Black Snow Comics

I'M FAMOUS! cover

What do you think of this first I’M FAMOUS! compilation cover?  I think it’s AWESOME!

I'M FAMOUS! 48 - Big Pimpin'

#12 OF 12! Sadly this is the last one in the Great Plane Arch, written by me.  Don’t worry, Alex wrote some very funny stuff for the future strips.

So what do we have here?  The Wolf Pack has immediately gotten lost in LA and wandered into the bad part of town, running afoul of a pimp.  Yep, that’s my closer.  Ha!  Alex liked it.  I don’t think my dad did.  Can’t please them all I guess.  50% isn’t too bad though.

I researched bad areas of LA for this, and man, they’ve got some pretty crappy slums.  I redrew the pimp character a few times, starting out with something less stereotypical and outlandish, but it looked more like a rapper than anything, and din’t have the feel I was going for.  Hopefully I’ve offended you all with this drawing.

So I broke out that new painterly style I mentioned last time.  Like it?  Let me know, because the current plan is to continue in this vein, but I’d be interested to know if people prefer the old style more.  I’m pretty excited about it.  It’s something I’ve thought of for awhile, but really thought about it a lot now as I read Hawaiian Dick.  A combination of being inspired by that and realizing a new technique to fix a problem on the last strip has led to what you see now.  I’ve separated the inking from the coloring, something that was combined in a sort of coloring book style in the past.  Check out what it looks like with the colors only.

I'M FAMOUS! 48 - No Text

Pretty trippy, eh?  See the painterly-ness?  Cool.  Took longer than usual, but I already picked up some tricks and think it will speed up on subsequence comics.  Overall it allows for more freedom to get expressive, and I’m digging it.

Check out what it looks like with only the ink and text.

I'M FAMOUS! 48 - No Text or Ink

Sometimes I think they look better before I color them, or when they are partially done, but not in this case.  I really think the finished product is cool, and fairly unique.  Let me know what you think.

I'M FAMOUS! 47 - It Pays to be Famous

welcome to #11 of 12 written by me. This one was a real pain in a number of ways, most notably problems with the coloring (technical problems that hopefully you don’t see in the final product).  I actually came up with a new idea based on this coloring problem that may lead to a new technique and coloring style. A more painterly style that doesn’t center so much on staying in the lines and looking quite so neat, but would likely take longer to do.  We shall see.  Maybe I’ll try it in the next one.

This was also a bit of a challenge to layout, but overall I’m very happy with how things turned out.  I crammed a lot into this one, and really I’m surprised I didn’t make this scene longer when I originally wrote it.  I feel like these last 4 or 5 strips have a much more frenetic pace than our normal slow moving strips do, and I like it.  I also like that first panel of LAX in profile.  Is that a sunset of just the effects of the city having too many lights and so much smog?  Probably a little of both.

BTW, when I read the 12 I had written to my wife this was the one that really made her laugh and think I did a good job.

Just for fun, and so you can get a little better idea of the coloring that went into this, I want to show you how this strip looks without any of the dialogue.

I'M FAMOUS! 47 - No Text

Funny, you can pretty much tell what is happening still.  Isn’t that supposed to be the sign of good storytelling (through drawing)?  You’re damn right it is!

Where will things go from here?  What could be left for my last strip, #12?  I’ll tell you this, it’s Alex’s favorite one.  Stay tuned kids.

I'M FAMOUS! 46 - LAX Arrival

#10 of 12 written me! (no Alex)  They continue to fly by, pun intended.  The longest plane ride in the history of comic strips has come to an end, and here we see the Wolf Pack has arrived at LAX. (no group)  This was a very short, simply written one that I tried to really go all out on.

In my continuing effort to improve I put extra thought into the layout and worked on my settings and coloring.  I love that first panel. Some of my most beautiful coloring yet. It took quite a bit longer to do than a normal panel, so don’t expect them all to look that nice.  I do plan on doing showcase panels like that when it makes sense though.

I think that last panel is really strong as well.  The Wolf Pack has grown on me, in all his stupid manchild-like glory.  He is good comic relief and fun to draw.

I'M FAMOUS! 45 - Air Marshal

#9 of 12 written by ME! I LOVE this one. I was excited when I first wrote it, though it turned out looking almost nothing like I first envisioned.  I think it looks damn good, and I think it shows that I’ve been continuing to work on my layouts, my poses, and trying to add some movement to what has mostly been a very static series.

This is probably the most exciting strip we’ve done yet, in my humble opinion.  What do you think?