March 2008 - The Making of Mic Check Comics
Jason Burchard

One of my favorite tasks to work on with this magazine is to create this Mic Check comic. I’ve always loved comic strips. I’ve never been the best artist, but I enjoy finding some humor in things and trying to draw well enough to still evoke a laugh. The comics had only been available online, but I plan on putting them in the print edition from now on.

When it comes time to create more comics, I scratch out four rough ideas on a page. I end up using about two thirds of the ideas I come up with because some don’t turn out to be as funny as they first seem.

I select the ones that are funny enough to actually proceed in drawing and then sketch it out in pencil on a new page. I try to envision what point of view it will be drawn from. One of the hardest things is to get everything in some kind of believable proportion. That’s the beauty of doing it all in pencil first. Sometimes, I don’t even erase and just keep drawing right over the previous sketchings.

Next, I use a special marker to carefully ink in all the black lines. I do this right over the pencil drawing on the same page. Then, I erase all the pencil with a special white plastic eraser. I don’t use the big pink ones that school kids use, these white ones are much better.

Then, I actually take a photo with my digital camera. I turn it into a grayscale image in my photo program and adjust the contrast/brightness until there is nothing but the blackest lines and the whitest spaces. Though, sometimes I do have to erase other flaws. Finally, now that I’ve been doing it in color, I use the photo editor to color in the entire comic. I mostly wanted to start making them in color so they are more attractive on the t-shirts. Plus, it doesn’t cost anymore for them to be in color on the t-shirts, which is nice.

Be sure to go to www.karaokeaddiction.com to see all the Mic Check comics plus the latest ones in color. And don’t forget to watch for the comics in future print editions.