The Work-A-Day World
Quite a few people have been asking me about my process lately- how I do things, what tools I use, etc. I'm going to try to answer the basic questions here, but feel free to ask questions and I'll do my bet to answer them.
First, when I get my script (or in the case of Superman, my plot) I read through the whole thing. If I get any immediate ideas from it I sketch them out quickly, but for the most part I just absorb the basic story. If possible I like to let that percolate in my head for a couple of days and then I come back and read through it again. Then I pop on my headphones and put on a playlist full of music appropriate to the mood of the story I'm working on and I try to visualize it as a movie. Finally I go back through the script one last time (usually in 6-7 page batches) and do rough thumbnails- about 2" X 3".
With my thumbnails in hand I take whatever photo reference I'm going to need and then do full sized layouts on Photoshop. I use quite a few photos and I also find that I have an easier time sketching things out on the computer that I do on paper. Purely a mental hang up of mine. I do these layouts at night (starting around 8 pm) and usually in 3-6 page batches. Then I print them out so I'll have them in the morning.
I usually try to get up no later than 7 am. This gives me a couple of munchkin free hours to get the core of the work done.
First I ink my panel borders. Then on a lightbox I very loosely sketch out the figures and occasional foreground elements in pencil. I use a "slightly better than what you can get in the grocery store" .5 mechanical pencil and HB lead. Then I start inking. In my case is more just drawing with a pen since what I lay down with pencil is very loose. For inks I use a combination of a .05 Staedtler pigment liner, .03 and .8 Zig Millenniums, and a Pitt brush pen.
Once done inking the figures and foreground elements I draw in perspective grids for my background stuff. I've already worked out the perspective on my layouts first, so I'm just copying the grids onto the actual board. Again, I loosely pencil in the background and then draw in it ink.
Using this process (and let's not forget 10 years of learning from mistakes) I can finish about 1.5 to 2 pages a day. Looking at my schedule right now I'm gonna need it. I would prefer to keep in down to 1 page a day, but until this Superman arc is done I don't have that luxury.
Any questions?
First, when I get my script (or in the case of Superman, my plot) I read through the whole thing. If I get any immediate ideas from it I sketch them out quickly, but for the most part I just absorb the basic story. If possible I like to let that percolate in my head for a couple of days and then I come back and read through it again. Then I pop on my headphones and put on a playlist full of music appropriate to the mood of the story I'm working on and I try to visualize it as a movie. Finally I go back through the script one last time (usually in 6-7 page batches) and do rough thumbnails- about 2" X 3".
With my thumbnails in hand I take whatever photo reference I'm going to need and then do full sized layouts on Photoshop. I use quite a few photos and I also find that I have an easier time sketching things out on the computer that I do on paper. Purely a mental hang up of mine. I do these layouts at night (starting around 8 pm) and usually in 3-6 page batches. Then I print them out so I'll have them in the morning.
I usually try to get up no later than 7 am. This gives me a couple of munchkin free hours to get the core of the work done.
First I ink my panel borders. Then on a lightbox I very loosely sketch out the figures and occasional foreground elements in pencil. I use a "slightly better than what you can get in the grocery store" .5 mechanical pencil and HB lead. Then I start inking. In my case is more just drawing with a pen since what I lay down with pencil is very loose. For inks I use a combination of a .05 Staedtler pigment liner, .03 and .8 Zig Millenniums, and a Pitt brush pen.
Once done inking the figures and foreground elements I draw in perspective grids for my background stuff. I've already worked out the perspective on my layouts first, so I'm just copying the grids onto the actual board. Again, I loosely pencil in the background and then draw in it ink.
Using this process (and let's not forget 10 years of learning from mistakes) I can finish about 1.5 to 2 pages a day. Looking at my schedule right now I'm gonna need it. I would prefer to keep in down to 1 page a day, but until this Superman arc is done I don't have that luxury.
Any questions?
posted by Pete at 2:52 PM
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