C.J. Sage

Just a quick note, I have a picture of me, from my recent trip to Washington D.C. in the picture gallery. Have a look. They are in the "Misc. Pictures" section.

Well, you may have noticed how in the "Walt and his chicken" picture, there were a lot of what seemed to be, stray lines. You don't see those in my strip, because after I ink the pictures, I erase the lines (as mentioned in the 11-97 newsletter. Most of those pencil lines are the "skeleton" of the character.

The reason I draw a stick skeleton is so that I can get good proportions, and realistic positions for the character.

First, I do the head. By doing the head, I get an idea of what the size of the other appendages should be. To draw the head, I draw a correct-sized oval for the character's head shape, then I draw two slightly-curved lines: A horizontal, then vertical. Those give me the direction the characters head is facing, and at what level his eyes are. This is really helpful.

Next, I do a basic stick person, except for the joints. For the joints I draw little circles. For the hands and feet, I draw ovals.

Finally, I draw the main features of the character over the skeleton. Below, I have the three main stages of building a character: 1) the skeleton, 2) characters features, 3) inked and erased.

        

Well, that's it for this month. Check back next month for some more.

Acting quickly, Chris and Walt jump from the van and run over to the museum. On the way, Walt asks Chris if he brought a flashlight. Chris says he grabbed one from his apartment. As they approach the museum Walt thinks he sees someone too, and C and W plan to surprise the person. But instead of pulling out and turning on a flashlight, Chris has a blender. Walt, quickly putting this aside, begins to discuss what the next step should be, when suddenly, they are discovered by someone wielding a real flashlight. To Chris and Walt's surprise, it's Dag! After inquiring about what they are doing, Dag notices the blender, and makes fun.
Getting back to business, Walt, out of suspicion, asks Dag what he is doing there. Dag has the same answer as them: He saw someone sneaking around . . .

C.J. Sage