Check out Francesco Marciuliano’s blog Medium Large
as he looks back on twenty years of writing the Sally Forth comic strip.
It Was 20 Years Ago Today
Category: Francesco Marciuliano
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Ted’s Dad Dies
A little behind the scenes on today’s Sally Forth strip.
First, Francesco Marciuliano’s script for this strip.
Monday
Scene: ONE PANEL. Interior, Hospital Hallway. Same Day. Long shot down the Palliative Wing Hallway. In the distance we see Ted and his mom hugging. They are crying but we don’t see really see their faces or any cartoon tears.
The decision for the halo of light around Ted and his Mother was decided on as I had already done a hallway scene on October 22 where I tried to convey how you can feel all alone in a crowded hallway.
For the November 6th strip with Ted and his Mom I didn’t want to show the hallway completely empty (hospitals never are), but at the same time how the rest of the world goes away at that moment.
Hopefully it read that way for the readers as well.
Francesco has given me a lot of leeway on how to portray these scenes throughout.
I appreciate the trust he has in me in doing so, and hope the decisions I made in the illustrations did the story he beautifully crafted justice.
-Jim Keefe
Looks like the “Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000” KickStarter campaign successfully raised $5,764,229 – add on an additional 600,000 from the add-ons store and it went over 6,300,000!
That means 14 new episodes!
As a card carrying member of MS3TK from way back (and a KickStarter supporter) I couldn’t be happier!
To celebrate I’m sharing a Sally Forth page in homage to MS3TK from December 2, 2012. Written by Francesco Marciuliano, pencilled by Craig MacIntosh and inked and colored by myself (Jim Keefe) – Hope you enjoy!
Click on image to enlarge.
Script description from writer Francesco Marciuliano for first panel:
Scene: Exterior, Plane in flight in very early morning.
Sally and Ted’s dialogue come from the midpoint in the plane’s cabin in that order.
Sally: You’re doing it again, Ted.
Ted: Doing what?
After some searching on the internet, I came up with the following for “airplane” and “sunrise.”
The finished drawing.
A couple of tips for finding and using reference:
Never use the first image that pops up in your search just for expediency’s sake. Take the time to find the image that best works for your layout. The layout should dictate the reference you use.
I will sometimes place the image right on the layout (in Photoshop), but I never trace the image verbatim. Doing so makes for a stiff drawing. You should use your reference as a jumping off point for your drawing – translate it and make a drawing that best suits the storytelling.
Unabashed plug time!
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Halloween week continues with Hillary dressed as the new Batgirl.
And here’s the reference Francesco pointed me to – with the look from Batgirl #35.
Followed by an animated gif someone made of the cover.
And after all is said and done, it was nice to get a thumbs up from Batgirl’s writer Brenden Fletcher.
All for now – Halloween week continues in Sally Forth week tomorrow.
Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!