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Creative Process I have received countless e-mails and letters asking how I draw, the materials I use and how I come up with ideas for Buckles. So, for the Bucklescomic webpage, I decided to dedicate this section to my creative process so others may have a chance to discover how I spend my work week and to also possibly help young cartoonists on their way to syndication. I use very common drawing materials that can be found at any local art store and some material can be found anywhere at places as common as grocery stores. |
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I draw with a 3H Staedtler art pencil on Bienfang smooth surface drawing Bristol board, letter in a Sharpie ultra fine point permanent marker, and ink with a #1 round Princeton art brush with Speedball Super Black Indian Ink. My daily strips are drawn at 4 x 13.5 inches. The Sunday strips are measured at 7.75 x 6 inches for the title page with 7.75 x 16.5 inches for the body. The drawing area doesn't have to be these actual sizes but the ratio needs to be the same. This is the standard for newspaper printing areas. Basically though, it doesn't matter what you use to draw your cartoons with. It only matters that you, the creator, is happy and comfortable with what you use and the way the finished product looks. |
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I first start by writing any ideas that come to mind in an ordinary notepad. In the back I have even written a list of standard "dog stuff" that I can rely on for subjects if I roll into a writers block like "dog commands", "the leash", "car stuff" etc. From here I work on the ideas until they develop into a written joke that I'm happy with.
Once the lettering is finished, I ink in the drawings with my brush and ink. At this point, the (c) copyright stickers are placed on the strips and scanned into my computer at 600dpi. I add the www.bucklescomic.com URL in Photoshop, as well as any touchups and corrections. The daily strips are saved, zipped and sent through e-mail to Reed Brennen Media for proof reading. |
Next I lightly sketch the drawings in pencil being sure to leave room for the lettering. With a ruler, I space out the guidelines for the lettering then I write them in in pencil. After the lettering is how I'd like the final to be, I darken them in with my Sharpie.
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The Sunday strips are are copied and colored on my computer. The colors are separated from the black & white copy and are saved at 130dpi. The black & white copy is e-mailed to to Reed Brennen for proof reading and after it is okayed I then send all the black & white and colored copies to American Color to be put on a disk for distribution to the newspapers for publication. |
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The cartoon ideas are what I consider to be the hard part of this profession. I don't really have a set way that I come up with the stories and gags for Buckles. It's all usually what I personally consider funny or interesting that I write into the strip. Some days are quite easy and I can whip out a few cartoons within a few hours and be done for the rest of the day, while other times I'm stuck practically pulling the hair out of my head to write one single idea. The discipline of working at home is another difficult area for me as well. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to work in the privacy of my own home, but the actual sitting-down-and-doing-it part took some time for me to adjust and realize that a set working schedule works the best. Granted on the days that are mentally difficult a set schedule may not be able to be possible as I sometimes work throughout the night and into the next day, but working on cartoons is still enjoyable and I will hopefully never have to give up the life. |
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