Where's The Beat? Part 3

Here's Part 3 of the Mediocre Narcotica origin story "Where's the Beat?" If you just tuned in, be sure to catch up with 

PART ONE

and

PART TWO.

Thanks for tuning in to Bibliowhining! In the next and final installment, Mediocre Narcotica will fast forward 30 years to 2012, where they will witness some of their aging punk heroes on stage. Will it be disillusioning or as inspirational as it was in the 80s? Join us next time to find out.

Where's the Beat? Part 2

Northstar, Kevin Keller, the upcoming mystery DC character -- the comic stance on diversity is evolving, and it's high time for one of my core characters to suddenly announce his membership in a minority group. Read on to see who it is, but if you haven't already,

READ PART ONE OF "WHERE'S THE BEAT?"

"Where's the Beat" Part 2. (c) 2012, Chrissy Spallone 

Will Hikiko convert Sam and Marcy to his straight edge lifestyle? Will the group converge to form a classic hardcore band? Tune in next time for the thrilling continuation of "Where's the Beat?"

READ PART 3 OF "WHERE'S THE BEAT?"

Where's the Beat? Part 1

Here's part 1 of "Where's the Beat," the origin story of straightedge hardcore band Mediocre Narcotica. If you're not familiar with that band, read about them in past blog entries or buy this inexpensive comic book. The book is in black and white, so it can double as a coloring book! You can color the Internet comics, too, if you aren't worried about ruining your monitor.

 

"Where's the Beat" Part 1. (c) 2012, Chrissy Spallone

This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

READ PART 2 HERE!

PRINTED COMICS ARE HERE!

In this digital age where nearly every song, movie and comic is freely available, we sometimes forget the art of the album. The way the artist carefully organizes her tracks to make the whole album flow together so cohesively. The way the cover art complements the music -- especially on an LP. Remember looking at those old record sleeves for hours, taking it all in? Wasn't it nice to hold a solid object in your hand? Wasn't it a breath of fresh air, knowing that solid object would always be there for you, would never disappear due to some computer crash or the malfunctioning of a device designed to become obsolete in a year, a month?

Sure you can read my comics on here, for free, but why not buy the printed version? Pass it to your friends, turn a flashlight on and read it under the bedsheets after hours -- free yourself from reading things on the horrible Internet, where Facebook and email and unfinished homework hover on the next tab, distracting you and robbing you of your childlike peace of mind.

MEDIOCRE NARCOTICA'S GREATEST HITS VOL. 1 -- $3.99 - CHEAP!

14 pages in glorious black and white with color covers, no ads. Includes Mediocre Narcotica comics created from 2010 through 2011 and funny fake advertisements. Professionally printed and bound. 8.5 by 11 inches.

Lots of fun text to read and detailed, old-school pen-and-ink drawings to pick apart. I know you'll enjoy it, and it costs less than a fancy coffee drink!

Shipping is free. Contact me to order your copy or copies today! My Paypal address is the same as my contact email, so if you prefer, you can simply send payment via Paypal with a note about what you want to buy. Minimal human interaction required!

Dr. Rip Me Off

"Dr Rip Me Off" (c) 2011, Chrissy Spallone

The song title entries were fun, but for organization purposes I'm gonna start naming my entries more obviously. Of course, "Dr. Rip Me Off" is technically a song now. Pretty meta, huh? Is that the right way to use that word?

I'm A One Man Guy

Bibliowhining celebrates the end of the Comics Code Authority.

Not to thumb my nose at standards, however; for example, Family Guy Sucks.

"Family Guy Get Off the Air" (c) 2011, Chrissy Spallone

American Dad sucks, too. And Cleveland Brown sucks as well.

Puttin' the dogg in doggerel, Chrissy Spallone.

Here's to the Atom Bomb

"2012 Skidoo" (c) 2011 Chrissy Spallone

It's good to be back! Those of you who "follow" me on the face may have noticed my complaints about Strathmore's new school of Bristol board. I ran out of my old batch a year or so ago, and when I restocked I noticed that inking on Strathmore board had a similar effect as inking on a roll of toilet paper. The Bristol board quite literally sucked!! -- My ink feathered and was absorbed until my once-dense black India ink faded to a dull light gray tone. To make it darker, I had to trace over some of my lines which as you might expect didn't look too pretty.

It still wasn't black, though. I was able to correct this problem somewhat by scanning my comics in, then tweaking the contrast and curves in Photoshop. Still, I was less than thrilled with the finished product, annoyed, and thought I was going crazy. I've since learned that Strathmore Bristol board now comes in "series." The 300-series board sold as the only option in many art supply stores is of horrible quality, but the two-ply 400-series I recently discovered works MUCH better for my needs as you can see.

My old PC, which had Photoshop on it, crashed, leaving me Photoshop-less. I scanned the above comic into my new MacBook with whatever scanning program comes with the computer, and what you see is an untweaked original! It's pretty good even without my usual adjustments, I think. Compared to my other stuff, I mean.

Hold up, let me get a little more excited about this, because this is truly a milestone...

I SCANNED A BLACK AND WHITE COMIC AND IT DIDN'T TURN OUT LOOKING LIKE CRAP!!! WAHOO!!!

I mean, if anyone would like to hook me up with Photoshop, though, I'd surely appreciate it. I like playing with it from time to time.

Bang-Shang-A-Lang

"Ram-Bam-A-Lam" (c) 2010, Chrissy Spallone

Want more Mediocre Narcotica? Read all their songs by clicking on the "Mediocre Narcotica" label in the side navigation panel.

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.