Most people would think a comic strip is created by solely by the artist who originated the characters. However, at Paws, Inc., Jim Davis no longer draws an entire "Garfield" comic strip. He has a team of artists that has a process that creates comic strips for each daily newspaper comic strip. Two "blueliners," two "inkers" and two colorers draw the "Garfield" comic strips for Davis.
Davis comes up with the ideas and concepts for each comic strip. He creates a rough sketch of the strips, then sends them on to the other artist.
"He [Davis] sees the comic strip in his mind," artist Eric Reaves said.
"I can physically see the character in 3-D in my mind."
Reaves does the process called bluelining. He receives the rough sketch from Davis and creates the actual comic strip that readers will see in the newspaper.
"When you eat and sleep [like Garfield does] you are basically circles," said Reaves.
Reaves has been drawing for Paws, Inc. for nine years. When he first started, he trained for several months before he correctly drew each character. Now Reaves can draw two three-box strips, known as a "daily," in one day.
After he finishes the bluelining, the artwork is checked by a proofreader and Davis to make sure Reaves has captured Davis' concept. Next the strip is taken to the inker.
"I have to see the tip of my brush touch the paper," said Larry Fentz as he put on magnifier glasses.
Fentz uses a fine brush to trace the bluelining with ink. He has to make sure every line is an even thickness. Fentz did on-the-job training for a few weeks until his line was acceptable. He had to match the existing artwork. Fentz has been working with Paws, Inc. for 20 years and is able to get three dailies a day finished.
"This is as original as we get anymore," said Fentz. He added that the computer has revolutionized the whole process of making comic strips.
After Fentz finishes inking, the strip is proofread once again then scanned on the computer. Next Fentz or fellow artist Tom Howard use the scanned computer image to color the comic strip.
"Everyone has a different technique on coloring," Howard said, as he added shadowing. He also said there is very little coloring done outside the computer unless it's a big project. The artists have markers and airbrush utensils at their desk but rarely use them.
Howard was a free-lance artist and did special projects for Davis before he was hired full time. He had much of the skill and needed little training when he arrived at Paws, Inc.
After the comic strip is colored, it is sent to Davis to check one last time and sign. The strip is sent by computers to publishers.
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