MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast

The Making Comics Gutter Talk podcast goes international. Again. In this episode, Adam is joined by Denmark’s own, Palle Schmidt. If that name sounds familiar to you, it’s at least one of two things. Either you have heard the previous Gutter Talk episodes Palle was on, as well as the Comic Con panel back in 2014 moderated by Patrick Yurick, or it’s the amazing work he’s done in Thomas Alsop or Comics for Beginners, a site dedicated to educating those with the dream of creating comics.

In this episode, Adam and Palle discuss a wide range of topics. Whether it’s the inside scoop on Palle’s techniques as an artist or the various ways and differences artists are treated and respected between Denmark and the United States. They even touch on taxes. Taxes! We know, what do taxes have to do with comics? Well, directly, not much. But in the overall grand scheme of things, no one can escape them. Even underpaid artists.

Make sure you give the Gutter Talk podcast a rating and review on iTunes and check out the MakingComics.com site for all your comic creating needs.

Palle’s Links:

Palle’s site (@Palle_Schmidt)

Stiletto

Thomas Alsop

Comics For Beginners

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Song Behind Vocals:

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Transitions:

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

For many folks, our esteemed Making Comics Gutter Talk host included, winter is a difficult time of year. Time changes, cold weather, having to constantly correct yourself on the year because it changed and it’s hard to get in the new habit of writing the new year. We get it. But Spring is about to… well, spring, and it’s time to wake up the sleeping beast that is this podcast. And what better way to rub the sleep out of our eyes than with one of the podcast’s favorite past guests.

In this first episode of 2019, which was admittedly recorded in 2018, Adam is joined by writer, artist, director, and overall swell guy, Graham Annable. If the name sounds familiar, it could be because he was a guest on the podcast a few years back. However, there’s a pretty sizable chance you know the name from his wonderful work, such as the Laika production, The Boxtrolls, which he co-directed. It could also be from the hilarious and sometimes poignant sketches and comics, Grickle. Or maybe it’s from his more recent graphic novels, Peter & Ernesto, in which he is both artist and writer. And as you’ll see, most recently, part-time editor.

Graham’s Links:

Graham’s site (@grickle)

Graham’s books, including Peter & Ernesto

Our Links:

Intro & Outro Song

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Outro Song Behind Vocals

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We have bold new experiment ready for you to enjoy this week – the very first ComicFuel Workshop podcast! Bizhan Khodabendeh’s “Panel Layout: The Golden Ratio” from 2014 is our most popular article ever posted on our website. So, for season 1 of Gutter Talk we’ve decided to revisit the article in the form of a FREE WORKSHOP.

That’s right! We said FREE WORKSHOP!!!

I hear you asking:

“But, Patrick… This is just a podcast. How is a podcast a FREE WORKSHOP?”

Great question! The idea is super simple:

I told you it was simple. (I know, that last step is a doozy).

This is a crazy experiment for MakingComics.com and the Gutter Talk ComicFuel series. We want to know if you liked it, if you hated it, something was confusing, or even if you just want to say hi. All of the feedback is welcome and encouraged. To give us feedback, comment below or email us at [email protected].

Oh, and hey, if you like this episode please let us know by signing up to be a Patreon patron, giving us a one-time donation, or giving us a tip on the RadioPublic app.

For your convenience we’ve broken the podcast down into chapters:*

*If you are versed at all with “enhanced” podcasts, we’ve also included chapter markers directly in the episode so you should be able to jump to sections fairly easily from within your podcast player. If none of that makes any sense – ignore me.

Lesson & Photos by Bizhan Khodabendeh (@mendedarrow). Support him and his work by visiting MendedArrow.com.

All music was graciously provided by our friends “Another Dead Clown” from the instrumentals of “This May Not Work.” Support Another Dead Clown by purchasing their albums at: https://anotherdeadclown.bandcamp.com/

Music Tracks, in order of perception:

To complete a full page of comic art utilizing Bizhan’s application of the Golden Ration compositional theory.

If you are interested in downloading all photos used below in high resolution, the script below, comic page templates (in both 11×17 & 8.5×11 – multiple formats), and more then we got you covered! Go check out our Patreon page where a donation of $2 a month will get you a download of all the materials for the workshop: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

Required Materials:

Suggested Materials:

1.) Sketching thumbnails of page: I usually sketch multiple thumbnails per page because my first solution often isn’t a very strong solution. It’s also better to figure out a concrete solution before hand so that you aren’t constantly adjusting to make a better page.

2.) This can be done beforehand, but you need to transfer your printed copy of my template to the paper. To do this we use a light box which makes it easier the trace an image. Sandwich the template between the box and a sheet of bristol paper.

3.) Now turn the box on and trace it using a pencil and ruler.

4.) This is what it should look like. Notice how I don’t trace the circular shapes. I just have a general idea of where they go.

5.) Pencil panel borders laid out in the sketch using the notches surrounding the template.

6.) Next sketch your environments and characters with pencil. I use basic shapes to build them – knowing that I will add a lot of detail during the inking process. While penciling I am considering both my thumbnail and the overall grid system. I often make adjustments to my initial idea while doing the pencil drawing.

7.) This is approximately what my final pencils would look like for my page. Not a lot of detail, but enough to remind me what my plans were for these drawings and to nail down the composition. For example, all of these fish will be covered in scales, but it would be a waste of time for me to pencil every scale since I will be inking them anyways. It’s like making myself draw it twice for no reason. It’s more important for me to nail down the overall gesture of the fish.

8.) Next we start inking. I first start with the 01 Staedtler pen. I like these because they tend to take awhile to dry so I can ink for long periods of time.

9) Next I use the 03 Staedtler pen to fill in smaller shadowed areas and draw a thick outer line. This helps separate the character from the background – after I ink the background also with an 01 pen.

10) The larger black areas and the “alligator teeth” shadows are both often illustrated with a Pentel brush pen. To fill in the black areas with a bit of texture I turn my pen sideways almost against the page and drag it perpendicular to itself. Areas that can’t be filled in this way I use the brush as I would any writing tool.

To get the  “alligator teeth” I turn my pen sideways and press gradually harder as I pull my hand away from the tip of the pen. When these are stacked close to each other, the affect is a jagged edge.

11) I’ll now use my white gel pen to either cut into some of the black areas with highlights OR to clean up a mistake with my inking. I will also use white out tape or white out to do this.

12.) Finally I erase the pencils and this is what it looks like.

To show how it gets wrapped up which I won’t go into detail because that should be left for yet another tutorial.

13.)  I scan the inks, clean them up and add panels. You might notice that I added some dock pilings in the background. After a bit of drawing. I’ll often use parts of previously drawn pages to save time or add complexity to a panel. This is more useful with the backgrounds than the characters. Sometimes repeating a character drawing can make the comic feel stale so I avoid it unless it contributes to the narrative.

14.) Then I color the page.

15.) Finally I add the type and word. bubbles digitally.

We hope your ears are ready for more comic candy, because Gutter Talk has returned!

With Gutter Talk’s mid-season intermission behind us, Adam Greenfield is back at it with another incredible interview – this time with Eisner Award Nominated writer and publisher Norm Harper!

This week’s episode is filled with engaging conversation surrounding Norm’s breakout comic, Rikki, and what it means to take an old, well-known tale and spin it with a fresh, comic-style twist! Adam and Norm’s conversation also finds itself exploring the ideas behind belonging to a clan and finding oneself, walking between film and comics, jumping into the world of indie comics, fighting off imposter syndrome, and starting an incredible publishing company!

Also, for those of you who love listening to the sultry voice of our host and the plethora if diverse guests on the regular, please consider helping us make more episodes by donating at least $1 to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics. Hitting our goals means more episodes, which means more tips, tricks, and insight into the comic world for you!

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Elmore Heights” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org)

“Dirty Wallpaper” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org)

Though our Season 1 Intermission might have arrived, that doesn’t mean anybody around here gets to rest – and that means you! That’s right, while we scurry about, finishing up the last couple of interviews and other such surprises, we’ve got some homework for you. But don’t worry, it’s nothing too difficult. In order to make sure you’re prepared for our super secret upcoming book club episode, we decided to re-release one of our most popular episodes from the past – the Graham Annable interview – just in case you missed it last time!

For those about to listen in for the first time, here’s a little episode information: Our hero Adam Greenfield is joined today by Graham Annable, the co-director of the Academy Award nominated movie, The Boxtrolls, as well as the amazing animator and artist behind Grickle. One of the more gracious guests we’ve had on the Gutter Talk podcast, the conversations were open windows into Graham’s thought processes as not just the great artist he is but also what it takes to be a director, even if a co-director, on a major stop-motion picture. Give it a listen, Tweet out some of your favorite moments, and let us know what you think!

91: Graham Annable

How in the world could we do our first season of the MakingComics.com Gutter Talk Podcast without bringing back the #ComicFuel podcast? The #ComicFuel podcast was launched as a question/answer show by our leader Patrick Yurick for the massively popular “How To Make A Comic Book” course on Coursera. Students from around the world submit questions and the seemingly endless fountain of facts bubbling inside of the brain of Patrick does its best to link them with the answers needed. On this seventh installment of #ComicFuel we cover questions like “Am I too old to make a living off of comics?”, “How do you manage a long-form comic project?”, “How do you learn to draw?”, and more. So pop on your headphones, get out a paper and pen, and draw while listening to Patrick traverse the world answering comic-making quandaries.

— Gutter Talk Season 1 Episode 4 (115)

Announcing Our First Season Book Club Book: Graham Annable’s “Peter & Ernesto – A Tale of Two Sloths”

Apologies for the brevity of this episode

– Patreon Readthrough

– Where has ComicFuel been? (aka – updates)

“I’m about to turn 43, I’m too old to start to draw comics and turn it into my work?” – Papayrus, 42, Spain

— Notes

“I have an idea that spans many angles – it’s kind of a comic that deals with journalism/psychology/therapy – how on earth do you start to conjure up an outline when the idea is so fuzzy?” – Emma, Hamilton, New Zealand

— Notes

“How can we make long comic novels?” – Dhyaan, 11, India

Notes:

“What advice would you give someone who would like to start a webcomic but has no experience in drawing, illustrating etc. as I’ve only been a reader and trying to navigate helpful articles online has been tricky.” Angus, 19, Western Australia

“How can I get started with drawing – something I’ve always wanted to do – as I have no experience in doing so?” – Frank, 30, New York

Notes:

“Are there any comic artists who have backgrounds in fields other than art, graphic design, or other non-visual areas of study (literature, science, philosophy, etc…)?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– My MIT Comic

“What’s your advice: should we do it all from A to Z or find a more collaborative approach, say one does the script, another the environments,  the characters, and so on? If so are there any collaborative forums?” – Nuno, 33, Portugal

“How can an aspiring writer begin to collaborate with an aspiring illustrator to create a comic or graphic novel? What is the relationship like between writer and illustrator in the comic world?” – Cameron, 31, California

Notes:

– Start by knowing, as an individual, the entire process

– Collaborative Forums

We hope you enjoyed the show last week! This week, we’re switching gears and truly getting into the nitty-gritty world of comics.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever wanted to see your comic book on the shelves at your local comic book store! Do you know what it takes to get your comics through those sacred doors and into the pulls? Besides hard work (and a healthy dose of tears), there are some fine intricacies that go into understanding what makes a comic sell. Which is why this week, Adam sat down with Glynnes Pruett, owner and operator of one of America’s (and definitely L.A.’s) finest comic shops, The Comic Hideout.

Sporting her blue hair and kick-ass attitude, Glynnes dove deep with Adam into the trends that she sees comics heading. From women’s involvement in kicking down age-old gender stereotypes and embracing comics, to building offline communities around comic books and friends, Glynnes proves that sometimes it’s best to be weird and crazy and silly as she channels that energy into fun, creative projects that make her Eisner-nominated business one of the hottest spots around and a place you definitely want your comic to call home!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

The wait for Gutter Talk Episode 2 is finally over and things are about to get intergalactic!

You see, one of the most-heard bits of feedback we get from our beloved listeners is that they love listening to Gutter Talk while doodling or sketching or inking. They love the inspiration it brings as they push onward with their often tedious work. It’s sort of a way to give the brain something to focus on while the hands do all the heavy lifting.

Well, we took this feedback and we thought, “Hmm, what can we do to really up the ante in terms of entertainment and inspiration?” Suddenly the answer struck! “We’ll take our listeners to the theatre!” Adam joyously proclaimed. And thus Gutter Talk Theatre was born!

Not long after, we decided to team up with Podcation, (another project from the inimitable mind of our fearless leader, Patrick Yurick), to take you, our loyal listeners, away from your studios and drawing pads and send you deep into the furthest reaches of the galaxy, on an epic adventure filled with love, loss, and a maybe a stiff drink or two.

It is with great pleasure that Gutter Talk Theatre presents: Jupiter Saloon!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

This sci-fi comedy audio drama centers on The Jupiter Saloon — a dive bar in space. It’s a place where weird characters from all over the galaxy come for a heavily poured drink, interesting conversation, and the possibility of adventure. Plus, patrons who are short on credits can settle their tab by telling a good story.

Sort of like Cheers meets Tales from the Crypt. In space!

Full credits for the Jupiter Saloon podcast are available here.

To learn more about Jupiter Saloon visit JupiterSaloon.com

Intro Song:

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Ad Songs:

“Abracadabra” Silent Partner

“Elle va au Japon” Nic Bommarito

“Upbeat” Jon Luc Hefferman

Transition:

“InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav”Herbert Boland

It’s finally here! It’s finally happening! The oh-so official first episode of the new “Gutter Talk Season 1” has arrived and it’s got all of us here at Making Comics more excited than we honestly have any right to be.

In case you haven’t heard (how that’s possible at this point, we’re not entirely sure), Gutter Talk is releasing in a new seasonal format. This season, we’re releasing 8 episodes each Friday – all filled to the brim with invaluable insights, terrific tools, and a little dash of Adam’s signature wit on the side. Okay, maybe a little more than a dash. You can even sign up here if you’re in the mood to get email updates (and possible behind-the-scenes goodies) from each episode on the day they drop. Because in this fast-paced day and age, a little reminder here and there never hurt anyone.

Anyhow, moving on to Episode 1! Esteemed host Adam Greenfield sits down in an unexpectedly pleasant park with artist, writer, and director Scott Marcano. Known the world around as the writer of the inimitable 90’s hit movie “Bio-Dome” and head of the Diablo Comics publisher, Scott’s enthusiasm for all things media is unstoppably contagious. Adam and Scott’s conversation jumps naturally between topics that range from video games and film rights for comics books to censorship and profanity to even the merits of print versus digital comics. This episode is brimming with deep industry knowledge that even the most battle-hardened comic creators will find enlightening. But don’t take our word for it. Give Episode 1 a listen and tell us what you think! And while you’re at it, drop us a little love on iTunes (or wherever you find your favorite podcasts) with a quick rating and maybe a review if you’re feeling especially happy to hear us back on the air!

Please consider supporting us so that more episodes of the show can be released by donating at $1+ to the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/makingcomics

Diablo Comics (@mister_diablo77)

“The Void Divine” by Corey Snowden

“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Backed Vibes (clean)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Plant Food”  Nic Bommarito

Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

http://freemusicarchive.org

“Please Listen Carefully” Jahzzar

Licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License

http://freemusicarchive.org

InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org

Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org