Somedays when drawing characters, the poses just don’t come out right. That’s when you’ve gotta grab the Flip Cam and act it out.
June 21, 2011
June 20, 2011
SPY GUY #2 Cover in Progress
Here’s a peek at what I’ve been working on today:
Next; to get the “cell animation” layer in place.
June 17, 2011
The New Fantastic Four Sketch
While waiting for the Ultraist Computer to do calculations I drew this marker sketch in the moleskine.
I had just finished reading the newest Lethargic Lad which reminded me how much the new FF bothered me. Just this week I got these comics via ebay which I thought was a much better concept. I bought this comic when it came out just because it had The New Fantastic Four in uniform, but I didn’t like that Ghost Rider was replaced with Iron Man, and I still didn’t like that it was Grey Hulk instead of Green Hulk. I wondered what the proper team would look like in uniform, and so I decided to do this sketch to find out. In a recent interview I was asked “What comic characters other than your own would you like to work with?” After this sketch, I think I’d have to add “The New Fantastic Four” to that list.
April 6, 2011
Indie Comics Magazine #2 in stores now!
Comic book readers who are interested in Aazurn Publishing’s Indie Comics Magazine and did not preorder #2 need to buy today at their local comic shop, said Editor Gary Scott Beatty.
“They’ll disappear fast! We have no huge overprint, no digital version and no back issue sales,†Beatty explained.
Appearing in this issue is Mike Kitchen (Spy Guy), Alonzo Washington (Omega 7), Tim Vigil (Faust), Terry Cronin (Students of the Unusual), Michael Marcus and George McVey (Pulp Dreams, IF-X), Gary Scott Beatty (Jazz: Cool Birth), and Blair Kitchen (The Possum).
The cover to #2 features a full color painting by Tom Kelly (DC’s Zuda).
“We’re receiving kudos for the diverse styles in Indie Comics Magazine #1,†said Beatty. “#2 has a different lineup. Both issues feature done-in-one stories, short bios of the creators and a huge chunk of indie goodness.â€
Indie Comics Magazine introduces readers to talented comic book pros with regional fan bases that deserve wider audiences, said Beatty. It is likely the talent in Indie Comics Magazine #2 will never appear in the same publication together again.
ICM #2 on the shelf at Conspiracy Comics in Burlington, ON.
April 2, 2011
CerebusTV: Episode 59!
As announced Thursday, The Kitchen Family makes their debut appearance on CerebusTV. You will see video footage from The Last Signing. A secret look inside the Cerebus Archive. Hear Dave read broken Spanish from The Possum. Watch as Jacob Kitchen signs an autograph for Dave. See Dave draw a head sketch of Cerebus as The Possum. Get a sneak peek at the newest issue of glamourpuss. AND there is even a preview of “The Kitchen Family Players” doing a comic reading performance of the NEW SPY GUY story from Indie Comics Magazine #2. This episode will be streaming live all week. After that it’s gone, so watch it today at CerebusTV.com!
All this, AND Dave Sim rocks out his iSpy glow-in-the-dark Spy Guy t-shirt! If you want one for yourself, you can get one (in any colour) here! (You can also get your very own Possum t-shirt here!)
January 6, 2011
October 19, 2010
State of the Studio Address
Starting October 4th 2010 SPY GUY #2 became a full-time job. This is the first time in my life I’ve been able to dedicate the entirety of my “work-time” to a comic. Even when I took two weeks off to complete SPUD & HARRY I was still doing videogame contract work on the side. Two weeks and two days in I can say it’s been an interesting experience. Suddenly there is time to think about the work. Pages that have been sitting idle for over a year are suddenly coming to fruition. That said: There isn’t nearly enough time to do all that needs to be done. On my white board, I wrote all the things I hoped could be accomplished. In my delusions of grandeur I had thought since the comic would replace the “Clark Kent Day Job” that suddenly side projects would replace the time spent making comics. I thought blog entries would come quicker, and the SPY GUY: Minis webcomic would suddenly go live. But you know what? It takes A LOT of time to make a comic. Not quite as much time as it takes to make animation. But more time than enough.
As of this writing, I’m averaging at two days to complete one page, which happens to be the same amount of time it took to complete the SPACE Anthology pages. As I move forward with this comic, it’s becoming apparent where the time is being spent, so it is the hope of this artist that as time moves on the process will become streamlined for maximum speed and productivity. Part of the trick is being able to make snap decisions. Having a solid script helps. Having solid thumbnails helps. Having reference material on hand helps immensely! The rest of it is being able to execute on demand. That trick is a little more tricky. My hunch is that skill will develop as more pages are completed. I’m noticing that having drawn convention sketches has helped a lot. It’s a great format of experimentation in figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Today’s agenda is putting the final inking touches on the first half of SPY GUY #2 and scanning the pages, turning them into print ready files. This is what the drawing board looks like as of this moment. Note some of the items in the picture: The corkboard full of ideas and reference. The photo of my children. The rulers for drawing perspective and speedlines. The tape for tracing paper transfers. A tracing paper transfer for Page 9. Post it notes full of dialog (for placement on the page). Star Wars Manga book 2 for speedline reference. And Pages 4-10 of SPY GUY #2!
Enough blogging.
Time to get back to work.
September 1, 2010
Fan Expo 2010 postmortem
Fan Expo 2010 has come and gone.
It was a strange show this year.
The whole thing seemed extremely disorganized.
Friday we arrived at 4:00 pm and were continually misdirected by security and volunteer staff on how to actually get into the convention floor. Turned out that in order to pick up our exhibitor badge we had to enter an area that you could not get into unless you had an exhibitor badge. Yeah, that’s right. You could not pick up your badge unless you had your badge. What a mess.
It was an hour later when one of the volunteers who was on the ball came to our aid and offered to escort us past security. There were a lot of horror stories like this with nearly everyone I talked to. Very unfortunate. Oh well. Hopfully Fan Expo cleans up their act for next year, because it really is a GREAT comic con.
Photo by Jules Faulkner
The space in the north hall was smaller, and the floor seemed more crowded. The largest booths seemed bigger than usual (yet like dwarfed versions of their San Diego counterparts). The windows and daylight I did enjoy.
We do have video footage this year that will be edited together into a mini documentary and posted as soon as we have time to do it (har, har, har… the story of my life). That said, here are some pics:
Here’s a great drawing from Brenda Hickey.
And a Spy Lad by Greg Hyland.
And here’s a sketch I did that I thought turned out pretty cool…
And here’s a first; a custom Spy Guy appearing on the cover of Possum Mini Comics #1!
I also heard from numerous sources that there was another “Spy Guy†comic created by some other folks in artist alley. Very interesting. I’ll have to keep a pulse on that as things develop.
In closing, to everyone that took a moment to stop by our table to chat and support the work that we are doing: Thank You! That more than anything else makes doing these shows worth while! See you again next year.
June 14, 2010
Cerebus as Spy Guy
Cerebus as Spy Guy head sketch by Dave Sim.
You know this has to go in the letters page of Spy Guy #2.
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March 8, 2010
The Making Of SPY GUY #1 Page 7
Here is a “behind the scenes” look at the making of SPY GUY #1 Page 7. This one is interesting not only because it is the “hook” for issue 1, but it also contains the very first gag ever created for Spy Guy.
Back around 2004 I got to thinking that every comic book should have a “hook”. A page that while you’re flipping through it in the comic book shop, it catches your eye, and you go “whoa!”, and in that moment you are given enough information to get a gist of what the book is about, and are enticed to learn more. It would most likely contain a splash page image, and should contain a joke or one-liner that can be absorbed in an instant. When I began brainstorming what the issue #1 hook should be, this gag came to mind. It is one of the earliest Spy Guy drawings ever done, circa 1988, and is what I consider to be an iconic image for Spy Guy. What better place to use it than in the very first issue of the Unlimited Series.
Pretty good gag. But for the comic it had to be more dynamic. That became very apparent while I was putting together the mock-up copy that I use to pace out the comic with.
Once I started the full sized roughs of the new dynamic pose, I realized that I wasn’t getting the drawing right at all. Once you tilt it at a bit of an angle, you start getting some perspective and the way the trench coat falls gets more complicated. I needed photo reference.
In doing video reference for animation, I discovered how much superior using video reference is compared to using photo reference, because you can capture thousands of frames to chose from, and you get better action because you don’t get stiff as you hold still for the camera.
You can even see in the video above that I’m delivering the line of dialog in case that effects the pose in anyway. Below is the image I screen grabbed to use as reference for the actual panel.
From there I did some pencil sketches in front of the computer on 11 x 17 paper. Here is the 11 x 17 rough I created. The sharpie work was done on the bus on route to the GO Train back when I had a daily commute and was featured in a blog journal post a while back. I find the sharpie is useful for really blocking in some forms to base the final pencils around.
From there I took the sharpie rough, and did a tracing paper pencil over it to tighten the drawing before transferring it over to the S-172 Bainbridge illustration board.
For the final pencils and inks, I pulled out the gun reference that I keep beside the drawing board at all times.
And this is what it looks like in the final page. You can read it in context right here.
The page has gotten quite a few comments, so I can only assume that it accomplished what I set out to do with it. Now there you have it;Â the making of SPY GUY #1 Page 7.
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