And with this latest comic, we are now on vacation!  Just a heads up, Comics by Brad will not update for the next couple weeks so we can enjoy a little R&R.  We will be back with a fresh, new comic on Monday, July 13th.  If you haven’t already done so you can subscribe to Comics by Brad and receive updates directly through your email or by feed, and now would be a good time to sign up so you don’t have to mark July 13th on your calendar and hope you remember when the day comes.  Click here to subscribe, or use the signup form to the right of this blog.

Thanks again to everyone for your continued support, and we can’t wait to be back (or can we?) and see you all soon.

Today I will write a blog entry instead of posting a comic like normal.  I’ve had a few people ask, so I will briefly go over my comic-making process.

1) The idea: Every comic starts with an idea.  I have no idea where my ideas come from, but I do know they are fleeting.  Because of this, I try to write them down as fast as possible.  I have a sketchbook on the floor next to my bed, but I also have sticky notes, napkins, and emails with ideas lying around.  At this stage I think it is important just to get the idea down. It doesn’t even matter if it’s good.  In fact, some bad ideas turn into the best comics.

2) The sketch: I’d like to say I use fancy paper, pencils, and drawing techniques, but I don’t.  A white piece of copier paper and a mechanical pencil is all I use for the sketch.  I like to rework the idea at this point and come up with a solid idea of how many frames I will use, what each character will say, and character placement & size.  Most of the time these sketches are gross representations of the final work, and I often times use stick figures as placeholders in later frames.

3) The computer: For those of you who don’t know, I’m a professional computer graphic designer, so the computer is where I turn for the bulk of the work.  I scan my sketch, and place it into Adobe Illustrator.  The scanned sketch is used as a guide on the bottom layer, and then I use the pen tool + mouse or pencil tool + drawing pad to draw all the elements of the comic.  I have a few standard strokes and fill patterns that I use, and I keep all the elements (like characters and dialogue) on different layers so I can easily move them around if needed.  I typically draw the characters first and place the text in last - but I think this is only possible because I can move stuff around so easily.  At this stage I might make some small changes to the comic once again. Simple, huh?

4) The upload: Finally, I upload the finished comic (saved as a .gif) to my website.  I create a short post for that day - and the website takes care of the rest.

There are a few trade secrets I left out, like finding my inner Braditude, but some things are just too dangerous to share.  Check back on Monday for another killer comic created using the Comics by Brad comic-making process.

by Brad Carey

As of this week, new BIG cheese comics will be posted every Monday and Thursday.  I am cutting back from 3 comics a week to 2.  I’ve been doing some more ambitious comics lately, longer comics, and I want to keep doing those types of things. The cutback will also give me time to make minor tweaks to the site when needed, to keep everything fresh. 

This is just a heads up so nobody freaks out on Wednesday.  I’ll see everyone on Thursday.