comics Worldwide and our website is to provide an extensive educational resource for those that want to, simply put, make comics. These individuals range not just in age, from pre-teens to adults, but also in experience, from those who are just starting out to those that are looking to learn something new to help push their artistic process and ventures to new levels. We even have the testimonials to prove how useful and effective the articles on our site have been to artists.

Still, we strive to do more for the artistic community than just post articles online. It’s why we have the Underdog community and these Gutter Talk podcasts. Now we have, in conjunction with Coursera and also the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that is video based in nature. You can find that course by clicking here.

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam sits down with the Making Comics Worldwide enigmatic, benevolent, and oft-times well-dressed leader to discuss the How To Make a Comics MOOC more in depth. In this talk Adam and Patrick give you an idea of how the course came about, the struggles and joys of putting the course together, and what we at Making Comics Worldwide hope you get out of it. In other words, when you’re big and famous for your art, remember the little people.

How to Make a Comic MOOC

Our Links:

Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In November 2015 Coursera granted the High Tech High Graduate School of Education & Making Comics Worldwide $10,000 to create a project oriented massive open online course based on a proposal I submitted in October. This may sound like a lot of money, but it isn’t. Last year I created a course that was half of the size and had roughly five times the budget called the “Learning Mindsets & Skills MOOC”. To be fair, the LMS MOOC was one that had a more content specialist involvement and multimedia generated for it (videos, podcasts, etc.). For the comic MOOC I was able to draw on a multitude of great readings & podcasts from within MakingComics.com and from outside of it — as well as my own exptertise as a comic book educator.

A page overview of the Comic Relief Project generated for the Buck Institute for Education.

This Comic MOOC was a choice I made because I felt that the course needed to exist. Last year I started worked on another labor of comic book education love called the “Comic Relief Project” for the Buck Institute for Education (bie.org). The Comic Relief Project was created as a reaction to my own distaste for most introductory comic educational tools. In the past k-12 teachers have come to me, knowing me as the “comic book teacher guy”, and asked if they should invest the little money they have in their budgets into comic book automation programs like Comic Life. I would always say “NO!” Then a pause. And, then I wouldn’t have anything for them as an alternative except for long explanations about why “real” comics are hard to make. I so wanted to provide them with a comic creation resource that accurately leads students through the processes a professional comic creator would actually go through to create a comic.

The Comic Relief Project was that alternative.

The “How To Make A Comic Book” course was built from the work of the Comic Relief Project.

Man, I was glad that I had the work put into those tutorials and models for the Comic Relief project because without it I would have never been able to pull off this Comic MOOC. The budget alone only went into covering guest appearance fees (Thanks Mark, Eric, Caleb, & Christy), copywriting (Chris you are amazing!), set design (all shot at High Tech High Chula Vista), and videography (Helium Films is a godsend). But, it wasn’t just the budget that was difficult – it was also the timeframe the course needed to be created within. We received the money from Coursera in early December and the course needed to be done by the end of January. My team slaved over winter break to create a series of scripts for the 31 videos needed for the six weeks of course material

In the end I only was paid about $300 out of the $10k budget for the course. Like I said, this is a labor of love. I also want to say that I won’t get paid any more money for the course itself. The course certificate purchases are a part of the Coursera monetization — none of that money goes to me. In fact, each of the $49 paid for course certificates only goes into paying off the initial funding of the $10,000 granted by Coursera.

During the weekend of January 23rd, 2016, Mark & Chris flew in from out of town (Christy sadly didn’t make it). We spent the weekend constructing the set, rehearsing the material, eating, drinking, laughing and talking about the future of the comic book industry in my San Diego living room. It was amazing. On Sunday we all gathered and started the filming process. I sat across from comic industry giants as they explained to me, and the future students within the course, what was needed in creating their first comic. Once Mark, Eric, and Caleb left we got down to the real work and on Sunday & Monday we filmed 25 original films for the course.

Pictured (From left to right) Thierry Denis, Patrick Yurick, Rachel Beck, Caleb Cleveland, High Tech High Student Helper: Carolina, Eric Shanower, & Mark Waid.

I am really proud of this course. I love sharing comic book education with people. Comic creation is a literacy I believe we all have a right to. More than just being a fun craft, it is a communication tool. The industry that has sprung up around comic books has refined this communication process, of words and pictures, into a craft and I truly believe everyone should know, on some level, how to create a comic. This course is the culmination of everything I’ve learned about MOOCs working at High Tech High Graduate School of Education in combination with everything I know about teaching people how to make comic books. This is a solid course, and I hope that it will assist people in creating their first comic book as well as help teachers at a distance get a peek into the project based learning we do at High Tech High.

The coolest thing about this course, at least for me, is that it has the potential to be indefinitely available. In exactly three years time the videos used to create this course, along with all the course material, will be given back to us (High Tech & MakingComics.com) as the Coursera digitally exclusive ownership ends. At that time we will be able to release these videos as a series of courses on a multitude of free platforms like Youtube & Vimeo. This course can then educate new people in the comic education field for, theoretically, all time.

The course was created to feel like a television show that you would see on PBS we wanted to engage adults and kids at the same time in a way that was welcoming. When I was 15 I wanted something like this to exist, and there really wasn’t anything. Existing courses on comic creation are very complex and oriented towards an adult only audience and there really isn’t anything for people who have no idea how to make a comic (where to start, what kinds of materials, etc.). This course is for them. Furthermore, MOOC technology excites me because it allows us to create an educational entertainment medium that is truly interactive and can galvanize communities of action around concepts presented within the course — in real time.

The MOOC is going to be a part of a release of 14 other project centered courses by Coursera. Very exciting stuff. My hopes are that this course can be shared for generations to come. Our existing audience at MakingComics.com is one of semi to experienced comic-makers. This course isn’t for them exactly, this course is for those who have no idea where to start. This is the place to start.

Check out the course for yourself:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/make-comic-books

Check out the course press release.

Available 2/15/2016:

Making Comics Worldwide  & the High Tech High Graduate School of Education is proud to announce our first fully online project based learning learning experience: How To Make A Comic Book. This six-week MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) will walk learners through the process of making their very first comic book. Aimed at learners ages 13 and up, we constructed the course to serve as an example of our approach to constructing project based learning experiences at High Tech High and to reflect the methods professional comic artists go through when creating.

Quick note before enrolling: The course is free to “Audit”. To receive a course certificate, which unlocks the Coursera assessment sections of the course, users will have to pay $50 or they can apply for financial aid. Course certificates ARE NOT necessary for engagement in the course. If a student or teacher would like to submit assignments off of the Coursera platform they can do so by submitting assignments to the subreddit constructed for the course. All comic creators under the age of 18 are encouraged to check with their parents before joining the subreddit forum area.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO COURSE

This course is taught by Patrick Yurick – the leader of MakingComics.com and a former art educator at High Tech High Chula Vista. Patrick now works with the High Tech High Graduate School of Education and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design online learning experiences. The course features guest interviews with world-renowned comic book creators – Mark Waid (Daredevil, Superman, Thrillbent, etc.) and Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze & The Marvel Oz Series). The course also features a guest appearance by Laguna College of Art & Design illustration instructor Caleb Cleveland.

The How To Make A Comic Book MOOC is available designed to be completed at your own pace.

How To Make A Comic Book MOOC – Introduction to course from Patrick Yurick on Vimeo.

Read Patrick’s article “The Story Behind The How To Make A Comic Book MOOC” to find out more about the course.

For more information contact: Patrick Yurick
Email: pyurick@hightechhigh.org

To grab a copy of the press release go to: https://goo.gl/uZM8qM

In this episode, we return to the Coffee Table Comics podcast, the new-ish podcast by artist and creator Jason Brubaker. If you’re not familiar with his work, you really should be. He has put out such work as reMIND and his most current comic Sithrah. This particular episode is the second half of a fantastic conversation between Jason and his guests. On the show is Gutter Talk alumni, Daniel Warren Johnson, the creator of the stupendous comic Space Mullet, and also Royden Lepp, the creator of another amazing comic called Rust.

Their Links:

Jason’s Patreon site (@Jason_Brubaker)

Sithrah

reMIND

Daniel’s site (@danielwarrenart)

Space-Mullet

Royden’s site (@RoydenLepp)

Rust

Our Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Recently we heard from Jason Brubaker, creator of Sithrah and reMIND, and he mentioned how he’s been working on new podcasts to release to the world. He was also curious if we wanted to release them in the Gutter Talk timeline alongside his own posts. Clearly this was a no-brainer.

In this first episode Jason sits down with two amazing comic creators in a roundtable discussion. His guests are Royden Lepp, creator of the comic Rust, and Daniel Warren Johnson, both Gutter Talk alumni and creator of Space-Mullet.

The episode begins with some political soapboxing but we promise, it soon dives into comics and the arts, and also the love James has for the city of Orlando, Florida. Another topic that comes up is the late start James got when getting into comics. It’s just more proof that there is no single path an individual must take to become a comic artist.

One of these days the Making Comics Worldwide crew will travel abroad to spread the good word in person. There’s a reason the word “worldwide” is in our name. But until then, our next best option is to speak to folks outside of the United States through the Gutter Talk podcast. Sure, email works, too, but that’s just not nearly as much fun as speaking to someone online in person-ish. It really is the next best thing. You can take our word for it but we highly advise you listen to this episode with James Mulholland, and other podcasts, for yourself.

James’s Links:

James’s Facebook page & Twitter: @James_Mul1990

Short stories

The Disease

High Noon Rising & Facebook page

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Ian’s Links:

Ian’s site (@ianmcginty)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this edition of #TalkComics, I met up with Keiiii (four i’s), author and artist of the amazing webcomic, Heart of Keol. An incredibly beautiful webcomic, I was eager to peek into Keiiii’s process and how her Korean heritage plays an enormous role in the telling of her epic story.

KEVIN CULLEN: You mention in your About section that Heart of Keol draws its name from the Korean language. Seeing as the comic takes place in a fantasy world that also appears to be influenced by Korean culture, I’m curious if there are any specific Korean legends that directly influence the story as well.

KEIIII: The only shared element I can think of are the weretigers (or rather, werehuman tigers). Many Korean fairytales feature tigers with the ability to assume a human form; I don’t recall any story where it was a human turning into a tiger, unlike Western werewolves.

Keol also has its own version of the multi-tailed fox mythology, but it’s not an important plot element.

KC: How about Korean culture in general?

KEIIII: While Korean mythology doesn’t have a big presence in HoK, Korean social culture is almost omnipresent throughout the story — but not necessarily in ways that are obvious to a reader unfamiliar with the culture. Sometimes it even makes things confusing. The scene in Chapter 2 where the villagers accost Ethan, for example, made perfect sense to Korean readers. That’s the expected behavior for them. They know why the villagers act that way, and they might even react the same in that situation.

But when I published the comic in English, I had a few people who were very confused about the turn of events. Some of them questioned right away; others didn’t wonder until the next chapter, when I introduced another non-Asian character. I had never expected that I’d need to explain these things. As someone who was born and raised in Korea, I just took it for granted, the understanding. Now I’m more conscious of it and trying to communicate these things to all readers is a huge, ongoing challenge.

Culture is not just the chopsticks you use to eat, or the rice in your bowl. It’s in the water you drink, the air you breathe, the space and time you occupy. Things one might assume to be universal, such as eye contact, smile or laughter, mean different things. I think it might be impossible to fully communicate it all to all my readers, but I have to try. Having a “newcomer”/ “outsider” main character helps when he’s confused about something — but when he’s too oblivious to even feel confused, a good chunk of the readers will be oblivious, too, unless I find a way around it.

KEIIII: Thank you! I do traditional media occasionally, but I rarely bother to scan/photograph those. It’s been so long since the last time I did a finished traditional piece. I live with a very clingy, very hairy 150-lbs dog (an Alaskan Malamute), and she makes it hard to find the space or the time chunk required for painting. The comic is done 100% digital.

KC: That’s what I thought, but wasn’t totally sure. Which program do you use?

KEIIII: I use Photoshop largely because it’s the one I’m the most familiar with. I’ve used Corel Painter extensively back in the days, from ver 5.5 to 9, but dropped it when I could only afford to keep one between Photoshop and Painter. The nice thing about Photoshop is that it does everything, even if that makes it weirdly large and cumbersome. I’ve heard of some programs having no text option, for instance, and that’s just not gonna work for me.

KC: How about your workspace? Is it designed with a purely-digital artistic vision in mind?

KEIIII: Here’s a picture of a custom-built desk that my dad designed and made for me.

I specifically wanted the keyboard tray to go above the tablet. That’s a Wacom Intuos 4 XL. It makes me move almost my entire arm when I work (note I’m barely 5′ 2″), which means my shoulder takes the brunt of motion/posture-borne stress, rather than my wrist. And I think that’s better for me; the shoulder is probably capable of bearing more stress than the wrist. Regular exercise is enough to ward off my shoulder discomfort, which had gotten really bad at one point in the past. Not pictured: a squat rack and an exercise bench with some weight plates, on the other side of the room.

KC: Your comic is formatted differently than most webcomics I’ve read. Where a majority of the comics are visible all at once in the well-known grid format, your comic stretches down the page like a tapestry and almost rebels against the grid format! Why did you decide to draw the comic this way? What advantages does this give you when compared to formatting your comic so that you see one image on the screen and simply click to the next without scrolling?

KEIIII: There is an earlier version of HoK which I released in Korean, on various Korean platforms. Since most of the dialogue is supposed to be in Korean, canon-wise, I decided to give the Korean audience a try. Before I started drawing the comic, I took a look at the Naver webcomic section to see what it was like over there. I’d known that they had professional webcomics on big sites; I’d imagined it to be kind of like an expanded version of the comic section in newspapers.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

Naver’s webcomic section is huge. It’s more like a digital version of Shounen Jump, except bigger and broader in terms of genres and target demographic. Every icon on this page represents a professional series, meaning the site pays the creators a living wage.

And that’s just one site.

“Oh, so kinda like Hiveworks but more of them,” one might assume. Wrong. Webcomics are mainstream entertainment in Korea, just like movies and TV shows over here. If someone asks you, “So what do you do for a living?” and you answer, “I’m a webcomic creator,” they actually know what you mean — even average Joe’s and moms and dads!

Most (but not all) professional platforms have an amateur section on the side, where anyone can upload and share their own comic. So that’s what I did. I liked that I got to share the story in the language 98% of the story was meant to be read in. I also liked that I had a chance of going pro, as the curators/editors of pro sites are known to scout your series off the amateur section if they like it enough.

What does all that have to do with my format? Vertical scroll is the default format for Korean webcomics. Which are actually called “webtoons,” but I won’t be using that term as I despise how childish “toon” sounds. I remember randomly clicking on a comic the first time I was checking out Naver. It happened to be Flow. I immediately ‘got’ the format: good for mobile, and lots of room for creativity. I was sold!

Then came a point where I made the decision to reboot the comic and focus on an English-speaking audience. I really liked the vertical scroll format, but knew it would be a pain if I were to ever get it printed. At first, I attempted to get around this by stacking multiple book-sized pages together, and design the pages in a way that makes them easy to separate into pages, and looks good both ways. Didn’t work. The restriction was suffocating my creativity. I did what I had to do: defenestrate printability.

Infinite canvas is awesome. You never have to struggle trying to fit the content into one page. I do have less horizontal room, and I have to use a relatively large font size in order to keep it mobile-friendly, which can be challenging at times. But I always find a way.

KC: I can see the long, flowing format of your comic making the creation of a physical book a little tricky. One webcomic artist I adore, Emily Carroll, formats her comics in a similar, long-page format, and has somehow managed to reformat her stories to fit into a physical book. But in doing so, the feel of some of the stories changed a bit. You mentioned that the formatting the pages for print restricts your creativity. Are there any other reasons you’d rather steer clear of printing your book?

KEIIII: To be honest, I’m not particularly enamored by the thought of holding a book version of my comic in my hands. Yet weirdly enough, when it comes to prose works or non-sequential art, I LOVE owning the physical copies.

My guess is this has something to do with your early childhood exposure. A lot of people have been comic readers for a long time, I noticed. Not me. I was reading illustrated prose books as a child. The first comic books I read and owned were a children’s encyclopedia set (those usually contain comics in Korea — in fact, there are multiple tropes shared by encyclopedia comics. It’s a thing.), which I valued more for the SCIENCE!!!!11[sic] than for the comic. I don’t think it was until fifth grade that I became an actual, avid comic reader. But loose sheets of non-sequential art? I had lots of those as a kid.

That said, I do want to print my comic, mostly for self promotion. I can’t exhibit at SPX without an actual book. I’m considering doing a top-bound book (like a wall calendar) that will be like 7″x20″ when open. That would make it a little easier. I would still have to do loads and loads of editing, though. Some panels will even need to be redrawn from scratch. Crowdfunding will have to be employed, but I have a lot of researching to do in that area.

KEIIII: It’s no secret that I’ve been doodling around for years! I was an obsessive doodler before I even learned to speak, and I was an early talker. My parents remember how I would fill up pages and pages with small, crudely drawn circles of different colors. That was the beginning. Then I evolved, and began to fill up pages and pages with… small, crudely drawn triangles of different colors. Fast forward 30+ years, and here I am.

But let’s rewind about 18 years, back to the age of dialup. Growing up, I was always ‘the’ artist in my class. There were lots of other people who were into comics, but I had never met anyone who shared the passion in creating — until the internet happened. Being able to meet so many other artists, it was like being thrown into a world of zero gravity and lots of rainbows. I have so many memories from between then and now.

One notable, embarrassing memory is from back when I didn’t have a tablet. My favorite artist had a tablet, and Corel Painter (called Fractal Painter back then) happened to be their tool of choice. I wasn’t mature enough to be fully accountable for my own shortcomings back then, so I assumed Painter — which I did not have — must be the magic ingredient. Then another skilled artist came along and posted her latest masterpiece on a message board I frequented. I very dumbly asked her: “Do you use Painter? Because I don’t think I could do this in Photoshop.”

Thankfully, and I do mean thankfully, she was a mature person unlike me. She responded very kindly that it was done in Photoshop from scratch, with a mouse.

I remember that very well. So I try to be patient and understanding with newbies and younger people. Making comics can be stressful because of the sheer NEVER ENDING workload, and that makes me cranky sometimes, but I try.

I should also mention my previous webcomic, Haru-Sari (on indefinite hiatus). The characters and the overall story are still very dear to me, but most of the execution makes me cringe now. Which gives me a little bit of hope… Maybe I’ve improved a lot? And maybe will continue to improve a lot? And that hope is important. Sometimes I’m too afraid to even hope for the day when my comic can be called a Good Comic (Period). Not just ‘a comic with really good art (and bad to mediocre writing),’ but a truly Good Comic.

For the rest of Keiiii’s amazing comic, click right here!

This episode is yet another strong example of why being around like-minded peers in a community is an important part of not just becoming an artist but being one, as well. There’s always a certain comfort level during the growing process in knowing not only are you not alone but you’re more alike with others than you may have originally thought. Your ideas, concerns, goals, and sometimes even the same dreams. When you meet someone with these things, you know you’re in for a fantastic conversation.

Download this episode and listen in as Adam is joined by Joe to discuss all things comics. And politics. And other random tangents that seem to happen in Gutter Talk podcasts on a regular basis. By this time, though, you should just be used to it, right?

Joe’s Links:

Joe’s site (@joebadon)

Kickstarter for “The Man With Ten Thousand Eyes”

Our Links:

Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Last year we opened with Vincent Price masterfully reading Poe’s “The Raven.” This year we have Vincent Price reading Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” While there may be some who can read a Poe story out loud, not many can give it the respect and justice it deserves like Vincent Price.

Following that Adam is joined again by Stephen Bissette to discuss what he’s been up to the last year, and as it turns out, he’s quite the busy guy. In the conversation they discuss what is needed to create a top-notch horror story, whether it’s in the comic form or otherwise. Stephen brought up what it was like to work with the amazing Alan Moore and how he crafted scripts for artists to work with. Needless to say, mind = blown.

So put your scary mask on and download this episode with Stephen Bissette. When you’re done listening, the amount of tricks and treats in your arsenal will be all the candy you’ll need. You know, until next Halloween when we get to do this again.

Stephen’s Links:

SpongeBob Comic #49 Preview

Twitter: @SRBissette

Our Links:

Vincent Price / The Tell Tale Heart, Act I:
Vincent Price / The Tell Tale Heart, Act II:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Maniacal Witches Laugh: Recorded by Mike Koenig / http://soundbible.com/1129-Maniacal-Witches-Laugh.html / License: Attribution 3.0

What is the 8 Hour Comic Kickoff, you might ask? To put it simply, the Kickoff is a derivative of Scott McCloud and Stephen Bissette’s 24 Hour Comic Challenge, a challenge so unbelievably taxing that even comic masters like Neil Gaiman and Kevin Eastman have yet to beat it! The difference being, instead of 24 hours to do 24 pages, students were tasked with completing 8 pages in 8 hours (any more than that and I think we’d be drifting into child-labor danger zones).

Were they up to the challenge?

You bet they were.

I certainly was, at least.

Equipped with brimming imaginations and a desire to conquer, the students dove into the challenge with such an eagerness to succeed that even I had a hard time keeping up! Fueled by pizza and Gatorade, the students worked through their scripts and thumbnails, pencils racing across the page.

Things got a little collaborative.

As hour after hour ticked by and exhaustion began to set in, I realized the kids needed some inspiration. I turned on the Guttertalk episode featuring Stephen Bissette and, in the background, played the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings. The room felt like it was in the midst of an epic quest to conquer the unassailable fortress of Hand Cramps and Writer’s Block.

References and inspiration!

And conquer we did! With renewed vigor (and more pizza), the students broke out the pens and scribbled furiously, inking as fast as they could as the timer counted down. By the end, all students had finished drawing their eight pages, but only a few had managed to completely ink them (a carpal tunnel-inducing requirement of the challenge). However, I refused to tell them they failed the challenge, not only because I’m the coach and I can do that, and not only because they had shown an abundance of tenacity and strength (both mental and physical), but also because, in my unabashedly un-humble opinion, any creation of art is a success. They’d successfully written and sketched out eight pages of artwork. That’s eight pages more than anyone who didn’t accept the challenge. And that’s eight pages they can put towards one day telling the best story of their lives.

A moment of zen for the victors!

Now, I know you’re all dying to see the comics drawn by these amazing kids. And you will see them! I promise. However, there’s a little more to the story –

As the night drew to a close and supplies were cleaned up, a few students came up to me and expressed interest in continuing the challenge. “Continue the challenge?” I said with a gasp. “For all 24 hours?”

They grinned.

“Then Godspeed, young comic makers!” I called as they drove away into what would be a very long night.

Long story short, a few students wanted to take the full 24 Hour Challenge head on, so I let them keep their comics to continue working on them. It was going to be tough, but they looked eager to pull the dreaded all-nighter in pursuit of high art. Who was I to stop them?

That said, stay tuned for my blog post next week, where I’ll post everyone’s comics, talk about our pitch projects, and maybe toss in a few more fun goodies (can anyone say video?). For now, enjoy some pics from the day!

In today’s Making Comics Gutter Talk episode, Vincent travels down to San Diego and over to Adam’s studio (and let’s be honest here, it’s really just his living room) to talk about what it takes to maintain pace and structure as an artist. You’ll also get to hear Vincent discuss some rules and guidelines he does his best to follow in order to aid in not just his successes now but the successes of his future.

Don’t get Vincent wrong, though. He fully understands he has a long way to go before he feels comfortable being the artist he seeks to be, even if that doesn’t happen until his last dying breath. Still, when you hear him speak about his process in both thought and action when it comes to art, you, too, will also question the accuracy of his stated age. Most of all, though, you will find yourself inspired enough to adopt his rules and practice them yourself.

Vincent’s Links:

Vincent’s site (@VinMakesComics)

Vincent’s Tumblr page

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

A new podcast and podcast host joined the ranks. Still, people clamored for Jason’s old podcasts, and rightly so. The guests and conversations were a great mix of depth and joy, and every episode was a learning tool. After contacting Jason, he agreed to let us re-release the old podcasts until they ran out. Earlier this year, towards the end of May, we thought we had reached that point. However, what was previously released was only Part 1. If you have not heard Part 1 yet, click here. Jason let us know he still had the second half but it needed some edits. Towards the end of this past summer, Jason was able to find the time in his busy schedule to complete those edits. He even included a personal message at the end of the episode so make sure you listen all the way through.

Their Links:

Jason’s site (@Jason_Brubaker)
… Sithrah & reMIND & Patreon

Ethan’s site (@enicolle)
… Axe Cop

Doug’s site (@
… Veggietales

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Kevin Cullen: According to your Facebook page, Poharex has been running since 2007! Almost a decade of making comics and, from what I can tell, you’re still going strong! Did you plan for Poharex to run for as long as it has? And do you see it continuing on for another 10+ years?

Dory Holtzman: I had conceived the character of Poharex back in 2003. At first I didn’t think too much of it, it was just another one of those fun little concepts I liked to toy around with but never had any grand vision for. But the more I thought of it, the more it felt like there was something in there, some untapped potential. It was around late 2003 when I decided I wanted to tell the epic saga of a dinosaur hero. Over the next three years I tried my hand at storytelling through comics and other media. Looking back, none of it was really that good, but I’d rather think of it as practice.

Honestly, when I started back then I had no idea how long it would last. Sometimes I imagined it would be no more than a couple of years, but most of the time I didn’t think about it at all. Looking back now, though, I think I’ve got something good in my hands and I barely scratched the surface. There’s a lot more stories to tell (including Poharex’s origin story, which I only alluded to thus far) and a lot more awesome adventures to be had, so I guess Poharex is going to be here for a while.

KC: I’ve talked to a few other Underdogs about sustaining their motivation – from juggling several different projects to several different comics themselves. In terms of sheer longevity though, I’m interested in how you’ve managed to keep yours! I’m guessing drawing dinosaurs has a fairly large role to play…

Probably the most notable case I can think of dates back to 2008. Some news website had a (short-lived) webcomic review corner. They made a rather lukewarm review of my comic, in which they commended my talent and passion for the project but ultimately concluded that the basic premise of Poharex was a failure, and that hopefully one day I will “mature” and make a better comic. Even that article was mild compared to the toxic bile spilling out of some of the comments. Still, back then I saw that as an achievement rather than a blow. It was my first ever (and up until this point, only) exposure in online journalism.

KC: I was skimming Poharex (something I don’t recommend – everyone should read through its cohesive epicness!) when I noticed that, up until recently, you’d been drawing the comic with what looked like colored pencils. Now, however, your comic appears to be drawn digitally! Why the shift?

Somewhere circa 2011 I’ve learned of other options. Namely, GIMP -a free Photoshop alternative- and tablets becoming cheaper and more commonly available. By the time I was drawing issue #11, and planning the story for issue #12, I still thought I was going to stick with pencils, but somewhere along the way it didn’t really feel as good anymore. The pencils I used were getting old, and somehow got a life of their own and started attacking the paper. At the same time, my scanner also got totaled. That was the second time I found myself at a significant crossroad: do I just throw them away and buy new equipment, or should I give digital art a try? Up until that point I was curious, but wasn’t going to invest in it if it wasn’t for a big project like Poharex. But once I got a tablet and started practicing, it was love at first sight. Now I can’t imagine myself going back to the old methods.

KC: Have you found any positives or negatives with the switch from hand drawn to digitally drawn? I did notice that the lighting effects became much more dynamic!

DH: With digital art I have much more control. When I was using traditional tools there was any number of things that could go wrong at any given moment: from me making an inking error to the eraser smearing the ink or tearing the page, and of course I got tired of throwing myself at the mercy of crazy pencils and suicidal scanners. Tablets and GIMP have opened up a whole new world of options. By using different layers I could control each aspect of the page independently, correct errors and experiment with new effects and techniques in a non-destructive way. Looking back, I have no regrets switching from traditional to digital- only that I hadn’t done it sooner!

KC: Has your work space changed much since you started drawing digitally vs. with the…messier tools?

A positive change in my life occurred a few years ago when I moved to a new place. My bedroom has a lot more breathing space now, and as a result my workspace grew as well. My desk is bigger so it’s a lot more tidy now. The centerpiece of it all consists of my trusty desktop computer and tablet. Besides that I’ve got a nice little bookcase and places where I can store my numerous memorabilia. I also picked up the hobby of gardening a while back, so the room is full of plants. It’s basically the bat-cave, if Poison Ivy had taken over.

KC: You’ve also made a game (or two!) for Poharex, which is insanely cool! Can you talk about what went into making the Poharex games and why you decided to make a game in the first place?

I’ve actually made many attempts at making games that are worthy of being included in the Poharex series. The vast majority of these attempts were failed prototypes that never got past the pre-Alpha stage. These vary from platformers, to isometric games and even first-person shooters. Some I did complete (or at least got close to completing) and publish, but eventually I’ve decided to take them off the Internet. Maybe one day I’ll bring one or two back. Then again, maybe not.

The only games I made that should be considered part of the canon are the ones featured on my website. The first, “Poharex: King of the Jungle” is a fun little platformer I made back in 2007 and finally updated in 2012. It’s a pretty short game, and implements experimental hand-drawn graphics in the same style as the comics themselves. My goal with these games was always to supplement the comics, tell stories in a different way and bring the world of Poharex to life. With “King of the Jungle” I felt for the first time that I really managed to do that. The second game, titled “Poharex: The Second Invasion” is currently still a work in progress, but there’s a short Alpha version out there if you want to give it a try. It’s far from perfect, but I have faith in this project and wouldn’t let it fail as quickly as some of the previous ones. For the past few months I’ve been gathering players’ opinions about it and right now I’m planning my next moves.

For more epic dinosaur adventures, click right here!

And if you want to participate in the monthly event, just join the Facebook group and keep your eyes and ears open during the first weekend of every month, which is when we hold Self Promo Sundays.

The Questions

1: What is/was your most successful promotion technique?

Arp Laszlo

1: Most successful promotion technique: so far, Twitter chats (#webcomicchat& #comictalk).

2: Good question. Since it’s autobiographical I guess the main character would be me? For the hell of it, we’ll just have The Rock play me and see how that affects the story. And add some explosions too. (we’ll gloss over the part where he’s a 1ft taller & 100lbs heavier than me)

3: I see my comic being collected into a TPB and being in libraries all over the place. I’ll become a minor celebrity in India, appearing on whatever modern equivalent of ‘Hollywood Squares’ they have at the time.

Olivia Wylie

Hah, I love this month’s questions.
So, the redoutable Emily Singer, the chipper Tori Kinnaman and I create Parmeshen, a tale of outsiders. We’ve gotten a lot of luck promoting it by…well, talking about it! Making lots of other creative comicky friends helps, and Emily gets us followers through her blog Beyond The Trope. I’m fair active on Taptastic and Comicfury, and that’s gotten us some followers.
Parmeshen wouldn’t make a good movie, but Liam Niessen would be great for Arik, and Baxt would have to be done by the indie actress Azra Farish. In fact, we’d never want it to be a movie; too big and serious. We LIKE our project to be fun, flexible enough to change and CREATIVE. In five years we’d like to have more readers and a real conversation going around the themes it involves; social justice and ethnic equality without losing ethnic identity. I’d like my art style to improve. Beyond that, no stressing here!

Roman Howell

1: Best promotion has been free artwork for milestones like reaching so many new readers.

2: Main character Zach would be best play by Steven Yeun.

3: Hopefully, in a few year, our main characters will find a home.

Daniel Sharp

1: Most effective promotion in terms of garnering readers has been paid advertisements. TopWebcomics, Project Wonderful, etc. I wrote up a pair of articles about it on my site. http://demonarchives.com/tag/tutorials/

2: I stink at names of actors. Even though Tenzin is Chinese/Tibetan, he probably would be played by some white guy.

3: In a few years, still working on my PhD, still making the comic. Hopefully with more readers, a print run or two and a con or two under my belt.

Min Kwon

1. Engaging with the community without spamming, having actual conversations with readers as well as other creators, etc. I haven’t tried actual promotion-promotion much, other than one unsuccessful foray into the world of PW (which I definitely plan on trying again).

2. I have prosopagnosia and SUCK at cross-movie actor recognition. I also don’t watch a lot of live action stuff, sooo… I have no idea! Shame because this topic looks so fun when other creators talk about it and name all these actors.

3. Posting the proper ending of Heart of Keol, I hope.

Stephen Leotti

1: What is/was your most successful promotion technique?

Webcomic underdogs and Deviantart are probably the best.

2: If your comic was made into a movie, who would play the main character?

Stardust would either be Kevin Spacey or Marilyn Manson.

Next comic would be either Jesse Eisenberg or maybe Edward Norton. (These are voices because it would need to be animated in both cases.)

3: Where do you see your comic, or yourself as a creator, in a few years?

Well it depends on a lot of factors. I’m thinking of going back to school so I might be doing that at least part time. I’m hoping people are still interested in the things I create enough for me to continue making them. Honestly it is hard to say for sure.

Joshua Yu

Had to take a break from my comic this past month because I’m preparing for Long Beach Comic Con as I have a table at Artist Alley. Speaking of the questions:

1: My most successful promotion technique, is actually promoting the comic at conventions by giving out postcards that has the link to my comic. Another one would be using social media to promote.

2: Truth be told, I am not too sure who would play my characters if The Chronicles of SolLuna was made into a movie. Although the closest I could think of is: Nathan would be played by Benedict Cumberbach, and maybe Lunara would be played by probably Fan Bingbing. (I’m just thinking from the top of my head because I truly do not know -_-)

3: In a few years, I see myself becoming more successful as a comic creator and hopefully, start selling printed versions of my comics.

Ben Honeycutt

1: I promote myself by latching onto an established indie studio with growing fanbase and shamelessly harvesting their love for the original creators.

2: Demon Hunters started as a couple of college films, and then a few Youtube shorts, so I’d continue to cast Nathan Rice as Gabriel.

3: In a few years, I’d like to be producing Demon Hunters as a monthly comic and selling pewter fantasy figurines in my own store.

Thanks, guys!

Emma Jezek

1: My most successful promotion technique has been sharing my comic with as many people as possible and just sharing the characters’ stories with whoever asks.

2: If my comic was made into a movie, the four main characters (Lee, Jonas, Trevor, and Sam) would be played by Ashley Benson, Colin Ford, Hunter Parrish, and Chloe Moretz.

3: In a few years, I hope to be in college for art and animation, but I would love for my comic to be picked up by a publisher or to self-publish for those who are interested in buying.

Derrick Fish

D&C is the slightly skewed misadventures of a dog and his boy and the misadventures they get caught up into. It’s been running with a couple of hiatus‘ since 2001 now, and relaunched back in December as a weekly webcomic.

As for my answers, here they are:

1: my most successful ” promotion” technique” involved shameless fan art for more established web Comics that I dug. This was a LOT easier back when forums were still prominent.

2: Well, since Dandy Q. Dog is a talking cartoon dog, we’re clearly in animation territory. But rather then some lame, celebrity casting, I’d go with a talented chap by the name of Todd Fisher who has already done the voice once for a promo video.

3. I’d like to see the strip return to a level of success it was at before the multiple, unplanned hiatus’ killed the audience.

Jerry Pitterman

1: So far since none has really worked i would say would be a mixture of 9gag and making a cartoon of it and posting It on Youtube.

2: I would play the main character since It is completely based on me.

3: I’m hoping to support myself with the strips and animated shorts. Though that answer is not based on reality. I hope to bring my webcomic current I’m only 1500 strips behind.

Dylan Edwards

1: Being on panels at conventions seems to be my best promo. I’m usually on queer comics panels, so folks who are looking for comics with queer content gravitate there.

2: Reza Aslan isn’t an actor, but could stand in for the grown-up incarnation of the main character.

3: The comic is written as a complete book with a single story line, so in a couple of years will hopefully exist as a published volume.

Jon Grasseschi

1: Appearing at a small convention seemed to give me my biggest boost. If someone is going to a little one- or two-day con at a college campus, chances are they’re there for either legitimate networking or because they’re interested in finding new stuff.

Also I had a huge page view spike in the middle of the month for no reason??? If I ever figure out how that happened I will report back.

2: Excuse the list, but my comic is quite the ensemble piece: Nick – CM Punk; Lilith – Amy Adams; Uche – Idris Elba; Asuka – Rinko Kikuchi; Russell – Channing Tatum (yeah, I know, but he’s the right guy).

3: Not sure. Legitimately not sure. If you’d asked me six months ago I might have said “retired and out of the game entirely” but I’ve gotten a lot of movement on other projects since then and I’ve been kind of reinvigorated by some outside events. So I don’t know. It’s something I’ve struggled with a lot the last few years.

Anyway, please check out EverydayAbnormal and let me know what you think! (And keep in mind it’s got violence, language and nudity at various points — please don’t read it at work, peeps)

Lisa Nguyen

1: Project Wonderful and InkOutbreak helped me the most when I started heavily promoting my comic.

2: Probably Veronica Ngo or a new actress looking for a debut role smile emoticon As long as that person has read IL&J and is interested in bringing the character to life.

3: I hope to have gone to a few conventions and have 1-2 books printed. IL&J is on-going, so I don’t see a definite end, but I do have some big story arcs coming.

Silke Zanreo Erland

1: Tvtropes has actually been my biggest source of traffic after the Comicfury forums. Otherwise I’ve mostly posted it around in the art sections of various forums I’m a member of and gotten some fans through that

2: No idea, and I think it would work better as animated anyway.

3: In some years I hope to have drawn much more comics and gotten more fans. Though I’ll hopefully start making games in some years, and then I’m not sure how much time I’ll have left for my comic…

Sarah Roark

1: Advertising. Mostly latte-money web advertising. Advertising is a thing. Project Wonderful, etc.

2: Mm, Jason Schwartzman maybe? Certainly Hollywood casting, but rumple up his hair and clothes and it would work. 　

3: Trudging the con circuit solely on the power of caffeine and self-delusion, selling Vol 1 and trying to finish up Vol 2. grin emoticon

Moro Rogers

1: Who is another creator that inspires you? Miyazaki and Bruce Timm

2: Whether you’re a writer or an artist (or both), roughly how long does it take you to complete a page? About 4 hours, not counting rumination

3: What question would you like to see asked during next month’s Self Promo Sunday? Which graphic novels do you keep forever, which ones do you donate to the library, and which ones do you throw in the trash (and possibly set on fire?)

Pinku Pitcher

1: Posting my comic to http://new.belfrycomics.net/

2: Uhhh, I honestly cannot name more than like 5 Hollywood actors? I tried google, I still don’t know. This is the hardest question anyone could ask me…

3: Hopefully my story will be chugging along! I have realized that I may indeed have enough script to last me five years, which is a daunting idea. I’m hoping to release book versions as each section is completed, and after five years that would fill a chunk of bookshelf! Perhaps I would have the opportunity to revisit other comic ideas that have been shelved over the years.

Stanley Anderson

1. Actually, posting the link of Twitter gets instant hits for my web comic. Another awesome way is selling printed copies at Cons. I get to meet readers face to face, and that’s always rewarding.

2. I never thought about my characters being played by real actors. Guess I always considered my comics as potential anime shows. I’m a huge anime fan. Haha! But, for the main character of this comic, Alex would probably be played by Anton Yelchin. While Alex isn’t the physically strong and dashing kind, he’s intelligent, stubborn, and can be very courageous brought on by his stubbornness. I think Anton can totally pull that off, and I’ve seen him in fight scenes. Alex might not be a fighter, but again, that stubbornness of his will put him in situations where he would actually want to get physical.

3. I have several comics in the works. While I’m not the fastest, and I do all the work myself, I do work on my projects everyday. I think I might have accidentally fashioned my life in the all work and no play habit. I’m driven by the thought that I’m always trying to catch up with the business and my own imagination constantly feeding me ideas. I’m hoping sheer work ethic and perseverance will reward me with a book deal and more chances to go to Cons and meet people.

Chris Wacker

1: I think most successful promotion has been from people here on FB, or from our tables at comic conventions.

2: Max and Jericho pretty much share the spotlight as main characters. I guess Max could be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, I feel like he could pull it off maybe? Jericho could be played by Christian Bale? Hard question.

3: Seeing as our views and the amount of visitors we are getting has been steadily rising I think its not impossible to think we could be able to put into production as an animated series soon. (fingers crossed).

Rulo Potamo

1: Promoting is a big question mark for me. So far interacting with fellow WU is the best.

2: I would love Shailene Woodley playing Any.

3: I really hope to be doing a couple of stories in five years. I’m not sure whether M9 will survive that long. I do know I have lots of ideas for them!

Paul McRae

1: I’ve been posting some stuff to Reddit and that has generated a lot of traffic.

2: The main character, Ty, would have Sue the T-Rex play him in the movie.

3: I’d love to be doing this full time in 5 years.

Joseph Krejci

1: Getting involved in Site projects like group pictures and such. Doing random strips to help other people cover also. promotion technique?

2: If your comic was made into a movie it would have to animated.

3: It’s hard to be Walter, a walrus, out on his own for the first time & sharing a room with Butch, a small black dog, who is way out of his league in college. Some days can be as mundane as dealing with laundry and classes. other weeks they could be trying to stop an alien invasion and a time space continuum loop. With their friends’ help they get through their humorous and wild adventures.

Kevin Molen

1: Not sure… I’ve never promoted it except on here and in one other group. Much more successful here.

2: I’d prefer animation, but if I went live action it’d have to be James Marsters. Khaoc was inspired by Spike.

3: I have no clue. Probably both in a dumpster.

Gioseppe Custodio

1: Befriending other creators is still my best promotional technique so far. Though I do it discretely, appreciating other’s work sometimes helps gets others to recognize your work.

2: Since my comics is about me and my friends, I want me and my friends to be the main cast…

3: Hopefully in a few years I’d finally get a fan base. People who really want to read my comics, talk about my comics, and share my comics to others. I want that in the future…

Mike Girardin

1: I don’t honestly know, I don’t have time to push promos with what’s going on, especially lately. I paid 25 to advertise on a webcomic site once, that got some views. (don’t recall the name).

2: Wouldn’t want it live action, it’d have to be animated :B voiced by someone with a bit of a tomboy voice.

3: With more characters and fantasy mixed in with the sci-fi.

Kate Slinger

1: Best Self-Promo for me has been interacting with other artists and readers. Curiosity is a great thing!

2: I have no idea who would play any of the characters, no one seems quite right.

3: No idea where I or the comic will be in the future. It’s on hiatus at the moment so things are at a standstill.

Kirsty Mordaunt

1: Having kind enough readers to vote for me into the top 50 on TWC has got me a lot of traffic! Whether those people stay will have to be seen.

2: I’m terrible at actors. I will say if I had someone play Jakob I’d want Ian Somerhalders level of eye intensity though.

3: I’ll probably still be torturing myself. But just further along the plot line. Hopefully I’ll do backgrounds better.

Glenn Song

1: I think doing the sponsorship ad on TWC has been really helpful as well as directed PW ads. I find that those readers binge on the comic a lot which is super cool.

2: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu? I’d probably want an new/unknown, English speaking Asian actress to take on the role and make it her own.

3: In five years? Hopefully continuing on with the 3rd or 4th story for This Mortal Coil, and maybe doing a third independent video game. grin emoticon

Here’s a link to the current page of the comic, I haven’t published a new page in two weeks, because I’m currently animating some of the next page. This is the big climatic chapter, so I wanted to do something big for it.

BTW, I’m also looking for guest fan art. I don’t know how long this hiatus will last, but if you’re interested in doing some high contrast artwork, drawing lolita, or fan art, please ping me. Also, I’d be up for doing art trades too.

Tanya Geritsidou

1: So far my most successful technique has been TWC voting. I’m going to try facebook soon though.

2: For Fotis (at least in terms of looks) Dylan Sprayberry. For Basil Dylan O Brien.

3: I’m hoping WM will have been completed in a few years! Ha ha ha! And that I’ll be able to move on to the next part of WM. 

Neil Kapit

1: Involvement in the Underdogs community. I love all you guys!

2: It would have to be an animated movie in order to work, and in that case, you can refer to the Webcomic Voice-Casting Thread (http://www.underdogforums.makingcomics.com/…/page-6/)

3: No idea, but I hope I’ll always be drawing and writing, even if it never becomes my livelihood.

Clarence Worley

1: Reddit has certainly got me the most hits, but I don’t think many of them are likely to return. I’ve had a few goes on Project Wonderful but haven’t done enough to judge how effective it is. Early days…

2: As they’re gag strips I don’t have much in the way of regular characters, although I’ve a few who have appeared in 3 or 4 of them. I’ve not considered who might play them though. Nobody especially famous I think. I imagine Clint Eastwood would be a good person to play the lead role in my “6 Shots or 5?” gag though…

3: In a few years? Hmm… hopefully I’ll have finally released the long story idea I’ve had floating around for 4 or 5 years already. My drawing is slowly getting to a point where I could start to do it justice, or at least I could do a better job than this time last year. I’ve actually been fleshing it out a bit recently so am hopeful that I can start it soon.

Sean Stephane Martin

1: What is/was your most successful promotion technique? I don’t usually run them, because they didn’t seem worth the effort. Now it’s just turning out quality stuff that seems to get the readership.

2: If your comic was made into a movie, who would play the main character? I’d prefer it to be a couple of unknowns, actually.

3: Where do you see your comic, or yourself as a creator, in a few years? Just plugging along, telling more stories as best I can.

Bruno Harm

1: Promotions…. I should do that.

2: Leslie Neelson.

3: hmm, hopefully I’ll have enough strips in a few years to figure that out. I’ll definitely make a book. at least for myself.

For four subsequent years the GNP flourished. Before ending in the spring of 2012, GNP managed to publish 12 books,  sell 800 copies of the books, and travel to present and sell at 13 comic book conventions. GNP was a huge success and is still beloved within the Chula Vista community where it once lived.

Making Comics Worldwide is proud to announce that GNP is back. Patrick Yurick and Kevin Cullen will be leading a new pilot program at the High Tech High Chula Vista Campus. Yurick will be stepping back from his former lead editor role to act as curriculum designer while Cullen will work to lead the group as Editor In Chief/Head Coach.

By March 2016 this new pilot group, composed of only high school students, will create a comic to be sold and presented at Wondercon 2016 in Anaheim, California. The goals for the program are to engage high school students with the professional craft of comic-making.

Early on Adam and Dean discuss the art experience, what it’s like to encounter art in a way you neither expected nor experienced in the past. Sometimes it’s the challenge that makes art an emotional experience and those emotions can range from joy to confusion to sometimes anger. These feelings, however, only confirm the effectiveness of the art the viewer is visually taking in.

Another important topic of discussion was what makes a story unique and universal at the same time. In Dean’s soon-to-be released graphic novel, Beef With Tomato, he exuded the heart and essence of New York City. If you’ve been to New York City, you’ll surely find something familiar in the book. If you haven’t, the book will make you realize even the ugly side of the city can be beautiful. Because Dean is New York City through and through, he’s able to connect the reader to the city with ease, thereby creating that unique and universal tone.

We know this is a longer than usual episode but we’re confident the next almost two hours with Dean Haspiel will be well spent.

Dean’s Links:

Dean’s site (@deanhaspiel)

The Fox (w/ Mark Waid)

Trip City

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

[Tweet “People will be less inclined to tear me down if I swing the sledgehammer first, right?”]

I was in Vancouver for the 2011 rioting. There, somebody thought: “If I swing the sledgehammer first, everyone else will think it’s okay and join in.”

It’s foolproof!

The world watched one of those theories get proven with 5 million dollars in property damage and 140 cases of blood spilled on the streets. The damage caused by the other mindset is more difficult to measure.

I do know that I get a nasty taste in my mouth every time I see a creator (especially one I’ve not heard of yet) saying that their comic is badly written/drawn, that they got lazy on the newest update, that their work is derivative or convoluted or nonsensical. I never bother looking at the comic after seeing any of these. Why should I? If the person in the driver’s seat doesn’t care about their cargo, why would any sane person climb aboard?

Think of the people who genuinely do enjoy your work. What must they feel like when you say these things? When it seems like they need to defend something they like against the very person who made it? They care for what you say in your work so they’re inclined to care for what you say about the it. Suddenly they start seeing the flaws you point out – where before they may have noticed none — until it overwhelms what they saw in the first place. Goodbye enthusiastic fan. Hello jaded (ex?)reader.

You don’t have to think your work is the best in the world to get behind it. It’s true that cockiness can turn people off…but not passion. Every time you find yourself about to stab your own work in the back, consider talking about the things you love about it instead. Not with a “this part is the best” attitude, but in a “I really care about this part” sort of way. “This is important to me. This is why I’m trying to get this out there.” Don’t be ashamed to be seen loving your work. Loving something doesn’t mean you think it’s better than everything else out there. It means the thing resonates with you on a personal level (as your own work rightfully should), and so you privately accept its faults.

[Tweet “Consider talking about the things you love instead.”]

This is your work. You brought it into the world. If one person in the world should love it, stand up for it, and tell people why they should be reading it…shouldn’t it be you?

—–

By Otty Justason, co-creator of ZUKAHNAUT.com

The reason for the trip down memory lane is because at the end of this Gutter Talk interview with artist and musician Jeffrey Burandt, we could picture little Jeffrey Burandt saying that classic line but following it up with, “And make comics, too.”

Join Adam and Jef as they turn it up to 11 and discuss not just the depths of art but the depth of life, too. As the previous 81 episodes will attest, we all encounter hurdles and mountains in our quest to fill our lives with creative endeavors, big or small. While there are better ways of coping than others, to say there is only one way to cope would be a very tough thing to sell. There are so many things we can learn from others and we hope you take from these podcasts not just the knowledge of comic creation but also some mechanisms your peers have put in place to help them as they navigate through this wacky thing called life as an artist.

Jef’s Links:

Odd Schnozz site (@Jef_UK)

Americans UK

Our Links:

Intro song: “Phenomena-na” by Americans UK (with permission from Jeffrey Burandt)

Outro-outro song: Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad Theme (with permission from Jeffrey Burandt)

Transitions:

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this episode, Adam talks to Chris about overcoming hurdles like a champ, as well as what it’s like to be old school in a new school world. The term Luddite even comes up a few times. Still, one of the more inspiring things you’ll hear in today’s episode is Chris’s drive to pursue a career and life he wants and seemingly will get. After you listen to this episode, we’re pretty sure you’ll be hardpressed to disagree.

And just like jury duty, make it a civic responsibility to go to our iTunes page and give the Gutter Talk podcast a rating and review. We have no authority to fine you or place you in a holding cell for a few days because you didn’t rate or review the podcast. Still, we wouldn’t suggest it.

Chris’s Links:

Chris’s site (@lazzyfair)

Carver: A Paris Story

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

KEVIN CULLEN: I really dig your site, man! From Sci-Fi epics, to quick gags, to long-form story-driven comics, readers from lots of different fanclubs are able to find something that they like here. How did you get started working on so many different comic projects?

ELPP: I work in an environment where I do not have a lot of control over my creative freedom. I decided that with my site, I would try a myriad of different comic styles to allow myself to have some fun and test out my artistic skills. If a reader doesn’t like one comic style I do, I might still be able to keep them as a fan with another type.  It’s a win-win situation!

KC: I noticed you’ve even got a Youtube channel where you post speed-drawing videos of your comic strips. I love behind-the-scenes stuff like that. Have you seen much of an impact from your Youtube work on your comic in terms of finding new readers?

ELPP: There’s definitely interest out there to check it out, but I wouldn’t say it has made a huge impact in pulling in new readers to my site.  I use it more as a way to reward current readers to get that behind-the-scenes feel for what went into creating my comic. I enjoy producing them, and as long as they are being viewed, I’ll continue making them.

KC: When it comes to writing your comics, do you prefer to write the longer, story driven comics like Space Empress and ELP, or are you more a fan of the quick gags such as your Doodle comic and the Random Musings? And, as a reader, which do you prefer?

ELPP: Obviously, I like both types, but because of the time it takes to create story-driven comics, I’ll choose the quick gags.  The gags are based on relevant world events or a witty (bad) pun, and when people read them, they can instantly relate.  The downfall to my Doodles and Random Musings is that they can get outdated very fast if I base them off a current event, so I keep that in mind often.  As a reader, I prefer gag comics so that I can have time to read numerous ones by different artists.

KC: Keeping motivation is always a tough challenge. Do you think that having a larger variety of comic ideas to draw from (today I’ll write a space epic, tomorrow I’ll do a musing, etc.) helps keep your momentum up?

ELPP: Absolutely.  It keeps things from becoming monotonous, and allows me to draw whatever I’m feeling for the day.  I don’t set my comic drawings to a schedule; I allow myself flexibility. This ensures my comics don’t become a burden as well.

KC: Did you design your workspace with ergonomics in mind or are you like me in that your workspace is wherever your pets leave your drawing equipment that day?

ELPP: My workspace is a menagerie of video games, comics, books, and random drawings on scratch paper.  I have a desk in the corner where I do most of my creations, but it isn’t exactly organized either.  There’s no rhyme or rhythm to the set up, and I prefer it that way.  My wife attempted to make it more of a productive room for me, but that was a lesson in futility.  I did leave the items she hung on the wall up, so I feel that was a good compromise.

KC: Picture this: You run into a very important comic book publisher in an elevator and he asks if you’re working on anything! Quick, shoot him the elevator pitch for one of your comics!

ELPP: In an alternate universe where I had the courage of a lion, I might say….  My ELPP website contains comic entertainment with a hint of sass and spice.    I’ve got single panel comics for a quick (always bad) pun or a political satire, multi-panel version comics to really drive home a good joke, and even a comic featuring my very naughty penguin pal Kip.  I’m revamping a sci-fi comedy adventure as we speak – it’ll be out of this world… eventually.

KC: To follow up on that question, what, in your opinion, makes a good pitch?

ELPP: Timing and good breath.  Always carry Tic-Tacs, my friends, always.

For more hilarious misadventures from ELPP, click here to check out his various comics!

If you would like to participate in next month’s Self Promo Sunday, simply join the Underdog Facebook group!

The Questions

Who is another creator that inspires you? You may name more than one if you’d like.

Whether you’re a writer or an artist (or both), roughly how long does it take you to complete a page?

What question would you like to see asked during next month’s Self Promo Sunday?

Michael Yakutis

1: My sources of inspiration vary depending on what style I’m working in. When I’m working in digital paint, I often refer to the works of Brad Rigney, Xia Taptara, or Pete Mohrbacher. All excellent painters. When working in a more traditional comic style (line art with color) I’m heavily influenced by the greats – David Finch, Richard Friend, Richard Corben, Ian Gibson, Dave Sim & Gerhard, and more.

2: If I’m really focused I can sometimes whip out a page in about 1 day. But usually it takes more like 2 days, and sometimes more for heavily detailed painted art.

3: Since I came up with the questions above I’m gonna cheat and not technically answer this one

Marius Hjelseth

1: So many, including several uncerdogs do, but today I’ll go with Jean van Hamme, creator of Thorgal. I’ve taken a huge amount of inspiration from his writing from before I started the comic.

2: 6-10 hours from start to finish, depending on the complexity of the page, or how many sketches i angrily hurl into my waste bin.

3: What specificly convinced you that you wanted to start work on your own comic?

Sam Machado

1: Right now I’d say I have a writing man crush on Aes Kot.

2: Complete is a tricky word because I rewrite but I go through a draft of a page in about 30min.

3: What is/was your most successful promotion technique?

Joshua Yu

1. Artists who inspire me are Keith Thompson, Redjuice, just to name a few.

2. It usually takes me 7-11 days to finish a page unless there’s some stuff that I need to do on it that may take longer.

3. What made you decide to go into comics?

Keith Taylor

1. My biggest influences are J Scott Campbell and pretty much any 90s art from Capcom primarily Street Fighter and Darkstalkers

2. I’m all the above. I write, draw, etc. I’ll guesstimate and say around 12-16 hours a page.

3. Long form Story or strip? Which do you prefer?

George Ward

1: I have a hard time identifying my influences. Gravity Falls is a strong influence on the type of story I’m telling, so I’ll go with that.

2: It takes me 8-10 hours over two days to draw and color a page on average.

3: If your comic was made into a movie, who would play the main character?

Bill Bushman

1: My biggest influence is Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County. His work really made me want to be a cartoonist when I was younger and more than a few people have told me that you can see his influences in my work.

2: It usually takes me less than an hour to do a typical strip, depending on how much detail I put into it.

3: I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on collecting their webcomics into a book and also, their experiences if they’ve done it.

Jamie Evans

1: Hiroki Endo is quite the inspiration. He is writing a Mixed Martial Arts manga named ‘All Rounder Meguru’ and it is just awesome. To take a sports theme, make it emotional and deliver on the fighting front is incredible.

2: I don’t really have a set answer for this as a writer. I write full script so I put a lot of detail in to each page, and I tidy everything up with multiple drafts.

3: I guess it would be interesting to talk about the the unpopular art: marketing. I’m spending a bit of time currently researching effective ways to reach people including the best days, time and more. Hard work, but it’s compulsory.

Philip Rice

1. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are my favourite comic creators, especially when working together. I also admire J.H Williams, particularly his versatility.

2. Usually about two hours or under. Fully painted or traditionally done art pages take longer.

3. Are you on your first webcomic?

Julie Newberry-Olsen

1: You may name more than one if you’d like.Too many artists to name that tackle storytelling and art. Justin Copeland. Nesskain. Juanjo Guarnido, Becky Cloonan, Jeff Wamester… the list goes on.

2: I personally handle the pencils/inks. From thumb to inks it takes roughly 6-8 hours. My co-creator handles the colors and her hours vary.

3: Is this a labor of love or your job? Both?

Christina Poag

1. All my webcomic friends. Right now Skinny Mister

2. For my journal comics I usually script 4-6 a month then sit to pencil and ink for 5 hours for 6 pages. I like to do at least 6 in one sitting.

3. How do you approach pitching your comic in diferent ways? IE to people who come by your table vs. friends vs. a place you want to get hired.

Clarence Worley

1: My biggest inspirations are probably Dresden Codak and The Perry Bible Fellowship. PBF is exactly the kind of humour I like and aspire to. I also used to like a Webcomic called Truck Bearing Kibble that has disappointingly vanished, which had similar humour, but more obscure.

2: I write and draw but have never specifically time myself. I take around a week to do a page but the number of hours I take is anyone’s guess. I’m still learning so I’m not especially quick

3: Do you have a plan for where your comic will be at in a couple of years or is it just a week by week thing?

Andy Purviance

1. Two comics I look forward to on Tapastic are “Big Jo” by Jungle Julia and “The Disappearance of Melody Dean” by Alexis Sugden.

2. Pages take about 16 hours because I can’t help but try more complex things as my skills improve.

3. Question, “If you could swapped genres for your current comic, what would you pick? E.g. go from rom-com to sci-fi horror.”

Jessica Udischas

1: I really love Katie Rice and her comic Camp Wedontwantcha (campcomic.com)

2: Honestly I have no clue how long it takes me to finsish a comic becase I work on the in small increments.

3: N/A

Stephen Leotti

1: I couldn’t do that without mentioning Marilyn Manson. To me, he’s the epitome of what an artist should be. Thought-provoking, intelligent, creative, weird, but still commercial enough to be likeable by the main stream, and willing to evolve and change over time. He knows how to take inspiration from other artists and turn it into something new, rather than just ripping them off. It’s always HIS, even if it’s a cover or an homage. He knows how to push buttons, but not in a way that feels like it’s trying too hard to be shocking — I like South Park, but they have this problem sometimes.

It may not be quite as shocking as it was then, any more than Psycho (my favorite film) is as scary to a modern audience as it was when it came out; but both still hold up because they’re still just as smart as they were then. The things he said in those songs are timeless because they speak about things that will always be part of human nature. Hatred, violence, anger, sex, fame, drugs, etc. These things will always be part of our culture in one way or another and thus will never become dated; even if the aesthetics are in some ways.

My favorite author is Chuck Palaniuk (for a lot of the same reasons). My favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock. My favorite animator is Richard Williams. Though I love Milt Kahl and Eric Goldberg as well.

As far as comics, I love Jonas McCluggage a lot. Doug TenNapel and Jeff Smith are also great. Old Frank Miller is good (before he went insane) and Neal Adams’ 70s Batman is a lot of fun. Bill Watterson of course is a huge influence. I love Walt Kelly’s art, but his writing never made me laugh too much. George Herriman’s Krazy Kat I also like for the surreality. I’m not a big superhero guy. I respect people like Jim Lee, but I can’t say I ever really tried to emulate him.

2: The answer to that is kind of complicated. I can write a full script in a week or draw a page in a day if I know what I’m doing; but then sometimes it takes me months of working on something before I’m happy with it. Not that I’m actually working on it all that time, but I just leave it undone until I go back into it and figure out what I want from it. So really, I have no way to answer that question because it’s never the same thing twice.

3: You can ask about the writing process, or how to create a character. Or why we chose comics in particular. I don’t know, surprise me.

Jake Meyer

1: I really like Paranatural and FowlLangauge. My inspiration is Jeff Smith and Osama Tezuka

2: I am both the writer an creator of my comic.

3: N/A

Yaro Ruiz

1. My favorite cartoonists are Quino, Watterson, Larson and happy that Berkeley Breathed has revived Bloom County grin emoticon.

2. I can take from a day to a week depending on how much time I have available.

3. How about questions about character development.

Jonathan Ponikvar

1: My biggest original influences were mostly syndicated strip artists, so the likes of Frank Cho, Stephan Pastis and Bill Watterson.

2: I do most of my work traditionally, so a page for me depends on how much detail is being put into the backgrounds. For a standard character-focused page it’s about 3 hours from pencils/inks to digital color, while a more detailed one can take up to 6.

3: What is your preference for comic layouts: The new “webcomic” vertical standard, or the classic 2:3 (6″ x 9″) printed comic layout?

Chris Wacker

1: I was heavily influenced and inspired by Akira Toriyama though my style is a bit more like an American anime.

2: I do all of our illustration and because I have another full time job I am unfortunately only able to get one page done a week.

3: I would be curious to find out how many people in this group do promotion at comic cons and how they do commissions.

Lisa Nguyen

1: I’m inspired most by Azuma Kiyohiko of Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato! I love the way he tells simple slice-of-life stories with memorable characters.

2: I wear both writer and artist hats. From start to finish, a page takes me roughly 2 hours.

3: How do you stay motivated?

Edward Gee

1: Another creator who inspires me is whoever does Gone Into Rapture. That’s a great comic. and ubertool. He does a lot with almost no ability.

2: It takes me about 5 minutes to finish a page. Writing Rules!

3: I’d like to know everyone’s shoe size. 10.5 E, ladies.

Yvonne Lin

1: My current obsession is Jeph Jacques/Questionable Content (I know I’m not the only one)

2: It takes me between 45 min and 4 hours, depending on how I’m feeling about it

3: A quick overview of people’s process, from inspiration to technical execution

Sean Stephane Martin 

1: A very obscure cartoonist named Richard Guindon was one of my inspirations. His work is always beautifully drawn, and his humour is so very, very weird. Well worth looking for.

2: Anywhere from an hour to three hours. The latest series is taking freaking forever because of all the Waxom work…

3: Have you ever gone out of your “safe genre”? If so, how and to what?

Rulo Potamo

1: Right now I’m pretty much inspired by fellow underdogs Charlie Wise andSarah Driffill. I learning a lot on how to make a better and compelling story from them.

2: Not counting the time to write a full chapter (around 1 to 3 weeks) I spend a couple of hours discussing the page with the artist. Then I’ll spend an hour doing a rough sketch. My artist will then procrastinate and have a penciled page during the week.

I will give her hell and she will have a corrected page in another day. Then another day and she will produce a colored page. Then I start cracking the whip to start a new cycle.

3: How do you create and design the universe your story is set in?

Min Kwon

1: Jen Lee Quick, who is currently publishing at Sparkler Monthly. Her passion for comics is indescribable, and I love how she plays with tropes without turning her work into piles of tropes.

2: Hard to say. I don’t work page by page. I prefer to thumbnail a bunch, ink a bunch and color a bunch.

3: What were the most memorable comments you’ve gotten on your comic?

Bill Morse

1: My main inspiration was Charles Schultz ever since a autobiography he wrote in the 70s showed how he did his strips. Since then the list is endless from Michelangelo to Miyzaki.

2: Assuming my Muse is doing her job and it’s a basic level of detail four hours.

3: How much details about your cast and setting do you know but will never share with your audience?

Glenn Song

1: Danny Choo. He’s an otaku who’s made a life out of pursuing the things he loves and cares about (Japan, anime, dollfies) and along the way he’s discussed how he’s gotten there. He has his big post on his site that talks about how learning Japanese changed his life and how he got to living there. It’s great inspiration for me to read how he built his life. I like his knowledge dump blog posts too, like the ones on building the prototype smart dolls that he now manufactures and sells worldwide. I like that he also is willing to put in the effort to learn how to do things — 3D modeling, web design, making toys, robotics, anime, tv show video editing/production, etc. He also contines to connect with otaku around the world too.

Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and Studio Ghibli. If you ever want some insight into how Ghibli was built, read Starting Point which is a series of interviews that Miyazaki gave over the first 20 years of the anime house and what he did beforehand (He was at Toei animation). It gives me hope that he and Takahata started Ghibli when he was 41 years old, because to me that says, you don’t just burn out after 30, which is kinda the Silicon Valley mentality. I don’t know what it’s like to work at Ghibli, but in its heyday it did seem like a pretty nice and close-knit place to work. A buddy and myself want to start a game studio, and we actually look to Ghibli for inspiration. It doesn’t feel like a souless megacorporation. If we could build our own studio where we could work on our passion projects and turn enough coin to keep the lights on and to keep making our things our way, then I would say that was a great success.

2: I’d say the average is about 15 hours per page. Doing the high contrast is time consuming, but I’ve learned a lot of techniques along the way to work faster.

If you want to read more about how I make my webcomic, check this out:http://www.mortalcoilcomic.com/made/

3: My question: If you were to do a retrospective on your entire body of work right now, what one thing did you like about your work and what one thing do you think needs improvement?

Bob Glasscock

1: I’m inspired by Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content) for the sheer volume of work he produces every day. Also: Tony Breed (Muddlers Beat) for his perfect punch line cadence and Gibson Twist (Pictures of You), who writes so well it kills me.

2: I complete one full color page a week. I have a full-time day job and they like me to stay focused.

3: My question: Do you ever suffer from burnout and how do you get past it?

Andy B. Childress

1: Jimmy Johnson creator of ARLO AND JANIS. He was the first cartoonist I ever got to meet and talk to in person and I love his strip.

2: I write and draw and hand letter and ink my strips. roughly 30 minutes to pencil and letter and around 30 minutes to ink. Average is an hour with sometimes maybe an hour and a half. I work on 11 x 17 and use the whole page minus a half inch border. The writing process I’ve never timed. If the idea hits me then just a couple of minutes per strip.

3: a question I would fancy would be , Who still hand letters their strip?

Neil Kapit

1: Too many to name, but I was especially impressed with Marius Hjelseth this week for the massive heartbreaking swerve in October 20th.

2: From planning to layouts to digital “inking” to colors to lettering to other formatting, I’d say three hours total per black and white page, sometimes four.

3: How do you practice drawing when you’re not just doing your comic pages?

Guillermo Carregha

1: I get inspired by Akira Toriyama, Jacob Chabot and John Kleckner.

2: I usually take a day for page, about 6-7 hours from thumbnail to finish, but depends on how much my “real job” let’s me.

3: What makes you keep going?

Holland Karaghiaulleian

1: I have to tip my hat to Aaron Diaz (Dresden Codak) whose work got me into both reading and writing webcomics in the first place. I also interact with him quite a bit and he is truly a cinnamon roll — it’s nice when people who make awesome things are also awesome people.

2: Hoo boy, tough question. Considering I can spend an entire day painting a single panel, I’ll have to estimate that I spend every bit of 20 hours working on a page as a low estimate. It’s probably more. Add life into the mix, and it takes me about a month to release a page.

3: Perhaps “If funds weren’t a concern, what would your dream webcoming-making setup consist of?” if something similar hasn’t been asked already.

Dusty Lalas

1: The creator of Shotgun Shuffle, Chris Rusche, hugely inspired me when I discovered his comic last year. It completely redefined for me what a comedy based webcomic could be. Prior to it I thought funny comics = 3-4 static panels. But everything about SS is unconventional, from the layout to the writing to the character development.

2: 2 hours for an “easy” comic, up to 6 hours for an “intensive” one.

3: Does anybody do some sort of hand exercises to prevent arthritis/carpal tunnel? Especially those who do a LOT of comics. How do you treat your aching hands?

Sarah Roark

1: Alison Bechdel, Garry Trudeau, Berke Breathed, Lynn Johnston, Neil Gaiman.

2: Anywhere from several days to a week, depending.

3: “Who are your dream audience? Who would you most love to reach and touch with your work?”

Sarah Driffill

1: Oh man. So many people inspire me, but I’ll take this opportunity to throw out the name of Dan Hess, creator of Angel Moxie (http://www.venisproductions.com/ang…/archives/0/0/001.html), a comic I drew many, many ideas from when I was doing research for my own comic. When it comes to art, I’m quite fond of Anne Marie Bone’s (http://www.annmariebone.com/) paintings and how she uses a full palate of color to create dreamscape-like scenes. I could list dozens more on top of those two, honestly. I get ideas and inspiration from everywhere.

2: I depends of the page, really. Full color pages with detailed backgrounds can take several hours spaced over a week to finish, since I try not to do it all in one sitting–I get burnt out if I do that. For greyscale or monochromatic pages, I’d say it can take anywhere between 2 and 5 hours depending on the complexity, how much background there is, and how much I dawdle.

3: “Share one of your biggest Eureka Moments in making your comic(s).” That could make for some fun stories.

Erik McGee

1: Scott Adams’ Dilbert and Jim Davis’ Garfield. I treat my strip like an animated show, so I will include Jhonen Vasquez’ Invader Zim, for which The Bluenecks could not exist had it not been for Invader Zim.

2: The completion of a single strip varies depending on the format, on average 10 hours a strip, but I usually work on 8 comics at a time, 2 if I’m using the Surface Pro.

3: A question I would like to see asked: what chain of events led you to create a specific character? Ex: Midna was created for Twilight Princess because looking at Wolf Link for the back seemed too boring

Listen in as John and Adam talk about the journey not only his OINK project has been on but the overall journey John has been on as an artist. His path through the gaming world provides a unique insight into storytelling and world building when it comes to the gaming world versus graphic novels. Plus, there’s a drive inside John that is very inspiring, as he is the type of individual that goes out and gets what he wants in life, and does so seemingly in a very laid-back manner. There’s a lot to learn from in this episode.

Please be sure to head over to iTunes and give the Gutter Talk podcast some love, both with stars and with words. We really do appreciate it and it goes a long way in getting not just the Gutter Talk podcast a piece of the spotlight but also Making Comics as a whole.

John’s Links:

John’s site (@johnmuellerart)

OINK Kickstarter project

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Moderated by the Gutter Talk podcast host Adam Greenfield, the panel consisted of Mark Waid, writer of Daredevil and most recently the Archie comics, Christy Blanch, an educator and also writer for The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood, Chris Miskiewicz, the writer for Thomas Alsop, Rachel Dukes, creator of Frankie Comics, and Calista Brill, a senior editor with First Second Books. See what we mean? This panel was destined to be amazing and it certainly lived up to the billing. Download or stream the show and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Please also be sure to head over to iTunes and give us a rating and review. What you gain from doing this is tenfold compared to what we get out of it, and this is why we are doing what we are doing. From the new site to the future plans we have in store for everyone, it all becomes more viable when we become more visible.

Music: “RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Kevin Cullen: You’re quite a busybody! From hosting an online boutique, to a graphic design company, to a regularly updated blog, you’ve got lots of projects going on. Then, on top of all that, you’ve got your weekly webcomic, In Love & Justice! Your time management must be impeccable. Any tips for those of us who have trouble with even remembering to check our email, much less update webcomics and design graphics?

Lisa Nguyen: Oh yes, I keep very busy! But my graphic design, doll clothing and plushie work are on a commission basis. I have a full time job that I really enjoy and is on my priority list (after family, of course). So it might sound like a lot, but it’s not at all! I think time management is important, but also remember to keep in good health, too.In my spare time, I really dislike sitting still. I’m not the type to just watch tv unless I’m multi-tasking. I like to have a few projects running. Now that even includes a Youtube channel! But I’m a very strong believer in making buffers. When I first started In Love & Justice in 2009, I created one comic a week and I got very lazy. Eventually, I stopped making it altogether. In 2011, I got it going again. I made a month (or two!) of comics in advance to create a nice buffer. I would dedicate a week of my free time to just making comics. For example: Monday for rough drafts, Tuesdays for inking, and the rest of the time for coloring, lettering, and adding it to the queue for Thursdays at 9AM.I take this same approach with my blog, Celestial Love. I buffer as much as possible. But I also take time to interact with comments and on social media. My favorite part of blogging and webcomics is reading and replying to comments. But, I really suggest creating buffers to those struggling with time management. Check out your schedule and see when you have time to work (while remembering to leave time for some exercise to keep mentally happy!). Try to judge if you need 1-2 uninterrupted hours. It really depends on your speed, too. I think for me it’s not just time management, but I’m also a fast worker.

KC: Great idea with the buffers. To help plan out your buffers, do you write up a script that you work with on In Love & Justice! or do you come up with a new bit of the story as you go? With all that work you’ve got lined up for yourself, I can’t imagine that you don’t already have a solidified chunk of story down already!

LN: To be honest, I don’t have a script! I come up with short stories that I split up weekly, usually when I’m actually sketching things out. Since it’s a more laid back, slice-of-life story, I don’t get too serious about the direction. IL&J is two plus years old now, and it’s always changing. I feel like having a set script would ruin the flow for me. I do have some plot ideas written down that I do want to tell in the future!

KC: As your comic is very slice of life, are there different moments throughout your day where you think, “Hey! This would make a great bit in my webcomic!” or do you try not to think about the webcomic when you’re working on other projects?

LN: I pull bits and pieces from my life into my comic, such as Lisa on the Volunteer Police Department and weight lifting, and they’ve become major arcs in the story. As for day-to-day moments, I usually don’t add those into the stories except for some filler comics here and there. Most of those involve Kiddo, since she has a lot of funny kid moments!As for random moments, I have a Tumblr with four-panel black and white comics, In Love & Justice Minis. That particular Tumblr has more random life moments that don’t really fit in with the comic, but I thought were goofy enough to make a comic of.

KC: What’s your workspace look like?

LN: I’m very fortunate to have a dedicated office for my workroom. My desk was built by my brother and it’s great. I don’t really have it arranged in a special way. It’s L shaped, so I have extra corner room, and I have a lot of shelving.

I love my home, but there is a lack of closet space! So, I really have to utilize my wall space. Not only do I have my display shelves, but also artwork and my craft supplies. I’m trying to add in more plants or occasional flowers. Kiddo also has her own little space.

KC: I’m guessing, based on that setup, that you’re a fan of working in digital.

LN: Yep! My favorite tools to create comics with are my Wacom Cintiq, Photoshop and Manga Studio. I prefer to ink in Manga Studio, but I color and add text in Photoshop. When I first started the comic, I would be more traditional with pencils, Copic Multiliners for inks, scanning it it, cleaning it up, then coloring in Photoshop.

I’m always trying to learn more about Manga Studio. But since my panel work is more vertical and not a traditional comic style, I don’t mind transferring it over to Photoshop. For my own personal work, I prefer to illustrate in Paint Tool Sai.

KC: You mentioned that gaming is one of your favorite past times! What kinds of games do you play? Do you ever find yourself drawing influences from those games and integrating them into the comic? (I did notice you start your webcomic off with the main character actually playing video games!)

LN: I grew up on video games. We had an Atari growing up and one of my earliest memories is running into a pit on Pitfall. Gaming and comics have always been a part of my life. Now as an adult, I feel guilty spending time gaming, but I try to remedy that by recording Let’s Plays! My favorite type of game is probably musou/hack-and-slash games, but I’ll play almost anything. My favorite series have been Tecmo’s Deceptions series of trap games, Dynasty Warriors, and Harvest Moon. Though I’m primarily a PC gamer, I have a lot of love for mobile Korean micro-management games like I Love Coffee or I Love Pasta.

But yes! I have spent way too much time with Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2. Those games have had a huge influence on me, such as naming my graphics freelance business after the character Solaire in Dark Souls. The online game featured in my comic is hugely based off of the Souls games. I find myself drawn to games where you are a silent hero in a land of chaos and helping others. I think this can really be seen in IL&J, where Lisa takes on a lot of different situations mostly on her own and how she juggles it all.

For more adorable comics from Lisa, check out In Love & Justice! by clicking here!

Is this thing on? Yeah? You can hear me? Ok, good.

Hi, everyone. Adam here. Yes, your host. I know it’s been a few weeks but if you couldn’t tell, I’ve been a little busy. Also, usually this post is written in 3rd person but this is a bit of a special post so I’m going to do that thing in 1st person, if you all don’t mind. Who knows? Maybe this will become a trend.

Unless you’ve been under a rock or are new to us, I say either glad to see you’re free or welcome to the site, whichever suits your situation. Either way, you probably know by now that we had a live Gutter Talk panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and from what I remember, it was pretty great. It’s weird once you get up there and get on a roll. You sort of black out and the next thing you know a Comic Con employee is holding up a STOP sign. Where the heck did that 50 minutes go?!

From what I do remember, though, it was a pretty great panel. Just to be sure my memories were right, tonight I went back and listened. I stand corrected; it was an amazing panel. Everyone on there had great answers to the questions and made the panel a lot of fun. It was extremely inspirational and so far the highlight of my year.

What I want to share with you here is just a quick thing I pieced together, partly to dust off the microphones because it’s been a little while, but really because before I release the full panel in a couple weeks I want to give you a brief idea of some of the fun you’ll get to hear soon.

l. to r. Mark Waid, Adam Greenfield, Christina Blanch, Chris Miskiewicz, Rachel Dukes, Calista Brill

Music: “RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Last Sunday, this recipe for discussion turned out to be such a success that, after reading what everyone posted, I felt a pang of loss knowing that all these great insights were about to be lost to the void. In a rush, I copied the entire thread and, after a bit of discussion with the team, decided that, after a bit of formatting, the discussions held within the thread made for a really great, introspective look into the processes and challenges of many members of the community. Thus the new monthly Underdog Self Promo Sunday Recap was born! This gives folks who miss the Facebook event a chance to learn more about their friends and colleagues and to grow as a community. So, without much ado, I present the Underdog Self Promo Sunday Recap!

The Questions

What did you learn in the past month while working on your comic?

What tools did you use to make your comic?

What are your goals for the coming month?

Michael Yakutis

1. In the past month I learned to let myself experiment with tools I haven’t used in a long time. This pertains to…

2. The tools I use – I draw the pages in Photoshop and then print them out on bristol board where I can ink them by hand. At first I swore by the brush and 102 nibs, but after doing the first chapter of Hamlet & Juliet I realized I wasn’t quite getting the look I wanted. I decided to pull out the old 512 nib which I haven’t used in ages. I think the 512 helps me create the line art I desire. After inking, I scan the pages back into Photoshop for color and lettering!

3. Over the next month my main goal is to simply keep up with the comic and let it get a little bigger so as to attract more readers.

Leslie Arnott Bartley

1. Last month was pretty interesting because I went on a research trip to the US for elements that I want to add to the next chapter of the comic (which involves Westerns, Civil War, robots and body modifications). I learnt about armors, robotics, weapons and fashion of the early 20th century.

2. I use Photoshop and Krita (for the sharp lineart/brush look), I do rough thumb sections (8 pages at a time, to have some sort of consistency) which are scenes, and I set a color/lighting scheme before making each page.

3. For the coming month we’re going into promotion mode, given that we’re near the end of this arc and it’s just the perfect time to get some new readers on board.

Stanley Anderson

1. I have printed copies of One-Sided? and bring them with me to Comic Conventions, and I get all types of funny reactions from couples. While some women on Facebook accused me of objectifying women, other women thought the comic was funny. Mostly, and especially at Cons, couples burst out laughing at the episodes’ punchlines.

2. I do all the work on my computer. I use Manga Debut and I have a Bamboo Wacom drawing pad. Awesome stuff.

3. I plan to have several more episodes of One-Sided? up. At least three more. I hope to have all twenty-seven pages of the first issue of Mir-Riok up, but that one takes a lot more work. I’ve always got a project going, so it’s more like “finish a little here, finish a little there.”

Glenn Song

1. Last month I attempted to do some simple animation for a page of the comic — just some fireworks (how fitting for the 4th of July).Stephen Leotti knows I’ve been playing with animation and making small tests on DA.

2. To make the animation I keyed the animation (rocket trajectory) using manga studio and made the fire work itself in Blender and composited together with the hand drawn art on the comic page. All of the frames were exported out and the final gif built in GIMP, which is really good for that. I used EZGif (website) to compress the gif to make it a more reasonable file size. If you go to the page I have linked to this post I have more details in the author notes area which is under the comic.

3. I’ve finished story boarding the next chapter and there is more (complex) animation I want to try. There is a big climatic scene coming. So it’ll be a refinement of my animation process.

Rulo Potamo

1. I learned when to use storyboards and when to let the artist free.

2. Last storyboard I did with my tablet. But I still think it is faster when I simply sketch on a piece of paper.

3. My goal is to terrorize my artist enough to keep a tighter schedule.

Grégoire Cottin

1. These past few months, I learnt not to worry so much about the stats! Just to write this comic for myself. If I enjoy it, hopefully people will too. It takes time…

2. I draw everything on a Mini Ipad with Art studio app. I recently bought the new Adonit Jot pro stylus which I found very reliable. (I did change my screen protector to glass!)

3. My plan for the summer is to take advantages of my holiday months to get a buffer and speed up my posting schedule. I feel that the story can use a bump forward..

Magda Saramak

1. I have started ReplayComic less than a year ago so it’s pretty fresh and I am learning something new with every page.

2. I use Photoshop, for sketches and inking and coloring.

3. What have I learned in the past month? That I hate drawing same backgrounds (complicated backgrounds) over and over again. I plan to learn how to make my comic more popular next month since I didn’t manage to reach big audience just yet!

Lee Parten

1. So far his month – July 4th – I’ve started the first two pages of the latest chapter of my web comic. Very unusually personal and emotional work. It is exhausting but I find myself trying to say so much with it, yet ironically, it also has more silent, dialog-free panels than any other story in the series. I’m learning that silent panels and pregnant pauses can carry a lot of emotional weight.

2. This chapter won’t be finished or posted for awhile, at least no earlier than November, mostly because it’s a longer chapter than I’ve done so far. My goal is to be at least a third into this new chapter by the end of July.

3. I produce my web comic in Adobe Flash, and I use heavily modified Cartoon Solutions models for many of the cast, mainly for constancy and to reduce repetition from having to draw the same basic elements over and over. Composition, backgrounds, props, coloring and shading, etc, are hand drawn work. 4. On a side note, I’ve discovered “Calvin and Hobbes,” absolutely brilliant, and I’m wondering how it slipped by me for ten years, plus the 20 years its been out of production!

Fer Galicia

1.I learned that I shouldn’t make art promises if I feel it’ll be too hard to accomplish because it means is not going to happen at all.

2. I used only MS5 (CSP) for the drawing part of it. Old crappy 10 inch Yiynova.

3. This month I need to create 8 pages for the webcomic and around 200 sketchcards, too late for what I learned XD. Well I also owe a ton of commissions but 2 big ones so hopefully I’ll take care of all this.

Mike Podgor

1. I learned that sometimes I just need to power through my insecurities if I want to get something done.

2. I have a Monoprice tablet, and it’s drawn in Manga Studio. I have another comic that’s done entirely in Ulead PhotoImpact X3.

3. My goal is to keep my momentum going and hopefully get this bit of Area 42 finished.

Kat Klockow  

1. Jinxed started 1-1-2015, and although people have really been digging the fantasy series, I need to raise awareness to it.

2. I use a Microsoft Surface Pro 1 with Manga Studio 4ex to illustrate the series.

3. My goal is to spread more awareness to Jinxed.

Patrick Yurick

1. I learned that even the simplest ideas can take time to execute. This past two weeks I was working on this massive eleven page update that had my lead character having a conversation with himself during a psychological breakdown. It was meant to be really intense. I think it turned out well, but I knew that each of the pages were going to need to flow together in order to justify it being one massive update. I was so frustrated every day that it wasn’t completed. For some reason I didn’t think that eleven pages, concentrated, was going to be a big deal… It was.

2. I used Bristol board, 2H pencils, Ink & a #3 Winsor Newton paint brush, a scanner, black watercolor paint, photoshop CS6, and Illustrator CS6 (for lettering).

3. I’m going to be traveling a bunch this coming month so I am hoping to get at least four pages done (1 per week) – which may, in fact, finish the current chapter of the book.

Joany Dubé-Leblanc

1. 1 year and a half off the Net to take care of a family member killed off any following I had before

2. Good ol’ Intuos 2 with a mixture of Manga Studio Ex 5, Photoshop, pen and paper and Open Canvas (Even tried a bit of the new PaintStorm Studio

3. Keep up the upload rate, build a buffer, find back some audience.

Stephen Leotti

1. I learned sometimes it’s good to take a break if you’re getting stressed out. I took a few weeks off to work on a writing project and now that I’m almost finished with it, I’m almost ready to get back to work feeling refreshed.

2. Photoshop and a Wacom tablet.

3. Just try to get as many pages done as possible so I can be ready for the project launch hopefully in September.

Shannon Maguire

1. My comic is Matt Against the World and I was working on it full time, but now I’ve started working a day job again, so one thing I’ve been learning this month and for awhile now is how to fit it in with less time. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to fit a lot of social media in, but I’m slowly starting to figure out ways to get everything done.

2. I’m a writer, but I like to avoid the computer as much as I can so my main tool is an old school pen and paper. The main thing I’m working on this month is a full length comic based on our comic strip.

3. Hoping it will get done sometime before my hair turns gray.

Tedd Walley

1. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been doing Indie comics since 2002.

2. Whatever works. It all depends on what my expectation or desired outcome is.

3. Finish the animation pitch bible for the comic.

Ross Griswold

1. This past month I have experimented with mixed media, more out of necessity than creativity. When used very carefully, a powder blue acrylic paint makes a beautiful looking sky. It makes me want to experiment more with painting rather than the markers I generally use.

2. I do all my comic strips on Bristol board paper. Generally, I use india ink markers, cheap colored markers. Sometimes, finances force me to use sharpie markers. I draw, ink, and color the comic strips, then scan and upload them.

3. My goal for the coming month is to stay on schedule. I used to publish every day, but that was too much to keep up with. Now I publish Mon/Wed/Fri, and I sometimes have problems keeping up with even that schedule. I’m on summer vacation however, and for now I no longer have any excuses for tardiness. Yet Life still tries to get in the way…

Olivia Wylie 

1. I really need to work on the way I design word bubbles! Far too often I try to cram too much into small spaces and end up with messy, clumsy looks. I’m working on this in two ways; for Tosheroon I’ve gotten word bubble brushes and am focusing on keeping words fitting cleanly within them, and for both comics I’m working on being more concise and dynamic in word placement.

2. I’m a digital girl, and my weapon is a Lenovo X230 tablet named Bradan who runs GIMP with HUGE numbers of fonts and textures that I’ve collected over the years grin emoticon

3. My goal is to tell the best story I can every day. Right now I’m pushing to get to Part 2 of Parmeshen (FINALLY) and trying to stay focused…considering I’m on Facebook right now yeah that’s going great! wink emoticon. I also want to work at becoming more connected with other creators as this month and those to come pass; I have a bad habit of holing up for months at a stretch and treating anything not related to my projects as a distraction. But as a creator, I’ve learned just how important it is for work to be read and commented on, so I’ll do my best to really start paying attention to other people’s work!

Liz Rosema

1. I had a post that was just a huge vent session for all of my frustrations and it went better than expected.

2. I use watercolors and a scanner, I hope to someday use grown up tools like photoshop

3. Doing more posts and submitting stuff to anthologies/other websites:

Theresa Chen White Angel:

1. I learned that keeping to a schedule can be really tough with unexpected life events.

2. I mostly use Manga Studio 5 (Clip Paint Studio). I absolutely love the inking tools. smile emoticon.

3. My goals this month is to get back on track with posting new pages. Also to create some 3d models for background reference.

Aaron Conti

1. I learned that when I am feeling glum about my art and comic, I just need to push through it.

2. I use a Cintiq and Manga Studio.

3. My goals for this month are to keep plugging away at my two comics, and maybe try starting a mini-series.

Gideon Land

1. What I’ve learned in the past month is that an artist needs to take their time on their work and try not to jump ahead of schedule. Keep a steady pace so you don’t burn yourself out.

2. Next Reverie is drawn on comic boards with traditional pencil and inks, then it’s fully colored in PS on a Wacom Cintiq.

3. This month, I plan on finishing chapter 2 and starting chapter 3. But before chapter 3 starts, I plan to do some revisions – create a better cover for the first volume, do some editing to the site’s layout like adding sections, changing the overall different look, etc. I also plan to put chapters 1 and 2 on Taptastic right before 3 starts.

James Nelson

1. What I’ve learned is that filler is nice between updates. I’m updating consistently but posting art keeps people coming back to the page on days other than Monday.

2. I thumbnail my pages on my cintiq, then print them out and letter, pencil, and ink them traditionally. Then I scan the page to color it on PS with my cintiq.

3. This month I’m applying to get some ads on my site from project wonderful so soon I can see some revenue!

Clarence Worley 

1. This month I learnt that maybe I should concentrate on fewer updates of higher quality rather than trying to keep up a weekly schedule. I was happy with my first two weekly updates but not so sure about the last one. And I’vebeen playing with brushes a bit, but can’t say I’ve learnt nearly enough yet…

2. I use a Wacom Bamboo and Manga Studio 5, which I’m a big fan of. I’ve just started using the “story” feature which is useful for the comics I’m working on at the moment

3. Next month I’m posting 2 updates, both considerably longer than my previous ones, but I don’t want to break them into parts (I don’t think half a gag comic really works, even if it’s a long gag!)

A Grassfed Comic

1. In the past month I learned I actually enjoy coloring but hate flatting. I’m currently finding flatters to make the process go more smoothly.

2. I’ve been using pencil and ink on Strathmore Smooth Bristol but have recently switched to a Canson paper that has a little more tooth and was surprised at how well the ink takes to it. My new paper of choice.

3. My goals in the next month are to improve my artwork (obviously) but to also get this story fully colored. It’s my favorite one thus far and should look as professionally done as I can make it.

Matt Tacobus

1. Over this last month, I’ve really been grappling with what I want out of making a comic. It’s always seemed really clear why I wanted to be an artist before, but lately I’ve been losing that. I think forcing myself to update lately has helped. In addition, I’ve noticed it does get more attention when I update a page at a time. Readers seem to react the same to a single page update as to a 30 page update, so it seems silly to dump it all at once.

2. Paint Tool Sai and a Cintiq, that’s about all there is to it!

3. This month I want to get myself into a habit of doing more work than I need to and really build a backlog. In the past I’ve struggled with keeping an update schedule, so this month I want to be about getting into a regular work flow.

Sean Stephane Martin

1. Probably not best shared here, as it involves a lot of political anger.

2. FormZ for modelling, Poser for render engine, Photoshop for compilation.

3. I have a major storyline coming up that’s going to be a bit of a radical departure for my strip’s fairly quite approach. So we’ll see if it comes out like I want it to.

Erick McGee

1. Well, I didn’t learn or try a new technique that involved my comic whether it came to writing, pacing or layout (I always struggle with that) but I did add a step to my work flow. The biggest problem I have is making a damn storyboard for my comic, once I have it, the comic is a breeze. It is a medium that’s meant to be seen and words don’t always cut it. So what I did, during the making of the storyboard, I cut out all distractions and sketch it out with paper and pencil, then scan the image.

2. This transitions to the software I use: after the pencil sketch I just scan it with my phone and upload to Skydrive and import into Clip Studio paint(Manga Studio 5).

3. My goal for the coming month is to make this “comic buffer” I’ve heard many cartoonists raving about lol.

Charlie Wise

1. Let’s see…I learned how to draw a van, how to line shade better with a brush, and learn how to draw sad clowns holding sad puppies forMarius.

2. I’ve been inking with metal pens mostly, but since I’ve switched back to 14×17 paper, I’m using my brush more. Plus, technical pens, Microns, Coptics, and lot and lots of erasers.

3. My goals for the rest of the month are, since the play I’m in opens in two weeks (TWO WEEKS!) I won’t have rehearsal, so I’ll get back to a regular schedule. And i want to get better at showing people hitting each other

Edward Gee

1. I learned that Reddit gets mad if you upvote your own comic from multiple accounts. But in my defense, I have multiple personalities.

2. I don’t draw the comic, I only write it. Wade uses I guess a pen or something. I use my mind, and I use Google docs to share the scripts, and I use voice memo on my phone to record my ideas.

3. My goals are to get a 2nd G*d D@%& Patron in my Patreon account. One Patron is embarrassing.

Erin Kenny

1. I learned how to install a local copy of Wordpress on my computer so I can monkey around with the website with less risk.

2. We use Celtx, Gimp and Blender

3. My goal? To not kill my husband (he’s the writer, I’m the editor)

Neil Kapit

1. I learned that sparser but tighter linework is much more effective than trying to get every possible detail into a frame.

2. WACOM tablet and Photoshop Elements 5

3. To have everything set up for the finale of the current storyline.

Kim Belding

1. I learned how many people love and support my comic. I took a break last month, but received nearly 40 pieces of fan art!

2. When I make my comic, it’s on my Surface Pro 2 with Photoshop.

3. I want to get back to posting my own strips again. There’s something so satisfying about creating so many people enjoy and it’s a hard void to fill.

Dusty Lalas

1. I learned that keeping a regular schedule gets harder the more I try to improve. Cranking out one a day is easy when you Ctrl + C Ctrl + V, but when you actually put effort into it…not gonna happen.

2. Paper, pen, scanner, computer stuff

3. I need to do something special for my 10 year webcomic anniversary.

Terrana Cliff 

1. This month I learned more about Photoshop video layers.

2. Photoshop and edge animate.

3. This month, my goal is to cram a lot of dialogue into two pages.

Joshua Yu

1. Well, I learned from some feedback on how I should improve my comic in terms of color and composition.

2. I usually do my comic through Photoshop on a tablet.

3. As for this month, I plan to do 4 more pages and hopefully finish the 1st chapter as well as prepare for an upcoming convention in September.

Sarah Driffill

1. I learned that if I get myself in a schedule jam (something I’m usually very good about avoiding), my readers will be understanding and I don’t need to be afraid to ask for a little help. While I plan to keep things running smoothly as long as possible, it made me very grateful to see they had my back while I got things in order.

2. I use Manga Studio 5 and a Wacom tablet, with occasional use of Photoshop Elements 9. I’m very pleased with my gear, though I feel like the tablet pen nibs wear down rather quickly. Perhaps I’m too rough on them.

3. I’m working on a short graphic prose side comic to tell a bit of backstory I won’t be able to fit into the main plot, but still wanted to share. I’m also wrapping up the current story arc this chapter, so exciting things are happening right now.

Helen Lucy Greetham

1. I’ve learned that buffer is great! There were a couple of weeks when I was away and just couldn’t get a page out. Fortunately I had buffer pages to spare… unfortunately I had plans to update twice weekly in the run up to the finale of my comic which probably won’t happen now.

2. Paint Tool Sai, Paint Shop Pro.

3. FINISH THIS THING. FINISH IT. I’m really on the last lap now, but saying goodbye to these characters is going to be emotional!

Tripp Gustin 

1. I learned that very stylized panels might SEEM like they’ll take you less time than a regular panel, but sometimes they take even longer, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing… Just focus on making every panel look good, even if it takes longer, and it’ll pay off in the end!

2. My sketchbook, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and a Wacom Intuos Pro.

3. Get updates out on time, work on self-promotion more, and advertise!

Lisa Nguyen

1. Different webcomic (and art) communities have different people, so I’ve had to craft my commentary differently. It’s been interesting to be back up on Tapastic, where there’s a lot more younger readers compared to my main site.

2. Manga Studio and Photoshop on a Wacom tablet

3. Finish new webcomic and upload it on Line Webtoons!

Sarah Truax 

1. I learned that I actually do pretty well with lineart that’s a little bit thicker, makes it easier to show off pen pressure AND helps make my lines look a bit cleaner while I draw faster.

2. As always, I use Fire Alpaca for everything.

3. What I hope to do is boost up my page buffer count to something that can last at least a month, I’ll be job hunting again and I’ll need all the time I can get to call places back and interview. (The buffer thing is something I say all the time but DARN IT I MEAN IT THIS TIME IT IS MY #1 ISSUE).

To be featured on this page in the future, simply take part in the Underdog Self Promo Sunday next month by joining the Comic Underdog Facebook page!

KEVIN CULLEN: Where were you when you thought to yourself, “You know what? I think I should make a webcomic.”

LUKAS DRAXL: I don’t think there’s one particular event that made me go “Y’know, I should really draw a webcomic” … it was born out of boredom, mostly. Back then, I worked as a museum guard for the Hofburg Innsbruck (lovely building by the way), and as you might imagine, I was bored out of my mind there, not gonna lie. So whenever I had the opportunity I would take my sketchbook with me and scribble away, until I noticed how weird the mundane can be. I think that’s when I thought I should use that to tell stories, maybe even on a regular basis. I was already a huge fan of webcomics like PvP, Penny Arcade, Girls with Slingshots and the like, so I figured I could try that too, see where it takes me; It’d also be a nice opportunity to use those drawing skills of mine (I’ve been drawing ever since I was able to hold a pencil I guess) and some programming knowledge I acquired over the past two years. And since I suck at writing original characters and stories (there, I admit it), I kept mostly to ordinary situations with a silly spin on them.

KC: Where some folks tend to shy away from bringing their somewhat personal life into the spotlight, you embrace it – sometimes even adding a twist of surreality and absurdity to the mix (a personified writer’s block? Brilliant!). Are there any aspects of your life that, when you started your webcomic, you specifically decided to blacklist?

LD: Hm. I think my sexual life is off limits.

Nah, just kidding. I wouldn’t pass up comedy gold. Haha … hah … oh dear.

In all seriousness though, I didn’t limit myself when I started and I have yet to find something about myself that I can’t joke about, but I tend to avoid some topics these days, especially political ones. The internet these days has gotten extremely dangerous when it comes to those things, I won’t turn my comic into a bloody minefield. At least not when I can avoid it. I think, off the top of my head, there’s only a single comic where I took a somewhat political stance:but that’s about it. I think. (I have to admit, I don’t know every single strip like the back of my hand like some of my readers do. Fun fact, they often reference a gag in my comics and I’m sitting there like a doofus, having no idea what they are talking about. But I digress.) As I said, the mine field situation is one of the reasons why I don’t want to pick one particular side of an argument, another reason is that there’s already plenty of negativity around. I don’t want to change the world, I don’t take myself seriously enough to step up on a soapbox, I just like to make people laugh. And if I have to make fun of myself in order to do that (which turn out to be the funniest comics I think), all the better. It’s like, we’ve got enough sticks up our arses already, it’s about time to pull ’em out; I’ll start.

KC: Releasing two comics a week is quite a task. Is there anything that you discovered after having done Piece of Me for so long that makes your workflow speedier?

LD: Oh yes, definitely. Way back, I bought a tiny Wacom Bamboo (remember the models with the touch ring? I miss that thing.) just because I wanted to try going digital, I made my first few comics on that thing. A while later, I upgraded to a mid-sized Bamboo Pen&Touch, then to a large Intuos 4, which I used for about three years, I loved that damn thing. However, a while ago, I started to look into monitor digitizers, y’know, those bloody things with price tags that make your blood curl. But I found a rather great alternative in the brand Yiynova, so I got myself a MSP19U+ – I’ll just say that I’ll never go back to regular tablets. Ever. That thing sped up my workflow so much, it’s ridiculous. You know what else is really beneficial to a proper workflow? Using something else than Photoshop. I used that damn program for years, but I’ve never been quite satisfied with how my inks turned out, the pen pressure in that program always seemed ro be all over the place (with lines jumping erratically from thin to way too thick, with really ugly transitions inbetween). So I switched to Manga Studio 5 Ex. Amazing program, lovely inking engine, line smoothing etc, couldn’t be happier. Also, having a device for travels (in my case a Surface Pro 3) and a silly girlfriend that delivers tons of comedy gold sure help keep up the pace.

KC: So with all these sweet devices, I’m curious as to what your workspace look like.

LD: Yeah, here’s my workspace, mostly. Nothing spectecular there I think.

Front View

Travel Gear

Side View

KC: Did you set it up that way on purpose, or has everything migrated over in that direction?

LD: Yeah, I did set everything there on purpose, and yes, it did migrate there through trial and error. Still does, in fact. I think my desk reflects my workflow really well, as clean and tidy as possible, but ever changing. Man, that got so deep, I think see Adele rolling down there…

KC: Let’s hope she stays down there. Hopping back all the way to comic number one, it’s easy to see that you’ve made some seriously great growth as an artist! Was it just having done the comic for so long that your style naturally changed, or was there something you did (take a class, practiced with friends, etc.) that accelerated your skills?

LD: Thanks, it’s something that I’m personally also really proud of. Hopping back to #1 and comparing often keeps me motivated to push the envelope even further. I think it’s mostly the practice that comes along with drawing for so long, but better equipment and some research sure didn’t hurt. I’ve still got things to iron out though, mostly anatomy and backgrounds.

KC: What are some of your favorite tools when it comes to making your comic? Photoshop Vs. Manga studio? Pens and brushes Vs. digital painting?

LD: I’m working on Manga Studio 5 Ex on my PC with a Yiynova MSP19U+ hooked to it (as already mentioned I believe) and on my Surface Pro 3 on travels and outdoors. I still scribble occasionally on paper, but only for practice. Working fully digitally is just a lot more convenient if the comic’s going to end up online either way, so I consider it a sound investment to cut out the middle man, or step, so to speak. I’m not saying that working analog is a bad thing (The Hanged Man by CB Webb is an absolutely gorgeous looking comic, dear god), so to each their own.

KC: Are you working on any other extra-curricular comic or art projects?

LD: I do work on some last paid commissions for a friend and on one rather big project that I can’t really show you much of: Artwork for AM2R, “Another Metroid 2 Remake,” but that’s about it for the time being. I’ve got enough work on my hands with my day job and my own webcomic, so I’d rather have some extra time to spend with my girlfriend than some extra money for now.

KC: By the time this interview is published, you’ll have more than 250 strips online, which is amazing! If you were to collect them all into a book, would you try to fit all 250+ strips into the book or would you pick and choose?

LD: 250 feels like a rather significant milestone, doesn’t it? Funny you would ask this though, because I already did – I self-funded my very first book a while ago, only 100 pieces of it for the time being. Also only in German, since I wanted to have something to sell for my first comic con in Vienna. But to answer the question, I did pick and choose most of it. For instance, I left out almost every strip up until #145, in part because I wanted to revisit my older storylines for upcoming books and because the older ones didn’t age particularly well. #145 was the exact strip I switched from Photoshop to Manga Studio, so it made sense to keep that consistent. I also left out a few strips that only made sense at the time (one of the reasons why I try to avoid comics about pop culture or games – those things tend to add an expiration date to gags). But otherwise, there’s pretty much every strip from #145 to #233 in said book, including a few of my personal old favourites, spread over 60 pages.

KC: Oh, very nice! If you come out with an English version, would you go back and redraw earlier strips that you put into your book so that the style stays the same or do you think showing your progression as an artist is something you highlight?

LD: Funny, I also already did that for my first book to add a purchase incentive without alienating those readers who can’t afford or don’t want to buy a book. What I did was to hand-pick ten strips and redraw/rewrite them to keep the style consistent AND to improve the gags – some of them fell a little flat back then due to lack of experience. However, as I mentioned, I did include a few of my favourite old strips in a seperate chapter to show some progression. I’m not too fond of omitting older content, it feels kinda ingenuos to me. Also, showing artistic progress within the book itself is a nice touch I think, so I think both approaches are valid. Valuable even. I’m going to rewrite and redraw one of my older storylines for the next book, because holy crap, those were all over the place and are in dire need of improvement.

For more awesome comics from Lukas, check out Piece of Me by clicking here!

And that’s what makes this Gutter Talk episode with Rachel Dukes, artist and creator of Frankie Comics, so great. It’s further confirmation that worrying as a young, budding artist just trying to get their bearing in this ocean of art, let alone in the lake of comics, is actually normal. It’s even proof that yes, you can outgrow the worst of it. Now if only we had time machines….

Download the podcast and listen in as Adam and Rachel discuss why see-through rulers are better than rulers you can’t see through, her Kickstarter project for Frankie Comics, and some of the hurtles she encountered as a kid when opportunities presented themselves.

Also, be sure you are heading over to iTunes to give us a review and a rating. It’ll be the easiest thing you do all day today. We promise. Then tell your friends to give the podcast a review and a rating. Then tell them to tell their friends to- well, you see where we’re going with this.

Rachel’s Links:

Rachel’s site (@MixtapeComics)

Frankie Comics

Kickstarter for Frankie Comics

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this episode you’ll also hear some big news in the intro regarding the future of Gutter Talk. Ok, that sounds a little more ominous than intended but really, it’s all good. Just download, listen, and everything will be just fine.

Like with every post, we again want to make a plea to ask for your ratings and reviews on iTunes. Please take a few minutes and head on over to our page to give the Gutter Talk podcast a rating and review. We really do appreciate not just the effort but the love, too. It means the world to not just the host, Adam, but to the rest of us at Making Comics Worldwide.

Marcus’s Links:

Marcus’s site (@marcuskwame)

Snow Daze

EastRaven

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this Gutter Talk episode you will hear from Patrick Yurick, Mark Luetke, Kevin Cullen, Marisa Brenizer, Michael Yakutis, and your loving host, Adam Greenfield. Each of them will discuss the work and dedication it took to create the site, as well as some of their favorite parts. It even ends on a warm and fuzzy note. Who doesn’t like warm and fuzzy endings? Actually, don’t answer that. Just download the podcast and you’ll feel what we mean.

While you’re listening to the podcast, we promise not to be upset if you step away from the site and head over to our iTunes page to give us a rating and review. Of course, that is if you give us a positive rating and review. If you don’t, we’ll track you down and draw a sad comic on your forehead using a Sharpie. Don’t tempt us. Just do yourself and favor and show us some love on iTunes. We promise it’ll be painless and you may even feel good about yourself, yet another warm and fuzzy feeling this podcast provides to you, the listener.

Links:

Patrick’s site & Hipster Picnic (@patrickyurick)

Mark’s site, Instagram, and blog (@2816monument)

Adam’s site (@MC_GutterTalk, @SDGreeny)

Segment Music:

Patrick: Elle va au Japon by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Mark: Still Resting Your Eyes by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Kevin: Apace (Single Edit) by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Marisa: Once A Freak, Always A Freak by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Michael: Braintree by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Adam: Plant Food by Nic Bommarito is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Intro:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

While you’re listening to the podcast, make sure you’re checking out all the amazing things the new redesign of our site has to offer. Everything is comfortably laid out for you to navigate through in search of the article or podcast you need. Also be sure to join the Underdog community. We can’t say enough what an awesome group of artists they are to be around.

But before you do that, please be sure to head over to our Gutter Talk iTunes page and give us a rating and review. It really does help spread the word about us and what we’re doing, and, well, it just makes us all feel fuzzy and warm inside.

Brian’s Links:

Brian’s site (@brian_shearer)

William the Last

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this Making Comics Gutter Talk re-issue episode Jason and his special co-host are joined by artists and creators Doug TenNapel and Ethan Nicolle for the first part of a two part conversation. There are some very heartwarming moments and also some fantastic information to keep in mind when considering doing a Kickstarter project in this episode, especially when Jason’s talking about his experience with reMIND. Plus, Ethan talks a little about the cast of Axe Cop, the television adaptation of the comic he co-created with his younger brother, Malachai.

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to really explore the redesign of the site. If you have, please be sure to let us know what you like, don’t like, or if there’s something you’d like to see. We really are hoping to have not just an educational aspect to the site but a community aspect, as well. We’ve already taken on our first content curator since the redesign went live so if you want to volunteer, please be sure to let us know.

Also, make sure you are heading over to iTunes to give us a review and rating. We know we keep saying this but it’s very important to the cause, even while these podcasts are only a portion of what we have to offer.

Their Links:

Doug TenNapel’s site (@TenNapel)

Ethan Nicolle’s site (@enicolle)

Jason Brubaker’s Sithra & reMind (@Jason_Brubaker)

Our Links:

Intro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

One of the things we hear frequently is how artists adapt, as well as the various ways artists use the materials around them to create tricks and tools of the trade. In Alec’s case, it’s a MacGyvered tool rack that he has attached to the side of his drawing table. Alec was kind enough to send us a photo so we’ve attached that to this post. If you’re reading this on a mobile device and can’t see the photo, please be sure to check out the post on the site.

While you’re listening to this fantastic conversation, please also take a few minutes to head on over to iTunes and give us both a rating and a review. Just search for Gutter Talk and you can’t miss us. Not only would we at Making Comics Worldwide personally appreciate it but future comic creators will appreciate it as well when they find our podcast ranked high enough to garner their attention.

Alec’s Links:

Alec’s website (@AlecLongstreth)

Isle of Elsi

Phase 7

Alec’s awesome tool rack on the side of his drawing table:

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Upgrades include:

• Integration of a comprehensive crowdsourcing library aimed at cataloging all comic-making educational resources on the web.
• Underdog Community merge including articles, forums, and more.
• All MakingComics.com features designated home pages (Talking Comics, Gutter Talk Pod, Underdogs, etc.)
• Comprehensive outline of our plans as a nonprofit.
• Workflow for multiple levels of volunteer input.

With the relaunch of the website, Making Comics Worldwide has officially merged with their sister site, The Underdog Community (a.k.a. Webcomic Underdogs). This merger grants access to an assortment of resources –  lively web forums, active Facebook groups, and twitter conversations – that were previously just outside the reach of the small staff at Making Comics Worldwide. With these additions, the Making Comics Worldwide community grows by the thousands (literally), making our website the largest source of free, creator-based content in the world.

We need your help

One of our bold new goals on the new MakingComics.com is creating a crowdsourced library of ALL of the existing, and emerging, comic resources on the web. We are definitely going to need help doing this. During this initial site launch it would be amazing if we could have some of the Underdogs go through the process of submitting links to our library.

If you want to know what kind of sites and resources we are looking to catalogue and how we are cataloguing them, check out our handy content guide.

https://makingcomics.com/content-guide/

Volunteer To Help Us Change The World

If you are super interested in EVERYTHING above and want to know how you can be more involved with the MakingComics.com project, check out our volunteer section at:

https://makingcomics.com/volunteer/

Support Our Formation Of The Making Comics Worldwide Nonprofit

One of our big goals for the coming year is going to be establishing Making Comics Worldwide as a 501(3)(c) charitable education nonprofit. If you are interested in understanding more about our goals as a nonprofit visit our nonprofit website www.MakingComicsWorldwide.com.

Donations

While there, please consider filling out our donations survey so we can contact you when we are starting our fundraising processes.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic but some days it sure does seem that way. That’s why we’re looking forward to bringing you this conversation Adam had with Chris, as he has the knowledge and experience of taking a chance and finding success in the work that comes along with it.

Chris has been a part of projects that range from creating visual graphics for major television shows and broadcasts to creator-owned comics, such as Robochuck. Listen in as Chris discusses those experiences he’s had and what he’s taken away from it all, as well as some of the smaller details about comic creation.

While you’re listening, please be sure to head on over to iTunes, if you’re not there already, and give the podcast some love. Ratings and reviews are big in the podcast world, just as getting clicks and reads are big in comics, both web and print. Along with word of mouth, this is just one way you can help us here at Making Comics Worldwide spread out knowledge and information to those who are seeking it out but may not be sure where to look.

Chris’s Links:

TurtleBunny Productions (@rgb_alpha)

RoboChuck (also on ComiXology)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

These are Dawn and Clint’s three questions:

Question 1: (Clint) You’ve been lucky enough to write for various things, whether that’s games or even possibly doing some technical writing when you once worked in tech support. What are some of the things you took away from those writing jobs that you’ve been able to apply to current work in comics?

Question 2: (Dawn) In one of the Inktober challenge drawings, you did it on a skirt but is there a medium you prefer and why?

Question 3: (Both) What are some of the pros and cons of working together not just as collaborators but also as a married couple?

Also be sure to head over to iTunes, if you’re not there already, and give us a rating and review. This really does help boost our presence in the comics and podcast communities, which in turn helps build the amount of knowledge and love we can provide and spread out to all the comic creators around the world.

Their Links:

Zombie Ranch site (@zombieranch)

Kickstarter for Zombie Ranch

Our Links:

Intro Music: Nightmare by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 1 Music: Vultures of the Horn by Ga’an is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 2 Music: Spider Farm by Andrew Howes is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Germany License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 3 Music: Corona Norco by Charles Atlas is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Outro Music: First Rays by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

In this Gutter Talk episode, Adam and co-host Patrick Yurick, a voice you’ll hear this week and next, get the pleasure and opportunity to talk to Paolo Rivera, artist and illustrator, both freelance and working for others. It took a few emails back and forth, even a reschedule or two, to nail down a specific day and time but in the end, it was completely worth it. The conversation spanned topics of why he went to the Rhode Island School of Design (a question in which he has a few answers, actually) to a question he is often asked, how does an artist get their voice and style.

We’re pretty sure you’re going to dig this episode. If not, we’ll guarantee your money back. What? You didn’t pay anything for the podcast? Well, then it looks like you’ll get a full refund. Lucky you. But again, we’re pretty sure it won’t even come to that.

Also, one more thing. Please be all that you can be and head over to iTunes to give us a rating and a review. The more this happens and the higher the average rating the more exposure this awesome little podcast gets. And while in some states exposure is illegal, we’re big proponents of artistic exposure of comics and comic-related information. We’re free souls like that.

Paolo’s Links:

Paolo’s site (@PaoloMRivera)

Podcast w/ Paolo in which the host sounds like Adam

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this episode Jason and Daniel Lieske go into detail about their strange and exciting successes with their respective Kickstarter projects, as well as some great conversation about crowdsourcing in general. It really does seem to be important to make sure you continue to build your fan base in order to help drive your successful project.

As a side note but one that also reaches up for the WonderCon mention above, were you there? If so, let us know. We’d love to hear what your thoughts were, what you liked, didn’t liked, wanted to hear but didn’t, heard but didn’t expect to hear, all of it. It was a pretty great panel, Jason Brubaker included, and the discussions had were as awesome as the questions asked by the crowd. If you were not there, though, no worries. Click here to take a listen.

Oh, and one more thing. Please consider going to iTunes to rate the Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast. Leave a review, count some stars, maybe check out some episodes you haven’t listened to yet. This really will help us get the word out about the great things we’re doing here and we really do want to hear from you. We see you on Twitter and Facebook and other places doing amazing things so please consider doing the same and leaving a review on iTunes.

Ok, now you can listen to today’s podcast. Enjoy, dear listeners.

Their Links:

Daniel Lieske’s Wormworld Saga (@daniellieske)

Jason Brubaker’s Sithra (@Jason_Brubaker)

Our Links:

Intro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

This year’s Gutter Talk WonderCon panel was led by Adam and focused on storytelling in comics. The topics ranged from story idea inspiration to editing a story halfway through to collaborating with an artist or storyteller. There were questions from Adam, including a pop quiz, and some fantastic questions from the audience, which the panelists handled like the professional artists they are. Speaking of the panelists….

Just like last year’s Making Comics panel, this year’s guests were top notch. The list included Rachel Beck from Storyforge Productions, Jason Brubaker, the creator of Sithrah and reMIND, Ted Washington, artist, writer, and founder of the small publication company Puna Press, and Making Comics Worldwide’s czar- uh, CEO, Patrick Yurick. The list of qualifications among them made them perfect people to discuss the art of storytelling in comics, especially, but other formats as well.

If you were unfortunately unable to make WonderCon this year, we have your back. We always do. Please enjoy this amazing conversation with some of our favorite artists.

Big, big thank you to Karyn Keene, co-founder of Storyforge Productions, for the fantastic photos. Check these out!

Panelists Links:

Rachel Beck: Storyforge Productions (@Storyforgers)
Jason Brubaker: Sithrah & reMIND (@Jason_Brubaker)
Ted Washington: Puna Press & lotekted (@tedwa)
Patrick Yurick: Hipster Picnic, CEO Making Comics Worldwide (@patrickyurick)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song: “RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions: InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

In this Three Questions episode, freelance writer and soon-to-be mom Sarah Yoon sits down with Karyn Keene, co-founder of Storyforge Productions, a company with a stated mission of helping tell stories across various mediums. In an age where there are numerous ways of telling a story, it can be both tricky and overwhelming. One of the biggest steps to being a better effective storyteller that Sarah discusses is knowing the type of writer and storyteller you are. Using ideas from her book, “Firestarters: Multi-Disciplinary Inspiration for Writers,” Sarah dives in to the three types of writers she has discovered through her research.

Whether you are a writer or not, this podcast episode is a must-listen. It will not only make you stronger as a writer and artist overall, it could help you understand other writers you will encounter in your career and life.

These are Sarah’s three questions:

Question 1: What are the three ways creativity manifests itself in writers?

Question 2: What do you find yourself working the most with?

Question 3: How did you decide what you wanted to write about?

Sarah’s Links:

Website (@sarahlyoon)

FireStarters book

Karyn’s Links:

StoryForgers site (@Karyn_Keene)

Music:

Intro: Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 1: Pigalle by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 2: Become Death by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 3: Julia by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Outro: Good Night by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

As an artist, that realization is a difficult one to get to. On the one hand, you want readers and viewers to enjoy the story and art so it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to satisfy them by giving them what you think they want. However, what’s more important and rewarding as an artist and writer is to be sure the story you tell and create is a story you as the artist and writer is what you want to tell. If you do it well, the readers and viewers will show up and stick around.

One more note before you listen to this great conversation between Adam and Michael Dambold, if you’re going to be at WonderCon this coming weekend, please be sure to check out the live Gutter Talk panel on Saturday at 10am in Room 211.

Michael’s Links:

Michael’s site (@michaeldambold)

Space Barista (Patreon)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Saturday, April 4th
Room 211
10am

In one of the re-issues we released last year, Jason and Daniel were going through some rather successful Kickstarter campaigns. It was hard to not join in their excitement. But as much as we wish it weren’t the case, time moves on and that edge on the excitement begins to soften some. This leads to what can be a very scary question: Now what?

In this re-issue episode, Jason and Daniel attempt to answer that question. The fun thing is we have the ability to see the things they’ve done since this conversation first happened, or in this case the “what” in the big question, and the successes they’ve continued to find. And in a way, they’ve provided somewhat of an educational roadmap into comic creation. It may not be the exact path you or I may take but the experiences they have and share with us become plot-points along our own roadmap.

Before that conversation begins, Adam discusses a few things that came up between Jason and Daniel.

Oh, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of the more exciting upcoming events we’re participating in this year, Wondercon 2015. This year, on Saturday, April 4th at 10am in Room 211, Adam will be moderating a panel on storytelling in comics. Check out this list of panelists:

Jason Brubaker: Artist, creator of reMIND and Sithrah

Rachel Beck: Co-founder of Storyforge Productions

Ted Washington: Artist, poet, and founder of Puna Press

Patrick Yurick: Artist, creator of Hipster Picnic, educator, and CEO of Making Comics Worldwide

If you’ll be at Wondercon 2015, make sure you check out our panel and say hi!

Links:

Daniel Lieske’s Wormworld Saga (@daniellieske)

Jason Brubaker’s Sithra (@Jason_Brubaker)

Intro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

See you there, right? Right.

This year’s Making Comics Worldwide Gutter Talk Wondercon panel will be about storytelling in comics and will focus on the beginning stages of telling a story. For a lot of creative folks out there, sometimes the hardest part of telling a story is starting. Sure, it’s one thing to come up with a story idea. The tricky part, though, is fleshing out that story and making it come alive on paper. Join us April 4th at 10am in Room 211 to get the push you need.

The various aspects we’ll discuss are some of the more common steps of storytelling people can lose focus or even the entire story itself. Depending on the type of thinker you are, either the ideas are coming too fast to write them down or they’re just not happening fast enough. In this panel, all topics are on the drawing table and they will range from ideation, or creating the story idea, to world building to setting a schedule to make sure you stay on pace.

If you will be attending Wondercon this year, this will be the one panel you won’t want to miss. However, if you are not lucky enough to be there, fear not, friends. We will be releasing the panel as a podcast later on in the month of April. We do this because we care. Oh, and also for the art. Can’t forget the art.

Saturday, April 4th
10am Pacific
Room 211

Click here for more information.

Music: “It’s a Trap” by JO is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. (www.freemusicarchive.org)

We pride ourselves in providing creativity-based information, whether it’s through the written word or these podcasts, and Stephen’s work fits that mold. After reading through Stephen’s “Brick by Brick,” a collection of artistic essays that act as a guide to comic creation, it just made sense that Stephen needed to be on the show. When it was all said and done, there was a sense of accomplishing a mission, as if our goal of information dissemination was met in a very successful way. However, Stephen was the perfect guest to make this happen.

If you’re struggling with the mental aspect of being an artist, you’re not alone. Furthermore, you’re not the first and won’t be the last. Consider this a good thing. It means there are people out there like Stephen McCranie who can provide experience-based knowledge and advice to help keep you on your path.

Stephen’s Links:

Doodle Alley

Mal and Chad

Twitter: @stephenmccranie

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

In this particular episode, Gutter Talk alumni Ted Washington and Sam Wallace sit down for a three question conversation touching on topics such as being an artist and homeless to a process suggestion that may surprise you in a “Hey, I never thought of it that way” kinda way. Though if you know Ted, it makes perfect sense.

These are Ted’s three questions.

Question 1: What was the moment that made you say, “This is what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Question 2: If you could choose one medium of art to work in for the rest of your life, what medium would that be?

Question 3: What do you believe is something everybody should do in their process that you believe most people don’t do?

LINKS

Ted Washington (@tedwa)

Puna Press

YouTube videos (lotekted)

Ted’s studio pics:

Sam Wallace (@SammyMayhem)

Mutant Chasers

MUSIC

Intro: Stingray – Dangerous Thought by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Outro: Stingray – Once a moment by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 1: Grand Caravan by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 2: Red Cowboy by Dyman is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 3: Noahs Stark by krackatoa is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

That said, the Gutter Talk podcast returns with Part 2 of the Jason Brubaker re-issue from last week with Kazu Kibuishi and Jason Caffoe. If you missed Part 1, click here. And the return of this week’s podcast also brings the return of Kevin Cullen to Adam’s apartment- uh, studio. Yeah, studio. That’s it. The big difference this week? No caffeine. If you were hoping for Caffeinated Kevin, sorry to disappoint you. We all enjoyed listening to Kevin deal with the rush of energy he was feeling pump through his veins but we here at Making Comics Worldwide feel its best if we ease you into Caffeinated Kevin. You don’t want to build up a tolerance, do you? You’ll thank us later.

In the extended intro, Calm-ish Kevin and Adam talk about the different kinds of music they listen to while on a creative streak and some of the various points of Part 2 of the conversation Jason Brubaker had with Kazu Kibuishi and Jason Caffoe. If you thought the first part of this conversation was enjoyable, there are plenty more head-nodding moments to come.

Jason’s Sithra site & Patreon (@Jason_Brubaker)

Kazu Kibuishi’s Bolt City site (@boltcity)

Jason Caffoe’s site (@jcaffoe)

Our Links:

Intro:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transition:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Article of “artist” burning his books

Jason’s Sithra site & Patreon (@Jason_Brubaker)

Kazu Kibuishi’s Bolt City site (@boltcity)

Jason Caffoe’s site (@jcaffoe)

Our Links:

Intro:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transition:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Subscribe & Give us a review in the itunes store (It really helps).

Follow the brand new Gutter Talk Twitter feed – @MC_GutterTalk

Their Links:

Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell

Jenn on Twitter: @jennlynnjordan

Sophie’s site (@redinkradio)

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Jason’s Links:

Sithrah

reMIND

Music by Chris Zabriskie (Bandcamp page)

Intro music: The Life and Death of a Certain K. Zabriskie, Patriarch by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 1 music: Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 2 music: Divider by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Segment 3 music: What Does Anybody Know About Anything by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Outro music: Prelude No. 1 by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org)