That darn monkey. You cannot trust nature, or engineering. Or the combination of nature and engineering. At least Johnny Sanderson is out the telling people how it is. For those new to the site who’d like to see how it all began, here you go. (Please don’t worry about the interruption in the middle.)
That being said, it’s time for Director Commentary. (If you don’t want to hear behind the scenes stuff, turn back now.)
When I first wrote this comic, I wasn’t going to add the narration at the begining. After the fact, I changed my mind. I felt that since I do only post twice a week, it wouldn’t hurt to remind fans what’s happening here. I can’t expect everyone’s life to revolve around Jetpacks and Time Machines. Was I right or wrong in this? (uh, needing the narration reminder, not about lives revolving around JTM.)
This comic could be my trickiest visual narrative yet. I wrestled around with drawing this one for quite a while. That being said, inking actually went pretty fast. In panel six, you are witnessing the begining of my new inking technique… I inked without drawing it out first. I’ve been toying with doing that for a while, because I’ve heard from a lot of other artists that it’s the best way to add spontaneity and life to your work, which is what I want, and what I feel is very crucial for a comic. I think I’ll be exploring that more in the future. (Of course, it helps when you have the added flexibility of digital media.)
Hm, what else can I say… That’s about it I guess. As always, let me know if there are any clarity or narrative issues. (or if something is spelled wrong. It happens.)
Hi Jim,
My time to be a bit ‘nerdy’ – can I ask you a technical question? I’m guessing from your comment: “the added flexibility of digital media” – your’e using a wacom tablet, or similar ,to draw the strip?? If so, I’m seriously impressed ! ! as I just didn’t pick up on that, although I know we talked about the new-pad-in-your-life some time ago. JP&TM looks hand drawn to me – one of the first things that attracted me to the strip. Could you (in possibly a similar nerdy moment!) outline your drawing process. No pun intended! I’d be fascinated to find out the ‘how’ to JP&TM !
Like: are you drawing in Photoshop or Illustrator or what???? How come the lines vary in weight etc??
Do you – up until now – used rough layers? and then go over them with the Ink layer? I thik the ink-only panel is a brave and I suppose necessary experiment for you, and it has paid off, ‘cos it’s a great panel!
Wow, I REALLY am a nerd ! sorry !
All that aside – your’e going for dstrength to strength, and I think we all know that the characters and the way you draw them will naturally settle into a style of their own. Compare early Peanuts to the more familiar style we know – Snoopy looked more like a normal dog – right? I reckon this is somethng of a maturing of both the artist and the direction he/she goes and we probably don’t have much control over those more natural processess.
I loved Number 2 strip – particuoarly the last shot of the cart bouncing down the hill! – just great!
Number 3 strip (above) – well, the stand out points for me, are the experimental ‘crash’ panel – love the way they’re all hanging in space momentarlily before they continue to explode out of the panel !! and the thing that really cracked me, is the simple fact that in the final panel the TV camera is (almost) curiously watching the wheel go rolling by. Really made me smile !
It’s those small moments that add more dimensions to the strip – it always works ! and your strip shows a depth of maturity and observation that makes it stand up above others.
I’m a big fan – can you tell? I’ll try not to be too nerdy next time !
All the best,
Jan
Wow, awesome strip. Panel 2 rocks, panel 6 same. I think you’ve
got a great feel for what panel should be an open format. Bottomline
JP&TM ROCKS!
I really like panels 2 and 6, too. Plus the expression on Johnny’s face in panel 5 is great. Nice!
Johnny’s back! WOO-HOO!!!
Didn’t he have tire treads last time. I liked that more than the black tire. He reminds me of Al Gore in panel 5, and I mean that in a good way. There’s something not quite right with #6. I think it’s the stagnant figure of Johnny in the background that doesn’t help in the illusion of fast motion leading to the crash. And there’s no groceries flying in the debris. Great ending panel!
Another fine strip, Jim. Love the way the camera focuses on the wheel bouncing past in Panel 7. Must be a good AI in there (or is it remotely controlled?). Keep up the wonderful work.
Hey guys, thanks for for the feedback!
@ Me: Yeah, I actually meant to give johnny some white treads on his tire, but I forgot.
@Scott: I’m still working on expressions, I was going for “reprimanding commentator” on that one.
@MJ: HECK YEAH!
@ Doug: Thanks Doug. I haven’t touched AI much yet in the comic, but I’m going to go into it eventually. Johnny’s helper is AI.
@Jan: Let me get a bit longer explanation in a second or two.
@ Jan: Ok, first off, You’re reading a comic strip called Jetpacks and Time Machines – I don’t think we need to apologize for nerdieness around here.
As far as digital goes, JTM has never, ever seen ink touch paper. It’s been all digital from the get-go, but occasionally I may have sketched a character on paper, but only if I was away from my computer at the time.
Actually, I’m planning on eventually getting some recording software so that I can make some video clips of my creation process that I can post on The Panel Mammals site.
What I do, is I start in illustrator, where I lay out my panels, my word bubbles, and my text. Then I open that file in Photoshop and save it as a psd. Finally, I open that file up in Painter, which is what I use for all my inking. As far as variable line widths go, I started on a wacom intuos 3, but now I use the wacom cintiq (same pen, same pressure sensitivity, but you draw directly on the screen.) We talk a bit about that stuff in the podcast I appeared on.
As far as software goes, I find Painter and the natural media brushes give me the best digital results. Photoshop is ok, but I think it doesn’t have the range of brush functionality that painter has. I’m constantly tweaking brush settings and messing with the default variants to get my own set of digital brushes that respond the way I want.
Hopefully this gives you a bit more insight into how I work, but don’t worry, I plan on going more in depth at a later date.
Hey Jim, btw…thanks for the flowers.
Ok, no comments on this strip about what shoulda blah blah blah…this strip is a Monet. If you don’t like Monet you are clearly stupid and should be dragged through a canyon of broken glass.
Now, here’s what I want to talk about…(rest assure folks, he’ll listen because we are blood mammals)…syndication.
Every panel you put out gets cleaner and easier on my eyes….I would like, for fun, to see a regular JP&TM (I’m keeping the P) sized strip, made new, posted as actual newsprint size. I think you can pull this off now. I know you are concerned with a few things, backgrounds, lettering…but I think it is time for this exercise.
Gimme on 3 panel strip, or, well…you’re fired.
@ jarrett: Dude, look at this. And check your tone on my board sucker or I will give you an edit you will not appreciate.
My bad…you are a genius, and I am sorry for ever questioning you.
Ps. I’m an idiot for not heading your warning.
Jim,
Great work! I like how you’ve evolved over the course of the strip, great concepts and ever better execution.
If you’re not familiar with Ron Cobb’s work it worth a look, your later strips remind me of his better work.
I have no greater comic praise than that!
http://www.roncobbdesigns.com/Welcome.161.0.html
and some history on his stuff with more great images.
http://www.shimmerytimbers.com/starticles01.htm
Regards,
Greg
Hey Thanks Greg!
Yeah, I wasn’t familiar with Ron Cobb’s work, but it’s pretty freakin’ good! I’m definitely going have to look into it some more. I don’t know know about comparing me to his better work… I’d say his draftsmanship definitely has me beat.
I love Johnny’s wheel. that’s some severely awesome technology.
Wow, I’ve been gone too long. Anyways, YAY, MORE WITH JOHNNY AND THE KART! I’m so glad you decided to continue that, and do so this well. I liked the only-ink method, but please, don’t do every panel that way. Save it for those that really, really need it, as it is a powerful weapon which must be used wisely. That said, you rock as an artist.
Hey Jim I think you mentioned in the last e-mail about
the ramblings on the subject of syndication mentoring
advice from Scott Adams on his blog, check out the
sweet plugs on the link above. Yeah, The Panel Mammals RULE!
Yeah, excellent plug MJ!, The funniest part is how scott adams specifically asked for people to only post their “favorite NEWSPAPER strips”, as he put it. You remained unconcerned, and plugged us anyways. That’s the kind of indifference to the comic upper echelon that I like to see.
(Edited after posting. This is what I meant to say the first time, anyone who wonders what they missed, it wasn’t anything.)
@ Bug: I know you’ve probably read most of my strips, so I find it humorous that you’d suggest that I use a powerful weapon wisely. Unless by ‘wisely’ you meant ‘to hold the world hostage while cackling madly and being viewed in silhouette on a giant monitor in the pentagon’, in which case, don’t worry, I will do my best!
After seeing what you thought about the plugs. I was in the “What the #@!!” mode. So I
followed that link back over there where I plugged The Mammals. The way his system
is set up it looks like I posted that I like his strip, and Fox Trot. Hey man that’s uncool I
don’t like that crap.
Oh, I see, yeah… that’s totally gay. GOOD WORK! I will now edit my comment, so as to acknowledge you properly!