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Sometimes a conversation takes on a life of its own, and unexpected tangents are guaranteed. In that respect, this podcast did not disappoint! What began as a thumbnail discussion with Jason Brubaker (creator of reMIND and Sithrah) quickly morphed into a fantastic conversation about his unique comic-creation process. Oh darn. Take a listen and enjoy for yourself!One of the biggest benefits of being Making Comics (dotCom)'s "Inner-Circle Noob" is that I get to go backstage and learn from experienced artists -- not only how to create comics but all of the various ways that I can hone my craft. The intention was to sit down with Jason Brubaker, the (unnatural) talent behind reMIND and Sithrah, and discuss his thumbnail process -- a crucial early stage of comic creation. By looking at few pages worth of thumbnail sketches from reMIND, it's clear that the objective is to simply get the idea out. After that, the art happens.But conversations sometimes have the tendency to stray. The discussion focused more broadly on Jason's unique process and philosophy, which was an unexpected and welcome development. Perhaps the biggest lesson I took away from all of this was "...[you] have to love your craft or you'll never survive the valleys."We solicited questions during the live Google Hangout but were unable to get to them during the recording. The following day, I reached out to Jason for answers to three of them:Q: How do you maintain your high level of creative output?JB: I just don't like releasing stuff that is really rushed. I think in the digital age we live in, it's really easy to generate art really quickly and post it really quickly. I try to slow down and only release stuff that I feel is my best work. Plus, I have the advantage of not being under the pressure to deliver something before I feel like it's finished. It's another advantage of not having a release schedule and being self-published.Q: Does having kids affect the kinds of stories you tell? Especially with Sithrah?JB: Not so much. I've always preferred all-age stories better than anything. I wrote Sithrah before having kids but I will say that having kids really makes me think harder about what I'm trying to say because I can see first hand how kids absorb things they like.Q: Do you find it difficult to adjust to dialogue balloon placement since you do so much storyboarding?JB: I don't really do much storyboarding anymore. But when I did try to convert something from storyboards to comics, it did cause some problems when trying to add in words. I think of word balloons now as part of the composition. If I know I have lots of words then I build the scenes with lots of open space.reMIND thumbnail sketches:Links:Jason Brubaker: YouTube - BrubakerMotion / Twitter - @Jason_Brubaker / Website - Coffee Table ComicsJason's work: reMIND and SithrahJason's colorist for Sithrah: Josh UlrichPatrick Yurick's "Get A Grasp!" MOOCTweets from the live event:https://twitter.com/Making_Comics/status/433830433596268544https://twitter.com/Making_Comics/status/433825558577684480https://twitter.com/Making_Comics/status/433822582576406528Attributions:Intro & Outro Song:"RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Outro Song Behind Vocals:"Backed Vibes (clean)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Transitions:InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.orgOld Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Is it a hangout? Is it a podcast? A hangcast? A podout? Adam and Patrick travel the interwebz long-distance for this hangpod. Or whatever. What matters is this: Christy Blanch is on the show!You see the words that are underlined? Yeah? Good. Now go click them. You're welcome.Twitter: @christyblanch (https://twitter.com/christyblanch)Social Issues Through Comic Books, MOOC: https://www.canvas.net/courses/gender-through-comic-bookswww.supermooc.orgThrillbent: www.thrillbent.comYear of the MOOC: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0Five Comic Creators to Watch in 2014: http://comicbook.com/blog/2014/01/19/five-comic-creators-to-watch-in-2014/Patrick's MOOC - New School Creation MOOCMaking Comics MOOCAdam's "The Hardly Working Man": http://sd-greeny.tumblr.com/Intro & Outro Song:"RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Outro Song Behind Vocals:"Backed Vibes (clean)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Transitions:InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.orgOld Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Adam, Kevin, and the distant voice of Patrick take a break from interviews and writing articles to talk about all the good things Making Comics (dotCom) is currently feeding your beautiful and creative souls.Look! Links and stuff!Newsletter: http://www.makingcomics.com/newsletter/Statler and Waldorf Muppets: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Statler_and_WaldorfGIMP: http://www.gimp.org/CS2: http://gizmodo.com/5973730/grab-photoshop-and-cs2-for-absolutely-free-right-hereMark Luetke's "Get Started Already!": http://www.makingcomics.com/2014/01/18/get-started-already/Stephen McCranie's Doodle Alley: http://doodlealley.com/2009/11/29/the-need-for-sustainable-creativity/Nether Kraken Blog: http://netherkraken.blogspot.com/Questions? Suggestions? Want to show us your work? We want to answer, listen, and see! Contact us at makingcomicsdotcom@gmail.com.Intro & Outro Song: "RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Background Song: Goodnight.mp3: TexasMusicForge / www.freesound.org

Adam sits down with Patrick to discuss what to do when comic inspiration strikes.In this episode, Adam and Patrick discuss what steps one needs to take when they have their idea for a comic or graphic novel and aren't quite sure where to go from there. Do I find someone to draw it for me or help? Do I do it all myself?Patrick also discusses networking and drops some heavy philosophy: "The way into an impenetrable fortress of people is usually through a very small trap door."Deep.Newsletter: http://www.makingcomics.com/newsletter/The Head Comic: http://www.theheadcomic.com/ComicCon: http://www.comic-con.org/Garfield Minus Garfield: http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/Zen Pencils: http://zenpencils.com/Intro & Outro Song:"RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Outro Song Behind Vocals:"Backed Vibes (clean)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Transitions:InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.orgOld Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org

Adam and Tweener co-host Kevin "The Flying Dutchman" Cullen discuss Making Comic Dot Com's first week of rebirth, its current affairs, and its future children. Plus, Adam makes and fixes his first mistake. Didn't take long, huh?This episode, Tweener #1, is the first in line of this format that will take a step back in scope to look at the slightly bigger picture of Making Comics Dot Com. We get a brief introduction to Making Comics Dot Com's Head of Content Development and the co-host of future Tweeners, Kevin "The Flying Dutchman" Cullen, then discuss how successful the launch of the site has been, as well as dive into a couple articles. After that we talk about what the near future looks like in terms of upcoming articles, then finish up with a few announcements, such as the newsletter, how to contact us, and why we want you to contact us. Furthermore, I make a pretty solid mistake, my first one, that I have to clean up in post-production.Intro & Outro Song: "RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/record_scratch.wav: nixphoeni / www.freesound.orgFunky Synth_Squeaking Hip Hop: suonho / www.freesound.orgHenrike (commenter in article): http://pencilsandstories.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/an_idea/John Cleese video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ

In this inaugural episode of Making Comics Gutter Talk, meet host Adam Greenfield as he sits down with Making Comics (dotCom)'s new CEO, Patrick Yurick, to discuss the who, what, when, where, why, and how of Making Comics (dotCom). Intro & Outro Song: "RetroFuture Clean" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Outro Song Behind Vocals: "Backed Vibes (clean)" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Transitions: InceptionBrassHitMedium.wav: Herbert Boland / www.freesound.org Old Fashion Radio Jingle 2.wav: club sound / www.freesound.org