New Comic Strip Submission

Okay, so this blog is alllllllll about my life as a cartoonist, right? Right.

So in the spirit of that mission statement, I'm going to take you through my latest comic strip submission to the big five US syndicates.

Every Friday I'll be posting three or four samples of that weeks work with a little write up as to what my thinking was behind the gag, the art or both.

So here we go.

Every panel or comic strip idea submitted to the big five syndicates (King Features, United Media, Universal Press, Tribune Media and Washington Post Writers Group), require---as per their submission guideline instructions--- 30 strips, a cover letter, a CV and a character page, if needed. Once that's completed I normally mail them out to the states and then post them up on here, in their entirety, as I did with Bib and Adam & Eve.

But this time I thought it would be fun for you to follow me as I create a new idea from scratch. To hear my thoughts on the process and see how, if at all, the comic changes from my initial idea through to its eventual completion. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you get an insight into not only my working practices but my though process...worrying as that may prove to be.

If time wasn't an issue and I had a clear run at it, I could probably produce all thirty strips in a week. But because I have a lot of other commitments, I'm forced to allow myself only one day a week to work them up. And only then after I have roughed out all thirty gags in my sketch book; which can take anything up to a few weeks of snatched moments here and there.

Okay, so onto the meat and bones. The first thing I do is create a synopsis for any new feature that I'm working on. This can either be about the characters, where they live, what their views are on life; are they human, animal or something else. Most strips follow the usual formula of family, kids or animals. But any subject theme can be used so long as the newspapers readers can identify with it on some level.

Then there are the off-the-wall type comics: Far Side, Herman, Bizarro and to some degree Non Sequitur; and it is into this last genre that my new idea, Tales from Toonsville falls. And below I have written my initial working synopsis for it.

 Synopsis for Tales from Toonsville

If the cartoons lived in an actual, real and identifiable parallel universe, then ‘Toonsville would be its main hub. My cartoon is best described as a documentary of what daily life---past and present--- would be like if the world was run by the 'toons.

Although Tales from Toonsville takes a homologous and decidedly oddball look at this crazy paradox it has no set characters, but it does carry some regulars that can be visited and revisited, as and when the muse takes me. But nothing you can hang a name on. Some of these semi regular characters are as follows:

·         Granny Apple: A delightful if not heavily put upon Grandmother who never thought retirement would ever be quite like this.

·         Frankenstein: These strips are based around what would happen if a variety of brains were used on the monster and how it would affect him.

·         101 Uses for a Divorce Attorney: Not the most liked of people or professionals and most of us have come up against these antagonistic little reptiles at least once in our lives. My ideas are what I, and possibly a lot of other people, may wish to see being done to them.

·         Lilly & Jim: A married couple who not only have to deal with marriage and all of its pit falls, but have to remain optimistic and in love within a relationship that a world run by toon characters and situations throw at them.

Tales from ‘Toonsville is basically an off the wall cartoon, but one that has taken itself to the next level of off-the-wall-ish-ness.

So that said, here's four of this weeks out-put of six. Once the six week run for this feature has come to an end I will put all thirty strips up, including the ones that I didn't initially show.

I'm just too good to you.

I've always loved the anomalies that religion and the Bible throw up. I never mean to offend, I just like having a little bit of fun at the establishment. And anyway if, as the Bible says, God made us in his own likeness, he'll have a sense of humour, right?. If not, then it's the hot place for me.

The basic premise of Frankenstein, or his monster, has always been that of the brain of a convicted murder will make a murderer no matter who's body you put it into. So to have Igor---who's always getting the wrong brain, or the brain of what ever is available---bring back a kiss chase champions  plays heavily to my sense of the absurd.

Well times they are a changing. Where as the survival of the fittest has always been the norm, especially in the world of learning, nowadays with technology being king, the nerd is the new alpha male on the block. This cartoon just held up a mirror to how the new college hierarchy will be shaping up soon, if it isn't already

What can I say. He's basically a fish, right? And fishermen catch fish. It was bound to happen sooner or later. This type of cartoon also plays to my love of the old horror classics.


I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep on coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.

New Work-Dandy Annual 2017

Looks like this year I came back into the comics world with a crash, a bang and one of those stunt-man type rolls.

Not only did I get a very nice order from DC Thomson, creators of many titles including the Dandy comic, but I have been approached by a new prospective publisher (more about that on a separate post). But first let's get onto the Dandy Annual project.

Although I can't show you the whole page---sorry about that---I wanted to share sections and tasty tempters of what will be coming in the Dandy Annual 2017 (out around September 2016)

Some of you may know that I used to have a really great career in British children's comics until just
before the sad demise of the Dandy. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't ALL my fault).

Anyway, the Dandy, although no longer a comic, still comes out as an annual, with all the stars old and new. And this year I have been asked to produce a fair few of the pages for the weighty and welcome tome of merriment and mirth.

Amongst these commissions were three two page Ollie Fliptrik Pages, five Dirty Dick comic strips and an eight page Secret Agent Sally story; all scripts written by my own fair hand and produced by my own odd mind.

Now I could say a lot about the process, and how happy I am to be working for the great DC Thomson again, but you probably just want me to shut the *&%"% up and show you some brightly coloured pictures. Oh well, if that's what you want then who am I to argue with you, especially seeing as I have other 'how to' posts lined up and you can get your fixes then.

But for now, here's some sample cutaways (I'm not really allowed to show the whole page as that would be naughty and unfair and I would probably get shouted at by custard pie wielding lawyers---I honestly believe the comics industry employ such legal people). So here we go...

"It is also worth noting that all work is copyright DC Thomson, and that includes world rights and such stuff. You have been warned; watch out for the custard pie wielding lawyers..."

On another point you will notice that there are no word balloons. Although I did write the scripts, the lettering is still done and Thomson Towers...I have a sneaking suspicion that they have trust issues.

The last panel from a typical Ollie Fliptrik catastrophe.

I love drawing the snow, so when I get to write and draw, snow tends to feature largely.

Dirty Dick was a revived character from the golden age. Dick would go out clean and come back filthy; no matter how hard he tried; it was His thing.

Agent Sally was originally a collaboration between myself and Craig Graham, the Beano editor. But for the annual I got to write it myself. So guess what? More snow.

Now on a final point, I've added a before and after as seldom does an entire commission get away without a few amendments. In this case having seen the finished art, the editors asked me to change the last panel so the snow was removed and a hard rocky surface put in its place. So with the aid of a light box and some Photoshopery-jiggery-pokery I produced a page without having to redraw it all, as would've been the case 20 years BP (Before Photoshop)

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep on coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot more.

Brabbles & Boggitt Page 21

So Far: Goldilocks has crept out of the camp, thinking no one will miss her, but Boggitt follows at a distance to see what she's up to...

Next Week: Boggitt exposes Goldilocks to Brabbles, but Brabbles is still wearing the rose tinted spectacles

New to Brabbles & Boggitt? click here and start reading from the beginning.

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

Cartoon Experiment

I guess the lifeblood of any business is, as they say, new business. And in a field where the flow of cartoons through the pages of newspapers, comics magazines and the internet is akin to a torrent of water passing through a sieve, it is important to constantly keep ahead of the game; to produce more ideas and never stem the flow of your creative juices.

Of course this is always easier said that done, especially when you find yourself on a cold, uninspiring morning with the rain beating down relentlessly outside as you sit with your cup of tea or coffee and a blank piece of paper with nothing springing to mind.

 'But this is what you do, if you are a creative person,' you tell yourself. You know that your mind has always been this way and that something will come to you; it may not be that diamond mine of an idea that'll make you the billion you richly deserve, but at least it will be something worth showing around my contacts.

So you pull a blank piece of paper out of the pack and start doodling...

At least that's how I do it.

But a while back I was looking for a new idea to send out to the editors of children's comics; something different to what I normally do, yet still maintain the signature 'action packed and lively style' that I've become known for.

Like I said, normally I would sit in a quiet area and scribble away until something new came out from the blinding whiteness of my paper, accompanied, hopefully, by the singing of angels to let me know that this idea was packed to the gunnel's with potential.

But this time was different. For a start I wasn't in a quiet room and scribbling, I was on the sofa chatting with Karen, and it was she who came up with the idea of an Alien that came out from under a child's bed and helped him cause calamity for those around them---especially his bullying brother, Hektor



And I'm not afraid to admit it, the idea struck me as one worth pursuing: kids love fantasy, they love slapstick action and the fascination with creatures--- especially magical ones--- from another planet was just a dream combination.

So I sat down with a sketch pad and the characters just came flooding from my pen, fully formed and needing no alteration.  Normally I have to fiddle with a new characters design at least a little bit until I'm happy with it, but every character I drew for this strip came flowing, unhindered from the end of my pencil.

That was a good omen, right? I sure as hell hoped it was!

And if that wasn't enough, the first story wrote itself too! I've never had this before. Normally I write a script out, play with it and hone it, sculpt it and mould it into exactly what I want, yet here I was, creating characters without seemingly thinking about it and writing a script as though my hand was being guided by another.

To say I was a little freaked out would be to understate my feeling by quite a considerable margin.

But I sat there for a while, looking at what I'd created and the short time that it had taken to do so. What could I say, this was completely alien to my normal creative pattern;  I'm normally quite quick with ideas, and character creation has never really caused me any problems, but this? This was something different.

After a while a spark came into my mind. Do you know what? I thought to myself 'just because its different, doesn't make it wrong, so why don't you just do it and see where it goes, y'know, go with the flow, stop trying to analyze it. Just accept it for what it is'.

Now I'm not here to say that I sent it out and a huge check came flying back with hundreds of little noughts on the end, and in truth its already been rejected once, but just as an experiment into the theory of 'the gut reaction', I'm letting you know about this little episode in my creative life and I will keep you updated as to its progress.

Below are the first three pages.

Enjoy my friends

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

My First Children's Book Project

Seeing as its World Book Day, today, I thought it would be a perfect time to announce that I've just started a children's book. A book that was initially meant as a Christmas present for my grandson, Ryan, but is now going to be a birthday present instead. But the other good news is that I'm so happy with it I'll be offering it up for sale through LuLu.com

Some of you may know that I've been limbering up for a big Kindle launch on my novels--- and I'll be talking more about that as the glorious day approaches--- but for today I'm just happy to announce that my first children's book---written and illustrated by myself---will be due for publication, and therefore purchase, around the middle of next month.

Its going to be called Ryan's Dinosaur Dreams and will, through 22 vibrant, action filled full colour illustrations, depict what Ryan dreams about while he sleeps at night.

Ryan, my grandson, is absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs; he has every toy, model, video and book you can imagine. At the age of two he could name at least twenty species (I kid you not, we would all be left open mouthed as these highly complicated Latin names came tripping off his tongue), but could also tell the subtle difference between an Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

So when it came to writing a book for him there could only be one subject: Dinosaurs.

I've added my first illustration as an exclusive to you, my loyal readers, and will whet your appetite over the next few weeks by posting a few more; then when its all complete and uploaded to LuLu, you will be the first to know!

Page 12 from Ryan's Dinosaur Dreams

I'm hoping for it to be a 24 page book, size 7 x 9 inches (landscape) and retailing at around £8.99, although the price could change.

So with a regular weekly updates of my ever popular webcomic, Brabbles & Boggitt, plus news of my new children's book, Ryan's Dinosaur Dreams, tutorials, humorous tales, the introduction of my Kindle novels--- and short stories projects--- plus all my usual posts about what I'm working on and developing, you'd be crazy to go anywhere else for your insights into the mind of an oddball cartoonist and writer.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the next mad cap installment of Brabbles & Boggitt in the Goldilocks Affair

Cheers

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

How to Draw Action in Cartoons

Over the years it has been said by many people, including my peers, that my style is either European or that it show a fluidity of movement.

I will gladly admit to the European influence; I grew up devouring Asterix the Gaul and Lucky Luke, both of which were, and still are, giants of the Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinee movement.

I'd grown bored and uninspired by most of the home-grown material in the UK; it looked tired and lacked the pizazz of all that was coming over from Europe at the time. The colour, the pace, the well rounded characters, the great story telling and the action.

And it is this last noun that most people use to describe my work: The action, and it is this that I'm going to devote my latest post to.

Now I know that cartoons are supposed to abound with action, but the sad truth is that generally speaking they aren't. This can be put down to space restrictions--- in the case of the daily newspaper strip---or  a basic lack of the understanding of movement, which is sadly the usual case.

When I first started copying Uderzo (the artist on Asterix the Gaul), I was inadvertently infusing into my work a lot of action. I was, admittedly, unaware of what I was doing, but as luck would have it, my formative years in the field of learning the craft of cartooning was spent at the metaphorical feet of the worlds greatest exponent of fluid cartoon action.

So today I am going to pass a little of that knowledge on to anyone who's interested.

Below I've given you two approaches to the same situation. In the first I have emulated what I see so much of in comics or cartoon strips: the over use of action lines. Now I've nothing against action lines but too many pictures are filled with these confusing little buggers; the are, to me, the 'apostrophe argument' of the cartoon world.

Action lines should only be used to show extreme action. Action like a rocket coming at you from the horizon, or a cannonball as it courses through the sky; in other words: an image that needs to define great speed and not, as is the usual case, to show someone running to catch a bus or train. What I do in these situations--- and I've illustrated my point on the right hand picture--- is to use the angle of the shadow of the character to denote movement by setting it a little behind him; this gives the impression of forward motion. Also, another good trick is to show flecks of dirt in the characters wake; this, once again, gives the impression that he has kicked up dust from the pounding of his feet. It's exactly the same effect but a lot less cluttered and in a time where space is of a premium to commissioning editors, and cartoons are shrinking all the time, it helps the cartoon look cleaner and less confusing for the reader, and it helps it look fluid.

Think of an image of someone hitting a table and you will probably visualise a fist slamming down with zig-zaggidy marks around it to denote impact. That's fine, but if you think again and think about how the action impacts on everything around it you will realise that when the fist connects with the table---making all those zig-zag lines--- you could also visualise a cup and saucer, or a tea-pot or a plate of food spinning into the air with its contents rising above the plate, and have the table bending from the act of what's just happened to it. The character himself, how would he be looking? He's hitting the table. Is it an act of anger or violence? Show that action, show the anger, not only in his face but his body and posture. What direction was the blow coming from prior to the impact? Show it with lines, after all this is a furious speed moment.

The first illustration shows impact, the second one shows impact and action. There is, you see, a difference.

This is only a basic tutorial and I could go on forever about how movement works in a cartoon, and I will come back to this most important of tools in the cartoonists box of tricks from time to time. But if you take one simple thing away with you today it should be this: When drawing action think about how that action impacts on the world around it. If your characters running down the street think: what time of the year is it? If its Autumn (or fall), show leaves being kicked up. Is it a wet day? Show puddles being splashed and dampen your characters hair down; maybe furrow the brow---just like you would while caught out in the rain. If its snowing, have your character bounding through the deep snow; no one can run through snow, you leap and bound. Remember, think about the action and your picture will show life and form and have a natural fluidity to it.

Okay, onto my next point. Lets say you've been asked to draw a character doing a sequence of actions. For example: going down the stairs like a slinky. The writer may have said do this over five or six panels. Ignore them. You can do it in one and make it look terrific.

This idea wasn't invented by me but it is a vastly under used trick in the field of sequential cartoon art.

Below I've laid out just such a situation: In this idea I had the wheels of the skate board turn into springs to aid the skater boy to leap objects. But in classic comic fashion, it goes wrong and the skateboard and its newly acquired springs, turn our hapless little chap into a human slinky. Now rather than show this over a series of pictures---like the writer would have me do---I animated it. I simply thought about how the character would move, which steps he would land on and where he would end up. All that was left for me to do was insert a hanging mid air illustration and the action is complete.

(This picture was scanned in half completed so you can get a rare view of how much, or little, work goes into my layouts and finished pictures.)

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial. Keep coming back and I will do more.

Next week I'll be showing you how I draw the main characters from my very popular weekly story, Brabbles & Boggitt which I publish every Friday here at Diary of a Cartoonist and Writer. I've received quite a few emails about this story and its characters and I've been asked how I make them look consistent through out, and more than a few of you have requested that I do a post on how to draw Brabbles & Boggitt. So next week I'll do just that in another tutorial.

...And don't forget to come back on Friday for the latest page of comic tom-foolery from the Brabbles & Boggitt tale.

See you all then.

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

Extra, Extra!

I was trawling through the local papers on-line again and found this great story about an eight year old boy who's applying for the vacant manager's job at the towns football club.

More excellent eccentricity from the great British public.

If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

A Big, Big Thankyou!

I'd like to start this post  by saying a very big, and a very humbling, thank you to everyone who read the Brabbles & Boggitt cartoon last week. I'd also like to thank those of you who linked the page through to their Facebook and Twitter accounts; also to those who shared the post once they'd seen it and a big thank you to everyone out there who discussed it so favourably on their blogs.

Singularly though, I'd like to thank Karen who is and always has been my rock. She has stood by and urged me on through thick and thin and never failed in her belief of me and my work. You are the greatest Karen and I feel blessed, not only to have known you, but to be lucky enough to be with you.

That said, and everyone thanked, I really couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Google analytic ratings for Brabbles & Boggitt; within two days it had become my second most popular post and the fastest growing one in this blogs history. You certainly seemed to have taken them to your hearts.

Also, I suppose this would be an ideal time to remind you that Brabbles & Boggitt's second page will be posted tomorrow around midday. Also I'd like to announce that from week three (January 4th 2013) I will be giving the story its own archive page--- on the menu bar up above--- so you can simply hit the link to re read or catch up on what they've been up to.

Finally I'd like to bring to your attention the very talented Steve Beckett who has offered to run Brabbles & Boggitt on his blog, or more to the point, on the comics section of his blog.

Steve runs a very entertaining site called Steve Becket Design which he uses, as I do, to show case his thoughts and ideas; its well worth the trip just to see what this top comics artist and illustrator is about.

But the other point---the one about Brabbles & Boggitt---is that on his blog he runs an online children's comic called Crumbs Comic and it is there that he'll also be showcasing our little oddball twosome.

Also, cartoonist Lew Stringer, who's site can be found here, has been very kind by running a write up on our very own Brabbles & Boggitt, thanks Lew, you are very kind. Besides running himself ragged, producing top notch material for comics like the Beano, Viz, Toxic and many many more, Lew also runs a very informative and excellently written fan blog for the comics officianardo; which is well worth a look.

Well that's me catching up on the weeks comings and goings, all that's left to say is: Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the next weekly installment of Brabbles & Boggitt.

See you then.


If you like my blog and the things that I say and do, please tell your friends; mention me on Facebook, Twitter and any of the other fine social media networking sites you use. I would love to have my work reach a much larger audience and although I could no doubt eventually get there under my own steam, I'll get there a lot quicker with your help, so please, please spread the word.

Thank you

Another update

Just to let you know, I've posted a few more pieces of art to my Deviant Art page, but just in case you can't be bothered to go and visit it, I've made it easy and put them on the Portfolio page to.

Also as my 50th birthday rapidly approaches--- Jan 7th for all those who need to know---I still have plans to launch a new webcomic. Its not a definite, as my previous post will amply explain, but I've still not given up on the idea.

The probable reason why I want to pursue this project with such vigor is A: I've always wanted to produce my own comic strip as its been a dream of mine since about the age of seven and B: I'd like to mark my half centuary with something other than too much alcohol. And also for every birthday, from this point on, to be a double celebration.

The cartoon strip will be called 'Tales from 'Toonsville' (sample above) and is based largely on my observations on life. I will have regular characters that pop up from time to time; characters like: Granny Apple, the long suffering octogenarian, Bib, L'Enfant terrible, Damien, the archetypal child of Satan and bane of all those who come into contact with him and his ideas, Chairman Meow, the worlds unluckiest black cat, plus spoof send ups of all the latest movies, books, fads fashions and things old and ancient.

Brabbles

Boggitt

Also, as from this Friday 14th and every Friday afterwards, I will be running an entire graphic novel--- that I wrote and illustrated---  page by page, week by week. The story is from my Brabbles and Boggitt graphic novel. It's about two little misfits I created for the European market and sold  through my Dutch publisher--- primarily for children--- but which adults also enjoyed. 

The stories are set loosely around well known fairy tales but were given a modern day twist. For example, The little old lady who lived in a shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do, became a big brother type story that had the subjects of the Land of Once Upon a Time voting the children out, one by one.

But this first tale is based loosely on Goldilocks and the three bears; more of which I will not say, I'll just let you enjoy. So come back Friday for the first installment; I'm looking forward to seeing you then!

Well that's that for now. Hope to see lots of you coming back and please, please, if you like what I do, tell your friends about it, post my articles on your Facebook, Twitter and Stumbleupon pages, plus any other sites you are a member of. 

The more people see what I do, the happier I will be and the happier I am, the more tutorials, crazy stories, free cartoons and oddball stuff I'll post here on my Diary of a cartoonist.

Cheers for now.

Trick or Treat

It's Hallowe'en folks and I've carved this pumpkin for you out of pen and ink... Am I good to you all or what.

My day has been a nightmare of local government form filling, and during the process of trawling through this linguistical quagmire, I came across a question which surpassed even the levels of mind blowing banality normally accredited to your average local government worker. On the form I had to answer a variety of questions like: if I was claiming for this or that, had I any properties abroad, did I have off shore accounts, was I a carer for an elderly person; what country did I live in (they sent me the form so I'm assuming someone wrote an address and licked a stamp), but the question that made me stop and stare with in open eyed incredulity; and with it take the award for the most obscure question on a questionnaire was this:
Do I now, or ave I ever suffered from CJD (Creuts Jakob Disease) and have I received a payment for it.

I mean, what has that got to do with housing? And at what point in their meeting on 'what to put on the form' did someone pipe up and say 'Oo, oo!! Better put the Creuts Jakob question in there.'
And all the other boneheads at County Council HQ actually agreed; not once did anyone say 'What the f**k are you jabbering on about.

So I put down 'no but I've known a few mad cows in my time' and left it at that.

My other reason for this post is to give you a viewing of the only other piece of art (besides the one that adorns the top of this post), that is remotely 'Hallowe'eny'. I did it a long time ago for the Dandy; it has Frankenstein, a monster, lightening and an evil genius...what more could you possibly want for Hallowe'en.

Have a good night, stock up on the sweeties and don't get into any conversations with overly hairy things.

By the way, if you are in need of books, DVD's, games, electrical goods and you're going to use Amazon to buy them, please click onto it through my site on the banner advert to your right; for every person that does I get a payment from Amazon, and if you order from that click then I get a commission on what you buy. It doesn't cost you a single penny extra but it does help fund this blog, enabling me to carry on giving you free cartoon advice and stories.

Please remember, every click you make helps me entertain you! Thank you

Colouring an editorial cartoon in Photoshop

If we go way back, and by way back I mean waaaaaay back, some of the more persistent members of my little coterie will remember that I published a post called how to draw an editorial cartoon and I seem to remember making some vague threat that I'd be posting another tutorial---probably the next week if I'm true to form---about how I colour it using Photoshop.

Well, the good news is, boys and girls, that week has finally arrived; I have completed it and here it is. Well, to be honest with you, I completed it a while ago; on the day I drew the cartoon to be absolutely accurate; but its taken me until now to find it---due to the fact that there's an awful lot of work on my hard drive and I can never remember what I name these damned things and so generally loose them to the ether within seconds of saving them. So in the grand tradition of all things of this nature, I found it yesterday while looking for something completely different...which, for the record, I didn't find.

Anyhoo, that's enough about me and my lackadaisical attitude to tidiness and tardiness. Lets get onto it shall we; lets get onto the second post, the one in which I show you my process in colouring an editorial cartoon in Photoshop.

1: First off I scan the cartoon into Photoshop, selecting Black and white and 300 dpi as its resolution. Once I've  previewed it I use the marque tool (the bounding box of broken lines that surrounds it), then I click scan.

2: Once the cartoon appears, I select the eraser tool (see highlighted) and start removing all the black dots and imperfections; making very sure that I don't rub out anything important to the finished cartoon.

3: Once the cartoon has been cleaned up its time to create layers. So first off I go to images+mode+greyscale. Then go through the same process again images+mode but this time select CMYK. (if the cartoon is purely for the net you can chose RGB---more about that later). 


Once you've completed that click on the 'new layer' tab (highlighted) and in the box that says 'Normal' change it to Multiply.

4: Next choose the'pencil' tool, select '1' as the ratio, and connect the broken lines. I do this because when I apply the 'paint bucket' tool, and if there are any gaps, the colour will flood out all over your mini masterpiece.

6: Now start filling in the picture with colours of your choice.

If you only want solid colours then your picture will soon be complete, but if, like me, you like to give your images a little more substance, then in the next part we see how I personally build up the colour layers with just a mouse and no tablet

7: First off select the colour you want to shade. In this case I chose the flesh tint. Once you've clicked on it with the 'magic wand tool' then un-tick the 'contiguous' box on the bar above. This will ensure that Photoshop now only recognises the areas that have flesh colour in it (or what ever colour you chose); in other words, if you accidentally went over the edge of the flesh area, the pen or air-brush tool wouldn't make a mess of any neighbouring colours.

7: If you don't want the dotted lines running around the perimeters of your selected colour, select Ctrl+H and they will stay hidden.

Now chose which direction the light is coming from and with the 'Pencil Tool' define the delineation  lines. Once that's done to all the areas of the colour you've selected, hit the shaded side of the lines with the 'Paint-Bucket' tool.

Once completed you must press Ctrl+D to make sure the 'Magic-Wand' tool has been deselected before moving onto your next colour.
Follow this process on until your cartoon is complete.

8: And that is pretty much it. The cartoon has been coloured, save it as a JPeg for the newspapers or what ever format is required, and name it. (that's when things normally go pear shaped and I lose the whole file)

On another note. If you wish to put your work up on the net and you upload it in CMYK, all the colours will look garish and horrible. So to avoid this happening you will have to re-save it as an RGB. That way when you put your masterpiece up on your Facebook or Twitter or any other social media site you have, it will look to others the way you intended it to look.

To make this happen, simply retrieve your CMYK cartoon from your documents then go to: Image+Mode+RGB---once this is done  re-save the cartoon. I normally do it by simply adding 'RGB' to the end of whatever it was originally called. And that's it. Your cartoon is now saved for print and the web.

Phew, well there you have it; how I paint a cartoon in Photoshop. If I have the time, the inclination or I can be bothered, I'll be doing a few more of these to show you how more complicated work is rendered.

Until then; happy double clicking and I'll see you all soon.

Cheers

Karl

By the way, if you are in need of books, DVD's, games, electrical goods and you're going to use Amazon to buy them, please click onto it through my site on the banner advert to your right; for every person that does I get a payment from Amazon, and if you order from that click then I get a commission on what you buy. It doesn't cost you a single penny extra but it does help fund this blog, enabling me to carry on giving you free cartoon advice and stories.

Please remember, every click you make helps me entertain you! Thank you

This months specialist strips

Once again I can happily post the two  strips I do for specialist magazines or Hobby Magazines as I think they are now called