Roger Langridge's Blog, page 277
January 24, 2013
Pencilling Popeye
Thought I'd show some of the process behind a cover today - specifically, Popeye #12. First of all I submitted a few sketches for the editors' consideration...
These were all drawn at about a quarter printed size - I like to make my initial drawings small because it forces me to think about the design and not get bogged down in rendering details too much, which is what I tend to do otherwise. Editor Craig Yoe favoured the one with Barney Google and Spark Plug peeking over the big newspaper comic page, and co-editors Ted Adams and Clizia Gussoni were both happy with that, so I then drew a more tightly-rendered version at a larger size - A4 in this case (or about 8.3" x 11.7" for the Americans in the audience).
Notice that I moved Popeye and Olive a bit closer to the centre and showed a bit more of Wimpy - these guys are the stars of the book, after all!
Then I scanned the pencils and blew them up to A3 size (11.7" x 16.5"), printed them out in light non-repro blue on fancy-pants art paper, and inked the printout with brush and dip pen.
Et voilà! I've already posted the finished, coloured version, so I'll spare you a repeat of that, but it's here if you missed it the first time around.
These were all drawn at about a quarter printed size - I like to make my initial drawings small because it forces me to think about the design and not get bogged down in rendering details too much, which is what I tend to do otherwise. Editor Craig Yoe favoured the one with Barney Google and Spark Plug peeking over the big newspaper comic page, and co-editors Ted Adams and Clizia Gussoni were both happy with that, so I then drew a more tightly-rendered version at a larger size - A4 in this case (or about 8.3" x 11.7" for the Americans in the audience).
Notice that I moved Popeye and Olive a bit closer to the centre and showed a bit more of Wimpy - these guys are the stars of the book, after all!
Then I scanned the pencils and blew them up to A3 size (11.7" x 16.5"), printed them out in light non-repro blue on fancy-pants art paper, and inked the printout with brush and dip pen.
Et voilà! I've already posted the finished, coloured version, so I'll spare you a repeat of that, but it's here if you missed it the first time around.
January 23, 2013
History Lesson
Here's a little curiosity for you: the first time I drew Kermit the Frog for publication, way back in 1990 - and completely unauthorised, I'm afraid. We (my brother Andrew, who wrote it, and I) plead satirical intent. This first appeared in Art d'Ecco #2, published by Fantagraphics.
January 22, 2013
Silly
My son Tom and I do Scrooge and Marley in the voices of Henry Crun and Kenneth Williams, respectively. They're all basically variations on Scrooge saying how Marley has been dead these seven years and Marley popping up and saying "I was just having a lie down" or similar. We had to make our own entertainment in my day.
January 21, 2013
January 20, 2013
January 19, 2013
Mother in a Jar
Twenty years after drawing this, I cringe at this one a bit - mainly because of how obviously I was in the thrall of Chris Ware at the time, with the fancy calligraphy and all. Hasn't stopped me blogging it, mind.
January 18, 2013
Snarked meets Liberty Meadows
This piece was done as a fundraiser for last year's Baltimore Comic Con. The brief was to celebrate creator-owned comics... by getting cartoonists to draw characters created by Frank Cho. (Yeah, I don't think that one was thought through very well.)
I'm not particularly a fan of Liberty Meadows - I checked out a bunch of strips while gathering reference for this image, and I don't think I laughed once - but the character designs are pretty nice.
Anyway, Baltimore was a blast regardless, so I'll be coming back this September. Be nice to try and hit SPX on the same trip, which is just a week later - if I can register fast enough this year! (I'll be on a plane between London and New Zealand on the day SPX table bookings open, so I may be screwed already... we'll see.)
I'm not particularly a fan of Liberty Meadows - I checked out a bunch of strips while gathering reference for this image, and I don't think I laughed once - but the character designs are pretty nice.
Anyway, Baltimore was a blast regardless, so I'll be coming back this September. Be nice to try and hit SPX on the same trip, which is just a week later - if I can register fast enough this year! (I'll be on a plane between London and New Zealand on the day SPX table bookings open, so I may be screwed already... we'll see.)
January 17, 2013
Captain Blackbottom!
More sketchbook tomfoolery. Here's Pinkbeard's enemy, the evil Captain Blackbottom. Grr.
January 16, 2013
Santa Is Alive*
*(Or is that Stan...?)
I did this piece for an anthology called Satan Is Alive, which was a tribute to the band Mercyful Fate, fronted by some fella called King Diamond. The book was put together by the handsome and talented Mr Mark Rudolph and featuring contributions by Mark, Kevin Cross, Tom Neely, Stephanie Buscema, Ben Marra, Johnny Ryan and many others.
I'd never heard Mr Diamond before Mark approached me, but the imagery was kinda fun to play with and I'm pretty happy with the finished piece, although whether or not it captures the essence of the gentleman I have no idea.
I believe the book is still available here.
I did this piece for an anthology called Satan Is Alive, which was a tribute to the band Mercyful Fate, fronted by some fella called King Diamond. The book was put together by the handsome and talented Mr Mark Rudolph and featuring contributions by Mark, Kevin Cross, Tom Neely, Stephanie Buscema, Ben Marra, Johnny Ryan and many others.
I'd never heard Mr Diamond before Mark approached me, but the imagery was kinda fun to play with and I'm pretty happy with the finished piece, although whether or not it captures the essence of the gentleman I have no idea.
I believe the book is still available here.
January 15, 2013
Good Comics For Kids interview
There's an interview with me up at the Good Comics for Kids site - mainly about Popeye, though we touch on a lot of other things as well. Which reminds me, I turned in the final colour art for Popeye #12 yesterday - very proud of this one.
This sketch was done for Alex Bubenheimer, who looked after me so very splendidly at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year. (Forgive the blurry image; it was taken with my digital camera before I handed the piece over. You might be getting more of that sort of thing in February...)
This sketch was done for Alex Bubenheimer, who looked after me so very splendidly at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year. (Forgive the blurry image; it was taken with my digital camera before I handed the piece over. You might be getting more of that sort of thing in February...)
