Newsletter

Issue #4
1/98!

The Chris and Walt Newsletter by C.J. Sage

Happy New Year It's finally 1998! This year seems to have gone very quickly, and a lot has happened. I hope this year turns out to be a big one for the Adventures of Chris and Walt. So, let's start it off with a all new newsletter!

C.J. Sage

C&W Quiz

Strip Trivia

1) When and where did Walt lose his wallet?

Detail Trivia

2) How many strands of hair does Skinner have?

Answer at the bottom!

Since the last newsletter there haven't been to many quizable strips. That is why there is not much of a quiz this month. So, for fun and help, I'm sending out an invitation to anyone who has a quiz question that they've thought of that I haven't. Of course, the question should be about the Chris and Walt strip, anything in the character profiles, or newsletters. Send them to me at: cjmsage@juno.com, and check back next month for a new quiz.

Behind the Scenes Last month I talked about coloring my strips, and this month I'll finish up the strip making saga by talking about the hardest part of making a strip: word-bubbles, and finishing touches.

After coloring the panels in Paintshop Pro, I create a new file that is two times the size of what the finished strip will be, and shrink the individual panels down to the hight of the new file and paste them into the it. The reason I do this is so that when I do the next step and then shrink the strip down to normal size it will look sharper. Below is a picture of my double-sized strip right after inserting the colored panels.

Next, I save the new file, and switch programs. The program I use for this next step is Corel Photo-Paint. In Corel I do something called Jaggy Despeckle. This basically blurs the image, so now when I shrink the strip down to it's normal, presentable size, it will look really sharp on the screen. If you tried to print it out however, it wouldn't look to good. Below is the same thing you saw above, except it is now Jaggy Despeckled.

Now I add the frames around the panels, trying to keep even space between each panel. Now it's time for the words. First I type the words in the panels without any bubbles, just so I can get an idea of how much space the words will take. Then I form the bubbles around the words, and eliminate any colors or lines that the bubble goes over. Below is a strip that has the words put in, but only the first two panels are complete with word bubble and all.

As a last finishing touch, and for safety purposes, I add white space to the bottom of the image, and paste in my little copyright message.

Well that's the end of the series about how I create my strips. Next month I will talk about the Chris and Walt time-line, from the first Chris and Walt drawing about two years ago to today.

The Story (so far).

After greeting Chris and Walt, Albert warns Walt to control himself while he's at this exhibit, unlike "the last one". Seeing Skinner immediately reminds Walt that he needs to pay him back. Feeling around in his pocket he quickly realizes that his wallet is not there.

While thinking back on where he could have lost his wallet, the man that had been following C & W approaches Skinner, presenting Walt's wallet. Walt warns Skinner about the man. Albert warns Walt not to make a scene, but that only provokes him more...

Answers to the C&W Quiz

1) Walt lost his wallet when he fell off the stairs; and the wallet landed under the bushes.

See ya! Well, again, I hope you all have a happy New Year. I'll be back next month with a fresh new newsletter. See you then! .

C.J. Sage

Old Newsletters 09-97 Newsletter 10-97 Newsletter 11-97 Newsletter