Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Process Pool #2 "Step by Step"
In lieu of a new chapter of MILLENNIALS this week (because I may or may not have missed my deadline, ahem) I decided to combined this week's chapter with my ongoing behind-the-scenes series Process Pool. Here you'll get to see the step-by-step process that goes into a chapter of my humble webcomic.
1) Playin' with Paint
I've written a broad outline of the entire series, so I have a general idea of what's supposed to happen in each chapter, but apart from snippets of dialogue and basic point A to point B plot movement, the specific content of each chapter is something I more or less make up on the spot. Now considering the fact that a good percentage of my day job is spent in front of a computer, I've learned developed an ingenious (dare I say) method of breaking things down while on the clock--Microsoft Paint! Turns out this old dog's still got some new tricks. Eat your heart out, Photoshop.
2) Scriptin' my Scribbles
Using the extremely crude outline I threw together in Paint, I next fire up the inimitable Microsoft Word to type up a script. Some scripts are looser than others, but it's usually at this point that dialogue gets finalized and any remaining gaps are filled in. I'm a writer who prefers to use a word processor rather than writing things by hand, mainly because my penmanship is terrible and my hand has trouble keeping up with my thoughts when the ideas start flowing.
3) Nailin' them Thumbnails
This is where the page layouts get decided. I like to think that, despite what I lack in artistic ability, I make up for with the smooth, easy-to-read flow of my panels. (At least that's what I tell myself...)
4) Pencilin' like a Pro (not really)
11x17 Bristol board? Check. Non-photo blue pencil? Check. Well? What are you waiting for?! Get to work! Part of me thinks the art would paradoxically be better served if I just skipped this step and opted for the crude energy of straight ink to page.
5) Inkin' It
And after all the blood sweat and tears of the previous steps comes the fun part: inks! This is the step where I can shut off my brain, turn on one of my favorite podcasts or YouTube channels, and just draw. I ink the panel borders first, then hand letter the dialogue balloons (while doing my best to combat the aforementioned terrible penmanship) and finally ink the panels themselves. Then I head to my local library, scan them bad boys, resize the pages in Paint, upload 'em to my blog, and voila! Another chapter complete.
So there you have it--a (mostly) complete, step-by-step look at how I compose a chapter of MILLENNIALS.
Tune in next week to see the finished product!
1) Playin' with Paint
I've written a broad outline of the entire series, so I have a general idea of what's supposed to happen in each chapter, but apart from snippets of dialogue and basic point A to point B plot movement, the specific content of each chapter is something I more or less make up on the spot. Now considering the fact that a good percentage of my day job is spent in front of a computer, I've learned developed an ingenious (dare I say) method of breaking things down while on the clock--Microsoft Paint! Turns out this old dog's still got some new tricks. Eat your heart out, Photoshop.
Using the extremely crude outline I threw together in Paint, I next fire up the inimitable Microsoft Word to type up a script. Some scripts are looser than others, but it's usually at this point that dialogue gets finalized and any remaining gaps are filled in. I'm a writer who prefers to use a word processor rather than writing things by hand, mainly because my penmanship is terrible and my hand has trouble keeping up with my thoughts when the ideas start flowing.
3) Nailin' them Thumbnails
This is where the page layouts get decided. I like to think that, despite what I lack in artistic ability, I make up for with the smooth, easy-to-read flow of my panels. (At least that's what I tell myself...)
11x17 Bristol board? Check. Non-photo blue pencil? Check. Well? What are you waiting for?! Get to work! Part of me thinks the art would paradoxically be better served if I just skipped this step and opted for the crude energy of straight ink to page.
5) Inkin' It
And after all the blood sweat and tears of the previous steps comes the fun part: inks! This is the step where I can shut off my brain, turn on one of my favorite podcasts or YouTube channels, and just draw. I ink the panel borders first, then hand letter the dialogue balloons (while doing my best to combat the aforementioned terrible penmanship) and finally ink the panels themselves. Then I head to my local library, scan them bad boys, resize the pages in Paint, upload 'em to my blog, and voila! Another chapter complete.
So there you have it--a (mostly) complete, step-by-step look at how I compose a chapter of MILLENNIALS.
Tune in next week to see the finished product!
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