A-Camping We Will Go!

I have a new story in SpongeBob Comics #22 (in stores now!) and it's camping-themed. Around this time last summer, comics editor Chris Duffy asked me if I'd be interested in doing a comic with a poster spread in the middle—basically, a giant illustration. I'd just gone camping with some friends out on the Harbor Islands in Boston, so this is what I came up with. Below are a bunch of images which you can click to view larger, including the camping spread, which works as a pin-up poster.

I'll talk about color first, and then get into some of the sketches. Color has become increasingly important to me, which is sort of weird to say because it's always been important to me. But it's become an even bigger focus. I put a lot of energy into drawing, but I labor—probably over-labor—on color. I made a lot of specific choices going into this illustration. One may not seem like a 'color choice', but I decided early to stick with as much black line as possible—notable exceptions being the constellations in the sky and the blue line around the glow-jellies. I tried to balance bright yellows, blues, and pinks with neutral purples, browns, and greens. Some of these decisions may be at odds with official SpongeBob color branding (most characters use a colored line, and we're all familiar with flowery blue sky), but I always strive to stay true to the character designs and Bikini Bottom universe, which is full of campfire underwater-type gags. Not sure what to call it, but I had this image in my head of old Boy's Life and National Parks artwork, without any particular references in mind.

Here's my first sketch comp. A few interesting things to note—the 'claw' shadow in the lower left was originally supposed to be the enlarged claw of a little crab. But all sea animals in SpongeBob (besides the jelly-fish) usually take on humanoid forms. Besides that edit, everything else got in, which is great. I went with the Plankton bug-spray gag because it was more funny than the hammock. Staging it at night also meant I could use pockets of light to direct the flow—highlighting the individual gags.

Even though I've been doing most of my inking on the computer, I feel strongly about working the pencils on paper. I stuck two sheets of 11x17 copy paper together with tape, where I planned the whole composition, scanned it, and inked it in Manga Studio. You can see below, after talking with numerous folks including pals Chris Houghton and Dustin Harbin, that aliased bitmap lines are the way to go. I've made the switch 100%—and Manga Studio is perfect for inking directly in this mode. So much cleaner. This is also the first illustration I properly trapped and prepared for CMYK press, and it totally paid off. The comic printed beautify. Nice and sharp, and the colors are as close as I would ever expect.

This issue (#22!) features the likes of Maris Wicks, James Kochalka, Stephen DeStefano, and Joey Weiser to name a few. There’s more to my comic than what I'm sharing here (it has a beginning and an end), so pick up a copy if you see one at your local comics shop. My spread is smack in the middle.

snow walk

In between all the projects that occupy my time these days, I've been trying to find the space to doodle, to play—to explore ideas. Usually these windows are brief. Lately I've been using them to play around with color. I keep coming back to color as the part of illustrating and cartooning that intrigues me the most. I rack my brain about color. I obsess over color selections. I work hard at color, way more than I do the drawing part. It can change the mood of a image—bring added life, draw attention to things. Because I stick with flat colors as a general rule, each color plays a purpose.

I overthink it for sure, but it's always a good exercise. I'm not sure if either of these are successful, but I chalk them up as interesting. The second one is from a little while ago (posted on tumblr), but it hasn't made its way over to the blog.

// mother and child // color study

mushroom color study

Early Color Memory

I just remembered something incredibly specific, and thought it was worth writing down. When I was a kid, maybe 5 years old, I recall waking up too early—likely when the sun was just about to rise (5 am?)—and being rather surprised by the visual appearance of my riding fire engine toy. I wish I could find a real picture of the thing, but I don't have it handy at the moment, and the internet isn't turning up the exact toy.

Regardless, the fire engine would've been mostly primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. The early morning light in the dark room shifted the way my eyes (and brain) perceived the colors in a way that I'm not sure I could ever experience again. Because I believe it was the first time I consciously recognized that the colors of my toy (and the world) could change. It seemed unreal, almost shocking—so much that I remember waking my tired brother to show him.

I can almost visualize it now, but I have a biased brain that knows that lighting changes colors. The image above is my best guess. At the time, I was surprised to see what was normally yellow become something closer to white. Also, that the blue seemed brighter than usual, and the red... very very dark. All my stuffed animals looked different too. I'm probably not exaggerating it enough to match the impact of my experience.

Whenever I woke up too early like this, I would bolt up excited to see all the weird colors. Over time, the effect wore off. I'm guessing my brain (as all of our brains do) has caught on to the fact and understands that the color RED changes in different colors of light—that I can still see RED as RED no matter what light I'm in, for the most part.

Odd post, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a memory like this. Color continues to be very important to me, so it's funny that the memory has stayed with me.