New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Posts Tagged ‘Heaven And The Dead City’
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011CO2 Years Old!
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Can you believe it? Two years have gone by since we launched CO2 Comics hoping it would become a unique cooperative of comic talent featuring a collective of great comic features. Naturally we initially turned to our long time friends and allies that have had ties with us since our days as founding publishers of Comico the Comic Company.
Comico The Comic Company owners, Top: Dennis LaSorta, Phil Lasorda, Bottom: Gerry Giovinco, Bill Cucinotta
Chris Kalnick, Joe Williams, Andrew C. Murphy, Reggie Byers, Bernie Mirealut, Bill Anderson, Rich Rankin and Neil Vokes all contributed to the early success of the realization of our goals for CO2 Comics. The faith that they all had in our ability to present their work while respecting their rights as creators, supporting their complete ownership and actively promoting their features and services as artists was a complete and humbling honor.
It became our duty to surround their works with with other great features and talent. CO2 Comics was always intended to be a place where readers could come to enjoy one feature and discover other comic treasures that they may not have found if those works had stood by themselves.
In just two years the list of contributers has grown to include twenty-two talented creators and two dozen exciting comic features. The impressive list of talent yields a number of nominated and award winning creators along with brilliant new talent that will deserve recognition for their mastery of the medium.
Take a look at the roster of creators here at CO2 Comics and you are bound to be amazed at the comic book pedigree and variety that exists on our site:
Bill Anderson – Skrog
Kevin Atkinson – Eaten by Planet 29
Mike Baron – The World of Ginger Fox
Reggie Byers – Crescent
Bill Cucinotta – Death for a Dollar
- Skrog
Tina Garceau – Hot Topics
- There’s No Escape From A Deadline
Gerry Giovinco – Slaughterman
Robert Jackson, Jr. – The Amazing Liberteens
Chris Kalnick – Depth Charge
- Non
Onrie Kompan – Yi Soon Shin
Steve Lafler – Dog Boy
- El Vocho
Mike Leeke – The Amazing Liberteens
Liberteens Update
Don Lomax – Captain Obese
Bernie Mireault – Cable
- The Jam Lives (a motion comic)
Andrew C. Murphy – Pressed for Time
- Victor
Mitch O’Connell – The World of Ginger Fox
Rich Rankin – Gauntlet
Raine Szramski – Heaven and the Dead City
Frank Thorne – Ribit
Giovanni Paolo Timpano – Yi Soon Shin
Neil Vokes – Gauntlet
Joe Williams – Hot Topics
- There’s No Escape From A Deadline
Besides having published over 800 pages of comic art in the last two years we have also taken on the monumental task of publishing David Anthony Kraft’s COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection. The first of the eleven volume set had 680 pages that were painstakingly cleaned and reproduced in both paperback and hardback editions. Volume two is currently in the works. This project is the testimony to our love of the comics medium and its rich history.
COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection
Our commitment to the history of comics and the current state of the industry is also highlighted weekly on our CO2 Comics Blog where we feature a weekly article covering everything from our Comico history, production techniques, creator’s rights and frequent editorializing on the state of the market have drawn a lot of attention industry wide.
As if publishing a ton of great comic related material on the web and in print is not enough for two guys, we needed to create a new imprint, CO2 Publications so we could publish a 372 page literary book, FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT A Memoir of Veteran discharged from the Navy for being Gay written by George Richard Phillip Zimmerman, Jr. which was just released over Memorial Day Weekend.
For The Convenience Of The Government
Over our first two years we have published nearly 2,000 pages of material and maintained a rigorous schedule on an exciting site that has attracted over 4.6 million hits to date.
The best part is, WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED! Last year, as we celebrated our first anniversary, we compared our accomplishments to our early publishing days with Comico and noted that we were far out front and we still are, thanks to the support of all the great talent that joins us and allows us to present new work daily.
We also need to thank our readers who continue to grow in numbers. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing with your friends. We became comic publishers nearly thirty years ago because we believed our comics were not finished works until they were experienced by the readers. We recognized early on that as publishers we played a significant role in the realization of a comic as a completed work and we intend to continue to be that conduit. CO2 Comic’s mission is to get great comics in front of as many eyes as possible. Please help us with your enthusiasm by continuing to share the comics you enjoy here with your friends and by returning often.
Finally, it is no mistake that we celebrate our anniversary over the Fourth of July weekend. As publishers we have always been motivated by the spirit of the Independent movement with our emphasis being on creator’s rights. Comics, for us, are a medium of freedom. Free thought, free speech, free enterprise.
We want to turn Independence Day into Independents Day for comic fans and make it a time to celebrate the diversity that all of the Independent comics publishers have brought to the world. There are a lot of great comics out there that are not brought to you by the usual pair of suspects and we hope hat you will continue to find some of the best of them right here at CO2 Comics.
Making Comics Because We Want To
Bill Cucinotta and Gerry Giovinco
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Repartee
Monday, May 16th, 2011Over the last few weeks I took the time to outline the Process of Penciling for Comics. There were no lessons on how to draw or develop a sequential story line. It was just a quick look at the actual physical process of preparing to work and a description of the essential tools that make the job easier. It was a look at the traditional way of making comics that many people who have not converted to an all digital workflow enjoy and are comfortable with.
More specifically it was a description of how I like to work when creating comics while deferring to many other options that are available. How each individual artist works is a very personal ritual and I will be the first to say that there is no right or wrong way provided the final image is the intended expression of the idea that the artist was attempting to convey.
Coincidentally the very talented Raine Szramski, whose comic Heaven and the Dead City graces the web pages of CO2 Comics, was haggling with someone on Facebook over her own process of creating comics. Her reactionary post read like this:
Painting by hand obsolete and old-fashioned….?
I just had someone ask me why I’m bothering to paint my comic by hand since (as he says) my style will become obsolete and I’ll “learn to jump on the Photoshop bandwagon.” And he used the strange example of Borders Bookstore as being “old-fashioned” as opposed to digital and “that’s why they went out of business.” Umm, there are many OTHER reasons they went out of business and it has nothing to do with not using Photoshop.
GRRRRRR….. Anyway, to say the least I was a bit offended. Thoughts??
Well, it is nice to know that the creators who give us the opportunity to post their work here on CO2 Comics stick together and have each other’s back.
Joe Williams to the rescue!
Joe, who is responsible for the very clever Monkey and Bird comic that he co-creates with his lovely wife Tina Garceau launched into a witty defense of Raine on his own blog at Willceau illo. You can read his lambasting here:
Raine! Raine! Don’t Go Away! or Pigments Versus Pixels
Joe follows up the next week with another protective zinger:
Joe even suggested that we follow up the Process of Penciling feature with a look at Raine’s Painting Process which she happily agreed to allow us to present as follows:
If anyone is curious, this is how I paint my pages. Up on the easel is an upcoming page in progress, with a photocopy of my unpainted pencils taped next to it for reference. (I could get in closer, but it would be a story spoiler…)
Necessary for ongoing work…Dog Under Computer Desk…
Note as well as my Waterhouse print that I haven’t hung up yet because I have to buy some nails. Um, I’ll get around to it…
Cat at Drawing Table…
There always needs to be a cat in the vicinity of the drawing table. Very important.
This is GoGo.
Box o’ gouache, sketches, paper towels, props…
That’s Yaira’s hat, by the way. I got it at a Rennaissance Festival years ago.
A shelf of brushes, Pigma pens, inks, templates, pencils, etc.,etc. The big daruma on the far right was given to me by my friend Satomi. For those who don’t know it’s a Japanese tradition to give one eye a pupil and make a wish. If your wish comes true, you fill in the other pupil. (You can see that the smaller daruma has 2 eyes filled in!)
Lots and lots of gray gouache. Very messy. But that’s why it’s more fun than Photoshop!
The next 50-plus pages of “Heaven & the Dead City” that need lettering and the pecilling finished before I even begin to paint them… Yup, I’m in this for the long haul. Mind you, this is just for Chapter Three.
And most importantly–FUEL. Coffee and keep it coming. The cup was designed by Mark Trepel (and is available at Cafe Press) and actually features 2 black Maneki Nekos.
This is a rough sketchbook drawing of Yaira that will be turned into a color painting. It will be a bit like the Swamp painting, with a decorative border and background architecture. The color scheme will probably be rose and gold (sunset colors.)
What did I tell you? The creative process is very personal and Raine just proved it. I can guarantee that I have never heard that a cat and a dog were a necessary element of a productive studio! Fortunately I have a few of each. I can’t wait to see how my work may improve once I get them into my studio space!
Speaking of studio space, Raine says, “I only wish I had a cooler, less sloppy studio space to show off rather than a corner of a studio apartment. Maybe it will let people know that yes, you too can be this messy and still be creative.”
Raine, my studio is in the garage, and I am so messy that on a good day you’d swear I was a refugee from the A&E’s Hoarder’s show. I think the creative chaos breeds entropy which results in progressive works.
The bottom line is in the final quality of the work. How you get to that point is ultimately your call and regardless of how you do it the important thing is that you actually do it. Most people just dream of doing things. By doing it, and doing it your way, you are already head and shoulders above the crowd.
Making Comics Because I Want to
Gerry Giovinco
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
Wednesday Weekly Update | Heaven And The Dead City
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011New page of Heaven and the Dead City
by Raine Szramski, now available.
HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY Update
Click here to read this comic NOW!
The Process of Penciling: Part 3
Monday, May 2nd, 2011Truth be told, comic art can be drawn on just about any surface imaginable so long as it is able to be reproduced. With today’s digital technology a lot of comics are drawn using a digital tablet and a stylus.
The images exist only on a computer screen and may never see the surface of paper until it is printed.
Graphics Tablet with Stylus
There are still plenty of comic artists however that prefer the relationship of lead to paper.
The key thing to remember when choosing your paper how the final image will be inked if it will at all. Some comics, like Raine Szramski’s HEAVEN And The DEAD CITY that can be found here at CO2 Comics, are painted and may require a different type of surface.
Bristol Board
The most popular paper used for comic art is multi-ply Bristol board. There are a number of brands available all of different quality. In general though, there are two types of surfaces. Smooth, which can often be called hot press, machined, or plate finished and Rough which may be considered as cold press or vellum.
The smoother surface is great for inking but has little tooth to the surface which makes it not too fun to pencil on. Vellum surfaces are much easier to pencil on but it is important to find a brand that has a finer tooth and is dense enough that ink will not bleed on the page.
X-Acto Knife
Most original comic art created since the Silver Age has used a 10″ x 15″ image area. 11″ x 17″ paper is a good size to work on and can easily be purchased in pads at a local drug store or art store. Some artists save money by bying larger pads and cutting the pages in half with a ruler and x-acto knife.
Many publishers provide paper with preprinted guides to their artists which makes it very easy to rule panel borders. Pre printed paper can also be bought online. One great source is Bluelinepro.com.
Work with your printer or editor to determine your exact bleed areas and image areas and be sure that the image size you are working with is proportioned exactly to these measurements. This means that when your art is reduced it is the exact size it needs to be to fit the printed page. Comic art generally gets reduced to 60% of the original size for reproduction.
Non Repro Blue Pencil
Using rough layouts as a guide panel borders should be ruled in using a pencil. Some artists like to use non-repro blue lead at this point to avoid erasing unnecessary stray lines. If your page is preprinted you can just use a ruler and draw lines using the guide markers on the page much like connecting the dots.
T-Square & Triangle
If your page is not preprinted you will will have to line up the paper yourself using a t-square and a triangle on your drawing board which should have a smooth strait edge on the side opposite your drawing hand.
Your t-square should be long enough to line up the entire width of your page in the center of your workspace. Line up the bottom of the page with your t-square and tape it to the surface using small pieces of masking tape. Use tape with a light adhesive so it does not ruin your paper surface when it is removed. Cheap tape usually has very sticky adhesive so be careful to find a brand you like.
Centering Ruler
Measure your paper from the center of the page. A centering ruler is a great tool for this and will become your best friend. Avoid measuring in from the edge of the paper. Paper is often not cut exactly square or exactly to measurement and you will discover inaccuracies every time you open a new pad of paper.
Use your t-square to rule all of the horizontal lines on the page following your measured marks as guides. Vertical lines will be ruled by using a triangle sliding along your t-square. You can use a either 45 or
60 degree triangle because it is the 90 degree side that is needed to guide your pencil The bigger the triangle the better. I recommend at least a 12″ height.
Go back and rule in all the panel borders. Generally the gutter space is about 1/4″ wide but should at least remain consistent throughout except when a different spacing may be required to emphasize a visual as part of the story.
Once your page and panels are ruled be sure to label the title of the project and the page number. Now you can begin penciling in your final art. Remove the tape from the board so you can work freely.
Light Box
If you are using a light box to transfer pencil roughs, line up the roughs on the back of the paper, tape them down loosely then turn the page over and trace up the images.
Next week I will go over pencils and erasers and other tools that can help you complete a penciled comic page that is suitable for sending to lettering and inking.
Making Comics Because I Want To
Gerry Giovinco
