Make Comics Forever!!

Make Comics Forever is a forum for cartoonists dedicated to improving their productivity. This is not a forum for wimps! This is not a forum for flakes! We are here to share tips and techniques on how to produce more work and better work. Become a comic-making machine! Join the discussion now! To become a member, email a request to robyn @ un-pop.com

Monday, February 27, 2006

Social Cartooning @ CCS / Trees & Hills Comic Group

Just a reminder for anyone who lives near enough, this Saturday (March 4) is Social Cartooning at the Center For Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT. It's an informal cartooning get-together; please drop by to draw and help strengthen the comics community in New England... All local cartoonists, CCS students, and curious others are welcome to join us for a day of drawing. Bring your drawing tools and a snack to share. Drawing starts at 1pm and goes till 7pm. RSVP required. Contact Robyn Chapman at chapman@cartoonstudies.org.

Also, if you live close enough to attend, you may be interested in the Trees & Hills Comic Group for cartoonists in VT, NH and western MA. We have a forum here, and a website coming soon at www.treesandhills.org; we're hoping to foster community, discussion, and get-togethers like Social Cartooning in the area.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Take Care Of Yourself

Important and Sometimes Overlooked Productivity Tip: Keep yourself in good health!

Eat a varied and balanced diet. Move around. Do something that raises the heart rate for at least ten consecutive minutes a day; I felt a bit disgusted when I realized I wasn't even doing that. Get fresh air and sunlight! And SLEEP. It's easy to forget how much more alert the mind can be when it gets regular, proper rest. Find a sleep schedule that works for you, whether you like to rise early or late, and try to keep it consistent.

It's easy to get caught up in creating, but don't neglect yourself! Take your food and bathroom breaks, stretch, breath, and give your eyeballs some rest by moving them around and gazing off into the distance.

It's simple stuff, but fundamental. Everything is better and easier when you're energetic and alert - why subject yourself to the potential heartbreak of careless mistakes?

(This post is definitely made in the "AA" spirit of the blog - I'm trying to change my own poor habits!)

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Paperless Cartoonist

I was invited to join this blog when I suggested a post about ergonomic and workflow issues while using drawing tablets—specifically pen monitor tablets, such as the Cintiq. Not long after I was joined the blog, K. Thor Jensen posted an article, Wacomics, on his recent tablet experiences. The post covers Mr. Jensen's initial loathing of tablets, through to his eventual conversion and endorsement.

I was an early enthusiast of the digital drawing tablet, asking for one for X-mas when I was 13 so I could draw animations on our Mac—I was such a geek. In university I got a second tablet, a standard middle-of-the-road Wacom Intuos. It worked great. I use illustrator and I liked the brush strokes I could achieve with it. I grew increasingly comfortable with it and used the tablet often for finished comics or illustrations. Eventually I developed the same problem as Scott McCloud—a tingling in my right wrist—and had to stop drawing for a while. It also forced me to think about health & ergonomic issues. In part due to a desire to stop working on paper entirely, along with having read McClouds and various other reviews, I decided to invest in a Wacom Cintiq, referred to as a pen monitor. Essentially it is a flat screen monitor with a drawing pen and thousands of levels of pressure sensitivity.

I spent the first four hours using it chuckling, and often outright laughing. I understood why animation studios are switching to them. There is a massive potential to increase workflow with this tool. And, for the first time in like, fifteen years of doing art on a computer, I actually felt that I was encountering something new. Along with the Cintiq there are already a few pen tablet laptops on the market. Apple is rumoured to be producing some sort of a tablet device. If technology continues to develop as it has, in a couple years from now we should have the potential to make pressure-sensitive sketches on something like an Apple iPod. I've never even used a handheld, but I'm sure they're starting to develop built-in sketching functions.

The pen monitor made me think more about the workflow of a cartoonist/illustrator. I began thinking about the workflow potential of it even more after reading The Pushman And Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (D&Q 2005). This book lead me to read an interview between Tatsumi and Adrian Tomine. The interview is long, but extremely interesting, as it's two grand masters of comics talking in detail about their working methods. I just love this exchange:
AT: Yeah. That's always been a mystery to me. How the Japanese artists are able to produce so many pages. I'm sure my publisher would allow me to create thicker comics, but it would just take me two or three years or something like that.

YT: I've done 50 pages in one night.

AT: What? 50?! Five zero?

YT: Yeah.

AT: How?!

YT: I didn't sleep, and I had four assistants.
A few lines down, it gets even better when they discuss a weekly schedule:
AT: So you were doing 12 pages a week? On your own?

YT: Yeah.

AT: I just can't believe it!

YT: 2 pages, everyday. It's far easier than 50 pages in one night.
Far easier indeed. After reading this I began to wonder how much a cartoonist could potentially produce in a night, using a Cintiq or similar device. McCloud has noted that he produces about a page per day for his new book with his Cintiq. That's 6-7 pages a week. I've managed to do a couple 2-page nights recently as well. They were long nights, though—lots of tea.

I still haven't found the ideal position for drawing on this monitor. I find I'm using the keyboard enough (in illustrator) to position it close to the monitor. I think I'd like the entire table it’s sitting on to be height-adjustable. I still find the best way to avoid getting sore is to regularly stretch, and walk away from the drawing board frequently. The Cintiq is a huge step up from the regular tablets simply in terms of ergonomics. You can lean over it like a traditional drafting table, or tilt it up and work as a painter would with an easel and canvas.

I haven't gotten rid of drawing on paper entirely, not by a long shot, but the Cintiq is a solid step towards the paperless cartoonist. When I have an iPod that I can scratch a few portraits on while sitting on the metro? Now that will make things interesting.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize!

After a year and a half of work, I just got my finished comic book back from the printer. I now have 300 copies waiting to be sent out to my subscribers, friends and family. And it is a GREAT feeling.

I know it's like the most simple advice in the world: to work towards a goal. But I think it's easy to forget (especially if your project takes a LONG time to complete!) that it feels REALLY GREAT when you are done. It almost makes you forget all the long hours, working by yourself on your project. Now it will be sent out into the world for people to enjoy!

So I just thought, as someone who has just completed a project, I would put up a little reminder for those of you who are currently in that difficult middle-stretch of a project, that it is SO going to be worth it when you are done! Don't give up! Keep working towards your goal!

And now I get to join the rest of you who are at the BEGINNING of a project! How exciting! The sequence begins again!!! : )

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Social Cartooning at CCS


Last Saturday marked the first of what will be monthly (!) drawing parties at CCS. They will be held on the first Saturday of the month, and they will be open to the public (RSVP required.) I'm going to dub the day Social Cartooning at CCS.
This Saturday we had about 15 participants, many of them members of the New England cartoonist collective Trees and Hills. the group was very friendly, enthusiastic, and fairly serious about comics.

Everyone was self-directed, some working on their personal projects, others working on jam comics. In general, I'm anti-jam comics. "No Jam Comics" was basically the first testament of my former cartooning group (AWP, represent.) But I participated in one that I felt was fairly successful.
When the party ended, I had drawn for nearly 6 hours, not bad. I also made several new friends. I look forward to the next Social Cartooning event. Hope to see you there!