RSS Feeds for Blogs

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Max West

Greetings!  I’m on a train en route for Anthrocon as this post goes live.  Last time, I talked about email subscriptions for blogs.  Each and every comics blog, or any blog for that matter, should have one.  But there’s something else that a blog should have and it’s a great way to attract readers to your Web presence.  That is an RSS feed.  Huh?  What’s that?  You don’t know what an RSS feed is?  Well, let me explain.

RSS Icon

"RSS Icon", Graphite and colored pencil on 8.5x11 paper

RSS is usuallly represented by this icon you see here (my facsimile thereof).  RSS usually stands for Really Simple Syndication.  It’s a format that allows for publication of frequently updated works such as blogs and multimedia.

Many Web users out there like to use feeds and feed readers to check out their favorite content.  By offering RSS feeds, you can let users read content from your blog all without having to go to your page.

Continue reading →

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Offering Email Subscriptions for Blogs

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Max West

Web logs, or blogs, are a handy tool.  It’s a lot better than the old static websites of the 1990s and search engines love them more.  Many out there might have their own blog and many more love to read blogs all over.

Some however may not necessarily like surfing the Web to read blogs.  Some like to read them via RSS feed (I’ll discuss this in a future post).  But some like to read blog posts via email.  *record scratch SFX*  What was that?  Some of you out there don’t believe me?  Some of you may even be skeptical.  What exactly is the benefit of offering a blog email subscription, especially for your comics blog?  Gather round, kiddies – the great Max West will tell you the benefits of offering a blog email subscription.

Rusty typing

Rusty hits the web!

Email is not a passing fad.  It’s here to stay.  No longer a newfangled trend of the digital age, it’s come to take its place in our everyday lives.  What’s that?  You don’t believe me?  Well, I have some stats you should really take a look at.  Continue reading →

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Book Review: Framed Ink

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Max West

This week, your humble creator, Max West, has a book review up.  It’s something that can help anyone who works in comics and maybe even in filmmaking.  This book review is for Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers by Marcos Mateu-Mestre.

Framed Ink is a title published in 2010 by Design Studio Press.  Consisting of 128 pages, the book takes a look at a variety of angles and shots you can use for composing comics layouts.  Some of you may remember that I did emphasize the importance of this in one of my making comics posts.

Continue reading →

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A Little More Concept Art for Ep. 5

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Max West

Hello, friends!  I just have a few more pieces of concept art to share with you this week.  I’m over in Huntsville, Alabama and I’m having a blast at Rocket City Furmeet so I can’t chat for long.

Rusty Color Study 2

"Rusty Color Study 2", Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 8.5x11 in.

This is a second color study for Rusty.  The other color scheme has him in a red shirt.  I gave him another one in blue.  Those of you versed in color theory (I’m only starting to learn it) will know that blue is one of the three primary colors, along with red and yellow.  In fact, one of the things I’ve learned is that superheroes tend to have costumes in red, yellow, and blue.  Look at Superman, Captain America, Spider Man, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Iron Man, etc.  So I decided to apply that to Rusty here.  I think it works well.  Again, this is made for the reference of both myself and Steven Martin, who will be doing the cover for the fifth episode of Sunnyville.   Continue reading →

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A Photo Opportunity?

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Max West

When it comes to working on my comics, I tend to rely on my imagination.  There’s nothing wrong with doing this.  Some out there like Jerry Moriarty like to work entirely from there imagination.  Others though may use live models and/or photo reference.  Noted illustrator James Gurney, creator of Dinotopia, uses both photos and live models frequently.  In fact, in a recent blog post of his, Gurney reviews some of his methods of working.  He does indeed use photos.  In fact, I’d like to expand some more on that.

Episode 1 page 2 panel 1This image that you see here is from the first episode, second page of Sunnyville Stories.  This locomotive was sketched from photo reference.  I just made a search on the web and through books of steam locomotives and made sketches from those images to come up with this.  Photos can be a handy tool.  At the same time though, professional artists like Gurney acknowledge that they can be a crutch or even a problem.  Continue reading →

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More Episode 5 Concept Art

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Max West

Welcome back, friends.  I have a few more conceptual pieces here for Sunnyville Stories episode 5.  First, I need to make a brief announcement.  Next Saturday, I will be heading to Huntsville, Alabama.  This will mark the first time in sixteen years that I’ve been south of the Mason-Dixon line.  Why am I going there?  I will be attending an event down there called Rocket City Furmeet.  My work will be displayed in the art show and I’ll be there to promote Sunnyville Stories.  Believe me, I’ll have a full report and photos when I return.  And now, on with the show.

Rusty Color Study 1

"Rusty Color Study 1", Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 8.5x11

This work you see here is a rough color study for Rusty Duncan.  Some of you who have read my comics know that I work in black and white.  So then why would I need a color study?  Well, the covers for one thing.  It’s not only for my reference, but for the reference of others.  I’m planning to have a guest artist do a cover for the fifth episode of Sunnyville (more on that in a moment).  Continue reading →

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101 Fine Artists Everyone Should Know

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Max West

I have yet another list here.  This is meant to inspire you.  For those of you who like to make comics, it’s good to read what’s out there.  But there’s the old adage that you should look outside your area of interest to find new ideas.  Think about it: if you want to make comics but read nothing but comics, you can only recycle what has already been produced.  That can lead to stagnation.

So why not look at the world of fine art?  Go to a museum, swing by your local library or surf the Web to find out about fine artists out there who made oil paintings, print, statues, etc.  I had to do that myself.  For a long time, I just drew upon nothing but newspaper comics.  My work started to get stale and I felt I was going nowhere.  That’s what led to me research fine art.  I was able to rediscover one of my favorite artists, Paul Klee.

Anyway, let’s get onto the list now.  Just like with my list of 101 cartoonists – this is not meant to be a comprehensive list.  It would be next to impossible to include every single fine artist out there within a single blog post…or even in a single blog for that matter.  No disrespect is intended to artists (living and dead) not included on this list.

  1. Piet Mondrian
  2. Pablo Picasso
  3. Vincent Van Gogh
  4. Leonardo Da Vinci
  5. Paul Klee
  6. Claude Monet
  7. Salvador Dali
  8. Henri Matisse
  9. Andy Warhol
  10. Jackson Pollock
  11. Willem De Kooning  Continue reading →
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Episode 5 Conceptual Sketches

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Max West

Today, I thought I’d share some of the conceptual sketches I’m working on for the fifth episode of Sunnyville Stories.  Just a reminder, the fifth episode is expected sometime by the later summer of this year (2011).  This story is titled “Dance Hall Days” and revolves around a local dance which Rusty is scared of going to.  It’ll be up to Sam to help him get through this situation.

Anyway, I had conceived some outfits for the characters to wear.  Keep in mind that they are going to a local dance so they can’t just wear their everyday street clothes.

Olaf's SuitYes, this page was taken right from my sketchbook.  I thought about what Olaf might wear.  I got the idea of him wearing something that would fit him…not an easy task since he’s quite chubby.  I also decided to put a lapel orchid in his suit.

My goal was to make it look somewhat format yet at the same time a little bit silly.  If you notice, his necktie is rather wide and it’s quite rare nowadays to see someone wearing a boutonniere.  I’ve had to come up with some other sketches with similar outfits for the other characters.  It wasn’t easy.

 

 

Continue reading →

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Sunnyville Stories Episode 4, page 13-14 pencils

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Max West

Welcome back, friends.  I have more pencilled comics pages this week.  We start to take a look at the reasons why Mr. Jakes has fallen behind in fixing the townspeople’s appliances.  Rolf is ready to offer some insight.

Episode 4 page 13 pencilsRoger seems to know quite a bit of Mr. Jakes’ history.

It was quite fun to come up with a younger version of Mr. Jakes and his wife Betty.  The inked version has their fur as being black – their fur is hatched with pen marks to show them greying when they are older.

Oh yes, Rusty’s off-color comment there is not in the final inked version.  I changed his line to “I bet they saved a bundle on babysitting costs.”  Some people didn’t like the off-color joke of Rusty’s and some even suggested that would alienate some readers.   Continue reading →

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Episode 5 and Future Works

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Max West

As I type this, I’m waiting for a proof copy of the fourth episode of Sunnyville Stories from the nice people at Ka-Blam.  I’ve already started the thumbnails for the next episode of Sunnyville Stories.  That will be the fifth episode and it will be titled “Dance Hall Days”.  Yes, it’s named after the song by 1980s New Wave band, Wang Chung.  This will be the second episode of my saga that shares its name with a song title.

Episode 5 Teaser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This episode was largely based on some of my own personal experiences.  When I was younger, there were dances held at school.  I was TERRIFIED of going to them.  Why?  I couldn’t dance.  I always feared how others would react.  That of course will be the key conflict in this episode.  A local dance is behind held.  Rusty at first refuses to go, but his parents actually command him to attend.  This causes a problem…Rusty can’t dance.  The episode is about facing your fears and will revolve around Sam trying to help her friend face his anxiety about the upcoming dance.  At the time of this writing, I’m working out thumbnails and gathering photo reference.  Expect to see it sometime in the late summer of 2011.

The sixth episode will probably not be entering production until next year (more on this in a moment).  That episode will be titled “Squeeze Play” and again, it was based on some of my personal experiences.  The basic gist of the story is that Rusty and friends put on a play for the townspeople.  Want to know more?  Sorry, friends, but that will have to wait.

The reason that Sunnyville Stories episode 6 is being delayed is because I’m aiming to work on a trade paperback of the series after finishing episode 5.  That’s right – I aim to gather the first three episodes of the series, fix them up, and put them into a real live trade paperback.  The book will also have a bonus story and some other extra goodies.  There’ll be more details on this soon, but I aim for a release around Christmas of this year or at the latest, the start of 2012.  I will also get an ISBN number for this book so it can be listed on Amazon.com and carried in your friendly neighborhood bookstores.

That’s it for now.  I’ll have more pencilled comics pages up on the weekend and even more goodies next week.

Any comments or questions?  I’ll field them here.  Be sure to subscribe via RSS or email if you haven’t and grab your copies of Sunnyville comics from the store.

 

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