For those who don't know, for just over a month I've really been hammering my art to see how much I can improve before Uni starts up again. I know that I can manage a decent looking comic, and in this past month I have learned a lot about technique, industry etiquette and standardisation.
Of course, one has never fully learned everything. There are many improvements to be made before I am truly proud to stand with the other cartoonists listed to the right and hold my head as high as they so rightly deserve to. Practice everyday is one thing, but my technique, that is something I am also hoping to evolve.
To that end, here is my current modus operandi, from start to 'finish'...
Pencil sketching
As all of the comics I have produced thus far have been autobiographical or surrealism based on a real character (myself) I have had little need for a script. Therefore I simply start with the joke in my head, I thumbnail the panels then draw out the comic on paper. I start with wire frames of the foreground characters with a basic background, then develop both. At this point I will usually also pencil in areas for the bubbles or boxes (which is an improvement from my last method, which was to make the scene in its entirety, then decide where the bubbles go thereby wasting some rather luscious background to a speech bubble.)
Scanning and inking
After the above is done to my satisfaction, I scan the image in at 300DPI and load it into Photoshop. I then use it as a base, ink over the pencil lines on a new layer above the pencil sketch to get a clean black line. Once the line art is ready I will add a borders layer above it and a colours layer below it.
Colouring
The most laborious part of comic construction is the colouring. It can take well over two or three hours to finish the colouring on a comic and most aspects of my comic only uses the basic fill tool. I do not differ amongst warm and cool tones to produce depth like other comics. This isn't because I am intrinsically lazy, more a case of I haven't perfected the technique yet and so I do not want to produce comics which are sub par, particularly in light of the fact that many comics are wonderful in simple black and white.
A note on shading
Usually the last thing I do with the pen is shading and possibly highlights. although in a recent comic I tried my hand at gradient shading (using shadows which get darker/lighter either end) and with a little practice I think I can get the hang of it. At the moment, using a transparent black to indicate where the shadows are hitting is fine, but it still does not define the images as 3D objects as much as I'd like them.
Framing, bubbles and text
Usually the last thing I do besides minor aesthetic tweaks is the text and speech bubbles/annotation blocks. this is just a case of placing them where I planned to from the original sketch.
There's one or two things at each stage of development that I would like to play around with. I am restricted by time, but here are a few of my ideas...
Pencil sketching (EVERYTHING)
I want to try making an entire comic using only pencil sketching. This means that the comic will be done entirely on paper, in pencil. The method I intend to use would be to sketch very lightly using a small mechanical pencil, then use heavier lines with a softer lead (possibly a thicker one depending on the line). When finished, I use a very accurate eraser to rub out all the unwanted lines. I can also clean everything up in photoshop (and make the pencil lines as dark as ink.)
This will save me hours of work with the tablet and make the whole process simpler and cleaner. The only issue is that I will really need to train myself to take more care when working with pencil and paper. This is something which will happen only through practice, it will take diligence but then nothing worth having in this life comes easy. This also leads me onto...
...Working bigger
One thing I realise when I am working on paper and transferring to computer is that on the computer I can get much more detail on things such as clothing and faces because I can zoom in, draw what I need, and zoom out. I cannot do that on paper. Well, not effectively. My best bet is to use two or three sheets per comic and build the panels separately, take up maybe half or a whole sheet of A4 per panel. Ideally I would make the comic on A3 paper, then scan in chunks and resize on the PC. This will be the best way to get detail on things such as clothes and backgrounds in pencil.
Colouring
At the moment I am not thinking of complicating my colouring process, except that I may consider using more gradients as I have had some pleasing results thus far. This does mean using more of the polygon selection tool. I may also experiment with using channels again soon, just because I can see it being a big help in the future considering all the industry techniques you can use to manipulate colour.
Shading
I think the only change I will make to shading is that I may consider adding shading at the pencil stage, and either enhancing that shading through photoshop or leaving it as is. On a similar note, I do intend to play more with secondary light and coloured highlights (using warm or cool tones) to enhance the scenes.
Bubbles and Boxes
I need to standardise my text. I have picked a font at the moment which is quite hand-drawn in appearance. I would like something different that would set my comic apart from the standard 'Anime Acers' out there. I know font doesn't make a comic and there's no point polishing a turd, but I am a stickler for detail. I may experiment with hand-drawing my text. I have also read up on some interesting articles during my research and found that a few people like to hand draw their bubbles, which I like the effect of and thus taken to. There are also some helpful hints out there on text placement and etiquette.
There you have it. I shall no doubt report my findings and any pieces I deem blog worthy. though I am concious of giving up the experimental strips as I do not want to be known as a bad artist right off the bat. However, I am a warts-an'-all kind of writer/artist and find beauty in the process and the imperfect as much as the perfect.
Plus I like being told how good I am <3
Of course, one has never fully learned everything. There are many improvements to be made before I am truly proud to stand with the other cartoonists listed to the right and hold my head as high as they so rightly deserve to. Practice everyday is one thing, but my technique, that is something I am also hoping to evolve.
To that end, here is my current modus operandi, from start to 'finish'...
Pencil sketching
As all of the comics I have produced thus far have been autobiographical or surrealism based on a real character (myself) I have had little need for a script. Therefore I simply start with the joke in my head, I thumbnail the panels then draw out the comic on paper. I start with wire frames of the foreground characters with a basic background, then develop both. At this point I will usually also pencil in areas for the bubbles or boxes (which is an improvement from my last method, which was to make the scene in its entirety, then decide where the bubbles go thereby wasting some rather luscious background to a speech bubble.)
Scanning and inking
After the above is done to my satisfaction, I scan the image in at 300DPI and load it into Photoshop. I then use it as a base, ink over the pencil lines on a new layer above the pencil sketch to get a clean black line. Once the line art is ready I will add a borders layer above it and a colours layer below it.
Colouring
The most laborious part of comic construction is the colouring. It can take well over two or three hours to finish the colouring on a comic and most aspects of my comic only uses the basic fill tool. I do not differ amongst warm and cool tones to produce depth like other comics. This isn't because I am intrinsically lazy, more a case of I haven't perfected the technique yet and so I do not want to produce comics which are sub par, particularly in light of the fact that many comics are wonderful in simple black and white.
A note on shading
Usually the last thing I do with the pen is shading and possibly highlights. although in a recent comic I tried my hand at gradient shading (using shadows which get darker/lighter either end) and with a little practice I think I can get the hang of it. At the moment, using a transparent black to indicate where the shadows are hitting is fine, but it still does not define the images as 3D objects as much as I'd like them.
Framing, bubbles and text
Usually the last thing I do besides minor aesthetic tweaks is the text and speech bubbles/annotation blocks. this is just a case of placing them where I planned to from the original sketch.
There's one or two things at each stage of development that I would like to play around with. I am restricted by time, but here are a few of my ideas...
Pencil sketching (EVERYTHING)
I want to try making an entire comic using only pencil sketching. This means that the comic will be done entirely on paper, in pencil. The method I intend to use would be to sketch very lightly using a small mechanical pencil, then use heavier lines with a softer lead (possibly a thicker one depending on the line). When finished, I use a very accurate eraser to rub out all the unwanted lines. I can also clean everything up in photoshop (and make the pencil lines as dark as ink.)
This will save me hours of work with the tablet and make the whole process simpler and cleaner. The only issue is that I will really need to train myself to take more care when working with pencil and paper. This is something which will happen only through practice, it will take diligence but then nothing worth having in this life comes easy. This also leads me onto...
...Working bigger
One thing I realise when I am working on paper and transferring to computer is that on the computer I can get much more detail on things such as clothing and faces because I can zoom in, draw what I need, and zoom out. I cannot do that on paper. Well, not effectively. My best bet is to use two or three sheets per comic and build the panels separately, take up maybe half or a whole sheet of A4 per panel. Ideally I would make the comic on A3 paper, then scan in chunks and resize on the PC. This will be the best way to get detail on things such as clothes and backgrounds in pencil.
Colouring
At the moment I am not thinking of complicating my colouring process, except that I may consider using more gradients as I have had some pleasing results thus far. This does mean using more of the polygon selection tool. I may also experiment with using channels again soon, just because I can see it being a big help in the future considering all the industry techniques you can use to manipulate colour.
Shading
I think the only change I will make to shading is that I may consider adding shading at the pencil stage, and either enhancing that shading through photoshop or leaving it as is. On a similar note, I do intend to play more with secondary light and coloured highlights (using warm or cool tones) to enhance the scenes.
Bubbles and Boxes
I need to standardise my text. I have picked a font at the moment which is quite hand-drawn in appearance. I would like something different that would set my comic apart from the standard 'Anime Acers' out there. I know font doesn't make a comic and there's no point polishing a turd, but I am a stickler for detail. I may experiment with hand-drawing my text. I have also read up on some interesting articles during my research and found that a few people like to hand draw their bubbles, which I like the effect of and thus taken to. There are also some helpful hints out there on text placement and etiquette.
There you have it. I shall no doubt report my findings and any pieces I deem blog worthy. though I am concious of giving up the experimental strips as I do not want to be known as a bad artist right off the bat. However, I am a warts-an'-all kind of writer/artist and find beauty in the process and the imperfect as much as the perfect.
Plus I like being told how good I am <3
Your comics are good Sye and you have plans to improve them and learn in the process! Sounds like an ideal plan to me. The very nature of something that is perfect, is that is actually is not. Ha ha think about it, hopefully that made sense. Made sense to me. x
ReplyDeleteMy love,
A x