In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb
Whew. Welcome to March.
I was going to release just the first tier of this comic today (because I’ve got a ton of work to finish and I’m short on time) but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Charles rushing at a lion with a rock is a natural cliffhanger, but I felt like it would have been too frustrating for you guys and I wanted a more natural ending to the scene. So here it is.
In response to nathan’s question from last week, here’s the quick rundown of how I make the comic…
- wake up on Wednesday with feeling of anxiety and a few vague ideas.
- make coffee and stare at blank page.
- skim through previous strips to see what I’ve already done.
- experience ‘eureka’ moment and jot down some panicky notes on the side of the page.
- draw strip. I use a blue Prismacolor COL-ERASE pencil on 110 lb. white paper (in a big sketchbook).
- ink strip. For this stage I go over all of the rough pencil work with a Staedtler Pigment Liner and then a Pentel Brush Pen for textures and black areas.
- scan strip.
- colour strip. All done in Adobe Photoshop CS3. I use one of the included brushes with a watercolour setting and try to keep the variety of tones to a minimum. I do all of the colour work with a Wacom Drawing Tablet, but if I’m traveling or away from my desk, a mouse works too.
- upload it! I do this sometime before the end of Wednesday. ;)
And that’s it! More next week. I seriously have to get some work done…
-karl
March 5th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Gasp! Was he the wind after all!? O_O
Excellent comic yet again Karl!
March 5th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Thanks, Karl. I haven’t upgraded to CS3 yet from CS — can you explain what you mean by a watercolor setting? Is there actually a watercolor mode setting for the brush tool in CS 3, or do you run a watercolor filter afterwards? Anyway, again thanks for the process, man. It’s always great to see how other folks work, especially other folks with such serious skills.
Oh, great strip as usual, BTW.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey nathan.
There’s a checkbox in the brush options to turn on ‘wet edges’. That’s what I meant by a watercolour setting. Use that with any textured brush with a low flow and low opacity and you’ll get similar results.
Sorry about the confusion!
-karl
March 5th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
awesome stuff karl! some really nice action and drama, it’s nice to see another facet of charlie.
and as for karl’s creative process regarding TACC, i can attest to the “make coffee and stare at blank page” as i’ve sat across from karl in our former studio and basked in these moments. i think it’s a creative osmosis.
though i’ve also seen things go terribly wrong. this terrible turn in the creative process usually happens either due to a lack of coffee, a large lunch, an ice cream treat or a warm sunbeam.
witness the terrible effects:
http://www.butternutsquash.net/extras/karl.jpg
miss ya karl ;)
March 5th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Ha ha! So true. Especially the part about the ice cream.
Give my love to the rest of the crew!
-k
March 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Whoop, that situation fixed itself pretty quick. I must say that was great restraint on the lion’s part.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Wow! I could feel the cold even here in the heat of Tropical summer! Explendid!
March 5th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Cool! Thanks, Karl. I’ll definitely play around with that!
March 5th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
ramon — Great photo! I share a studio space with Dave McCaig, and I know all about “the terrible turn in the creative process”, although for us, it’s usually too much internet or inane stream-of-consciousness banter that defeats our productivity.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Karl - great work - as usual . Agree with the Tropical bloke - sitting here in Phoenix AZ and I started shivering - right . And I’m originally from Canada and used to that sort of stuff .
The plot is really thickening - interesting as to where you go from here - perhaps it is time for the Moon Bear to make an appearance ? Just a thought . ( : > ))
Oh well - just another WEEK to find out - many thanks .
March 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
The “Tropical Bloke” lives in Brasil, and it was pretty hot in here tonight, until the Wind begins to blow!
March 5th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
@.@ holy snow storm, Batman!!! too instense lol
March 5th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Ooo.. C. Christopher’s all bristly.. his dander’s up!
..And subsequently dampened, but still. Love the shot of Bravado looking at the dropped pacifier!
March 5th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I really like the 3rd panel, Karl!
March 5th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Cool! Thanks for sharing your process. I’m always interested in that kind of thing. And I looooooove your comic. It is Of The Awesome. :)
March 5th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
that.was.really.intense.
March 5th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Karl……it just keeps getting better and better……..absolutely love it!
March 5th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Wonderfully dynamic poses! and the double strip is greatly appreciated. Im also gobsmacked at how you can pump these out in a single day on a weekly basis, you really must have inhuman patience and commitment. I also gotta add that i am exstremely freaked out by that first panel, its like seeing Tototoro busting open a fat can of whoopas, my brain is still telling me “does not compute”
March 6th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Amazing! A love the diversity of the characters in your comic, and how thus far the humans have not actually been seen, only heard. Also the lion in a snowy climate, fabulous. I will definitely be checking back here all the time now that I have discovered Charles Christopher.
:)
March 6th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Just to expand a bit, the 3rd panel is a great example of why I like your work so much. It takes time to look at the “little” things to the side of the action which are nevertheless no less important.
For some reason, that “ploomp” in the last panel is bugging me. It’s just so… cartoony, in such a dramatic moment. I guess this is one of the disadvantages of the comic medium.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:52 am
…So you do all of this in one day? You’re kidding, right? Dang…
March 6th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Screw giving love to the rest of the crew Karl! Where’s my God of War 2!?!
March 6th, 2008 at 7:38 am
stunning. and the contrast between the dynamic action and the pathetic stop is wonderful.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Oh, this is STILL a cliffhanger; no worries there. And I like the ‘ploomp’. It’s like a subtle, anemic end to what started as a violent/clashing scene. I’m assuming that TACC becomes snow-bound ANYtime he attempts to harm something.
It was somewhat misguided aggression, anyway. He was delusional for that moment, working from a past memory of something else entirely removed from this situation [the jaw:trap similarity].
And I love the Pentel brush pen! I just wish I could re-charge them… Thanks for sharing your process. I’m impressed [and personally deflated!] at just how fast you do these. :-o
e.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:11 am
One question… Are you feeding raw, organically-edged images into these frames, or are the frames rendered, as seen, from the get-go? I’m assuming the former.
Thanks Karl! Midweeks are made far better by your continuing story.
e.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:39 am
i remain truly in awe of this strip: it’s art and story, and manner of storytelling.
Thank you.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Badass. I’m relieved the lion dissapeared, though. That would’ve been one nasty blow. Charles means business.
Still don’t like the name “Bravado” for the arctic fox.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:40 am
You have a really great eye for the epic. I love that panel with the pacifier and the fox in the background. Beautiful stuff.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
i like the “ploomp” too…
& the lion isn’t gone…
March 6th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Hey eric. The frames (I’m assuming you mean the panel borders) are just ruled in with a black pen. I like the imperfect quality of the hand-drawn lines as opposed to computer-generated borders.
And the Pentel brush pen IS rechargeable! You can buy little cartridge refill packs for them. Which I do. Frequently.
March 6th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Forget the technical details, look at the noozle lying on the ground! What better analogy for his coming out of age. Brilliant!
March 7th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I just figured out the whole Pentel thing [feel like an idiot]. I didn’t think to try lefty-tighty, righty-loosey… like a bicycle pedal. Dur.
Thanks Karl! I’m with you on the ‘imperfect’ lines.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAH!!!!!
“IN LIKE A LION!”
PRICELESS!!!!!
Btw: Comic?: Awesome. Love it. Keep makin’ me laugh - dance, monkey, dance! Hya!
(No seriously - you rock. I bow before your greatness.)
March 10th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hey…any chance we could get that nifty “tag this page” feature over here?
March 10th, 2008 at 9:28 am
karl,
huh-whoa…!
And when can I buy this in book form?
But, I must repeat: huh-whoa!
Later,
Chip