The Terrible Anvil Returns!

Hi! Welcome back to The Terrible Anvil! Tom Hart and Jess Ruliffson love to talk about making comic-making EASIER, and in this season 2 opener, we’re talking about ART BUDGETING. It’s about how artists manage time, resources, and visual consistency when working on graphic novels. Jess’s favorite examples are from Allison Bechdel's Fun Home who love to silhouette characters, and background, and also set up details that are easily repeatable. Additionally we looked at her dad’s RUG.Jess also talked about simplifying characters for a longer story, even when she previous pulled out all the stops for realism in a previous version of the same story, seen here:Then as we slid into answering questions for people either interested or IN the 2026 Graphic Novel Intensive, we answered questions about art budgeting for color.Tom showed some favorite old-time examples of working FAST which made for bold color choices, like the one below.We answered a few more questions. We hope you’ll join us in the 2026 Graphic Novel Intensive (GNI)! See you there!Next week on The Terrible Anvil, Tom will show Jess some accidental commitments he made and Jess will help him deal with the long term consequences! Thanks for being here! Get full access to How to Make a Graphic Novel at sawcomics.substack.com/subscribe