I am in the process of planning a webcomic called “My Life In the Trenches” which is slated to launch sometime in the early Fall 2009. To that end, I have been exploring an efficient workflow so that this doesn’t become a chore.

For now, I’m working digitally from start to finish. At this writing, I’m awaiting shipment of the new Wacom Intuos4 and anticipate productivity and speed gains. Look for a video review here soon. In this case study I’m using a Cintiq.

Step 1: Sketching with the Photoshop Pencil tool, the layout is roughed in at 300 d.p.i.

Step 2: Import the Photoshop sketch into Illustrator as a template, making composition adjustments as needed. The Brush tool in Illustrator yields the line quality and pressure sensitivity I prefer.

Step 3. Using the free Multi-fill Photoshop plug-in from Boudewijn Pelt, instant “flatting” of color is possible with random colors. This plug-in prefers that all shapes be closed, which is at odds with my loose drawing style, so I must take care to close gaps. I may re-think this compromise, or learn to refine the plug-in’s behavior.

Step 4: While step 3 is great fun, I select my desired colors and start building a palette (.ACO) file.

Step 5: Shading and modeling – without fuss – plus some special effects if appropriate, and we’re done. This step took only a few minutes.

Conclusion: While the Illustrator Brush tool yields satisfactory results, it is taking more time than I would like. To be specific, using a stylus to tweak Bezier points has always been a pain – literally. It’s my goal to be able to keep the entire process in Photoshop in the next exploration.

[EDIT] My follow-up to this process is posted here.

To explore vlogging I decided to oil-up some rusty Final Cut Pro HD chops and dive back into the fray since I have been concentrating on graphic design for casual games the last couple of years.

I was never a huge fan of the interface of FCP even when I was more deeply immersed in multimedia and nonlinear video editing. I cut my teeth on Adobe Premiere and Avid Xpress and preferred their interfaces, but a “can-do” artist should always be able to make do with what they have.

As a first foray, I did a quick edit of “Number One Son”‘s honors recital last night. As he arrived at the conservatory, he was clearly in pain from a sudden stomache ache. I knew these were not mere jitters because he has been doing the recitals long enough to be beyond nerves. I was fearful he might projectile vomit onto the grand piano on stage, and at the risk of sounding uncaring – I would be looking at YouTube hits to rival Susan Boyle or any doped-up kid after a dentist visit.

Whenever I hear his – or my esteemed mother-in-law’s performances – captured from the Sony DV Handycam, I’m struck by how unfaithful the recorded piano tone can be. Clearly the omni-directional mic on a camcorder is not the tool for the job, and the craft of micing and recording acoustic pianos is beyond the scope of this post. You have to be there.

Furthermore, at the height of his griping at practice (show me an eleven year old who would choose piano practice over video games) he was once able to produce a tone in spontaneous playing that sounded literally “divine”. Like an angel plucking a harp with full velocity. Like Zeus on Mt. Olympus striking a crystal goblet to attract the attention of assembled gods for a toast… you get the picture. I suggested a concert of playing just that one sound, as a one-up to John Cage’s silence.

Look out for my first video review of the upcoming purchase of Wacom’s well-received Intuos4 graphics Tablet. This will be the inaugural Gear Review vlog for “Dempsey Doodles”.

A quick study of my favorite late-night talk show host, funnyman Jay Leno whose tenure at the Tonight Show comes to an end soon.

Jay’s monologue has consistently provided me with laugh-out loud moments which provided – more often than not – the first laugh of the day. His detractors often cite his persistent O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton jokes as irrelevant, but his writers are top-notch and I presume will follow him to the new show. The “Jaywalking” bit still astounds me.

I would often take a break from a late night of artwork at 11:35pm EST, to return after the monologue and even contemplated putting a TV in the art studio strictly to switch on the Tonight Show.

I realized in his seventeen year tenure that I a) got sober b) got married and c) became a parent of two.

I don’t really consider caricature my strength, but his face is a natural for exaggeration. One of my favorite cartoonists, Tom Richmond, did his take on Jay which is naturally “spot on” especially the gesture. Check it out here.

Great job, Jay. Can’t wait to catch the new show and get to bed earlier.

My son was celebrating his first birthday in 1999, and at the party I met the spouse of my wife’s friend – a guitar player. This led to talk of music, dusting off the bass guitar, playing together in our living rooms once or twice, and an offer to join his cover band that was stalled for lack of someone to “hold down the bottom end”.

At that point, I gave myself a personal timeline of ten years. If I wasn’t working steadily as a gigging cover-band musician, then it wasn’t going to happen – and I could immerse myself completely in art; my core competency.

What first started as an excuse to get out of the house every so often, became a tiresome clash of egos, musical differences, and a cavalcade of lazy musicians and control freaks.

It was not all “gloom and doom”; there were some well-paying and unforgettable crowds along the way. The best run I had was with Westchester NY-based cover band “The Spin” which trawled the Irish pubs in Yonkers and played some jumping private parties. Once you’ve had a pub-full of girls on G.N.O. dancing to the booming pulse coming from your hands, it’s hard to walk away. But even that become burdensome when I realized I was playing very few songs that I liked.

There’s a quote from Trey Gunn that I often forwarded to other musicians: “Don’t play music you don’t like, it will poison your love affair with music.” Or words to that effect.

I have been dusting off what I refer to as my “humble” home studio and realize I have been blessed with the ability to acquire some very good gear – if not an abundance of musical talent. Thanks to home recording and MIDI, any computer literate musician can be a one man band.

So if something doesn’t come up in about five days, I’m giving up playing with other people. However, there is one keyboardist I’m corresponding with in nearby Nanuet who is starting up a band, so it couldn’t hurt to just check him out…

A comic book store employee.

I have not had the pleasure of any kind of indoctrination into the comic book culture beyond Comic Con NY a few months ago, but I never imagined the level of apathy and disrespect.

I’m trying to get caught up quickly since I have embarked on my first graphic novel, and recently learned of a day-long annual event in the industry called Free Comic Book Day held May 2.

After the requisite Saturday morning chauffeuring, my son and I head into the local “participating” comic book store in Nanuet called Toywiz – a toy store with a modest comic book section.

Once inside, I try to catch the eye of an obvious employee to be sure the store is participating in Free Comic Book Day. The youth didn’t seem to know, but finally was able to utter some grunt that sounded like “yeah”.

After what seemed like twenty minutes of selecting amongst the typical superhero fare (not my interest) we each find something we are willing to take for free. When I get to the cashier to ask if he wants to swipe them for inventory purposes he suddenly can speak: “Oh those aren’t free, the free ones are on that table.” Points to little card table with scant offerings.

“Really? Don’t you think it might have been helpful to point me to that table when I asked you initially about whether you were participating?”

“Unh. I thought it was pretty obvious”.

“No, it isn’t obvious that that tiny card table and the scant offerings on them are the only free options. I’ll buy these, though”. My choice was based on outstanding art by a new favorite, Terry Moore whose ink line work is inspiring.

This is not my intended audience, and the thought that the success of my book in someway will involve this kind of slacker-y salesmanship is alarming. Traditional channels are clearly not the way to go.

I have not posted lately because I am immersing myself and any free time in my graphic novel tentatively titled “Neighbors”. My last topic was the visit to the Comic Con, and that brief market research bore out what I suspected: the big business is in the superhero style content of the Big Two.

Undeterred – since this is a pet project and never intended to be “one of those” but uniquely my own – I have hit the ‘Bay for great savings on some required tools missing from my arsenal:

• Light box
• Ames Lettering Guide

While it begs the question that I really should have tried this years ago, I think I am probably more able to tell a story better now than in the past. With the advent of the internet for podcasts like Art & Story, plus tons of library titles on proper production techniques, it is much easier to get caught up on the medium.

The only pitfall of being so totally digital for twenty-five years of computer graphics work – with only an occasional oil painting as an antidote – is that after drawing a weak pencil line twice, I reached for Ctrl-Z/Undo both times.

I’m home today, and it’s the day after my birthday. Therese is helping her mother recuperate from surgery on the West Coast and the kids are in school.

I feel extremely relaxed; it’s the first truly quiet time I have enjoyed in a while. Sirius XM is playing a lot of eastern sitar-based music that is helping me get into a near meditative state. Of course, too much continuous sitar music will likely become irritating!

Why is it so rare to arrange quiet time?