I’m such an awesome Disney employee, I go back and re-do work dating back to the 1930s!

Actually, I was thumbing through the copy of the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics and marveling at the level of detail Mickey Mouse cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson was able to cram into panels printed less than 2 inches high. I did a little research and found some originals for sale, their descriptions indicating that he drew these panels at a whopping 5 3/4" tall! So, I printed the panel at what was probably the original size, traced it in blue pencil using my light panel, then inked it with several of my Zebra and Pitt disposable pens. I added the halftone digitally in Manga Studio.

No, it’s not creative to trace other people’s work, but it can be good practice. Reduction helps my inking a whole lot, which is kind of the idea, but even full-size comic inking has a sort of confidence that I’ll only be able to match with lots of practice.