Are You CEREAL?!

A comic about a bunch of kids in a parking lot. Created by Abhi Alwar & Julie Jarema

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ON HIATUS! We are working on some of our own projects and stuff at the moment. It’s real stuff. We’re totally cereal. Super secret and we’re not just sitting around in our cabinets eating snacks all day. Don’t worry about it. 🤫 We’ll be back to sharing more of this comic in the summer, though. In the meantime, you can follow our creators @abhi_alwar and @rainbowfish523.

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Thanks for sticking around, and we’ll see you this summer!!

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It’s not Moby...

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Pop quiz!

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Secret treasure trove

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Moby’s got answers, but Crackle has some questions

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*aggressively reads*

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🚨 A cereal emergency!!🚨

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It’s not Lulu

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Like it’s her job

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We’re back with more antics and harebrained schemes to keep the summer silliness going all through the fall!

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#AreYouCereal?! #AreYouCerealComic #webcomic #cereal #AYCC #summer #comic #cartoon #illustration #illustrated #illustrationartists #summerfun #summer2019 #procreate #digitalart #lettering #typography #humor #camper #pranks #camping #trapped

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Behind the scenes #7

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Time lapse from the trip to the library

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Behind the scenes #6

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A little time lapse from the cereal aisle of the W

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Behind the Scenes #5: Sharing is Caring - How we Divide the Work

How do two illustrators/comic artists work together in different states? The magic of the internet!

Every Sunday, we have a check-in video call. More often than not, we catch up on each others’ lives, but we also get work done! We talk about future plot points, go over any new script material, talk about any tech or other issues. 

We typically brainstorm ideas for the script together, and then one of us will primarily write it out. The other will make any edits (this happens all the way up to the end if the pacing seems better by cutting the panels in half for that post or rearranging the order once we have the final artwork). In the beginning, Abhi really got the voices of the characters, which helped determine all of their actions--how they move (take note of Crackle’s perpetually wiggly arms), their expressions (Snap’s eyebrows), and who might propel the plot forward in that scene. After working through the first four posts, I think we both had a much better understanding of this group and the dynamics. After we have our weekly discussion, we get to work and text each other any updates throughout the week. 

We work through scenes that we call “episodes” since we both imagine the characters in each scenario as if they’re an animated cartoon show (but instead of drawing two hundred panels to be compressed into a smooth 3 second animated clip, we draw 3 that convey choppy motion). Each episode is divided into “parts” and further into “pages” to help us work through plot arcs (and also keep our files organized). 

We both work in Procreate and share files via Google Drive. I do the sketches, Abhi colors and inks, and then I get the files back to hand letter the text. It’s always a treat to get the new files in folder. I love seeing the incredible texture and colors that Abhi adds to the sketches. I find it difficult to keep the loose spontaneity that traditional drawing allows for when I work digitally, so working with Abhi’s style that looks like she’s printmaking everything and her amazing coloring skills has been so incredible to see; I seriously don’t know how she does it (and I’ve even creepily watched back many time lapses of her coloring process). The comic is truly a blend of our styles. I don’t think it would be as much fun as it is if it weren’t a collaboration.

Surreally swimming in cereal,

Julie

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Just a lil addendum from Abhi:

I’ve never worked in this collaborative way with an artist before on a story AND visuals, so this process is new and honestly really exciting! Julie absolutely carries the team— she’s got the randomest, oddest ideas she’ll throw into brainstorming sessions, and it really freshens up what’s possible! And then it’s a fun surprise to see how the script is brought to life through her sketches, even when all we’ve got to work with is square Instagram swipe format (blerg)! After drawing the panels, it’s such a lifesaver that she can take a look at any inconsistencies panel to panel, or adjust a weird eyeball, or add something to the background! Plus in the process, we generally end up realizing some things work better visually, and how some ideas could be conveyed easier through a silly pose or a certain look instead of dialogue. 

This is all without mentioning, the lettering, which can get tricky with having a lot of back and forth dialogue in some panels, and having to think about it compositionally!! 

I’m so glad we’ve got each other in this pursuit, as it can get quite difficult to tell serial cereal stories visually... but it’s berry much a blast to do together! (Apologies, Julie’s better than me at the cereal puns)

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Behind the scenes #4

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A little time lapse of Moby 🐳

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Behind the Scenes #3: Sketchy Characters - Designing Our Cast

How do you come up with fleshed out, expressive kids that you won’t tire of drawing and can carry out your wacky plans for you? You sketch. Then you eat those sketches. Then you resketch. Then you squint a little and shrug and mutter, “noodlier arms” and “shiftier eyes.” Then you’ve got your cast.

We knew we wanted a bossy tomboy (*cough based on fetus Abhi cough*) and her weirdo best friend, a book nerd, a cool girl who maybe is not that cool but is just a grade level ahead, and a token boy who happens to also be an annoying little brother. The characters were, in fact, called by these traits at first: Bossy, Best Friend, Cool Girl, Bookworm, and Brother. 

From there, Abhi and I essentially faced separate walls like we were taking a test and drew some concepts for how we each imagined the characters. Surprisingly, we had quite a bit of overlap (see the images at the top; Abhi’s sketches are shown first and mine are the latter.)

Above: Abhi’s concept sketches

Below: Julie’s concept sketches

I merged the designs together, Abhi gave them a few more tweaks, and now they’re the upstanding dorks you see today in full ink and color. 

Cheerio!

Julie

P.S. We gave them cereal nicknames after coming up with the name of the comic! Mostly because we didn’t want to struggle over giving them real actual human names.

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Behind the scenes #2

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Behind the Scenes #1: What Were We Thinking?!

Hello! Greetings! Ahoy!

It is us! The evil geniuses who decided to put a bunch of kids in a parking lot all summer (AKA the comic artists behind Are You Cereal?!). We’re taking a little break for a few weeks. Not because we ran out of ideas, but because it actually is pretty time consuming to churn these panels out each week. We thought it might be fun to show you how we brainstorm, collaborate, and how we came up with this comic in the first place.

Above: Abhi & her cereal

Below: Julie & her assortment of oats

The snack version: Two goofball illustrators living in different states reminisced about their endless childhood shenanigans and thought it would be a good idea to draw about it in fictionalized comic form.

The full course cereal-for-dinner version: Our friend Kandace—hilarious writer, caring editor, and full-time superhero—introduced us after noticing our similarities (we are both glassing-wearing professional book nerds originally from Illinois who have been known to pluck a ukulele once in a while and doodle inside and outside of meetings). We’ve been friends ever since.

After attending a panel about collaboration at the NYC Feminist Zine Fest this past spring, we decided that we needed to work on a project together. To say we’re both poky workers is generous. Another thing we have in common is that we both need accountability systems and to have projects ripped out of our hands or nothing will ever get done or shared. Luckily, the prospect of working on a summer comic together instantly filled our heads with endless possibilities and excitement. We talked on the train on the way home from the zine fest about being bossy big sisters, being surrounded by our cultural communities growing up, and having overactive imaginations. 

We each wrote up lists that highlighted our tween experiences and smashed them together until we came up with the premise (ex. Julie’s summers hanging out with friends in a damp camper in her driveway; Abhi supposedly being the annoying ringleader of her group and forcing her friends to participate in her elaborate and lofty schemes). We wanted to keep it slice-of-life to make sure that we could keep it going and dip in and out of adventures, much like how we invented games and scenarios and then quickly ditched our convoluted ploys when we were 11 and they went horribly wrong...nothing at all like how we live our lives now. 

Though at times, Abhi has described the experience of working on this comic as this gif, 

Julie is frequently cracking up in public whenever she works on it and rereads the gags. Working together is a (berry) blast (heh, fictional cereal names), and we’ll be back with more soon!

-Julie & Abhi