This past weekend the National Cartoonists Society Great Lakes Chapter gathered to vote on the newspaper illustration category. All members take the voting process quite seriously. I can tell you that entries are thoroughly reviewed by chapter members. And in the past, we’ve had our share of discussions anbd debates over cartoon work. But, on […]

Here’s a quick little video on cartoon “shading.”  Adding some line work to your cartoons can dress them up and even add that little bit of extra “punch.” It’s a sort of “eye candy” kind of thing. Simply by adding line shading, you can create a fun effect that draws the reader in a bit. […]

Here’s a little trick that I learned over the years. I employ it whenever possible. It’s called “flat perspective.” It’s useful and easy to pull off. I’ve also found it quite pleasing to the eye. In fact, as you skim through the comics pages or web comics, you’ll probably see a lot of cartoonists use […]

Here’s the George comic strip, from the previous video, completely inked and readying for scanning and publishing. After I scan the strip, or any of my cartoon art, there’s always the opportunity to digitally tweak things. so, i still may change a couple of things in this comic strip. then again, maybe not. Sometimes, I […]

Once again, I grabbed my Asus Transformer Prime and shot some more cartooning video. Here’s a brief look at how I draw a George comic strip. As you can see (and as I mentioned in earlier videos), the comic stip template is already printed out for me. The panels are laid out, the title has […]

Here’s another cartooning video shot with my Asus Transformer Prime tablet. Even though the tablet shoots video at 1080 HD, I shot at 480p. This way, the image would still look good enough for the web and render a smaller file size allowing for a quicker upload. I figured out a makeshift tablet stand of […]

Now that I have an Asus Transformer Prime tablet, I have a terrific way to shoot cartooning video! So, here’s the first of what I hope to be many videos on how I create my comic strip George and other cartoon features. Enjoy the show!  More to come!

When I’m drawing one of my cartoon features, there are times when I need to digitally create a specific shape. Well, The Gimp can draw these different shapes. It only takes a couple of clicks. You use any of the selection tools and a command called Stroke Selection. You can use any color line or […]

The computer has been a tremendous help in the studio.  It’s my cartoon assistant, bookkeeper, research assistant, etc. However, the really big advantage with my computer is having  it run Linux. The Linux operating system has allowed me to implement some really terrific software programs. (Not to mention that it’s more stable and secure then […]

On Tuesday, I talked a little bit about scanning my comic strip.  Back in 2009, I blogged on OneClickLinux.com about buying and setting up a new scanner.  I thought it’d be helpful to re-post the info here. The HP Scanjet 8250 Scanner that I use in my studio. My new (actually refurbished) scanner arrived last […]