Whoa this comic took a long time to draw. Sometimes I feel as though I have to cut corners to get a comic up on time. This was the opposite case. I wanted to spend time working on it to make it look nice. I hope you look at it for at least 3 seconds longer than normal out of respect. Ha ha!
That line Adam uses in the last panel is from an old Mel Brooks film. I’m pretty sure it’s from “History of the World: Part 1”. I love Mel Brooks movies. For some reason that particular line always stuck with me. Great flick.
Almost the weekend! Go enjoy it!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
I started this sketch on the flight back from Christchurch on Sunday. I eventually finished it a couple of days ago on my lunch break at work. Kinda cool to be able to bust out a colour sketch without having to carry a series of markers around with you.
I’m still playing with the whole drawing on the iPad deal, but I am getting more comfortable with the Sketchbook Pro app. The main thing that gets me is the couple of steps it takes to switch your drawing tools out, or to change a color or something of that nature.
With a little more patience and practice though I’m confident that I’ll get used to this way of working. Who knows, maybe after I get used to the process, I’ll be able to make some comics on it? That’d be pretty neat. Digital drawing is pretty great.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to have briefly met Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content (QC) at a fan meet up he had arranged in Auckland. It was fortunate for me, and the other fans at the meet up, that Jeph and his wife had decided on New Zealand to spend their vacation.
If you haven’t heard of QC, then you are missing out! It’s a great comic. This was evidenced by the turnout in the middle of a park in the city centre on a very miserable rainy day. The meet up tweet was sent out the day before, which was gloriously sunny, however the summer here has been horrible this year, so that eventually turned into the rain we were expecting. About half an hour beforehand, Jeph sends out another tweet confirming the meet up is still on, and that we’d be taking shelter in the old band rotunda in the park.
I was hanging out with my brother that day. We arrived at the location of the meet up about 10 minutes before 3pm. There are already twenty or so people hanging out inside the band rotunda. The Rotunda has perimeter seating, and everyone is slowly starting to fill in. We are all there for the same reason, to meet someone who makes an awesome comic. This doesn’t make things less awkward though, as while we all share an interest in the comic, everyone is keeping to themselves. What you end up with is a bunch of strangers turning up, not talking to each other, and seating themselves inside a band rotunda, in the middle of a public park, on a wet Auckland afternoon.
Two homeless residents of the Rotunda, who had obviously claimed the spot as a quiet shelter area from the rain were starting to get weirded out by a bunch of folk quietly entering their dry space. One of them, on a foam mattress in the middle of the Rotunda starts to get a bit self aware, and eventually stores his mattress under one of the bench seats. It doesn’t take too long before his friend seats himself next to me to make small talk.
“Hey man, uhhh, what’s going on?” was the lead in question.
I tried explaining as best as I could why we were all there (with more people filling in as we were talking) and I also apologised for us all, intruding on their spot. Deciding that it might be best that they find another quiet area, the two homeless guys eventually take their leave.
Soon after Jeph and his wife Cristi arrive, and greet everybody. Jeph breaks the ice by breaking out his sketch pad, and drawing some sketches for people. At this stage there is about 50 people at the meet up. People eventually mingle and get talking before they have a chance to talk to Jeph himself. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere and fun.
Jeph himself was a really nice dude, he comfortably chatted with everyone, and drew a picture for them. I got a nice sketch of one of the newer characters of his comic – Padma. In return I gave him one of my comics to read. He was gracious enough to pose for photos if people wanted them too.
All in all, a really fun meet up. It was good of Jeph and Cristi to make time for everyone while on their own vacation time. Incredibly generous. Thanks so much. I believe another meet up is happening today in Sydney. If you’re a reader of the comic, I encourage you to go say hi.
Marc
Hello everyone!
Happy 2012! Thanks for being patient with the lack of comics. I had a break over the holidays, and it was awesome. Auckland’s weather wasn’t super accommodating, so I pretty much just stayed in. I watched a lot of NBA Basketball. Good to have some downtime.
Back into it now though.
Going down to Christchurch this weekend. I’m very much looking forward to it. It’ll be the first time I have been down since the deadly February 22 quake last year. I’m prepping myself for something completely foreign even though it was a city I knew very well. Hopefully it’ll give me a fresh perspective and I can incorporate that into the comic.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Hey, 2012! Can you believe it?
Kinda cool to be starting a new year. It wouldn’t take too much to top last year on the good side of things. Let’s face it, last year was a rough one. I have high hopes for 2012 though, so as long as the world truly doesn’t end, I think we’re in for a good one!
Meanwhile here is a drawing I made on an iPad. It took a little while, as I was learning the drawing programme I was working in, but it was fun. Hopefully I can get some more sketches going soon.
Hope to get the comics going again, soon!
Hey all,
Took me a while to get this one up, but it’s finally done. I had a lot of fun with the exchange in this one. I hope you enjoy it too. Comics might be a little bit sporadic during the holiday period, but I’m going to do my best to have an update here and there.
Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a great Christmas! Enjoy your holidays, and thank you so much for reading my comics this year.
Cheers,
Marc
Hey all,
Enter Keg Dog. We’ll find out more about him soon. I spent a little bit of extra time making this comic. The process is never as straight forward as the ideas in my head. Always fun trying to work out how to best approach it in a visual format for the comic though.
How has the week been? I just bought that new Black Keys album – El Camino. It’s very good. You should check it out.
Thanks for reading,
Marc
The other night I drew Anthony Clark’s character Beartato for fun. He’s such a cool little guy, I put a hat on him…backwards! That’s rebelious.
Beartato appears regularly with his friends over on Anthony’s website Nedroid. If you’re a fan of laughter, or comics, or even better the two combined, you owe it to yourself to go enjoy.
Then after, maybe spoil yourself with an ice cream too, might as well be indulgent, right?
Hello everyone,
Making comics is fun. Sometimes tiring, but always fun. I’m looking forward to drawing the rest of this story, and wrapping it up soon.
It’s my good friend Richard’s birthday today. If you see him today, make sure you wish him a happy birthday! Richard is a rad guy, and he has been instrumental in helping me out with ActionMan Adam.
Hope all is well in your world!
Thanks for reading,
Marc
Hey all,
How are things? It’s been a busy week this week. I guess we’re moving towards Christmas in a hurry, so that puts the pressure on. For those of you in the USA, I hope you have a good Thanksgiving holiday. It’s not a holiday here in New Zealand, but any holiday where you get to eat food sounds like a good plan to me! Make sure you have a second helping for me.
Been getting back into some comic book reading too. Some of DC’s new relaunched titles have been catching my eye. In particular the work Greg Capullo has been doing on Batman. Excellent artist choice for that character. On the Marvel side of things, I am digging Chris Bachalo’s work on Wolverine and the X-men. There you go, my recommendations for new comics if you’re looking for some new reading material.
Hope all is well in your world!
Thanks for reading,
Marc