Comics Fest Resource Page

Hallo, All!
Luckily for us, vendors seem to get things done very quickly these days. Here are service-oriented vendors that can help you get done cool swag accomplished in the scant days remaining.

PRINTING:
http://grekoprinting-comixwellspring.com
https://www.createspace.com
ka-blam.com
vistaprint.com
SameDayPrinting.com
 (They did well on the postcards I’ve been using to promo the show.)

BUTTONS:
We'll have a button making machine at the store through May. The template for formatting your art is attached below for you to print out or open on your pc.

STICKERS:
StickerMule.com
Order by Monday Apr 30 to get their cheapest shipping in time for the Fest.

TSHIRTS:
Gildan.com (Good prices)
Zazzle.com


John

March 31 -- Character Design

Ha Hoang aka Splendid River -- Variation on Steroids! You can support him on Patreon.

Hey guys,

CHARACTER DESIGN:
https://www.pencilkings.com/character-design-tips/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IChyAiOAlBg

Facets of Character Design:
 

• Research 
• Play 
• Experimentation/Variation/"Plussing"
• Color
• Shape/Silhouette
• and in the Disney tradition, making all of the above suit the character's personality

Let's look at inspiring examples....

Featuring today :Annette Marnat -- Strong Shapes and Everything Else!

Pixar -- Silhouette

Annette Marnat -- Shape

Annette Marnat

Annette Marnat

Annette Marnat -- Shape
She reminds me of the incredible Jose Luis Agreda, below

Annette Marnat

Kristen Schmisten -- Play, Experimentation

Kristen Schmisten -- Play, Experimentation

Kristen Schmisten -- Play, Experimentation

Kristen Schmisten -- Play, Experimentation

Denis Bodart -- Loose and quick

Denis Bodart -- Warm and loose! Note the woman shown at two different ages

Unknown artist -- Shape, Experimentation, Play

Unknown artist  -- Variation

Unknown Artist --Shapes, Variation, Play, PERSONALITY :)

Unknown Artist -- Play, Experimentation

Wittig --Play, Variation, Expression, personality, all fused with shape. Wow!

Ernesto Melo -- Shape 

Ernesto Melo --Warmed-Up, very loose, strong Expression

Me, needing a "plussing"

Me, struggling

Advise me, please, you-all.

Stephen Silver -- Tips

Stephen Silver -- Shape, Shape, Shape

Tracy Butler, Shapes fused with Personality

John
Sidewalk Comics Fest Facebook Event page

Three-quarters Rear View, and Near-profiles

Circa 2001, a youthful assistant of mine was transferring a rough layout onto bristol board for me and remarked, "You know, I've never drawn someone from behind before." I was surprised and amused at the time. I almost didn't have the heart to haze him for his lack of experience. But traditions are traditions.

So what about those times when you have to draw someone whose face is turned mostly away from you? Not so easy, is it, Charlie?

The most common and most natural impulse is to indulge in a tad of speculative fakery. But this yields drawings that seem the sum of what one doesn't know, and lack the power to persuade. I was genuinely trying hard when I sketched these, but... well, I'll ask you to tell me what seems wrong with them.

Ever seeking chances to use a little research to save time and communicate our worlds more convincingly, we will review some photographic examples of the sometimes-surprising juxtapositions of features that nature hid right under our noses. Or rather, on the other side of our heads from our noses. 

Clearly, it was with such conundra in mind that God helpfully invented other people to refer to, and later, cameras.

I will seek your observations about these pictures, which again come mostly from my musty trove of late-'80s catalog clippings. 

As we go through these, let's note how far the head is turned and where the camera was positioned above or below the head's equator.

What in anything about these pix flouts your expectations?

John

Note that we have an edge-on view of her ear.

"Elvis, is that you, in the sky?" Many an excitable South American had trouble sleeping on <El Noche de Elvis Gigantico  Sobre El Atlantico>"

Jack Hamm

Jack Hamm

Jack Hamm breaks it down for you.

Sometimes these views lead to pleasing cartoonish simplicity, a la Alex Toth. 

A-a-almost a profile on Bra Lady.
"He's crazy about my kids and he drinks Johnnie Walker!" (actual headline) 

Blurry yes, but again, so appealingly simple!

Hamm for dessert.
(BTW, he didn't stir himself to give the same treatment to male heads. Are we so dull?)

Time to Work

OK, let's start analyzing these with our pencils, drawing through. Try please to infer the cranium's contour, even if there is hair or an inconvenient crop. Drawing through, approximate the how the horizontal and vertical half-way lines wrap around the skull shape. The farther above or below the equator is, the more that equator and the other dividers will be drawn curvingly.

NEXT TIME --

By request, I will try to say several useful things about "blocking" scenes, and paneling and framing decisions. Preview: I'll say "vary" a lot. 

Crazy about you nutty kids.

Till then,

John

P.S.: Since I mentioned Toth, here is a self-portrait he did in 1958. The beauty and economy of these clothing folds made me want to punish myself. (The faded-to-red lines show he was using a felt-tip pen of some kind. I honestly wouldn't have guessed they such 60 years ago.)
The casual, assured minimalism of this blows my mind.

Button Makers of the World!

Hi, Everybody.
Are you going to make buttons for the Comics Fest on May13? Are you just considering it? Either way, please visit this link to UMakeButtons and download the templates for the graphic formats you're likeliest to submit your finished files in.
Call or email me if you have any questions or problems and I'll get you an answer. I'll be talking with them tomorrow and a competitor and will know more. I want to try to make this easy for you guys.
We will have a button machine at the bookstore in the run-up to the Fest. I'll pay for the rental, but you guys will have to pay for the materials. Sound fair?

Cheers,
John