Sandra Bell-Lundy: Developing a Strip with Jay Kennedy

From Sandra Bell-Lundy's Between Friends blog comes a great piece of insider information on the syndicated strip business titled Developing the Strip. For anyone wanting to know the relationship between editor and cartoonist (in this case, it's Sandra and the late Jay Kennedy of King Features), this is a pretty raw look at the development period; a time when the writing and the look of the fledgling strip is hammered out.

"A big problem I seemed to have was not drawing my characters in a consistent style. Jay frequently pointed out hair and nose and neck length discrepancies."

She reproduces comments that Jay wrote on her early efforts.

Above: Jay's comments on noses -- written and drawn by him.

It was interesting to hear that the sales team recommendation ("One day, Jay called me and said the sales people had suggested that I feature Helen more often as she was an African-American woman and it would help make my strip more diverse.") was taken during this time, resulting in a new character.

This is the fifth installment of Sandra's "road to syndication" series.

Road to Syndication part 1

Road to Syndication part 2

Road to Syndication part 3

Road to Syndication part 4