Making of "Epic Team Up"

An animated GIF showing each step in making this comic. 

I came up with this idea while watching my kids play.  My 4yo loves to get dressed up in mismatched costume parts and act things out that I'm sure seem cool in his head, but look ridiculous to the outside observer.

I wanted the "imaged" bit in a very different style, so I msged my pal Francisco Salinas from Dream Wardens, who draws most excellent robots and monsters.  I'd never done a collaboration piece before, so I was excited and nervous -I hate being the "client" because I know how annoying they can be! :P

The next hurdle was figuring out quite where to start.  Usually the dialog comes first and then I build everything out around that, but I wanted the action to tell the story with this one.  After much staring at a blank page, I managed to get it down SUUUPER rough (1st pic), then neatened it up a little bit (2nd pic) and sent it over to Frank.  I wanted to give him some room to play, but not have it so rough that he couldn't tell what the heck was going on!  I told him to make one an off-brand Voltron and the other an off-brand Godzilla.  I also sent him this reference pic, to keep the costumes consistent with the end panel.

He sent me back some awesome inks, but they were a little tamer than I expected.  When I asked him about it, he said he was playing it safe and I told him to stop that and go full Frank -having the monsters meaner would just make the reveal funnier in the end!

I ended up simplifying the calico kid's costume, it was just too busy for the size of him in the panel.  I also changed the mom to not noticing the incoming attack.

Frank sent me his panels colored and I added some backgrounds and special effects to finish it off.  I'm really happy with how it all came out!