ON HIATUS! We are working on some of our own projects and stuff at the moment. Itās real stuff. Weāre totally cereal. Super secret and weāre not just sitting around in our cabinets eating snacks all day. Donāt worry about it. 𤫠Weāll 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 weāll see you this summer!!
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 othersā 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.Ā
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 Crackleās perpetually wiggly arms), their expressions (Snapās 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.Ā
We work through scenes that we call āepisodesā since we both imagine the characters in each scenario as if theyāre 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 āpartsā and further into āpagesā to help us work through plot arcs (and also keep our files organized).Ā
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. Itās 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 Abhiās style that looks like sheās printmaking everything and her amazing coloring skills has been so incredible to see; I seriously donāt know how she does it (and Iāve even creepily watched back many time lapses of her coloring process). The comic is truly a blend of our styles. I donāt think it would be as much fun as it is if it werenāt a collaboration.
Surreally swimming in cereal,
Julie
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Just a lil addendum from Abhi:
Iāve 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 teamā sheās got the randomest, oddest ideas sheāll throw into brainstorming sessions, and it really freshens up whatās possible! And then itās a fun surprise to see how the script is brought to life through her sketches, even when all weāve got to work with is square Instagram swipe format (blerg)! After drawing the panels, itās 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.Ā
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!!Ā
Iām so glad weāve got each other in this pursuit, as it can get quite difficult to tell serial cereal stories visually... but itās berry much a blast to do together! (Apologies, Julieās better than me at the cereal puns)
Behind the Scenes #3: Sketchy Characters - Designing Our Cast
How do you come up with fleshed out, expressive kids that you wonāt 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, ānoodlier armsā and āshiftier eyes.ā Then youāve 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.Ā
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; Abhiās sketches are shown first and mine are the latter.)
Above: Abhiās concept sketches
Below: Julieās concept sketches
I merged the designs together, Abhi gave them a few more tweaks, and now theyāre the upstanding dorks you see today in full ink and color.Ā
Cheerio!
Julie
P.S. We gave them cereal nicknames after coming up with the name of the comic! Mostly because we didnāt want to struggle over giving them real actual human names.
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?!). Weāre 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 Kandaceāhilarious writer, caring editor, and full-time superheroāintroduced 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). Weāve 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 weāre 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.Ā
We each wrote up lists that highlighted our tween experiences and smashed them together until we came up with the premise (ex. Julieās 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.Ā
Though at times, Abhi has described the experience of working on this comic as this gif,Ā
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 weāll be back with more soon!