Comics

Webcomic Color Palettes

As I am working on defining my particular drawing style, I’ve been noticing that many webcomic artists use a very particular color palette that helps differentiate and define their comic. As I try to define what I might want my own webcomics to look like, I decided to compile a sheet of all my favorite webcomic’s color palettes. I thought I’d share it here in case anyone else was interested. Disclaimer: this is not an extensive list of every single color ever used in every single one of their webcomics, but it is enough to give me a good idea of their color palette.

These are all webcomic’s that I follow or have followed and I highly recommend all of them. Most of them can either be found on the Webtoon app or the TinyView app but some have their own websites such as The Oatmeal.

Some of them like Art by Moga and Strange Planet by Nathan Pyle have, what seem to me, very clear color palettes. Interestingly enough, these are also the two comics that use something other than pure black for their line work. I recently experimented with this for the first time while drawing a character from The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken and I really liked it – I feel that it adds an extra layer of interest. Perhaps that’s why they have such clearly defined color palettes? Any color looks good with a black line but not every color looks good with brown line work or a deep blue-pink line.

Many of the webcomics use black and white almost exclusively and use color as just an accent. It also appears that many of them just use whatever color best fits the comic they happen to working on at the time although most of the time they do lean more towards a certain saturation (i.e. more pastels or more bright colors).

Personally, I can see how a defined color palette could be quite freeing but I can also see how it would be restricting. So the moral of the story is: do what you want and what you like the best because if you don’t like the colors you are working with, you won’t actually enjoy drawing.

Comic #4: COVID-19 Vaccines

I’ve been *sob* waiting so long *sob sob sob* to be able to post this *sob sob sob.*

4 panel comic titled COVID-19 Vaccines. 
Panel 1: an excited smiley face with the words "After reading that scientists were developing a COVID-19 vaccine..."
Panel 2: an excited smiley face with the words "After my older & immunocompromised friends & family were vaccinated..."
Panel 3: an excited smiley face with the words "After my husband & I and adult family & friends were vaccinated..."
Panel 4: a sobbing face that's saying "I'm *sob* so *sob* HAPPY!" with the words "After my kiddo was vaccinated..."
So grateful to be able to get my young kiddo vaccinated. *sob sob sob*

Comic #3: Kids COVID-19 Vaccine Approval

Me, this morning, realizing that the CDC is meeting today to (hopefully) approve Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines for the 5-11 age group. The vote is scheduled for 4:15pm ET/3:15pm CT and I am literally counting down the hours.

Two panel comic. 
Panel 1: A man and woman are sleeping in bed when their alarm goes off at 7am. 
Panel 2: The woman is awake right away and says to her bewildered and wide eyed husband "Wake up honey! It's CDC day!"
Happy CDC Day to you!

Sketchbook Snapshot: Cartoons & Comics

I’ve been reading a lot of web comics lately and so now my brain is thinking in ‘comics’ so I’d like to try my hand at creating some. Here are some sketches I did to get a feel for different faces and eyes of different characters.

My daughter helped me pick out some of the characters. 😉

I’ve really been enjoying Sarah Andersen’s & Dami Lee’s comics.
Love Art by Moga and Safely Endangered.

Leaf Sketches

My family and I went on a walk and my daughter and I collected lovely fall leaves to do some different projects. She made a fall wreath (well, most of one – she got tired halfway through) and I made these.

A large leaf glued to a piece of paper. Drawings surround it. It is made to look as if the leaf is the head of a person who is saying "What the hell did you do to my hair, Jeannine? I'm not paying $130 for this."
Fucking Jeannine.
Four comic panels each with a leaf and a face drawn on the leaf. Top left: a leaf saying "Hello sailor" to a tree. Top right: a leaf finding a penny on the ground and saying "Oh look! A penny! My lucky day!". Bottom left: an oak leaf under a disco ball saying "The party man has arrived!" Bottom right: a leaf saying "I'm alive" as a doctor looks on in horror.
Are leaves attracted to trees? I don’t know.
Two red leaves in front of a tree house. One red leaf is saying "Only RED leaves are allowed here!" to a small yellow and orange leaf who looks sad.
RUDE.
3 comic panels. Top left: A leaf relaxing on a lounger by the pool thinking "This is the LIFE." Top Right: a leaf on a bus who is thinking "I is sad." and has a sad face. Bottom panel: Three leaves stand in front of a backdrop in order of height (tallest to shortest). The one in the middle says 'Just stand still and SMILE!" as a camera snaps a family photo.
I is sad today too.
3 leaves are leaving a Whole Foods. Two are a couple and are standing close together. The woman of the couple says "Hey Mark! Hey! It's Grace & Phil from the potluck." "Hi" says Mark. "We just got back from a lovely couples' vacation in Italy. You should go!" Grace coos. "By the way, how's the divorce going?" she asks innocently. "Not great Grace!" mark yells back.
Mind your own business, Grace!