Back Cover Done!

I finished up the back cover last night.

A vintage Star Wars
figure I used as reference.

The gags on there were part of the reason I did the action figure gag on the front cover. Of course, this is still the old school style of figures with limited articulation. I used a Lando Calrissian figure (one of the last survivors of my original Star Wars collection) to model the figures of Dino and capture the hand position common in those old toys.                                                       

The Masters of the
Universe card back I
used for reference. 

While the front cover wasn't based on any toy packaging in particular, the back one is inspired by Masters of the Universe packaging. I thought the gags I dreamed up for it would be exaggerated and funny. But when I looked at the Masters card backs I had in storage for reference, I found the gags I had for the "action" features weren't all that far off from the real thing. Still funny though. 

There's a lot going on here and this took almost as much work to produce as an actual interior page, so this was a pretty good dry run for the comic itself. I used carbon paper to create uniformity among the Dino figures when I drew them and then was able to just digitally ink and color one and transfer the identical parts to the other figures, which helped cut down the workload. Having a character wearing white on a white background also cuts down on extra coloring. The cereal boxes in the background of the top image were a little distracting when they were located right behind a character's head so I took a couple of them out.

The top image and different Dino variants here are references to the story. All the text on the last Dino figure has been obscured so as not to spoil the story's ending. The nice thing about a digital comic is that you know there's no way anyone will be looking at the back first, so you can put spoilers on there with no worries.

I hope readers will bother zooming in on the back cover to see the gags when the comic is released. If not, it was still a lot of fun to do and good practice. Next up...page one!

Cover for the Second Story Done!

Below is the cover for the second issue of College Follies. Wow. Just the idea of a cover having the words "College Follies" and "No. 2" on it is pretty amazing.

 

So since this is just a five page short that was originally meant as a backup in 2000, I never thought about a cover for the second story until I decided to finish it and turn it into it's own digital issue. The story is essentially a series of conversations in a department store about Dino's dating life. There are artists who could probably turn that into something dramatic and eye catching, but I haven't reached that level of talent.

 

So I wanted something vague that would introduce the character and setting for the story, which is Super Happy-Mart, the College Follies version of Wal-Mart. I kept racking my brain for things I associate with Wal-Mart. Some of the exclusive action figures I got there came to mind, and then immediately the cover and back cover popped into my head. I had to do it if only to have the words "Dino, The Ex-Girlfriend" on an action figure package.

 

There were a lot of different figure packages I was looking at to make this. Originally I wanted it to be a cover with some visual element of packaging. It ended becoming the opposite, so by the time I ended up putting the price on the cover, it became a store price sticker (poor Dino is apparently on discount).

 

I decided to not use any of the tricks I did on the inside cover to give the package an illusion of realism, since I might could pull that off with the packaging, but then I'd have a cartoon action figure in there and it would just look way off. I'd be like dropping Bart Simpson in the middle of an Alex Ross painting. Art needs to have a consistent style. So this is a package and a figure drawn in the style of the series.

 

The cover gives me with a tremendous sense of nostalgia. It definitely brings back memories of toys I grew up with. It's not Uncle Sam with an uzi but I thinks it's a big, attention grabbing image in its own way.

 

Next up, the back cover, in which you get to see Dino's exciting action features!

 

Title Page Done!

So the first bit of original art I've done for a comic in 13 years is complete. Because I'm breaking in the new Wacom tablet and Photoshop Elements, I'm doing this a bit out of order, taking some of the easier stuff on the second story first to get used to this new way of working. Working from home takes some adjustments. The screen's smaller and I'm trying to figure out the best work space for my lap top.

 

I'm still getting used to the Wacom. I was pretty comfortable using it for coloring and erasing. I think that's because I'm used to editing existing images on a computer. It's one of the things I do for a living. Creating something whole cloth on a computer is something I haven't done since college so I'm not as comfortable with digital inking (which is essentially redrawing the comic, if you think about it). I think I'll get there, though.

 

Originally I was just going to do a couple face shots with the title in big letters like on issue one for the title page. But then I was looking at some of the romance comic covers posted by a friend on Google+ and the idea popped in my head to turn it into a parody of romance comics.

 

So at first it was just going to be Dino crying with some text. But when I researched it, I found those covers tended to have the guy that the girl was crying over on the cover too. Fine, I'll throw in a portrait of Stickboy. But I couldn't have it just floating, so I had to do a background, so that became a gag in itself with the Kleenex. After drawing it, I realized I needed space at the bottom for the copyright information, so I came up with the idea that this would be a faux comic laying on a table or desk. I combined the image with a shot of a blank comic cover I laid on my desk to give the illusion of depth in the final page below.    

 

The cover itself is inspired by a variety of covers I saw of romance comics from the 40s-70s. The heart logo is taken from what DC did on their romance comics in the 70s. Believe or not, they had a pink heart with the letters "DC" in it as the logo on those issues. What some comic companies won't do for love!

 

So next up will be finishing the actual cover and back cover of the issue!

 

Inside cover digitally inked with the new Wacom!

I know I said I was tentatively going to do all the pencils needed for the issue before inking, but when I was testing out digital inking on the inside cover with the new Wacom tablet and Photoshop Elements, it ended up becoming "Oh I can actually finish this tonight." So there you go. Below is my first digitally inked piece ever and my first inks on actual art for a comic in 13 years.

It took awhile. Inking digitally takes some getting used to. There is something about moving a pen on a tablet while looking at the results on the screen that was just awkward at first. By the end I was getting kinda comfortable with it. If my hand can get used to what my eyes are seeing I think it's doable.

I inked on layers that were over a scan of the original pencils (having background and foreground inks on different layers is actually kinda handy). Most lines took umpteen tries but being able to use an eraser and  hit Control Z (undoing the last thing I did) makes for a much, much better outcome. I'm very happy with the results. I think it's as good as the cleaned up inks on issue one.

So hopefully if I can get comfortable with it and am able to do it with reasonable speed, this is how I can ink the second issue. I'll be testing the digital inking further before I make any decisions. I may also see if I can completely finish the inside cover (doing the colors and letters) with the Wacom and Elements.

Sketching and Breaking in the Wacom

Spent last night trying to get used to drawing again. I did some practice sketches, mainly of the second story's main character Dino, trying to get comfortable drawing her again after 13 years.

I'm also breaking in my new Wacom tablet and Photoshop Elements on my home computer. It's taking some getting used to.

I didn't have time to do much beyond sketches because of work, but I should be able to get more done this weekend. I'm going to do the pencils that need to be done on the first story (completing the last page, the cover, ect) while breaking in the Wacom, deciding if I'm comfortable enough with it to digitally ink the story.

Below is a sketch I digitally inked while struggling with glitches in the tablet (which I mercifully figured out how to fix this morning).