CHAPTER 6
Comics artists often use the latest technology to create and publish their work. The most amazing technological advancement for comics has been the Internet. It was originally created by the U.S. military in the 1960s as a way to share information in case of a nuclear attack. But the Internet was only used by a few government agencies and universities through the 1970s.
The Internet’s early design and coding was almost all done through experimentation and collaboration across several scientific and computer science communities. By the late 1980s, the Internet had evolved dramatically. While the first computers were the size of your garage, personal computers in the late 1980s were so small they could fit easily on your desk in the living room. The Internet is still changing today!
WORDS TO KNOW
collaboration: working with others.
Comics have come a long way from the big splashy pages of Hearst’s and Pulitzer’s newspapers. And comics are not just for kids anymore. Thanks to cheaper, high-quality printing technology, tablet devices, and the Internet, comics are finding new audiences all over the world.
WEBCOMICS
With the spread of the Internet, many cartoonists found that they could reach a wide audience without needing a publisher, comic syndicate, or even a printer. These early pioneers set their sites (pun intended) on cyberspace and boldly went where no cartoonist had gone before—online. Many of the first webcomics were quickly drawn stories about video game culture or humor revolving around a simple theme.
As the Internet became more a part of daily life, cartoonists used it to find an audience by establishing their own websites. There are also many comics apps that showcase the work of regular cartoonists and webcomics artists.
WORDS TO KNOW
webcomic: a comic made to be read on web browsers.
Here are some fun webcomics to find online, with your parents’ permission, The Last of the Polar Bears by Lindsay Cibos and Little Dee by Chris Baldwin. How do the characters change through time? Do the stories make surprise twists? Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you’re scanning the right one.
The advent of color printing and mass newspaper production technology before the turn of the twentieth century changed the world of comics. Today, new technologies of the twenty-first century drive innovations in comics and cartooning in much the same way.
The same technology that made the boom in webcomics possible has also reshaped the mini comics and indie comics world. Comics artists use laptops, digital scanners, and electronic drawing devices such as the Wacom tablet to edit and lay out their comics for print from their desks. Powerful desktop publishing software has given independent cartoonists new ways of making their art. The cost of printing or photocopying comics has also fallen, creating a perfect environment for self-publishing.
WORDS TO KNOW
Wacom tablet: a device that allows an artist to draw life-like lines right onto a computer.
desktop publishing: computer software that edits and formats comics, books, and magazines.
COMIC BOOK CONNECTION
All new comic strip cartoonists rely on social media to connect with their audiences. They love to hear from their readers! Ask an adult for permission to follow the Twitter or Tumblr feeds of some of your favorite cartoonists.
As more cartoonists learned to design their own comics using the latest computer technology, a flood of new talent poured into conventions such as SPX in Bethesda, Maryland, and APE in San Francisco. Independent mini comics and publishing conventions sprouted up across the nation in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Independent cartoonists found an audience eager to read something handmade in a world that has become very digital. Cartoonists created handmade screen print art on the covers of their mini comics, which gave each issue the look of having been crafted with care.
IF YOU MAKE YOUR OWN MINI COMICS, TAKE THEM TO A MINI COMIC CONVENTION AND TRADE WITH OTHER CARTOONISTS.
THE FADING NEWSPAPER STRIPS
After staying popular for almost 100 years, national newspapers began to see a fall in the number of readers in the 1990s. With the rise of the Internet and the popularity of cable news channels, fewer people read newspapers to find out what is happening in the world. Do you still read newspapers?
WORDS TO KNOW
screen print: to make a color print of an image with special ink pressed through screens.
Local newspaper companies began buying each other up to gain more readers, until only one or two local newspapers were left in most regions. The lack of competition meant that the comic syndicates couldn’t find as many homes for their comic strips.
Comic syndicates also couldn’t pay new cartoonists the kinds of salaries they offered in the 1960s and ’70s. Now, each syndicate only accepts one or two new cartoonists a year, even though it usually receives about 5,000 submissions.
THESE NEW CARTOONISTS GET PAID VERY LITTLE. IT’S A VERY DIFFERENT JOB THAN IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO.
PUBLISHERS IN THE INTERNET AGE
How have comic book publishers adapted to the new world of the Internet? DC and Marvel began experimenting with new media in the late 1990s to try to get comics to fans in new ways. Today, their comics can be bought digitally, read digitally, and stored on a fan’s device.
Both companies continue to try to find new ways to stay ahead of the technological curve. Meanwhile, print sales continue to decline. Maybe in a few years, major comic books such as Superman and X-Men will only be available as digital downloads.
At one of the first San Diego Comic-Cons, legendary cartoonist Jack Kirby said that in a few decades, Hollywood studios would be coming to the comic convention to look for the next big idea for a blockbuster film. He was right! From 2000 to 2013, a comic book movie has been one of the top-grossing films each year.
A few newspaper comic strips have thrived in spite of the Internet and television. Pearls Before Swine follows the example of Garfield. The characters often interact in a very spare environment, usually just a table and chairs, and rely on a punch line. Rhymes with Orange by Hilary Price is mostly a single-panel gag comic that combines social observation with bizarre humor. The comics page also now includes its first Latin American comic strip, called Baldo.
Perhaps the most popular new comic strip of this era is Get Fuzzy, a strip about a cat, a dog, and their human. Comic strips about talking animals have always been popular, but Get Fuzzy, drawn by Darby Conley, is one of the first to portray the cat and dog characters in an almost realistic style. Get Fuzzy embraces the more artful style of Bill Watterson.
What’s next for comics? It’s impossible to know! But we can guess that comics are here to stay, even if the way we produce and read them changes through time.
Find more of these comics. Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you’re scanning the right one.
DESIGN YOUR TABLE FOR COMICS CONVENTIONS
Supplies: banner paper, glue, glitter, paint, scissors, streamers, shoeboxes, cardboard, anything else you can think of to make things for your table
Whether you decide to be a mini comics creator, a zinester, a graphic novelist, or a webcomics genius, one day you may want a table at a comic convention. Either by yourself or with friends, start to think about how you will design your table.
1Decide on your table size. Most conventions will let you buy space at a whole table or a half table that you share with another cartoonist or artist. Once you know how much room you have, you can design what you need to stand out.
2Use big sheets of paper to design a banner with the name of your comic or publishing group on it. You can paint original art on the banner or have your name in big glittery letters. Some comics artists like to hang a string in front of their banners for some sample comics.
3Make a display stand for your comics. You can use shoe or cereal boxes for this step. People love to see comics standing upright so they can get a good look at the covers.
TRY THIS! Conventions are a good place to sell merchandise of your comic. Try designing and ordering T-shirts of your work! Stickers and hand-crafted buttons are easy things you can make to get people excited about your comics. What else can you think of to give away at conventions?
MAKE A MINI COMIC
Supplies: paper, scissors, pencil, ruler, pens, eraser
Part of the fun of a mini comic is that you can make it quickly and get many copies to your friends and fans cheaply. Mini comics are really versatile. You can choose any size paper—11 by 17 inches (28 by 43 centimeters), 8½ by 11 inches (21½ by 28 centimeters), or 8½ by 14 inches (21½ by 35½ centimeters). You can make them by yourself or with your friends. They can be funny or they can be serious. Besides being portable, mini comics are easy to make your own.
1Fold your paper in half three times and then unfold it completely. You have just divided your paper into eight equal sections. Each section will be a page in your mini comic.
2Fold the paper in half once along the long side and cut along the crease line from the folded edge to the center. Unfold and then refold along the short edge.
3Pinch the sides toward the center so that the cut opens. When your hands come together, flatten all the pages to one side. You now have a mini book! Number the pages with pencil and unfold it completely.
4Use a piece of scratch paper to sketch out thumbnails of your comic. What is it going to be about? What will the cover look like? Use some of the skills you have practiced in other activities to make an awesome story and cool cover.
5Pencil your comic’s art. Draw all of the art on all of the pages. If you need to, fold the pages to keep track of the order of the story.
6Ink your comic. Erase the pencil lines when you are done. If you are going to use a color copier, you can add some color to your comic!
7The comic art is your master copy. A master copy is the version all other copies are made from. Ask an adult to help you make your copies at a local copy store or library. When you have made your copies, follow steps one through three again to put your comics together.
8Mini comics are like the trading cards of the comics world. If you are ever at a comic convention with independent creators, you can trade one of your comics for one of theirs. You can also share them with your friends or get a table at a convention and sell them to new fans!
TRY THIS! How can you design your comic differently? Can you use different colored paper? Try to find some friends to start a small publishing company with them. You can go to local comics conventions and sell your comics together.
MAKE A WEBCOMIC
Supplies: pencils, paper, ink, digital camera or scanner, computer, Internet, photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Gimp
Most comics artists use the Internet to show off their work to the global community. Others don’t just show off their work, they DO their work online. These are the webcomics creators and you can be one of them. Get permission from an adult to go online and make sure you are setting up your website properly.
1Ask an adult to help you get a website set up. Tumblr is a great place to start. Cartoonist Patrick Yurick wrote a very informative feature on setting up your Tumblr site to make a webcomic at makingcomics.com. Go to the distribution section of the website and click on “digital.” Click on the “tutorial” link to access his advice.
2Draw your comics and upload them to your website. You can either upload your comics by taking a photo of your comic or by scanning your comics into your computer. Make sure you save your image at a web resolution, which is 72 dpi (dots per inch).
3Figure out a publishing schedule. Which days do you want new comics to show up on your website?
4Time to promote! Tell your friends about your new webcomic and ask them to tell their friends. The online comics community likes to help each other out. Always get permission from a parent before you join any online group.
