Many of you DGmag followers will have no doubt by now figured out that I am indeed, a comic and zine creator and illustrator. My main childhood hobby from around 2004 has been making comics entitled DGmag which in short, stands for The Dominic and Ginger Magazine. That is of course what this website and it's brother website (thedgmag.weebly.com) is strictly based on. However, what many of you will not have realised by now, is the odd thing regarding the recent issue Down With School...
You see, my Instagram account (Dom’s Illustrations (@dominicdavis1995) • Instagram photos and videos) document down the thought process and behind the scenes of nearly each and every DGmag. There, you can see how the comic is structed and built, although I do post things that aren't DGmag themed there too, such as a Garfield parody entitled Tableclothfield. Sorry Jim Davis! I also post other humorous and interesting things there too, things like, Sonic Screwdriver concepts which I've built. (I do that in my spare time too.) But alas, the main thing my account does, it to show you my illustration work. And that means, behind the scenes of DGmag.
"So! What's so interesting and odd about this recent issue?" I hear you ask. Well, dear reader. Let me tell you. You see, it's to do with the cost crisis! As I like to print out the comic for the benefit of myself, family and friends, as well as events and shops, I need to keep an eye on how much it costs to print out a DGmag. Hint, if it's regularly then it's a lot! So, to keep the prices down, I pondered on the novel idea of having some strips run in black and white.
But that was just it you see. It wasn't the same. It just wasn't DGmag! DGmag's main routes run like that of The Beano and The Dandy. The Phoenix and Monster Fun! All these bright fun filled colour comics for children is exactly what DGmag is fundamentally supposed to feel like. A full brightly coloured read for the consumer! So, when you have some strips in black and white, you risk losing the reader's focus. Especially if this is a children's comic. And I feel that children might not take well to a comic is some strips are run in plain black and white. It could risk them finding it perhaps too weird, outdated or retro. Sure, retro is all well and good. But as DGmag is mainly an online read, it doesn't really need to be in black and white at all!
Perhaps, over time, the child readers might've warmed to some black and white strips, but I felt that if it was just as easy to make a strip in black and white in Procreate on my iPad Pro, then why not? Why not just keep that colour? But I know what you're thinking dear follower, "What DID, those strips look like without colour?" Well, ponder no more. Because it was only for two of the strips. Mainly Bad Babies and Jone the Bouncy Ball.
Bad Babies would be run in pure black and white, while Jone the Bouncy Ball had some colour added. Still, let's see what the strips would've looked like. Roll the strips...
