How I work
A lot of people have asked me to write about what goes into producing the strips. So I’m finally getting around to it. I took some photos of the process awhile back but just got delayed putting them up. I’ll break it up into a couple posts, starting with this one.
Ideas
Well, as most of you know, many of the ideas for the strips come from Sophie. After that it’s just a matter of watching the characters in my head and jotting down bits and pieces of what I see. I always carry the small Moleskine notebooks with me, specifically the storyboard books. These are pre-lined with little boxes that work perfectly for strip ideas. I also like to use a slightly larger sketchbook too, just for a bit more room.
This is a page from my larger sketchbook.
I like to be way ahead with the writing of the strip. This keeps me ahead of my deadlines, but also gives me some distance between the initial strip idea and when I start drawing it. That’s when I get a fresh look at the strip and usually make a few edits or change some of the dialog. In some cases I just have an image and the copy changes several times.
The next post will be on the tools of the trade.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
As an aspiring cartoonist, I’ll be looking forword to these posts. Thanks.
January 30th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Feel free to ask any questions. I’m always curious what types of pens and stuff other cartoonists use.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Thanks a lot for keeping your word! I am really looking forward to these posts.
January 31st, 2007 at 12:46 am
I am curious on how big the originals are, for dailies and Sundays.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:40 am
At last! A peek into the head of a mad genius!
February 1st, 2007 at 7:41 am
Charles, everyone knows that size doesn’t matter! It’s what you DO with it.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Really looking forward to the posts too. Thanks so much for sharing.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:37 pm
I’ve heard comic artists say that they write down 10 or 15 ideas and then just pick the best one. I personally come up with 1 idea and then play with it until it works. I’m interested to know how you do it, Brian!
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:31 am
It’s a little bit of both. I just doodle the characters a lot and usually ideas start forming from the doodles or ideas I’m thinking of while doodling. Then, once I have a few ideas for strips, I re-work those till I’m happy with them.
February 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Thank you so much Brian! It means a lot that you would share such a personal process with us! Can’t wait for more!!
February 7th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Thanks for sharing a peak at the behind the scenes. I look forward to more insight! Looks like you’re doing well on the MSN poll…