This is a difficult topic for me because I find there are strong merits for both methods. Traditional media is definitely a more direct channel for artistic expression and can have unseen emotional benefits. However digital can allow for more experimentation and achieve a faster more polished outcome. I have ultimately found that a mixture of both yields the best results.
In this post, I will explore these concepts further.
When I first began making comics as a child I would draw them in pencil on the back of old math tests my father would bring home. Usually, each page was a full scene and each subsequent event would unfold on the following page.
Over time I began to seek out texts and “How-to guides” on making comics. All with their own special lists of tools and techniques. Blue line pencils, Ames guides and Windsor Newton series 7 brushes were my indulgences.
For several years I worked exclusively in India Ink and brush on bristol board. I have fond memories of quietly pulling the brush carefully along the pencil lines. One of my early works for Cloudscape was done completely traditional. Utilizing India ink, and coloured water-soluble ink pencils. Everything including the text was done by hand.
After this, my process became India ink art on Bristol board with computer-generated frames Photoshop gray tones and vector-based text balloons. That was how almost all of Teach English in Japan was drawn (My first webcomic).
Following this, I became more interested in drawing digitally. I quickly graduated to a Wacom tablet (drawing on a plastic pad separate from the screen) then graduating to a Cintiq (drawing directly on the screen).
I also discovered Clip studio paint (formerly Manga studio) and I used this program to create my current project Crossroads. The speed at which I can lay out a page and the ease with which a page can be changed has great appeal.
One interesting quirk is that I tried to do hand lettering in Clip studio for the word balloons in Crossroads. I had hoped to improve my lettering style (something I never felt I was very good at) but I found the tools were limiting my approach and the results were not good.
Ultimately I settled on developing a font based on my own handwriting using the Calligraphr website. This allowed me to use a digital font. Something I am more comfortable with, but still, give it a hand made feel.
For the most part, I am now working exclusively digital now. However, I’ve been considering doing another project like “A single step” in all natural media, for a change of pace. Currently, I have been doing quick journal comics in my sketchbook using a micron pen which i find have a nice spontaneous feel. However, I still dislike my handwriting so I often replace the text with my font before posting them publicly.
In the end, I think both have their merits. I find that natural media is still best for the initial idea inception, whereas digital offers fast ways to execute and greater flexibility to edit and refine after the fact, which can be a double-edged sword.
Much like the medium featured in the novel. Faith Erin Hicks’ debut novel Comics Will Break Your Heart, is deceptively complex and nuanced. Despite what the title suggests it is in fact a love letter to the medium of comics. As well as a tribute to maritime Canada, where the story is set. This is Hicks first prose novel, but with seven graphic novels under her belt as both a comic writer and artist, she is in familiar territory here.
We are introduced to Miriam Kendrick, a dutiful employee at the local comic store who has a chance encounter with Weldon Warrick a rebellious young man. Weldon has been banished by his father to Sandford, Nova Scotia for the summer due to his bad behaviour. Though the two teens are initially attracted to each other, their relationship is dramatically changed once Miriam realizes Weldon is the grandson of Joseph Warrick.
In the story, Joseph Warrick co-created the successful fictional comic series “The Tomorrow Men” with Micah Kendrick, Miriam’s grandfather, in the 1960s. It is now a multi-million-dollar enterprise with a big Hollywood movie forthcoming. However, a dispute over the ownership of the characters resulted in a nasty legal battle between the two men. Ultimately, leaving the Warrick family inheritors of a vast fortune, and the Kendricks subsisting on a one-time paid settlement. Despite the economic disparity and family history, Miriam and Weldon find they are constantly drawn together, forcing them both to reconcile the past and build a future together.
Hicks draws from comics history as inspiration for the events in this story. The title of the book is a quote attributed to the artist Jack Kirby. Kirby famously battled Marvel Comics for his share of the superhero properties he helped to create and like Micah Kendrick, he passed away leaving the dispute to his heirs (Patten). His collaborator Stan Lee remained at Marvel for most of his life, acting as a figurehead of sorts. He was given creator credit but also had his own legal battles which were settled much more generously than Kirbys were (Park).
Hicks uses this sadly common story from comics history to express the dichotomy of art for love and art for profit in her own characters. The Warrick family are wealthy and privileged, but, are also unhappy. The parents are divorced, and Weldon has been acting out, which is why he is sent away. The marketing and promoting of “The Tomorrow Men” consumes Weldon’s father’s life. He doesn’t write or draw, it’s all business for him. Meanwhile, the Kendrick household is a close and loving family who live a modest existence. The settlement allowed them to buy a house, but now they try to subsist on a meager income. With little interest in increasing their personal fortune. This is expressed by Stella, Miriam’s mother, who creates paintings of “The Tomorrow Men” which she sells at the local comic shop for “the exact amount of money they spent making the painting“ (Hicks 8).
Hicks takes the conflict many artists feel internally and externalizes it in the form of these star-crossed lovers from feuding comic families. Beyond exploring the financial struggles of creative art and the emotional rewards of pursuing your passions. Hicks also touches on themes of entering young adult life, outgrowing old friendships, and falling in love. This is a great book for any fan of comics, and also for the uninitiated. “Comics Will Break Your Heart” will hopefully make you fall in love with its characters, and with the comics medium itself.
Works Cited
Hicks, Faith Erin. Comics Will Break Your Heart. Roaring Brook Press, 2019.
Patten, Dominic. “Marvel & Jack Kirby Heirs Settle Legal Battle Ahead of Supreme Court Showdown.” Breaking News, Deadline, September 26, 2014, https://deadline.com/2014/09/jack-kirby-marvel-settlement-lawsuit-supreme-court-hearing-841711/.
Park, Andrea. “Stan Lee, legendary Marvel Comics creator, is dead at 95.” CBS News, November 12, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stan-lee-dead-marvel-comics-writer-editor-obituary-died-age-95-2018-11-12/.
Hello Friends! I’m in Toronto for TCAF right now, but I wanted to give you guys something special. I just added a new digital comic to my library. It’s the first 60 pages of Crossroads complied into one PDF. You can get your here: https://jeffellis.itch.io/crossroads-chapter-01
Episode 19 continues the discussion from our previous episode on The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. Jeff, Angela, and Kathleen are once again joined by special guest Sfé R. Monster
while Jonathon is busy doing work or something. Don’t let the lengthy
discussion on long-running Canadian TV franchises at the start of the
episode fool you, this episode gets in-depth with a seminal comics work,
with politics, representation, and life in general. A melancholy time
was had by all.
Also mentioned in this episode: Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel Degrassi: Extra Credit by J. Torres, Ed Northcott, and Steve Rolston No Mercy by Alex de Campi and Carla Speed McNeil Vattu by Evan Dahm So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Michael Ondaatje JJ McCullough TechRax
Music by Sleuth.
Our next episode will cover at least the first two volumes of Bakuman
by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, with the episode after that covering
at least two more volumes. We’re doing a marathon Bakumathon.
