Category: Sally Forth

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Francesco Marciuliano Sally Forth

Ted’s Dad Dies

A little behind the scenes on today’s Sally Forth strip.

First, Francesco Marciuliano’s script for this strip.

Monday
Scene: ONE PANEL. Interior, Hospital Hallway. Same Day. Long shot down the Palliative Wing Hallway. In the distance we see Ted and his mom hugging. They are crying but we don’t see really see their faces or any cartoon tears.

Original art.
Dot screen and lettering done digitally in Photoshop.
Color specification mirror inks.

The decision for the halo of light around Ted and his Mother was decided on as I had already done a hallway scene on October 22 where I tried to convey how you can feel all alone in a crowded hallway.

For the November 6th strip with Ted and his Mom I didn’t want to show the hallway completely empty (hospitals never are), but at the same time how the rest of the world goes away at that moment.

Hopefully it read that way for the readers as well.

Francesco has given me a lot of leeway on how to portray these scenes throughout.
I appreciate the trust he has in me in doing so, and hope the decisions I made in the illustrations did the story he beautifully crafted justice.

-Jim Keefe

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Sally Forth

Southwest Journal Interview

Here’s an interview I did recently for our neighborhood paper the Southwest Journal focusing on how I reference local locations for use in the Sally Forth strip.
On the Comics Page, Scenes from Minneapolis

For the blog post where I used Digs Studio for reference, check out:
Scouting Locations – Small Wonders Gift Shop

For Comic College check out:
Comic Book College is Moving

Other locations around Minneapolis I’ve used include…

Hillary’s school – based on Washburn High School
Augsburg College’s Campus
The Riverview Theater
Uptown – right where Magers and Quinn is located.

That’s all the locations I could think of off the top of my head. If I remember more I’ll be sure to post them.

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Unabashed plug time!

If Sally Forth isn’t in your local paper you can check it out online at…

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A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus ten years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.

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Sally Forth

Scouting Locations – Small Wonders Gift Shop

When a scene in Sally Forth calls for a specific locale (grocery store, movie theater, etcetera) I’ll often use spots around my hometown of Minneapolis for reference. Take the following…

A recent script for Sally Forth from Francesco called for me to create a store called Small Wonders, a store that resembled one of those arts & craft/greeting cards & candles stores you see in small tourist towns.

I always prefer taking my own reference pics over google images in cases like this so I can get a real feel for the set I want to use. Scouting out locations I chose one in biking distance of me called Digs Studio.

Digs – 3800 Grand Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN

Using the reference pic above, here is how Small Wonders ended up looking.

Sally Forth 9/19/2017

Digs’ owner, Katie Koster, was very generous in letting me take lots of reference pics. Invaluable for getting a good bead on the particulars of a gift shop like hers.

Front register at Digs.

And here’s Jackie’s new boss, Tashsa, with Jackie behind the counter.

Sally Forth 9/20/2017

It’s the small details that will make or break a good drawing, that’s why it’s so important for me to get the best reference I can. If something looks off, it’ll break the reader’s suspension of belief and you’ve lost them.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little behind the scenes look at the making of Sally Forth.

And if you want to know more about Digs,
check out their website at ShopDigs.com
or the Digs Facebook Page

Until next time…

-Jim Keefe

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Sally Forth

Al Hirschfeld’s Lesser Known Brother-In-Law Al Keefefeld

This week’s Sally Forth (9/11-16) has a title panel drawn by none other than legendary off off off Broadway cartoonist Al Keefefeld (brother-in-law to Al Hirschfeld).

Coincidentally, same as Al, he also had a daughter named Nina. And as you can see by the number 7 by his signature, there are seven Ninas hidden in the line work of the drawing.
Can you spot them all?


For more on Keefefeld’s brother-in-law Al Hirschfeld,
check out Al Hirschfeld: Looking for Nina.

Also on Facebook at facebook.com/alhirschfeld

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Sally Forth

Comic Book College is Moving

When a scene in Sally Forth calls for a specific locale (grocery store, movie theater, etcetera) I’ll often use spots around my hometown of Minneapolis for reference. For Hil and Faye’s local comic book shop I picked Comic Book College.

I use this comic book shop as it holds some nostalgia for me. When I was growing up in Minneapolis in the 1970s the collector’s market for comics was just getting underway. The two places to get back issues were Shinders on 7th and Comic City. Shinders on 7th was torn down decades ago but Comic City survived, morphing over the years into Comic Book College.

And now Comic Book College is moving to it’s new location at 4632 Nicollet Avenue.

So here’s wishing Tim Lohn and his crew all the best at their new location!

Tim Lohn with original Sally Forth page featuring Hil and Faye going to Comic Book College.
12/4/2016 Sally Forth page Tim Lohn is holding in prior pic.

And last but not least, from the Comic Book College Facebook page.

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UPDATE: Pics from First Day
August 2, 2017

New Store – 4632 Nicollet Avenue
Comic Book College is open and ready for business!
LOTS of space for comics –
more drawers and display units yet to be delivered…
Kids section by front window getting organized.
Long row of new comics.
Back issue drawers with graphic novel shelves on top.
Tim Lohn on day one at the new location.

Talked to owner, Tim Lohn, and he said he didn’t quite get everything over to the new store yet, but they are open with what they’ve got so far and will just keep working on it over the next few weeks.

And coming up Saturday at Comic Book College – Emil Ferris!