The making of a For Better or For Worse strip

John Martz | September 20th, 2006

The crew over at Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse has posted a wonderfully informative and in-depth look at the creation of the comic strip. It’s a whopping 42 pages of how the strip is written, drawn, inked, toned, and delivered to the syndicate — a great read for anyone interested in the comic strip medium. (via the Daily Cartoonist)

Tags: , , ,
  • Great attention to detail in this.

    Now if only Watterson were so transparent...
  • Anne
    Fascinating. Alison Bechdel documents her process in "The Indelible Allison Bechdel" (http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=73-...) and it's really interesting to note how Johnston's process varies around personal preference, using the hands of others, and technology.
  • I love peeking in at other cartoonists processes. It's kind of like being able to stand over their shoulder see their techniques as they work.

    When I teach cartooning to kids and teens, I like to send them to these types of sites to get some insight into the different ways people create. You can learn much more from watching someone actually do something, than you can from just studying finished pieces.
  • Aviv
    I think everyone's better off with trial and error than with tutorials (or whatever this should be called, as I'm not so sure right now). Of course, these stuff can help a little bit by showing you a thing or two that you just didn't think about, and this one shows quite a lot, it's almost TOO detailed... My problem is with the ones that deliver way too little information and are just confusing, which is obviously not the case here.

    I just read Jeff Smith's Bone from start to finish and would love to know exactly what he used to make those comics (I know a tad, but not enough) a whole lot more than what it takes to make a syndicated comic-strip. But that's just me. I did however learned to use those kneaded erasers more often - i have no idea why I didn't think of that already...
  • I respect Bone a lot, but drawing 365 strips a year for 20 years that are this well drawn is an impressive feat. And I'm glad to hear all the little details. Cel vinyl? I've got to get ahold of some of that stuff. The strip was never a favorite, but it was always well drawn and maintains a standard of craft you don't see so much on the comics page anymore.

    It's good to see that "assistants" doesn't mean, "other people draw my strip". A little help with the backgrounds, lettering and tones to keep with a daily deadline that she's been meeting for over 20 years when the drawing is of this caliber makes a lot of sense. Without the extra help, the drawing would've probably gotten simpler, or she would've seriously burned out by now. Think about it--55 hrs a week under daily deadline pressure! It's a far cry from the Jim Davis Garfield factory.
  • iorek
    For a different spin on For Better or Worse, check out http://illustrationart.blogspot.com/2006/08/sta...
  • Thanks for the link! Much appreciated!
  • Great post! I always like seeing an artist's methodology.
  • i have a new appreciation for "for better or for worse" in the past year or so. not many comics have characters that have been aging for 20 years or more. i'd love to see more comics that attempt the same (or if anyone knows of some, let me know!)
  • Gasoline Alley. Drawn and Quarterly recently put out the first volume of Dailies. It's a beautifully drawn, and very charming strip, and it was the first strip where the characters aged in real time.
blog comments powered by Disqus