Gone Fishing!

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Leroy Brown

Dear ICECUBES friends, No doubt you have been wondering aloud "why haven't there been any new ICECUBES comic strips lately?" The reason unfortunately is that I have been ill. Of course being not only the author, but also the publisher, colorist, promoter and webmaster of ICECUBES when I am out of commission the strip truly goes silent. There isn't a contingency plan, like hiring another cartoonist or running funny cat videos. I decided not to post classic ICECUBES strips either. So the strip goes silent for awhile. Add to that the fact that I need to work on my paying jobs every now and then so I can continue to afford sandwiches! As if those weren't decent enough excuses, I must also inform you that the computer I use to scan the comics is kaput! Yep, broken. It is I admit a very old machine but such is the life of the artist. Thankfully, my dear friends, you have made the latest ICECUBES book "THE i'S HAVE IT!" a runaway success and the first print run is completely sold out! I am so grateful for the support and attachment you have shown for ICECUBES. Of course if you believe that fixing the old computer might help get more ICECUBES strips published, feel free to become a Patron on Patreon. For only $1 a month you can help make sure I get my fill of sandwiches and my computer gets an oil change! Thanks so much for being such great fans of ICECUBES, it's just awesome! :) Leroy Brown

Comic strip blocking.

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Leroy Brown

‘Blocking’ just means blocking out how the action gets laid out on the page. In this case I was trying to work out the way Peckinpaw tripped and fell by making the gesture and movement read well in the limited amount of space of the 13″ x 4″ strip. Some artists call this the storyboarding stage. It’s real important to do this before you start drawing the real strip or else you will be erasing and restarting a lot. I always try to avoid a lot of erasing because it can introduce smudges that are hard to get rid of. It can also mess up the surface of the paper making it harder to ink. You can see click on the final published strip here.