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Maggie Schmidt: hip&single behind the scenes
Maggie Schmidt is the brainchild of Thorsten Raab and Deborah Wiltshire of hip&single.com, a dating
website based in San Francisco, Ca. The Three Quarter team was brought on board to develop the character and create the stories
that you read every week. Let’s take a look at how each Maggie strip is created, from beginning to end.
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Layouts/Rough Script
The first step in the process involves coming up with the basic idea for the story. Wendell plots
it out and then draws a basic, 6 panel layout with dialogue.
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Script
Once the layouts are done, Wendell types up the script, describing the overall setup and detailing the dialogue for each
character.
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MAGGIE SCHMIDT
Volume 1
Strip # 21
THE MEETING
Setup: Maggie is about
to introduce Rufus Sewell to Pam. They are going to meet her at the coffee shop. Maggie is dressed casually with
a light coat and Rufus is in a long sleeve shirt and slacks.
Panel 1
MAGGIE: “Aren’t you cold?”
RUFUS: “Nope.”
MAGGIE: “Like your shirt.”
RUFUS: “Thanks.”
Panel
2
At the coffee shop door.
MAGGIE: “Rufus, are you nervous?”
RUFUS: “… A little.”
Panel 3
They enter the shop.
MAGGIE: “There she is. HEY PAM!”
Pam is waving
Panel 4
MAGGIE: “Hey Pam, this is Rufus.”
RUFUS: “Rufus Sewell.”
PAM: “Hey,
I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Panel 5
Maggie has a scowl on her face.
Pam looks surprised,
as if she has just been slapped.
Rufus, still holding Pam’s hand, has a poker face.
Panel 6
MAGGIE:
“Rufus, did you fart?!”
RUFUS: “I thought I left it outside… Guess it followed us in.”
Pam is perplexed.
PAM (quietly): “horseradish?”
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Submission and Approval
The layouts and the script are sent to the hip&single team for review. Any changes to
the layouts or script are worked out here. Once the final approval is given, the documents are sent to Chris.
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Rough Pencils
Chris takes the layouts and adjusts them for visual impact, establishing shots, pacing and overall flow. This process
includes the addition of the word balloons that will contain the dialogue. He then pencils the page and sends it back
for approval with lettering. Sometimes Wendell tweaks the dialogue again based on Chris’ roughs. This is
the heart of the collaborative process. Both the writer and artist try to make the material better by complementing
each other’s style. In this case the discussion about the Wolverine jacket was added in the final version to show
Rufus' nerdy side.
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Inks/Coloring
Once the pencils and lettering are approved, Chris inks the page and does the final coloring.
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Submission and Publishing
The final strip is reviewed for any errors and once everything looks okay, it is submitted to the hip&single
team for publishing!
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Check out our Maggie Schmidt page here, and read the latest episode here!
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