Sooooooo..... where is this beaver gland and who gets it? Does the beaver give it up willingly? I wouldn't
Like what you see? Share it.
26

Secret Ingredient
Posted on November 9, 2015 by p.j.
Apparently, that's a real thing.  Beaver gland.  They're putting it in everything these days.  Who is "They?" Some of you noticed a little change in the look of the comic on Friday.  I've been experimenting with the idea of going more digital than before.  Before I explain, let me run though my workflow: I have to cut a 14 x 11" piece of Bristol board in half to 14 x 5.5".  I then take a template and layout the bounding box and lettering line on the board.  I'll pencil the dialog in first, then pencil the characters in.  Once I hate the comic enough, I commit it to ink.  Then I scan the board (in two pieces because my scanner can't take the whole 14" wide artwork) and bring it into Photoshop.  There, I piece the two scanned images together, do some other magic to it before I'm able to color the comic.  Lots of steps, lots of room for error and unhappiness. What I want to do now is do my lettering, inking,  and coloring digitally.  This way, I have better control over line weight and editing will be a little easier.  The result, hopefully, is a cleaner look, the lettering is more legible, and cut out some of those miserable time consuming steps in the process.  If I like (and you guys like) the results, I might continue this way possibly even going 100% digital with my pencil work going digial as well.  This is a struggle for me professionally.  I have always been a physical art kinda of guy who wants physical art to show at the end of the day.  But hey, this is the 21st century, why not embrace the tools it has given me.  It's still my art and still my style. Chime in and let me know how you like it.

26 thoughts on “Secret Ingredient”

  1. Tony McGurk

    By the way the food kept changing colour I thought the secret ingredient must’ve been Chameleon. Loving the new look too PJ. I still draw & ink in my sketchbook & colour & text digitally in GIMP. Only because I haven’t dished out for a tablet yet. Plus I like that I can use my sketchbook anywhere without having to have my laptop in front of me.
    “once I hate it enough” Cracked me up.
    P.S. I’m cartooning again!!!

    1. p.j.

      I feel I could go both directions. I think penciling and inking digitally might help me loosen up and hone my style when i do use pencil and ink. Welcome back Tony!

  2. krashpow

    This gland is your gland, this gland is my gland… Lovin’ the new look, P.J.!

    1. p.j.

      I saw what you did there Mark. Thanks.

  3. Nef

    I was laughing at your “once I hate it enough” phrase. I feel your pain. I went digital a long time ago and have seen only improvement since then. Of course, it may be because I jumped to digital before my skill could support it. Now I’m still learning, but my problem is that I need to draw better and faster, and I don’t seem to be able to improve in a balanced way on both fronts.

    1. p.j.

      I resisted it so much for that last year or so. Until I gave in finally and found I actually love the look. It saved me from stressing over never having the perfect inked art and how my lettering was always horrible.

  4. jynksie

    which end of the beaver does this gland hail from? [cough]

    1. p.j.

      I’d rather not… know.

  5. David Youngs

    Are those the beaver glands that castor oil comes from?

    1. p.j.

      Oh, I hope not. I love castor oil. Just kidding.

  6. Autumn

    I vote yes for what makes you happy.

    1. p.j.

      Lol. Thanks for the advice Autumn.

  7. Casually Employed

    Pj, yes. I really like the results you are getting digitally.
    Keep it up! 😀

    1. p.j.

      Glad you like it. Should have done this like a year ago.

  8. perkatwork

    Been out of commission for a while. I’m glad I came back. Love the tight feel of the art; the coloring is great! On a side note: Panel two, Gordon Ramsay with an “A”.

    1. p.j.

      Glad to have you back Jason. Wondered where you’d made off to. Thanks for the spelling callout. Fixed.

  9. Kim Belding

    This new look is so great I thought it was a guest strip at first! Congrats PJ!

    1. p.j.

      LOL. Thanks Kim.

  10. Michael Corley

    Love the new look. Nice shading!

    1. p.j.

      Thanks Mike!

  11. John

    Lovin the new look, P.J.! Keep it up!

    1. p.j.

      I shall do just that John. Thanks for the positive vote.

  12. N gauger

    I like the digital artwork. If it makes it a bit easier on you, why not? 🙂 Funny how we never hear “they” saying all that they say, but we always hear someone repeating what “they” said. 🙂

    1. p.j.

      And it’s usually the they with the capital “T.”

  13. Doc Kenny

    I really like the look

    1. p.j.

      Thanks Kenny. I will put that down in the “Yes” column.

Leave a Reply to JohnCancel reply