Original Painting

This is a preview/example of what the original pages look like before they get retouched digitally and all the panels boxes and lettering gets inserted. The size of these original sheets measure 15 by 22 inches which is larger than what is traditionally used (11 by 17 inches). I've come to realize that working larger gives me more freedom to create different brush textures and it saves your hand from cramping up trying to get all the small details when working on smaller panels. The idea for working large originally came from researching Nathan Fox work and realizing he works on 18 by 24 inch sheets for his comic work.
If you notice the panels on the left side of the page with the wolf are only inked in with black and aren't rendered like the other two panels. The reason behind this was to separate them from the other panels since they were going to overlap, which seems to have worked. They'll separate even more optically when the panel borders get inserted.
That's all for now, enjoy the preview!

Putting It All Together

As a late-comer to comics (I didn’t get into them until towards the end of college), I make it a point to educate myself about as many of the different aspects of comics, especially – but not limited to – the making of. As they said on School House Rock, it’s great to learn, 'cause knowledge is power!

That song also says something about the mind growing flowers and it’s very weird and it’s best if you don’t stop to thinking about too long. Anyway…

I thought I’d share with you some of the comics how-to videos and articles (and stuff) I’ve found in recent weeks. Most of these are from some of people I’ve read in the past couple of months, but couple are things I come across in random articles and such.

The power is yours!

Writing:

Mark Waid: Writing 101 (blog post series) and 15 Minutes with Waid (podcast series, a bit tangential.)

Scottie Young: The Making of my Graphic Novel pt. 1 (video journal)

Penciling:

Kazu Kibuishi: Step-By-Step Process pt. 1

Inking:

Kazu Kibuishi: Step-By-Step Process pt. 2

Doug TenNapel: Making Comics with Doug TenNapel (video)

Coloring:

Alan Beadle: Flattening

Kazu Kibuishi: Step-By-Step Process pt. 3

Lettering:

Blambot: Hand Lettering Comics and Comic Book Grammar & Tradition

Scott McCloud: Lettering Comics in Illustrator (and part two) (video)

And covering many aspects:

Dave Kellett: How the Comic Strip “Sheldon” is Created (video)

Doug TenNapel: Making Digital Comics with Doug TenNapel (video)

Scott Young: To find more of his The Making of My Graphic Novel video journals, you kind of have to pick through his Youtube Channel or blog (start in July 2010) for the entries. Also, check out the posts “The Project Chronicles” as it seems the series started out as regular ol’ blog posts.

The digital age, eh? Information at your finger tips