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dolariHow to draw the Jenn Dolari way:
Normally, what I do is draw on an 8 1/2 sheet of typing paper or scrap paper (I have tons of the stuff from my Kinko's days) using a really sharp #2 pencil. Basically, I try to draw what I see straight onto paper, but occasionally you'll see me use the "Ball and cylinder" method of drawing.
Once all the pencilling is done for an episode, I'll ink it using a Bic ball point pen (or any other pen that let's the ink out smoothly, like a Pilot. I usually add lots of detail in the inking.
After that, I scan the image as a pure 2 color Black and white image (not greyscale) at 300 DPI. A regular sheet of paper will scan in about 3500x2500 pixels. Once it's scanned in, I'll clean up any stray pencil marks that made it through the scan, and do any editing I need to do (moving an eye, shaving a line down, recompositing a face).
After that, depending on what the panel calls for, I'll composite stuff in (like the star backgrounds for AWFW, or more intricate backgrounds (The gazebo for Closetspace is one example). After it's all composited, I'll draw in the color/greyscale using an optical mouse.
Finally, the 3500x2500 image gets shoved down to 224x224 with bilinear sampling. This gives it a nice semi-blurred look so that the background and foreground mix together well.
After I do that, I fire up my comic template and assemble the comics into their 3x2 panels.
I load up Pagemaker, and do all my lettering in it, transferring it over to Paint Shop Pro 6 (my graphics editor). Then it gets shoved down from 16 Million colors to 256 colors and saved as a GIF (because GIF doesn't rearrange pixels). I'll occasionally do JPG if the GIF gets WAY too gradiated or colors start blurring into the grey.
After that, I upload the comic where people tell me it sucks and I should go back to doing tech support. :)
Nature has suddenly gone cold.
I've been watching Agrippa the Spider on and off all night. A bug got caught in it's web and I've been watching her on and off all night hoping to see her pounce on the buggye. No such luck. Around 12:30 AM the buggie disappeared. I did get to see Agrippa shake her front legs a few times and bristle her fangs, but...well...she obviously wasn't very hungry.
Not to mention I was watched for a time as well. Raymond, our praying mantis (Yes, I changed his name) was sitting on the door frame as well...and he was cocking his head all over the place as the moths flew around...then he looked right at me. and followed me wherever I moved my head. Creepy. Then, he began to move off...and I lost him. Came back, only to find he had moved to a position where he could see ME better. I had fun having him watch my finger as it darted across the glass.
Around 1:00 AM, though, with Blert, the Not So Intelligent Cat, outside, I heard what sounded like rain falling. This was, it was dry and Blert was on "alert." That's when I realized - he was playing with a rattlesnake under our front steps.
I tried waiting for the rattle to stop, but anytime it did, Blert would bat at the steps and the rattle would start up again. Finally, after fretting for about 15 minutes, AND watching Blert go halfway under the steps to the snake, I gave: I opened the door as wide as I could, the rattling got EXTERMELY loud and in rushed the cat.
He's not going out for the rest of the night.
Normally, what I do is draw on an 8 1/2 sheet of typing paper or scrap paper (I have tons of the stuff from my Kinko's days) using a really sharp #2 pencil. Basically, I try to draw what I see straight onto paper, but occasionally you'll see me use the "Ball and cylinder" method of drawing.
Once all the pencilling is done for an episode, I'll ink it using a Bic ball point pen (or any other pen that let's the ink out smoothly, like a Pilot. I usually add lots of detail in the inking.
After that, I scan the image as a pure 2 color Black and white image (not greyscale) at 300 DPI. A regular sheet of paper will scan in about 3500x2500 pixels. Once it's scanned in, I'll clean up any stray pencil marks that made it through the scan, and do any editing I need to do (moving an eye, shaving a line down, recompositing a face).
After that, depending on what the panel calls for, I'll composite stuff in (like the star backgrounds for AWFW, or more intricate backgrounds (The gazebo for Closetspace is one example). After it's all composited, I'll draw in the color/greyscale using an optical mouse.
Finally, the 3500x2500 image gets shoved down to 224x224 with bilinear sampling. This gives it a nice semi-blurred look so that the background and foreground mix together well.
After I do that, I fire up my comic template and assemble the comics into their 3x2 panels.
I load up Pagemaker, and do all my lettering in it, transferring it over to Paint Shop Pro 6 (my graphics editor). Then it gets shoved down from 16 Million colors to 256 colors and saved as a GIF (because GIF doesn't rearrange pixels). I'll occasionally do JPG if the GIF gets WAY too gradiated or colors start blurring into the grey.
After that, I upload the comic where people tell me it sucks and I should go back to doing tech support. :)
Nature has suddenly gone cold.
I've been watching Agrippa the Spider on and off all night. A bug got caught in it's web and I've been watching her on and off all night hoping to see her pounce on the buggye. No such luck. Around 12:30 AM the buggie disappeared. I did get to see Agrippa shake her front legs a few times and bristle her fangs, but...well...she obviously wasn't very hungry.
Not to mention I was watched for a time as well. Raymond, our praying mantis (Yes, I changed his name) was sitting on the door frame as well...and he was cocking his head all over the place as the moths flew around...then he looked right at me. and followed me wherever I moved my head. Creepy. Then, he began to move off...and I lost him. Came back, only to find he had moved to a position where he could see ME better. I had fun having him watch my finger as it darted across the glass.
Around 1:00 AM, though, with Blert, the Not So Intelligent Cat, outside, I heard what sounded like rain falling. This was, it was dry and Blert was on "alert." That's when I realized - he was playing with a rattlesnake under our front steps.
I tried waiting for the rattle to stop, but anytime it did, Blert would bat at the steps and the rattle would start up again. Finally, after fretting for about 15 minutes, AND watching Blert go halfway under the steps to the snake, I gave: I opened the door as wide as I could, the rattling got EXTERMELY loud and in rushed the cat.
He's not going out for the rest of the night.
