Charles Schulz always hand lettered all of his comics. He never used assistants the way some others did, ie. Garfield and Doonesbury. He said that he needed to letter his own strips because he didn’t know what the copy would be until the last minute. Changes always happen while you’re drawing a strip, like in this case when I decided to change the panel layout. The text I had wouldn’t read well in the layout I had so I joined the two middle panels and adjusted the drawing instead. You can still see the construction lines for the old layout (orange arrow).
Here’s the final strip.
If you have an iPhone or a Kindle, please go download ‘ICECUBES’!
“Peckinpaw Descending A Staircase” by Leroy Brown.
Acrylic Painting of Peckinpaw Descending a Staircase. Painted in honor of Marcel Duchamp for the Mocca Fest in New York City held at the famous Armory, where Duchamp first showed his ‘Nude Descending a Staircase’ in 1913!
Duchamp’s painting changed modern art forever!
You can buy a print of this at the ICECUBES store on Zazzle!
Just some ‘cool’ art for your Friday enjoyment! 
When I’m planning out a drawing, sometimes I need to make some real quick sketches to work out simple things like a hand position. In this case I wanted to try out some different hand positions so that the pen he is holding didn’t cut across his face and disrupt the drawing. So I moved it around. You can see the published comic strip here.
ICECUBES
Here I was trying to figure out how to get Peckinpaw to cross his legs and look natural… not as easy as you would think! Tip: the shin and knee are foreshortened!
Everyone knows Casper the Friendly Ghost and everyone remembers reading Harvey Comics when they were kids. Casper, Richie Rich, Little Dot, Little Audrey, Spooky and Hot Stuff are all characters that are truly part of America’s collective memory. We love those characters because they are all so friendly and funny. Harvey Comics is part of everyone’s childhood and lucky for me part of that childhood came back to life when I visited the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City. The Art of Harvey Comics was a really neat exhibit that featured original art from Harvey comic books by stalwarts such as Ernie Colón, Sid Couchey, Warren Kremer and Howard Post. It was just great to see the original art and even greater to meet founder Alfred Harvey’s son Russel Harvey. Russel is a multitalented artist in his own right and wears many hats including TV producer, photographer, writer and comic artist.
Russel Harvey (right) and MoCCA director Karl Erickson (left), NYC, April 2009
Russel regaled us with stories of what is was like to grow up in a world of comic art giants. Apparently Charles Schulz really used to say ‘good grief’ and Joe Simon (Captain America) could draw in virtually any style. I had a great time and just want to thank MoCCA’s director Karl Erickson for being so welcoming and Russel Harvey for being -true to the Harvey name- so very friendly!
Leroy Brown
My Car’s By Apollo.
I Played With My Toy’s. The Toy Was A Car.
My Toy Go’s Fast And Fast And Fast And Fast.
When I’m planning out my strips I try to draw the characters in different poses to see which ones work best. It’s a good idea to try things out before drawing the strip and to experiment. Often times I come up with unusual results and that goes into the strip. The funnier the better!
Be sure to take the poll! This coming week will be the last week. If you want a third comic on Fridays remember to support ‘ICECUBES’ by clicking on our sponsors!
I like how these pencils look. Sometimes the pencils look better than the finished ink job. I hate when that happens! Oh well, you decide.
Notice how I always extend the drawing beyond the panel in order to get a balanced feeling. You can click on the image to get a better look.
The finished comic strip is here.
ICECUBES
It’s all in the gesture! That’s where you get the energy and ‘funny’ into your drawings. So I always spend time practicing each drawing on a sketch pad by drawing big circles and blobs for the heads and bodies of my characters. This helps me ‘anchor’ them into place and make them feel real. Be sure to always get a good under-drawing happening before committing to the final. No amount of style can make up for a poorly balanced drawing. ICECUBES
So get crazy and start making ‘gestural drawings’!
