I’ve been having so much fun sitting back and seeing the amazing comic collaborations from WASP (Webcomic Artist Swap Project) flow in over the past week.
2015 is the third year for WASP. I conceived the idea to spread awareness of different webcomics and have a fun and creative challenge for comic makers. After a couple of years at the helm I was happy to be able to leave the project in the capable and telented hands of the new co-ordinators and editors, Sarah Turner (Folklore) and Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather, Rosie and Jacinda).
See more details and resulting comics at tempolush.com/wasp.
Here’s a round up of the WASP strips I’ve worked on over the last three years…
2013
Promo image by me!
Cafe Suada written and created by Jade Sarson. Drawn by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by David O’Connell
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Zarina Liew
2014
Banner WASP painting by Francesca Dare
Becoming of Age – Written and created by Nicola Streeten. Art by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Rachael Smith
2015
Banner by Paul Shinn, Francesca Dare and Sarah Turner
Go! Go! Metro! – Written and created by Inko and Chie Kutsuwada. Art by me!
Lucy the Octopus – Written and created by me! Art by Midori Harako. 
Now I’m thrilled, not only that Sarah and Francesca did a wonderful job pulling the comics together this year, but also that they’re going to continue the project next year – Onwards and upwards!
Next up, I free the paper from the shackles of the masking tape! This gives me the option to rotate the paper as I ink to reach the most comfortable position for drawing each line and curve. This is even more important when I use a brush to ink as oppose to pens (which I’ve done a few Lucy strips requiring a different style, as well as lots of other work).
Before I get on to the real art, I draw out the speech bubbles in a 0.5 line.
That little arrow I draw is to remind me to fix the mistake with the speech bubble after I scan the work into my Mac (ready to colour on Photoshop). It’s quicker to do this than to use tippex or opaque white paint on the actual paper.
On to inking the actual drawing. Sometimes I do this panel by panel. More usually I approach the strip as a whole and work from the thickest pens down the to the finest. This saves a bit of time by not stopping to change pens so often.
A good rule of thumb is draw things in the foreground in a thicker line than things behind in a picture. That’s why I tackle Mrs Faridani in 0.8 line and will do the passengers behind her with a thinner pen.
I also use the thicker line of the 0.8 pen to give the feeling of weight under elements such as the underside of the monster in Panel 2 and the handle in Panel 4. 
I finish with the 0.8 pen and start with the 0.5.
I continue to work on the first 3 panels…
…until the 0.5 line work is done.
I switch to the 0.3 pen to work on finer lines, including characters further towards the background.
Finally I use 0.2 and 0.1 pens for the finest details, like the tiny passengers in Panels 2 & 5 and the characters in the deepest depths of the background of Panel 1.
The drawing part of the process is complete!
I print out the lettering template on bog-standard A3 paper. As you can see I create two Lucy strips on one piece of paper.
Using a lightbox, I trace out where the panel borders (if known) and lettering for the two strips fall, onto good quality drawing paper. I tend to use a mechanical pencil.
Then I tape the paper on to my drawing board and using the horizontal bar and set square I rule out the panel borders.
Inko (left) and Chie travelled up from Brighton for the evening, with Inko cosplaying as one of the Rosie and Jacinda characters, Aaron!
Keara was kind enough to give all the contributors framed original drawings of the portraits she’d done.
