This was orignally created as a content-free demonstration tool for my Art of the Comic Book class. The tools were (1) using a compass to draw ink circles, (2) 1-point perspective and (3) Ames Lettering Guide lines. To make this demo residue into a story, I had to form the content around the form.

Working around the inked circles, the visual design is based on a Windsor McCay Little Nemo in Slumberland page. The story was then developed around the circle caption. The monster is Fin Fang Foom from Marvel’s pre-superhero science fiction comics. Nemo is based on my son and the Buster Crabbe era Flash Gordon. The other kid’s modeled after Spock from the 2009 Star Trek film.

Like “Lucky Seven“, this story is rendered with traditional media tools.

• 10″ x 15″ live area on 14″ x 17″ bristol paper
• Speedball Super Black India Ink
• Short-handle round #4 sable brush
• Ruling pen (borders)
• Speedball nib #512 (buildings, details)
• Speedball C6 and B6 (lettering)
• Ames Lettering Guide (setting 3.5 even-spaced)
• Adobe Photoshop CS3 (color, production)

This comic is colored with a Photoshop color swatch based on the palette Marvel used in the late 1960s. With no aging newsprint behind it, first draft colors looked too bright on screen. The popular move is to use a high-resolution scan of brown/sepia aged paper in the background. Not wanting this to look significantly older than it is, I hunted the Internet and eventually found a suitable newsprint texture.