ABC

I knew you'd be back for more Mediocre Narcotica! They are addictive, and I just got a vertical labret piercing in honor of that punk rock spirit. Weird stuff in the air, man, weird stuff. Weird emotions, weird urges...Is it senioritis? Currently, I've been working on an illustration project that I'm pretty excited about -- it's my first collaboration with an author, and my first opportunity to draw for a nationally distributed literary journal. More details on that later. Last week, anticipating that I'd be busy with the illustrations, but would need some material to update this blog, I documented my cartooning process with my low-quality camera phone. I know those camera phone pictures aren't so great, but when I was just starting to draw comics, I would have appreciated a quick-and-dirty guide like this, and also a list of materials.

When reading this guide, please keep in mind that I have no formal training in cartooning -- as I might have said in earlier posts, my skills come from the slow accumulation of knowledge from various sources -- comics, cartoonist interviews, looking at original artwork, bugging industry pros during my internship, brief tips from rejection letters, trial-and-error, and, yes, even How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.Check out my process under the cut.



Here are all the materials I use in comic making:

Strathmore brand smooth bristol board: In Dan Clowes' Art School Confidential, students went to an art school called Strathmore. I like smooth bristol board -- the vellum kind is too rough for wet mediums like ink. At the SU bookstore, I saw a pad of vellum bristol board being advertised as ideal for "sequential storyboard artists" or some similarly pretentious, cumbersome replacement for the word "cartoonist". However, when I used vellum in the past, the ink from my pens bled all over the place. This is why I switched to smooth.

Higgins India Ink: I prefer India Ink for its density and flow...it has more blackness than their "eternal" ink, which I tried out recently, disappointed.

Pelikan brand China White: Apply with a brush for corrections -- you'll never use the evil Wite Out again.

India Ink filled pens of varying widths: Make sure the pens are filled with India Ink, not "India quality ink" which is not as dense, fades, and turns purple when used over correction fluid.

Watercolor brushes

A ruler

Ames lettering guide

#2 Mechanical Pencil: A lighter lead is probably better, but this is what I could find that day.

Hunts Ink Pens: For dipping into Higgins India Ink. Only dip the tips, not the whole darn pen. If you dip the whole darn pen, it will cake up and you won't be able to easily remove dull nibs from the holders and replace them with new nibs.

Not pictured: A big eraser, preferably gum.



The first thing I do is draw the panels, using a ruler and pencil. Notice that I have some other comics in the background to aid me in my cartooning process. I have some Archie comics, which in this case I'm using to get some ideas for concert scene compositions and poses, as well as how to draw instruments. I have a pretty good comics library, and I use it in lieu of Google images or other sources when I need a quick idea for how to draw something.

I also have an older Mediocre Narcotica strip handy, to remind me where tattoos are placed, etc., for continuity purposes. Otherwise, some dorky 14-year-old fangirl might mercilessly list all my minor errors on a cartoon facts website.


And now for the hardest part, penciling everything in. It's best not to press too hard with the pencil. I have trouble disciplining myself to do that sometimes, so I use Photoshop to erase the pencil lines that an eraser can't get.


Next I ink the lettering, using the regular, non-dip pens for better control.


Bonus shot: Cartooning by candlelight! It's getting dark here earlier in Syracuse, and my apartment is so dim that sometimes I have to light candles to have enough light to draw.


I block in big areas with ink first, using watercolor brushes for the biggest areas and dip pens for areas of intermediate inkiness. Tea time! It's best to wait awhile for all the ink to dry before going on to the next step. If you're wondering what that rag is for, I cut up a washcloth into little rags which I use to wipe off ink from dip pens. I don't wash them off in cups of water like I do with the brushes.

For smaller details, I complete the inking process with the regular pens. After waiting for everything to dry for a couple hours, I erase my original pencilings.

If I screw up in any of the ink-involving steps, China White comes to the rescue. Several applications are often necessary to completely cover the dense black ink. I let it dry between applications.



If any cartoonists out there want to correct my naive mistakes or add their tips, feel free; I'd love to learn more.

Alright, my friends, I hope you got your fix! Next week I get another year older and will hopefully have those illustrations ready to show you!

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that today's entry consists of more Mediocre Narcotica comics! My fellow seniors and I have upcoming job interviews on the brain... let's see how our favorite fake punk band front man handles the situation:

"Job Interview" featuring Mediocre Narcotica, art and lyrics (c) 2010 Chrissy Spallone

And for our second comic, since some of the kids get frustrated with my emotional impenetrability, here's a comic about an issue that I actually have a genuine opinion about:

"Beat Your Meat" featuring Mediocre Narcotica, art and lyrics (c) 2010 Chrissy Spallone

Have a nice weekend everybody!

Rock With You

When last we met, I alluded that this entry would be ripe with doom and gloom.

Unfortunately, the local flora and fauna haven't been doing what I would prefer for them to be doing. Luckily, to fill the void, a few punk rock songs spontaneously generated in my mind, as they do. You see, I've been kind of lonely since coming back to Syracuse -- the Bible study groups haven't started up yet, and most of my classes are online, so I haven't seen the gang much. I enjoy being one of the guys, but I can't pretend that I'm in the IM program forever! There are some library science classes such as cataloging that, while not part of the core, are nevertheless important to my career plans, and the reality is that several of these classes are only available online.

Happily, I have a little punk rock band inside my head that plays original songs sometimes for me when I feel all alone. I've named my personal band Mediocre Narcotica. Also, I'm going to take a shot at the zen art of comic strips, as a more limiting alternative to full page or multi-page stories. The first comics of the New Year!

This band will now play a short set list for you. If you enjoy it, there will be more to come -- try to imagine the instrumentals as you read the lyrics.

"Revenge of the Nerds" featuring Mediocre Narcotica, art and lyrics (c) 2010 Chrissy Spallone

"You're Losing Your Edge" featuring Mediocre Narcotica, art and lyrics (c) Chrissy Spallone, 2010

One of my art teachers said my cartoons were like a perversion of the Archie Comics universe. I guess this is my answer to Josie and the Pussycats. What the heck, it's my senior year, guys! I think I deserve to amuse myself with a silly, fake, tongue-in-cheek punk band.

Dancin' Machine

Sorry for the entry-lack, loyal readers, but I spent the holiday season at my parent's house, and they have a cable package which includes 24-hour music video channels.

If that weren't enough of a distraction, we have a new dog now! Meet Diogi, a 2-year-old mutt we got at the animal shelter. He's part Bichon Frise, but the rest of his...cultural heritage remains a mystery. He looks like he might be sort of Asian, and maybe part schnauzer, too.

To warm you up on these cold winter nights, a bunch of snowy action scenes featuring Diogi can be found under the cut. There would be more of them if I hadn't run out of white paint.

Photography and drawing are two different mediums, each with their advantages and disadvantages. There are many who paint portraits by copying a photograph of their subject, but I always prefer drawing from life; copying directly from a photo sometimes yields a stiff and or corny and or soulless and artificial drawing. Plus, I learn little from the experience. But our new dog is so fast, it's impossible to draw gestures so quickly. So in this sort of case, using photography or freeze-frames from films can be helpful in capturing some of the poses. Rather than just duplicate the scene captured, however, I just make use of the gestures, colors, direction of light, and other useful information and incorporate it into a more spontaneous drawing with a simpler and/or more attractive composition.

Are these pastel puppy pics too cloying? Well, with the change in weather, I have sucked plenty of inspiration from the withered, frostbitten teat of mother nature. So for the other half of my readership, the dark side returns next week. If all goes well, that is. It will be so dark and gloomy...I'm really going to outdo myself this time. Look forward to it, spooky kids.

Dangerous

Improper cataloging can be dangerous ;)

For this Bibliowhining article, I'm going back to my humble beginnings as a librarian blogger to share my experiences with cataloging comic books -- specifically, comics of the serialized magazine-type variety. I originally wrote this guide for a couple of my friends and colleagues in IST 616: Organization and Access, but I hope it will be helpful to other librarians and library workers. It's not a complete tutorial on cataloging comic books, but it deals with one of the most common problems: how to determine the title of the work.

Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 will bring more dialogue between librarians and comic book industry professionals so that future generations will be able to find that special issue with the utmost ease.

Let the lessons begin after the cut.

How to Find the Title of a Comic Book
By Chrissy Spallone, MSLIS Candidate, Syracuse University
Graduate Assistant, Cataloging Dept., Bird Library

Recently, someone at Archie comics came up with the brilliant marketing plan to have Archie choose between Betty and Veronica.

(spoiler alert!)




But what is the title of this particular comic book? Is this issue part of the “Archie” series, or is it a separate miniseries titled “Archie Marries Veronica” or “Archie Marries Veronica: “The Proposal””?

Here’s the title page, which is what is usually referred to when cataloging books:



The title is the same as on the front cover. Also, the issue number is not present, only the information indicating that this is part 1 of this particular story. The issue # on the front cover is #600, but if we were to catalog this the way we catalog a regular book, it would be separated from the rest of the comic books under the “Archie” title. Plus, it might be filed physically somewhere after “Archie and Friends” and before “Archie Meets the Punisher,” two “spin off” titles separate from “Archie”.

But let’s look at the indicia, located on the opposite page from the inside back cover (click to enlarge):



The indicia never lies: here we can see that this comic book is under the “Archie” title. It’s “Archie” #600. On the front cover and title page, liberties are often taken for artistic or promotional reasons. But the indicia in the back almost always has a typed-out, dry listing of the official information. Catalogers should look at this when making decisions about titles, etc.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this information with your favorite librarian.

By the way, "In The Back" would have been so much more appropriate for this entry title.