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Authentic, Original Matt Feazell Convention Sketches
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These comics have been prepared for the web using techniques pioneered by Nat Gertler. Nat had the stroke of genius to put all the pages of one issue of his minicomic, "Average Panther," in one long vertical GIF so that instead of waiting for one page to download, then reading it, then waiting for the next page to download and so on, the viewer could read the first page while the rest of the comic was downloading out of sight below the edge of the screen. You can learn more at his web site.
While every effort has been made to provide equal access to all browsers, viewers using Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Macintosh have reported system freezes while attempting to view the larger GIF files such as the color comics and the Cape Cod Sketchbook. (The Cool Maps and the Convention Sketches are JPEG files and cause no problems with Explorer.) PC users running Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Internet Explorer have reported no problems viewing the same files. Macintosh users are invited to draw their own conclusions and to support Netscape Navigator.
This is the third version of this web site. The first version is still available on floppy disk in the catalog section of this page. It includes color comics not posted here plus a large JPEG of the first Cynicalman minicomic from 1980 that will be of interest to collectors and historians for centuries to come. When all comics are distributed on the web, the only thing worth collecting will be original signed floppy disks so get in on the ground floor of this one!
Process | History | Links | About The Comics
Process
First I draw a comic in black ink on white paper. Then I scan it at 150
dpi greyscale, convert it to RGB color, and save it in Photoshop.
I add color with the Photoshop paint tools, using the Apple web color picker. I use a limited palette so everything that is red, for example, is the exact same shade of red as everything else that is red. Same with yellow, blue, green and flesh color. Whenever I come across something I have to make a new color for (like "what color is Boardman?") I write down the color I use so I can match it the next time I have to use it.
I do almost all the painting right on the same layer as the B&W line art. With the Bucket and the Paintbrush set to "Darken" in the options palette, it's easy to paint over dark lines and fill in white areas without covering the line work. I'll sometimes use a second layer for coloring large background areas. I'll set the layer to "Darken" in the Layers pallet and use a broad brush to cover the panel, then erase the parts that I don't want to cover. Sometimes I'll use fancy selections with the Wand and Quick Mask to color in some parts and leave others untouched.
I'll save the color image as a 150 dpi RGB TIFF then use Image Size to resample it to 72 dpi (screen resolution) and adjust the dimensions so one frame fills about 3/4 the height of my 14" monitor screen, or about the height of a Netscape browser window. I save this version with a new name. Then I quadruple the canvas height, rearrange the panels in a vertical sequence and crop it. I save it again. Then I convert it to index color, using the web color pallet and finally export it as a GIF89A file with a new name. When I close the index color version, I don't save changes so I have three files when I'm done... a 150 dpi full size version for printing, a 72-dpi tall skinny version for exporting as a GIF, and the final GIF file for placing on a web page.
Process | History | Links | About The Comics
History
I started drawing stick figure superhero comics
in Junior High School study hall like everybody else. During college I studied
art and graphics and worked on developing a commercial comic book style,
hoping to land a job at Marvel Comics or Heavy Metal Magazine. About 1980
I found myself getting bored with drawing portfolio pieces and started drawing
some loose comics again on the backs of Xeroxed flyers at the record store
where I was working. One of the comics I drew featured a new stick figure
superhero called The Amazing Cynicalman, America's Laid
Off Superhero.
I posted photocopies of the comics on telephone poles and vacant buildings in my neighborhood, trying my best to add to the punk rock ambience of the place. I also mailed some around to my comics-fan contacts and placed a classified in the old Alan Light Buyers Guide. One of the people responding to my ad was Walt Rogers who sent me his minicomic, Just Another 8-Page Wonder. It inspired me to redraw my Cynicalman page as a minicomic. I liked the way the stick figure art looked in a comic that size and when I discovered I could sell them, I was hooked.
I've been drawing and distributing my own stick figure minicomics ever since. I've had two paperback collections of my minicomics published, Cynicalman: the Paperback, Thunder Baas Press, 1987, and ERT!, Caliber Press, 1995. During the "black & white explosion" after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made it big, I was drawing stick figure back-up features in Scott McCloud's ZOT!, published by Eclipse, called The Adventures of ZOT! in Dimension 10 1/2. Eclipse also published a full-size Cynicalman comic book and one issue of ZOT! (number 14 1/2) with a book-length ZOT! 10 1/2 story.
My current project is The Death of Antisocialman, a 96-page minicomic graphic novel that I'm working on with writer Walt Lockley. Each chapter is one minicomic and the whole story will run 12 chapters when it is finished. Chapters 1-11 are currently available in my catalog.
Process | History | Links | About The Comics
Links
The Amazing Cynicalman
is now a weekly comic strip!
The Paper. (Grand Rapids,
Kalamazoo, Lansing)
For complete information on how to get The Amazing Cynicalman running in your local alternative weekly, Email me!
I'm currently producing a monthly feature in Disney Adventures Magazine!
Hey, did you catch my INTERVIEW on WBAI radio on August 14?
Yul Tolbert continues to amaze us all with his astounding web sites!
Colin Upton finally has a site devoted to his work!
The ERT! trade paperback, originally published by Caliber Press, is being reprinted one page a week at the World Famous Comics web site.
Minicomics finally have their own web site! It's at www.mini-comics.com
You'll find more CuteGirl comics on display at a site put up by Red Planet corporate internet consultants way back in '95.
To find out more about how to make and distribute your own minicomics, visit John MacLeod's Small Press FAQ web site.
If you're looking for links to lots of mainstream and independent comics sites, a good place to start is Digital Webbing.
If you've ever wondered what happened to Ian Shires, wonder no longer: www.dimestoreproductions.com
Mike White has a great web site with some interactive Sleepyhead Comics
========================================= BUY MORE NOT AVAILABLE COMICS The Matt Feazell Catalog Jan 03 ========================================== * WEB SPECIAL * -- E-Z ORDER OPTION -- Send $10 post paid for all Not Available minicomics in print
(everything on this list down to How To Make a Minicomic) plus a couple grab bag surprises - Address - ========================================== --- MINICOMICS --- Trades Welcome! The Amazing Cynicalman Minicomic collections of the Cyncialman Weekly comic strip (#1) Hamtramck Vs Godzilla ...............(out of print) (#2) Hey, Cynicalman ..............................$1.50 (#3) Rebuilding the Twentieth Century From Scratch $1.50 (#4) A Date With Nerdy Girl .......................$1.50 The Amazing Cynicalman #5 ...........................50c The Amazing Cynicalman #6 ...........................50c
The Amazing Cynicalman #7 ...........................50c
The Amazing Cynicalman #8 ...........................50cDeath of Antisocialman Chapter 1 The Death Of Antisocialman!.........50c Chapter 2 Welcome to Ypsilanti...............50c Chapter 3 Special Funeral Issue..............50c Chapter 4 Captain Videotape..................50c Chapter 5 Little Known Michigan Traffic Laws 50c Chapter 6 Edie Haskel Doesn't Babysit........50c Chapter 7 StupidBoy Crossover!...............50c Chapter 8 On Patrol With Capt. Videotape ....50c Chapter 9 Extrasocialman Goes To Work........50c Chapter 10 Head of Lettuce....................50c Chapter 11 Drugs, Jobs and Bad Advice.........50c Understanding Minicomics The art and science of stick-figures........$1.00 CuteGirl #1-3 Polka and pierogies...........................50c Dances With Ants .............................50c At The Comic-Con .............................50c Board of Superheros #1 Starring Cynicalman and The Human Fence.......50c How To Make a Minicomic ...................$FREE Cynicalman "Have a Day" stickers Ten to a sheet ...............................50c Cynicalman Christmas Cards! Six different designs Starring Cynicalman, Stup!dBoy, CuteGirl and the Christmas Police $2.95 --- OTHER MINICOMICS --- AARON TRUDGEON Mr. Stubbles 4,8,10,11...................ea. 50c Lisa #5 (Cover by Matt Feazell)..............50c SEAN BIERI Jape 5,6 ................................ea. 50c SUZANNE BAUMANN Custard King.................................50c Chris Leif 1,2...........................ea. 50c The Moldy Bagels..........................$1.00 PAM BLISS Indiana Chicken Coupe .......................50c RACHEL HARTMAN Amy Unbounded 2,3,4 ......(digest size) ea. $1.50 JOSH SULLIVAN This is Josh Sullivan's 3rd Free Minicomic ... 50c TIM CORRIGAN Elasticworm v2 #1 (color cover!)............. 50c Mightyguy v2 #1(color cover!)................ 50c MIKE WHITE Sleepyhead Comics v2 #1 ................ea. $1.00 JOHN THOMPSON Crime & Punishment 1-3 (Dostoevsky).....ea. $1.00 KEN SMALL & JENNIFER ROSEN Better Living Thru Science....................50c TWM GROVE Minicomics reviews circa 1990 by a Marvel insider FPO 1-5 collection $2.00 FPO #11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21..ea. 50c --- COMIC BOOKS --- CYNICALMAN #1 (Eclipse) Short Supply!....................$10.00 B-36 #3 Pam Bliss spins her magic................ea.$3.00 ANT BOY #1, 2 My non-stickfigure comics starring the Boy Raised By Ants. Full color cover oil paintings! Adults only..............................ea $1.75 CAPTAIN CONFEDERACY (Will Shetterly/Vince Stone) # 7 (Ant Boy backup story).................$1.50 SPECIAL EDITION #1 (origin of Captain Confederacy)................$1.00 ESCAPE TO THE STARS #5 (James Lyle) With my backup story "Guns, Guts and Government Regulation" starring Mack O'Conner, Two-Fisted Truck Driver. Still one of my all time favorites..$1.00 --- ORIGINAL ART --- Pages from my back-up feature in Scott McCloud's ZOT! "ZOT! In Dimension 10 1/2" .........ea.$32 #14 1/2 pages 6, 9, 17 #26 "Grounded" 1, 2, 3, 4 #28 "Art of Work" 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 #29 "Astro Speedway" 2, 3, 4 #31 "Be True to Your School" 2, 3, 5 #32 "4 Sided Triangle" 2, 3, 4, 6 #33 "A Date With Density" 5, 6 #34 "The Rot Knot" (Beanworld crossover) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 #35 "Revenge of the Black & White Villains" 2, 5 #36 "Zot In The Act" 4, 5, 6 "Authentic, Original MATT FEAZELL Convention Sketch" Genuine leftover con sketches from my most recent convention appearances. Great stuff! $1 each (while supplies last) --- SOFTWARE --- Send $5 each OR two blank HD disks each OR some Macintosh shareware you think I might like CYNICALMAN.COM (v1) Web site on floppy disk! Cynicalman Takes Off His Shoes, Stup!d Boy - Vive Le Republique CuteGirl At The Open Mike Cafe Stup!d Boy And The Horribly Itchy Sweater ** Cynicalman Minicomic #1 - 1980 ** Cape Cod Sketchbook Map of Europe, Circa 1000 A.D. STICK FIGURE MASTERPIECES Version 1.0 - Famous paintings re-interpreted in Matt Feazell stick figures. Music by Beethoven Macintosh only UNDERSTANDING MINICOMICS iNTERACTIVE 1.0 Scanned artwork from the minicomic accompanied by 14 short essays, hyperlinks to "always funny" cartoon symbology, some goofy sound effects and a slide show. Macintosh only. CYNICALMAN HYPERCARD GAME 22 linked HyperCard stacks that let you guide America's Laid Off Superhero through the fun and adventure of getting up and going to work. Not really finished, but what the heck. Macintosh only. Requires Hypercard or Hypercard Player $10 EZ Order Option includes postage > When ordering minicomics, simply enclose one stamp. > For other orders please add $1 shipping. > Trades require no postage. Make check or money order out to "Matt Feazell"
Or, go to PayPal.com and send money to "cynicalman@aol.com"(All orders are subject to availability and the demands of work, family and studio time. Delays and substitutions may occur.) NOT AVAILABLE COMICS Matt Feazell P.O. Box 12038 Hamtramck MI USA48212 EMail: CYNICALMAN@AOL.COM