Happy Sunday everyone!
This post is going to be an overview of my process for illustrating a single comic page. This page is from my webcomic, Tugboat, which I have talked about in previous posts and can be read here: https://zserbin.wixsite.com/tugboat
I'm using this page as an example because I was pretty good about documenting every step of the process, and it doesn't give any spoilers. This is how the page looks when it's been finished, but obviously there are quite a few steps before we get here. So let's dive into it!
First, I meet with my comics partner Hailey Koart, who is responsible for the wonderful writing of this project. We sit for three hours over coffee and get super excited about all of the awesome things we want to happen in the following story. Then, Hailey takes this overwhelming amount of information and magically condenses it into a beautiful script. For Issue 2, which is currently in progress, the script is about 27 pages long.
After I get the script, I make thumbnails of each page. These are loose (like, we're talking super loose) sketches to give me an idea of page layout and make sure that the timing/pacing of each page allows for clarity.
You'll notice that the thumbnail of this page (the page on the left) is way different from the final version. As I was drawing, I realized that it may be nice to space out the panels so that the introductions were the only thing on this page. I wanted to give these characters the time and space they deserved to get acquainted with the audience.
So I re-did the page to look like this:
This spacing is much more readable. Nothing is cramped, or rushed. We get a clear view of all three main characters' poses, and personalities. Next, I do the cleaner, final lines, which is called "inking," and then I do several layers of coloring - flat colors, shadows, and overlay/texture layers.
Here is a fun gif of all of these layers coming together!
And that's about it!
Hope you enjoyed this little window into how these pages are made, thanks for stopping by!