Penciling and Inking
This is my starting point: the rough layout! I do these on 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper with a little template printed on it with my laser printer. These are very rough, just giving me a basic idea of panel layout and composition. I always end up having to solve composition problems at the drawing stage anyway.
I rough in the dialogue on the other side of the paper. I usually rewrite most of it at the lettering stage anyway.
Here’s my secondary workspace. I have this drawing area set up in my room, but I have a better organized one set up in a studio at my pal Steve’s house. My necessary tools are in the plastic pencil case at the foot of the bed there.
This is the first drawing stage. I just go in with a ruler and a t-square and measure out all the panels. I’m working on 19×24 inch series 300 Strathmore Bristol. I started this project with series 400, which for some reason comes in 18×24, so with the 300 I have to measure and cut off an inch on the side. Even worse, I can’t find the 18×24 pads in Portland, so I have to buy single sheets that come in 22×30, for even more trimming.
After ruling out the panel borders, I figure out which panels I’m going to need to draw a lot of perspective in, and draw a grid in blue pencil. The blue keeps the grid differentiated from the drawing I’ll do later. Having a grid makes it easier to draw the backgrounds without having to reference a vanishing point or three every time I draw a line. Saves quite a bit of time. The grids are a little hard to see in this photo due to the glare, I know. Sorry.
At this point I trimmed off the extra inch of paper on the side of my page. I use the back of the Bristol pad as a cutting board. Works pretty good.
Your cranium must be proteicntg some very valuable brains.
Stunning work!
What kind of ink and brush do you use?
I learned that pencilers who do their own inks use blue lead for the roughs–something I’ve tried myself–so that after inking, they just scan in greyscale and they save time on erasing/erasers. Is that something you’d recommend?
For this project I’ve just been using Pigma Micron pens (in the .03, .05, and .08 sizes) and a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with Rapidograph Ultradraw ink.
I wrote this about four years ago or so; since then I’ve switched to a blue pencil and it is absolutely something I’d recommend. I use the Prismacolor Colerase pencil in light blue (which, oddly enough, disappears better than non-photo blue when I scan.)
Les. This looks great. What are the measurements of your actual panel borders? My best guess is an inch on the sides, an inch on the bottom and a half-inch on the top? Am I close? How wide are your gutters?
Also, when you scan with blue pencils these days, do you just scan as an RBG and remove the blue, or do you still scan in grayscale?