Behind the Scenes: Process!

My friend Kevin Mutch often posts interesting gifs, displaying his process. I thought I'd follow suit and show a little of the work  "behind the scenes" for "Jetpack Jr.".  It starts with the blue line sketch;  and then working the piece in layers on translucent vellum: background, middle ground and foreground. Each is scanned and then colored in photoshop, and brought together in the final piece. Yes, I could do it all in photoshop, but as I've said in the past, I still like creating an original hardcopy.
This little gif gives an illustration. (Click on the image to make it larger) Enjoy:

Behind the Curtain

I've always found an artist's process interesting; several years ago there was a great book out on various cartoonists called In the Studio(Todd Hignite; Yale University Press; ©2006). It featured a number of my favorite contemporary cartoonists; Crumb, Seth, Jaime Hernandez. It was both informative and entertaining and I devoured it. I think I read it in a night or two.

Jetpack Jr. ink on vellum; ink & blue pencil on Canson Art Board

Recently, I revised my process to better accommodate the digital work I do in Photoshop, while retaining the hard-copy paper original. It's old skool, I know--but I'm loathe to let go of the original, not so much for tradition's sake, but I prefer being able to conceive of the work in real space--it helps me with scale, proportion(panel to panel-as much as figures within the panels) and most importantly, rhythm; the rhythm of the images and the words together across the strip. I like being able to judge the flow of the entirety in real space. What can I say?  I'm old!

I start with the sketchbook--in my case just a little composition notebook(the kind you used in third or fourth grade) and a tape recorder. I tape ideas and notes while driving on my long commute back and forth to work--and listen to them later--sped up so I sound like I've inhaled helium. It's more interesting listening to yourself that way.
Anyway-after I've loosely blocked it out in the notebook--and written and re-written the text, the next step is to work the strip out in blueline(w/non-photo blue pencil) on 11" x 17" Canson Art Board.  Initially, I keep things really loose, blocking out the text first, after which I begin to work out the figures. I may draw and re-draw several times before pulling something that I can live with out from the tangle of lines.  


Previously to "Jetpack", I'd been going over the blueline in 3B or 4B pencil--then scanning the pencils as text at 600dpi. The result was increasingly disappointing to me, and needed a lot of clean-up.
It also made the coloring I do in Photoshop unnecessarily difficult.  

I've changed the process to better accommodate the work I do in Photoshop and to make life a little easier--and hopefully a little speedier( as juggling a full-time job and a comic strip doesn't leave a lot of time).

In the new process, I separate the figures and the backgrounds into two physical layers-as in traditional cel animation. I work the backgrounds on the Canson Art board in ink(Pentel fine-line markers) over the blueline--and then, with the markers, I trace the blueline figures and text  onto translucent vellum. The vellum has a beautiful surface for the markers' ink--and the process eliminates the clean-up I'd spent so much time doing before. After some erasing on the art-board layer, I scan the pages just as before.

Jetpack Jr. on vellum. from the April 26. 2015 strip on GoComics.

Once in Photoshop, I work on each layer separately and bring them together at the end-just as in cel animation. Of course I make any necessary color adjustments at that point. Sometimes I'll finish coloring the figures and lay them over the background before I've colored the ground. That way I can mold the background colors to suit the figures. I turn the figure layer on and off as I need before merging the two in the final.

Obviously,  I'm mimicking the process of working in Photoshop layers but in vellum and board. Still, it's working great for me--and while I know it's easy to do working on a Cintiq, Wacom or Surface Pro tablet--for now, anyway--I prefer having an original hard copy--and it's giving me a lot of freedom in coloring that I didn't have before.

New Beginnings

Jetpack Jr. ©GeoffGrogan

 Let's face it, the title sucked. More than one person told me "Plastic Babyheads from Outer Space"  turned them off before they ever read the comic, and well--it certainly didn't attract readers to the strip.  I have a theory that titles ending with  "...from Outer Space" (post 1950's ) are doomed to ignominy.  For years I've avoided watching Killer Clowns from Outer Space-- just because. I've tried recalling any film, book, comic, pop-culture relic post 1960 with "..from Outer Space" in the title. Nothing comes to mind.( nothing good, anyway)  It seems a sure-fire path to the cultural trash-can. 
Well, it's a theory, anyway. Maybe it was the "Babyheads" bit. I've got to admit, the image is just a wee bit...uhm... bothersome. Particularly if you have a soft spot for babies. (and who doesn't?) One way or another, the title was a bomb.
So, I thought--what the hey-let's change it up a bit.  I've got nothing to lose. 
And thus, this week-- Jetpack Jr. begins on GoComics.com  and Plastic Babyheads comes to a close--sort of.  It continues, albeit in slightly altered fashion.(Thanks to everyone at GoComics.com for supporting the change.)
All things in time and it took time for
Jetpack to arrive. You might say it was a protracted gestation period. Three years as Plastic Babyheads from Outer Space before the characters began to emerge from the crowd. Where did the time go? What took so long?  
I'm not one for forcing the issue, I suppose. Hey, I stumbled into the strip--came at backwards-and in those rocky beginnings, never thought it would last.  But the strip has its own momentum and it's pulled me along in its wake. And as time went on, certain voices spoke louder than others. It really is true, the characters tend to find their own direction. And so, this is the path Jetpack Jr., Hank and Marsha, Rensselaer, Kramden, Bella Dilemma and a few old friends(as yet to reappear) were determined to follow. I am excited about it--and if you're reading this, I hope you are too. Where they want to go, they haven't told me--yet. We'll find out together. Meanwhile, this blog will be a place for me to let what's left of my hair down-a bit--put up some stuff on process and inspiration, or just talk about stuff I'm looking at, reading, listening to, stuff that I like. A casual affair. Hope you'll drop by often.