Nooky Fishing

Naturally.

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Leroy Brown

Casper and Harvey’s Friendly Comics.

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Leroy Brown

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 Colon, 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

Apollo’s Page.

Posted on April 10, 2009 by 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.

Positions.

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Leroy Brown

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!

Pencils.

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Leroy Brown

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.

Gestural drawing.

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Leroy Brown

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’! 🙂

Cool Pix!

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Leroy Brown

Always been an inspiration! 🙂 I used to collect ICEE points when I was a kid to get prizes!

Backdrawing.

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Leroy Brown

When drawing on the outer edge of your panel, it’s important to extend the drawing as if you were drawing the whole character. Even if parts will get cut off it is a good idea to draw them to get a feeling for where things are supposed to fall. For example in this drawing, Peckinpaw is off to the side and his shoulder is mostly cut off even though I drew the shoulder. Without the shoulder I wouldn’t know where to put his arms and hands. Also note that his left arm is drawn even though I won’t see it because of the book in front of it. That way I know exactly where to put his fingers. I call this ‘backdrawing’ or drawing in the round. 🙂

Drawing tools.

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Leroy Brown

Here is a picture of my collection of metal drawing nibs. I have gathered these throughout the years and although I only use a very specific type for drawing and lettering, I like keeping them. The ones I use on the strip are in the little plastic box in the foreground. The techniques I use to draw are very old fashioned to some. Although I do use a tablet for doing commercial work, the plastic ‘sliding’ feeling of drawing on a tablet won’t work for the strip. I like the feel of drawing on paper and inking with nibs.

Comixtalk cover.

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Leroy Brown

This is the new cover I did for ComixTalk.com. Go check out the site, lots of great stuff about webcomics. Big thanks to Xaviar Xerexes.

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.