Cartoon Development Stages Examples
Project: "Conquer the Crash" Cartoon Book Illustration for
www.elliottwave.com
Category: Book and Newspaper Illustrations
This was a fun project to replace the past cartoonist, Gary Larson, in Robert R. Prechter's Best Selling Book "Conquer the Crash." The final approved cartoon is found on page 141. Here I have several versions to show cartoon development stages with author. The hand sketches are from the author trying to convey his needs in between comps.
Feedback for Author
As you can see above he really worked hard with me to get what he wanted. Shrink the shell but leave the fish the same size. And make the mouth "as large as you can make it." |
Cartoon Version 4
At this cartoon development stage example I did what he said - and made the shark look more dark and spooky - a monster. He said he couldn't tell it was teeth and looked "like a curtain." LOL! So I added and eye... |
Cartoon Version 5
He still didn't like the "monster" he wanted it to be a shark. He then emailed another rough scan of a quick shark like look he wanted in the following frame. |
Feedback for Author
At this cartoon development stage example, you can see above he really worked hard with me to get what he wanted. Shrink the shell but leave the fish the same size. And make the mouth "as large as you can make it." |
Cartoon Version 4
So I did that - and made the shark look more dark and spooky - a monster. He said he couldn't tell it was teeth and looked "like a curtain." LOL! So I added and eye... |
Cartoon Version 5
He still didn't like the "monster" he wanted it to be a shark. He then emailed another rough scan of a quick shark like look he wanted in the following frame. |
Another Round of Visual Feedback
See he could draw himself better than most clients. I got it! I had a hard time explaining that the mouth couldn't take up the entire top of the frame AND viewer see the eye and expression above the eye. The mouth parts and contour of the shark's head needed to be shown to get the effect he was after. He still kept saying make the mouth bigger! I explained that's why I made the dark creature instead of the shark in prior round. So he decided the mouth could be smaller in order to show the necessary parts of a shark's head to sell it as he envisioned it.. |
Cartoon Version 6
At this almost last cartoon development stage example, he asked the shark to be further up the cartoon and away from the shell. So I made the entire frame taller to provide the look of more vertical space. |
Cartoon Version 7
This was the final now on the second publication since it replaced Gary Larson's cartoon. Page 141.
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Did You Know?
Cartooning Stuff:
Peanuts, by Charles Schulz, is the largest comic strip. In over 2,500 different newspapers in almost 80 countries.
The Simpsons. The longest running cartoon/tv animated TV series; started in 1987! I was still in high school.
