The Recipe for a Perfect Cartoon
1. NAPKIN SKETCH. Most of the cartoons that you see began on a cocktail napkin. There are usually about 10-15 of these sketches to start off with. I sketch out ideas on napkins mostly so I won't forget them.
2. SKETCH. The cartoon image is mostly designed in my head (In fact, I hate the drawing part because the final product is never as good as the image in my mind's eye). So the sketches are pretty much exactly how the FINAL CARTOON will eventually appear.
The ideas that have promise are selected to be sketched out on copy paper for three purposes:
• to preserve the idea-my short term memory is not what is used to be. I think of so many ideas that I'll forget a specific idea almost as soon as I think of it.
• I have a group of friends that I share the idea with. I usually will ask which ideas are worthy and which ones are more timely. I take their feedback and usually disregard it and draw what I want.
• The sketches are scanned in and archived because in politics issues are often left unresolved. These ideas are often resurrected for future use.
The napkins hold the idea but the sketches preserve the idea for future use.
The ideas that have promise are selected to be sketched out on copy paper for three purposes:
• to preserve the idea-my short term memory is not what is used to be. I think of so many ideas that I'll forget a specific idea almost as soon as I think of it.
• I have a group of friends that I share the idea with. I usually will ask which ideas are worthy and which ones are more timely. I take their feedback and usually disregard it and draw what I want.
• The sketches are scanned in and archived because in politics issues are often left unresolved. These ideas are often resurrected for future use.
The napkins hold the idea but the sketches preserve the idea for future use.
3. INKING. The black and whites start on a nice drawing board with archival black ink pens. It is the initial black drawing that is scanned into Photoshop to form the BLACK & WHITE template. I always like the looseness of the sketches better than the final ink drawing.
4. BLACK & WHITE TEMPLATE. The final inking is scanned 600 DPI grayscale so that I can re-position parts of the cartoon, center wording and lay a diagonal screen over the cartoon to add depth. It is then converted to a bitmap for the final B&W cartoon for publications that print in B&W.
For color, it is then converted in a transparent template overlay to lay color beneath.
For color, it is then converted in a transparent template overlay to lay color beneath.
5. COLOR BASE. The transparent template is reduced to 300 DPI, so it is more easily managed. The First applications are the basic color levels which are applied over the lines to form a base. By having a transparent B&W template to color underneath in layers in a high tech coloring book, it is easier and faster to apply color. coating to add shading.
6. COLOR BASE CLEANED. Using the highlighting tool, you eliminate the excess color outside of the black & white template. It is now ready to add another layer to add shading and texture. Using a layer above the b&w template you can emphasis titles and outlines bringing the book title, "Joy of Cooking Intel" and "Libya" into the color realm.
7. COLOR FINAL. Shading and texture is applied to the base color to produce the finished drawing. I then add my twitter handle: www.twitter.com/Ramireztoons and website: www.michaelpramirez.com and flatten all layers. You can see the finished product here:
• http://michaelpramirez.com/cooked.html
The cartoon then goes to my syndicate to be distributed to the publications that run my cartoons and then, is published on my website and shared on Facebook on my public page:
• www.facebook.com/Michael-Ramirez-Political-Cartoonist-92009530531/?fref=ts
If you haven't done it already, please LIKE my public page and BOOK MARK my website.
• http://michaelpramirez.com/cooked.html
The cartoon then goes to my syndicate to be distributed to the publications that run my cartoons and then, is published on my website and shared on Facebook on my public page:
• www.facebook.com/Michael-Ramirez-Political-Cartoonist-92009530531/?fref=ts
If you haven't done it already, please LIKE my public page and BOOK MARK my website.
