About me: Downfall was created in 1999 for my high school paper. I wanted to create a 'relevant' comic strip in response to the mostly fluff strips that ran throughout my time at school. Angry, political, and self-deprecating, Downfall somehow seemed to be well recieved, and I had so much fun writing and drawing it that it continued, in one form or another throughout college and eventually after. While the comic was in black and white for its first run, when I revisited it after a year hiatus in 2005, I'd gotten comfortable enough with PhotoShop to do a weekly strip in full color.
The process I use to create a comic starts with a pencil layout. I rough out a fairly tight pencil sketch of the panels, sometimes on seperate sheets of paper, then ink over the pencils. After scanning all of the art, I color each drawing using PhotoShop and shrink down and combine all of the individual parts into panels. At this point, I add backgrounds, speech balloons and filter effects.
The comic strip is truly a labor of love, and I'd keep doing it even if no one read it, but knowing that people out there enjoy something that I've created is one of the most rewarding experiences there is.
Downfall is updated every Friday at http://fallingdownproductions.com.
