Wanna Be a Zoo Laffs Guest Artist?

It sure would help me stay caught up on my webcomic Zoo Laffs, if I could occasionally present a strip by a guest artist. Do you want to do one? Drawing comics is fun! Especially drawing funny animals and cute girls. Plus, DummComics has a great following. Your strip will be enjoyed by thousands, and we can put up some links to your stuff or whatever.

You can use my characters -- Alistair Woods, Buckley, Jakey the Jerk, Michael the Armadillo, Perry & Sherry, The Nice Pair, Alex Gander, Onion Puss, HornDog, and Horatio Hamhockefeller -- or, if you think none of them are suited to your gags, you can make up new Zoo Laffs characters.

I'd dig it if your strip carries on in the Zoo Laffs tradition of jokes about girl trouble, revolving around meeting women, maintaining relationships, or suffering breakups. But if you want to buck the trend by exploring other subjects, that's cool too. I won't reject a strip just because it doesn't deal with romantic foibles.

Before you get too into it, email me a rough sketch or scriptlet. This way, if your joke is too similar to one of mine or another guest artist, we can nix it or rework it before you spend much time on it. Email me at cgarrison[at]bham.rr.com.

Don't have an idea for a Zoo Laffs strip? Email me anyway. If I like your work, I might just give you one of mine!


(Or, you could do a guest strip for Zoo Laffs' backup feature Inanimate Antics!)

Chris Garrison's Cartooning Workshop

Calling All Cartoonists!

Forstall Art Center of Birmingham will be hosting a one-day cartooning workshop, taught by me, cartoonist Chris Garrison (creator of Zoo Laffs and founder of the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas). As you draw, I'll help you hone your basic cartooning skills: construction, line of action, silhouette, and expression. As the day progresses, I'll discuss inking, character design, appeal, flair, staging, and storytelling.

You are strongly encouraged to bring your sketchbooks and drawings with you for some informative input. Whether you want to draw superheroes, manga, or breakfast cereal mascots, this workshop will help you to become the BEST cartoonist you can be!

Ages 16 and up.
$75 gets you in, and a very nice set of supplies comes with the deal. And lunch is included!

Saturday, June 25th, 2011
10am - 3pm
at the
Forstall Art Center
(at the Palisades, in Birmingham)

Here are some more samples of my work. Click to enlarge:

My Very Big News

Wow! Starting now, I have my own weekly web comic! It's called Zoo Laffs, and it'll appear on DummComics.com (the greatest site for web comics of all). A new installment will come out every Sunday. Click HERE to see my first comic!


*note to parents: DummComics isn't always okay for the kiddies.

All That Raz

First, a bit of background: As you may recall, I drew a couple of guest strips for the web comic 1930 Nightmare Theatre, which runs on DummComics.com. (you can revisit those strips HERE and HERE).

Rad Raz, by Jack Cusumano, is another cool feature on Dumm Comics. It runs every Saturday. It's a fun comic, with a very 80's aesthetic. Raz is a little green whatsit, who's completely despicable in both his personal life and his life as a corporate tyrant. If you haven't been following it, and you want to sorta catch up on the evolution of the strip, start by reading the pre-Dumm incarnation HERE. The comic got something of an overhaul when it started on Dumm Comics, HERE. (use the arrows underneath, to navigate forward).

Now here's my news: Jack Cusumano invited me to do a guest strip for Rad Raz! So I did, and it was posted on the site today. Check it out HERE. Again, I tried to honor the spirit of Rad Raz, while at the same time putting my own spin on it.

Inking in Manga Studio

You already know about my adventures in digital inking, if you've read these posts on my sketch blog: Inking in Flash, Inking in Illustrator (calligraphic brush), and Inking in Illustrator (art brushes).

Now I've been trying out Manga Studio. I have to say, I think it's pretty awesome! Here are some examples, with different settings on the brushes. With some more dabbling, I think I could figure out several more nice looking methods, too.


I definitely found it faster, easier, more fun, and more accurate to my intentions than inking in Flash or Illustrator.

I've been using the non-vector style, but it can also do vector inking, and I suspect it would be good for that, too. (But note: You only get the vector option if you pay for the expensive version of Manga Studio.)

My Nightmare -- Again?!

Remember how I drew a guest strip for the web comic 1930 Nightmare Theatre? If not, go back and read all about it in this recent post, HERE.

And now look: I've done another guest strip for 1930 Nightmare Theatre, and it was posted this morning! Check it out HERE.

The Electric Heartbreaker on DVD

This isn't cartoon-related, but I'll post it here anyway. Years ago, I co-created a live-action short film called The Electric Heartbreaker. Recently, we finally made it available on DVD, with fun extras and everything. If anybody's curious, here are a couple of clips:

official site

facebook

buy it on amazon ($9.99)

My Nightmare

First, a bit of background: For anyone who doesn't know, DummComics.com is a great site for web comics, featuring new strips everyday, by a brilliant stable of artists. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they have one called 1930 Nightmare Theatre, by Ricky Garduno. It's an awesome comic.

It's been running for a long while now. If you haven't been following it, and you want to sorta catch up on the evolution of the strip, start by reading the first few installments, starting HERE (then use the arrows underneath, to navigate forward). Read a few pieces from the middle of the run, starting HERE. And read some of Ricky's most recent editions, starting HERE.

Now here's my news: Ricky Garduno invited me to do a guest strip for 1930 Nightmare Theatre! So I did, and it was posted on the site today. Check it out HERE. Like most of the guest artists, I tried to honor the spirit of 1930 Nightmare Theatre, while at the same time putting my own spin on it.

Inking in Illustrator

I'm still practicing my digital inking. I tried inking in Flash, then I tried inking in Illustrator with a Calligraphic Brush. Here are my latest experiments -- still inking in Illustrator, but this time using a set of Art Brushes that I made myself.



I get more accuracy this way. I mean, I can really get the ink line to sit RIGHT ON the pencil line, if I want. But I think it has a little less life than the previous two methods I tried. It lacks a certain spontaneity and humanity. Next I'll try inking in Manga Studio.

Inking in Illustrator

I've dabbled with inking in Flash, and now I'm trying my hand at inking in Illustrator. I'm using the Calligraphic Brush method. I like it okay, I guess. It seems like it's a little more controllable than Flash, but the result sort of feels more cold. I haven't quite made up my mind about it. Neither way is quite as accurate as I might want.

(painted in PhotoShop)

Next I want to try inking in Illustrator using a different technique, before I move on to trying other applications.

Inking in Flash

Since I got my Cintiq, I've been trying to take a little time to dabble in digital inking. I figured I'd start by working in Flash, because I think that's what a lot of other cartoonists do. By watching a few online tutorials and practicing the craft, I think I've managed to achieve a non-horrible level of ability. Check these out:


The challenge is figuring out how to avoid getting those ugly, Flashy-looking lines, that do all kinds of things a computer would do, but real ink would never do. If you click on these and look closely, you can definitely find the tell-tale signs. I think if I tried hard enough, I could get rid of most of those, but the process would take ten times as long. So no wonder so many people allow a certain amount of Flashy-ness in their inking.


After I spend some more time with Flash, I plan to move on and try my hand at inking in Illustrator, and maybe a few other programs.

Recent Sketches

Old Sketches - 1988

Here's another batch of old sketchbook drawings, this time going way back to the fall of 1988!


If you want to see more old sketches, check out these posts you might have missed:

May, 1992
July, 1996
December, 1999
September, 2006
June, 2007
June, 2008

November, 2009

Comic Jams

I'm in a club, you know, of middle-Alabama cartoonists, called the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas. We've recently added some galleries to our web site, and you can see some comic jams here that I've worked on along with the other members:

Comic Jam '08 - The Secret Sorcerer

Comic Jams '09

Turtle Clock

I was asked to create a face for a child's clock, and here it is. Whaddya think?

Student Art

I recently found a whole bunch of slides of my student artwork. These are from high school (ASFA) and college (SVA), so that encompasses the late 80's and early 90's. I decided to scan them, so I could save them on my hard drive for posterity. They're pretty darn student-level, so I'll just put up the twelve least-bad ones here.