Vampires

Last week, I came up with an idea for a short Vampire story. Once I had the basic idea, I started to do some sketches. I prefer to write this way, with pictures rather than words, because comics are a visual medium. I try to draw the pages so that you can follow the story, understanding the situations and relationships without dialogue or captions. The bones of the story should be there in the pencils. So here is a rough sketch I did to give myself a handle on the type of story I want to do.

Notice what the composition and body language say about these characters. The gentleman is obviously some sort of Vampire Hunter, perhaps and little overeager, but definitely naive, as he cannot see that his prey is right behind him. Meanwhile, we have the two ladies, both lording over him, implying power. This is a very rough sketch, yet you can see where the story is going.

The problem with sketches is getting them onto a nice 11x17 bristol board while keeping the scale and composition intact. So I had this sketch blown up on a copy machine, about %60, and light boxed it. Very simple and very effective.

I kept the integrity of he sketch while going into detail as far as facial expressions and lighting. This is penciled a little tighter than I normally would. I wanted to make sure I got my light sources and basic feathuring down before inking.