comics – John Lechner

Comics and crankies – what I’ve been up to

John Lechner Art, Comics, Theater October 3, 2013comics, crankies

I haven’t posted here in a while, so I’ve got a few projects to talk about.

This summer, I wrote a short comic for an anthology of monster comics for kids, curated by Bob Flynn and Dan Moynihan, published by Roho of River Bird Comics, in partnership with the Boston Comics Roundtable. The comic features stories by eleven artists, on the theme of creatures and monsters, and is called “Gulp!”

My story is called “The Garden Monster” and is about a boy who goes out in the garden to trim some vines, but the vines turn out to be more than he bargained for. The story is six pages long, and somewhat inspired by my own gardening adventures.

I drew the comic on paper, first with pencil then ink and brush. Then I scanned and colored the art in Photoshop. The book was printed in two colors, and I had to do the color separations myself, choosing which pieces of art to render in which colors. Below is more process art with the final product.

Below is the cover, illustrated by Bob Flynn:

You can learn more about the official comic here and see more photos here. It is currently being sold in some Boston area comic stores.

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Also this year I’ve been experimenting with various kinds of storytelling, and one of these is the scrolling story. This is often called a “crankie” because there is usually a crank to turn the scroll, and you unveil the story as you tell it to a live audience. It’s a very simple, old-fashioned way of storytelling, but it has a unique charm about it, especially in this digital age where everything is electronic.

My first scrolling stage was made out of paper in about an hour. I wanted to create something quick and spontaneous to experiment with the form, and the result can be seen below.

After that, I made a larger crankie out of a shoebox, then a larger one out of foam core. Last month, my sister Nancy and I built one out of wood, for larger audiences. I used it to perform an original story in our local Puppet Slam, an evening of short puppetry-related works. The theme of the slam was Fairy Tales, and I decided to write a new story in the style of a traditional folk tale.

The story is called The Brave Fiddler, about a young girl who sets off on a journey to seek her fortune, carrying only her violin, and who overcomes many dangers before the happy ending. Below is one of the final images, which were painted on 18″ x 24″ paper and taped together into one giant scroll.

I’m going to write a separate post about this show in more detail, talking about how it was made. For now, I will say that it was an inspiring experience to create a story in this format, and to perform it for a live audience. A scrolling story is a unique combination of art, storytelling and theater, and it really makes you think about your story in a different way.

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I have one more bit of news, I am currently redesigning the Sticky Burr website, and I plan to start writing new comics for the web this fall. Watch for an announcement soon!

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The Prisoner in the Dungeon – a short comic

John Lechner Art, Comics September 28, 2011comics

Recently I wrote about a new comic I was working on, and I am pleased to present it here in its entirety. It is eight pages long, and was included in a new anthology called Minimum Paige published by the Harvard Book Store.

The story evolved as I wrote it, and although it was conceived as a short comic, I would like to expand it into a full-length book someday. You can read the comic here.

Below are some images showing the process I went through to create the comic. It was a new process for me, using traditional and digital methods. I started with very rough sketches to write the story and map out the pacing.

Rouch sketch

Then I did a more detailed series of sketches to figure out the final layout, pacing and text.

Rough Sketch

I scanned the sketch and brought it into Adobe Illustrator do to the typesetting, and see exactly how much room I would need for all the balloons.

Rough Typesetting

I printed out the sketch with text, and using a light box, traced the final pencil lines on good paper, also refining any details that were missing in the last version. All the word balloons were drawn by hand to fit the text.

Final Pencil

I drew the final ink lines over the pencil using a Micron pen and brush, then erased the pencil.

Final ink

I scanned the ink drawings into Photoshop, painted the shading, then brought the image back into Illustrator, where the type was already set. (I could have also done the typesetting in Photoshop, but this is just the way it happened.)

Final Coloring So there you have it! It was a new process for me, but I think it worked pretty well, and it was a fun project. I hope you enjoy the final product!

New comic, and exhibit

John Lechner Comics, Exhibits September 14, 2011comics

I recently finished a new short comic, which will be coming out this month in a new anthology called Minimum Paige, published by the Harvard Book Store. This comic was a new kind of challenge for me in many ways. It was eight pages long, it was black and white, and it needed to appeal to older readers. I drew it on paper and colored it in Photoshop, which was a new technique for me. It was a learning experience, but I’m happy with the way it came out, and hope to do more projects in this style.

Below are the first two pages. You can click on the images to see them full size. I don’t want to give away the ending just yet, but maybe eventually I’ll post the whole thing. There will be an opening reception for the anthology’s release on Thursday Sept. 22nd at the Harvard Book Store.

In other news, I have a painting in the art show Comic Art New England, at Lesley University. It is part of the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) happening next week. My artwork is an original watercolor from my book Sticky Burr: The Prickly Peril. There is an opening reception for the exhibit on Saturday Sept. 17th. More information here.

By the way, I’m still working on my Page-A-Day Flipbook, even though I’m a few weeks behind. I’ll try to post an update soon.