#I think I traced the lineart directly on the coloring layer maybe ...

[munettieart]

Processing a panel

As I’m in no way a professional comic artist, I still want to share some of my process in drawing a panel. Maybe in the future I’ll change my way of working but for now it works for me. 

So whenever I finished designing the page layout, I’ll usually sketch the most crappiest storyboard you’ll ever see and place the speechbubbles. Getting the speechbubbles in right place is important as they take a lot of space. So it’s not about getting the details right but moreso the right idea, setting and character traits for the dialogue.

My first storyboard, contained a dissapointed Damiane and Elena having some attitude towards Damiane. 

At first it was fitting with the dialogue because the original dialogue contained:

Damiane: Then stop doing charity work. 

Elena: Can’t do. That’s basically the purpose of my existence.

The reason why I changed the dialogue and also the composition/storyboard of the panel was because of their dynamic in the previous pages. The story I wrote before starting this comic is the guideline but within the process of the pages, I’m willing to change the dialogue into something else because I think it fits more natural within the panel or character.

So I changed it into this: 

The main reason I changed this panel is because I wanted them to be nicer to each other, while still having a bit of the original dialogue. 

I’ve also changed the composition because a composition where two characters are standing next to each other is less interesting than a composition with a different angle. 

Something to keep in mind is that after a few pages it’s becoming a bit boring if the characters are constantly having the same pose. So that’s also one of the reasons why I’ve changed their poses.

Last but not least: when making these changes, I always check if the panel still fits with the panel that comes before and the panel that comes afterwards. 

So when the set up is right I’ll focus on the anatomy. I’m going to be honest with you. I think I’ve used 10+ layers to get it in this condition. Each time I just redraw the pose with better adjustments. I usually check references such as Pinterest and the Morpho anatomy books to get the anatomy right. I know a lot of Webcomic artists use 3d-models that come with Clip Studio Paint and sometimes they’re great! But I always have the feeling the anatomy gets either stiff or just wonky when they are traced directly.

Clean up sketch. This is the process I always do when going towards the final lineart. I usually do this step in 3 or 4 times and when the most important details are right, I’ll start lining it. 

I also drew Elena quickly. As her pose is less difficult, I started later with  her. But since she’s at the foreground. She needed to be done before Damiane. And yes I draw the characters always seperate from eachother.

So this is why Elena needed to be finished first. She’ll cover Damiane mostly and I didn’t want to erase his pose because she’s infront of him. 

Because I could see how Elena was infront of Damiane, I could also resize him so that it fitted the composition better. 

And I was also lazy with his foot because I knew Elena was going to cover that part of his body. 

Fully colored. Also when colored drawing can change. So sometimes I need to adjust the final lineart. Which sucks. Especially when it comes to their faces. But this one came out alright. :P No face.

So now you have the two characters together. Last thing I’m going to add is the background. If the background is complexer, I’ll start with the background first and then add the characters. Sometimes I want to move the characters a bit (yay for drawing them seperately) and when I haven’t draw the background first. Well I get an ugly blank space I need to correct.

Since I knew the background was easy, I just drew it later. I always make a grid for the background to get the perspective right.

And done. In the end, I’ll just let it rest. Sometimes I’ll go back and edit minor details like the sizes of their eyes, color or background details. I’ve also completely removed panels and redrew them with a different angle (sigh). Really editors stuff. 

Fully page: 

Thank you for reading :-D!! 

#progress #blog post