Archive for April, 2008
14 items.
Ever since I was introduced to Avengers #135, Taskmaster has always been my favorite comic book character even though he’s a super-villain. And over the years, I have drawn, drawn and re-drawn him over and over again. I even submitted a rendition of him in a Wizard cover contest. You can’t find a single sketchbook of mine that doesn’t have at least ONE attempt at drawing him. I’ve even gone the lengths of re-designing his shield and what I envision his “logo” to look like.
And yet, the VERY BEST version of Taskmaster I have ever drawn is right there in the second panel. A friggin’ cartoon!
I wonder if someone’s telling me something?
Currently listening to “Mainstreet” by Bob Seger…
-Chris
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Just having a little fun with the fact that Roy ISÂ a furry looking dude who’s always trying to get laid so of course, he’s probably run into this situation once or a dozen times – hence the reserved reaction on his part. By this time, he’s used to being called a “furry”…
On an un-related note, I just finished watching Hitman this week. Took my most of the movie to realize that Agent 47 was Timothy Olyphant from Live Free and Die Hard. I had recognized his smirk all through the movie but his shaved head really threw me. Took me a while before I did. Don’t hate when that happens?
Anyway, hope you enjoy today’s strip!
-Chris
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Man, how do the web cartoonists out there that do full-color strips DO it???
Okay, I know how they color their strips. I actually used to color the Sunday Syndicated strips for a local newspaper when I was a graphic production grunt so I have the skills to color. What I’m talking about is SPEED! How do cartoonists like Paul Southworth do it so fast? Today’s strip practically killed me.
I started the coloring process at 5:00pm or so. That went until 7:30 when I left work to go get a buzz cut and some dinner for me and the wife. Got home around 9:00pm, ate and was at the laptop between 9:45 – 10:00pm or so. I finished coloring at 1:15am, put the strip into Illustrator for words and balloons and just now uploaded the strip almost exactly at 2:00am.
That’s why Capes isn’t a full time, full color strip!
Hope you all enjoy the final payoff of the Little League arch. It was fun (even this one).
Currently listening to “Edge of a Broken Heart” by Vixen…
-Chris
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I’ve recently been listening to old Web Comic Weekly podcasts and on a couple of them, there was discussion about what an artist should or shouldn’t write about on their blog. For the most part, I agree with what Dave, Brad Kris and Scott have said… that no one really wants to spend extra time reading about the misery, pain or suffering that a particular artist is going through as we all have problems in our daily lives and the last thing we want to do is read about someone else’s problems.
But one of the things that intrigues me about blogs – particularly artist blogs – is that fact artist blogs offer a glimpse into the mind of that particular artist… you can get a feel for what they are thinking or how they were going about creating a certain strip or page. Granted, it’s a fine line between introspective thought and just flat out complaining.
Still though, I remember picking up Matt Wagner’s original Mage and being fascinated by the very personal messages he would write on the inside covers of each issue. It actually got to the point of where I was actually looking forward to reading the thoughts he included on those inside covers and I was actually a bit sad that he didn’t include them in his follow-up years later. Those passages on the inside of the original Mage issues were heartfelt and complimentary to people who helped Mage be what it was. And Matt used that space to also explain what Mage meant to him, why Kevin Matchstick was growing bald, why he was afraid of heights and things like that.
Yes, I agree with Dave Kellett that a blog needs to be entertaining but that doesn;t mean it can’t be informative as well. For me, Matt’s messages in Mage WERE informative and fascinating and I looked forward to reading them every other month. To me, IÂ think that’s a prime example of what an artist’s blog should really be.
-Chris
This is the last week of the Little League Coach storyline. I hope you guys stick around for the big payoff on Friday. After that, I promise I’ll get back to more daily gags or jokes but I wanted to experiment with a bit of a longer storyline and to see if I could make it work in a Monday – Wednesday – Friday strip. The lag between days though seems to make it tough. I wonder if other M-W-F web comic artists find that to be true as well?
In any case though, I am happy with the jokes and tried to have each joke act as another big step towards the conclusion. I hope you have been happy as well.
-Chris
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As I mentioned in previous Blog post, I got a Creative pocket video camera for Christmas so, to test it out, I decided to film my drawing process for my December 26th strip. That part was easy. The hard part was trying to figure out iMovie, how to create a Time Lapse video and then get it on YouTube without any music copyright violations (ooops!). So, here’s the result:
This is just the drawing, inking and letting process. Once those things are done, I then scan the strip into Photoshop where I add shading and ink the borders digitally. Then the strip gets imported into Illustrator for the title, signature and credits below the strip before being uploaded on the web.
If you would like to see a few of my earlier videos (without the pocket video camera) I created a new page where you can see all of my YouTube videos. Here is the link to the new Capes & Babes YouTube video page:
-Chris
The interview process for the Capes ‘N’ Babes Little League team continues. I hope you all stay with this storyline a bit more. I know sometimes it can get difficult to follow an every other day strip but I am trying to do some different things to help off-set the fact that this isn;t a daily strip (yet).
One of those things is that you can now find a “Coming up next” in the strip byline to help entice you to come back to see what might happen in the next strip. I’m trying to take my cue from old radio serials… sort of like a web comic strip version of “TUNE IN NEXT TIME WHEN…”. Is it working? Email me at my Gmail e-mail address or add a reply in this blog.
Any and all feedback is welcomed. And hey… I’m a pretty young strip so I’ll answer ALL of my e-mail.
Currently listening to “Don’t let me go” by Billy Squier…
-Chris
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Speak softly and carry a… well, you know…
April 15th, 2008 |Posted In: My Other Websites, New Comic
So if any of you are upset about my portrayal of the nun in this strip, you should think about purchasing the official Capes ‘N’ Babes sketchbook – see that big round box in the right corner of the banner???.
Inside the sketchbook, you will find the follow up strip I was thinking about using on Monday. Ultimately, I decided that it seemed out of place and didn;t make a lot of sense – not that Capes is ever supposed to make a whole lot of sense, it just supposed to be fun – but in this case, it was very obvious to me that the proposed follow-up strip really was out of place for what I have planned.
In any case, if you’re upset, make a donation and get the sketchbook and read the “unpublished” Capes ‘N’ Babes strip. Do it today!
-Chris
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So you guys say you like strips with elongated plots and story lines? Well, if you do, then you will certainly enjoy the next couple of strips as it all involves Capes ‘N Babes becoming a little league sponsor.
I thought it would be fitting to kick off such a story line seeing as the start of baseball season is JUST around the corner – at least for those Little League tykes in Northern Virginia, anyway. If you’re in a warm weather region (like Florida, California or Nevada), Little League (and baseball in general) has probably already been going on for a while. But not here in the cold nether regions of Northern Virginia.
High school baseball has already started, of course, but little league is still a few weeks away (if memory serves).
In any case, I hope you all enjoy the next couple of strips.
Thanks for coming by and checking me (and my strip) out. I very much appreciate it. Pass the word if you like. The more the merrier.
-Chris
Hey… if I was the last man on Earth, the first thing I would do would be to try to corner the market on feminine hygiene products. Forget oil. THAT would be the only thing keeping me alive!Â
But seriously, if you haven’t checked out Y: The Last Man, you should go to Borders today and see if they have a trade paperback available…
Currently listening to internet radio (Best of 80’s on Sky.fm – “Ebony & Ivory”)…
-Chris
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