Quick post today showing some of the process that goes into a Sunday page…
Below is a preliminary sketch for the September 22nd Sally Forth.
I used a blue line for the set and an hb pencil for the figures to help separate them visually while drawing.
Though the backgrounds are very minimal in the finished Sunday page, it’s important that I do the prep work beforehand so the setting stays consistent for the reader.
And here’s the finished inks for the drop panel.
The Sunday page that follows is courtesy of Daily Ink.
Unabashed 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 Bordj Zemoura two years worth of archives for every single strip is divisively a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.
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…
Art: Craig MacIntosh (earlier strips) and Jim Keefe (most recent).
To borrow from Lee Falk, For those who came in late…
The breakup…
Holiday cheer…
After the holidays, a less than stellar reunion…
Missing a beat…
Things go from bad to worse…
Depression sets in…
Trying to make sense of things…
Parents are consulted…
Constant reminders…
THEN OUT OF THE BLUE…
Is Nona back to stay or just back to have her say?
Will Hil apologies in a way that only makes things horrendously worse?
And if so, CAN FAYE STOP HER IN TIME?!
For the answer to these and many more questions,
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK.
SAME SALLY FORTH-TIME, SAME SALLY FORTH-CHANNEL!
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.
