Post coming soon

Sorry folks, the day job's show is getting near the air dates so it means long long hours that drain the life out of you.  I have to have a colonoscopy (don't think that's spelled right) on Friday meaning I have to stay home and drink this vile medicine stuff they give you pre-operation on Thursday, so in theory I should have time to get some stuff up, answer questions, etc.

Later Gators.
Trevor

How I do layouts (CC with a little ZF thrown in) Part 1

Scanner has been acting wonky at work so this post took awhile, and I'll have to do it in parts.

This post is really about how you can actively know what your strengths and weaknesses are and how to plan accordingly.  For example, as I mentioned before I'm horrible at backgrounds, and I feel they are a very important part of the visual layout of the page.  If perspective is off, the reader may not know why they dislike a panel/page, but they probably will dislike it more than something put in the proper perspective.  Also detail is important on a background.  A slum should look like one; trash strewn about, graffiti, etc.

The below picture is a version of the start of my layouts (after the thumbnail process as mentioned in a previous post). The reason it looks so rough is I had to HEAVILY adjust the levels after it was scanned (more about Levels and Photoshop/Gimp in an upcoming post).  I included a picture with just the straight scan so you can see how light the 4H pencil I use looks.  Also, that does bring up a good point; discover the range of lead pencils you want to use.  Some people use much darker leads than I do, as they provide a clearer image.  I prefer things in the mid to high H (hard lead) pencils as they don't show up heavy in a scan, and if done right are easy to erase.

Anyways, onto the start:

 So you can see the basics of the city have been laid out.  In fact you can see some of the perspective grid I set up just to make sure everything stays in proportion as well.  I already started putting some of the debris in the street, but obviously that, and of course most importantly, the Zombie Dinosaurs need to be put in the page.  But by laying out the backround first I know where all the little stuff would be (Stop sign, Fire Hydrant, etc.) that the characters would need to avoid when moving. It makes the world seem more real, more complete. Now you'll also notice the large amount of space at the top and bottom of the page.  This is because I have a large caption box going at the bottom, and, as I'm a fan of when Silver Age comics put the title on the first page, I'm going to do exactly that. And lets face it, especially of late, I've very limited on time, so it'll save me some when drawing the page. 

BTW this is how light my pencils are (no levels ajusted, just a strait color scan)

So you can see how easy it is to erase, and how little work I have to do digitally to clean it up as it barely registers (actually I had do a little touch just to get that to show).  As always taking the time to think and plan before you start will save you more time in the end.  The military has a saying "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast," and it's dead on. Additionally since I know I'm bad at backgrounds by having this problem dealt with first will same me a lot of time.  When I used to layout the character first and the backgrounds around them, it would often take me forever because I'd notice little faults I was constantly correcting.  The running dino is very sketchy and will probably be changed.  I had already altered it from this scan (this scan was done awhile ago) but as I leave everything in pencils, until I'm ready for the next stage, I can still change it).

More on the page progression later. I'll try for later today but we're really busy at the day job right now.  

-Trevor