Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Kwik-E-Art


© 2011 Bongo Entertainment, Inc. The Simpsons TM & © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

I just wrapped up the inks on my latest Bart Simpson story, Bart vs. The Kwik-E-Mart, written by Amanda McCann. It features Bart and Apu tangling at the Kwik-E, with Bart--and the readers--learning a bit about Apu's childhood in India. It turns out that Apu was once as much of a prankster as is Bart. These are 8 1/2 x 11" pencil roughs, which I scan, print as blueline onto boards, and ink. The page below shows young Apu and his uncle Ashok at an Indian Kwik-E-Mart. Look for this in Bart Simpson #60.


© 2011 Bongo Entertainment, Inc. The Simpsons TM & © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

3 comments:

Kevin Nowlan said...

That sounds like a smart, efficient way to streamline the process. Do you ever pick up a pencil and tighten up a few details on the blueline before you ink?

I'm guessing it also helps preserve a little of the spontaneity that can get lost in successive generations?

surly hack said...

Right on both counts, Kevin. I hate redrawing, and usually like my first draft best, in spite of its imperfections. But my main reason for implementing this new process is to give the art director a chance to give me feedback before I commit to the boards. Before this I never really did any roughs worth showing to anyone, but Nathan Kane at Bongo wanted to see layouts or roughs, and it's a lot more time consuming to alter a panel after penciling on the boards. Now, if Nathan wants more room for balloons somewhere, I can make a reduced photocopy of that panel and paste it back into the roughs, without worrying about altering any of the surrounding panels.

Kevin Nowlan said...

Cool! It seems like more and artists are going this route these days. I've tried it a few times and was surprised how much I liked inking on the blueline surface. And I sure don't miss erasing.