A page goes through a few steps before it's ready for the comic board. I won't be showing much work in progress on future pages - certainly not to the level that I used to - but I did want to share the various steps.
I first do a thumbnail of the page. This give me a general idea of the panel placement and basic dialog.
Next, the borders are added in. This page will have a background that bleeds to the edges. This made things a little more interesting during the layout stage. I usually use a preset outer border.
Now it's circles and ovals time. The goal here is to get the basic idea down. Each panel is done on its own layer. This way if something needs to be moved, I can easily shift it.
After the first pass, the lettering and balloons are added.
Once I'm happy with the dialog and balloon placement, I go back and tighten the sketch a bit. It's now ready for the comic board.
This process can take anywhere from an hour to three hours. It all depends on what's happening in the page - both visually and dialog-wise. This one took a while due to me trying to draw horses from above and figuring out how to match what the characters are saying to their facial expressions.
Okay, I need to get going on those sketch cards. Later.
Mad Hatter: "Are you the dreamer, or merely part of somebody else's dream? That's just the question Tweedle-Dee put to Alice in Through the Looking--"
Bruce: "This isn't some silly storybook!"
-- Batman: The Animated Series
4 comments:
Thanks for showing the steps to a comic page, Darc. Very interesting!
I may yet have to break down and spring for a basic figure-drawing class. I read the basics of what those circles and lines are for but can't use them effectively myself. YOU, on the other hand... :-) :-) :-)
Thanks! :D I'm still trying to get a handle on figure drawing. I've had some luck with Andrew Loomis's books, but I'd love to attend an actual anatomy class. Our local art guild doesn't offer one unfortunately.
I'm too lazy for serious study. Besides, I like drawing now and am afraid that if I turn it into -work- it will become work instead of fun. Therefore I try to learn from the nice stuff in your blog instead! :-) It's long enough to be useful and short enough to not be work to study. Thanks...again!)
I have to balance that with frustration at not doing as well as I want though. So, I end up staying cartoony and constantly using other (real) artist's work for reference.
Absolutely amazing Darc. It makes me appreciate the comic even more seeing the process. And thank you for redacting the notes, I hate spoilers.
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