True Grit "Takes Money to Make Money" Process

The True Grit comic for March titled "It Takes Money to Make Money", came from this drawing that I did for a show at Mad Hat Tea Co. called "Love, Crooks, and Creeps".





At first I thought I would make the actors a couple. A girl with her new "Bad Boy" boyfriend, i.e. The Fonz, or Dallas Winston (The Outsiders)


-first frame-
Bad Boy: Wanna grab a bite to eat?
Girl: I only have a couple dollars.

-second frame-
Bad Boy: Listen sweetheart, when your
with me...

-third frame-
Bad Boy: ...that's all you need!


I didn't like the way the couple idea was working out, so I
switched the story to three homeless guys. Whenever I
think of homeless people, I think of "Blanketman". At the time of this picture
this was his house. He would sleep on the stairs. I offered him one of those twelve hour
heat packs one night in the middle of winter, and he solemnly declined.




At first I was going to place them under an overpass,
but why would a businessman be walking in that area?
I decided to forget about the setting for a minute,
and figure out the characters.



I sketched out all the characters,
and laid out the composition first.
Then I colored each piece separately on black paper,
scanned them in, and arranged them in Photoshop.











I still needed a background so I took a picture of this building, at the right perspective to fit in my composition.


I did a quick line drawing that I colored in photoshop
for the background



I added graffiti and stickers from some of my personal favorites for my final touch,
and there it is:
"It Takes Money to Make Money"



-Starheadboy
Starheadboy is a very prolific Seattle Artist who moved there from Tacoma. The overwhelming saturation of Starheadboy stickers in the Seattle area is amazing, not to mention other cities, states, even countries He reminds me of a happy human copy machine that, instead of making copy noises, just says "Good Times!" every time there is a successful duplicate. Check him out at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starheadboy/
http://starheadboy.blogspot.com/

This is a Starheadboy sticker that I stuck up at the Brooklyn Banks,
under the Brooklyn Bridge in NY

-Wonder Creature
Wonder Creature was a character that was wheat pasted, drawn, and stuck around Tacoma some years back. This goofy creation was one of my favorites, and I added it to this comic in hopes of re-inspiring the artist to do more. I miss Wonder Creature, and from what I've heard I'm not the only one.

-Deal One
Deal is a Tacoma artist that has been creating top notch art for a large part
of the last two decades.From designing tattoos, to murals, to canvases. He has done it all with skill and originality

-Plus One R.I.P.
Plus is a local legend among graffiti writers, and artists in the Pacific Northwest. He was a fun loving person that found it easy to get a laugh. With spray paint he was a precise draftsman who enjoyed the symmetry of his name. Often he would show up to paint his piece with only half a sketch, that he would flip so it was symmetrical, and make small adjustments so that it represented the right letters. Thanks for the obvious inspiration Plus. R.I.P.