Next thing to do is for me to stack the high-rezzes together and add the tag. I believe Jeph likes dot-png files? And what e-mail address do I use?
And yes, if we take anything away from this, it ought to be an appreciation for what goes into making each day's strip.
Jeph's said on Twitter and Tumblr that there's no waking moment he's not thinking at least a little about the strip and I can identify with that. I can also identify with his reluctance to let others influence the story and the characters, even as he appreciates the guest strips. It's his BABY. I know the feeling.
From the handful of times I watched the stream, I know a regular strip (no new backgrounds or characters, etc.) takes a minumum of two hours to produce, AFTER the scripting, and that's with no interruptions (which is probably one of the reasons he works at oh-f**k-thirty in the morning, Eastern US Time). I was taking about an hour and a half for each panel, not counting numerous interruptions (Family stuff, paying work, errands, and this guy with what looked like a Tesla coil, who wouldn't go away ... )
I can also appreciate the fact that Jeph is hugely self-taught and has, in fact, been inventing not only the strip but the way he draws it, as he goes along. I'm also largely self-taught, though there are one or two teachers way back when I wish I'd listened a little more closely to.
Speaking of learning, I don't mind saying that, even though I've been drawing for publication for about as long as Jeph has been alive, I've learned a few things about working in Photoshop by watching the livestream of Jeph drawing the comic. If you haven't watched a stream, do it; it's fascinating. He "builds" the comic as much as he draws it.
That's the kind of world we're in technologically, folks: We're all learning from and teaching one another and working out new stuff for ourselves.
If anyone's interested, the final panels of this guestravaganza were produced in Photoshop Elements, using an ancient Wacom Graphire tablet attached to a less-ancient MacBook. The rough panels were produced in SketchBook Pro on a first-generation iPad, the one I use for my editorial cartoons.
Though I'm ready to declare this done if y'all are, I'm going to go back one more time to the discussion of the off-panel dialogue in Panel 2; it could stand being a little less of a word-wall and there were some good thoughts there.
This was fun.