Glad you enjoyed the comic, to be honest I've been a bit bummed out at the relative silence regarding the Treehouse this year. I realize it isn't the formal blast of TNT that was last year's entry, but, surprise to see it come and go largely unnoticed. Obviously we all know how it goes when you put a lot of work into something and the repsonse is the sound of crickets from a Chuck Jones cartoon. You'd think you'd get used to it after two decades in the comic book industry, but I don't, I'm sure most folks don't.
Anyway, I was really surprised I was able to squelch so many characters with so much blood myself. I just sent in the pencils and said, "is this okay", and they let is slide due to it being the Treehouse. I was very happy, of course. And yeah, I ended up losing only some things on the two large panels, opening and closing, my own fault, especially on page one. Too much dialogue. The stupidest detail I put in and lost was drawing the entirety of the shot showing the Android's Dungeon interior, the second panel where CBG is inside for the first time. It took me many hours to draw it, ink it, and it drove Sarah mad coloring it. And it's all covered up. The details weren't "chicken fat", no real gags lost, I just felt the junk needed to be shown to play up the sequence and the stupidity of CBG's situation/attitude. I should post that panel to further flay myself. I don't know why I didn't expect it all to be time wasted.
Workwise - I did all the pages the same way, rough layouts, most drawn to size, iirc, on plain paper, light-box that for tight pencils, augmented by a lot (a LOT) of penciling firm figures on tracing paper over the roughs, then tightening those individual drawings, details, sections on the board. Once everything was light-boxed off and fully penciled I inked straight over the pencils. I can't seem to work up a page straight through as I used to, I have to take several steps towards final pencils. I ink faster these days, at least. But if it isn't all penciled, I can't draw in ink well at all. I'm trying to loosen up a bit on what I've drawn since the Treehouse, and I am starting a Bart story I wrote soon, and hope to have learned from the experience. Ease up some.
As for your stuff, there's a lot of pages you've done, esp in the Futurama crossovers, that made my head hurt thinking of mysel;f trying to draw them. I really loved seeing the production stuff of yours in the back of the Abrams collection.
Ouch. Well, I certainly know the sting of kicking out your best jams for the sake of near universal indifference. In fact, the Crossover of which you speak was one of my biggest disappointments in terms of audience responses; it just seemed to completely fly under the radar at the time. I'm happy it seems to be getting some positive returns now with the HC reprint. Sometimes these things take time. Still, I'm surprised this has been the case with the latest Treehouse. It was talk of the shop at our own local "Android's Dungeon" the week the issue dropped, partially due to Nathan and Jason's Marge Attacks contribution, partially due to Kelly Jones' gothic chops-- but largely due to your poppin' epic. Maybe people are just too lazy to put fingers to keyboard (I'm getting worse with it). As for the Comic Book Guy panel... yeah, I've definitely been there. I tried to draw a busy looking kitchen in a recent issue, and all my creatures in cages and nutty labels were covered by balloons. I knew better, too. Oh, to live in the times of Jack Kirby-- who drew the word balloons into the art itself, so the letterer would have no choice but to ink what had been indicated and the King wasted no time drawing a line that would not be seen. I will say, your "Dungeon" panel still gets the point across; the store looks stuffed despite the lost details. I'd still like to see the originals. And the more you post-- hopefully-- the more interest you spark in the issue. Well, here's to the simple austerity of the comic book life. Beasts of Burden next! And thanks.
Glad you enjoyed the comic, to be honest I've been a bit bummed out at the relative silence regarding the Treehouse this year. I realize it isn't the formal blast of TNT that was last year's entry, but, surprise to see it come and go largely unnoticed. Obviously we all know how it goes when you put a lot of work into something and the repsonse is the sound of crickets from a Chuck Jones cartoon. You'd think you'd get used to it after two decades in the comic book industry, but I don't, I'm sure most folks don't.
Anyway, I was really surprised I was able to squelch so many characters with so much blood myself. I just sent in the pencils and said, "is this okay", and they let is slide due to it being the Treehouse. I was very happy, of course. And yeah, I ended up losing only some things on the two large panels, opening and closing, my own fault, especially on page one. Too much dialogue. The stupidest detail I put in and lost was drawing the entirety of the shot showing the Android's Dungeon interior, the second panel where CBG is inside for the first time. It took me many hours to draw it, ink it, and it drove Sarah mad coloring it. And it's all covered up. The details weren't "chicken fat", no real gags lost, I just felt the junk needed to be shown to play up the sequence and the stupidity of CBG's situation/attitude. I should post that panel to further flay myself. I don't know why I didn't expect it all to be time wasted.
Workwise - I did all the pages the same way, rough layouts, most drawn to size, iirc, on plain paper, light-box that for tight pencils, augmented by a lot (a LOT) of penciling firm figures on tracing paper over the roughs, then tightening those individual drawings, details, sections on the board. Once everything was light-boxed off and fully penciled I inked straight over the pencils. I can't seem to work up a page straight through as I used to, I have to take several steps towards final pencils. I ink faster these days, at least. But if it isn't all penciled, I can't draw in ink well at all. I'm trying to loosen up a bit on what I've drawn since the Treehouse, and I am starting a Bart story I wrote soon, and hope to have learned from the experience. Ease up some.
As for your stuff, there's a lot of pages you've done, esp in the Futurama crossovers, that made my head hurt thinking of mysel;f trying to draw them. I really loved seeing the production stuff of yours in the back of the Abrams collection.
Off to bed, shift over. Take care, man.
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Still, I'm surprised this has been the case with the latest Treehouse. It was talk of the shop at our own local "Android's Dungeon" the week the issue dropped, partially due to Nathan and Jason's Marge Attacks contribution, partially due to Kelly Jones' gothic chops-- but largely due to your poppin' epic. Maybe people are just too lazy to put fingers to keyboard (I'm getting worse with it).
As for the Comic Book Guy panel... yeah, I've definitely been there. I tried to draw a busy looking kitchen in a recent issue, and all my creatures in cages and nutty labels were covered by balloons. I knew better, too. Oh, to live in the times of Jack Kirby-- who drew the word balloons into the art itself, so the letterer would have no choice but to ink what had been indicated and the King wasted no time drawing a line that would not be seen. I will say, your "Dungeon" panel still gets the point across; the store looks stuffed despite the lost details. I'd still like to see the originals. And the more you post-- hopefully-- the more interest you spark in the issue.
Well, here's to the simple austerity of the comic book life. Beasts of Burden next!
And thanks.
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