Jason Poland (Robbie and Bobby)
by GoComicsI get asked how I make my comics, so a good place to start in explaining that is to show you where I make my comics! (Really, my comic-drawing procedure is very easy to explain М_- I just wanted to show off here.) So, come on in! I'll give you the tour.
Let's start from the ground up, shall we? I found this desk on craigslist, and replaced the top with a heavy pane of frosted glass. There's a florescent light strip in the middle drawer, so I can turn my working area into a giant light box. It's pretty handy for tracing Tasmanian Devil cartoons.
On the right side are my sketch books where I draft my ideas, and draw dogs wearing sunglasses. I make a rough storyboard, and if the layout looks nice enough, I scan it and "ink" right over it. I use quotes there because I ink via a Wacom tablet and a handy program called Manga Studio, on that laptop you see there sitting on a copy of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I always wear big headphones while I'm working. Music for the sketching and drawing portion, then maybe a movie or TV show in the background while I ink.
OK, now lets move up to that pretty wall, starting in the top left corner, moving left to right: a viking ship; an illustration by Robert Lawson from a page of The Story of Ferdinand; Witch Attacks by Will Cardini; a rendition of Robbie and Bobby as golden era cartoon stars, drawn by Austin Bedell; underneath that is a poster of Bear Quest 2 by Zach Taylor; in the absolute center is one of my favorite panels from 2816 Monument by Mark Luetke; left of that are a few pages of mine from current projects; underneath those is my drawing of my wife Julai riding a pterodactyl; to the right is a cut-paper portrait of a woman vomiting serif typeface, by Julai; next is a pixel art Mega Man made by Nick Meriwether and Misha Burgett; above that is a colored pencil Zelda tribute by Chris Sweet; and to the right of those is an embroidery of a half Brittany/half Austin wedding hybrid made by my friend Brittany Havican.
And that ends our tour. Thanks for stopping by! If you want to know more about how I make my comics, or any of the stuff you see on my desk, or whatever, drop me a question in the comment box.
Read Robbie and Bobby here, follow Jason on Twitter or like the comic on Facebook!