It’s official! Make plans now to attend our holiday bash, back at the spectacular Society of illustrators in Manhattan!
The holiday season in New York City is a wonderful time to come out and see the sights, and now we can all ring in the holidays together, and with style, at the Society!
Come out and eat, drink and be merry with us in The Big Apple!

Need another reason to come out? Hold on to your hats: This function will herald in the return of the spectacular…

ACE Awards!

A little history of the ACE awards:
The “AMATEUR CARTOONIST EXTRAORDINARY” award is given to a celebrity or notable who aspired at one time to become a cartoonist, but whose path led them to an entirely different career. Past recipients have included Carol Burnett, Hugh Hefner, Tom Wolfe, Al Roker, Denis Leary and Morley Safer.

Who will be the first recipient of the new millenium? You’ll have to wait and see! I can guarantee, this will be a lot of fun.

Here’s the info:

Friday, December 6th, 6pm-9pm
Society of Illustrators, in the dining room.
128 East 63rd St, between Park and Lexington.

Admission is $20. This includes food! In Manhattan?? What a deal!

Hotel group rates will be available, more info on that soon!

All proceeds from the event to to the InkWell Foundation!

The National Cartoonists Society booth at The San Diego Comic Con is your spot to meet some of your favorite cartoonists and get autographs, books, sketches and other fun stuff… including meeting the incomparable Jack Black on Thursday! We’ll be located in space 1307-1309 again this year. Here’s the current lineup of cartoonists scheduled to appear, with more being added all the time:

Wed. July 17th (Preview Night)-

• 6pm-9pm:
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)

Thur. July 18th

• 10am-12pm:
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Doug Bratton (Pop Culture Shock Therapy)
• 1pm-3pm:
• Jeff and Chris Keane (The Family Circus)
• James Lyle (Illustrator)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• 3pm-5pm:
• Steve McGarry (Biographic, TrivQuiz, Kid Town)
• Luke McGarry and Jack Black! (Signing Luke’s Festival Poster)
• Bill Amend (Foxtrot)
• Brooke McEldowney (9 Chickweed Lane, Pibgorn)
• 5-7pm:
• Chris Sparks (Team Cul de Sac)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)

Fri. July 19th

• 10am-12pm:
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Doug Bratton (Pop Culture Shock Therapy)
• 1pm-3pm:
• Tom Sito (Animator, Author)
• Steve McGarry (Biographic, TrivQuiz, Kid Town)
• Luke McGarry (Illustrator)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• 3pm-5pm:
• James Lyle (Illustrator)
• Bill Amend (Foxtrot)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Jerry Scott (Zits, Baby Blues- 3pm-4pm only)
• Brooke McEldowney (9 Chickweed Lane, Pibgorn)
• 5-7pm:
• Shaenon K. Garrity (Skin Horse)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues- 4pm-5pm only)

Sat. July 20th

• 10am-12pm:
• Eddie Pittman (Red’s Planet, Phineas and Ferb)
• Steve McGarry (Biographic, TrivQuiz, Kid Town)
• Luke McGarry (Illustrator)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• 1pm-3pm:
• R.C. Harvey (Rants and Raves, Comics historian)
• Jeff Keane (The Family Circue)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• 3pm-5pm:
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• Bill Amend (Foxtrot)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• 5-7pm:
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)

Sun. July 21st

• 10am-12pm:
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• 1pm-3pm:
• R.C. Harvey (Rants and Raves, Comics historian)
• Jeff Keane (The Family Circue)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)
• 3pm-5pm:
• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine)
• Greg Evans (Luanne)

We are sure to add more cartoonists and special appearance as the week progresses, so check back!

The 67th Annual Reuben Awards dinner was held tonight at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This year’s winners:

THE REUBEN AWARD for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year:

Rick Kirkman and Brian Crane

TELEVISION ANIMATION

Rich Webber, Director, Aardman Animation Studios, “DC Nation”

EATURE ANIMATION

Joann Sfar, Director, “The Rabbi’s Cat”

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION

Dave Whamond

GAG CARTOONS

Roz Chast

GREETING CARDS

Jem Sullivan

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

Brian Basset “Red and Rover”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS

Hilary Price “Rhymes with Orange”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION

Anton Emdin

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

John Manders

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

Jen Sorenson

ADVERTISING and PRODUCT ILLUSTRATION

Ed Steckley

COMIC BOOKS

Bernie Wrightson “Frankenstein Alive, Alive!”

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Chris Ware- “Building Stories”

ON-LINE COMICS – SHORT FORM

Graham Harrop “Ten Cats”

ON-LINE COMICS – LONG FORM

Vince Dorse “Untold Tales of Bigfoot”

Developing a Comic Strip: Character Development

by John Lotshaw

This is the fourth of a series of posts by NCS member John Lotshaw, detailing the development of a new comic strip, from start to finish. In this series, John will guide us through the creation of “Ray Blaster in Blazin’ Phazers”, giving insight into the creative and business processes involved.

In the last, rather belated blog posting, I began to examine the process of developing the character that will be known as Ray Blaster. I began by examining the character’s role in the strip and how that will influence the character’s personality and design. When I left off, I had hit a bit of a roadblock in the design, and was looking for inspiration to move forward.

Dialing it in

At this point, I did what we all do when we’re stumped by a problem of some sort: I set it aside and waited for my muse to whisper to me. The project lay fallow for quite some time, on the order of several months. The creative log jam was broken thanks to a fan of Bill Holbrook’s Kevin and Kell. I was manning a table in the Dealer’s Room with Bill at Anthrocon in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2012. One of Bill’s fans came up and spoke to us. During the conversation, I was mesmerized by a tuft of hair in the center of his brow that looked like an old-fashioned handlebar mustache, only on the top of his head. It was a very striking feature.

That’s when it hit me. That could make a good design element for the lead character I’d been struggling with. It could be the missing key to the whole thing! So, with my muse mumbling in my ear, I whipped out the following sketches (click to enlarge):

The first sketch was promising enough to realize that I was onto something. There was still a missing element, but the hair tuft was a major step forward. The second sketch is very close to what I was hoping for. All I had needed to add was strong jawline. Now some facial studies were in order…

Other than the fact that the third one looks kind of like Shaggy from Scooby Doo, Where Are You? if he were to shave off his little goatee, this is working good. Next thing to do was to try color.

I pulled out my Copic markers and did a color study of the character.

Perhaps a little tweaking is order, but nothing major. I’m liking this look. But there’s still something missing: a name.

What’s in a name?

It’s no secret that the character is going to be named “Ray Blaster”. After all, it’s right up there at the top of this post. Where did that name come from, and what does it (as well as the character design) mean for the personality of the character?

Up to this point, I had been using the name “Rodney” for the character’s name.  I actually had used the name in a pitch for a safety-oriented property based on the first character I was ever paid to work on, a talking kangaroo named Troo the Trauamroo. I liked the incongruity of a dashing space hero named “Rodney”. However, it wasn’t sitting well enough for me. It didn’t seem right. He needed a name not unlike pulp heroes of the past.

There’s a recent character that nailed the naming thing. Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear has the perfect name. So perfect, in fact, I almost hate Pixar for coming up with it. The first name is monosyllabalic. The fact that it’s also the same as Apollo 11′s LM Pilot, Buzz Aldrin (who actually legally changed his name to “Buzz”) makes it work even better. The last name is futuristic, like something out of The Jetsons. Plus, it fits in the same meter as two great science fiction comic heroes: Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

So, with a template in mind, I began to try to come up with a name that would fit all these criteria.

And promptly ran into a brick wall. Again.

For two months, I pondered this guy’s name, and for two months I came up with nothing. I don’t mean I came up with nothing usable. That would imply I had an idea and discarded it. I didn’t even have a bad idea to discard.

Then, when I least expected it, my muse slapped me in the face with the Fish O’ Inspriation (see the previous post to figure out what I’m talking about.) And, like the Monty Python skit I referenced, a body of water was involved.

Off the deep end

I was doing laps at my local pool. I wasn’t thinking about anything but which lap I was on and what I was going to eat for breakfast when I got back to my house. Not at first, anyway.

Somewhere around my eighth lap, my mind started wondering. I was thinking over some story ideas I’d had for this property. About two laps later, a title had formed: Ray Blaster and the Mermaids of Deuteria (the story would concern a planet covered with heavy water or deuterium oxide, which would be of great value to space travelers). The title smacked of a Republic movie serial from the 1940s. And that name has just the right ring to it as Buzz Lightyear or Buck Rogers.

Ray Blaster.

It was perfect. It had every quality I wanted. Excited by this flash of inspiration, I finished my laps and hurried home. A quick search on Google did not turn up any characters named “Ray Blaster”. Another search of the USPTO database also came up with no results. I couldn’t believe my good luck! The name is just too, too perfect for this use. The missing piece had fallen into place.

At this point, things are going well. Nothing can stop me now!

Except, maybe… real life…

To be continued…