Project Waldo

Word balloons seem so simple in the beginning. The first time you make one in Photoshop, you just draw an oval with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. After a while, the symmetry starts to bug you, so you decide to draw your word balloons by hand with the Brush Tool. Really, really slowly. But they still look kinda crappy. Before long, word balloons have become a source of sadness in your life. Well, there's a third path. That path is Paths. Why are paths so good for word balloons? Three reasons. First, you get super-clean, super-even lines. Second, you can modify them (if you change the words -- which you will -- it's no big deal to modify the dimensions of an already-placed balloon). Third, they're reusable. You can save all your paths into a single file and use them in future pages. Here's how you do it (more accurately, here's how I do it, and I probably do it oddly, so please feel free to offer your own techniques in the comments section): First, let's make a pa...

Page sixteen is underway. The last time I'll need to draw any rocks, swords, or trees for some time. Eight pages to go. Two thirds done. I can't show any of the new stuff here, but rest assured that I'm mere decades away from finishing this issue. So slow. Here's what the grown-up part of my brain tells my inner Chicken Little when things get really bad: don't confuse speed with efficiency. Quality is a variable in the first case, but a constant in the second. Eliminating waste, automating repetitive tasks, honing drawing skills, and cultivating self discipline are all worthwhile efficiency improvements. If you're doing everything you can in these areas and people are still saying you're too slow, go to your local comic shop and look at the thousands of examples of what "fast" gets you. May lightning strike me down on the day I tell someone that they've got to draw a page per day to be successful in comics. That sentence really means "I ne...