Weekend Roundup – Cartoonists Talking
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Jim Keefe, Jason Chatfield, Bob Eckstein, Michael Maslin, Darrin Bell, RL Crabb, Richard Marschall, Kyle Bravo, and Wayno.
Keefe improvises
Sally Forth artist Jim Keefe discusses that unusual and inventive middle panel in today’s comic strip.
A quick look behind the scenes of the Sally Forth September 15th Sunday page.
Francesco’s script for the 3rd panel had the following description.
3. Panel Cut into Four Boxes.
TOP LEFT BOX: Ted showering.
TOP RIGHT BOX: Ted in bathroom shaving.
BOTTOM LEFT BOX: Ted putting on his tie.
BOTTOM RIGHT BOX: Ted sitting at kitchen table, dressed for work, eating cereal while he holds and reads the back of the cereal box.
I was kind of worried about the imagery for each box ending up being really small, so I went another route…
Chatfield packs up his old kit bag
I travel a lot, which I’m lucky to do. I like getting out of the studio and spending time in places I’ve never been, drawing things I’ve never seen, and giving my back exciting new pains from heaving luggage with bad posture.
I’ve subscribed to the “Bring only what you need and nothing else” philosophy for the longest time; it’s a low-stress, minimalist approach to working on the road. But then I discovered so many shiny new tools on GouletPens, JetPens, Blick, and other drawing-addiction superhighways that now I can’t leave home without a ‘kit’.
This brings me to this week’s topic: My Road Kit. (2024)
Jason Chatfield tells us what he as a cartoonist needs to take while traveling.
We sadly missed Bob’s talk
MIchael Maslin reported in plenty of time about Bob Eckstein‘s talk at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival that happened two days ago, but we, being on the other side of the continent missed it; and there doesn’t seem to be any online audio/visual of the event.
But bob doesn’t supply us with some lovely drawing of the weekend.
In that same Wednesday Spill Michael posted some photos of cartoonists’ studios (with directions to more).
Cartoonists Show Their Studios
If you scrolled through Instagram yesterday you might have run into a number of photos showing studios or work spaces used by some of my colleagues.
I’m sorry, that middle one is Bruce Russell from 1941. Times have changed.
Darrin Bell adapts
When Nick Long imagines a room—a classroom, for example—he doesn’t just see it. He hears it, and feels it. “What do the chairs look like?” he asks. “What does the rug feel like as they’re walking? What does that feel like, [when you’re] a kid and your shoes are heavy?”
Those are examples of the questions Long asked himself when designing the sound for the audiobook adaptation of The Talk, the acclaimed graphic memoir by Darrin Bell (and one of PW’s top 10 books of 2023). The author, who narrated the audiobook himself, appreciated the attention to detail.
“I feel like I’m there,” said Bell about listening to the finished production. “I feel like I’m back in 1981 and I’m a kid again, and I hope that listeners have the same experience.”
Jay Gabler at Publishers Weekly talks to creator Darrin Bell about adapting his graphic novel into an audio book.
RL Crabb blogs
It does Northern California hearts good to see RL Crabb has returned after a heath issue has been cleared.
Yesterday’s Papers is also back
Richard Marschall has taken up the stewardship of Yesterday’s Papers after John Adcock‘s untimely passing. Richard seems to be keeping a weekly schedule of posting beginning with a tribute to John.
Kyle Bravo on good cartoon captions
My Comics students and I are about to dive into gag cartoons. In the past I have just jumped straight in to having them brainstorm and draw cartoon ideas. I’ve used various approaches, one inspired by Ivan Brunetti, another inspired by Emily Flake. But this year I decided to back it up a bit. While my students can often come up with decent cartoon ideas, I have found that their caption writing can be lacking. After reading Larry Wood’s book, Your Caption Has Been Selected, I realized that I need to help them dig into understanding what makes a good caption first before we even start thinking about creating their own cartoons.
New Yorker cartoonist Kyle Bravo on writing cartoon captions, so, naturally we feature a captionless cartoon.
Double Vision – Wayno’s original vision for a Bizarro panel
My initial sketch for Thursday’s parrot gag was a two-panel approach. I like to mix it up with different layouts, but the single-panel version was less wordy and more effective.
Wayno‘s weekly newsletter supplements his weekly blog entry. This week his newsletter features the original concept of a gag, while the end published result can be seen on Wayno’s blog. And, of course, much more on both.
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