About

About me:

I’m Dave Wagner and I was senior staff artist on the MMORPG “RUBIES of EVENTIDE” from Cyber Warrior Inc. for 7 years. I designed 2D maps for 3D low polygon models as well as character designs and voices for the game. I then moved on to BLIZZARD Entertainment where I was a QA Lead for “World of WarCraft”. Then I was an Art Director for Reaction Design Studio in Irvine. Currently I am an eLearning Manager for an online education company. I also enjoy working on creating comic books and freelance gigs when I have the time.

About this strip:

I created this strip as an outlet for my creativity. I used to draw a lot in the past but having a 9-5 job doesn’t allow for a lot of free time to draw. I constantly have random ideas and thought a web comic would work perfectly for what I wanted to do. They will not however come out on any regular basis since I am both a procrastinator and a perfectionist. Unless I think it’s ready I won’t post it. I am trying to give my comics a more loose feel and not be so nitpicky about them so hopefully that will help the frequency of postings. One thing that also keeps me going is feedback from YOU. Please leave your comments!!

How I work:

  • First I think of an idea and let it fester in my head until I think it’s ready.
  • Then I print out the 3 panel layout template at 30% opacity on 8 1/2″x 11″ paper.
  • I sketch where I want all the figures and word balloons.
  • I scan the paper into Photoshop at 100% and place it in the template I created for the strip (at 300 dpi).
  • The scan is then set at 30% opacity to be used as a guide for inking.
  • Then I use my trusty Wacom Intuos3 tablet and a brush set at 30 pixels hard, 1% spacing and pressure sensitivity turned on and “ink” the strip on a new layer.
  • The colors are added on another layer set to Multiply.
  • I used the shape and pen tool with a stroke effect to make the word balloons and add the text.
  • I save the file as a flat tif then resize it for the web and “save for web.”
  • The end! (check out my new YouTube page for drawing/inking videos!)

You can contact me at: dave AT dotproblems DOT com.