The Duel Page 1
I am currently working on a short story for "Short Stack" an anthology series from Angry Gnome Comics. I thought I'd take the opportunity to show my ever-changing work process.
The Script is by Shawn Gobborin.
First I do thumbnails. This example is way larger than normal, and way more detailed. I already knew what I wanted to do with the page, so I went the extra mile with the rendering:
Next, I did full size roughs on some 11x17 copy paper. I've only started doing this recently. It may seem like a waste of time (especially if your inking it yourself) but I find that it frees me up to do lots of construction with confident lines. If I do this kind of drawing directly on the bristol board, the result looks sloppy and makes grooves in the paper.
After this, I trace the pencils onto a clean bristol board. This is the fun part. I get to concentrate on the rendering and drawing, instead of lining up the eyes or making perspective grids. I also make some final changes to the page. For example, I got rid of the guy's mustache and wristbands. I also moved the camera a little to the left in panel 3. The biggest change is in panel 5, where I moved the body closer to the ground. I thought it read better as a dead body and gave the opportunity to show a little gore (which I'm not a huge fan of, but it a story like this, no point it being modest). These pencils are way, way to tight since I'm inking it, but I was having a lot fun and really getting into it. It also means less thought in the inking stage. Most artists would be worried about losing spontaneity by inking such tight pencils, but this is not a problem for me, as inking rarely goes as I plan.
The Script is by Shawn Gobborin.
First I do thumbnails. This example is way larger than normal, and way more detailed. I already knew what I wanted to do with the page, so I went the extra mile with the rendering:
Next, I did full size roughs on some 11x17 copy paper. I've only started doing this recently. It may seem like a waste of time (especially if your inking it yourself) but I find that it frees me up to do lots of construction with confident lines. If I do this kind of drawing directly on the bristol board, the result looks sloppy and makes grooves in the paper.
After this, I trace the pencils onto a clean bristol board. This is the fun part. I get to concentrate on the rendering and drawing, instead of lining up the eyes or making perspective grids. I also make some final changes to the page. For example, I got rid of the guy's mustache and wristbands. I also moved the camera a little to the left in panel 3. The biggest change is in panel 5, where I moved the body closer to the ground. I thought it read better as a dead body and gave the opportunity to show a little gore (which I'm not a huge fan of, but it a story like this, no point it being modest). These pencils are way, way to tight since I'm inking it, but I was having a lot fun and really getting into it. It also means less thought in the inking stage. Most artists would be worried about losing spontaneity by inking such tight pencils, but this is not a problem for me, as inking rarely goes as I plan.
posted by Dave Acosta at
8:05 AM
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