I got a few questions about how I do a Travelogue strip, so here’s a process gif! More talking
I got a few questions about how I do a Travelogue strip, so here’s a process gif! More talking beneath the cut. I keep a word doc with ideas for future comics, and have a rough plan for where the group needs to go, but in general I don’t keep a buffer - I script and thumbnail each strip as I go. Travelogue was always intended to be an experimental, spontaneous project, and working this way is a lot of fun for me because it means I rarely get bored. So:Step 1: Plan Comic. Not pictured above! I wanted to draw a moodier strip this week, so I wrote out some narration accordingly and thumbed some panels that were heavy on scenery and atmosphere. Step 2: Layout. I do this digitally because it’s a lot faster and easier to do borders and adjust sketches and all that in Photoshop. Recently I’ve been trying to do a lot more compositional work at this stage to save myself trouble later. Step 3: Pencils. I print out the layouts at a lower opacity, to size at 8.5x12.75. (I don’t have 11x17 paper, so I tape two 8.5x11 sheets together. HOT ART SCHOOL TIP) Then I draw right on top of it! You can see that some drawings stay the same from the layout, some get tightened up, and some get changed quite a bit. It’s kind of hard to explain why some are okay and others aren’t… it just comes from practice, I guess? I can tell by now what I need to keep cleaner for the final “inks” and what I can just wing off the top of my head. Step 4: Inking. I ink Travelogue with an ebony pencil and in this case, some graphite powder that I scraped off of a softer pencil for sand texture. I love using digital media for a lot of things, but I haven’t ever been able to replicate the feeling and texture and fluidity of drawing traditionally! I would be hard pressed to give it up, I think. Step 5: Color Prep. I separate the lineart and flat every panel with an off-white color. That way there are no stray white pixels and every dialogue box and word balloon is already colored in. In this case I tinted the lines a dark brown because it’s a environment-heavy strip and the softer lines are more natural looking. Step 6: Color!! I have the background off-white on one layer, the characters and prominent objects on another, and everything else on a third. I pull colors from older strips for recurring elements like the big rocks, and then pick whatever other colors I think will look good and be appropriate for the mood. (This makes me sound a lot more competent with color than I actually am - I spend a lot of time fussing around and testing stuff out before deciding on a final version.) I do most of my coloring with the pencil tool and save texture brushes for painty stuff like the water. Step 7: Post New Page, Immediately Notice a Glaring Error, PanicTo those who asked for the explanation, I hope I answered your questions thoroughly. Thanks for joining me ~behind the scenes~!! -- source link
#artmaja#travelogue