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Of course, if I were to support Melua on this thread I could offer the theory that maybe she wrote the song when there were only 9 million bicycles in Beijing?

Just a theory.

He could colour the centre-spread!

Just look at something like sky chariots, Judge Death Lives, Block Mania (the McMahon episodes), Glenn Fabry Slaine, Bryan Talbot Nemesis (Gothic Empire), Bisley ABC Warriors  - all fantastic B&W - all would be diminished in colour.

Perhaps nowadays there is too much pressure to throw colour at everything.

Of course, I meant 2 colour pages.....four if you count the cover/pin-ups.

I'm a long time reader who started out with the 3 colour pages a week.
So my vote is for more black and white.  I just love that stuff, and in my opinion all the greatest artwork to appear to date in 2000AD was the black and white work of the 1980's.

Yeah Jimbo, I agree about the time (and thanks for the compliment).

I guess even using this method I still average about 2-3 pages a week (working full time on a standard page).  It's not necessarily the time it's taking me this way, more that it becomes a labour doing it.

Regarding page layouts - I do all that beforehand on scrap paper.  I know exactly what my plan is, I guess I'm just lazy on re-drawing. I have never used a PC to re-jig layouts. I sketch something and if I think it's good enough, rather than re-draw it at the appropriate size onto the finished page, I scan it, amend it if necessary and print it out at the correct size.

This method has arisen this year due to the fact that I draw the majority of my stuff sitting in a car on my work lunch hours.  

As has been documented here before, I have a fairly hyperactive child who requires my full attention on weekends and evenings (and starts her day at 3-4am nine days out of ten) so I do all my strip work in sketch pads (it can be difficult to do a proper page of artwork sitting in a Vauxhall Corsa, although I do manage it occasionally!).  Therefore when I get the chance to transfer it to the actual page I simply don't have time for redrawing, hence this long-winded computer method was born.

Perhaps it's a false economy.
Either way, I want to recapture some of my earlier energy for drawing so I'm going cold turkey on the PC for a while.

Thanks for the comments everyone (although I have read some interviews in the past and know of a couple of pro's who utilise some of this approach!).

I am indeed doing what you advise at the moment - just doing it straight on like I used to do.  I guess somewhere along the line I must have become preoccupied with what others thought of what I was doing - rather than just enjoying myself like I did when I was a child.

So - not sure what reaction will be to the next thing I do , but at least I will have more fun in the process.

So in advance, sorry PVS if this doesn't quite come off!!!

Hello all.

Some questions/thoughts for the aspiring comic strip artists amongst us (of which I know there are many).

My ramble....
Having just received my latest (official 2000AD business) round of 'figures too stiff' criticisms, I have been reflecting on some of the irritating drawing ?habits? that I seem to have acquired in the last year or so.  My current approach is as follows....

1. Reference every character I draw to within an inch of its life.
This basically involves endlessly thumbing through a large pile of anatomy and figure drawing books to try and get my figures right.

2. Having finally sketched something, I scan it onto my PC, open it in Photoshop, edit it with a drawing tablet, reverse it, edit it some more, print it in reverse at the size I want it, trace it onto the actual page, then ink it.

3. Having done this for EVERY panel (sigh), I then scan the whole page back into the PC (in several parts as I don't yet own an A3 scanner), open it in
Photoshop, then edit everything again until I'm reasonably happy with it.

4. Letter it. Finished (unless I then decide to edit something else later - which almost always happens).

It used to take me a full day to do a completed page, now it can take me easily 3,4 or 5 times that long.

My questions.....
I wondered if any other artists out there (amateur and professional alike)have adopted a method/process similar to the above?
If so, do you find it a blessing - or a curse?
Is it necessary to do all this nowadays to try and produce anything remotely approaching professional quality?
Does it all provide too big a safety net?
Do you think it takes a lot of the skill (and most of the fun) out of the whole process?

I guess I'm just curious to know if I?m alone in this.

Please feel free to tell me 'I just draw it straight onto the page'. I can take it.

Maybe I can't, I?ll let you know.

Regards
Simon.

Whether you liked WE3 the story or not - had to admire the artwork in that book. Attempting to do a cartoony simplified version of those suits was (surprisingly) difficult, never mind what Frank Quitely did on some of those 2-page spreads!

It looks fantastic......and strangely I'm yet to read it all through!

I hear there was a 1 page parody of this knocking around......

But doesn't Mr Ezquerra (the inventor of the original uniform) only draw the respirator with three bars?  Shouldn't he know best.

Who decided it was five (although I draw it with 5 myself)?
I don't follow this as pretty much every artist does what they like with the uniform (within reason).

Are we talking the definitive uniform a la Brian Bolland here?

Ps. I don't think he's fat around the midriff - obviously just keeping up on his ab work.

No criticisms from me - it's a way better job than I could do!

I like the drawing and its a great bit of colouring.

Archangel 1.....you may well have no escape.

My impression is that the winners will be announced in the special that their strips will be printed.
I don't think you will be seeing it in a prog at all.

Yup, you could definately have more than one entry.
I thought I was extravagant submitting two - never mind four.

Please tell me that I don't need to be able to understand any of this to set up a website.

I have a tutorial and everything...