Font-astic!

As I’d mentioned recently, I’m working on a new strip.

One of the things I’ve been unhappy with in recent attempts is the lettering. “Smart Alex” was hand lettered, but it’s kind of sloppy. While “Hackles” used a font, but it ended up looking a tad font-y.

But, thanks to font-master Nate Piekos over at Blambot, I don’t have to worry about either problem anymore!

Behold my new font, “AndWritten”…

AndWritten Cartoon Font

It’s my handwriting, just… better. A lot better!

Here’s a good example:

5005 Old

5005 Old CloseUp

And here’s the vast vast improvement:

5005 New

5005 New CloseUp

There’s even a little up & down in the placement of the letters to avoid too much of a font vibe!

I’m not an easy guy to work for. I’m demanding, exacting and I take deadlines very seriously. But lemme tell you, Nate & Blambot not only met my expectations, but greatly exceeded them in every way.

I couldn’t be happier with the end result (in fact, I’m rather giddy!) and I’m already having a condensed version crafted for tighter spaces.

I’ve been holding back some cartoons with lettering in them and now I can’t wait to dig in. (Did I mention the font was delivered several weeks ahead of schedule too?) And I’m also looking forward to lettering the new strip!

Kudos, Blambot! Kudos!

Five Cartooning Tools That Don’t Get Any Respect

My paper, pencils and pens are probably the stars of my cartooning supplies. The laptop and scanner are right in there too, as is the graphics tablet I use for my color work.

But recently I found myself contemplating some of my less flashy tools. Steady workhorses that, while lacking the panache of a sexy brush pen, show up every day and quietly help me ink out a living.

So, here they are in no particular order…

#1 – Pencil Sharpener

Pencil Sharpener

Oh how I love this little guy. I’m a sharp pencil junkie. I keep it by me while I’m sketching to keep my #2’s nice and sharp. It runs on 4 AA’s and has the great little smoked plastic reservoir to catch the shavings.

I recently bought my wife one for her classroom after I noticed several blunt nubs populating her desk on a recent visit.

#2 – Radio

Radio

I keep this on during the day and alternate between NPR, a few local radio shows and the Today show (Yep! It even gets TV stations!)

It sounds great for what it is and is small enough to carry around pretty easily.

(I also have its tub dwelling cousin to listen to in the shower!)

#3 – Address Stamp and Ink

Stamp & Ink

OK, this is kind of a twofer, but these two rely so heavily on each other that I had to list them together.

The address stamp had pounded my name and address on the the backs of untold thousands of cartoons as they leave the nest to make their way in the world. And the bottle if ink is still mostly full, even though I’ve been using it for years!

#4 – Polar Bear Pants

Pants

Yes, you read that correctly — polar bear pants!

This is my favorite pair of pants in all the world. Its ferocious fuzzy flannel has been my lower half’s choice for many moons.

Pants2
Here’s a close up of the pattern.

With summer coming they’ll be packed away for a time, but come fall I look forward to rekindling our leggy romance.

Pants3
Me doing my Sears catalog pose.

#5 – Coffee Table

Coffee Table
That’s Gillespie on the upper right.

My wife, son, dog, two cats and I live in a small three-bedroom ranch in the ‘burbs. I have my small office, but there’s not room enough for a proper drawing table.

When I first starting cartooning I had no idea if it would go anywhere, so all of my cartoons were drawn at this coffee table, where they continue to be produced to this day.

I sit on the floor with my back resting on the sofa and my legs Indian-style beneath the table. Believe it or not it’s really quite comfortable!

We’re probably going to be moving into a slightly larger house next summer (have I mentioned my 21-month old is a giant?), and I look forward to setting up a larger office with a fine drawing table, but this coffee table will always hold a special place in my heart and living room.

Well that feels good. I’m glad this stuff has finally gotten the attention it deserves. And now you’ve seen me in my polar bear pants!

Lucky you!

I (Heart) Comic Strips

Cartoonist Mark Heath wrote a really nice blog the other day entitled “Love and Obsession” about the last freelance cartoon he sold and his ensuing obsession with the then unpublished Spot the Frog.

Mark explains how he immersed himself in Spot for several months, although, as with all submissions, the chances of it being picked up by a syndicate were small.

“It was crazy to spend so much time on a strip that contributed nothing to the bills, and would eventually be thrown into the blades of a syndicate’s submission shredder (or so I supposed, based on my previous 12 submissions.) But I couldn’t stop thinking about Spot and Karl and the rest.”

I’ve recently been working on a new strip of my own, but had shelved it as of late. There’s an awful lot of gloom and doom out there among cartoonists (myself included) about the current state of the comics and syndication, and it’s easy to think ‘why should I even bother?!’ But Mark’s post helped me rally, and I’m really excited about this strip again.

OK, it probably hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of actually being picked up, but there’s real joy in just making the attempt too, and it’s nice to be reminded of that.

Elektra – Review

Elektra

I was actually kind of hoping Elektra would be bad, but it was worse than bad, it was boring.

As I sat down I remarked to my wife “wish me luck” and wait for this to be another Catwoman. But after about a half hour I found myself wondering if it was too late for a Mountain Dew.

Elektra, who seems to have lost her last name since Daredevil, returns from the dead and works as a Frederick’s of Hollywood clad assassin until she’s hired to kill Mark Miller and his thieving yet supposedly likable daughter.

Of course she’s conflicted after meeting each of them for roughly ten combined minutes and forming some sort of deep instantaneous bond, and ends up protecting them instead from the murderous Hand organization.

Blah blah blah ninjas blah blah fighting blah blah blah mystical warriors blah blah green smoke blah blah blah meaningless flashback blah blah blah blah blah…

The few good parts mostly revolve around Jennifer Garner in a skimpy red corset, a weird lesbian death kiss from a character named Typhoid, and the poorly named Tattoo villain (I couldn’t help yelling “The plane! The plane!” at the TV) whose inky coverings come alive and leave his body.

(For those of you looking to check this out for the corset factor alone, don’t waste your time. There’s a little bit at the beginning, but it’s lit rather darkly, and then you don’t see it again until an hour and eleven minutes in.)

When compared to other recent Marvel movies, this is somewhere between The Punisher and Hulk. You don’t have Travolta dragging it down, but there’s no giant green guy either.

Darn it, I was really really looking forward to writing this review. I’d gone looking for pictures of both Garner and Berry and started creating little charts to compare Elektra and Catwoman. I’d begun working on a great graphic involving the two of them duking it out too. This was going to be fun! But sadly, Elektra is so uninteresting it isn’t even worthy of mockery.

So, unbelievable as it sounds, I still like Catwoman better. Sure, Berry’s performance is laughable, but at least it was so bad it was watchable.

(BTW, for those of you who remember the Catwoman review, on the Margie “You’ve got to be kidding me!” scale, this rated only seven outbursts in 96 minutes.)