A Tour of the "Studio"

I thought an interesting extra for the site might be an inside look at where I make the strip every week and what tools and equipment I use to get it done. If it turns out you really are interested in that sort of thing, I've put together a little photo tour of my work area.

The Drawing Area

This is where the hard labor gets done. Usually I sit here and draw and ink from anywhere between two and seven hours, depending on the complexity of a strip and how well I can maintain my focus. Work here is usually done Saturdays and Mondays, and sometimes a little on Sunday, as well.

This is my corkboard, where I post things that are instructional, inspirational, comforting or amusing, and they all play some part in keeping me going. You can see a guide on how to draw hands, some other compositional instructions, a couple of gifts, some Cape Comic Con swag, newspaper clippings of advertisements for my sports blog, a picture of Mike, Stu, and Renee (in case I forget how to draw them, which happens often), and some family pictures that I've blurred. Nothing personal, but there are some things that I don't think belong on the internet.

Here's my actual work area.
1) Art supplies--tape, rulers, erasers, and cup full o' pencils, pens, and brushes.
2) Cover sheet I put over my work so I don't smear ink or pencil lead all over the place (I'm left-handed, so I'm prone to smearing), a paper towel for wiping off tools if ink gets on them, and my hand-lettering guide.
3) Custom drawing table built by Amanda and my dad. There is a pane of glass in the left side of the table--if I put a light under the glass, I have a built-in light box, which allows me to trace things when needed or place guides under my paper.
4) Lamp that's sitting under the table for use with the glass. I intend to actually buy a flourescent lamp that attaches to the underside of the table, but I don't have that yet. Jury-rigging for the win!
5) Supersweet Feeds box that came from my grandparents' old store. I keep replacement pens and pencils and other art supplies I use less frequently in here.
6) Stack of ideas, a notebook, my weekly schedule, and a list of video games I'd like to purchase someday.
7) A cup-holder that Amanda made me for my birthday. The cup stays parallel to the floor even though the surface of the table is slanted.
8) The next comic strip, already in progress. Hooray!

When I need to take the operation on the road, I bust out my old Staedtler drawing board, which was given to me by my parents for my birthday when I was a sophomore in high school. It has suffered quite a bit of wear and tear, but it still gets the job done when I'm not home, but still need an inclined surface on which to draw.

This is a little shelf Amanda found for me at a local thrift store. (I was using a different shelf, but that was relegated to video game storage.) I used to just keep all my books and stuff on the desk, but they would perpetually slide off! Very irritating.
1) All of my drawing books and reference books and whatnot. I always say I'm going to stop buying these, but I always find another one I have to have.
2) One of those little wooden guys you can pose as a drawing aid. Usually I just put it in an interesting pose to amuse myself while I work.
3) A clock my dad made me for Christmas. This is here so I don't have to turn around and look at the one on the wall behind me all the time. This is one of my favorite gifts ever.
4) A clay figure of Stu that Amanda made me.
5) A pipe that Amanda gave me the night I asked her out. She said all writers are supposed to have a pipe.
6) Pads of bristol board and other drawing paper, a couple of sketch books, folders full of old projects both complete and incomplete, my art portfolio (has not been updated since 2006...yowza), a binder containing most of the original artwork for Mike and the Ninja. There are also two coloring books containing fairies and cute kittens, but those are Amanda's, not mine!

The Post-Production Area

This is my computer area, where I take the comic after all of the hand-drawing is done. I also use this area to battle the forces of evil, look at crazy crap on the internet, and sometimes eat.

1) Epson Perfection 2480 scanner. It's fast, reliable, and was cheap when I bought it. I was afraid it was dying because it used to make loud grinding noises on occasion, but since I got my new PC, that hasn't happened. Interesting.
2) Sony 17" LCD monitor (I think). Current desktop wallpaper is of Samus Aran jumping through some fire. I bought this from my friend Blake a few years back because my old monitor took up too much desk space. I'm probably going to buy a monitor upgrade soon, but this one has certainly gotten the job done.
3) Wacom Tablet that Amanda got me for Christmas 2008. It took some getting used to at first, but this baby has become essential to my operation.
4) This is my computer desk, which I found at Big Lots after looking all over town for the right desk. My previous desk served me well, but it just didn't have enough space to suit my needs any longer.
5) Cup full of pens and pencils and highlighters. My brother-in-law gave me this many years ago--you can put your own art on the side, so I covered it with drawings of one of my old comic book characters.
6) Lamp I stole from my brother. Hey, if he wanted it, he should have taken it to Chicago with him.
7) Epson printer. Now that I'm out of school, I barely use this thing.
8) Sterilite plastic drawers. Look, man, this ain't the Ritz--they're cheap and they get the job done.

A close-up of some of the other trinkets I have on display.
1) A terminator figurine from Warhammer 40,000 my brother-in-law got for me a LONG time ago at an old gaming store in town that no longer exists, as far as I know.
2) A little frog eraser my friend Izzie brought back from Korea one time.
3) A Southeast Missouri State University pen my co-workers got for me when I had to leave my job there because I was graduating.
4) A little figurine of Godzilla fighting Mechagodzilla my brother got for me for my birthday a few years ago.
5) Micro Machines AT-AT Walker. When you have an AT-AT at your disposal, you feel like you can do anything. (Except not trip.)
6) Personalized pads of paper Amanda's parents got for me for Christmas 2008. These things have proven to be utterly indispensable.

Lastly, these are my PCs. On the left is my old one, Monolith. This machine was built primarily for gaming and video-editing. However, I do most of my gaming on consoles these days, and I have pretty much completely gotten out of the video-editing field. I built it in 2003, and it ran great for a lot of years. On top of that, I don't download porn, so it only ever had maybe three viruses at the most. However, Monolith had a lot of trouble handling the most recent software, so I retired it. Its successor, Monolith Mark-2, is to the right. I ordered this machine from Dell. It lacks the hardware necessary for really hardcore gaming, but it can handle all of the games I'm interested in, and Adobe CS4 runs like butta.'

That's it! Hope you had a good time looking at my stuff, and maybe this gives you a little bit of insight on how I work.

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