Kelci, Author at Kelci D Crawford

August 6, 2014

How I Got Into Zines and Mini-Comics

Last week I talked about my reading list (and of course it has changed since then. I can be a quick reader).

This week I’d like to talk about zines, mini-comics, what they are, and how I got into them.

To the casual reader, what I just said probably wouldn’t make sense. You might be thinking, “What’s a zine? What makes a mini-comic different from other comics? What are you talking about?”

Let’s start with “What’s a zine?” The answer to this will explain a lot.

A Zine is a very independently self-published work.

I don’t mean, “I raised the money to get this book printed at a comic book printer,” self-published (that’s what’s usually meant in the comics scene when you say “self-published,” anyway).

I mean taken-to-the-photocopier-at-Staples-and-stapled-together self-published. Very indie. So indie that only a handful of bookstores across the United States actually sell them like they would at any other book store or magazine rack.

Zines are a labor of love, and not made for any kind of profit.

Zines are like magazines, and can cover a wide range of topics, from vegan recipes to feminist rants.

Mini-comics are the comics version of the zine, and can cover just as large of a variety of topics.

This is not a new phenomenon, either. The 1970s underground comix movement started as zines and mini-comics, so they have had a long, rich history, even if they have been subversive and underground.

So how did I get into them?

Well, it started before I was even aware of what I was doing, back in middle school.

In middle school, I had a small circle of friends, and we would fold up paper into pages and doodle and write jokes and stories all over them. We called these zines “The Little Books of Nuffin.” Except one time, when we made a zine called “The Little Book of Somethin’.”

But then I moved to a new school, and forgot about them.

Later, I purchased a book, called “Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? The Art of Making Zines and Mini-Comics” by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson.

I was in high school, and I just came around to the idea of wanting to make comics for a living. At time time, I wanted to get into manga (excuse me while I laugh at myself), but I figured, “Hey, zines and mini-comics would be a great way to get my feet wet and make comics to maybe give to friends or something.”

I didn’t actually make any zines until college, in my freshman year, when I made “The Top Hat Club.”

It was short-lived – I only ever made two issues, even though at the time I wanted to make more. The story was kind of weak and the art was not at the level I wanted it to be.

So I abandoned “The Top Hat Club” and moved on.

I joined the Bowling Green Comics and Cartooning Club, where half of the artists in the club made zines and minis in their spare time. Once a year they would collaborate on one zine together, the Cartooning Club Anthology, and sell copies at a campus event, Arts X, a fundraiser for the different art departments on campus.

I participated in the Anthology for two years, until the club dissolved, and then I joined urban nu-sense.

Urban nu-sense was all about underground hip-hop, zines, and subversive art. I was involved for at least two semesters there, sharing art and open letters.

And then, in my final semester at school, my friends and I went on a class trip to Chicago.

And there, we went to one of the (if not THE) mecha of zines and mini-comics, Quimby’s Bookstore.

I spent over $50 on zines and minis and I REGRET NOTHING.

I still make mini-comics occasionally. I started with “Breakfast for Dinner,” and moved on to “Ghost”, “Jumper” (which I will probably never make public), and more recently, “Mr. Dino & Friends.”

I also have one still in the works…

So I still enjoy making mini-comics. They’re tiny, they’re easy to make, and they’re a lot of fun!

It’s a wonderful, tiny world to get involved in.

So have you read any zines or mini-comics? Which ones were your favorites? Please let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Wednesday!

July 30, 2014

Books I Am Reading

I am a former libarian. I. LOVE. Books.

bookshelves full of books — SO. MANY. BOOKS.

Since I have moved back into Ohio, I have rediscovered some of the books I had left behind when I moved to Arizona. (Because, obviously, I can’t fit all of my books into my car along with my other belongings. I need clothes on my back, yo.)

Believe it or not, I used to have a larger book collection than what’s pictured above. What’s pictured was nearly one fourth of what I used to have. I have since sold books, donated them, or given them to friends and family.

The books I have now are the books I actually want, and that I enjoy reading.

I want to share my reading list with you because not only is it long, but it may have some books that you haven’t read yet.

Books like…

I’ve read this book countless times and I never get tired of it. The watercolor paintings and the character art is just gorgeous to look through, and it has engrossing mysteries. It’s like a Disney noir detective comic and it’s brilliant.

“Poison” is a rather dark young adult fantasy, but I remember reading it and falling in love with it when I was younger. I’m re-reading it and rediscovering some of its brilliance, especially in its later chapters.

The story is about a girl named Poison (in her village the kids pick their own names), whose baby sister is whisked away to the faerie realm. So Poison goes out to rescue her. And on the way she encounters deadly faeries, a cannibal, a kingdom of spiders, and master storytellers.

If you haven’t read it yet, and you’re a fan of young adult literature, read it. It’s worth it.

“We’ll Always Have Paris” is actually a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury which (if I have it right) had not been published before 2009 or thereabouts. I inherited it from my uncle who loved his work. I read and fell in love with Fahrenheit 451, so I was excited to read his short stories.

I’ve only read the first short story in it so far, called “Massinello Pietro,” which is tragically hilarious. It’s about a man who gives animals away as charity and sings and dances in the wee hours of the morning before he’s taken away by the police. And it’s based on a person Bradbury was neighbors with.

I’m excited to see what else he has written.

I’m re-reading “American Gods” because I absolutely adore this book. It’s unlike anything else Neil Gaiman has written and it still has a special place in my heart.

I’m also a wee-bit jealous that he somehow managed to blend worldly mythologies, road trips, history, and American kitsch so well. There’s no other work like it, and I don’t think Gaiman himself would ever be able to replicate this kind of magic again.

Upon re-reading it, I’m seeing all of these elements that I never noticed before in the work. The smaller details that, in the end, are giveaways to what will happen in the end.

It’s just brilliant.

I am a sucker for books about books. (I want to re-read “The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop” by Lewis Buzzbee for that reason).

“Reading Lolita in Tehran” is fascinating and a great eye-opener to a culture with oppressive censorship laws. This was written at a time where the cultural police would hound you if a stray hair fell out of your scarf, it was that bad.

But in that time, a former university professor gathered some of her best students and they would gather in her living room. And they would read and discuss Western literature, like Nabokov’s “Lolita” (not for the faint of heart, but a very haunting look into a villain’s psyche), “The Great Gatsby,” the works of Jane Austen, among others that Iran had banned because of their scandalous-ness.

I haven’t made it far into the book, but it’s been great so far.

“The Flight of the Falcon” was a book I tried to read when I was much, much younger and thought I was Matilda, but the book is definitely made more for adults.

Now that I’m two chapters into it, I can see why the book eluded me as a kid: it’s about a tour guide in Italy, haunted by his past, whose tour gets derailed when an old woman from his childhood is murdered.

This book is by the same author as “Rebecca” (I haven’t read it yet, but it was made into a brilliant Hitchcock film). One thing I will give to du Maurier is that she writes brilliant atmosphere. You can feel the tension in the air with her words. I don’t know what happened to her in her life that made her writing so dark and foreboding, but she channels it well into her work.

And here are some books I have finished rather recently:

I actually finished reading the entire “Re:PLAY” series, which is 3 volumes long. It’s great to see the artistic progression throughout the three volumes because C. Lijewski’s work does improve throughout.

What I never realized when I read this as a younger person is that one of the main characters is a trans person. At the time I never really thought twice about it. I just went, “Oh. He was a boy but now she’s a girl. Ok cool.”

Granted, the romances in this work can be problematic. However, the characters are nicely developed and the back-and-forth banter can be hilarious to read. Combine that with the (incredibly detailed) art and the series is worth a look.

I never read “Fun Home” before, except for a short excerpt that appeared in a Best American Comics Anthology.

I can relate very strongly to the themes of the book, because it does talk about Bechdel growing up in rural Pennsylvania with parents who may or may not like each other. The book is also a great bildungsroman – a coming-of-age story, in which Bechdel grows into her identity as an out lesbian woman.

The narration can be hard to follow at times. I wonder if Bechdel was a grad student at one point, because sometimes the vocabulary can be unnecessarily convoluted.

I do sympathize, however, when she talks about her English classes at college, and how the professors would see particular themes in works where there’s no real evidence to support their idea. That notion does circle back into Bechdel asking herself, “Am I like my professors? Am I reading too much into the life I have lived with my father? Am I seeing elements that are not actually present in my life?”

Plus, you know, the art is lovely.

The book was a great read, so if you haven’t read it yet, you should.

Next Wednesday I’ll talk about some of the mini-comics and zines I have gotten over the years. I’ll see you then!

July 26, 2014

The Toledo Art Walk and How It Went

So on Thursday (July 24), I went to the Toledo Art Walk thanks to an invite from Packo’s at the Park and my friend Chloe. Packo’s wanted some caricature artists to help promote their restaurant and be a part of the Art Walk this month, and I was happy to do so because…

I like to draw,
My friend Chloe is awesome, and
I drew caricatures at Cedar Point for 3 summers and knew what I was doing.

The day of the set up, we got there early and stopped at The Art Supply Depo.

Another shot of inside the Art Depo. They had artwork from local artists on display as well.

The Art Supply Depo is an awesome store situated on South St. Clair street right behind Packo’s in downtown Toledo. They let Chloe borrow an easel for the night to draw caricatures on, and they had just the right markers and board that I needed to draw with.

The nice thing was Packo’s advertised for us in the Art Walk map, so that helped a lot in getting our name out there.

The front of the map. These were available at The Art Supply Depo and other sponsoring shop fronts.

Once Chloe and I got everything we needed, we set up our tables by Packo’s.

Chloe's table sat next to me. — Chloe’s table sat next to me.

I didn’t bring any Validation or Johnson & Sir books with me. But I did bring Prologues, IF-X, and a bunch of smaller things like bookmarks and stickers. I also had a book of prints.

Close up on my comics, bookmarks, and stickers. I also had some copies of Mr. Dino and Friends and Ghost to give away for freebies. — I also had some copies of Mr. Dino and Friends and Ghost to give away for freebies.

I had to keep the stickers in the sorter because it got breezy.

These bookmarks will be listed for sale online soon!

The Book of Prints. There were also a selection of $1 prints in the back.

Here’s Chloe’s table:

This was before I remembered that my book of prints had a few of her works in it.

Close up on her prints, for RWBY, Wreck-It Ralph, and Sailor Moon.

Our friend Alex also set up just down the sidewalk from us, selling some of her work. I meant to get pictures but by the time we got done setting up people were approaching us for caricatures left and right.

I managed to catch a few pictures before the customers left!

Their friends were teasing them the whole time. It was kind of adorable.

While I didn’t sell a whole lot of bookmarks or prints, I did get a lot of tips for working on caricatures, which is awesome!

Once 9 o’clock hit, we finished up drawing our last customers, and then we packed up.

This cart was the best gift I have ever received. Also, I'm a pro at condensing all the things into small packages. — This cart was the best gift I have ever received. Also, I’m a pro at condensing all the things into small packages.

And then Chloe, Alex and I went to The Durty Bird right around the corner for burgers and drinks to celebrate!

Inside The Durty Bird. Their burgers are delicious.

Of course I had to send the appropriate thank-you notes to folks, because I had a great time and the event went really well! I’m planning on going again when the next one happens August 28th. Hopefully then I’ll have more books (if people are interested!).

I intend on getting more involved in caricatures and doing them at art festivals and parties. But since comics and caricatures are both separate kinds of art forms, I’m making a separate blog specifically for caricatures.

It’s called “Caricature’d!” and you can find it here.

I’ll be adding more to it over the next couple of days, so keep checking back to it.

Here on this site I want to keep the conversation about comics, appearances I’ll be making, and the process of making comics (among other comic-related things).

Speaking of which, I’ll be making more of them soon…

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you on Wednesday.

July 23, 2014July 16, 2014

How I Make Comics

validation webcomic comic panel — DON’T PANIC! IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!

This post isn’t about the technical bits of how I make comics. I already talked about that in my step-by-step guide to making Johnson & Sir, and I also made one for Validation.

That’s not to mention the many tutorials online showing how to make comics, or the exercises in “Making Comics” by Scott McCloud or any number of books and classes that teach you the technical aspects of making comics.

Believe it or not, artists are very technical people.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what I want to talk about today.

Today I want to answer a question-ish thing someone asked me via email recently.

The Question-ish thing goes:

I would be interested to know how you, as a cartoonist, work, or think about work.

The truth is, I don’t really think about work all that often.

Let me explain.

I am a creature of habit.

I have particular places where things go, how things are put into order, and I have a routine established for every day and every week.

I am super organized.

I set up routines so I don’t have to expend energy thinking of where everything is or what I have to do.

I can put all of my energy on making art.

Does that mean that comics-making and art are made into a routine?

Yes.

In fact, my usual daily routine looks a little like this:

Wake up, shower
breakfast, make coffee or tea (depending on how much caffeine I need and what I’m craving)
sketch a warm-up piece
make comics
break for lunch
make more comics
done making comics, go to dinner
hang out with family
(sometimes) get writing done
BED!

There are changes sometimes. Like this week I ended my day before lunch and spent more time with my family. Playing board games, watching movies, what have you.

And one week my routine changed because of Phoenix Comicon (which, yay!).

Regardless, I always make time in my day to draw and make comics.

Now, making comics is a habit.

Anytime I break the habit, I am hyper aware and need to get back on track.

Making comics and art are skills, and they are skills that need to be practiced Every. Single. Day.

Just like writing. Or cooking. Or knitting (my goodness I haven’t knitted in a while).

So how do I make comics?

I make it a routine.

And it’s a routine I’m happy to keep.

July 16, 2014

How I Make Validation

Last time I spoke about How I Make Johnson & Sir. Today I want to show how I make a comic strip for Validation, the other webcomic I work on, because the process is a little different.

If you ever get lost in the technical bits (especially in the Photoshop section), I explain some of those steps in How I Make Johnson & Sir so hopefully the techno-lingo won’t be so confusing.

Today, I’ll show how I made strip #105.

Step 1: Get the Script

I don’t (really) write Validation. Christian does (though we often talk story ideas over). I wait for her to send the script over to me first, and then…

Step 2: Layouts

Sometimes I skip this step, depending on how simple or complex the strips are in the script. Since I work in three panels, it’s important to know where characters will be placed and where speech balloons will go, to make the strip as readable as possible. That way it won’t be so cluttered.

I did not do layouts for strip #105 because it was scripted in a pretty straightforward way, and I had an idea for how I wanted the strip to look.

However, I’ll show the layouts I did for #103, which had some weird camera angles.

validation comic layouts — click to enlarge

Step 3: Ready the Paper

I tend to do this step ahead of time. Thankfully I can get two strips from a single sheet of 9 inch by 12 inch Strathmore Bristol Vellum, which is my paper of choice for Validation. I trim the paper (to make it easier to fit on my scanner) and I’m good to go.

Step 4: Pencil the Strip

validation webcomic strip pencilled art — click to enlarge

Pretty straightforward. Although, if you notice two extra characters, one looks like me and one looks like my boyfriend. Fun fact!

When that’s done, I send the pencils to Christian (via DropBox) for approval. This is where any changes that need made can be done, though 99.9% of the time she gives the ok.

Step 5: Ink

validation webcomic comic strip inked artwork — click to enlarge

Once I get the ok, I ink!

To add a little depth, especially in panel 2, I made the foreground figures in thicker lines to make them pop more. I used a micron pen with a 1.0 width. The background figure in Panel 3 was drawn mostly with 0.5 and 0.3 width pens, with finer details in a 0.1 width micron pen.

Step 6: Color with Markers

My markers of choice are (from most preferred to least)…

Copic markers
Prismacolor markers
Sharpies

I used to do the entire comic in marker, but now I only do half. Sometimes it’s because a marker died, the markers will not blend well for the background, or I need a color I don’t have a marker for. So I just color what I can.

Step 7: Scan and Tweak in Photoshop

validation webcomic comic strip color artwork in photoshop — click to enlarge

Once marker coloring is done, I scan the strip in at 300 dpi (dots per inch) and open it in Photoshop. The first thing I do is adjust the brightness and contrast (shown in the above picture). That way the strip isn’t so dim. Then I adjust the curves.

validation webcomic comic strip color artwork on photoshop — click to enlarge

Doing this will let the colors really pop.

Once those adjustments are done, I make a new layer in Photoshop and call it “EDITS”. This is the layer where I correct color errors I made with the markers, fix any wonky lines, and clean up smudges and spots.

Step 8: Color the Background

Then I make another new layer on top of that and call it “BACKGROUND”, because here’s where I add background color.

validation webcomic comic strip artwork in photoshop coloring the background — click to enlarge

If you notice, I adjusted the blending options for this layer. For “EDITS” I left those settings alone, but with “BACKGROUND” I set it to Color Mode: “Multiply” at a Fill Opacity of 100%.

The reason I do this is because Multiply mode actually keeps the lines clean while still coloring. It works like this:

Rather than it looking flat and gross like this:

Then I just color in the background colors as needed.

Step 9: Color the Rest.

Once backgrounds are done, I make yet another layer on top and call that “FLATS.” I also set this layer to Color Mode: Multiply and Fill Opacity at 100%. This is where I color in the things my markers missed, like Jim’s coat and the game table.

validation webcomic comic strip artwork being colored in photoshop. — click to enlarge

…Sometimes I have another file open to reference for color.

Step 10: Color the Shadows

This step is one I talked about a little bit in my previous tutorial, but here you’ll really see it in action.

I make a new layer on top, call it “SHADES,” and then set to Color Mode: Multiply and – here’s the surprise – Fill Opacity at 35%.

Notice it’s not at 100%? That’s because I don’t want the shadows to be overpowering. I also want the color of the shadows to blend, instead of getting any weird effects that would happen if I changed the paint brush opacity (yes, you can do that).

Once I do that, I color the shadows in, and it looks like this.

validation webcomic comic strip art being colored in photoshop — click to enlarge

I did something a bit unusual in Panel 2: I put the two figures closest to the reader in shadow. I did this to frame the picture and keep the focus on Ally and Kyle.

So now the colors are done! I save the file, and then flatten the image so all the layers merge. Then I make another new layer and save the file for lettering.

Step 11: Write the dialogue

For this step, I have the open file of the script handy so I can refer to it.

Then I write the dialogue and captions.

validation webcomic comic strip lettering done in photoshop — click to enlarge

I try to arrange them in such a way that they won’t block too much of the art, and to ensure it can be read easily.

Then, once everything is written and checked for spelling, I get to the bottom layer, make a new layer, and start placing the balloons and boxes with the rectangle tool.

validation webcomic comic strip speech balloons and dialogue added to the final art — click to enlarge

I use the rounded rectangle for dialogue and the plain rectangle for narration.

To make the tail for that balloon, I got to the bottom layer again, made a new layer, and painted it in.

Once all of that is done, I merge the layers to flatten it out, and then…

Step 12: Save the File!

I save it first at its current size and call the file “Validation105_large.”

Then I adjust the image size.

The large file is at 300 dpi, which is the right size for print, but it isn’t too web-friendly. So to make it nice and tidy for the website, I shrink it from 300 dpi to 100 dpi. And I save that file as “Validation105_small.”

I send the finished strips to Christian via DropBox, and shazam! I’m done!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my process, and I hope you found something useful from it!

I’ll see you again on Wednesday.