tonycliff

Splish Splash!

Oh hello, Dear Reader.

As you can probably see, I've been working on the first of the two "cover" images. It's a work-in-progress! I'm happy with it right now, but I'll have to take a fresh look at it next week and see how it holds up.

The goal is not necessarily to have an actual book cover, but I do need some sort of cover-type image that I can use for promotion. For example, this week I've been working on a postcard to take to VanCAF.

(Side note: I'll be at 2023-03-23 23:53:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter Three Lettering, and The Parthenon Marbles

Lettering for Chapter Three of PRACTICAL DEFENCE is underway, which is exciting: it's the first time the comic really comes together to look like a comic, I think.

First, though, this video popped up for me on Youtube the other day, offering a decent introduction to the controversy over the Parthenon Marbles and Lord Elgin, the man who brought them to England.

If you are wondering why this might be...

Take Cover!

This week's theme is "making do with the technology at hand."

• Chapter Three inks are all done, so I'm scanning; scanning technology continues to be depressing,
• and cover work!

I've put the same images in the Patreon Image Viewer (above) as in the body of this post. If you want to be surprised by the "cover" designs, don't read too far. :)

SCANNING

I got out my trusty 13-year-old Canon scanner and discovered it's starting to show it...

Chapter Three Inks Complete! (Also: "Always Never")

Join me in Happy Town this week, where we look at…

• Jordi Lafebre's BD/graphic novel ALWAYS NEVER,
• and the last few pages of Chapter Three!

As ever, I've put the same pages in the image viewer above (if you're reading this on the Patreon site) as well as below (for ease of talking about them, and if you're reading this as an email). All the inked pages come last so you can avoid spoilers if you like.

First:

2023-03-02 20:07:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter Three Inks - Almost Finished!

This week we pick up where we left off two weeks ago, inking the last few pages of Chapter Three then looping around to ink the first pages last! (I get better at drawing and inking as I go, and I want the first pages to be the best.)

As ever, I've duplicated the images above in the body below.
If you want to avoid spoilers, go no further!
Seriously! This post is very spoilery.
But if you're a maniac like me and you w...

"How to Write Better Dialogue," said the cartoonist.

Sit down across from me for this week's talkative update, featuring…

• A Delilah Dirk "soundtrack!"
• Pirates stole the metric system from the United States?
• And some thoughts on my favourite topic: how to write dialogue.

This is a public post in line with my belief about making ostensibly learny posts free for all. Next week, I'll get back to the behind-the-scenes inked pages from Chapter Three of PRACTICAL DEFENCE.

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2023-02-16 19:10:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Back to Boats (Chapter Three Inks Continue)

THIS WEEK: a busy week! I've been throwing "Reels" at Instagram, drawing the ins and outs of boats again (hoo boy), and looking after a toddler who is a foot taller every day, it seems.

(As ever, the images above are repeated below, just for ease of reading/viewing, and the inked pages are the last item in this post, in case you want to avoid "spoilers.")

REELS ON INSTAGRAM

I need to get word out about this project some how, so this week I'm experim...

Now THAT'S what I call RESULTS.

THIS WEEK!

• The results of some recent patron polls!
• On the topic of cover design, please read Dan Wagstaff's blog…
• and a look at some Chapter Three pencils and inks.

As ever, I've posted the Chapter Three images above AND below for your viewing convenience. But first…

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

I asked you for your votes and opinions on both a "cover" for PRACTICAL DEFENCE as well as a design for the flag of the pirates wh...

Vote: THE PIRATE FLAG (Also: Hoarding Col-erase Pencils)

I am rapidly approaching inking the end of Chapter Three, wherein we see a pirate flag unfurl, but I still haven't chosen a flag to use.

Please help.

Some background: real pirate flags, it turns out, were boring. They're cool and spooky in a realistic sort of way, but not very dramatic. And they're a little on-the-nose with the repeating skull-and-bones motif.

2023-01-25 19:56:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Inks, Links, and Thinks

As ever, the images above are also posted below (with commentary), with a buffer of other fun business inbetween to defend against inadvertent spoilers.

This week:

• Are you having a nice life?
• Instagram links to make your feed more delightful,
• The style-shift from DD1 to now: a story of growth and acceptance,
• and some hits from the drawing board!

THE BABY CHECKS IN

I don't share a lot of personal-life stuff because...

Chapter Three Inking: Off to a Good Start

This week,

• Some surprises and triumphs from the first week of inking Chapter Three,
• Medieval music and middle-eastern sounds, plus some tangential links to good things to listen to,
• Expert swordfighting.

I put the same images in the "image viewer" above as are below, just in case you want to see them more easily.

The quick little fun things first, since technically I guess the inking images contain spoilers.

When I encount...

Writing Process, Cover Update, CH3 Inking Begins

Happy New Year!

In this first update of 2023…

• I've started inking Chapter Three!
• If you haven't done so yet, you can still vote for a cover design.
• In response to this process video, I received a question from reader Laura DP about navigating from outline to thumbnails. I answer it along with a ...
  2023-01-05 18:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Pick a Cover for PRACTICAL DEFENCE!

A simple request:

Vote for the cover which MOST makes you think, "I NEED TO READ THAT."

That's the criteria.

Here are some bigger images, but honestly? If it's a really good cover, it will work even at small size.

2022-12-30 19:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post

SNOW DAY!

This never happens. Sure, statistically, it does happen, and it snowed a whole bunch last year, but still: this never happens!

If you are not familiar with the Pacific Northwest of North America, you may not know that in this little corner of Canada, it doesn't snow very often. Our winters are wet, grey, and steady. I can only ever remember two or three winte...

Visual Reference Keeps Giving Gifts

While drawing pages of Chapter Three this week, I had an experience that really emphasized the importance of visual reference. And I already know visual reference is important. Here, then, is a small story about what I think is an interesting discovery about drawing, designing things for comics, and story-telling.

Note: minor story spoilers included in this post. Just a heads-up.

2022-12-15 18:56:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Thumbnails, All Growed Up (Chapter Three Pencils)

A few weeks back I posted a video showing—in great detail—the process of thumbnailing a four-page sequence. Here are the "pencils" that I've drawn based on those thumbnails, plus a great compositional trick I learned from a perhaps-unlikely source.

• I've posted the same images above (in the image viewer) and below (in line with this post). If you want to take a closer look at the pics, it's ...
  2022-12-08 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Easy Ways to Make a Comic Better*

Friends, please let me share some simple checklist ways to help a comic look as good as it can. These items are low-hanging fruit, little quality niblets ready to be snatched up, free points to be scored, and they're all mistakes I've made in the past. I offer them in a spirit of comradeship, locking my arms with yours as we share this strange, specific creative pursuit and its oscillating joys and miseries (but also in the very selfish spirit of never wanting to see another balloon tangent e...

Book-Size Follow-Up, Patron Cameos, and The Worst Journey

This week:

• Some follow-up on last week's discussion about book-printing sizes. (Thank you so much to everyone who shared their thoughts!)
• DD was originally designed to be printed at traditional floppy-comic size.
• Patron cameos!
• If you like DD, I think you will like this graphic novel that is now available to buy...
  2022-11-24 19:34:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Book Size Comparisons and Chapter Three Pencils

I've been thinking about what PRACTICAL DEFENCE AGAINST PIRACY will be like as a book-book, so I got out some of my Delilah Dirk editions to see what their sizes would tell me. What is most appealing? Is bigger necessarily better?

At the start of PRACTICAL DEFENCE, I felt that if I was going to invest my time and energy in another multi-year-long comic project that I wanted the printed book-object to be perfectly satisfying. No compromises. But what does "perfectly satisfying" mean?

Thumbnailing a Fight Sequence

In the previous video I looked at the laying-out of four pages of dialogue-heavy character interaction. Here's the companion video, looking at the laying-out of a fight scene.

The heart of this video is the idea that if you (and I'm assuming "you" is a comics-making person) are going to take the time to draw a fight sequence, make it worth the time you spend drawing it out and make it worth your reader's time. Because remember: this is not a movie. In a movie, we get to force t...

Finishing Chapter Three and Four Thumbs

This week:

• Looking at some of the thumbnails for Chapters Three and Four
• I read some more Asadora! — Some thoughts on pacing and "shot selection."

As of this writing, I've made a complete pass through the next chapter plus the one after, all in thumbnail form. I'm going to leave it to "settle" over the next few days while I'm on Toddler Duty and revisit it next week.

I'm trying to keep it lean, and so far each chapter is about 40 pages, so rel...

Ninety Minutes of Thumbnailing (or: A Day at the Aesthetician)

One of the pieces of advice that I've heard given to beginning podcasters is "record three episodes, then throw them away and record your real first episode." This is ostensibly so you can learn your weaknesses and discover your shortcomings, then start fresh with the awareness necessary to overcome, minimize, or combat those shortcomings. It's great advice and it applies to making YouTube videos, too.

Welp, I don't have time for any of that, so here's the first-first, real-first, numbe...

Up to Something (DD4, Chapter 2, pages 83-88)

Notable Jackass, Provveditore Vignelli, offers to host a dinner and a ball to celebrate… well, to celebrate himself, certainly, but also nominally in honour of Alexandra's approaching birthday.

Since it's more of an unpleasant announcement than a question or an invitation, Alexandra wonders how she can make the best of it.

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And so, with these six pages, Chapter Two comes to a close! A chapter that—personally, at least—went in some unexpected direc...

Puff Guts (DD4, Chapter 2, pages 78-82)

The Provveditore has returned to Archipoli, and Alexandra (on a rooftop, conferring with a Winged Wisdom-Keeper) is in the perfect place to overhear his interaction with Nikos. The caped blowhard seems thoroughly perturbed by the presence of a British sailing vessel in his bay.

This sequence features one of my favourite choices: please take care to note that the Provveditore is always (okay, mostly) composed together with the horse's ass. This I think is what professionals call...

The Wisdom of Birds (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 73-77)

Last week Alexandra was low enough that she sunk to spending time with the midshipman. This week, she goes to see what the church has to offer her. Plus, she's in the right place at the right time when the governor of the town returns.

(As always, to read completed pages, browse the "DD4" tag.)

I included the churchy pages on a whim. It seemed like an indulgence when I initially wr...

"Can I be up here?" (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 68a-72)

We've just learned that both Alexandra's mother and Katerina knew what was in store for Alexandra as an English Lady while Alexandra, herself, did not. What's a girl to do except pick up a handful of rocks?

Now look, I know it probably seems like I say this about every sequence, but this one (and the next) have a special place in my heart. I really like the character business here. It's subtle and quiet, which I think is going to be a nice note to have in contrast with...

I'll Show You (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 61-68*)

This week: I sing, you sing, we all sing for Wanted Things.

This whole passage may be sung to the tune of… uh… to the tune of… oh, I don't know. Someone call Alan Menken!

I'm so excited to finally share this section. This, as much as anything in this book so far, is a product of the policy of "let's keep it weird and have fun." I've mentioned this previously, but I grew up with a dad who would unironically blast Disney soundtracks on his big stereo, and those animated movies...

Kite and Owl Are Friends (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 54-58)

After her parents shattered her childhood dreams and—to twist the knife (so to speak)—gave away her beloved practice swords, Alexandra roams Archipoli looking for her friend, whose reassurances will certainly right all the world's wrongs, Alexandra believes.

(To read all the Patreon posts with finished pages, simply turn to the "DD4" tag!)

Finally! <Rubs hands together with ...

The Mysterious Not-a-Sword (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 49-53*)

In which Alexandra discovers an ornate weapon, which her father assures her is—despite its appearance as a sword—not a sword. This is the second time we have seen it. What is its significance? And what could ever make Alexandra forgive her mother for what she did with her swords?

Tying into the themes of family stuff going on here, that last page includes an homage to a photograph my father took while he and my mother were honeymooning in Greece. It hung on a hallway wall i...

An Anchor to Hold (DD4, Chapter Two, pages 45-48)

In which Alexandra vents her frustrations against her mother, who was evidently unaware what sort of effect her plans would have on her daughter.

(As always, to read the other finished pages, simply browse the DD4 tag.)

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Some notes on these pages!

Despite the plain-ness of the scene, these pages were very difficult to colour. On the pink page...