Process

Don't draw the bricks; draw the wall.

Talk about informed, could you have a better guide to the history of comics logos than the lettering master himself, Todd Klein? His research into the history of comics is as extensive as it is informed:

LACKADAISY artist Tracy J. Butler delivers some notes on cartooning and facial expressions. Her examples are anthropomorphic, but can be applied to all "cartoony" 'tooning styles.

FREAKANGELS artist Paul Duffield, who has a background in animation, shares some informed thoughts on motion comics proving that there is more you can say about the hybrid form than "Yuck." However, there is a conceptual problem, he says.

Jim Woodring demonstrates the giant pen at the Gage Academy.

It’s Kyle Baker’s birthday today so wish him a happy birthday over on Facebook, visit his blog, leave a comment, and buy tons of his books while you’re at it. For the occasion, I wanted...

Pantone, the world-renowned color corporation, has announced their choice for Color of the Year: Honeysuckle. A Color for All Seasons Courageous. Confident. Vital. A brave new color, for a brave new world. Let the bold spirit of...

How do they do so many pages? Three hours of spare time a week. And we thought WE had it rough. Via Kwanza Johnson.

As many of you have noticed, the recent server shuffle has resulted in a loss of visual images.  The Beatrix herself is spearheading our crack team of technological troubleshooters, and we hope to restore normalcy soon. Normally, in situations such as this, we would run "classic" columns from before the advent of the World Wide Web.  Unfortunately, our tape archive was mistakenly recorded over with the 67th Academy Awards. So instead, we have reverted to ASCII mode.

Dustin Harbin delves into the strange world of the Ames Lettering Guide, whose mysterious wheel and holes have long mystified non-acolytes:

Via the CO2 blog, Gerry Giovinco explores the history of coloring via the color chart, a mix of CMYK values which was all folks had to work with as recently as 10 years ago. I remember once seeing an editor reduced to tears by having to spec a color guide from a color chart. It wasn't pretty.

Via The Source a study of the Great Rian Hughes's various logos for Batman and Robin. All so similar in the strong shape (derived from the 60 year old original) and yet differing in tiny details in the readability of the lettering and even Batman's eyes.