Has anyone here worked on a comic book? (1 Viewer)

[Cal S]

I'm a freelance comic book artist, my website is below. I was just curious if anyone here has every written, drawn or worked on a comic book before. Either small press or mainstream. For that matter is there any other cartoonist or illustrators here? I would love to hear your experiences.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I've written a bunch, but only 3-4 ever made it to artwork, and I've never been satisfied enough to show people. Mostly photocopy/Kinkos publishing

 

[Jassen M. West]

My friends an i are currently putting something together. I'm inking, my heart is in the coloring but they want photoshop to do the coloring, i might be laying the flats though..oh well i think computer coloring has some way to go before it matches what pencils can do. There are 3 pencilers, 1 inker, 1 colorist, and the writer is also the colorist. We mainly do it for fun but we wanted to see what would happen.

jay

 

[Cal S]

I figured there would be some people here who had.

The book I draw is called "Shades of Blue", it's about an average teenage girl named Heidi Paige, who wakes up one day to discover that her hair has turned blue and that has has the power to control electricity. Other people (villains) in her town start popping up out of the blue (no pun intended) with new powers as well. One of these people being the guy she has a crush on, Jack. Her two best friends, the ultra hip K.T. and the ultra geek Marcus, convince her to become a super hero and fight off these new threats in their town.

Here is the cover to our first Trade Paperback Collection. It collects the first five issues. We did 10 issues, switched publishers and now have 2 issues out with them.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I once took a comic illustration class and had to come up with a premise and draw up a few pages.

It was an interesting class. The textbook was "Understanding Comics" put out by Marvel and we went over the different styles, theories, how to write a good story, and even how to get around copyright infringements (the instructor was pretty laid back).

This was probably 20 years ago and I'm sure the process has changed greatly from the old pen & ink days.

Mine was the adventures of Blade Johnson... superspy.

 

[Cal S]

Sounds like a cool class. I don't "Understanding Comics" was put out by Marvel, I think it was Kitchen Sink, but there is also a sequel called "Reinventing Comics", which I haven't read yet.

 

[Patrick Sun]

"Understanding Comics" was written by Scott McCloud, who also did "Zot!" I think there are a followup to Scott's UC, called "Reinventing Comics" that should be in bookstores as well.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I don't "Understanding Comics" was put out by Marvel,

Maybe you're right... I think I have the Marvel book confused with "Understanding Comics". I'll have to look when I get home. It was a long time ago.

Oh! I found it at Amazon: How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way

 

[Cal S]

I love "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way", I still have my original copy from 1978. I lived for that book back then as a 10 year old.

 

[Eric_L]

I envy you all. I wish I could draw. I have been pondering an on line children's illustrated storybook just for kicks. Unfortunately my drawing skills would be mocked even by four year olds.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I know what you mean. I'm verrrrrrry sloooooooowly working on a couple of Epic pitches for Marvel, but even though I know I've got enough story to get a year or two out of each of them, it's pretty hard to write a good comic script when you don't have the skills to see what you're doing visually.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Unfortunately my drawing skills would be mocked even by four year olds.

Oh, I don't know about that. Take a look at Todd Parr:



His drawings aren't particularily challenging. Yet, he's a successful children's book writer/artist.

 

[Jacinto]

I first broke into comics right before the bottom fell out of the industry about ten years ago. After that bubble burst, there were about three times more professional artists than there were jobs in the comics field. I would look at buddies of mine like Matt Haley and think "If he's struggling to find penciling work, I'm screwed."

Since then, I've been surfacing here and there with pin-ups, inks on alternate covers, RPG illustration work, marketing cartoons, trading card work, and I even came within a breath of having a strip picked up for syndication by United Features (after going through three sets of edits and fine tuning with their V.P.). Every year I head out to the San Diego Comicon and set up in Artists Alley, where I sell my wares, do sketches, donate work to the Charity Art Auction, and shmooze with other pros (not my strong suit).

The industry as a whole is way up from that time now, so I think I may start feeling out a few of my old editor contacts at DC and Darkhorse to see if I can find any inking work.

Eric and Jason: What ideas do you have? I'd love to flesh some stuff out for you guys, even if it's just for kicks...

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, the one I'll send to Marvel first, since they say they want "new and different but in the Marvel Universe" for Epic is "X-Ball": Professor X, Tony Stark, etc., put funding up for a professional basketball league that accepts mutants (they're barred from NBA and NCAA competition). The book would follow the Boston Boxers from recruitment to the regular season to the playoffs.

Of course, it needs a better name. I'll probably pitch it as "Celt-X", even though I know lawyers will explode upon seeing it.

The one I really want to do, that I dream about when I fall asleep at night, is "The Hard Stuff", an itinerant spaceship story set in the mid-to-late 22nd Century, with the solar system lightly settled but still a frontier. No aliens, no telepaths, no FTL, but plenty of extreme environments, bioethics (the second story arc would be a really fun clone story), low/zero-G martial arts, adventure, and mystery.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Hey Cal,

How do you do those Shades of Blue? They look so clean, are they done on the computer? If so, what app do you use to create them?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The industry as a whole is way up from that time now, so I think I may start feeling out a few of my old editor contacts at DC and Darkhorse to see if I can find any inking work.

TRACER!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cal S]

How do you do those Shades of Blue? They look so clean, are they done on the computer? If so, what app do you use to create them?

All my comic book art is penciled and inked by hand. Then I scan them and add color (or grayscale) to it in Adobe Photoshop.

 

[Jacinto]

TRACER!!!!!!!

:wink: