Wow, it’s finally here! The brand new ICECUBES book vol.3 ” The Stuff of Dreams!” Super jumbo 40 page comic book full of ICECUBES comics. Order yours now at the shop! ICECUBES Vol3 Now Available!
Wow, it's finally here! The brand new ICECUBES book vol.3 " The Stuff of Dreams!" Super jumbo 40 page comic book full of ICECUBES comics. Order yours now at the shop!
Look at what I found the other day at some random store. Although it’s sure to be ‘cool’ gum they probably are not aware that ICECUBES is a registered trademark. Seriously, I’ll sue them for all their bubbles 😉
See Part 1 and Part 2 to catch up.This is the back side of your tracing.Once you have blacked the back of your tracing paper, you are now ready to transfer your drawing. Remember, you only need to black the area that corresponds to your drawing.Now you can flip the tracing over and start transferring your drawing! Place your tracing in the exact spot on your strip were you want the drawing to appear. Now trace your drawing, paying close attention to the lines that you want to capture. A lot of times you don’t need to put in a lot of detail. In my case I was just after the gesture and proportions of my original sketch.Presto! There is your original drawing, exactly where you want it on the page! It’s a great trick and I use it when I feel the need for speed! Looks great doesn’t it? Be sure you don’t dig in too much with your pencil just in case you need to erase and reposition your drawing.I don’t consider this cheating by the way, since I drew the original drawing. It’s just that I drew it on my sketch pad and wanted to place it at the right spot inside my comic strip. Here are some examples of drawings I transferred recently.
So you have selected the drawing you want to transfer. The next step is to trace it.Note the tracing paper and original drawing are taped to the table to prevent slipping (orange arrow). Now carefully trace your drawing using a soft pencil. Do not make deep lines or dig into the paper, you just want a nice outline.Once the tracing is done, it’s time to prepare the transfer. Turn the tracing over. Using a very soft pencil (3B or more) apply lead to the underside of your tracing. The best way is to use the flat of your lead (using charcoal is fine too).Tomorrow we’ll do the transfer! Stay tuned. 🙂Read Part 1 here!Read Part 3 here!
As mentioned last week, here’s a cool trick to use when trying to copy or transfer a drawing. Often you will practice a drawing a few times to get it right, a lot like a musician practices a riff to get the ‘swing’ of it. When you get that drawing right, you can keep practicing it to memorize it, or if you are on a tight deadline (like I often am) you can transfer it. Here is a practice sheet of Freeze walking. After several attempts I got a drawing I liked (circled in blue). In part 2 I will show you how to trace it then transfer it to your comic. Tune in tomorrow for part 2.
I recently went to a really neat exhibit of Inuit artifacts from 100 years ago. I made some sketches of the masks. Here’s one. Hopefully I can use it in the comic strip. 🙂
So after dreaming for years about making a real ink and paper book of ICECUBES the comic strip and finally being just about ready to pull the trigger, guess what happens? Border’s goes bust and closes all its stores, the book business crashes, printers stop printing books, paper mills close and stop making paper and generally speaking people stop reading books! What a time to put out a book. 🙁
But I remain optimistic that there is an audience out there that would like to hold the real thing in their hands, share it with their friends and enjoy having it on their bookshelves as a nice well crafted collectors item.
That’s why even though printing a book has become ever harder and expensive, in complete contradiction to the laws of supply and demand by the way, I’m still hard at work on the first ICECUBES book. Of course those of you who follow ICECUBES know that Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are available exclusively on the Kindle.
So stay tuned and get ready to pre-order your limited edition, real ink and paper, signed and numbered collector’s edition of ICECUBES the Book!
Leroy Brown
I ate a can of this last night and I needed it too! What with managing my databases spread over 4 computers and 10 hard drives, troubleshooting extension conflicts on my Macs, trying to revive a dead laptop and cleaning the gears of my printer, I’m totally immersed in geek hell. If only I also knew php… but I digress. As you can see, I am hard at work, fighting to bring you the best comic strip experience ever! Oh yeah and I gotta draw sometimes too…!
Yeah, more random stuff. Part of the ‘Cool Pix’ series. I like the cartoony pickle. 
Look at what I found the other day at some random store. Although it’s sure to be ‘cool’ gum they probably are not aware that ICECUBES is a registered trademark. Seriously, I’ll sue them for all their bubbles 😉 
Once you have blacked the back of your tracing paper, you are now ready to transfer your drawing. Remember, you only need to black the area that corresponds to your drawing.
Now you can flip the tracing over and start transferring your drawing! Place your tracing in the exact spot on your strip were you want the drawing to appear. Now trace your drawing, paying close attention to the lines that you want to capture. A lot of times you don’t need to put in a lot of detail. In my case I was just after the gesture and proportions of my original sketch.
Presto! There is your original drawing, exactly where you want it on the page! It’s a great trick and I use it when I feel the need for speed! Looks great doesn’t it? Be sure you don’t dig in too much with your pencil just in case you need to erase and reposition your drawing.
I don’t consider this cheating by the way, since I drew the original drawing. It’s just that I drew it on my sketch pad and wanted to place it at the right spot inside my comic strip. Here are some examples of drawings I transferred recently.
Note the tracing paper and original drawing are taped to the table to prevent slipping (orange arrow). Now carefully trace your drawing using a soft pencil. Do not make deep lines or dig into the paper, you just want a nice outline.
Once the tracing is done, it’s time to prepare the transfer. Turn the tracing over. Using a very soft pencil (3B or more) apply lead to the underside of your tracing. The best way is to use the flat of your lead (using charcoal is fine too).
Tomorrow we’ll do the transfer! Stay tuned. 🙂
Read Part 1 here!
Read Part 3 here!
Here is a practice sheet of Freeze walking. After several attempts I got a drawing I liked (circled in blue). In part 2 I will show you how to trace it then transfer it to your comic. Tune in tomorrow for part 2. 
Here’s a tracing I did of Freeze walking. I did it because I had done a great drawing that I wanted to copy. Next week I’ll explain how you can use tracing paper to transfer your drawing. It’s easy! 🙂 
Here are some more Inuit masks! 🙂 
I ate a can of this last night and I needed it too! What with managing my databases spread over 4 computers and 10 hard drives, troubleshooting extension conflicts on my Macs, trying to revive a dead laptop and cleaning the gears of my printer, I’m totally immersed in geek hell. If only I also knew php… but I digress. As you can see, I am hard at work, fighting to bring you the best comic strip experience ever! Oh yeah and I gotta draw sometimes too…! 
