Why anybody would want to draw comics like I do is freakin' beyond me but I figgered, you never know when you can learn from someone else's idiocy so I'll leave my little tutorial anyway.
Step 1: The Plot
Most of the time I think up my plots on the bus or while mowing the lawn, or, as in the later series, by annoying Jackie for hours ^.^ Of course most of my OHA plots are backed up by about five years so I keep just a general idea of what I want to do on file so I don't forget.
Step 2: Penciling
Once I plan out the story I go and start the penciling. I pencil each page by itself,
usually breaking them up every five or so with a pinup or whatever.
I pencil all of the pages in a given scene at once with 6H lead held in one of those old
drafter's lead holders (thanks dad) It's like drawin' with a nail but it doesn't
smear which is good ^.^. After I'm done with that (and before I have time to think and spaz!)
I break out the quill pens and paintbrush and get to work on the ink. Groovy baby yeah!
Step 3:Inking
Time for the inking. This can be the most annoying part sometimes, but anyway, here goes.
First I go over all the panel borders with either my broad pen or brush. After that I fill
in the broader lines with either by G-pen or School nib, then the little ones with the crow quill (hopefully not trashing my paper while I'm working on it! o.0;;)
I sharpen up any shadows and patches of back, add in the tiny details, smooth lines, and all that. When ink smears (And it do happen), I cover that over with whiteout or white acrylic ink.
If I have any big spaces to be filled in black, I do that with a brush and ink instead of by computer. It makes it easier I guess. After all that I let the stuff dry for a bit then I erase what lines I have to. With the 6H lead I usually don't have much erasing... Now it's time to scan.
Step 4:Computer Tweakage
I scan my comics with a flatbed scanner. If they're inked they get scanned in 50% in Sharp B/W. Pencil gets Sharp Photo. I then open them in Micrographix 8.0 and change them to full color and resize to 50% again. Using the power mask, I shade and tint the panels then add the text.(my fonts are Optimum, Schlop, and Toxica just so you know) Last I resize it again as needed and turn it to Grayscale (most of the time). Now the comic is ready to be saved as a JPG, uploaded to the site, and frozen in the morgue. Another job well done..now onto my Chemistry homework ^.^!
Optional Step 5:Computer Coloring
Somethimes I feel like coloring in a comic page instead of the usual grayscale. When I do that I make sure that all of my lines are bold then I color in my page and do the correct shading and save it. Since color can pages take twice as long (up to 4 hours a page once scanned)I rarely do them. "Prefer'd Stock" was in color as well as the first page of the christmas special. I do computer coloring by request, so if you have a picture that you need colored just send it to me and I'll see what I can do.
Here's my list of books that are good for aspiring comic artists
How to Draw Manga vol 1-4: The society for the study of Manga Techniques
How to Draw Battles: S.S.M.T.
How to Draw Occult and Horror: S.S.M.T.
Drawing Figures in Deep Space: Burne Hogarth
How to Draw Manga: Antarctic Press
Drawing those Bodacious Babes of Comics:Frank McLaughlin and Mike Gold
How to Draw Greatlooking Comic Book Women: Christopher Hart
How to Draw Comicbook Guys and Gals: Christopher Hart
The Figure in Motion: Thomas Easley and Mark Smith
The Nude Figure; a visual reference for the artist: Mark Edward Smith
Grey's Anatomy
Drawing Human Anatomy: Giovanni Civardi
Couple Poses: Nippan Press
How to Draw Battles: Nippan Press
Manga Mania-Christopher Hart
How to Draw Manga-Antarctice Press (buy it at your local comic shop!)
And never underestimate the power of reading other comics as well!
