So exciting, the Maine Comic Arts Festival is in just over a week! Who’s going?

I’ve been working on all sorts of goodies to fill my half-table and will have a bunch of free postcards to advertise my webcomic, Under the Apple Tree. I’ll hopefully have a copy to flip through in person, too.

Something kind of cool that’s new this year is that there will be a day of just panels on that Saturday at the library right there in Portland. I won’t be able to go, but I want to hear how it is!

I’ve moved to Salem, Massachusetts to be closer to my job in Boston, so unfortunately I won’t be a very good organizer for the Maine Cartoonists group anymore. : ( I’ll try to come up for any events, but there’s no guarantee, so I leave it in the others’ hands to keep it going! I can’t wait to see you all at the festival, I know many of you will be there.

PS – After the festival we should all post our pictures up here, as well as the materials we brought to share!

Hey all,

I’m happy to see you all here and posting! I want to make this place really useful, so there are a couple things I’m going to be adding to the blog to make it better.

1. A better calendar. The one up now isn’t showing up quite right, so instead I’ve put together a Google calendar. I’m going to add as many New England comics events as possible, and if you notice I miss something, let me know! (Are any of you familiar with how it works? I was hoping to set it up so any of you guys can add something to it, but I haven’t gotten it all figured out now.)

2. An “affiliates” section. Now I have one labeled “support” and a separate page fro contributors (which I finally updated), but I thought it might be cool to do link exchanges with you guys as well as local comic shops, blogs, etc can share traffic with us. What made me think of that is The Daily Cross Hatch mentioned us in a post (so awesome!) and I thought it would be cool to have something like that going on.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we could add/change to make this place better and more functional?

Joel’s and Jessica’s posts on digital versus traditional mediums inspired me to make my own. It’s definitely a process that has evolved as I’ve work on Under the Apple Tree, starting from almost all traditional to all digital.

The above image is something I put together to show the many different stages I’ve gone through as I’ve experimented with style, color, texture and mediums, spanning almost three years. All of the line work except the very last (and current) version were done traditionally with pencil or ink on paper. I would then scan them in and use Photoshop to insert texture, grays and colors. I never quite got the hang of it, though, and eventually just said “screw it!” and went fully digital.

I’m glad I did, as I commuting to Boston from Maine for work makes for very little time at home with my nice art supplies and scanner. This allowed me to use only my tablet and computer, which I always have with me regardless, to create the comic no matter where I am.

My choice was mainly for convenience, but I found I had a much easier time with color than I did traditionally – there’s much more room (and time) for digital experimentation than traditional.

It’s been neat to see everyone else’s processes and views on digital versus traditional work. PS – Thanks to everyone who has posted, I’m really glad you’re all here!

I’m Sarah, and I’m a cartoonist from Kennebunk, Maine. I have a pretty profound attachment to the Portland indie comics scene and am one of the organizers of Maine Cartoonists, a casual group that meets once in a while to share projects, advice, etc. I’ve been watching blogs with multiple authors for a while now and figured why not start one, but include talent from all over New England? The internet is so convenient, why not start a “roundtable” here?

I’m a freelance illustrator and designer and am currently contracted to work on educational games out of Boston. I do web design too, as you can probably see. I’m finishing up my degree in Communications & New Media and have a chinchilla named Cosmic Creepus.

My current big project is Under the Apple Tree, a comic based off the history and ghost stories of my hometown. It takes place during WWII and follows the experience of a girl who moves into a haunted house. It’s available to read online and the first issue will be available in print at the Maine Comic Arts Festival in May!

Welcome to The Collective, a collaborative blog set up for comic creators and cartoonists from the New England area! For a long time I’ve watched such great multi-contributor websites such as Gorilla Artfare, and finally realized there’s no reason we couldn’t start our own. There’s a massive amount of talent here and something like this could be an excellent way to share our projects and get support.

If you’re interested in joining, read up on the “About” page. Members will be given their own account to post with and can contribute links and other things to help this community grow.