Kicking with Cactus: Strips 4 and 5

There are a few things I forgot last week, so I'll get to those before jumping into strips 4 and 5. First to mention, Kicking with Cactus is the first time I've ever done word balloons digitally. At this point, I've finally almost got a grasp on it, but I hate it. Lettering will be something I either hire out, or do by hand in the future. I almost hired a letterer for this, but doing it %100 myself seemed like the important part of the exercise. It's probably not a big deal to some, and some people probably hate Kicking with Cactus because of it. In the published version, I'm sure all the lettering will be redone (as well as a few panels, which I'll point out as we go.) Second to mention, is that the stats of the originals are taken by photograph, not scanned. Canon Rebel XS for those keeping track. I prefer to do it in %100 natural light with no flash, but sometimes it doesn't work out. I then crop and greyscale the photo in Photoshop (or gIMP for about 20 strips.) Someday I'll put on my big boy pants and pick up an 11x17 flatbed scanner, but for now I make due. ONWARD!

Here is the Bleeding Cool link to follow along: BOOM!

Strip #4:

This was a last minute addition. Of the handful of people who saw Kicking with Cactus before it went out into the world, most of them said, "So...what's up with the blankie cape." The blankie is based off of my real blankie, which I've had since I was born and still sleep with every night. So in the raw aesthetic, it's 2 parts sentimental, and 1 part nod to Boba Fett. I thought it was a fair question that deserved an answer, and felt like addressing it right away was the answer considering it comes up later. Erp.

Strip #5:

Well, that wasn't working. I had to give it another go.

Strip #5:

Obviously toned down the giant POP! effect, I switched the angle of the central panel as well. In the first try, I was thinking the opposite directions of the central panel and the POP! would give it greater effect. In practice we can see that it's certainly counter-effective. I wish I would have exaggerated the perspective in the central panel a little more. I also need to dive into a few mechanics on drawing people with their tongues out. Always effective when done well, but incredibly difficult to do and not have it look mean or ugly. A few people have asked what kind of bird is being freed from Cactus' backside. It actually comes back up in the comic, so I'll have to save that.

See you next week for #5, our next audio strip!

In the beginning...

Welcome to the Kicking with Cactus blog. I'll be featuring the original strip art, discussing the reasoning behind some of the creative choices, as well as exclusive behind the scenes content and strips here. Let us jump in then!

Where did Kicking with Cactus start?

I've been working as a storyboard artist on various things ranging from commercials to TV and video games for a few years off and on. Storyboards need to be quick, and are often very simple and unrefined. Meanwhile, on the comic book end, it is not uncommon for me to spend several days working on a page. Kicking with Cactus was a way to meet in the middle of those aesthetics, as well as expand the ISIT universe without getting in the way of my initial narrative. The initial plan was that the KwC strips would be artistic warm up and cool downs that I'd do as I worked on actual comic pages, and while that still holds true, things like scheduling, computer breakdowns, and having a new addition to the family have shifted the priorities a bit. In short, it was mainly meant to be an exercise, that I infused with a narrative. The end result was, and is, variable.

How/Why Bleeding Cool as the sole content distributor.

The short answer, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I've been a longtime reader of Rich's Lying in the Gutters column, and Bleeding Cool gets an extensive amount of hits as far as the comic industry goes. It wasn't my initial plan, but really I didn't want to have to deal with all of the other stuff. I just wanted to do the work, and let someone else put it out in the world. After I had the first bunch of strips drawn up, and a couple of drinks one evening, I shot them off to Rich, he liked the idea, and that was that. I don't get ANY payment from Bleeding Cool, and their exclusive expires on Father's Day of 2013. Rich has first print option. Meaning he can shop it to a publisher, and I would certainly get a cut of that. It will certainly be published one way or another.

Now, lets jump into the first set, Strips 1-3! (Colored and lettered versions here.)

Strip #1. This first panel will connect directly to "Last Call at Saturn's Tempest," the first chapter of ISIT's Telefated saga. The mission is that you don't have to read both LCAST and Kicking with Cactus, but if you do, it will enrich both stories all the more. KwC was also an opportunity for me to get an audience hip to the idea of original songs and soundscapes to go with the comic, as all of the ISIT comics will also have a musical companion. "Shishunya" which means "dream tunnel" in Hopi culture was the track I kicked things off with, and can be downloaded here. This track was performed mostly with an old Casio keyboard and guitar. Sometimes some shielding comes loose somewhere, and I get radio interference in the keyboard, and I decided to use that to my advantage with this track. I have no idea what station, or what's being said. The idea was that ISIT's reality at this point is behaving much the way radio waves do.

Strip #2. I don't have a whole lot to offer here. I played with the color of the scarf for a week before finally settling on orange, because the interplay of the green and orange always triggers David Carson's fantastic work on Nine Inch Nails the Fragile album artwork. Those who know me, know the Fragile significantly altered my path in life, so it was a bit of a subconscious homage.

Strip #3. The Newton Wax. This didn't come out quite the way it was meant to. There's an Austin based photographer that I'd come across, whose work I was incredibly taken in by, Mr. Jeremiah Newton. You can check out some of that here. To make a long story longer, he started dabbling in the mustache wax business, and as it turns out, he makes some of the greatest stuff you can get. When it goes to print, there will be an AR app for things like this so when you wave your phone over that last panel it will take you here. There was supposed to be a link in the Bleeding Cool post, but such is one of the downsides of not doing things yourself. Jeremiah and I have become friends, and you can expect to see some collaborative work from us in the future. Also of note, is that I thought I was being super clever with the mustache word balloon in the final version. I hadn't yet read Brandon Graham's superb Cat Master opus, King City. In fact, I still hadn't read it when I met him recently (and bought said opus,) and am more than a little embarrassed. In hindsight, it was an unknown homage ;)

New strips at Bleeding Cool every Sunday, and updates here on Wednesday! Cheers!