tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54693572024-03-16T12:52:34.629-06:00awcomixcomic art shop talkAnthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.comBlogger341125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-11131876795163969152024-03-05T23:31:00.001-06:002024-03-05T23:31:34.209-06:00The Cosmic Gutter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxgSx3tPOMv1EwY2tZoqbUWJ6kSzUDprB1RyLF6NKVutIpdh0pHr-vElADK_PEweFzMmFI3VJMMTQKHfPIFaw1mlCE4lwwh5YHZ8TedFtUHGRRlYY_dcIRrhl0qten2ylLL9_jtJ7GIsPltAxAijULwb3AvUyi6gjoaxjBq7y50bT7lJ_3wxe/s3307/Untitled_Artwork.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3307" data-original-width="3307" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxgSx3tPOMv1EwY2tZoqbUWJ6kSzUDprB1RyLF6NKVutIpdh0pHr-vElADK_PEweFzMmFI3VJMMTQKHfPIFaw1mlCE4lwwh5YHZ8TedFtUHGRRlYY_dcIRrhl0qten2ylLL9_jtJ7GIsPltAxAijULwb3AvUyi6gjoaxjBq7y50bT7lJ_3wxe/w640-h640/Untitled_Artwork.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The <a href="https://thecosmicgutter.substack.com/" target="_blank">Cosmic Gutter</a> is a free monthly dispatch of a new comic or drawing on UFOs. I've been into reading about UFOs ever since I picked up <b>Timothy Good's</b> book <i>Need to Know</i> over 17 years ago.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>With the recent New York Times article and whistleblowers like David Grusch coming out, I'm more interested in the topic than ever. It's a natural fit that I'd want to make comics about the phenomenon.</b></p><p>But if I'm going to delve into making UFO comics, then I want the audience to fully immerse themselves in what I'm making and not be hidden by an algorithm in an app.</p><p>This newsletter will be a standalone thing. I will be making it to deliver something interesting and worthwhile directly into your inbox. If something else comes of that, great, but my focus is to create content from real stories and news articles on the phenomenon once a month.</p><p><b>I’m not making it to promote something else or to get you to click on a link.</b></p><p>The newsletter will be simple. Avoiding large walls of text and multiple links. Instead, focus on having more comics and art than typed words. I intend for th email to be free to read with the option to support the publication with a monthly donation. The first email will be sent out on the 12th of March 2024 and monthly thereafter.</p><p><b>I hope you will join me!</b></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://thecosmicgutter.substack.com/embed" style="background: white; border: 1px solid #EEE;" width="480"></iframe>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-32420379682895580162023-12-07T22:45:00.004-06:002023-12-31T15:06:29.021-06:00Christmas Card 2023<p>My brand new Christmas card for 2023 is here!</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XyXpgNwAYQA?si=1nagv2IMeqQdSbvM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Here's my </span><a href="https://www.pinterest.ca/awcomix/xmas-cards/" style="text-align: left;">Pinterest board</a><span style="text-align: left;"> where I collected some inspiration.</span></div><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-26910775054616584312023-12-01T12:42:00.009-06:002023-12-31T15:04:50.773-06:00Christmas Card redirect<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHkJsHCCrIQA1BBW8SI1XXfBM1AQLiw8vESq8DLOxJTKkm8MfUP88SlsbyDKp-urcTcMD_FIZhxFuD_TbTG4mY9g1Gg5ZQapJbKF2BOYSJfsnPT6GVkPrWTzBu7SWjaLX1Z2Kz66-fptGLz8B1ktppT4UiZ9sUefqiyjwCLtZ543lLogN5Jvz/s4200/Untitled_Artwork%202.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4200" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHkJsHCCrIQA1BBW8SI1XXfBM1AQLiw8vESq8DLOxJTKkm8MfUP88SlsbyDKp-urcTcMD_FIZhxFuD_TbTG4mY9g1Gg5ZQapJbKF2BOYSJfsnPT6GVkPrWTzBu7SWjaLX1Z2Kz66-fptGLz8B1ktppT4UiZ9sUefqiyjwCLtZ543lLogN5Jvz/s320/Untitled_Artwork%202.tiff" width="229" /></a></div><br />This page is now <a href="https://www.awcomix.com/2023/12/christmas2023.html">located here</a>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-43039482224848865422023-11-22T00:00:00.005-06:002023-11-22T00:00:00.162-06:00Procreate Dreams Review<p style="text-align: left;">This is a review for the Savage app Procreate Dreams. Dreams is a brand-new animation app from the makers of the popular drawing app Procreate. Released on 2014, Procreate has since become the number one digital drawing app of choice. For this reason the announcement of their new animation app Dreams came with much excitement.</p><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7Xm02dFZ2wJRkxSFP-7zTRI1PIIUqK6XmO_2ZhinRc0PNTNoT1hnEyDfYRa_ABIUx1OO1UMR4CdG_JyvIyZRvvRlE9_Wahxqpy8gjKX-8UmWMQ4XxmI86x76FrhjE-EN8BqnQWSaoD7dUVK0PQRBWRtIMktB3fj7NVjlZJUdZ64H0fE3Unfm1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7Xm02dFZ2wJRkxSFP-7zTRI1PIIUqK6XmO_2ZhinRc0PNTNoT1hnEyDfYRa_ABIUx1OO1UMR4CdG_JyvIyZRvvRlE9_Wahxqpy8gjKX-8UmWMQ4XxmI86x76FrhjE-EN8BqnQWSaoD7dUVK0PQRBWRtIMktB3fj7NVjlZJUdZ64H0fE3Unfm1=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">First Impressions</h3><p>When you first open Deams you are going to notice some similarities with Procreate. Although in Dreams things were a little more streamlined and more features where just a swipe, tap, long press or gesture away. For the first couple of sessions with the app I had a challenging time finding some features. Although, after persisting and experimenting I found the things I was looking for.</p><p>In the hopes that I can save you some time, here are some handy tips for a few hidden features</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b>File information</b>: With the canvas open, tap the name of the file on the middle left of the screen.</li><li><b>Move anchor</b>: Enter move/scale mode, tap on the three dots next to the top right of the bounding box. Edit anchor. Move the small grey arow to where you want to pivot the image from. For example, an anchor for an arm would be in the middle of the shoulder. Click done.</li><li><b>Rotate image</b>: Tap one the red circles around the edge of the bounding box, a white-grey curved line will appear. Drag this curved line to rotate the image. </li><li><b>Set easing</b>: expand transform long press on one of controls, I.E, 'x' or 'y'. Set easing. There are a number of options.</li><li><b>Flip book mode</b>: Select the track you want to use, select the draw tool, press and swipe down on the line the diveds the stage and timeline. There's a small line to mark the area. The timeline collapses and the flipbook is revealed.</li></ol><p></p><p>My first impressions are favourable, and the app is easy to understand and has a clean interface. Like any new piece of software, you will initially do a bit of head scratching to try and figure out where certain options are. I’ve been using procreate for around 4 years and I have grown so familiar with it I have forgotten what it was like to not know where everything is. But like most new pieces of software or learning anything new for that matter. You must be willing to get through that initial period of frustration. The first time you pick up a pen or guitar you’re going to suck and have no idea what you’re doing. The same goes with this app. I kept that in mind and told myself that I was just going to have to keep opening the app and trying things. Sure, enough slowly but surely things started dropping into place and I started picking it up quickly. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Testing it out</h4><p>What worked for me was to create a number of test animations. Mock projects that I could use as a playground to press around the app, tap, swipe, change modes, long press areas. Eventually you start to see options pop up and how they fit into the overall structure. After making around 3-4 animations, I started getting a sense of what was possible. Not to mention just how hard and time-consuming animation is no matter what you're using to do it.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Keyframing (AKA Tweaning)</h4><p>The first thing I wanted to learn was what all the options were. I'm new to tweaning/keyframing in animation so that took a few tries to get my head around the extent of what you could do. Understanding that you can move something from keyframe 'a' to keyframe 'b'; is a simple enough concept. However, it was all the different options for keyframing and how several types of keyframing can be combined. The obvious keyframing options are, I just did move, scale, and even the rotate. You can also warp and distort as well not to mention play with opacity, hue saturation brightness, and more. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Timeline navigation</h4><p>Something that took me longer than other parts of the app to get a handle on was timeline navigation. It felt awkward and cramped at first. Pinching and zooming trying to find the right area to go back to and edit. I kept making button presses that would make my timelines change or do strange things. I was accidently using gestures that were unknown to me on accident. It was when I realised that a three finger swipe up or down on the timeline changed the height of the tracks. This simple swipe makes it much easier to get around. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Flipbook mode</h4><p>The thing that took me the longest to figure out where it was is ‘Flipbook’ mode. This was also the thing that I was most interested in and familiar with. After searching everywhere, I could think of, I couldn’t find it. I then started searching online for any sort of tutorial or guidebook anything at all. I eventual found an informative video that showed me how to do it and it was a real forehead slap moment. Again, like the hidden stage details, this was similarly hidden in plain sight. You must be in drawing mode and swipe down on the canvas - where the white image area meets the black timeline are. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h4><p>Another challenge I found, which is no fault of the app, is just how subtle and complex animation is. Dreams has all the tools you would need but you still need to know what you're doing and what the result needs to look like. Just by using the app and exploring the tools, it started to dawn on me the variety of choice I had, and it takes the learned skill and artistry to make something look good.</p><p>Despite the learning curve for me, it was significantly less than other animating software I have looked at before. Procreate Dreams will become the most accessible and popular 2D animation software out there over the next couple of years. With that will come more features and a slew of people making not only tutorials for the app but amazing studio quality animations right from their kitchen table. It's perhaps too early to say what features I would like to see in the app. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3v0za-0V7AZHdv5del0gvGX4srcjHo7PJbCi7Vq1KEhv4aBo8KYtJAL3m9uY_-koUt_5hKaj3sfq2dMMzFrkJVKEmt8ItDZcG6KbXq4_tv0yawIWzDi8N8Gqm6jFQzJvx_FaLVkupxKKOl2jvzZWZFOKZYXL4R4WNQaCZ-iNjog_BKZvzc1Jj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2394" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3v0za-0V7AZHdv5del0gvGX4srcjHo7PJbCi7Vq1KEhv4aBo8KYtJAL3m9uY_-koUt_5hKaj3sfq2dMMzFrkJVKEmt8ItDZcG6KbXq4_tv0yawIWzDi8N8Gqm6jFQzJvx_FaLVkupxKKOl2jvzZWZFOKZYXL4R4WNQaCZ-iNjog_BKZvzc1Jj=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Feature requests</h4><p>I think the app is great as it is, and I often find once you get to know an app better you realise certain features aren't needed. I can also appreciate that this is the initial public build, and it's a good idea to keep the app lean until all potential bugs are ironed out. But if Savage was looking for some ideas a few things that come to mind:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Select tools in draw mode (might be hard not to confuse them with other select tools)</li><li>More nuanced controls for timeline tracks. (For example, tap a track and an option to change the length of the clip is there.)</li><li>Drawing and snapping to shapes and straight lines. In Procreate you can draw a line and hold the pencil in place and the line snaps into a straight line, same for shapes like circles and rectangles. Dreams does not have that.)</li><li>Copy and paste a keyframe (Good for when you want to repeat keyframes in a pattern precisely)</li><li>The ability to keyframe along a pre drawn path. IE, draw a path and the twean action goes along that path. The perform mode also makes this unnecessary though, but I can think of sometimes it would come in handy)</li></ul><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Should you buy it?</b></h4><p>Yes definitely. I you have any interest in animation at all or are a fan or Procreate I would say pick it up. I know that anything more than $0 is not cheap for some people, but I think $20 is an absolute bargain for what you get.</p><p>I give 4.5/5 stars...but only because it's the first release and there's always room for improvement. I'm sure in an update or two it will be 5/5 stars. </p><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-35547119224145476272023-11-08T22:55:00.001-06:002023-11-12T17:14:44.713-06:00Spinach Comic Book Template (UPDATED!)<p>Ever since I picked up the iPad app Procreate, I have discovered a new joy in making comic pages. It was tricky at first, however I have now drawn over 100 pages of comics and settled on a good layout system.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>If you're looking to get into making comic on the iPad this template will give you a good head start on how to put a page together. I call it the 'Spinach' template inspired by the Popeye comic by the Segar. Just like Popeye cracked a can of spinach to unleash his strength and I hope using this template will unleash some comic strength for you (Plus spinach is simply good for you!)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISpF7UqHUh0L0E0snZBUMjHfOCgL9JUC6afXO_BjfQziy5XF133EeQ5YII0JjkYRwWjx03kGn8NkGFRAZOca4xVyOgoWT7FJBWHY3DUhLmN-f5jZBxxsjH0qRaPd7zTffOeQDSaAqRq4E4VkNUzT2VdV8Aa-K_gJHLhXjldT596gvgpYBkLht/s2000/!Spinach-Cover-V2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISpF7UqHUh0L0E0snZBUMjHfOCgL9JUC6afXO_BjfQziy5XF133EeQ5YII0JjkYRwWjx03kGn8NkGFRAZOca4xVyOgoWT7FJBWHY3DUhLmN-f5jZBxxsjH0qRaPd7zTffOeQDSaAqRq4E4VkNUzT2VdV8Aa-K_gJHLhXjldT596gvgpYBkLht/w426-h640/!Spinach-Cover-V2.png" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b>What does this template include?</b></p><p><br /></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Instructions for use with tips and hints</li><li>Panel guides to create over 300 panel combinations</li><li>Lettering guide based on the Ames lettering guide with narrow leading</li><li>Premade layers for:</li><li>Rough sketches (pencils)</li><li>Inking and shading</li><li>Digital 'Zipatone' dots (for manga type shading)</li><li>Lettering</li><li>Premade panels borders that can be cut and pasted for you own comic.</li></ul><p></p><p></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qNXCzq0NRHsxydJeSN5dVLaYc5qqbl9n1bkQJGiTkPEWbb0jxfruusNzxbj1L0eTZE6o-z4ba4HRPS1UMXl_mgc9cAd-2fXTqzwYb7Hfbcn11tNOZLExxSO9lfVI_cG8LN4dJMBvE4E359Dflk6xYj6vedvUDIBzkNDFLDBJaMll0v9mgA/s5433/47B8E599-765D-4166-8A6F-E3719D8C8839.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5433" data-original-width="3614" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qNXCzq0NRHsxydJeSN5dVLaYc5qqbl9n1bkQJGiTkPEWbb0jxfruusNzxbj1L0eTZE6o-z4ba4HRPS1UMXl_mgc9cAd-2fXTqzwYb7Hfbcn11tNOZLExxSO9lfVI_cG8LN4dJMBvE4E359Dflk6xYj6vedvUDIBzkNDFLDBJaMll0v9mgA/w426-h640/47B8E599-765D-4166-8A6F-E3719D8C8839.jpeg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Above: Panel guides and the resulting panels examples</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><b>Technical Specs</b>: The template is made at 6x9 inches which is the most common size for print graphic novels and comics. The DPI is set at 600 to ensure high quality print reproduction. </p><p>I am offering it for no charge on my ko-fi:</p><p></p>
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/e039f21932" style="background-color: #ba67c8; color: white; display: block; margin: 1em 5em; padding: 15px 25px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spinach Comic Page Template</a>I also have an upgrade pack for $5
<a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c3ee0cff87" style="background-color: #ba67c8; color: white; display: block; margin: 1em 5em; padding: 15px 25px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Spinach Template Guides Bonus Pack</a>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-6553031167732369412023-11-05T15:43:00.013-06:002023-11-21T18:43:47.654-06:00Tips to get ready for Procreate Dreams<p>Procreate recently unveiled its upcoming animation software, Procreate Dreams, set to launch on November 22nd. Given Procreate's widespread popularity in the realm of digital drawing, there's considerable anticipation surrounding the features this new app will bring.</p><p>While I haven't delved much into animation in the past, I've played around with loops and animated gifs in Photoshop before transitioning to Procreate. The announcement of Procreate Dreams has sparked my interest, and I'm eager to explore animation using this new tool. Currently, I'm scouring the internet for reviews, previews, and helpful hints and tips through various videos. I've gathered a few of my findings here, and I'm also excited to share my preparations as we await the official release.</p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitRQg8mK_plC9RMwMECSDjwHyBZuHKePoT93SYfuHkR-ktl-_HkSoIlpIg3KsiLGmrzouNuqkGlnfZ1LFiaYc1xEZChbzqlvP4ARuiwbp7-6OGaBwOTFwKORGxjM3B_E8tBMrAnNuXY4WAFEILs85PBTAFhR6XdNLuZsS7Q7DR1o0Kw08Nz2Fb" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitRQg8mK_plC9RMwMECSDjwHyBZuHKePoT93SYfuHkR-ktl-_HkSoIlpIg3KsiLGmrzouNuqkGlnfZ1LFiaYc1xEZChbzqlvP4ARuiwbp7-6OGaBwOTFwKORGxjM3B_E8tBMrAnNuXY4WAFEILs85PBTAFhR6XdNLuZsS7Q7DR1o0Kw08Nz2Fb=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Picture from the Procreate website</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p><b>What I'm doing to get ready for Procreate Dreams.</b></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Storyboarding. (for longer animation projects)</b></li><ol><li>I am familiarizing myself with the concept of storyboarding for animation. This is a crucial step in my process of preparing for animation. I think of it as a roadmap for the basics of what I want to happen. There is no one correct way to do this; it really depends on the artist and the project I am working on. I've explored a ton of tutorials, blogs, YouTube videos, and templates. I am trying out a few methods to see what makes sense to me.</li></ol><li><b>Understand what Keyframing/tweaning.</b></li><ol><li>The next step from storyboards is the concept of keyframing or Tweening. This is the automatic process in animation software. Instead of drawing each in-between frame for my animation, I can automatically 'tween' between two states. For instance, if I have a ball flying through the air, I can select the starting and ending points, and the animation software will smoothly transition from one state to the next. This is in contrast to drawing each individual frame. I am adjusting many elements, such as up and down movement, side-to-side motion, rotation, and size/scale. It's also important for me to be familiar with the concept of easing. This is when an object moves at different rates, creating a more natural look compared to something smoothly sliding from one place to another.</li></ol><li><b>Create a Procreate file with layers.</b></li><ol><li>Even though you can draw in Dreams, Procreate has the full array of tools for drawing and painting. Many people will use Procreate and Dreams hand in hand. I would be inclined to create my main art in Procreate first and then export it to Dreams. When making your art in Procreate, think about which elements need to be separate in the art. For example, I will need a background, and then anything in the scene that I want to move will have to be on a separate layer that can be exported. If I was going to use tweaning, then I will need different elements on different layers. For instance, if I want the character's arm to move, the arm will need to be on its own layer. I think about how I will use backgrounds and incorporate transparency. For example, in the interior of a house or car with visible windows, the windows can be transparent so I can have another layer underneath to show movement, changing colors, a bird flying by, etc.</li></ol></ol><p>If you do these three things you will be well prepared to start diving into Procreate Dreams on the 22nd of November!</p><p><b>Other helpful links:</b></p><p>For a more depth overview from someone that can share aspects and features of the app go here to <a href="https://bardotbrush.com/what-is-procreate-dreams-new-procreate-app/" target="_blank">Bardot Brush's</a> post. She also has this recent TikTok which also shows and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bardotbrush/video/7298827694760922411?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7223038802864031237">in depth process/tutorial</a>.</p><p>Some more questions answered here in these two <a href="https://youtu.be/7boRms-U1Qg?si=z-tLQoHv0QBqLzin">Youtube videos</a> by <a href="https://youtu.be/Fpvrfns9lLE?si=QnNb6J3tAiKnO1hP">Brad Colbow</a>.</p><p>This account on Tiktok has some <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@procreate_dreams/video/7277593243817217312" target="_blank">actual tutorials</a>, </p><p>App overview by <a href="https://youtu.be/WezMOk7zSu8?si=xrYeevnD5n2MMGs3">BeeJayDeL</a> from the launch event. </p><p>Youtube Playlist with <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf_5zbxiQ4cLUpHDHYEQLn4l287EfImLo&si=n4ylg-sH__7rGuFE" target="_blank">Dreams tutorials and overviews</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-33809322653688400572023-10-15T18:54:00.009-06:002023-11-01T22:11:05.423-06:00Haiku Comics<p>After reading some fantastic Haiku comics by <a href="https://summerpierre.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Summer Pierre</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx-rlyKMdER/?hl=en" target="_blank">here</a>, I decided to try a few of my own. What I like about these is that I'm forced to say less. It's like a puzzle trying to figure out how the words are going to fit and make sense. </p><p>The format is a good antidote for the occasionally monotony of dairy comics. By thinking of the comic in these haiku terms, I'm forced to boil it down to a single moment of uniqueness. Even if most days are waking up, having breakfast, go to work, lunch, more work, come home, cook and clean, watch TV, go to bed, rinse, and repeat...</p><p><b>Autumn is here.</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUdTtKLfz7qpMMfySZgmY1v6UOZ1WILf12UTCbyvLXXQ0N9F260UxBWdb9CID0d5fG2rehSxP_PclDg0yBThRrvvl0OhiM7m09o8B16_YcvBa1RdhAk0Z3NWf2y6Zhn2FveN-7WKDYlb575JIfFv2k5omLq6ZaAaUnNA0OXfcDqYi7mi9ROxc/s1000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjUdTtKLfz7qpMMfySZgmY1v6UOZ1WILf12UTCbyvLXXQ0N9F260UxBWdb9CID0d5fG2rehSxP_PclDg0yBThRrvvl0OhiM7m09o8B16_YcvBa1RdhAk0Z3NWf2y6Zhn2FveN-7WKDYlb575JIfFv2k5omLq6ZaAaUnNA0OXfcDqYi7mi9ROxc/s16000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-1.jpg" /></a></div><b>Drake Hall.</b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlEPXyeUJkQibMAZgZjq5Cxl-PjVnC7R58G2MpB623oqrziNTY3o_5qsfy0uEkQY2cn8tYtDsv5zovvWFN1tr7lASgDnjlHdH-8Lv7gEkNGVQ4Q5XtFWC3Cg_j_Mz82eRUpxZ68sOwcIy1e8jhcsZwr49Wb11E4L8s_ekYb7eEUsiNtjya7ri/s1000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlEPXyeUJkQibMAZgZjq5Cxl-PjVnC7R58G2MpB623oqrziNTY3o_5qsfy0uEkQY2cn8tYtDsv5zovvWFN1tr7lASgDnjlHdH-8Lv7gEkNGVQ4Q5XtFWC3Cg_j_Mz82eRUpxZ68sOwcIy1e8jhcsZwr49Wb11E4L8s_ekYb7eEUsiNtjya7ri/s16000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-2.jpg" /></a></div><b>Car Park.</b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPlCl8lRjFA_AJUu03hJG0UY6bvgEOgO-5UMzOqVlbSaKPjBiiv3HiVVZm0zYtLaM_fMrwv3N6lWE9QLqVloxs3JJ327gfZqXZNxbqIxsKQhvDK2OVxlHbzKAsoEYtT53BsS8MZB_IsSpBRoyskU8V84SllpNfj2NHoXBYCraCMr1ftvo98upq/s1000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPlCl8lRjFA_AJUu03hJG0UY6bvgEOgO-5UMzOqVlbSaKPjBiiv3HiVVZm0zYtLaM_fMrwv3N6lWE9QLqVloxs3JJ327gfZqXZNxbqIxsKQhvDK2OVxlHbzKAsoEYtT53BsS8MZB_IsSpBRoyskU8V84SllpNfj2NHoXBYCraCMr1ftvo98upq/s16000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-3.jpg" /></a></div><b>Monica</b>.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4q7xy_nCwBSIXFsTuYx0sUhlMdyc1OE800PGJtHUs6Y8jER7yq21zOGnHrXIWhj7T2eXSFUt71bq1OXj-gQxEHrjtUilekF2-ZcSL8TgcdcInp9LD90Xx7I2S9fUySTpFmhHlsn1XT-fyOfmhwVI5bxaU9tLr-XlxE4FYB_uZzpk5BtnhYC-/s1000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4q7xy_nCwBSIXFsTuYx0sUhlMdyc1OE800PGJtHUs6Y8jER7yq21zOGnHrXIWhj7T2eXSFUt71bq1OXj-gQxEHrjtUilekF2-ZcSL8TgcdcInp9LD90Xx7I2S9fUySTpFmhHlsn1XT-fyOfmhwVI5bxaU9tLr-XlxE4FYB_uZzpk5BtnhYC-/s16000/6x9_Comic_Strip_OG-4.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSaZRefu54v2s65zmERzLw98BX6nRz57u3__h-WyNsly6bbyBnzQJfT3aC1eZCXR2z5Mnt8YDL9c0Q23RK9w8Hi4kjdUb52jxcG3Jfmt6TyNT6XDua6aKrr12zLXy-B85yR0y7fM4b3XBzSDf4ePjAma3t8cgTq0sshDeunJnUUu5VBzVrZKOf/s3599/IMG_3118.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1838" data-original-width="3599" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSaZRefu54v2s65zmERzLw98BX6nRz57u3__h-WyNsly6bbyBnzQJfT3aC1eZCXR2z5Mnt8YDL9c0Q23RK9w8Hi4kjdUb52jxcG3Jfmt6TyNT6XDua6aKrr12zLXy-B85yR0y7fM4b3XBzSDf4ePjAma3t8cgTq0sshDeunJnUUu5VBzVrZKOf/w640-h326/IMG_3118.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-47758333670041856612023-09-25T15:16:00.006-06:002023-09-25T15:20:02.511-06:00David Grusch Whistleblower Comic - Part 1.<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUQ2uqyS3MoqRtpiqQs3qTwOiqAMX2xuY1C7x76sQKySEdm0_AYsNJDWWICxLV3oLxVGQzcJx_-F2J6GDghg1FuAiLhLecQM-YcPLm12Oerrq_ICPsJFoPb1UHIhjTB-Ux5h1318wt-CNgEBViAwbcHx1mtqlbtZTgnOZctgneGG0qsoVkYs4/s3543/UFO_Comic_1%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3543" data-original-width="3543" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUQ2uqyS3MoqRtpiqQs3qTwOiqAMX2xuY1C7x76sQKySEdm0_AYsNJDWWICxLV3oLxVGQzcJx_-F2J6GDghg1FuAiLhLecQM-YcPLm12Oerrq_ICPsJFoPb1UHIhjTB-Ux5h1318wt-CNgEBViAwbcHx1mtqlbtZTgnOZctgneGG0qsoVkYs4/w640-h640/UFO_Comic_1%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFd7Qqqm1fUbSqslVscbulgQ1Q1ty7BkNne9NkMmoAmAhjLdm-AkOCs8NkIqncdSPSZpUv_pYNNI8pFY7t9YiSVBRgaoH40qLiZuITxMakXhe3pqTr_pyclFDA1MzLg6Ex61NpmEcH20EXoz1OhtcOwTgdsM2RTgPoROjKUS2YpbyFUd36J_Yb/s3543/UFO_Comic_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3543" data-original-width="3543" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFd7Qqqm1fUbSqslVscbulgQ1Q1ty7BkNne9NkMmoAmAhjLdm-AkOCs8NkIqncdSPSZpUv_pYNNI8pFY7t9YiSVBRgaoH40qLiZuITxMakXhe3pqTr_pyclFDA1MzLg6Ex61NpmEcH20EXoz1OhtcOwTgdsM2RTgPoROjKUS2YpbyFUd36J_Yb/w640-h640/UFO_Comic_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQKFAXzNkx7PSklqqOy86r2HDuQQiKyzvvMgVpN_POW2TGpOt6VL5rtbofv0888kqVEO-WaTEcSLDmwwmeRCZ6CxYReQ2H7yvwhYwfo-5VgCzUBcoEVHxtB5wTGk_9m0Va_s6EkoWUfkPyJOjOmTpAf493KZrCqIuS6DeZFadlREKH9xw6aB3/s3537/IMG_2975.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3537" data-original-width="3537" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQKFAXzNkx7PSklqqOy86r2HDuQQiKyzvvMgVpN_POW2TGpOt6VL5rtbofv0888kqVEO-WaTEcSLDmwwmeRCZ6CxYReQ2H7yvwhYwfo-5VgCzUBcoEVHxtB5wTGk_9m0Va_s6EkoWUfkPyJOjOmTpAf493KZrCqIuS6DeZFadlREKH9xw6aB3/w640-h640/IMG_2975.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEholU8UlEcbQENSOZQ3uv1GM7AvBeexjCL7TT_at8tZ_7SI2kn7YVeVJ-TEb3G-ifBHpjFo8H654Wwg8lWddubwL6inQKn97OOcDDBi6Fo2e4nLfdXBGJ4rCnaGzZOiQKh9Xl9vTz7x91P5VKI7Fs9qt7V5EAnoK6xP_gZbhtchI2KFlO4NecAO/s1674/IMG_2972.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1674" data-original-width="1674" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEholU8UlEcbQENSOZQ3uv1GM7AvBeexjCL7TT_at8tZ_7SI2kn7YVeVJ-TEb3G-ifBHpjFo8H654Wwg8lWddubwL6inQKn97OOcDDBi6Fo2e4nLfdXBGJ4rCnaGzZOiQKh9Xl9vTz7x91P5VKI7Fs9qt7V5EAnoK6xP_gZbhtchI2KFlO4NecAO/s320/IMG_2972.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Part 2 comig soon...</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Footnotes</h3><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal article, <a href="https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/">https://thedebrief.org/intelligence-officials-say-u-s-has-retrieved-non-human-craft/</a> </li><li>David Grusch Interview with Ross Coulthart (Newsnation), <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/we-are-not-alone-the-ufo-whistleblower-speaks/">https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/we-are-not-alone-the-ufo-whistleblower-speaks/</a></li><li><i>In Plain Sight</i> by Ross Coulthart, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57734614">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57734614</a></li><li>What the Heck Is Going on With These U.F.O. Stories?, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjAyxA4sI1k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjAyxA4sI1k</a></li><li>Congress holds hearings (live), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NE9IhP5mZw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NE9IhP5mZw</a></li><li>David Grusch statement to congress, <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dave_G_HOC_Speech_FINAL_For_Trans.pdf">https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dave_G_HOC_Speech_FINAL_For_Trans.pdf</a></li><li>David Grusch interview with Jesse Michels, <a href="https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=a2UJY1iVZDbzBfh7">https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=a2UJY1iVZDbzBfh7</a></li></ol></div>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-83177317111149097082023-08-28T13:25:00.004-06:002023-10-19T20:36:22.156-06:00Honey Comic Strip Template for Procreate (Updated!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ-3H2U6_0YhAsED8vsMnVfowFO9nhX72oTdwpWkhKkVPmX5YHEDdGaYs4DDpp3P6GV9TqZ7KSZ96f9HC4aq8_3SnpXDSXU-MPQOvWzqjOk-vY04C5TcI7CiiGzVN2UfSqzvYdf-ij1yXfql3xxUHxatAvIE5YsXeR2BAYy_dtK1-RwlkTHL-/s3000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ-3H2U6_0YhAsED8vsMnVfowFO9nhX72oTdwpWkhKkVPmX5YHEDdGaYs4DDpp3P6GV9TqZ7KSZ96f9HC4aq8_3SnpXDSXU-MPQOvWzqjOk-vY04C5TcI7CiiGzVN2UfSqzvYdf-ij1yXfql3xxUHxatAvIE5YsXeR2BAYy_dtK1-RwlkTHL-/w640-h426/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p>Do you want to get your own comic strip going but don't know how to start? This template will give you all you need to jump in and start creating your own strip. Maybe your interested in making daily diary comics or you’d like to start a regular webcomic in the classic strip format.</p>
<p>Over the years I have made diary comics on and off. I wanted to create a template that made it easy to pick up this diary comic practice again. After some trial and error I landed on this template. I went through a few variations, but I landed on a winner once I added the notes area underneath the panels. This is essential for writing notes and plot point to help your comics strip start to take shape. I tested it out over the course of a month and it worked so good I decided I needed to share it. </p>
<p>The template contains seven grouped layers, one for each day of the week. Each grouped layer contains three layers for lettering, final art, and the rough sketch. It use the page assist features for easy exporting. </p>
<p>I like working in a higher resolution (600DPI) so I have the option to print the art later. You may wish to lower the DPI or use the Lite version (300DPI).</p>
<p>The template is designed to get you started with your own comic strip with panel samples, guides and a lettering guide. I have also included a paper texture and colour layer to demonstrate the type of backgrounds effects.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1YM4fvh4KeLqX07T8vma8GW1Nkm8G70aO7oaavDPxYQX2MIwipTbnHzp2oLZ8n5VY9YKtzfHQLQNNZfjxkcgNrI_Is9nOip3GYOqxT6knNz9AMprigk45hif5O9PaQ-FvZ0Zw3jEff5YLblMWw8yScjepbJdwEYckjYFarKUZ4IQe1s_BeSI/s3000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1YM4fvh4KeLqX07T8vma8GW1Nkm8G70aO7oaavDPxYQX2MIwipTbnHzp2oLZ8n5VY9YKtzfHQLQNNZfjxkcgNrI_Is9nOip3GYOqxT6knNz9AMprigk45hif5O9PaQ-FvZ0Zw3jEff5YLblMWw8yScjepbJdwEYckjYFarKUZ4IQe1s_BeSI/w640-h426/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Note</b>: Some older iPads can't open the main file. I have included a stripped back 'Lite' version for these devices. </span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Instructions</h3>
<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This template is designed to Expedite making comic strips. There are 7 grouped layers for panels. One for each day of the week. It include a notes area at the bottom to jot down a rough outline, plot points, or write general notes. </li><li>It uses the page assist feature so you can easily scroll through panels using the thumbnails at the bottom of the canvas and export with ease. </li><li>Each grouped layer contains three layers for Lettering, final art, and rough art. </li><li>The rough art layer is set to 30% opacity. You can draw in black and it appears grey. </li><li>there are background guides such as, a sample panels, lettering guide, panel guide, paper texture Sample, and a colour background. The file is set up as an example for you to use how you wish, you may prefer more of less layers for drawing your comic, IE a colour layer. You will probably want to recreate your own panel examples using your preferred brush and line weights. The same goes for the paper texture and colour for export. Feel free to delete these and add you own backgrounds to suit your own work. </li><li>To save your panels ensure only the panels you want are visible. For example turn off your rough art layers. </li></ul><p></p>
<p>Then go to, <b><i>settings>share>share layers>png files>save to camera roll. </i></b></p>
<p>Once exported you can crop out the notes area by editing the image in your photos app or app of choice. I recommended unsquared to crop long panels or panels that aren’t square if sharing to Instagram. </p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/3ee586fbd7" target="_blank">Link to Download</a></h3>
<p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-20599295159524616772023-08-22T11:38:00.004-06:002023-09-25T15:20:44.980-06:00Woodlands No.1<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xvajFl59JJUfdfpJAcwIYdqxkcpoSiAYdtKn4nz7cAtdOeGEIwymX7rrUjqaxEQ3uVTu6-xiGCZ55FNX1NJ2hb5fRus52fiC0iPslkkKmuhY-pSdQvfCitagt0_SlSxg84pucF41Upa8w3ekj8onZOFHv-MEuZjP6R2DtNPx0U0Fa3bUQXHQ/s709/9781778132919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xvajFl59JJUfdfpJAcwIYdqxkcpoSiAYdtKn4nz7cAtdOeGEIwymX7rrUjqaxEQ3uVTu6-xiGCZ55FNX1NJ2hb5fRus52fiC0iPslkkKmuhY-pSdQvfCitagt0_SlSxg84pucF41Upa8w3ekj8onZOFHv-MEuZjP6R2DtNPx0U0Fa3bUQXHQ/w452-h640/9781778132919.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>A brand-new comic series by Anthony Woodward. Following on in the tradition of other comics artists, Anthony has created this new series to showcase and experiment with a collection of new comics. This issue is over 50 pages in length and contains three stories. A brand new 34-page story about moving to Canada in 2014 and the difficulties of being a newcomer. It also includes the comic ‘This Place’, previously published with a limited distribution. And lastly a three-page epilogue written for This Place and ended up inspiring the main story.</p><p><b>Published June 2022.</b><br /><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><a href="https://leaderpost.com/life/queen-city/between-the-panels-regina-comic-publisher-spotlights-niche-artists">Leader post article.</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Available in print and ebook formats:</p><p><b><a href="https://www.sparepartspress.com/product/woodlands1/6 " target="_blank">Print</a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/4cb382c083" target="_blank">ebook</a></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Also avaialble in these online bookstores</b></p><p><a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/woodlands-no-1/id6443027769" target="_blank">Apple Books</a></p><p><a href="https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/woodlands-no-1" target="_blank">Kobo</a></p><p><a href="https://www.overdrive.com/media/9084895/woodlands-no-1" target="_blank">Overdrive</a></p><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-1142730729196625172023-02-15T12:31:00.004-06:002023-02-15T12:58:13.398-06:00Carl Beam (Updated)Almost 20 years ago in 2006, when I was at art school, I was looking into photocopy techniques in art and printmaking and came across the work of Carl Beam. I quickly fell in love with his process and work. Now in 2023 I am living in Canada and was invited to First Nations University for an outreach event. We were kindly offered lunch as part of the event. After grabbing a plate, I sat down at a table and an artwork on the wall next to me caught my eye. My head whipped around as I realised it was a Carl Beam Original! The I turn my head more and there are three more originals.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOrz7RDdT4p5YQb0libHcDVTHP90sdzVuWEOh2V3ujdRwPqwAlfIMznMqN8sD5w5w1oc3jNtv3dFhUeqw4e_WdIruk7qKjNY0bGEr30vXiJFBGOjmZhHV-7E1LEmIbg3FuEx1GuO1OrOALux_HxczcXXtwp560yVHO32zTzVnFdKsS6DWGQ/s4032/4103C369-2F25-4A79-9000-90F41799AD71.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOrz7RDdT4p5YQb0libHcDVTHP90sdzVuWEOh2V3ujdRwPqwAlfIMznMqN8sD5w5w1oc3jNtv3dFhUeqw4e_WdIruk7qKjNY0bGEr30vXiJFBGOjmZhHV-7E1LEmIbg3FuEx1GuO1OrOALux_HxczcXXtwp560yVHO32zTzVnFdKsS6DWGQ/s320/4103C369-2F25-4A79-9000-90F41799AD71.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZUQBUiwN49bB4VGm_lbTgplDL3H-_HnGOjGlglBQLPZQ_wCPQ3F7491A8A-7k_BLWb0A85gGXceM6F-WAfdE15Z_Dtu8hKhfz0KavSgUxP464npeBagdAOk5yz1AbH76v4BnzgmmT9lB8UcLUyi2feFYvL1fs-rVmhwSN1CwwufqIyCtVQ/s4032/A0166DB8-36BD-4784-A86A-C92D154083EF.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZUQBUiwN49bB4VGm_lbTgplDL3H-_HnGOjGlglBQLPZQ_wCPQ3F7491A8A-7k_BLWb0A85gGXceM6F-WAfdE15Z_Dtu8hKhfz0KavSgUxP464npeBagdAOk5yz1AbH76v4BnzgmmT9lB8UcLUyi2feFYvL1fs-rVmhwSN1CwwufqIyCtVQ/s320/A0166DB8-36BD-4784-A86A-C92D154083EF.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgXKHbHbs0xrzRDbSqXw8AUjDQEuWgX8jE059LMqgsCRUNkP2VOMTIZSK4-UU2QldSLg3lXGFpd7SL_gi0KQ0h-93AsgKvD7aXA-30PbQDOrPILfEK2qNgLOcNPrsIiT6hTmUXvkbGE0oiySKVjcH8TIVxdr03Fc7mY5wcyVplAQKOJ7m0Q/s4032/AE2FF8EC-12A1-4D76-8FBA-B66DF226DA51.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgXKHbHbs0xrzRDbSqXw8AUjDQEuWgX8jE059LMqgsCRUNkP2VOMTIZSK4-UU2QldSLg3lXGFpd7SL_gi0KQ0h-93AsgKvD7aXA-30PbQDOrPILfEK2qNgLOcNPrsIiT6hTmUXvkbGE0oiySKVjcH8TIVxdr03Fc7mY5wcyVplAQKOJ7m0Q/s320/AE2FF8EC-12A1-4D76-8FBA-B66DF226DA51.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One image was behind a banner and I couldn't get a good picture.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Here's my original post from 2006:</b><br /><div><br /></div><div>On a separate note, I came across a Canadian artist called Carl Beam whilst researching photocopy transfer methods. Something about his work amazes me. I really like his composition and the idea behind his collage. Collage can often be too random and detached but Beam makes the images his own without it being too obsessive. Sadly, he passed away last year, hopefully I'll be able to dig up some more info about his life and work. Will post some images soon.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/awcomix/change.jpg" /></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/awcomix/dicktionary.jpg" /></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v108/awcomix/leonardo.jpg" /></a>
Images courtesy of <a href="http://www.carleton.ca/gallery/beam/gallery.htm">this site</a></div></div>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-16768946328757165282023-02-13T15:41:00.002-06:002023-02-13T15:41:24.336-06:00Hourly Comic Day 2023<p>Despite being home sick I was able to participate in hourly comic day this year. Turns out sitting on the couch with brain fog and feeling terrible is conducive to writing hourly comics. </p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKobHEwVdrJAiCc17Z9RptA59NWhsfzNV6H2-iUnjhtOaL-cb7_wHvxBI-Q-CARAJgWK5byVOjVNfpft4YHkeRKCWYgXSXYp6xET2q6MJwjB6OOB6uGGvDNCkf2yXlODaplJh7jtaY_1QuJjZQAv2DjGMSX7Y-1N4_7Wp9_-224oYIYV5DWQ/s4961/HCD23-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3615" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKobHEwVdrJAiCc17Z9RptA59NWhsfzNV6H2-iUnjhtOaL-cb7_wHvxBI-Q-CARAJgWK5byVOjVNfpft4YHkeRKCWYgXSXYp6xET2q6MJwjB6OOB6uGGvDNCkf2yXlODaplJh7jtaY_1QuJjZQAv2DjGMSX7Y-1N4_7Wp9_-224oYIYV5DWQ/w466-h640/HCD23-01.png" width="466" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UtDSfVLgBWVcm46EpABA0LyzRTyP9zNKRB4q32ZGg9tQ_dP67e96GYc-jy-qjJIWeVuNYpBcnkf54Q8kSZL8xQTE3nlisYSWsudoTx8FUvM0ARaOcNp55NobKrYJ4msOGyrrc7ZuzOFJC_xOXYSfKKytI5zwwrvbAfrgCNbPheNmQ356fA/s4961/HCD23-02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3615" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UtDSfVLgBWVcm46EpABA0LyzRTyP9zNKRB4q32ZGg9tQ_dP67e96GYc-jy-qjJIWeVuNYpBcnkf54Q8kSZL8xQTE3nlisYSWsudoTx8FUvM0ARaOcNp55NobKrYJ4msOGyrrc7ZuzOFJC_xOXYSfKKytI5zwwrvbAfrgCNbPheNmQ356fA/w466-h640/HCD23-02.png" width="466" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuIZbQEgvmd7tE4Pfr74e7EjfIXWMxAYePU5id0FNuJ0So3N4cZ8DRvCFj-a3ttF_FmHeuNFlCY7LCymJ3Rqcz1NuWPX1D09TwIO_xczOqK7hU6UxQmd6dDhda3-UJU7ctYRumy6t7ra-OULcqTtZ14Ec0RHmIQpr4Rl5Tgv1F0gmVtjc2A/s4961/HCD23-03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3615" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuIZbQEgvmd7tE4Pfr74e7EjfIXWMxAYePU5id0FNuJ0So3N4cZ8DRvCFj-a3ttF_FmHeuNFlCY7LCymJ3Rqcz1NuWPX1D09TwIO_xczOqK7hU6UxQmd6dDhda3-UJU7ctYRumy6t7ra-OULcqTtZ14Ec0RHmIQpr4Rl5Tgv1F0gmVtjc2A/w466-h640/HCD23-03.png" width="466" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0gTZ3DndH1Ojyfw1oM4Q26d1m2elJquBCp5QAuCYblM5Mov0dK0CvE1Fm1KT5LRoy8wwcCDu5W4NRarx0xocMoH20P4XOkGp8F2Tvpx44wRB8pw_N5uzIOFsuP-9po1BzzVn3QgJ6SNGd4c4Y8e7JiR_Mn7roGnj6cM-i8_OTTDWbBFjYRA/s4961/HCD23-04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3615" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0gTZ3DndH1Ojyfw1oM4Q26d1m2elJquBCp5QAuCYblM5Mov0dK0CvE1Fm1KT5LRoy8wwcCDu5W4NRarx0xocMoH20P4XOkGp8F2Tvpx44wRB8pw_N5uzIOFsuP-9po1BzzVn3QgJ6SNGd4c4Y8e7JiR_Mn7roGnj6cM-i8_OTTDWbBFjYRA/w466-h640/HCD23-04.png" width="466" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmJS6tkR7WNRfPQuygR1xyAlUDfhqAc43TVIX6932z5gKlzEMzNhzmVPLmP2ycRDHMqX0kUHEvGWOTUJMIFABbkCJH4qjhdkMgbHS99sQEepHIMGaErR5rVjy6vNIw4eKDBdb_oSOAlc6aflVqtE3sFXH4eCyWpGnn5m9Ls9uXl7Y0lloHg/s4961/HCD23-05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3615" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmJS6tkR7WNRfPQuygR1xyAlUDfhqAc43TVIX6932z5gKlzEMzNhzmVPLmP2ycRDHMqX0kUHEvGWOTUJMIFABbkCJH4qjhdkMgbHS99sQEepHIMGaErR5rVjy6vNIw4eKDBdb_oSOAlc6aflVqtE3sFXH4eCyWpGnn5m9Ls9uXl7Y0lloHg/w466-h640/HCD23-05.png" width="466" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-2004513830967283782022-12-06T20:44:00.000-06:002022-12-06T20:44:04.919-06:00Airtable as a website for selling comics?<p> A few years ago I stumbled onto the web app called <a href="https://airtable.com/" target="_blank">Airtable</a>. I was already a heavy user of spreadsheets to organise information, but Airtable came along and offered so much more. I've played with it on an off over the years trying out a variety of applications but despite how much I liked it I never felt I found a practical reason to use it (other than it's fun). </p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>This year I found some new uses for it and fell in love with it all over again. It got me thinking, could I use Airtable as a place to showcase and sell comics. Better still, could I do it on their free plan?<p></p><p>The answer is yes and no...</p><p>I'll keep playing with it, but for now here's a proof of concept of what might be possible.</p>
<iframe class="airtable-embed" frameborder="0" height="533" onmousewheel="" src="https://airtable.com/embed/shrtf8E2N0qrqhuQW?backgroundColor=teal" style="background: transparent; border: 1px solid #ccc;" width="100%"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Another option would be to play around with their interface options. Which may get a more website looking page. </div>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-60922754994575832382022-11-22T11:45:00.001-06:002022-12-20T10:47:07.523-06:006 things I wish I knew before starting in mail order comics
<p>When I first launched SPP I thought I had most of the mail order stuff figured out. Afterall, I had been making and selling zines and comics for over 20 years! I soon realised there were a few fundamental things I had either mistaken or hadn't anticipated.</p>
<span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p>
<p>While it was frustrating, I didn't realise these simple things from the start, they were good learning opportunities. I wanted to share my insights as it might help someone else out there. All these things might sound obvious but it's exactly why I don't put much thought into them. They all seemed like secondary things when you are focused on making the best book possible. What I realised though is that even if you make a fantastic book, it doesn't mean anything if the postage is too high to ship it anywhere. </p><p><br /></p>
<p><b>1-Figure out postage rates</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvOCnAeC_leYboSKoqZBcqH2i_CBEktLFr9WyhYfxtQUuJNJANdzXOhQQNfyXcFhZvHv09t6JNlF1rIZYOHuDHTHYu-xKi4ITUMBi5HjeuPvfxdawgK-tE-D7ZIVgv5AyQdXRJVMXhAuP-Dvf3k-bcgi0ubPEG47WuQwBSxnIArg4XegV9A/s925/Screenshot%202022-11-22%20at%2011.41.00%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="925" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvOCnAeC_leYboSKoqZBcqH2i_CBEktLFr9WyhYfxtQUuJNJANdzXOhQQNfyXcFhZvHv09t6JNlF1rIZYOHuDHTHYu-xKi4ITUMBi5HjeuPvfxdawgK-tE-D7ZIVgv5AyQdXRJVMXhAuP-Dvf3k-bcgi0ubPEG47WuQwBSxnIArg4XegV9A/s320/Screenshot%202022-11-22%20at%2011.41.00%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>This is my number one tip. As I've sent comics in the post for years, I was a little complacent about postage rates. I was caught by surprise when it came to shipping the finished book as it was slightly larger than my previous books and postage rates had gone up significantly, especially to overseas. I eventually ended up picking up a postage chart and practically slept with it under my pillow for two weeks studying its secrets. My advice to you, Pick up a chart or find one online and study that things like it's some sort of ancient text that contains the secret to the universe. Pay close attention to maximum sizes and weights. In canada when you go over 50 grams then you are no longer limited to 5mm thickness and other maximum letter sizes. Check out this handy <a href="https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/811253121/mini-slot-of-doom-lettermail-sizer-for?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=canada+post+template&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1">postage guide</a> on Etsy.</p><p><b>2-Figure out the exact size of your comic (and how it relates to postage costs from tip 1)</b></p>
<p>Look at your favourite comics. What size are they? Grab 10, 20, or even 30 comics. Sit down with a ruler and measure them all. Figure out what is the smallest size you can get away with. You may want to make a larger comic however it will weigh more and cost more to ship. I was originally going to make an A5 sized comic but then realised my lettering might be too small and changed to 7x10" late in the production stage. This was ok but I later realised after studying around 30 different comics that 6x9" is a much more common size, it would weigh less and be easier to ship in bulk. </p>
<p><b>3- Make a mock-up of your comic and weigh it</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSxThXag7kJ2NH5e2WCU4VYQPrya7IUr9hGEHw0qPqbW7UbBiN6tXjdwuvHqEWRWtT09nkF5TilKaRaOBP5bXgAsY6uULofBTn6r7o4SZ3FqywBXjBfSQnDuJeP89mKEYvsCeydTzvtKe_1Tmoz4_J2c1nVNGw-uZtbbAI66zPReir5QYCA/s4032/IMG_7346.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSxThXag7kJ2NH5e2WCU4VYQPrya7IUr9hGEHw0qPqbW7UbBiN6tXjdwuvHqEWRWtT09nkF5TilKaRaOBP5bXgAsY6uULofBTn6r7o4SZ3FqywBXjBfSQnDuJeP89mKEYvsCeydTzvtKe_1Tmoz4_J2c1nVNGw-uZtbbAI66zPReir5QYCA/s320/IMG_7346.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>This is more essential than I realised. It's one thing to guess the weight and approximate size, but it's another to hold it in your hands. You can take you mockup to the post office and get them to quote you. Above is a picture of my mockup after I printed the comic. I sawed it down to 6x9" get a sense of the size and weight. <p></p><p><b>4- Source your envelopes</b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPPLBbqFIEJLV0AY76IURoUA0FA4-6PiouArDtxC1t7HexJeu2UReyzotkyF3AKJU7gC8jPHC_jF5NzAthyiUuuJqBX11J81a-0nZ4RCB_gRA5eNoBfkRUzYu6IcMTq8DKGAeYRXV7A9Kf4VWadSTYBlSU2h3N1uJXE6djQkOjsOhJyCENA/s1024/IMG_7444.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPPLBbqFIEJLV0AY76IURoUA0FA4-6PiouArDtxC1t7HexJeu2UReyzotkyF3AKJU7gC8jPHC_jF5NzAthyiUuuJqBX11J81a-0nZ4RCB_gRA5eNoBfkRUzYu6IcMTq8DKGAeYRXV7A9Kf4VWadSTYBlSU2h3N1uJXE6djQkOjsOhJyCENA/s320/IMG_7444.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>Now that you have your ideal size and weight, what envelopes can you find. Can you buy them in bulk to save money? I started off with envelopes from the post office that cost about $2.40 each. I later found envelopes that had the exact size and sturdiness but cost $5.00 for a pack of 25! Saving on envelopes means I can charge less for postage.</p>
<p><b>5- Set up weight-based shipping in your online store</b></p>
<p>When I started, I avoided doing weight-based shipping profiles because it seemed too complicated. I thought it would be easier to put a shipping price per item. Although easier to correct, this was one of my bigger mistakes. Not only was this counter to how online stores work it also made figuring out shipping costs needlessly complicated and inaccurate. I potentially missed sales when I launched my book due to shipping confusion and had to refund a few orders for overpaying.</p>
<p><b>6- Figure out the three main shipping rates (Canadian example)</b></p>
<p>My final tip is the simplest but bears mentioning. Shipping can get confusing fast, but from Canada there are only three locations you need to worry about. </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Canada</li><li>USA</li><li>International</li></ol><p></p><p>I hope these tips help you.<br /> </p>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-40443618688463753512022-09-27T11:44:00.002-06:002022-09-27T11:44:27.122-06:00Now accepting international orders!I am pleased to announce that I can now accept international orders for spare parts press!
<span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV5m3ykrfwMdf7lbFbCZI4oc8BBY7OoR-HO1ZxI0rl_R4Nt0tlMSai3hPgGjP89EYCKcxBRkYBfoRSVP3Vfs7LqTfkJoHNGecEPo8yrMmw-eq7gLjgpY9MdgxgjKSj7vyQGDnCbxFosR-263MZGBsCh0GI_Pn6nhDkDIroZMyay7JrFfTYEQ/s2554/Woodlands01_Cover-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2554" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV5m3ykrfwMdf7lbFbCZI4oc8BBY7OoR-HO1ZxI0rl_R4Nt0tlMSai3hPgGjP89EYCKcxBRkYBfoRSVP3Vfs7LqTfkJoHNGecEPo8yrMmw-eq7gLjgpY9MdgxgjKSj7vyQGDnCbxFosR-263MZGBsCh0GI_Pn6nhDkDIroZMyay7JrFfTYEQ/w452-h640/Woodlands01_Cover-web.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>This means that I will be able to finally offer my new comic <a href="https://www.sparepartspress.com/product/WoodlandsNo1" target="_blank">Woodlands No.1</a> to readers in Australia and the UK as well as many other countries. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I first started looking into it, the prices were astronomically high, and my former website did not allow too much nuance in shipping options. I figured it was best just to not offer it lest I get stuck with underquoting a big order. </div><div><br /></div><div>I now have a new website provider that I feel more comfortable setting up shipping options and a better understanding of the costs involved. </div><div><br /></div><div>International shipping is still vastly expensive. here are some examples of shipping to Australia</div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Woodlands= $12.50 postage</li><li>Winter of our pandemic= $23.50 postage</li><li>Woodlands + Winter or our Pandemic= $23.50 postage</li></ul></div>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-35749671452942978462022-09-11T09:59:00.005-06:002023-09-25T15:26:13.871-06:00Bored in SpaceJust after covid hit in March 2020 I started hitting my stride with drawing digitally. I'd had my iPad for just over 4 months and had been dabbling even before that. Up until this point I hadn't felt comfortable with the drawings I was making digitally. I could create something on paper that was personally satisfying, but I digital drawing felt like I was drawing with a sharpie with my left hand.
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<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsF0CbEE2gWdYxxdhn8FUxrm7wTN742fYRytisk2QcWvlMHio2RQ2HHBPzPT3GtLY2nwWSQf3lFMvQbCdFO0XaW3AgOIO0gS2JIaryPo-rd8Ueis6xXt7zqO5LVWr32am8zi3y_NLg17BjhTGOYweEtgH6SnxjNRqRTr1lboA-PdBVwTvOgw/s1170/bored-in-space-01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="780" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsF0CbEE2gWdYxxdhn8FUxrm7wTN742fYRytisk2QcWvlMHio2RQ2HHBPzPT3GtLY2nwWSQf3lFMvQbCdFO0XaW3AgOIO0gS2JIaryPo-rd8Ueis6xXt7zqO5LVWr32am8zi3y_NLg17BjhTGOYweEtgH6SnxjNRqRTr1lboA-PdBVwTvOgw/w426-h640/bored-in-space-01.png" width="426" /></a></div>I made a couple of digital comics about the pandemic unfolding around us. They received a good response, and I was happy with them. However, the reality of it all was too depressing. That's when I decided to dabble in making a comic with some characters I had been playing around with for a few years. These characters were different than my usual autobiographical comics. Their creation came out of my love of science fiction, especially Star Wars. I wanted to take my love of Star Wars and create what I would affectionally describe as a 'bootleg' version. A weird approximation and near shameless rip off with an odd warping of the original<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9MpE5LtWKsLjRW6tG7rFgXTXcYT_GeWH52D0vev5MHHAwb2sPXO1DKN6ckjKsRfENq-_e4yt2A7pd7BeXWdpdo6auHgIYGLkvsFyAeToDYybgEh3pyGQzKkEgOQ8s9FQmmYsz2jLL2QFtr5tAWjera2NqB_ZIjSGpszR0WR6Rt-WTuNDhg/s1000/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9MpE5LtWKsLjRW6tG7rFgXTXcYT_GeWH52D0vev5MHHAwb2sPXO1DKN6ckjKsRfENq-_e4yt2A7pd7BeXWdpdo6auHgIYGLkvsFyAeToDYybgEh3pyGQzKkEgOQ8s9FQmmYsz2jLL2QFtr5tAWjera2NqB_ZIjSGpszR0WR6Rt-WTuNDhg/s320/image.png" width="240" /></a></div><p>I've always been fascinated with the idea of well know characters being parodied or copied or told in new ways. I knew it was time to get serious about this idea and drawing them digitally could help them come to life.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0FMqpdeC_vaaOKxf1wjGiF9pSbKfzfTPgraoYz-nk2DXt7Ki7iK1EQtT739gsq3pTmGOfHgKGIPzrmPBD2tGsptpwzwldM9Je9Xhqd9QyXJUdhYlaCZxmds2j5OYjWloi257X2ospVUCdMIRL5-CUBEBqG0NPq9g_s7ZItDGXo0bmLPr8aQ/s730/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.03.33%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="730" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0FMqpdeC_vaaOKxf1wjGiF9pSbKfzfTPgraoYz-nk2DXt7Ki7iK1EQtT739gsq3pTmGOfHgKGIPzrmPBD2tGsptpwzwldM9Je9Xhqd9QyXJUdhYlaCZxmds2j5OYjWloi257X2ospVUCdMIRL5-CUBEBqG0NPq9g_s7ZItDGXo0bmLPr8aQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.03.33%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKsiZp4KIxGxsQbYjkKIab2dgR5fvezmmhpkslBVCUF50NQnavZE8yyIGvUQO730HuqrVusaZdnGo02yFWj_w32JZLNJBjKoM8XD-1gkzBnCyiy7YHP5KsHxQ5DBASZHjBEfkbc-2c_up9nH5iYnX1Rkoz_h4Ou76M_jmn3Ot008yx-evGQ/s704/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.04.36%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="690" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKsiZp4KIxGxsQbYjkKIab2dgR5fvezmmhpkslBVCUF50NQnavZE8yyIGvUQO730HuqrVusaZdnGo02yFWj_w32JZLNJBjKoM8XD-1gkzBnCyiy7YHP5KsHxQ5DBASZHjBEfkbc-2c_up9nH5iYnX1Rkoz_h4Ou76M_jmn3Ot008yx-evGQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.04.36%20AM.png" width="314" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>
<p>To begin I drew a test panel to see if I could create something I was happy with. As an artist you're often dabbling in different areas to see if you can get an internal response. Call your own internal art radar, it's not always reliable or working but you can sense when something has potential. Thats what I felt when I drew the test panel. It wasn't quiet there, but there was something there. I then decided to do a test page </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnXEEDqD6Nf3LZdUL_NmBvXlrNysjHI08vdhYWu27bujOcd3TkIHXnWGzJtSlNDDRqrvFBipsFIsMf3tcdGdz7aP_a_nsz51CjJLBM_0yDNq1hS32kixJslG56nX6u25PI3U23E4watuZv8_thdZDJIA-9QcJboGqThF2xTnumpX4gpm42w/s846/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.07.57%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="610" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnXEEDqD6Nf3LZdUL_NmBvXlrNysjHI08vdhYWu27bujOcd3TkIHXnWGzJtSlNDDRqrvFBipsFIsMf3tcdGdz7aP_a_nsz51CjJLBM_0yDNq1hS32kixJslG56nX6u25PI3U23E4watuZv8_thdZDJIA-9QcJboGqThF2xTnumpX4gpm42w/w462-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-07%20at%209.07.57%20AM.png" width="462" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p>I was so impressed with this page that I drew another, and then another, and then some more. The comic just started writing itself and I found the characters I had been daydreaming about for a number of years were finally starting to come to life on the page. Two years later and I now have over 60 pages completed!</p>
<p>Another new aspect of this process for me was the addition of full colour. For most of my time making comics I have worked primarily in black and white, and occasionally spot colour. This is because black and white allowed me to print my work into zines and share them. Colour is prohibitively expensive when it comes to print. I tried to put these limitations out of my head, I justified the use of colour, telling myself that this was a) just a test/experiment b) maybe someone might want to publish it and c) I could always just print it online or in ebook format. </p>
<p>It was this project and the thought of publishing an ebook that sparked the idea for Spare Parts Press.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mCnZG_LSq14ibNbcMtzcCJCgs_jywi2TUdnuT-72eho_jMgXxI6lehozq-FrUEecudlrLctHnpdy8-X2j5FRc1fpMK0aQh3GcuARu2xH-KUeBhaW0udeIWTtjHe-HVmqsXAm8uvF6lqmvHeLHkUjyZs7BxgT87yYlHHDb3reQm6rHEqvPA/s1181/spp-logo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="1181" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mCnZG_LSq14ibNbcMtzcCJCgs_jywi2TUdnuT-72eho_jMgXxI6lehozq-FrUEecudlrLctHnpdy8-X2j5FRc1fpMK0aQh3GcuARu2xH-KUeBhaW0udeIWTtjHe-HVmqsXAm8uvF6lqmvHeLHkUjyZs7BxgT87yYlHHDb3reQm6rHEqvPA/w200-h200/spp-logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>Now two years later I have taken the plunge and put the first issue out into the world as an ebook. The title is available in a few places. </p><br /><p>I am really proud of how this comic came out, the characters and the continuing story. It's a little left of field from my usual work, however I have always loved science fiction and I also wanted to work on something my kids would also enjoy. The story itself is all ages but if I had to categorise it on a book shelf it would most likely land in the 'Teen' section. I hope you can check it out!</p><p>Available from </p><p><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/70e7186a8e">Ko-Fi Store</a></p><p><a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/bored-in-space-no-1/id6443015239">Apple Books</a></p><p><a href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/bored-in-space-no-1" target="_blank">Kobo</a></p><p><a href="https://share.libbyapp.com/title/9083206" target="_blank">Overdrive/Libby</a> (for Libraries)</p>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-8853609909659609032022-07-16T18:15:00.001-06:002022-07-16T18:15:28.120-06:00New Atelic sketchbook<div><!--[if mso]> <style type="text/css"> body, table, td {font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Roboto", "Oxygen", "Ubuntu", "Cantarell", "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif !important;} </style> <![endif]--></div><div><br /></div><div>Recently when I was in Toronto for TCAF and picked up this new book</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuaTVRCBgBXEc2u_jXVCJEKh8FWwcoBpTHpCdUf3d3Z63I2_9xCK1RSBC_lEcEnpHo3zIZZ9zXz7YJKfWubAV-YoVrn_LtHXzXN5mtMoysqfKApt16siqJ-xWN0vQdbwwi74Xy50SmUFIVVbZpXHaPwuIU765wtx5WrGGkweRVervDJVxjA/s4032/58B708B2-D3F4-4CD7-BFEE-47BDCF7C6FFA.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuaTVRCBgBXEc2u_jXVCJEKh8FWwcoBpTHpCdUf3d3Z63I2_9xCK1RSBC_lEcEnpHo3zIZZ9zXz7YJKfWubAV-YoVrn_LtHXzXN5mtMoysqfKApt16siqJ-xWN0vQdbwwi74Xy50SmUFIVVbZpXHaPwuIU765wtx5WrGGkweRVervDJVxjA/w480-h640/58B708B2-D3F4-4CD7-BFEE-47BDCF7C6FFA.heic" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="https://gwartzmans.com/">Gwartzmen</a> art supplies. I was attracted to it for two reasons, 1-the price ($5!) and the brand, Atelic, which is the same brand as my previous sketchbooks I found useful since moving to Canada.</div><div><br /></div><div>At first I thought that paper was perhaps too textured, as tech pens need a medium surface, not so glossy the pens slips but not so rough the pen drags.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started off just using a brush pen and other pens I had on me</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXc5qjdfjaxFe_9MZfs4CzpUe8_FqgDUzxUK40e76_zGp42Fxxki0vWzypRvqYQmeP0a-i11l4i1_zjRsioMhR9S1zynX6l1_14jq3k7IqUBJKwztuwP8ll_8pLBW2kls8x9-Q7YEgDaKFzkkImjpRNCS2kRoeR2O-gBc0AVSe_M39lON5w/s2480/C-Notes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2480" data-original-width="1748" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXc5qjdfjaxFe_9MZfs4CzpUe8_FqgDUzxUK40e76_zGp42Fxxki0vWzypRvqYQmeP0a-i11l4i1_zjRsioMhR9S1zynX6l1_14jq3k7IqUBJKwztuwP8ll_8pLBW2kls8x9-Q7YEgDaKFzkkImjpRNCS2kRoeR2O-gBc0AVSe_M39lON5w/w452-h640/C-Notes2.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I felt like it took me about 8 pages to get back into the swing of drawing in a sketchbook. Then I was able to clean out a tech pen I had and get it going. I had forgotten how nice it is to draw with a tech pen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8TjvTrVhhq9qNSbWbtECFBg9cVkhCN-8PQP-eaEHi0H1YmGvFFiFROl0z8qxzFvOJPRMwNYL0mxgZZYgFfcsry5tDtMV4vCuANSrHoyEQpggJ9JiRj2ouG12mQbZ-phUNGRkWVuWcoIzfovS2n6fwfuNBZRbJE8eGVl3QJEIgtPWvkcFxw/s2480/B-Pages-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2480" data-original-width="1748" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8TjvTrVhhq9qNSbWbtECFBg9cVkhCN-8PQP-eaEHi0H1YmGvFFiFROl0z8qxzFvOJPRMwNYL0mxgZZYgFfcsry5tDtMV4vCuANSrHoyEQpggJ9JiRj2ouG12mQbZ-phUNGRkWVuWcoIzfovS2n6fwfuNBZRbJE8eGVl3QJEIgtPWvkcFxw/w452-h640/B-Pages-1.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I was almost finished the book when I put in a mail order for 4 news books (I'm going though about a page a day) luckily they dont' take long to arrive.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've now completed the first book and I'm offering it as a free PDF sketchbook compilation for the next five days. You can download here,</div><div><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/t/vLcL0XLMV2W2yc4t" target="_blank">The Junk Collector 1</a></div><div><br /></div><div>After that it will apear on my<a href="https://ko-fi.com/awcomix"> Ko-Fi </a>page available with a donation.</div><div><br /></div>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-45672147203580713922022-07-15T11:15:00.000-06:002022-07-15T11:15:06.042-06:00Fake it till you make it<p>Certainly, I know I'm late to the party but I'm finally getting around to watching the Beatles doc get back. I knew it would be interesting, but I also knew it was 6 hours so I put off watching it. However, it is riveting to watch them work and see their creative process.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheEq1yD9jREA-AfvlBr2IxoRMKHHaBMnqNvhnFz1i__8x8oQc8IYmpauryyAHbKe2mz8O66-zVo5S35R3GGRnYYVCq7XZetUl2dC84JcuJjFUCxLwXlsyRa1HnFIjvTuyTgQoqitQcJNrx9Eb9wxKPD6g81wPwYwaZXLyJ_hRY-l_WrCcNVQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheEq1yD9jREA-AfvlBr2IxoRMKHHaBMnqNvhnFz1i__8x8oQc8IYmpauryyAHbKe2mz8O66-zVo5S35R3GGRnYYVCq7XZetUl2dC84JcuJjFUCxLwXlsyRa1HnFIjvTuyTgQoqitQcJNrx9Eb9wxKPD6g81wPwYwaZXLyJ_hRY-l_WrCcNVQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Here are some things I noticed<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">A song can develop just from one key piece</h3>
In many (if not all) of the songs the lyrics are either incomplete, not there, or change entirely. They usually just start out with one key piece and build them out from there.<br />
<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Fooling around</h3>
It's interesting to note when they act comedically. From the outside it looks like they're just mucking around. Certainly, part of it is boredom and they throw in some fun to keep the energy levels up, but even that in itself is interesting. I think what they are doing is eliminating possibilities. They’re trying the song in a funny voice or sped up or slowed down, knowing it probably won't work but one of two things can happing.<br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>They discount with certainty the possibility of doing the song in that different way</li><li>They might just find there something in the change that might work.</li></ol><h3 style="text-align: left;">Riding the feeling</h3>
You can see many times throughout the show how they ride a feeling to reach a certain point. The use their feelings to see if something is working. This is most evident when they're continually trying to produce a concept for the live show. The mangers/producers are pulling their hair out trying to get something locked down. but the band members are casual about it and don't want to commit. From the outside it looks like their indecisive or flippant, but I think they’re waiting for something to feel right, to ring true.<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Inserting placeholders</h3>
In so many of the songs they either make up placeholder phrase or mumble words and phrases as placeholders. These are iconic songs, and you can see they have some of the pieces but not all. They’re comfortable with this, and trust it will come to them if they keep working through it.<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Not knowing mind</h3>
This reminds me of the process of not knowing mind applied to creativity. Not knowing mind is when you can be comfortable with not knowing the right answer or hold two possibilities in your head at the same time. The fact that they can be a couple of weeks away from the deadline and still just noodling away at the edges of things is impressive. Not to say that wasn’t stressful for them though.<br />
<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">My own practice</h3><p></p><p>I feel like I already use some of these practices. But after watching the video I’m going to try and see if I can add more of this or bolster what I already do. One aspect where I have practised this is in my writing. Usually I start with a loose idea of the action (Either some jotted down notes or points or in my head) I then place rough and simple outlines of figures on the page first, then I might put in some placeholder text/dialogue and then refine the images more. Once complete I review the text/dialogue and adjust as needed. Bored in Space is mostly written like this.<br />
<br />
I would like to see how I could use more placeholder text here if needed, and being ok even with placeholder images. I like to experiment with my next comic, could I lean into making it more patchy and use more placeholder images and text? Leaving room for more variation and improvisation.<br />
<br />After writing these thoughts out I recalled that Steven Johnson wrote an article examining the creative process shown in the film, it's worth a read<br />
<a href="https://medium.com/stevenberlinjohnson/learning-from-get-back-a8dbd958f124" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://medium.com/stevenberlinjohnson/learning-from-get-back-a8dbd958f124</a><br />
</p><span><!--more--></span>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-68650966297068357142022-05-29T17:14:00.008-06:002022-09-05T12:51:22.620-06:00Making an ePub in Apple pages (Part Two)<p>Last year I started experimenting with making ePubs in Pages. I had previously dabbled in hand coding epubs in 2015 using open source software like Calibre and Sigil. Sometime in 2018 Apple announced that their software Apple Pages can now export not only in epub, but to fixed layout epub. Perfect for comics.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Instruction how to use Apple Pages to make comic book epubs</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Create a new Pages document (blank document is fine)</li><li>In your new document go to File / Page Set up / Manage custom sizes</li><li>Add the size of your comic (if it isn't a standard size)</li><li>Go to Document uncheck <b>document body, header, and footer</b> (are you sure yes)</li><li>You should now have what is called a 'page layout' document. This means it does not function like a regular text document</li><li>Now go to <b>View / Edit Page Templates (this is to set up guides for your entire book)</b></li><li>Insert a page of your comic (Insert / Image or I recommend setting up a finding window next to your Pages window, and drag and drop into your documents page)</li><li>Click on your image and drag a corner out to where you want it (eyeball it)</li><li>With your image still selected click on Format / Arrange / Align (centre and middle)</li><li>Go to View / Show Rulers</li><li>Draw out ruler guide to the edge of your comic on all sides</li><li>Now delete your comic image and got to View / Exit Page Templates <b>(This completes the setup of guides. </b>Your guides will now be persistent on every page, which will help you consistently place the page artwork)</li><li>Create new page, insert page, drag to fit within your guides - repeat</li><ol><li>The image wants to snap to the guides, this is a default you can't change unfortunately. However, you can hold down the option key which temporarily turns of the snap function</li><li>Take note of the image width and then each image you add after you can just type in that dimension rather than dragging the corners out</li></ol><li>Then, once you're done inserting all you pages you're ready to export</li><li>File / Export/ epub</li></ol><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1jkvWAaGDVejlTis7PiGmTrHGzLIDVUhR-s0vLYjRMYc4mISGLMkZV9X_Il4-uyh726GZWkPAievGQh8K3xHK2c7Z6kKnD5b7qwAEDNXv7OBNpshep6t2doXvsgtdgkX-BL591POf0iVJdK-I0-iDhl8PEMuHs3cNsqy2O0BlfPMylZ08A/s1021/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%207.19.28%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="956" data-original-width="1021" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1jkvWAaGDVejlTis7PiGmTrHGzLIDVUhR-s0vLYjRMYc4mISGLMkZV9X_Il4-uyh726GZWkPAievGQh8K3xHK2c7Z6kKnD5b7qwAEDNXv7OBNpshep6t2doXvsgtdgkX-BL591POf0iVJdK-I0-iDhl8PEMuHs3cNsqy2O0BlfPMylZ08A/w640-h600/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-25%20at%207.19.28%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the thumbnail preview on the right and use of guides</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I'm really excited about the possibilities around this. It means that anyone with access to Apple Pages can now produce their own comic ebooks. Not just PDFs but Fixed Layout epubs. And epubs can be uploaded and sold to online bookstores!</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A tale of woe</h3><p>Before I landed on the method below, I inadvertently went about it completely the wrong way. I was placing a shape down first and then placing the image inside that shape. I thought this made sense as it's similar to what you do in something like InDesign. Turns out this hugely increased the file size. Lucky my method of setting up page template guides solves this issue</p><p>I hope this helps someone out there.</p><p><b>Note</b>: I have recently realised that even though my method of placing an image in a shape was bad, placing the image as the background to the page works as well and takes less time than dragging each image to the edge of the page. </p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-62111823342328858542022-05-27T16:07:00.007-06:002023-09-25T15:26:24.353-06:00Winter of Our Pandemic: David Collier<p>The latest graphic novel by Canadian Comic book artist David Collier, published by Spare Parts Press.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V0EvYYbg2xiG2lJ2eSxLkwUn3pTfT3siLUHnCsQ7rerbojOp0X3s3UqsJhVWp_wL5otyLrf_n9sFy67Dvu-pV8S3-eVj59oMQb5QvX7EdtBEzxhC0sdbMe3NiQT5SPMTQ16ASzPykKBso-MvMieORTNn6wZ-ujf6o096Og2D-2GR6VYg3g/s3000/Winter-Of-Our-Pandemic-David-Collier.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2100" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V0EvYYbg2xiG2lJ2eSxLkwUn3pTfT3siLUHnCsQ7rerbojOp0X3s3UqsJhVWp_wL5otyLrf_n9sFy67Dvu-pV8S3-eVj59oMQb5QvX7EdtBEzxhC0sdbMe3NiQT5SPMTQ16ASzPykKBso-MvMieORTNn6wZ-ujf6o096Og2D-2GR6VYg3g/w448-h640/Winter-Of-Our-Pandemic-David-Collier.jpg" width="448" /></a></div><br /><p>In his latest graphic novel, <i>Winter of Our Pandemic</i>, Collier presents a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the pandemic. Through a series of outdoor skating and skiing scenes, Collier explores the various ways in which the pandemic has affected our lives, both on a personal and societal level. Drawing on his own experiences and observations, Collier delves into a range of historical, philosophical, and personal stories, offering insight into the challenges and lessons of the past two years.</p><p>In his signature style, Collier brings these stories to life through a combination of comics and sketchbook drawings, capturing the mood and emotions of the times. From the fear and uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic, to the resilience and adaptability of humanity, Collier's work offers a deeply personal and moving exploration of the impact of Covid-19 on our lives. Whether you're a fan of graphic novels or simply looking for a new perspective on the pandemic, <i>Winter of Our Pandemic</i> is a must-read for new readers and Collier fans alike.</p><p>To order the book go Spare Parts Press website, <a href="https://www.sparepartspress.com/product/winterofourpandemic/5" target="_blank">Winter of Our Pandemic</a> for more details.</p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-89824857121881026072022-04-12T13:44:00.004-06:002022-07-03T23:49:31.226-06:00Bean Burrito comic lettering font<p>Continuing the thread on comic lettering, I came across a cute comic font on Twitter. Called 'Bean Burrito', by the comic artist <a href="http://sara.pizza/" target="_blank">Sara Linsley</a></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Sarah is offering the pay what you want on her Ko-Fi store. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">You can find Bean Burrito, as well as all of my other fonts, here: <a href="https://t.co/LlaSei2Tua">https://t.co/LlaSei2Tua</a></p>— Sara Linsley (@salinsley) <a href="https://twitter.com/salinsley/status/1513509644911714312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p>The font comes in regular, bold, italic, and bold italic. A real bargain. </p><p>I've purchased a copy and installed it onto my iPad already. </p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-21701921003328982962022-04-07T12:14:00.009-06:002022-07-03T23:49:27.086-06:00Working on my lettering<p>When I started my Bored in Space comic, I was going for a different look than my usual sketchbook style I had for my autobio comics.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p></p>
<p>For one thing I was aiming this comic at more discerning younger readers. Anywhere from 12-16 primarily but also in a way that could be enjoyed by all ages. </p>
<p>It's funny because making this decision, I believe, has greatly improved my understanding of lettering and lettering skills overall. Now I'm not sure why I didn't do this earlier, I look back on some older comics and the lettering was really not at the top of my concerns, but it should have been.</p>
<p>What did I do to improve?</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Studied other comics intensely</b>. I think this is not done enough. Perhaps because of fears around copying or picking up bad habits. But study the masters of your field, break down what they do to truly understand what they are doing. There is often a science behind the art. I actually measured the lettering with a ruler of various comics, looked at leading sizes. I even imported comic pages and traced over them to get a better sense of scale etc.</li>
<li><b>Created digital lettering guides</b>. This was always tricky when working with paper. You can use an Ammes lettering guides but it's a lot of extra work. I had to go through many drafts of a digital guide, but after around 10-12 attempts I came up with some good ones.</li>
<li><b>Created/tweaked inking brushes</b> to be better lettering brushes.</li>
<li><b>Read as much as I could online</b> about lettering tips and techniques and tried to implement what I learned.</li>
<li><b>Assessed my letter forms</b>. Looked at how certain letters where written and added more traditional styles.</li>
<li><b>Looked at standards in most mainstream comics</b>. I learned two things by doing this. 1-how to properly emphasise text, IE, Bold + Italic. 2- that I should end all lettering with a period, a convention I had always ignored/was ignorant about.</li>
<li><b>Traced over digital fonts</b>. I had read about this technique previously as a way to get clean consistent lettering. It involves using a digital font for your draft lettering and hand ink over the top. That way you get the uniform lettering with that hand written feel.</li>
<li><b>Started making better speech balloons</b>. I had previously just drawn around the lettering however it appeared. I was now laying out my lettering in a more uniform and pleasing way and creating speech balloons that were more consistent.</li>
<li><b>Two recent tips</b>. 1-In general the tails should mostly point from the centre of the balloon to the speakers mouth. 2-Try and break up speech balloons to match the cadence of speech, I.E., consider using another balloon rather than a comma.</li>
</ul>
<p>I still have improvements to make. As always improving in art is making thousands of tiny steps that eventually add up to small gains over time. It's like collecting tears to fill up a giant bucket.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>Here are some instructional drawings I have been working on to help beginners learn more about lettering.</p>
<p></p>
<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qmBMPS8IFvIfzinC3Txi9A3osuhykLn9ng51YCygMsrIQgSpjF446TTso56JIigERfAP-nGSE-fEF-yBNmAh140zjQp99p3Ji73TX9zIMZ7Dvjk4GGPX5rnJwUyLhqxSmEh46sZGK95iUWoG3r0dxj50joKOUEfpvF5a_BGEChNfRIgHcw/s3307/How_To_Make_Comics-5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3307" data-original-width="2330" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qmBMPS8IFvIfzinC3Txi9A3osuhykLn9ng51YCygMsrIQgSpjF446TTso56JIigERfAP-nGSE-fEF-yBNmAh140zjQp99p3Ji73TX9zIMZ7Dvjk4GGPX5rnJwUyLhqxSmEh46sZGK95iUWoG3r0dxj50joKOUEfpvF5a_BGEChNfRIgHcw/w450-h640/How_To_Make_Comics-5.png" width="450" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_htOOBiMNo8NewCnXBE_iaJf_VSSjLAgys9duSJV3hVENaEB9e0tNewAjmt_I_X5PivtDymnFGLKSMVIkb_9sFFK22xOSHg_KlyOUrdDHx9a74INBz2urauiN0lyJ5LgHDfZY1W-GOw7kB4a_c8AtC44h3K_bzM_HHrI_v5E5i2tkSEV8w/s3307/How_To_Make_Comics-6.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3307" data-original-width="2330" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_htOOBiMNo8NewCnXBE_iaJf_VSSjLAgys9duSJV3hVENaEB9e0tNewAjmt_I_X5PivtDymnFGLKSMVIkb_9sFFK22xOSHg_KlyOUrdDHx9a74INBz2urauiN0lyJ5LgHDfZY1W-GOw7kB4a_c8AtC44h3K_bzM_HHrI_v5E5i2tkSEV8w/w450-h640/How_To_Make_Comics-6.png" width="450" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJ6zLWEwcTBBukTUELZ30rabVCzTRE5PpCdERpiPCbw7exRIDwHkC2IamNzPaX_tOoHXSKsrPpEpeXOH4gF-2UkVQGLtch2sZledsocqiJQZRNNr7bu54haIZTkxkbDMSfNCcnSyDPLFfL1Kk8-LJSSc77oBAk49hdLuOQtX8vMCTggx_pQ/s3307/How_To_Make_Comics-7.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3307" data-original-width="2330" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJ6zLWEwcTBBukTUELZ30rabVCzTRE5PpCdERpiPCbw7exRIDwHkC2IamNzPaX_tOoHXSKsrPpEpeXOH4gF-2UkVQGLtch2sZledsocqiJQZRNNr7bu54haIZTkxkbDMSfNCcnSyDPLFfL1Kk8-LJSSc77oBAk49hdLuOQtX8vMCTggx_pQ/w450-h640/How_To_Make_Comics-7.png" width="450" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-30075941465075891302022-03-29T11:42:00.001-06:002022-07-03T23:49:27.238-06:00Brand new Growth mindset and Deliberate practice poster<p><br />
I love this poster and it still holds true. I decided to redraw this poster and make it available as a digital download.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>"Deliberate practice always follows the same pattern: break the overall process down into parts, identify your weaknesses, test new strategies for each section, and then integrate your learning into the overall process."</blockquote><p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><a href="https://jamesclear.com/beginners-guide-deliberate-practice">https://jamesclear.com/beginners-guide-deliberate-practice</a></p>
<p>A few years ago I connected the dots about my own art practice and ideas behind learning in general. The revelation was the culmination of reading about three distinct learning principles:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>
Growth mindset (What <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means">Growth Mindset</a> Actually means)</li><li>Deliberate practice</li><li>Grit</li></ol><p></p>
<p>It felt like the concept of a growth mindset and grit were connected by the concept of deliberate practice*. In the illustration I tried to map out the connection between the three concepts.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4YrlbKlDLz_gMSg2HVnbuXLSNKtk0sZmp4ilcSph-FXYVda-AOSfR7_vzyVooHJBHlzraMVQQxVuSywtTy0BH3Cs67xgs5Df0bBC0qB1VAmax7M5rd6eb2-adOZ3EP3Csqs0haxiZrIv7B7tK7XZ3s_xzfTzK8hkAfsQQcw2UsmLYR3OjA/s1209/growth-comic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="852" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4YrlbKlDLz_gMSg2HVnbuXLSNKtk0sZmp4ilcSph-FXYVda-AOSfR7_vzyVooHJBHlzraMVQQxVuSywtTy0BH3Cs67xgs5Df0bBC0qB1VAmax7M5rd6eb2-adOZ3EP3Csqs0haxiZrIv7B7tK7XZ3s_xzfTzK8hkAfsQQcw2UsmLYR3OjA/w452-h640/growth-comic.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>
<p>It goes like this:</p>
<p>1-When you have a growth mindset, the belief that you can grow and learn and that nothing is inherent, you are able to take on challenges. It's thinking, "I'm not currently good at this but with effort I'm sure I can get better…" compared to, "I was born bad at this, so I shouldn't bother trying..."</p>
<p>2-Challenge is important, it's the sweet spot between being too easy (the comfort zone) and too hard (the panic zone).</p>
<p>Challenges can be confronting and terrifying! You are facing gaps in your knowledge, skill and abilities. Painfully stretching the upper limits of what you can currently do. It can feel like your getting nowhere, it's frustrating, you're making mistakes and trying not to feel silly.</p>
<p>4-Your 'grit' factor determines how much of this feeling of inadequacy and frustration you can put up with. The more grit you have, the more you will be able to persevere through challenges and more often than not come out the other side better for it. For most of us when we start to feel the rising feelings of difficulty we tend to revert back to our fixed mindset, the mindset that tells us "See you're no good at this, you'll never learn it, you should probably give up now before anyone notices…"</p>
<p>However, this is only my personal take on how I think these concepts work together and how you can use them to push what you're doing. I highly recommend reading up on these concepts in more detail, or better still going to read the books themselves. For me one of the challenges I have found is the difficulty in figuring out what I should be practising more of. We tend to have blind spots of our own shortcomings. I think this is where a teacher or mentor really comes into play. The other area this has really helped is differentiating between drawing for fun and drawing to push my abilities. When you are entering into deliberate practice it's not necessarily fun. The after effects can be rewarding but facing your own gaps can be draining. interestingly, educators are often trying to make learning fun, but what if real learning is essentially not fun?</p>
<p>Let me know what you think in the comments.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>'Growth mindset' is from the excellent book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40745.Mindset" target="_blank">Mindset by Carol Dweck</a>, this book in itself was a great revelation, something I kind of knew and had heard about in little bits and pieces over the years, but the book really solidified the idea for me.</p>
<p>The concept of 'deliberate practice' came from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4485966-talent-is-overrated" target="_blank">Talent is Overrated by Geoffrey Colvin</a>, (the idea of deliberate practice originally came from the work of Anders Erikson, he has also released a book called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26312997-peak" target="_blank">Peak</a>).</p>
<p>The concept of 'Grit' is from the book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27213329-grit" target="_blank">Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth</a>, again an interesting look at being determined to stick something out until the end.</p>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-57061617126847406252022-03-24T09:33:00.008-06:002022-07-03T23:49:28.799-06:00Woodlands Preview<p> Here's a sneak peak of my new comic that I've been working on.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1703" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyjGSuU-SOr_LN0V0GChPBfKseIxYl9vwhqoEhZfjzO7cT3hUMv5HkrQFkvsTqTK7lUBJtQuyFlbkRzLf2Y-mtgZZ5c27-8JOCBtazwXBL5rj0-oO2XJrsL2Mf89GUwEfySjnOBotTEGfdOaItt4oCrM7pOWVkKlgym39Tzz8VoyVR06w_g/w450-h640/Page_10-12-2.jpg" width="450" />
<img border="0" data-original-height="1703" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5P20L7it4A8bGiQbcjJirWxZ4mKk0rzYgdW184yRpGXK3zVEjKZHufMLb-zAcJ9BB2jsUiPZrfG20bUTsySe8aoWLRAJn3wLaK9_C0e2ECvAZbJ66i1nQ-8-spJA9HwcNm1LsCRUfkZhRBEiYh_phIJW8thfAlQnILhtPx0GVIja4JkF-g/w450-h640/Page_10-12-3.jpg" width="450" />
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<p>These are 3 sample pages of approximately 34 page comic. Based on an experience I had a few years ago working a dysfunctional office job. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty. Hoping to launch the comic at TCAF in June this year, coupled with some pages from another comic. These pages are the B&W version without colour or grey tones that I have added for contrast. I'm really excited about the whole comic in particular as the experience as the time was harrowing and this is one of the longer comics I've made with multiple characters.<p></p><p>I'll be officially announcing this later with a cover reveal but for now you can get an early sneak peak. </p>
<p><b>Edit</b>: I had these pages in the wrong order. fixed now.</p>Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5469357.post-91343528713797434862022-03-17T09:37:00.002-06:002022-07-03T23:49:31.317-06:00How to scan B&W line art<p>Here's a method I have used to scan my comic line art since around 2005. I can't recall exactly where I learned this technique, but at the time I confirmed that it was standard practice by a couple of other professional comic artists.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p>It might seem excessive but it gets impressive results and despite what you may think, it produces file sizes smaller than jpegs at a third of the resolution. It also produces the most accurate and crisp line art you can imagine.</p>
<p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Scan art work at 1200 DPI greyscale</li><li>Open in photoshop (Crop, resize, transform how you want)</li><li>Clean up artwork using you preferred method (for smudges, stray dot, inks spills, mistakes etc)</li><ul><li>levels</li><li>threshold, </li><li>eraser tool </li></ul><li>Change the colour mode: Image / Mode / Bitmap</li><li>A context menu appears with options, chose</li><ol><li>Output 1200px per inch</li><li>Method: 50% threshold</li></ol><li>File / Save as / TIF / LZW compression</li></ol><p></p>
<p>Now you have a super hi resolution digital file of you artwork that you can use for printing. The file size is even more reasonable than a jpeg thanks to the LZW compression option. This method also works for colour pieces but requires some extra steps.</p>
<p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Prepare you artwork as above</li><li>Once saved, revert back to greyscale: Image / Mode / Greyscale</li><li>Reduce image size: Image / Image Size / Resolution [change to] 300dpi</li><li>Create a new layer/s for colour</li><li>Put B&W line art layer to blending mode / multiply</li><li>Colour artwork as best you see fit</li><li>When done colouring, turn off all layers except colour</li><li>Make a copy of the file (as not to overrwite your hi-res B&W file</li><ol><li>File / Save As / jpeg (or whatever works for you)</li></ol><li>Open up Adobe Illustraor (or similar software)</li><li>Create a new file the final print size of you document</li><li>Place the colour jpeg file</li><li>Then place the B&W line art over that (they have the same dimensions, although one has a 300dpi resolution and the other 1200dpi)</li><li>Save as a PDF (or whatever file you need)</li></ol><p></p>
<p>This way you have the colour saved at a reasonable DPI (and file size) and the super hi res and crisp line art goes over the top. It might sound crazy but it results I impressive results with manageable file sizes.</p><p><br /></p><p>I found this True Grit overview of using 1200DPI bitmapped Tifs useful, https://www.truegrittexturesupply.com/blogs/news/1200dpi-or-die </p>
Anthony Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13303888676333379987noreply@blogger.com0