Heroes and Dreams Comic Shop

As a bit of an extension of my Google Map this week, I wanted to highlight the local comic book shop that I go to when I need to update my Sonic the Hedgehog collection.  Heroes and Dreams is a pretty well-known establishment in the Kenosha area, mostly because of the impressive mural on the side of the building, seen in the image below.

Their website is updated weekly on Mondays to help keep you in the know about when your newest comic is on the shelves.  The shop owner is a very talkative guy who I'm convinced could make friends with an alligator: as soon as you walk in the place he'll act as if he's known you all his life.

They also have a dog in the shop as a sort of mascot.  Hershey, a beautiful chocolate lab, will become friends just as fast as the owner.  Should you ever make a return visit, she'll happily greet you as you enter, remembering you from before.

So if you're new to comics or have one you read regularly, check out Heroes and Dreams if you get the chance.  They have all the comics you could want and a friendly atmosphere that makes traveling all the way out to 30th and Roosevelt worth the mileage.

A Modest Destiny

Being at home for Easter Break and not having access to Adobe Illustrator, we'll have to postpone wrapping up the comic.  So, instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss my favorite comic of all-time, be it comic strip, webcomic, or comic book, in order to give it a bit of exposure.

A Modest Destiny begins as a video-game inspired adventure comic, with elements of humor and suspense playing major roles.  Its primary story arc ran every day for a year, spanning 300+ comics.  It has since gone on into 3 other "chapters", with the story taking on darker undertones and subject matter while maintaining its simplistic yet endearing look and humorous aspects.

This website was responsible for inspiring me to launch my Great Limitations project back in the day.  It truly is one of the most captivating stories out there.  And some of the side projects on the site (such as "The Starship Destiny") are also good reads.

So, if you're bored this Easter break, take some time to get into this wonderful story that has had a major impact on some of my own comic-creating life.

I'd post a picture of one of the comics but the owner of the site is pretty particular about copyright rules, so I do not want to infringe upon his rights.

Google Maps: Comics in Kenosha

So, I have mapped out a couple of locations for the aspiring comic enthusiasts in the audience on a Google Map.  It features descriptions, pictures, and even videos about each of the 4 locations here in Kenosha that I frequent when I need my comic fix.  Enjoy!

Because the embedded version below may act a little funky, here is a direct link to the map as well.


View Comics in Kenosha in a larger map

Screencast

Unfortunately my laptop didn't seem to be strong enough to handle Camtasia, particularly during the editing process. During editing the playback was choppy and delayed, making it next to impossible to create accurate splits and zooms. But I did the best I could with what I had. Hopefully the low production quality created by my low-end laptop won't hurt my grade too much. 

How I Do It: Coloring

Now that our image is in digital form, we can use another Adobe Illustrator tool to allow us to color it in.  The Live Paint Bucket tool will convert our digital image into a series of vector paths that Adobe Illustrator can interpret and "paint" inside of.

Once your image is in Live Trace form, it is very easy to convert it to a colorable state.  Simply select the Live Paint Bucket Tool from the Toolbar, and click on your Live Trace image.  Once the process is complete, you can then select various colors and color in your comic.

Things are really starting to take shape now!  You probably can really see your comic coming to life and are getting pretty excited.  There are a few more minor details (adding text, cleaning up), which we will cover next week.

Below is the colored image of Comic 1.

How I Do It: Live Trace

We now move into the Adobe Illustrator portion of our program.  We had to ink our drawings in order to allow Adobe Illustrator's Live Trace tool to create a (relatively) crisp digital version of our hand-made drawings.  That is our next step.

Basically Live Trace can convert anything into a manipulable digital form, but I find it really shines in black and white situations.  Therefore, our black and white inking of Comic 1 is a perfect candidate to be Live Traced.

If ever you want to follow along, this is a very straightforward progress.  Take your scanned-in inking and do a File > Place... of it onto your Adobe Illustrator canvas.  Work with its size until you have it just as you want it, and then go to Object > Live Trace > Make.  Voila!  That will generate an image similar to the one below.  We'll clean it up a bit more before we get to the final product, but we have a pretty sharp digital image to work with now.

How I Do It: Video Form!

I have created a video podcast showing my "How I Do It" series in action!  If you prefer to learn via video, then this is the podcast for you!

Editor's Note: As of the time of posting, YouTube is still completing its Processing of this video.  So be patient if you see it as unavailable.  It should be live before long.