S&F Extra - February 2023 (Patreon)

It's S&F Extra time! Here's a behind-the-scenes look at what I worked on last month.

In the gallery above, you'll find the final versions of each piece, as well as some "making of" animated GIFs.  And down here, I'll provide some info about each one!

Snow Corgis
I thought I'd kick things off this month with a deep look into how I made my "Snow Day" illustration/photo hybrid comics! (In the gallery above, you'll find process GIF animations for two of the pages.)

The first step, as you might expect, is taking the photos! These ones were all taken when I was in Whitehorse up in the Yukon for Christmas. (It was -40 when I took these... yikes!) I hadn't written the comics yet when I took these, but I knew I wanted to make 'em and I'm pretty familiar with the kinds of shots and angles I need to make Sam and Baker comics. So, I just took a bunch!

Once the comics are written, I make a rough mockup of how the pages will look... placing the photos I've picked and drawing loosely on top of 'em in Photoshop. Once I'm happy with the layout, I'll go back and properly ink and colour the character art.

The next steps are where the magic really happens... if by "magic" you mean "do a bunch of Photoshopping to make the art and photos mesh nicely." 

First, I'll cut out any part of the photos that overlap the characters. I go out of my way to create overlap points, as it's an easy way to help make the characters seem like they are really "in" the scene... especially if the overlapping photo elements cast shadows on the characters.

Speaking of shadows, after doing the cut outs, I hit the characters with some lighting effects. I add my usual one-tone shadows to the character's bodies, but I also add some broader lighting effects... tinting their colour tones to skew towards the tones of the photo, and applying some soft directional highlights that lighten the sides of the characters facing the scene's light source. These effects even lighten and tint the black line art, which I think helps capture the look the art might have if I actually printed it out onto big cardboard standees and placed them in the scene.

Finally, after adding the lighting, the last step is to photoshop the photos themselves to reflect any "impact" the characters are having on them. In the case of this comic, this included things like the footprints and impressions Sam and Baker left in the snow, or the bursts of snow spray when Baker is chowing down. Whenever possible, I try to sample these elements from actual photos, rather than attempt to draw them in. For the footprints, I took photos of actual footprints in the snow. And for the snow spray... I got crafty and sampled spray from some public domain snowboarding photos! (Although I did enhance them a bit with some photoshop effects.)

Anyway, that's how it was done! This kind of thing is definitely a little outside my wheelhouse, and I am sure there are many ways I could have done it better or more  convincingly if I was more experienced at photo editing. But it's good to get out of your comfort zone sometimes!

Platformer Set 15
With this set, I've now drawn 90 pieces that feature a total of 100 playable characters. Dang! You'll find a process GIF for the latest six, as well as individual images of each drawing, in the gallery above.

Now that I've ripped off the "realistic human character" bandaid by including Alucard from Castlevania, I'm thinking about what other realistically-proportioned human characters deserve to be included in this series. My focus is still primarily on "mascot" style cartoony characters, but there are a some realistic characters who are so important to the Platformer genre that it feels like they really deserve an inclusion. Maybe Pitfall Harry, or the original Prince of Persia?

Bunsen on the Couch
Some dogs just think they are lap dogs, no matter how big they are! You'll find a full making-of GIF of this piece in the gallery above.

Happy Birthday
I drew this piece for my Dad for his birthday last year! When I was a kid, my Dad would sometimes make superhero comics with me... "The Eye" was Dad's character, and "Dark Thing" was mine. You'll find an animated version of this piece in the gallery above!

Maria Torres
Last up, here's a colour version of my drawing of Maria Torres from Trauma Team! You'll find the original b&w version in the gallery above. (And Saucy Hippo backers will find a spicier variant over in the Saucy Hippo vault!)

Thanks, everyone! 'til next time.