Thursday, January 28, 2010

more comic process

Here is the thumbnail. I don't worry about "drawing". I just scribble and figure out the panel layout.

Next I start to clean it up a little and figure out the drawing. I was having a really bad drawing day this day for some reason. sometimes I can go straight from the thumbnail to cleanup without even thinking. I almost wonder how I did it. But, then, some days I just can't for the life of me draw. It usually happens when I don't do any warm up studies. I don't think I did any before this page. Bad idea.

Here are some better clean ups. Like I mentioned before, sometimes I switch brushes, or change the background, or do anything just to trick myself into thinking something is different. Then, I start to color stuff that looks like fun.

and here is what a final page looks like. gotta get back to work. This comic is way past due!

20 comments:

  1. I love the color heads of the fat boy and the girl in the 3rd, they are very expressive (perhaps just beware of the symetric faces on the 3 of them).

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  2. awesome stuff.. i love seeing the scribbly thumbnail stage.

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  3. do you think the 180° rule, works on comics, or "totally freedom" it's a better approach on this media?

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  4. Hey Rad, I discovered you through Flight and had been following your blog ever since. You're the man for sharing all this information and I find your thoughts on growing from a bad artist to a pro VERY inspiring. Thanks again!

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  5. Can you recommend any warm-up studies?

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  6. Flaviano,
    The 180 rule isn't so necessary in comics since the reader isn't being pulled along in time the way a film audience is. The reader has time to soak in the art and orient him or herself with each panel.
    The 180 rule is more about not confusing or disorienting the audience, than serving an imaginary line.
    Besides, sometimes filmmakers intentionally cross the 180 to add to disorientation and tension of a scene. Watch most any interrogation scene in NCIS. They cross the 180 and it still works.
    Just a stylistic decision.

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  7. Oh, by the way, great work Rad!
    You got me hooked with one page! I want to know the rest of the story!

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  8. Really bad drawing days are the worst. Feels like you’re hand went out late to a party and forgot to call you’re brain and now they aren’t talking.

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  9. Xav: Good note. I'll try to push the faces around a little.

    flaviano: I just use film rules (like the 180) because I'm used to them. I kind of pretend like my comic is a little movie.

    Duncan: thanks

    Johnnyfive: take drawings from any artist you like and try to do some quick copies. I usually pause animated movies because I like that style.

    Tim: thanks.

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  10. I dunno much about comic. But I like how cinematic your panel is esp. that one kid w glasses says, "science."

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  11. Rad,
    I don't know if you're going to reply to this comment, but I figured i'd give it a go since I just saw the pages and had a question regarding the page...
    I noticed on the one that you started doing color that it looks as if you have 'final text' or close-to final text and was wondering if you do the final text prior to figuring out the final art or not.
    Wonderful blog you have here, and very informative. I have been following you since Flight and am an avid Rad follower.

    -matt

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  12. Cosmic Pencil: The text is the very first thing I put down (after my scribble thumbnail) and the most important part of the composition. I compose everything else around it. There is nothing worse than having to cram text in later.

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  13. Hi Rad.
    Thank you for posting all of these; they are great. I especially like seeing the development from very light outlines to darker line work. I have a technical question: what types of brushes do you use for these two stages?
    Thanks again,
    -Erik

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  14. Erik: I'm always trying new brushes and changing it up.

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