Stress

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Emma and I had a great Christmas in Scotland with her family, but 2017 is going to be an exciting year for Smith vs Smith comics and I couldn't wait to get back to work! For starters, Smith vs Smith is going to published in three papers in the next few weeks! 

This comic is a spiritual sequel to "Stressed," a comic I created way back in 2009, when I was finishing a teaching job in Malaysia and didn't know what was next. (I ended up teaching English in Hong Kong and will be compiling the comic strips from that time into a mini comic soon). See the original comic below. I'm hoping you can see an improvement in my art over the last 8 years...!

The original "Stressed" in all its Comic Sans glory. 

Kuwaiti Cats in Canadian Snow

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I attended the University of Victoria from 2005 to 2008 (fun fact: Smith vs Smith was originally published for the first time in UVic's Martlet). In all my years in Victoria, it only snowed one time (and everyone lost their minds). I've recently spent four years in Kuwait, where it hardly even rained. So it was a HUGE deal for me and the cats that it snowed last week in Victoria (Emma was mostly annoyed by the ice on the car). We've seen how vocal Neo can be, but Thor never meows so this was a big deal. 

This comic was inspired by the following photograph:

The cartoonist Elaine M. Will was a huge help with this week's comic. She told me how she achieved the snow in her graphic novel Look Straight Ahead. 

shared with elaine m will's permission

shared with elaine m will's permission

Look Straight Ahead and Elaine's other book, Dust Ship Glory are both great reads and both available from Cuckoo's Nest Press. Give them a read! 

Emma and I are heading back to Scotland in a week for Christmas with her family. I'm working hard to finish some comics for various anthologies as well as trying to get ahead on Smith vs Smith strips so I can relax over the winter break. Lots to do! 

Pavlovian

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Today's comic originally appeared in the Camosun College Student Paper the Nexus. Check out Deadpool reading Smith vs Smith: 

Cartoonist Joan Steacy, my life drawing teaching, brings in cosplayers as our models.

It's been a lot of fun (and super helpful) learning to draw in a more realistic way. Hopefully the practice shows in Smith vs Smith, even though the comics are more stylized. You can check out more of my cosplay life drawing if you follow @smithvssmithcomics on Instagram. 

Fresh

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Have you heard about the mini comic I created for Movember? The mini comic features 30 cartoon moustaches and all proceeds for the mini comic will go to the Movember Foundation, the global charity focused on men's health. Please consider donating (you get a comic!) and telling your friends about it. Here is an example of the moustachy goodness you'll be getting: 

Burt Reynolds Moustache

This week's comic was a challenge in several ways. I'm not sure if it shows, but since starting Comic School, I've been trying to work on my figure drawing and draw better hands (check out Smith vs Smith Comics on Instagram to see more examples of my life drawing). I also forced myself to use the Pentel Brush Pen for this entire comic, something I've been avoiding because it's new and scary and different and weird and takes longer and requires a deft hand. I prefer to grind into my paper with tough markers, but I'm glad I took the chance and stuck to the brush pen for this comic. 

The other challenge was how to depict smell. I drew Emma smelling something before, but for some reason the nose twitch wasn't working this time.

I had a similar problem a few months ago with drawing a slow action when I had Emma creep backwards up the stairs. Once again, I sought help. I turned to my fellow students from the Comics: Art in Relationships Kadenze course (who recently put out a FREE Sci Fi anthology featuring a Smith vs Smith comic) and some classmates from the Camosun College Comics & Graphic Novels Program.  Having their feedback has been extremely helpful over the last few months. 

Cheez Pleezers

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This comic concludes a story arc that began over a month ago with Hungry. Eagle-eye readers may have noticed the aspect ratio of the comic changing a bit. We have the tall and skinny First Day and Eye Lashes and we have the short and fat, almost square aspect ratio for Vegetarian Lasagna and Catchoo. This is because at Comics School we have been making pages at the correct size for common comic books. However, I've also been publishing Smith vs Smith in the Camosun College Newspaper, the Nexus, which has been asking for almost square comics. Today's page was created over a month ago, but chronologically, it comes at the end, so it is still tall and skinny even though it follows a long run of short square comics. From here on out, expect consistency. 
I don't know if you're following @SmithvsSmithComics on Instagram, but if you aren't, you're missing out on my month length Movember cartoon moustache drawings. 

The Movember Foundation is the only global charity focused solely on men's health, so this Movember I got on board. I drew 30 cartoon moustaches and created a mini comic. All proceeds will go to the Movember Foundation. Find out more on my Movember Fundraising Page. 

Dinner & a Movie

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Make sure you check out the amazing Comic Chameleon App where you can now read every published Smith vs Smith comic! So cool being featured on the app with some of my webcomic heroes like the Perry Bible Fellowship, Nedroid and Nhoj. 

This is the second time I've played around with shadows. It's an old gag I remember from Mad Magazine by Sergio Aragonés. 

I try to avoid serialization in the webcomic, especially with Smith vs Smith being published every other week in the Camosun College Nexus paper (if you're in Victoria, grab your copy tomorrow to get an extra does of Smith vs Smith this week!), but this week's comic is undeniably a direct sequel to last week's Vegan Lasagna. This really continues a storyline that started a few weeks ago with Hungry. This storyline will wrap up next week with a comic I actually drew weeks ago, but I keep adding more pages before the finale. 

This week's comic was originally created for my upcoming graphic novel, You're Stuck With Me Now, but I didn't have an organic place for it. See the original below: 

 

 

Vegan Lasagna

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This comic continues an accidental storyline about eating which began a few weeks ago with Hungry. Or did it begin with my bad breath a week before that with Sigh? Or did it begin a week before THAT when Emma made me breakfast in First Day? You should probably read them all and make your own mind up. While you're at it, why not take a stroll down memory lane and read ALL 63 Smith vs Smith comics? Did you know this is the 63rd Smith vs Smith comic posted? Go read them all and double check my numbers!

And if you want to read Smith vs Smith from the start, why not read Smith vs Smith on the Comics Chameleon App? Comics Chameleon is an app that shares over 100 of the best webcomics on the web and from now on, Smith vs Smith will have a home on the app! It's never been easier to read Smith vs Smith on the toilet!

This week's comic was originally published in the Camosun College's Nexus Student Paper.  

Two comics & graphic novels students enjoying smith vs smith in the nexus newspaper.

For those who are interested in the process of Smith vs Smith comics, I am sharing the original pencils below so you can see how they compare to the finished comic. 

I tried this comic two years ago and originally saw it as a page in my upcoming graphic novel, You're Stuck With Me Now. Here is the original, unpublished version:

Catchoo

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I never thought I'd have a cat, let alone two cats. Mostly they are adorable, but sometimes they can be... less than adorable. Since September, I've been in Camosun's Comics and Graphic Novels program and so far we've done all our comics with pen and paper. To shake things up, I decided to draw a comic totally digitally for the first time in a while. Let me know if you have a preference between digital or analogue comics in the comments section! 
If you know a cat person who would enjoy this week's comic, please share Smith vs Smith with them!

Have a great week, 

Matt Smith!

Hungry

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Big thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of "Three Crushes" my 24 Hour Comic! If you haven't read it yet, you can get your copy now! I created the whole 24 page comic in (less than) 24 hours a few weekends ago. It's chock full of gut-wrenching stories of middle school heart break. Fun for everyone!

This week's page was originally an assignment from my life drawing teaching, cartoonist Joan Steacy. Joan tasked us with taking a pose from life drawing and turning it into a "splash page" (one image for a full comic page). I love turning assignments into Smith vs Smith comics, so while my classmates created scenes of samurais fighting monsters, I drew a scene featuring Emma and the cats!

Let me know what you think of the single panel splash page experiment in the comments!

- Matt Smith!
 

Sigh

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Huge thanks to everyone who has read my 24 Hour Comic, "Three Crushes." It was created two weekends ago in (less than) 24 hours. If you haven't read the true humiliating stories of a young Matt Smith looking for love in Middle School, go check it out now! Then let me know what you think about it! If you aren't already following @smithvssmithcomics on Instagram, do it now and you can see some of the process over the 24 hours. 

The comic originally appeared in the Camosun College Nexus Newspaper. It's really cool to be featured in print. If you're in Victoria, grab a copy! 

Cats

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This is the second Smith vs Smith comic to appear in the Camsoun College Nexus paper. 

Here is my Comics and Graphic Novels classmate Rashad Cash reading the latest issue of the Nexus.

It's really cool to see my comics in actual print. Totally different than seeing them on screen! If you are in Victoria, a new Nexus comes out every other Wednesday. 

Scottish Summer Weather

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This comic concludes Emma and my summer in Scotland. Back in June, Emma and I said goodbye to Kuwait and moved in with her parents for two months. I've done a comic already about the Scottish weather this summer. 

I'm not comfortable with using colour in my comics yet, but I couldn't work out how to show a sunny day in grayscale. It jumps out, creating a strong contrast with the first two panels, but I'm not sure yet. Any feedback on the use of colour would be helpful! 

Luckily, today I start the Comics and Graphic Novels course at Camosun College so I'm hoping that I will gain confidence in using colour and in my drawing abilities overall. I'm so excited to finally start this course after 11 months of waiting! 

Originally, I planned to release this comic as two different strips. I was worried about being behind on comics as Emma and I were moving. Below you can see the original sketches. 

Originally, the second half was going to lampoon how everyone reacted to the heat, but the day we left Scotland was a really nice day (in stark contrast to the first day we arrived) and this way it serves as a conclusion to our summer. 

Below you can see an earlier version of the first half of the page. 

I shared it with some people and made some changes based on their suggestion. In the final version, the sky is lighter in the second panel, so my day is "brightened" by the ice cream. I also like how the "camera" starts in a full body shot in the first panel, "zooms" in to a medium shot, drawing more attention to the ice cream. In the third panel, the "camera" "zooms" in to a close up, continuing the camera movement, before pulling WAY back to a cityscape shot to see the plane taking off, leaving Scotland and closing this chapter. 

Emma and I actually had a great summer in Scotland and there were many other funny stories that happened. I am hoping to collect the last few comics and draw some new ones and release another mini comic (so stay tuned)!