This strip introduces two new “milestones”. One is the introduction of the idea that Mark’s phone is his therapist. I think our society is only one or two steps away from this already. Our phones have become such a personal extension of us- only smarter- that it only makes sense that we start asking them for help with our “life” problems- not just directions. Unfortunately, Mark’s phone is ALSO female.
Secondly, on the artistic side, this is one of the newer strips where I’m starting to digitally ink instead of just do pencils. I used Manga Studio to ink and that software has great digital ink nibs. So, not bad, but I still had to use Photoshop for the lettering and tones, so not perfect yet. I like the cleaner look, but its still not working for me and you’ll see other versions in the next couple weeks that I played with. And this took me at least an extra hour to produce, so its not been faster going digital, as I had hoped.
Very animated looking strip. Writing is solid. Professional. Has a 60s animation feel at first glance, kinda Jetsons-ish. Thing is–to me–it looks like any other professionally done comic strip in the papers so…well…is not that interesting to me. It looks ‘safe’. Anyway, I’m a cartoonist comics artist myself and I am as honest as I can be. Don’t want to upset you–and you draw better than me, probably, you have this whole official cool website, and I just have my miserable scrawlings on paper. Good luck!
Thanks for your honesty Chris. I gotta be me.
If you’re going digital, Manga Studio is the way to go. So, why use Photoshop at all? It has pretty good text settings and flexible balloon tools. I really only use Photoshop to scan and color, myself. If I were going to do my strip digital (I still prefer to do it traditionally) I would do it all in Manga Studio.
I do have to say I disagree with Chris though… I’ve been trying to get my strip syndicated for about a decade and I can say that your strip does not look like any other professionally done comic strip. Your figure design and rendering is absolutely superb. The only other professional cartoonist, I can think of, that could look similar would be Hank Ketcham… and that’s not a bad club to be in.
Scott, you honor me placing my name anywhere near the great Hank Ketcham. His is, in my opinion the TOP of the list for artistic ability. Thank you. Thanks for your suggestions on Manga Studio. I’m happy to say, I’m already going that direction. My newest strip was digitally inked in Manga Studio 5 (it won’t be “out” for a few weeks). I still did the lettering and balloons in Photoshop, but I still need to figure that out in Manga studio. Manga Studio 5 is WAY better than 4!
I haven’t had a chance to try MS5… I read that it wasn’t backwards compatible and I’m in the middle of a project with MS4Ex (love the perspective rulers). I did a short graphic novel version of Treasure Island where I used MS4 to do all the lettering as well as illustration, so it’s not so bad once you get the hang of it.
I’ve been hearing good things about MS5, if it can use CMYK and do trapping I would ditch Photoshop altogether. But I haven’t seen any specs that indicate that yet. If it does, let me know.
Loving this strip, Tom! Can’t wait to read more!
Thanks for the support Keelan! Long time no see buddy.
Tom these are great! Love the idea of his cellphone being a character in it’s own right.
I’ve also noticed how great Manga Studio is for some solid inking. But, I’m curious how are you saving that file to be edited in PS? I did this and saved the Manga Studio file as a PNG with a transparent background, and then opened that in Photoshop. Is there a better way to output the file to be edited into Photoshop that you’ve discovered?
Thanks Tom, keep up the awesome work!
-Kirk
Thanks Kirk, I’m glad you like the strip! As far as I can tell, Manga Studio 4 did NOT have a way to save to Photoshop and you had to do those tricks. I just got Manga Studio 5 and it is a MAJOR improvement on 4! Well worth the upgrade. It now can save to Photoshop as well as the interface is much more like Photoshop, which I like!
If you’re using MS5 I’ve just discovered some AWESOME brushes by frenden…
Great great stuff. Also great work on the strip, Tom, fun stuff.