The Art of "BUSHY TALES"

PRESENTATION

From the very first BUSHY TALES strip, it has always been my desire and commitment to present the strip in a very visually and aesthetically pleasing way. 

For sure, I want the strip to stand out from others because of its high-quality art, but I also want to make the BUSHY TALES strip a joy to look at simply because I love drawing the Australian bush, the setting for the strip and the characters. 

The above image is the title frame from one of the latest BT Sunday strips and it is a good example of how I try to present the strip (I do spend a bit more time on the title frames than other frames where there is action and/or dialogue).

Unfortunately, due to the continually reducing size of comic strips printed in the newspapers, it is a challenge to make a strip "good art" that will not be lost in the reduction, and not just to succumb to using simple line drawings (not that there is anything necessarily wrong with such strips...I just want to do more with BT).
Of course, it never used to be this way......

Back in the days when newspaper comic strips were valued, not just by readers but by editors as well, things were different. The comics were printed at a size that cartoonists can only dream about these days. There was plenty of room for detail and pictorial story-telling. Sadly, as the competition for column space increased, editors took the view that the comics could easily get smaller (and smaller and smaller and.....).

So, as a way of compensating for the increasing reduction in the printed size of their work, cartoonists (with some exceptions) started to use less detail, background and unnecessary "clutter" in their strips. This was/is a great shame.

One cartoonist in recent times who refused to be contained and confined to the restrictions of space was Bill Watterson with his legendary "Calvin and Hobbes" strip. Watterson made his strip a compelling and overwhelmingly effective argument in support of the view that comic strips COULD BE good art. And his art was way better than just good!

Personally, I think many other cartoonists have followed Watterson's lead and influence (I know I have). These days there are many comic strips that are beautifully crafted and drawn, not just relying on the "talking head" approach of former years.

Next week, I will list some of my favourite comic strips (past and present) and many of these strike that delicate balance between the art and the humour with great success.

It is something that I continue to strive for with BUSHY TALES. 

They say that in a comic strip good writing can save bad art, but good art can never save bad writing. So the constant challenge for me (and every cartoonist) is to make sure the balance is in synch and the writing (gag/story) is the priority with the art playing a strong supporting role. It is not always easy, but it is good to have such a criteria to be aiming for....and evaluating with.

PEARLY GATES vs BUSHY TALES

My previous comic strip, PEARLY GATES, and my current strip, BUSHY TALES, are vastly different.
PEARLY GATES was a comic strip based on the age-old gag of St Peter being at the Pearly Gates of heaven. I took the setting and crafted a comic strip that ran continuously every day for almost 20 years. 
However, the strip was somewhat limiting from an artistic point of view.
I used to say (and still do) that PEARLY GATES was not an earthly look at heaven but, rather, a heavenly look at earth. One of the reasons for this distinction was that I had no way of knowing what heaven looks like and, even if I did, it would be way beyond my capacity to draw it, anyway! So I didn't try. My characters spent all their time sitting around on the proverbial clouds.
Sometimes, I would switch to a scene down on earth for a bit of variety (and to give me something other than clouds to draw!). But, as much as I loved doing the PG strip, I did find it a rather limiting experience as far as artistic expression goes.

So, with BUSHY TALES, I was definitely looking for something that would allow me to be more creative and expressive. 

THE PROCESS

These days, many cartoonists use computerized and digital programs to draw their cartoons. I'm not one of them. I guess I am a bit 'old school', but I love the feel of pen on paper.So all the BUSHY TALES strips have been drawn by hand. My hand.

I am always trying to improve my style and, often, I will look back at a strip and think that I could have done it better. I guess that is the ongoing process of development...not just of the cartoon, but also of the cartoonist.

Once I have finished drawing the strip on paper, I then scan the original into the computer and work on the colouring using Photoshop. (It is also in the Photoshop program that I produce a version of the strip in Greyscale.) 

I have always been a big believer in cartooning being a black and white medium (in fact, the Australian Cartoonists Association was originally called the Australian Black and White Artists Club), but I must confess that I do really enjoy colouring the strip....it can take almost as long as the original drawing! 

It is through the colouring that the strip becomes even more of a visual feast and, I hope, a point of attraction and appreciation for readers.
The same strip is shown here in the three different versions....
Black and White (as it is scanned into the computer), Greyscale and Colour.

 As you can see, there is quite a process in the production of each BUSHY TALES comic strip. I think it is worth the effort....I hope you do, too.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (Q&A)

In the coming weeks I would like to do a blog full of answers to  questions from readers.
So...if you have any questions about BUSHY TALES, or cartooning in general, please send them to: bushweekblog@bushytales.com

I'd love to hear from you.

Until next week....

Joyfully yours,
Ian 

WEBSITE: www.bushytales.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BushyTalesComicStrip

The Evolution of a Comic Strip Character

The Evolution of a Comic Strip Character

DOUG the Wombat

FULL NAME: Doug Burrows
SPECIES: Wombat
AGE: Unknown
MARITAL STATUS: Single
INTERESTS: Sleeping, Eating, Drinking Coffee
SKILLS: Sleeping, Eating, Drinking Coffee
GOALS: Sleeping more, Eating more, and Drinking more Coffee

ORIGINS

The origin of Doug the Wombat actually precedes the BUSHY TALES strip. In fact, it could be said that the strip grew out of, and around, this character. Allow me to explain.....

About twenty years (or so) ago I was doing a few random sketches, one of which turned out to be a wombat that I liked. However, as I was producing another cartoon strip at the time, I did not have any time, or ideas, to develop anything from these early sketches....though I always thought that it might develop into something one day. These sketches were just drawn on loose sheets of paper and, unusually for me, I did not lose them or throw them out over the ensuing years. Perhaps, somewhere in the dim, dark recesses of my mind, I knew that I would revisit these sketches one day.

That day eventually came early in 2011 when my wife, Robyn, and I were returning home from a weekend with some good friends in rural New South Wales. Whilst driving home through the beautiful Australian countryside, I was doing a lot of thinking about various things and, during the course of the trip, the whole concept of the BUSHY TALES comic strip was birthed and started to take shape. 

Of course, the cute wombat from those sketches of years past was destined to become the central character of this new comic strip and everything just "came together". as they say, from there.
It was a very productive drive, in my opinion! 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Of course, it is one thing to come up with a character, but another thing entirely to then develop the character within the context of a comic strip and in relation to other characters.

The setting for BUSHY TALES is on The Bluff...a rocky outcrop overlooking a creek and a valley. The Bluff is the enclave home to an eclectic assortment of Aussie bush animals....but Doug was not originally one of them. I elected to have Doug enter the strip as an "outsider", a character from a distant place. As the story unfolded, it turned out that he was (to his knowledge) the only one who escaped a devastating bush fire. In his wandering he ended up at The Bluff....and he has stayed ever since, finding his place in his adopted furry family.
So much so that he is, most certainly, the central character of the strip.

Here is the very first BUSHY TALES daily strip and the introduction of Doug.....

Doug has come a long way since those early days.
His appearance has changed, or at least developed, as you can see from these few pics...                   

RECURRING THEMES:
Every character in a comic strip needs to have certain characteristics, or personality traits, that will enable readers to relate to it. After all, if readers cannot relate to a character, or a strip, why would they bother reading it?
The classic example is GARFIELD....do cats really love lasagna and hate Mondays? Of course not!
But people do. And, therefore, they relate to Garfield.

Doug, like most animal cartoon characters, is very anthropomorhic. This means that the animal (or whatever) takes on human characteristics.
So for Doug this means that he loves coffee, likes eating, can read a newspaper, watches television, writes poetry and short stories, and does other things that wombats don't normally do.
But people do! And, therefore, people see a bit of themselves in the character.

COFFEE....
Doug loves his coffee! Thankfully, for him, caffeine has no stimulant effect and, consequently does not affect his sleeping habits at all. In fact he is quite proud of how he can balance these two necessities of life!

In addition to all of this, a further development in recent times has seen Doug take on an alter-ego........

WOMBATMAN!
The creation of Wombatman in the strip has given me an opportunity of doing some crazy things and following some unusual story lines that I would not have previously been able to do. 

Wombatman is a bit of a parody, of course, and I really enjoyed the first ever Wombatman strip. It was drawn shortly after a particular Batman movie and the title worked well with Doug's love of sleeping......

WHAT'S AHEAD?....
Well, without giving too much away....Doug is going on a big trip back to his old home, destroyed by a major bushfire...with many adventures along the way!

And, in a future edition of the BUSH WEEK blog I will go through the actual process of drawing Doug, and the other characters in the strip.

Until next time....

Joyfully yours!

Ian

WEBSITE: www.bushytales.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BushyTalesComicStrip