Today is Mike Maihack’s birthday! As a present I drew him this semi-realist rendition of the star character of Cow and Buffalo, Mike’s web comic. I’ve always thought Cow and Buffalo was one of the most ridiculous comics on the internet, so ridiculous in fact that I almost couldn’t understand how Mike could bring himself to draw such silliness. But while putting the finishing touches on the Utility Udder, I realized I was having a great deal of fun, and I finally understood why Mike draws what he does. It’s just fun! Happy Birthday Mike!

Well, I’ve finished the thumbnails and sent copies to my people at the publishing company. The final page count is 215! People tell me that they are excited to read my book when it comes out. I tell them that I am excited to read it too. Just what will I make in the next 5 months? I can’t wait to find out.

And in fact, I graduated this last weekend. Now onward toward the dream job.

The Cintiq arrived and it’s really cool. I can’t wait to draw a full page with it.

I have 6 pages of script left to translate into thumbnails. So close! I’m hoping to finish all the thumbs by the end of this week so I can send them off to my art director along with the first page for test prints.

I’ve never sketched out so many pages before and I’ve begun to notice something interesting. As I am composing shots, deciding proper expressions, trying to find the right pacing, I get this sense that I am not really creating a world but instead trying to portray a world that already exists.

I remember talking to Tony Cliff at San Diego Comicon two years ago and he was describing to me how an animator does not really draw a character in motion, as much as he draws the motion itself. In some styles of animation you can often pause a scene where a person is doing some violent movement and instead of finding a still shot of the figure, you will find a blur of sketchy lines. To convey the feel and motion of a person walking, an animator mustn’t focus on the person; instead they have to focus on the walking itself.

Just like the animator, I’m beginning to discover that the cartoonist has a similar task. I see my characters and story alive and moving in my mind and the question I must ask is: what images should I choose to create so that other people will see what I see? Comics are not so much the panels you see on the page but instead the images readers see in their minds as they process the sequence of images.

Alec Longstreth recently made two more issues from his Phase 7 series available to read free online! These recent issues, number ten and eleven, document his journey into comics. I first encountered Alec’s work in high school; in fact it was largely on account of his fantastic first 24 hour comic that I was inspired to do my first 24 hour comic. Reading his autobiography also proved to be very inspirational to me! He has a great work ethic and attitude, which is encouraging to me as I try to tackle my first graphic novel.

Somewhere in the piece, called Transition, Alec briefly mentions how he listens to a radio program called This American Life while he works. Out of curiosity I checked out the podcast and found it to be profound and well done. I also found this great little animation, which is the fruits of a collaboration between This American Life and Chris Ware, another cartoonist I enjoy.



After reading rave reviews by Scott Mccloud, I decided to buy a Cintiq 21UX. I ordered it today. It’s an expensive investment, but I think it’s worth it to prevent wrist injuries, increase productivity and give myself another level of control over my line work. For those of you who don’t know, a Cintiq is basically a large computer screen that you can draw directly onto, using a stylus that has over a thousand levels of pressure sensitivity! I feel nervous about buying it. It means that I’m totally serious about this graphic novel, about becoming a professional cartoonist.

The graphic novel is moving along steadily. I just passed page 150 for the thumbnails. My greatest struggle right now is keeping a positive attitude. I wrote the story a long time ago, and it’s impossible for me to laugh at the jokes any more, or even feel for the characters. “What am I doing?” I ask myself, but still I keep stumbling forward.

I did pencil and ink the first page of the story, however, and fortunately I can’t find anything to criticize about it. The style is simple yet solid, and I think I’ll be able to maintain it for the entirety of the book. Best of all, the entire page only took me about three and a half hours to draw! That means I’ll be able to plow ahead at a rate of two pages a day when the summer hits.

By graduation I’d like to have all the pages thumbnailed. Then I’ll send them all in to the publishers to check over, as well as the first page for them to do test prints.

Excelsior.

Hey everybody!

The thumbnails for the Mal and Chad graphic novel are progressing steadily. Right now I'm on page 97!

Lately, I've been rereading Jeff Smith's Bone for inspiration. Unfortunately, when I got done with the 1300 page masterpiece it made me feel quite small. It's a hard balance: seeking inspiration from other cartoonists without comparing yourself to them. There's an invisible line between admiration and insecurity that's hard not to cross.

But I'm trying to stubbornly hold on to a good attitude. When I look at the old Mal and Chad comic strips that I drew for my college newpaper I think, "I like these characters! Someone else might like them too when I publish their adventures in this graphic novel!"

I've also been reading Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim and Fujiko F. Fujio's Doraemon series for inspiration. I love Bryan's cinematic pacing, and of course, Doraemon is the definition of kid's adventure comics.

Below is an excellent animation by a Japanese animator who calls himself Dokugyunyu, which means poison milk. It's called オオカミはブタを食べようと思った, which directly translates to "the wolf thought he was going to eat the pig." Enjoy!



Oh, by the way, there's a new piece in the gallery that I did for Drawergeeks!

Hey everybody!



Lately I've been drawing tiny sketches, called thumbnails, of every page in the Mal and Chad book. I'm on page 54 of the thumbnails right now. I suppose it's going rather well, but I find myself impatient to get on to the next stage. At this rate when I'm thumbnailing I'll want to be penciling, and when I'm penciling I'll want to be inking, and when I'm inking I'll want the book to be done and published. I think I need to slow down and enjoy each stage as it comes. A graphic novel of this caliber is not made in a day.

By the way, if you guys have any advice for me on how I should approach this whole process, you can send it to me through the comments part of this blog entry, or I set up an advice thread at the Flight Forums that you can contribute to if you have an ID there.

Hope you all are doing well!

Before we start today’s blog, please enjoy the adventures of Kogepan, the burnt bread roll.





These shorts were done by San-X, the creators of Hello Kitty. There are a total of ten episodes that you can watch on Youtube. Don’t watch too many though, you’ll get a cavity.

Well, the Mal and Chad graphic novel project has finally sprung to life after a winter hibernation.

I’m starting to understand how the publishing world works. It’s kind of like waiting for a marathon to begin. You wait and wait, and then when you least expect it, the gun goes off, and you begin the race. But little did you know that the length of the race has been shortened, and you have to run faster if you want to win. So you begin sprinting. But then another gun goes off, and everybody stops, and you have to wait to continue the race.

Yesterday I received a call from my editor. Because of the economy, we can’t afford to print the graphic novel in color. The book is going to have to be in black and white. But this makes it a lot easier on me. I don’t feel very confident with my coloring skills yet, so I actually feel kind of relieved. But because the book can be completed faster now, the deadline has been moved up to the end of July or the beginning of August.

...

Needless to say, I’m excited and terrified, nervous and thrilled.

Will I be able to finish the graphic novel, graduate college and stay sane these next five months? I’ll keep you guy’s posted.

Here’s a cool experimental animation called “My Paper Mind,” done by Javan Ivey. The technique is called “stratastencil.” You can read more about it here.

Well, I made corrections to the script and sent them off to my editor. My editor is in the process of moving apartments right now though, so it might be a little while before we push into the final edits of the manuscript. In the meantime, I made character turnarounds of Mal and the gang so that I can draw them proportionately throughout the book.

Be sure to check them out!