SCUD VLOG #4 - HOW TENNAPEL AND SCHRAB MAKE A COMIC BOOK PAGE.

Doug stopped by for a pep talk and also to see my process. Observe, humans.

34 Responses to “SCUD VLOG #4 - HOW TENNAPEL AND SCHRAB MAKE A COMIC BOOK PAGE.”  

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    1 Shane

    looks fantastic so far!

    im the same way with inks too, although i think im far too impatient to use a new piece of vellum to do all my inks on. i might have to try it out tho. dougs book looks great too. lookin forward to both of these killer novels this summer.

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    2 Jeff Oehmen

    do you roughly know what #21 (all books in one) is gonna be priced at? as well as the figure from shocker? not that i won’t buy one either way, just wondering.

    the art is fantastic, you inspired me to go to ringling. i now make a living doing illustration. so, thanks for inspiring.

    www.oehmen.blogspot.com

    jeff

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    3 Doug TenNapel

    That “In Search Of” intro is the greatest thing ever. Makes me wish we shot the interview on 70s stock 8mm.

    By the way, what page are you on now? Because last week you were in the 8-10 range and I just want to see if you’ve been working or screwing around since I last saw you.

    For those of you who are curious, we were drinking vodka and OJ and I had an outrageous amount of sauce in my cup which is how I tolerate Rob.

    In case you were wondering what was under the nasty bandage on the side of my head it’s where I’m growing my own little patch-o-hellraiser:

    http://www.tennapel.com/images/blog_stuff/operation3.gif

    Rob, I’m starting my next graphic novel in a few days…so I’ll be going into the dungeon to neglect my loved ones too. I thought Katie was being really cool with you having to work on the book for so long. I also liked her book “Just because”...

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    4 Wes

    Thats so fantastic to see the mechanics behind everything. Its great to see you both talking about these things, because I have kind of obsessively studied both of your comicing work.

    I can’t wait for 21, just those few flashes of paper I saw, freaked me out.

    And it was great to see a page of Black Cherry as well, since Doug has been keeping that really hush hush.

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    5 Wes

    And yay! Doug’s cancer scar! Again!

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    6 Doug TenNapel

    Rob had to give up directing an IPOD commercial to participate in my interview:

    http://gallery.ipodlounge.com/ipod/albums/userpics/normal_dalek_ipod~0.jpg

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    7 Ethan Harper

    Dang, Rob. That was the best vlog yet. It’s great to see a little more detail from one of the pages (Spidergod and Voodoo Ben, sweet!), as well as some new work from Doug.

    I guess it’s not TOO difficult to throw together something like the vlog, with the fun little intro and all, after having been doing such things for a while now, but that still is a good bit of work to sit down and create/edit between all the other work you’re doing. It’s really a pleasure to see, so thanks for that, too.

    Looking forward to the finished book, and hopefully seeing you at SDCC. Thanks again, and good luck with the rest.

    ~Ethan

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    8 manakin

    blackcherry looks pretty cool, i guess i’ll have to pick that up too

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    9 Chapel

    rockin
    so, no illustrator clean up
    badass.
    PS: ATHF is the BOMB ;)

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    10 Rob

    On page 15. Not the man I used to be.

    What is ATHF?

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    11 Darryl The Zombie

    I can only assume Chapels talking about Aqua Teen Hunger Force … but I cant figure out why.

    “Yeah, Forget your fans. And I even say like forget the original books. I read it and I kinda went Eh…”
    What the fuck are you talking about Doug. I understand (and completely agree) what you mean about Rob finishing the books “for himself”. But I cant see why Rob should forget about his fans OR how you could possibly “Eh…” Scud.

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    12 Wes

    Because Doug is cranky?

    He’s like an old guy who sprays children with his water hose because he claims they are stealing his Tulips or something.

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    13 Doug TenNapel

    Darryl The Zombie,
    this is probably the wrong place to say this but SCUD is just a little comic Rob made on his kitchen table. It’s like that saying about Disney, “Remember that it all started with a mouse.” and I would add, ”...a particularly lame mouse.”

    I don’t know Rob’s exact journey through the arts but I guarantee that he spent thousands of hours drawing before he gained one fan. That’s the lifeblood of the artist, not the audience he entertains. We serve our audience by tapping into that pool that got us drawing in the first place, we don’t serve our audience by second-guessing them. That’s what I mean by ‘forget your fans’ I don’t mean ‘disrespect them’ or ‘take them for granted’.

    Similarly, I say to forget the original books because they were always just a process with Rob. It’s empirically evident when you compare one issue to the next…it would be really sad if Rob spent 10 years grinding through hollywood, relationships and he had the same mind of the guy making SCUD #20. I’ve personally watched Rob’s art progress far beyond where the last SCUD left off. I look at old SCUD and shrug, because Rob has conquered that level of drawing for over ten years now. He doesn’t need my permission to progress, he does that just fine all by himself but I’m a peer and a pal and if I’m going to encourage him I’m going to say, “There’s a lot of noise coming from your audience, your own expectations of what this has to be and don’t let this clutter up your mind at the art table.”

    No offense, but this is how Rob and I talk. When we go over our art we complain about what isn’t working, we see all of the mistakes, the white-out, the processes, talk about how to interface or manage fans, how to bump up sales etc.

    I’m a SCUD fan but the book is nowhere near as interesting or well-made as the artist himself. I dig SCUD because Rob made it, but I dig Rob because God made it.

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    15

    Disney did start with a mouse (and we can agree the mouse was is lame), and Scud and Robs career started with a skinny yellow robot. And over the course almost two years we, the fans, watched Scud grow and develop as a character, get everything he had ever wanted, lose it, and break down. The whole time, those of us who cared (and Id guess most of those make up the fans on this website) watched Rob grow and evolve as an artist and writer, get everything he ever wanted, lose it, ect…

    But your right Doug, its very clear that the man writing SCUD #21 is quite different then the man who wrote SCUD #20, and thats why Im so excited to read it. Because Im sure your right about Scud not being “near as interesting or well made as the artist himself” but hey, I love Scud anyway, because he’s still one of the best comic characters I’ve read In a decade. Even if he was born on a kitchen table.

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    16 assboy

    Doug Tennapel inspired me to go to medical school.

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    17 joel

    DAMN IT… I’m a teacher and can’t see the fricking video (youtube is blocked here)... anyhoo, i will watch this when i get home… Doug, love your work (just read Earthboy Jacobus)... ROb and Doug… what other artists/comics do you enjoy?

    The funny thing is now that you guys mention it, I think my dad was born on the kitchen table too (thats what happens on small farms in northern Wisconsin in the 40s.)
    Thanks for all that..I need to ask my dad if that was true or just the product of something i took in college ;)

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    18 M

    The art looks amazing. I only read the first few issues of the old comic so I’m really surprised at how much you’ve progressed. 10 years or so will do that to you I guess.

    Anyway my real question. You said that you missed drawing. Is there any chance of you doing sporadic comic work inbetween hollywood stuff. Not a continuing series or anything but say, a one shot or two between movies. Here’s hoping.

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    19 Rob

    Dave Hartman and I have been talking. A Robot Bastard comic would be cool.

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    20 Shane

    yeah a robot bastard comic will definitely be cool. speaking of RB, heres an old piece i did of him. rob has the original now i think.

    http://www.shanehillman.com/solid/RB.jpg

    i also think a twiggers holiday comic could be pretty damn fun too. ive even thought about doing a short 5-8 page one just for kicks…

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    21 Aaron

    Great stuff. Love that Who-esque opening and seeing how you guys work. I’m just starting to make my own (bad) comics, and its cool to see how other people do it.

    I know a lot of people that use those staedler pigment liners, but when I use them I find them to be very splotchy. They bleed all over the page. I think, though, that’s because I use really shitty paper – like, computer paper. I’m so poor.

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    22 Wes

    I think some comics of some of your other intellectual property would be amazing. I’d love to see more of Black Octopus. I’d love love to see more of Robot Bastards missions and work. I think Twigger would be interesting as a kind of Archie comic that didn’t suck. All of your stuff has the potential to be comic’d really. I love all of the sketches from your work, especially the Heat Vision and Jack sketches, its just “This would make a great comic/saturday morning cartoon”.

    When I watched Heat Vision and Jack, I told a friend who watched it with me “This looks and feels like a Saturday Morning TV show for adults”.

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    24 Loren

    Wow, I had a feeling this spring and summer would be good. Thanks for the upcoming #21 Rob!

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    25 Konrad

    Rob, I just gotta say, you’re a true genius whether you realise it or not. You’ve got creativity and soul and you’ve inspired more people than you know.

    Keep it flowing, I can’t wait for the final scud. It’s the only comic I’ve ever loved.

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    26 jp

    Woohoo!!! Good to see Spidergod and Voodoo Ben Franklin. Scud #21 is my most anticipated release (of anything, be it films, comics, or videogames) of ‘07.

    Awesome Vlog too. =)

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    27 :: smo ::

    Wow Doug’s clean shaven!!!

    I checked out the site today because I was talking to my friend Jason, and apparently he helped out some on the early books…he said there’s a credit somewhere that says something like “thanks jason and tim for all your faggy help,” or something like that.

    he told me about the death cab video, and it’s really awesome! the stop motion closeups on the robot came out so well!

    i’m really excited for book 21, sort of for similar reasons as Doug even. Sure I love SCUD, bet being a person who tends to start a lot and finish a little, I think it’s really great to see you come back to it and get some closure on it. There’s a lot of projects I feel like I should do that with too.

    when i read SCUD i felt like the book was just crying out to be animated, and i’m definitely a huge fan of all the projects you’ve done since! keep it up sir!

    and to mr. tennapel, those black cherry pages look great!

    :: smo :: – brooklyn, ny

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    28 Brian

    Hey Rob,

    Glad I decided to check in. Those pages look better than any issue of Scud I’ve seen. Granted, this may be the end of Scud, but it would be a shame if you said goodbye to the comic world for good

    -Brian

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    29 Rob

    On Page 20. This book will be at least 40 pages long.

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    30 Zombiemonkey AKA geoff

    Exciting, when can we expect the Vlog? the process seems to be coming along nicely for you. Are you finding that some of your ideas from back when and how you wanted to end it have changed?

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    31 Andrew S.

    Rob, I’m so glad you’re taking the time to complete the Scud series. It was my favorite comicbook growing up, and I can’t wait to get the full set in one volume. The Vlogs are a great idea as well. I liked the last one, with Mr. Tennaple. I’d be really excited to see even more of your illustration process, particularly your use of Zipatone. (Can you still buy that stuff? Or do you make your own?)

    Perhaps a timelapse of a page from start to completion would make a rad Vlog? Just a thought.

    Keep up the great work. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for updates and such.

    Cheers!

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    32 Joe

    Those pages look fantastic. Can’t wait to see the finihsed product. I actually cracked out all my old issues and re-read them over the weekend…except for the issue where scud cruises around with the alien guys in the tank. I couldn’t find that issue. Oh, and Doug’s Black Cherry book looks pretty amazing too.

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    33 Rob

    BUTTON TO SCUD VLOGs

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    34 Rob

    SCHRAB AT SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 28-29TH!!
    Stay tuned for a Scud Vlog! -I’ll be signing at

    IMAGE BOOTH
    Booth: 2729
    Sat: 1:00-1:55
    Sun. 11:00-12:00

    and

    SHOCKER TOYS
    Booth: 4517
    Sat: 4:00-5:00
    Sun: 12:30 -1:30

    I’ll be GIVING AWAY Scud posters and selling sketches and DVDs. Come by and see a sneak peek at Scud 21!!!!

    Then check out the SARAH SILVERMAN PANEL with me and the cast.
    Room: 6cdef
    Sat: 7:45-8:45PM

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