But before we move forward, let’s recap by taking a quick trip down memory lane…
– WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING –
The blessed news is delivered…
What’s in a name?
Father knows best.
Go ask Alice.
Micromanaging.
A new outlook.
Micromanaging – Part II.
Summer bbq.
Life’s little secrets.
Airing out differences.
Talking man to man.
Talking sister to sister… to Gerald.
Taking it one day at a time.
Baby shower.
It’s the thought that counts.
The waiting game.
…which brings us up to date.
As far as what to expect during the delivery..?
If Sally Forth isn’t in your local paper, you can check it out online at…
A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.
As mentioned in a previous post, comic strips are formatted different ways for different size requirements. The “drop panel” is a panel or tier of the strip that can be omitted because of size restrictions without affecting the gag or storyline.
Below is the pencil roughs and finished inks for the drop panel for the Sally Forth for August 18, 2013, followed by an excerpt of the stage direction from Francesco Marciuliano’s script.
Scene: Interior, Pizza Restaurant.
Ted sits at the head of the table in the middle of the panel. On both sides we see the teammates still in uniform—eating slices of pizza. There are maybe three large pizzas on the table, all with slices missing. Ted also wears his hat and game day T-shirt. The kids each have sodas in paper cups (the kind you find at pizza parlors). On Ted’s immediate left is a girl we called “Player #1.” On Ted’s immediate right is Hilary. Everyone is busy eating as Ted looks at everyone at the table…
Ted (Thinking):
Okay, Ted. Try to think of something positive yet still truthful to say…
Before I go to pencils on bristol, it’s invaluable that I do a tight layout first so that I can get the composition squared away. In the case of the rough shown above, I purposely cropped the rough so that Ted was still the focus and wasn’t lost in the foreground detail.
I also try not to necessarily finish the drawing in the roughs. That refinement is best left for the pencils you intend to ink as more often than not transferring a drawing to bristol (using a light box) generally weakens a drawing.
Working out the layout before hitting your bristol will generally give you cleaner pencils, by which I mean a page that hasn’t been erased so much (by figuring out the layout) that the eraser has roughened the bristol to the quality of toilet paper.
And last but not least, here’s the rest of the Sunday page courtesy of Daily Ink.
Sally Forth – August 18, 2013
And speaking of Daily Ink, if Sally Forth isn’t in your local paper, you can check it out online at…
A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.
Comic Strips are formatted different ways for different size requirements. The “drop panel” is a panel or tier of the strip that can be omitted because of size restrictions without affecting the gag or storyline.
For example, Here’s today’s Sunday strip (June 9, 2013) as it appears on Daily Ink and in many papers.
And here is the black and white version with the drop panel.
For those readers who haven’t seen them, here’s a spotlight on last month’s Sally Forth drop panels.
Side note: They’re black and white as I don’t have access to the color files.
May 5, 2013
May 12, 2013
May 19, 2013
May 26, 2013
June 2, 2013
Addendum:
The standardized system to format strips for newspapers was devised years ago by King Features’ Comic Art Production Supervisor, Frank Chillino (1920-2007). It helped streamline the process saving countless hours of production time (and money) for King.
Jim Keefe – Frank Chillino – Jerry Craft
Frank Chillino was my boss when I first started at King – One of the greats! The above pic is from the 1993 King Features Christmas party in New York City. For those interested, the following link is an interview from when he retired back in 1991. As mentioned in the post, it pretty much encapsulates the history of the syndicated newspaper strip, as Chillino was one of the key players…
As many of you have already heard, I’m the new artist of the Sally Forth comic strip. My name has been on the dailies since March 11th, and even though I drew the strip for this past Sunday (3/31/2013), that was the last one overseen by cartoonist Craig MacIntosh and bears his name.
Back story: A few years ago I connected with Craig and began working as his assistant inking and coloring the Sally Forth Sunday pages. When Craig decided to retire last year I worked up some samples (under Craig’s watchful eye) which were then submitted to King Features Syndicate. After navigating the proper channels the word was given from on high – editorial approval – and I was given the green light
I can’t say enough about how great it was working with Craig. He’s the consummate professional who makes the incredibly stellar work he does look easy – a great friend and mentor.
Craig Macintosh
He’s currently turned to writing. His two most recent books are The Fortunate Orphans and The Last Lightning. I was able to make it out for the launch party for The Last Lightning and posted about it last fall.
He was handed the baton by Sally Forth’s creator, Greg Howard, when Greg decided to retire from the strip back in 1999.
I found a great interview with him on the Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show where he talks about his work on Sally Forth (below).
I was a fan of the Sally Forth comic strip long before coming on board, so I truly lucked out as far as being able to collaborate with Francesco. In addition to being a 15-year veteran on the strip, he knows the characters inside and out – which as far as I’m concerned makes the humor strike closer to home.
Warning: Unabahed plug time.
If Sally Forth isn’t in your local paper, you can check it out online at…
A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus a year’s archive for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.
