Journey of a Thousand Miles

Yikes!

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my work on WHTTWOT (which my friend Otis Frampton pointed out is a pretty cool acronym). The image above captures about half of it. I find this absolutely essential, particularly since I don't necessarily write or draw the pages in order.

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Each row represents a page, with columns indicating where it is in the process: scripted, penciled, inked, colored, etc. When I finish a step, I put an "X" in that cell. I also print out hard copies of the pages and snap them into a binder, each scrawled with notes and sketches reminding me what to revise, repair, or do next. In addition, I've got three other binders with several hundred pages of research and reference that are always open and scattered across my office floor. It's quite a logistical undertaking.

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What provoked the "yikes" was the realization that, with 208 pages and several columns, just keeping track of it all will probably involve a couple thousand data points representing an equal number of individual steps by the time I'm done.

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I have a lot of respect for anyone who tackles a project like this. Even if the result is the worst book ever written and drawn (and the verdict won't be in on mine until next spring), its creator still sat down in front of a blank sheet of paper one day and laid down the first line on the first page, fully knowing he or she had a long way to go. It's quite a commitment, even an act of faith. I feel a real affinity for that person, which makes it hard for me to criticize even the most heinous, useless, talentless work. So I don't.

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Digital Art, with Blood

Thanks for all the public and private response to my announcement of Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, and especially to my buddy Mike Lynch, who mentioned this new blog on his more popular blog. Mike's a good man and, even rarer, someone who actually makes a living as a cartoonist. Those two qualities make him my hero.

I've realized I face two problems blogging about this book. One is punctuation: what to do with the question mark at the end of the title? As in that opening sentence above, typing a question mark followed by a comma makes my writerly eyes burn, but I can't think of a better way to handle it. Ordinarily, when you get to a question mark, a sentence is done. But not around here, my friend! We break all the rules!

Second problem: I'd love to write about what I'm doing but don't want to show too many examples yet. We've got a long time before the book comes out. Still, some readers like information about the cartooning process, so let me take a wordy stab at it today.

In our digital era, I'm a proud analog cartooning dinosaur. If ink and paper were good enough for Winsor McCay and Walt Kelly, they're good enough for me. I find drawing by hand much more satisfying and pleasant than sitting at a computer. However, I'm not a stubborn Luddite about it. When digital techniques make the job faster, easier and, most important, better, I'm happy to adopt them. Also, I think we've reached a point when even the most traditional cartoonist has to be adept with tools such as Photoshop. Editors and publishers don't want you to send them a piece of paper, they want a digital file ready to import into a layout. (I think single-panel magazine cartooning might still be an exception; Lynch would know.)

When I did Mom's Cancer, what got printed on the page was pretty much what I drew. I penciled, inked, and hand-lettered each page. I used Photoshop mostly for clean-up chores that once would have been done with rubber cement and white paint. As I described in a blog post back in March 2007, I did do some computer composing and editing on Mom's Cancer so that, for example, there is not really a single original drawing of the cover artwork, just pieces that were digitally assembled into the cover.

This time around, I've gone a bit more high-tech. Almost everything is still penciled (in light blue pencil), inked with India ink using brushes and nibs, then scanned into the computer. On Mom's Cancer, that might have been the end of it; on World of Tomorrow, it's just the beginning.

This time, I'm lettering with a computer font of my own printing. In fact, I made the font myself (using FontCreator 5.5 as recommended by my best-selling friend Jeff Kinney) by sampling letters from Mom's Cancer. An insane person armed with a magnifying glass could read my first book and find the very letters used in the second. I went digital for a few reasons: I've never been particularly happy with my lettering, considering it adequately workmanlike at best.

(I am also using some professional comic fonts in World of Tomorrow, but for very particular purposes.)

Another reason for using a font is that it makes editing infinitely easier. Moving, resizing, rewording, rewriting, adding or deleting text that's been done directly on the original artwork is a nightmare. When the text is digital and kept on a separate "layer" from the artwork, it's almost as simple as typing. (Explanation for non-Photoshoppers: the program lets you layer different image elements on top of each other without affecting layers underneath, like placing different pictures in a collage; then, if you need to change one piece, you can do so without affecting the other layers.) The challenge when drawing the art, then, is leaving enough space and flexibility to allow for the words plus whatever rejiggering might be needed later.

I'm much more comfortable with Photoshop now than when I did Mom's Cancer, and when it comes to deciding between "having a cool piece of original art when I'm done" versus "getting a better-looking page done as efficiently as possible" I choose the latter. More pages of this book are composed of separate elements that I draw by hand but assemble as electrons. For example, I just talked to the Abrams art director this morning about the World of Tomorrow's cover, and we're going to move something a half inch to the right. If that element had been part of the original background drawing that task would be very difficult, but because it's on its own layer I can do it in two minutes. I'm trying to think ahead and be smart about this stuff.

I was going to write about coloring, which is digital on both Mom's Cancer and World of Tomorrow and which I think I am also handling smarter this go-round, but will save that for another time--when I may also write about hiring my first assistants ever.

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In "too much information" news, I nicked the dickens out of my nose while shaving this morning and am still bleeding like the Black Knight. "'Tis but a flesh wound!" I have no idea what the razor was doing on my nose. Evidently I shave like a drunk waving around a broken beer bottle in a bar fight. I am in fact at an age when hair has begun to sprout from ever newer and more exciting places, and some mornings are a Kafkaesque adventure in discovering what new Hobbity creature I've metamorphosized into overnight. But it's not growing from the tip of my nose. Yet.
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Post Post

Cool! I hoped a good picture of the Abrams ComicArts panel at Comic-Con would turn up, and here's one today from the Publishers Weekly website:

Calvin Reid, Charlie Kochman, Denis Kitchen, Craig Yoe, Jordan Crane, Jaime Hernandez and yours truly. So many creative people, none of whom could think of a better pose than lining up against a wall.

Someone I know read my previous post and said she found it surprisingly subdued for a big announcement I've been waiting so long to make. She may be right. I'll try to use more exclamation points.

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I am excited about this book! I am passionate about my subject, I believe I've got some nifty ideas and a novel way of communicating them, and I can't wait to show it to you! I am truly proud of the thought and effort Abrams and I are dedicating to make Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? very special in both content and form! I have never worked this hard on anything in my life! I wake up every morning with terrific new details to add, and go to sleep every night praying it doesn't suck!

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Maybe that last part should've been more subdued....

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Just wanted to post the photo and I'm overdue at the drawing board. More soon.

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Welcome to the World of Tomorrow

Thanks for coming! When we left my old blog, I promised details about my upcoming second book, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, which I've been stealthily working on for quite a while. That's part of the cover above, just finalized last week. "Part?" Yep. More about that later.

I think this'll be fun. One of the reasons I started the "Mom's Cancer Blog" was to write about the process of getting a book written and published. I enjoyed that, and now I get to do it again. But why so secretive?

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My publisher's main reason was that they wanted World of Tomorrow to anchor the first slate of books published under their new imprint, Abrams ComicArts, and wanted to announce both the books and the imprint together. That happened at a Comic-Con panel on Saturday afternoon. Also on the panel--artfully moderated by Publishers Weekly's Calvin Reid, who was a real champion of Mom's Cancer--were Denis Kitchen, Craig Yoe, Jaime Hernandez, Jordan Crane, and Editor Charlie Kochman. There's a press release about all our projects below.

This is what it looks like to be on a panel at Comic-Con. This was half the room and we pretty much filled the whole place, to at least my surprise. That Joker dude toward the back left was creepy: he was a really big guy and he was asleep, which made him look mostly dead. Wish I had a photo of the panel itself but, well, I was on it. Maybe someone else will send me one.

My main reason for keeping mum was that it took a long time to get a contract in place, and I'm insecure enough that I expected my publisher to realize they'd made a horrible mistake and cancel the whole thing at any moment. In my mind, I didn't have a book until I had a book deal, and I couldn't think of much greater humiliation than blabbing about writing a book for a year and then watching it evaporate.

I'll give more details about the book in posts to come. Here's the basics: it's a 208-page graphic novel that'll be released in hardcover next spring. I'd classify it as "historical fiction" with a smattering of "magical realism." If I saw this book in a bookstore I would absolutely have to buy it, and we think there are a lot more where I came from. I'm not done writing and drawing it yet. I've got about a month to go, I'm working on it around the clock seven days a week, and Editor Charlie and I are still doing extensive shaping and polishing.

Here's what Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? boils down to for me. Mom's Cancer was and is an amazing experience. It was a comic I was compelled to create, it got a response I never could have anticipated, and I don't expect to ever again write something with that impact. Some very nice things came from Mom's Cancer, including new friends, awards, and a second career I've sought since I was a child. However, I never forgot for a moment that whatever success I had with Mom's Cancer was built on my family's misery. To put it mildly, that made it tough to enjoy.

In contrast, no matter how well or poorly it sells, no matter how celebrated or neglected it is, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is nothing but an unambivalent joy. No one got hurt in the making of this book. And I think it's going to be great!

Here's that press release. Much more later, and thanks again.

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Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Announces New Imprint: Abrams ComicArts

Harry N. Abrams, Inc., the preeminent publisher of illustrated books, announced the launch of Abrams ComicArts at a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, July 26. Abrams ComicArts will debut in spring 2009. The new list will focus on books about the legends and history of comic arts as well as new graphic novels and other cartoon-based material, and will be a sub-imprint of Abrams, known for high quality art, design, photography, fashion, nature, and architecture books.

This exciting new line will be overseen by Abrams senior vice president and publisher Steve Tager and executive editor Charles Kochman, who will acquire and edit new books, develop talent, and strategically shape the list, including the backlist. Initially ten to fifteen select new books a year are planned.

“Given our tradition of publishing the best visual material in book form, it seemed both logical and the right time for us—on the eve of our 60th anniversary—to again add to the definition of art in our program. Both Charlie’s editorial eye and Steve’s publishing sense make me confident that we’re well positioned to break new ground in categories that continue to grow in the channels we serve and those that are yet emerging. Abrams ComicArts will become one of the ways we reach both new audiences and our core constituencies while celebrating our history and, at the same time, creating a brave new world for readers, artists, and illustrators,” commented Michael Jacobs, Harry N. Abrams president and CEO.

Since the company’s inception in 1949, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., has identified and celebrated contemporary and groundbreaking art, championing burgeoning creative forms and presenting them to the public in beautifully produced, and authoritatively written illustrated books.

Steve Tager, senior vice president and publisher of Abrams, sees comics as a medium in line with photography, sculpture, and painting. “In 1973, Abrams published The Art of Walt Disney by Christopher Finch—which has sold over half a million copies and defined animation as fine art—presenting this work to the public and media as art. Since then, Abrams has published many important books on comics art, such as The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics by Bill Blackbeard, Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman, and Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics by Les Daniels. Between our growing comics art backlist and the exciting new authors, artists, and books being developed, now is the right time to start an imprint and put them all under one roof in order to maximize the sales and marketing of this highly saleable category of books. Charlie’s editorial acumen and vision combined with Abrams’ phenomenal design and production capabilities positions Abrams ComicArts to be an industry leader.”

The driving force behind Abrams’ most recent comics and graphic novel acquisitions is executive editor Charles Kochman, editor of the #1 New York Times bestselling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics, Mom’s Cancer by Brian Fies, Jon J Muth’s M, Nat Turner by Kyle Baker, and Wacky Packages with an introduction by Art Spiegelman.

“Abrams has a reputation that is synonymous with quality. I am excited to take my background in comics and combine it with Abrams’s ability to produce the best, most distinctive books in the market. Our debut list features comics legends and legendary contemporary artists, and also includes an amazing original graphic novel—each book produced in a format and package that is unique and appropriate for the project. But this list is only just the beginning of what we have in the works.”

The lead titles on Abrams ComicArts’ debut list include: The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle, designed by Jonathan Bennett; The Art of Jaime Hernandez: Secrets of Life and Death by Todd Hignite, designed by Jordan Crane; Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster by Craig Yoe; and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? by Brian Fies. Other authors, artists, and future projects signed on include those by and about Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Jules Feiffer, Rube Goldberg, Will Eisner, Jerry Robinson, Dan Nadel, Eric P. Nash, Françoise Mouly, Art Spiegelman, Jim Trombetta, Stuart Hample, and Woody Allen.

Abrams ComicArts and its debut list was a featured panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 26. Panel participants included Jordan Crane, Brian Fies, Jaime Hernandez, Denis Kitchen, Charles Kochman, and Craig Yoe.

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