How Do You Draw Your Comics?

[candaceandco]

I'm starting this thread in the hopes that many artists will share the various processes in which they create their comics. I am aware of several different methods artists use, but I'm always on the lookout for something new. So I will start out with how I draw Candace 'n' Company:

My cartoons are always drawn by hand onto 14″ x 11″ Strathmore smooth Bristol board paper. I have an array of stencils for various drawing purposes, or whenever I need a handy straight edge and my trusty rulers are too bulky. Many cartoonists use brushes for applying ink, but I’ve always relied on artists’ markers. The drawing board and chair have been constant companions for much of my career.

Penciling is easily my favorite part of the whole process. Here, I have the freedom to draw as I please, as mistakes are simply erased (or even ignored).

Once it’s time to put down the ink, I must go much slower and more carefully. Mistakes and smudges, which are many, are whited out. It’s important for me to wait a short while before breaking out the eraser, because if all of the ink is not yet dried, things can get ugly fast! Sometimes the eraser will cause ink to fade in spots, but I can easily take care of that with my pen. Once everything is done, I sign my initials to a convenient spot, making the whole thing official!

Here’s where Candace ‘n’ Company goes from low tech to high tech! I start out by scanning the cartoon, turning it into digital files. My comics are always drawn at 14″ wide (4″ tall for dailies and 6.25″ tall for Sundays), but the scanner maxes out at 11″ wide. So here’s where creativity comes in handy. I scan each cartoon in two parts. It’s easiest for me if I leave the scanner lid open while doing this, so I always wait until nighttime to prevent outside light from negatively affecting the image. It reminds me of old fashioned darkrooms people use for developing analog photographs! Using Photoshop Elements, I take the two halves of my cartoon and put them together onto a blank piece of digital canvas. It takes a few minutes, as I want to make sure the pieces fit as closely together as possible, without any overlapping artwork (or gaps). After this, I trim away almost all of the blank white space surrounding my strip, and use digital markers to clear away any ink smudges that might’ve escaped my notice at the drawing board. Annoying white specs often appear in black areas, and those, too, need to be taken care of. After this is all done, I create a .png file of the image.

After “priming” the strip, as I like to call it, it’s time to put down the colors. I create a blank white background behind the line art, and do virtually all of my coloring onto this bottom layer. Afterwards, I use slightly darker and lighter versions of colors I’d previously used over areas for shading and highlighting effects. Obviously, white areas can only be shaded with light grays, without highlights. I like to leave solid black areas completely black, without any highlights. This is generally because I prefer not to tamper with my original line art, created at the drawing board. I finish up by creating a .png file of what I’ve got.

Once the entire cartoon is finished, I use Photoshop elements to add the title and name credit, as well as sometimes reformatting panels for a larger image online. And that's how I do it! Please feel free to add your entire process to this thread!

[Down_the_Rabbithole]

Well, I don't think i can show any fancy pictures, but this is how I make My Friends in Distantland.

1. I have a small sketchbook that I draw my outline in. This gives me an idea on how the comic is going to look and how each panel is going to be set up.

2. I copy the outline digitally with a sketch. I don't have a scanner, so I have to copy manually.

3. I ink the sketches and then flat them.

4. I add the light, shadows and ambient light.

5. Sound effects and dialogue are added.

This is what a completed panel looks like:

There ya go. Pretty simple.

[KoreanTacos]

I don't have anything too super amazing.
1. I have premade panels printed off. and draw my characters using a pencil.
2. I then outline my pictures in pen.
3. I scan my strips onto the computer
4. I then clean up any blotches with microsoft paint and add dialogue.
5. I open up photoshop and color it.
6. I add my webpage on each strip.
7. I then upload my strips on the interweb.
8. I then cry in my bed as no one reads my strips.
9. I then question why I used I so man times in this post.

And that's how I make a strip of JODDAS VAPD three times a week!

[indagold]

I work mostly entirely in photoshop.

• I use the ruler and make panels.
• I create backgrounds beforehand either drawn or modeled in 3D and fit them into the panels or draw them into the panels.
• Lower opacity of panel layer and make a layer above that with the rough drawings.
• After finishing the roughs I export the frames into a program with good line quality and draw over them.
• Import back into photoshop and color them on a lower layer.
• Add optional shading/highlights/effects/tints.
• Create word balloons with vectors and apply an outline/glow with layer effects. Add text.

This is sorta what I did for Welcome Back although it's an old comic and i've improved upon these techniques recently. For instance all the linework was done in photoshop and vectorized because I didn't want to waste time exporting it and reimporting it.

For Garden Of Mold it was entirely different.

• I would create panels with rulers again.
• Backgrounds entirely using photoshop vectors or brushes with a few exceptions for illustrator vectors and 3D.
• Draw a rough sketch for the character and redraw it over with vectors.
• Add optional gradients/sparkles/brush smudges/glows on a new layer.
• Add a photo filter and a gradient map and change the blending mode.

that's it!

[serverpanda]

My comic is Failsafe ZERO and I create it entirely traditionally by hand!

Here's my process laid out by steps!

Step 1:
On 8.5x11" cardstock, I take my t-square and line off my panels with just a mechanical pencil. I don't ink the lines yet because of the next step.

Step 2:
Between the t-square and a ruler I prepare spaces for where the dialogue will go. Then I pencil in the dialogue. Finally I ink the dialogue and draw the word bubbles around them. Now I can ink the panel lines as long as I don't have any characters or scenes that I plan to have overlapping them. Otherwise I would have to draw those first.

Step 3:
I sketch the character art of each panel, then go back and sketch the background art of each panel with a mechanical pencil. Then I go in with Derwent Graphik inking pens and a Kuretake Sumi No. 22 Pigment ink brush pen to ink the characters and backgrounds.

Step 4:
After the inking is done I can take my Prismacolor PM-113 Cool Grey and give the scenes some extra depth with that. I also use a PM-116 for darker areas on occasion, but as a rule I try to restrict that one. For this comic I've taken a strict no blending rule for the markers.

Step 5:
Time to scan the pages in! It takes two 8.5x11" pages to make one comic page, so after I get them scanned I then resize them and make them into one long page. I also store them on my Google Drive as a backup even though I also keep my original pages.

That's it! That's all there is to it! From there it goes to the upload stage!

I cannot draw digitally because computer screens give me seizures after I've been on them for longer than 20 minutes at a time, so traditional is really my only option. <3

[LordZevon]

Well mine is done entirely digitally with Manga Studio
First:
I create a chapter file containing 30-40 pages. 30 is minium and 40 is maxium. This gives me enough breathing room to add extra pages if needed or remove them.

Second:
With just the pencil tool I do a draft of all the pages in the chapter. This process usually takes about 5-7 days. It depends on how the chapter flows and time to work on it. This also involves laying out panels and text boxes and text.

Third:
I then go from page to page adding in speech bubbles,text, and panels with the appropriate tools. This helps outline where everything really goes and gives it more of a solid feel. Instead of it looking like something out of a sketchbook. After that I then pen everything and add tones and shading appropriately. This finishes mostly everything off.

Fourth:
I reread it four or five times. Going front to back and back to front, to find any mistakes, and to make sure everything flows and works and is consistant.

This entire process and take about 5-6 weeks so far and allows me to work on an entire chapter at once instead of daily or weekly. It also allows me to upload and set publishing dates for all the pages so I have time to work on the next chapter. I currentyl have chapter 1 publishing untill the end of January, and I am nearly done working on chapter 2. This means that I am able to make more then I am publishing. allowing me breathing room and time.

If you are interested The Last Ranger

[thomasfallaeriksen]

I do this in a very old fashioned way.

1.
Put on something to listen to. Either a documentary or somebody talking about an interesting subject, or some music. When drawing I get the most out of old (and some new) electronic music. Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and related artists.

2.
Then I (almost) always starts with making small thumbnails of the whole thing. I do that 3 or 4 times before I start drawing, changing almost everything. And then I just start drawing the final thing. One page at the time. And here the layout of the page has a habit of changing a lot again.

3.
I always draw on the same kind of paper (Daler Rowney Bristol), and sketch with the same mechanical pencil (0.7 size). And always sketch out a grid based on phi in each panel. This makes it a lot easier to place everything inside the panels.Then I ink the panel borders. Always using the same nib, Tachikawa No. 120 with Speedball ink.

4.
Start collecting all reference material. Mostly poses, old cars, sometimes cities and sometimes animals.

5.
Start sketching on the actual page. Eveything from now on happens on the same piece of paper. The horisontal lines first, then characters, then everything in the backgrounds that needs to be sketched in.

6.
Then my favorite part which is inking the outlines and eventual hatching. I often go back and forth between inking and sketching and don't always make the pencils too defined. It makes me more focused and makes the whole thing look more spontaneous. I use one nib for everything inside the panels. It is called the G-Pen Zebra. It is very precise and lasts for ages. ANd more Speedball ink.

7.
Then the next step is to erase all the pencil lines and try to hide all mistakes. White gouache paint works good here. And then fill in all the bigger solid black spaces with a brush. It's a 2 sized Daler Rowney. Here I like to use Winsor & Newton India ink.

8.
Then of course the whole thing has to be scanned into bmp and 600dpi. And some quick cleanup is needed. Now my least favorite part is coming, the coloring. I've never liked it. I hardly ever touched my coloring books when I was a kid. But it is needed to get the look that I want. It is a very simple process. Base colors and gradients, then shadows, then highlights. Sometimes I just do base colors, gradients and highlights. And sometimes I just skip the coloring.

9.
Then there is a really tedious process of looking over everything to make sure I didn't overlook anything. And then do steps 3-8 over and over again until the whole thing is finished.

10.
The final step is either to post it online or start nagging at the publishers.

[Silerna]

It's very simple to me though:

1.I draw all my sketches and lineart in my sketchbook. With notes and no actual texts added only. I always draw with mechinical pencils 0,5mm and 0,9mm.

2.I'm to lazy to ink my panel so I scan them right after they are done.

3.Open Clip studio paint and photoshop. I don't need my tablet most of the time when relining my comics so I leave it.

4.Add all texts, copyrights and resize back to 940px width.

5.upload.

[Shanny8]

With doing the Ray Thunder series, I pretty much create as I go. I dont do thumbnails; I get an idea of how I want the panel/page to look and get at it, doing digital pencils in Clip Studio. Sometimes I will tighten the pencil scribbles on another layer with another color; other times I can gauge where my main lines are in my scribbly mess of pencils.

I then ink digitally, hitting all my main lines, and trying to make it easy on myself. Inking is fun for me most of the time coz I try to take my time in putting a lot of touch & finesse in my lines. I like for my stuff to look finished, but raw/organic; you can feel the action looking at it and it doesnt come off looking stiff.

After inks, I save the files as a Photoshop file, import it over to Photoshop, set it up for colors, and get started. Colors take the longest in my whole process, but I rather get the finish that I'm trying to go for, so I dont mind when it does at times. Sometimes I will toggle back & forth between PS & CSP, using Clip Studio to do certain things that I cant do in Photoshop.

At that point, I flatten the image & save a copy of it as a TIFF file(I always keep my actual workable PS files- as well as my CSP files). I then open the TIFF file in Illustrator, where I do all my lettering & sound FX.

I then open the [TIFF] file back up in PS once I'm done lettering, import the Illustrator lettering file into PS as well and merge the 2, saving copies as JPEG & PNG files.

The process may seem like a LOT, but I'm used to it.

[MST3KFan]

I'm a simple old school kind of artists so....

To start, I get a piece of paper, ruler, and mechanical pencil ready.
I then use the ruler to draw up the start to comic panel lines and think of idea for comic, which can sometimes be easier somedays than others.
I then draw out the comic in pencil, write in dialogue and sound effects.
Then using various size Sakura Micron pens, I ink the page out.

I then scan the page into the computer, and open it in MS Paint.
I then proceed to color the page, keeping a file open with all my characters that I use as my 'color chart'.
Finish any last details, then shrink the page down to add the panel borders.

It probably doesn't sound like a lot compared to many other artists, but it sure feels like it sometimes.

[thomassayle]

I grab a pencil and some printing paper and start drawing. Sometiimes I use a ruler for boxes.
I draw the people, then I draw the speech bubble and then fill it in with the diagolouge.
After all that I scan it in and redraw the whole thing, sometimes I trace the original sometimes I don't.
Once the people drawings are done here's whats different I draw the background then make a new layer underneath and color in the comic.
I only do flats because I know nothing about shading and ending up making it worse.
Next I type all the text out on new layers and alighn them all good like. Then another layer underneath I draw the speech bubbles. Then it's done. I like to leave the dialouge last beacause I like to have full control to where it goes, I might change my mind later and I will be able to do that beacause I drew the whole panel and didn't leave an undrawn space fot the bubble. Keep in mind this is only one way to which I make comics.

[candaceandco]

Great stories and pictures so far! Hoping everyone can be inspired by each other!

[Starfestival]

I literally just grab some printer paper and draw until I get to the last page. Depending on where I'm at story wise, I'll either get some more paper or call it a day. After that everything is digital after I scanned it all in.

[MidZM]

Hmm, the way I draw mine is... Complicated yet simple, I use 3D modeled backgrounds and characters to make up the scene and then re-draw over it. It makes my art look 20 times better then if I did it from my head.

Here's a panel from one of my cooler looking pages in process

3D

2D Lineart

"Color"

Shading

Effects/Finished

Doing all of that takes around 1 to 3 hours, sometimes more or less depending if my attention span likes me or not.

[RedMoonDragon]

for my comic Universe Jumper it's all completely made traditionally with computer edits after scanning.

1) sketch out the pg/write dialogue

2) ink in dialogue/speech bubbles

3) Ink the pannels

4) in in characters/background

5) color

6) scan at school scanner and sent it to me via email

7) type up all dialogue for spelling corrections

8) re-scale, color correct, and edit pgs accordingly and erase handwritten dialogue to replace with digital font of handwriting for consistency

9) resize for tapastic

10) schedule release date and wait for upload.

[dotsandswirls]

Very interesting thread! ^^
Here's how I draw my comic Cover-up!

1. Write the manuscript for the whole comic chapter.

2. Split the story into sections where each section is what's going to happen on one page of the comic.

3. Draw miniature thumbnails of all of the pages (to see how it looks, if I have to add a page, remove a page or re-think the whole thing all together).

4. Start sketching the pages! Usually I use regular printer paper in A3 size.

5. When I'm satisfied with the sketches I use my trusty light table, ink and brush to ink the lines onto watercolor paper.

6. I then add shading and greyscale but using ink wash (a few drops of ink mixed with water to make it more "transparent") that I layer on maybe 3-4 times, sometimes more, to get the shades that I want.

7. Once it's dry, I scan the page, fix it up in PhotoShop by cleaning it a little and adjusting the levels (so the blacks are actually really black).

8. Add the text and then it's done

[DavidPerry]

I like this thread--it's an interesting question. My process is pretty simple, really.

1. I write out the script with some doodles in my sketchbook. I get the dialogue down.
2. I draw the whole page out rough in the sketchbook.
3. I jump into Photoshop with my tablet monitor, open up my template for the Mallory Bash comic.
4. I layout the frames as per the sketch-up, then start roughing it in with a red pencil brush I created.
5. I go back and inking with my ink brush.
6. I add the black and grey areas.
7. I add the text.
8. I save out the necessary files for the various comic hosting sites I use, and post to them.

Done! And this is the finished product, the latest comic:

[akkoneko]

Ooh cool.

Here's how I do the strips for Mannen Kazoku:
1. I take an 8.5"x11" piece of white paper and a fountain pen.
2. I fold the paper lengthwise, since it's a vertical type of strip.
3. I plan out the flow of the strip in my head (I try to do it on a notebook, but I end up changing it in the actual strip)
4. I then start drawing from the top to the bottom. I don't sketch with a pencil... I just go and put in drawings and text "panel by panel". (What I care about in this series is that I express what I want to say. If I fuss too much, I will not be able to finish anything. I have work too, so there's that.)
5. I draw two strips before scanning, cropping, cleaning, and resizing in Photoshop.