Laying out the next story

Once again, I’m working on a twelve-page crime story for an upcoming Image Pop Gun anthology. The story is written by Derek McColluch. First, there is the rough layout.

Below that, the final pencils. Inks yet to come!

–P.

Studio cleanup

Chances are, you’re a more organized person than me. After an intense period of work, my studio is a mess.

I’m about to start on my twelve-page story for the Image Pop Gun anthology, and I want all my inking tools ready. That means cleaning out those tech pens, getting some new brushes and having it all easily within reach.

While I do that, why not check out some of my blog links? Besides all the guys from the neighborhood–Paul, Tom, Charlie, Zander and Cedric–there are some new additions. Ming Doyle is a young wunderkind. She has a story coming up in a Pop Gun as well. Her site has a link to her drawing blog, where she does her take on superheroes and the like.

Jillian Tamaki is an awesome illustrator, and “Skim” is her new graphic novel, coming out soon. She has some of the drawings from the novel on her blog–again, there is a link on her site.

And gizmodo.com is worth a check several times a day. Nothing to do with drawing there–just witty commentary on our electronic landscape. It’s not always kid friendly, but funny? Absolutely!

Have a great weekend.

–P.

More character sketches…..

Here are rough preliminaries for the other two principals in the Image story I’m doing. Here are “Mitch” and “Brenda”.

This just allows me to get a handle on the characters’ appearances before I start on the story.

–P.

New comic book work….character sketch

I’m just starting  on a twelve-page story for an upcoming Image Pop-Gun anthology.  The story is by Derek McColluch, and involves the misadventures of three criminals.Here’s a preliminary character sketch for one of the criminals–”Chuck”.–P.  

Sketch of the Day 3/13/08…Batman and others…

Another comic book page

Here is the second page for the story I’m working on.

You’ll have to look for an upcoming issue of Negative Burn to see the rest.

–P.

Sketch of the Day 1/30/08–Doodles

It’s always fun to put a few quick sketches down on a piece of paper.

Here’s one such page. The inked drawing is done with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

More comic book pages to come in the next few days.

–P.

Comic Book Process–Final Pencils

• Here is the final penciled page from the previous post.  Of course, things are tightened up here, but the general layout remains fairly consistent.  That doesn’t always happen–sometimes you change things dramatically between the preliminary layout and the final page.
• In   the end, it’s whatever works.  The original page is 15″ x 10″.    –P    

Comic Book Process

• I’m currently working on a short comic book story.  Here’s the process I use, as hinted at in my previous post.
• First, I do a very small thumbnail.  I’ve included that below.  I’ve blown up the drawing here;  the actual size is about 2″ x 2.5″.  This is done very quickly.  It’s a bit like visual brainstorming.
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• Next–using the thumbnail as a reference–I do another layout.  This one is the size of the printed comic book page, about 6″ x 10″.  This gives me an idea as to how the page will look when printed.  I might indicate a few more blacks, and I try to stay loose. 
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• I then take the 6″ x 10″ layout, scan it and then print it out the size of comic book original art.  That size is about 10″ x 15″.  I tape this large layout on a lightbox, and use that as my guide for the pencils.
• I’m currently working on this page.  When I’m done, I’ll post it–perhaps as early as tomorrow.
• –P.

Captain Marvel over city

• Here’s a commission piece I just completed for a fan.  He wanted a version of the first page of the Power Of Shazam! series in pencil.  I was never really happy with how I did the first page of that series, so here’s a chance to make it better. 
• I generally draw roughs for comic pages the size of the printed comic.  This gives me a better idea of the way the book will look when published.  I did the same here, drawing the rough small, then scanning and printing out a larger version.  I lightbox the larger sketch, tightening up as I go. 
• Here is a small copy.  The original drawing is approximately 10″ x 15″.–P.