Cartoon Strips 2.0/ Embracing New Tools and Techniques

The traditional cartoon strip elicits a response based on the visual provided and the caption. There are two basic formats, single panel or strip. A panel cartoon is square-shaped with a visual combined with a caption. Often times there are two characters where one makes a comment about the other’s condition. The New Yorker is famous for this format. Strip cartoons take a different kind of approach, they can have 3 to 4 panels and are more of a discussion. One of the first obstacles is the text/character ratio within each panel. Too much text and there is no room for the character. Magazine size or newspaper restrictions can limit your creativity. All of this discussion reflects a paper world that is on the edge of extinction. Of course, there are still comic books being produced. However, the publishing world is not dominated by the traditional newsstand mentality in 2024.

To be a true cartoonist you need to be a writer and artist. You need to be clever, and consistent, plus have a unique art style. AI has thrown a wrench into the process. To write a prompt to create a 3-panel story is possible but lacks the soul of crafting your own art piece. I know, I know, shut up boomer, it’s a different world. You’re right, time moves on. I was always told, that you don’t want to get caught selling buggy whips. So what do you do now if you want to create a cartoon? Nobody is stopping you from using traditional tools. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and have at it. You can go the next step and add color then hang your work on the refrigerator with a magnet. Another way of making art is to draw using a tablet. The difference in drawing using a tablet is both physical and mindset. One is you have to hold your hand over the screen. It is more like painting than drawing. The other difference has to do with, “undo”. You can always go backward 10 or 15 times to make different micro art decisions. Drawing with a pencil you can erase, but it damages the paper. If you want to drive without a reverse gear try cartooning in pen & ink.?

Having fun making art is absolutely available. You can make all the art you want and look back at your collection very similar to your photo app. Achieving publication has never been easier. AWS makes everyone an author and gives you a platform. The world used to revolve around newspapers, cards, and other paper products, but it has been replaced by digital viewing. At first, it was the desktop and is shifting to mobile pretty heavily. Predictions are that 5 years from now smartphones may be obsolete. My guess is we’ll wear contact lenses that will beam the signal directly to our brains.?

Today, if you want to take it to the next level, video is the next frontier, with the outlets being YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as of right now. If you are inclined to animate your creations, the tools exist to pull it off. The process depends on your expectations. If you want to make AI-generated Pixar quality 3D that is entertaining Sora, W.A.L.T., Invideo, and countless others will take care of that. That is a prompt push-button technique that doesn’t include your dexterity. I like to use a hybrid technique that is old school/new school. If you have read this far, sometime in your life you created a flip-book animation. My first flip book happened in the corner for my history book in 3rd grade. Way back then, I wished there was a way to layer backgrounds and the character. Also, each time you flipped through, your finger juice degraded your playback control.?

For me, Adobe Animate is my chosen software. (Not Adobe Character Animator) I am talking about (formerly Flash) Adobe Animate. It is a multilayer sketch pad with audio where you can use your original art to make short-form videos. In Animate, you create a library of reusable parts. After you understand the basics you can lip-sync your characters using voices generated by AI. It is possible to create art using Adobe Animate but I prefer to create elements using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. However, what you create is up to you. Using the hybrid technique, backgrounds can be AI-generated combined with either .eps art or .pngs for the characters. If you want to think like a producer you need to start with a repeatable plan. If you want to create a consistent series, an Adobe Animate template needs to be developed. Like any production, “If it is on the page, it ain’t on the stage! The first thing is that you need to write a good script. Your word count will drive your production. The YouTube algorithm has a time element. My goal is to stay under 60 seconds and remain a YouTube Short. If you can tell your story in 15 seconds or less is great, 30 seconds is good. 60 seconds is a long time when you get down to it.

Thinking about the start of this discussion, it was about how you can write and render a cartoon strip in a different format. The human brain that likes cartoons has a timer. Your patience has a limit. To tell a good story in a cartoon strip mentality means that you have to set the tone, explain the conflict, and resolve the issue in 30 seconds. A viewer should be able to step into the story without having experienced the complete series. This just scratches the surface of the creative process. More discussion at a later date. You can see examples at: AnimatedShortz.com

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