Behind The Scenes: Part 4

Following ‘Behind The Scenes: Part 3’ (HERE), a few people asked me more about how I draw laying down. So, here is part 4 to explain it in more detail…

The beauty for me of most, but not all, drawing tablets, is that you look at the computer screen whilst you’re drawing instead of at the tablet itself. As you move the stylus, the cursor shows up on the screen and you get used to it in much the same way as when you watch what you’re typing online.

This enables me to lay a little propped up, or even flat, depending on how my Dysautonomia is behaving on any given day. I plug the drawing tablet in and lay it on my stomach, ready to draw!

TOOLS:

Overbed table: I have an adjustable overbed table which is on wheels so can be positioned wherever I need it and can tilt the laptop to any angle necessary. The only thing that I ever have a problem with whilst using this, is that my darling spaniel loves to go under the bed and click the button on the wheels that locks them!

Drawing tablet: The drawing tablet that I use is a Wacom Intuos Pro, and I absolutely love it! You can program the buttons and dial on the left hand side (shown at the top in this pic) with whichever functions you choose. My buttons are programmed to: 1) Touch on/off*, 2) Settings 3) Shift, 4) Ctrl, 5) Alt and 6) Pan/Scroll. The dial button in the middle can be clicked to change between zoom, scroll and rotate, and once one of those is selected, you can then turn the dial to zoom in or out, scroll up or down, or rotate the page left or right.

*When the “Touch” function is selected, it allows you to treat the tablet as a touch screen, pinching to zoom in or out and also to turn the page slightly.

Stylus: The stylus comes with the drawing tablet, and has a selection of different nibs with it. Like most people, I have my favourite nib that I stick with, and the rest are left largely untouched. I favour the felt nib, which tends to have a softer feel on the tablet. The little metal ring that you can see in the middle of the nibs pot is to remove a nib from the stylus and replace it with a different one. 

There are two buttons on the side of the stylus, which can be set to your requirements just like the buttons on the tablet. I have mine set to erase, which is really handy, so that you don’t need to keep clicking on the erase tool in your drawing program.

Laptop & Photoshop.

Spaniel: I would struggle to draw without having this gorgeous little face next to me. It’s his favourite spot to lay whilst I’m drawing, and I melt every time I look up. Unfortunately it does tend to result in a fair amount of procrastination, as I can’t not cuddle him when he’s looking like that, can I?!

Scotty's Dog Caricature Scenes

 Each Scotty’s Cartoons Dog Caricature Scene is unique and entirely tailored to the personality of your dog. They make an ideal gift for a dog lover, and result in a perfect everlasting keepsake that has the advantage over standard dog portraits, in that there is as much focus on their character, as on the way that they look.

Here’s a step by step guide to what to expect when you book a Dog Caricature Scene with me…

1. First of all, we arrange a date for your booking for me to begin your cartoon. Once the deposit is paid (which is subtracted from the overall cost at the end), we then move on to step 2…
2. I will send you a tailored form to fill in, that helps me get to “know” your dog. The more fully you can answer the questions, the better chance I have of capturing the many facets of your dog’s personality.
3. I then ask you to email the completed form to me, along with a selection of photos of your dog. Some people worry that they send me too many photos, but honestly, the more the merrier! As a minimum requirement, I ask for a clear headshot and a few full body shots to allow me to see the detail of colouring on your dog’s coat, as well as their stature and appearance.
4. I study the answers that you’ve given on the form. From these, I come up with a scene that will bring your dog’s personality to life in your cartoon. If you have multiple pets, I ensure that part of this process is how the dogs connect and interact with eachother too.
5. I start by roughing out the scene with a few drafts until I’m ready to draw the finished linework. 
6. Then I colour the scene, add shading and highlights to bring the scene to life.
7. I send the finished cartoon as a web friendly sized jpeg, along with the invoice.
8. Once the final payment is received, I then send you a high quality, high resolution jpeg that is perfect for printing the cartoon out at size 10 x 8 inches. For a small additional charge I can send you a print by snail mail if required.
9. You can use your high resolution jpeg however you wish (on a mug, canvas bag, TShirt, etc) so long as it’s for personal and not commercial use. (If commercial use is required, please drop me a line to discuss copyright options.) 

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch for a chat without feeling obligated to make a booking. 

Behind the Scenes: Part 3

 (Click HERE for Part 2)

Part 3

...In the following few years life took an upward turn when I met the love of my life online, and then in person. We soon moved in together and one day while I was spending time with his then 5 year old daughter who loved books, I decided to write and illustrate a book for her that included her favourite teddy, a dog called 'Floppy Dog'. It was a treat to return to cartooning again even if my drawings were crude at that stage, and she was delighted to have her own personalised story. The following year, we had a new addition to our family in the form of a crazy cockerspaniel called Jasper, and he inevitably gained the star role in the next year’s book.

     

A short time later whilst talking to my (now) husband about wanting to find something that I could do for work from home, he reminded me of cartooning with my Dad, and of the book, and suggested cartooning. I was horrified at the thought, as my cartoons were far from good enough to sell. He simply said with a smile “so get good enough to sell them then.” He, and the rest of my family, had the confidence in me that I lacked, and with other options so limited, I decided to give it some serious consideration. The stories for his daughter had taken me a very long time to complete because it required sitting up, so it looked like this might become a repeat of ‘Silver Linings’, but thankfully I was about to discover something that would eliminate that problem…

I began an online cartooning course, tutored by American professional cartoonist Franklin Bishop, and his enthusiasm for my work went a long way in helping to build my confidence. In August 2008 I was delighted to receive a diploma with distinction in cartooning, and during the year-long course I was even more delighted to discover drawing tablets. By plugging a drawing tablet into my laptop, I could draw directly onto the computer. The benefit of this is that over time and with adaptations, I gradually taught myself how to draw laying down (with a few frustrated temper tantrums along the way 😄 ). Finally I had found something that I absolutely loved doing, and that enabled me to do whilst being horizontal. Now the only tricky problem was getting good enough to be able to sell my work!

I joined an online forum for cartoonists, and met some wonderful professional cartoonists who were a huge support to me and gave me lots of tips along the way. The best advice I was given was to keep at it, keep practicing, develop a critical eye for your own work and to keep trying to improve. It was a road full of frustrations and wobbly confidence, but I eventually reached a point where I was ready to launch “Scotty’s Cartoons”.

Two years on, I had enough regular work to be able to make the decision to specialise in my preferred area by becoming ‘The Dog Cartoonist’, and my passion for cartooning grew in leaps and bounds. Now, a decade on from doing the cartooning course, I can’t imagine that I would have been any happier in my original career choice all those years ago than I am now. After all, I get to look at cute dogs every day, anthropomorphise their characters into cartoons, and delight their owners!

(Click HERE for Part 4)

Behind the Scenes: Part 2

(Click HERE for Part 1) 

Part 2...

…Life inevitably got in the way, and our cartooning sessions became less frequent. When it came to taking my options at school, I would have loved to have taken art but didn’t feel that my artwork was up to the required standard, so dropped it at the age of 14 to pursue other subjects.

 By the time I left school, my future plans were firm in my mind: I wanted to study to become a Child Behavioural Therapist. I studied Sociology and Psychology at sixth form, and started to do work experience in the Child Behavioural field, which I absolutely loved, and I applied to go to University to study Child Psychology.

I unexpectedly became ill at the age of 17 with Dysautonomia, and to cut a very long story short, it became apparent that this was a long term problem that couldn’t be ignored. I eventually reluctantly accepted that I would need to make a different career choice, and so began the next stage, finding something that I could do from home that would enable me to work.

Looking for a new direction with fresh optimism, I started to set up a business that I called “Silver Linings” and made my own handmade jewellery, which expanded to making gem trees. Unfortunately, two of the symptoms of my illness were firstly that I found I couldn’t sit up for long, and secondly that my skin had become sensitive to things that I hadn’t had sensitivity to before, including various metals! I got around the second problem by wearing gloves, and hoped that the first problem would somehow fix itself.

 I approached The Princes Trust who were very supportive and enthusiastic about Silver Linings. Very quickly though, we realised that it wasn’t going to work when I couldn’t manage the meetings that were required for the Princes Trust to fund me. Unsurprisingly, the problem of needing to sit up to make things for Silver Linings didn’t fix itself either, and I gradually accepted that this wasn’t the right route for me after all.

 It was time for a rethink again, onwards and upwards…

Click HERE for the final part, Part 3....

Senior moment...?

Despite Jasper being 12 years old, he still has moments of puppy mischief. A couple of months ago, it was pouring down with rain and he asked to go outside for a widdle. He was let out, and then soon after he did his good boy single “Woof” at the door to be let back in. The door was opened for him, but no sign of him.

 It was still pouring with rain, so we wondered if he was sheltering somewhere.

Nope.

Maybe he hadn’t finished so had run off again, so we shut the door again.

“WOOF!”

The door was opened again. No sign of him.

Then suddenly we caught a little flash of a cheeky face from behind the wheelie bin, and as soon as we spotted him he ducked back behind it again!

We told him the game was up, and he was to come in now. Nope, no movement at all!

He eventually reluctantly came in, but it left me baffled. He hates water, there was no shelter on that side of the bin, so what was going through his daft little donut mind?! Maybe just pranking us is enough motivation for a cute and mischievous senior cocker spaniel!

Rude awakening

You know when your dog is tired, but like a stubborn little toddler, they refuse to give in to sleep? 

Well Jasper was having that situation last week as he sat up, “alert” on the sofa. 

I was watching him as his eyelids kept getting heavy, then he’d sit bolt upright again with a quick look around to see if anyone saw him. This went on for some time, until tiredness took over completely and his body slumped on the sofa...

 Unfortunately, he was keeping his squeaky cracker toy close by his side, and that was what his chin landed on. With a massive “SQUEAK!” he leapt into the air (this time I’m pretty sure the cartoon isn’t an exaggeration), then off the sofa, to stand at a safe distance to turn back and glare at where the offending noise came from. It was like a good hit of caffeine, as he didn’t seem tired after that.

Behind the Scenes: Part 1

PART 1
To start my “Behind the scenes” series of posts, I’m taking you back to where my cartooning all began, when I was a little sprog…😜

I grew up in a very close family with my Mum, Dad and sister who is a year older than me. My Dad was really good at drawing cartoons (still is, but he denies it 😉 ), and one that I specifically remember was for our infants school fete. He drew his own character,- a huge white elephant for the fete’s white elephant stall, and I remember proudly telling anyone and everyone who would listen that “My Dad drew that, he did!”

I showed an interest in joining in, and so he showed me how to start by trying to copy other cartoons first to get a feel for it. In our case, it was nearly always Disney cartoons and we both loved the roundness and cuteness of the animals especially.
With some relief, I didn’t save my sorry attempts, but I had my Dad’s versions up on my wall for years, hence why they’re a little age-worn now…

(Pictures by Pops Scott, full copyright and acknowledgements to Walt Disney)...

Click HERE for Part 2....