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ICECUBES the comic strip. #0291
Posted on April 21, 2016 by Leroy Brown
Speaking of technology, did you know that you can navigate through all the past ICECUBES comic strips on the website by simply using your arrow keys? Try it! Just tap the back arrow and watch last week's comic pop right up! If you think that's amazing, you're right and it's all in large part thanks to a guy named Philip Hofer, otherwise known as Frumph. testscreen-buttons Back in the day when I decided to put ICECUBES online, I had no idea how to design a website. So I did my best to cobble together a botchy WordPress site. Little by little, through intensive research I finally came across ComicPress. ComicPress was a way to publish comics that could be read online in an intuitive, user friendly way. Setting it up wasn't easy especially since I wanted to customize my page. That's when I reached out to Comicpress's creator Frumph. Lo and behold he didn't hesitate to teach me all kinds of things about php, css and sundry variables that would allow ICECUBES to end up looking the way it does today. Over the months and years Frumph was always there to help with coding. Recently he helped me with a new comics project I am about to launch. So I decided to thank him in this post and point out that he now has a Patreon account where you too can get help with your comic site.

2 thoughts on “ICECUBES the comic strip. #0291”

  1. Mark Stokes

    There’s a first time for everything!

    1. Leroy Brown

      Freeze is a typewriter noob! 🙂

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Positions.

Posted on April 4, 2009 by Leroy Brown
ICECUBES When I’m planning out my strips I try to draw the characters in different poses to see which ones work best. It’s a good idea to try things out before drawing the strip and to experiment. Often times I come up with unusual results and that goes into the strip. The funnier the better! 🙂 Be sure to take the poll! This coming week will be the last week. If you want a third comic on Fridays remember to support ‘ICECUBES’ by clicking on our sponsors!

Pencils.

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Leroy Brown
ICECUBES I like how these pencils look. Sometimes the pencils look better than the finished ink job. I hate when that happens! Oh well, you decide. Notice how I always extend the drawing beyond the panel in order to get a balanced feeling. You can click on the image to get a better look. The finished comic strip is here.ICECUBES

Gestural drawing.

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Leroy Brown
ICECUBES
It’s all in the gesture! That’s where you get the energy and ‘funny’ into your drawings. So I always spend time practicing each drawing on a sketch pad by drawing big circles and blobs for the heads and bodies of my characters. This helps me ‘anchor’ them into place and make them feel real. Be sure to always get a good under-drawing happening before committing to the final. No amount of style can make up for a poorly balanced drawing.
ICECUBES
ICECUBES
So get crazy and start making ‘gestural drawings’! 🙂
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Backdrawing.

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Leroy Brown
ICECUBES When drawing on the outer edge of your panel, it’s important to extend the drawing as if you were drawing the whole character. Even if parts will get cut off it is a good idea to draw them to get a feeling for where things are supposed to fall. For example in this drawing, Peckinpaw is off to the side and his shoulder is mostly cut off even though I drew the shoulder. Without the shoulder I wouldn’t know where to put his arms and hands. Also note that his left arm is drawn even though I won’t see it because of the book in front of it. That way I know exactly where to put his fingers. I call this ‘backdrawing’ or drawing in the round. 🙂
ICECUBES
click for larger image

Drawing tools.

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Leroy Brown
ICECUBES Here is a picture of my collection of metal drawing nibs. I have gathered these throughout the years and although I only use a very specific type for drawing and lettering, I like keeping them. The ones I use on the strip are in the little plastic box in the foreground. The techniques I use to draw are very old fashioned to some. Although I do use a tablet for doing commercial work, the plastic ‘sliding’ feeling of drawing on a tablet won’t work for the strip. I like the feel of drawing on paper and inking with nibs.