My process is as follows – I do my rough layouts digitally, with Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. I made an 8-panel template which I use each week. My layouts are very very crude, only for me to work out the basic compositions and pacing of the strip. Once I’m satisfied with the roughs I place the balloons and write the final dialogue in Illustrator. I then print out the layouts in a light blue on bristol board, with the lettering in black (I like having the letters on the board). I draw in ink directly on to the blue roughs, using Faber-Castell Pitt brush markers. As difficult as it is for someone as anal as I am, for this project I try not to bother with making the drawings pretty or perfect, so there are plenty of what I would consider to be “errors” in the art, but I’m just trying to get a loose, spontaneous drawing on the board. After the line art is complete I scan it into Photoshop, add the colour, replace the scanned lettering from the board with the digital file (easier to read on a monitor), and post it up here for everyone to read. Today’s strip was a record – the entire process I just described took just over four hours to complete.
4 hours… fuck! I’m fucking jealous. I do a pannel a day. 2 if there’s no physical interaction between the characters. You re good. I don’t use any computer and no photo reference. Do you use photos?
May 4th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Shades of the Matrix, maybe…?
Great stuff as always.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
If you don’t mind answering, what technique do you use, exactly? Is it ink brush, scratch board, digitally comprised?
May 4th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Love that fifth panel.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Hey Boris,
My process is as follows – I do my rough layouts digitally, with Photoshop and a Wacom tablet. I made an 8-panel template which I use each week. My layouts are very very crude, only for me to work out the basic compositions and pacing of the strip. Once I’m satisfied with the roughs I place the balloons and write the final dialogue in Illustrator. I then print out the layouts in a light blue on bristol board, with the lettering in black (I like having the letters on the board). I draw in ink directly on to the blue roughs, using Faber-Castell Pitt brush markers. As difficult as it is for someone as anal as I am, for this project I try not to bother with making the drawings pretty or perfect, so there are plenty of what I would consider to be “errors” in the art, but I’m just trying to get a loose, spontaneous drawing on the board. After the line art is complete I scan it into Photoshop, add the colour, replace the scanned lettering from the board with the digital file (easier to read on a monitor), and post it up here for everyone to read. Today’s strip was a record – the entire process I just described took just over four hours to complete.
Thanks guys for the comments!
May 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am
4 hours… fuck! I’m fucking jealous. I do a pannel a day. 2 if there’s no physical interaction between the characters. You re good. I don’t use any computer and no photo reference. Do you use photos?
And what the fuck’s going on! I love your story.