From MAD #471, Nov 2006, a two page feature called “When Video Games Become Religious” written by Jacob Lambert. The pencil roughs in the layout and the individual final art panels: Clicky to embiggen… Clicky to embiggen… Clicky to embiggen… READ MORE
Q: You are creating hundreds of pictures a year. As you work partly digital there are at least hundreds of files a year. Which order do you have for these files on your hard disk? Do you have one folder for each project? Do you have a folder for finished work, quasi a portfolio folder? Do you save all your files or do you delete most of them after some time? Do you have a standard procedure for your files (names, folders, etc.)? A: I don’t think it’s exactly “hundreds” of illustrations a year but it is a lot. I have three different areas where… READ MORE
Now we are in the home stretch! It’s time to get coloring. Those of you who are looking for a tutorial on my painting techniques will be a little disappointed I’m afraid. In order to do that I need to save steps along the way, and I did not do that with this or any past job in anticipation of a tutorial. My apologies, but I will save those steps the next chance I get, and will put together a real tutorial on how I paint my line art soon. (did that years ago. See Here) In the meantime, here are the basic steps: When… READ MORE
Now that the inks are all done, erased and cleaned up, it’s computer time! First the pages need to be scanned in sections, then placed together to make a complete page. This is roughly as much fun as getting poked in the eye by a sharp instrument, but it is what it is. I invested in a very large scanner to simplify my life and cut down on popping veins in my forehead. I use a Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL (Epson Expression GT 20000), which is a flatbed with a 12?x17? scanning area. I use their ScanWizard Pro software and scan directly into Photoshop.¬¨‚Ć Even so,… READ MORE
Now that the pencils are finished, it’s time for the inking. This has always been the toughest part for me. I don’t know too many comic artists who ever feel their inked work is as effective as their pencils are, and you can count me among them. No matter how much I’ve done it, I always begin an inking job with trepidation and a certain amount of nervousness. Over the years I’ve learned to trust myself a bit more, but I still wouldn’t say it’s easy. To get started, I take out a #3 (.80) Rapidiograph pen and rule the balloons and tails, bleed and… READ MORE
Once the pencil roughs are approved with the gang at MAD, I can move on to the final pencils. This is the stage where most of the hard work occurs. The first thing I do is transfer the roughs on to the final boards. I do this by blowing up my scans of the roughs to 200% of original size, and then printing them off on 11???17 paper. In the case of a splash, I have to use the 13???19 paper and print the image in quarters, then trim and tape them together. With the story pages, a typical row of panels fits an 11???17… READ MORE
The next step in a MAD job is the package I get from the art department. In it is a copy of the script, printouts of the layouts and the reference materials they have gathered and the boards. The boards large pieces of Strathmore bristol with all the pages, panel borders and text boxes drawn in pencil. These are usually done by longtime MAD production guru Lenny “The Beard” Brenner (I get nothing from MAD other than the emailed script and layout images these days. I layout my own boards with the text boxes etc. This deal has been getting more and more onesided over… READ MORE
This week I am in lock down, do-or-die, 24-7, no foolin’ Deadline Demon mode trying to finish an eight (that’s right EIGHT page parody) for MAD by the weekend. No time for anything else. So… Welcome to flashback week! About eight years ago I posted this little walk through of a typical job for MAD entitled “Diary of a MAD Job”. I thought I would repost it this week. It’s a little dated (I have annotated these with updated comments) but most of the process is the same. Diary of a MAD Job Part 1: Whenever I meet someone who knows that I do work… READ MORE
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