100 Days of Making Comics - Day Thirty One - Some New Characters!

What's Up Internetterers!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

I got a fairly nice amount done today in a relatively short space of time!
I started off this morning by laying out all of the word balloons and the text itself on the current page, which wasn't too hard as I had it roughly laid out in the storyboards so could use those as a guide.
Then got onto some fun stuff this evening, designing and roughing out three new characters that haven't yet been in this story, I already had an idea of how i wanted them to look from the storyboarding stage which I went through with the writer James, but wasn't exactly sure of the poses.
But once I got into it the positioning came really easily, drawing characters really is the best part of the whole process!

Here's where they're at at the moment, need to redo some little bits and pieces but that can be done whilst inking, which I'll start in the morning before work and finish on Thursday.

That's it for now, I need to do some relaxing before the evenings over.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Thirty - Shadow Work

Evenin' All...

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

Bit of a slow one today, after a productive weekend I woke up early and did a bit of work on the shadows, not a great deal but enough to fill the half hour mark.
Here's the black and white version of where I'm up to on that.

Day job work was VERY tiring so this evening is going to be a no go drawing wise, food, vegging out in front of the tv and sleep is needed in great quantities!
I'll get back to it in the morning where I'm planning on getting the roughs done of the three floating placeholder heads in the last panel I was drawing....

Until then, keep creative! 

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Nine - A Relaxing Sunday Morning

'Ow do People?

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

Have had a relaxing Sunday morning playing about with the page I added colour to yesterday, i didn't want to concentrate too hard on anything today so I decided to just have fun without worry or pressure of getting anything done to a point, or done right even.

I added a wallpaper texture to all the walls, then erased it slightly to give wear, plus gave it a grubby, old feel by painting some stronger colour back in in places.
I added shadow in all over the place in various panels including the statue head and skull, and in the line art only version I added some extra bits on the table in panel5, some coins and scraps of paper as the table itself looked a little bare. I might copy those onto this colour version at some point too.
The Globe was added yesterday, I think....

I'll leave it at that for now, not sure if I'll end up keeping this colour version or just starting again once the whole first issue is drawn, but it's fun to just have fun sometimes!

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Eight - Needed a Change - Flatting a Page

Happy Weekend!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

I felt like doing something a little different today, and as i needed to see whether the page was working I decided to do the flats (first layer of base colour before painting on top) on the first page, the one that's nearly finished.
Usually you would wait until the linework is completely finished before going onto this stage but I wasn't sure if the first panel was either too cluttered or not enough, and separating everything with colour is a great way to see how the page is really looking.

As it turns out I think I could do to add quite a few more bits into the room to really fill it up with junk, so I'll be doing that at some point. Also one or two of the other panels need a little something too, not much but a something extra to balance out the page as a whole, these will also be added at some point!
And although it'll mean redoing the colours I've done today, I won't have as much to do when it comes to the proper colouring, and doing it has served its purpose by showing me what needs more work.

I'm off, after being ill for a week i need to freshen up and go do some driving!

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Seven - Finally a productive day!

Good Evening and a Happy start to the Weekend!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

Today was a good day, drawing wise at least, and my virus is starting to subside, i may actually get a little sleep tonight...yay!

Bit of an early post as i had the day off of work, so have been drawing on and off, and figured if I do anymore tonight I can just update later.

First off, I got a bit more done to page 3 (the one that's not far off being ready to colour)
I inked the skull lying on the floor, and finished aging the books in the bottom right panel.

I also got a lot closer to getting to the end of the following page, I added in the fingers in panel 3, all of the detail in panel 5 (aside from the sound effect), inked the boys hair, and drew him smiling in panel 8!

I've also got a little more done to the page following that one, adding in the boys hand in panel 1 touching the book, inking him in panel 2, and doing the word balloons and speech (the words I've left out of this post, spoiler alert and all that...) 

The next panels (3-5) are slightly different in look to the last, there is a reason for that which I'll explain once they're drawn.

So all in all a productive day so far, and I might even get a bit more done before the days over.

Until then, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Six - Working in the Cold, with a Cold!

Hi.... Nuff Said.

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

So I got even sicker, coughing up, now with added blocked and runny nose, swollen throat etc. And I've had to work outdoors in the freezing cold all week! Not a good combo.

Anyhow, not done a lot more, just the required half an hour to keep within the challenge parameters.
First off I added the rope detailing on the book in this panel, and sketched in some fingers...

then added in his hand rubbing his head in this panel (this was inked yesterday but I didn't post the image) still need to do his hair, I inked it once but wasn't happy so out came the digital eraser...

And finally I laid out the borders for the next page, added in the first panel and started roughing in the second...

 So not a completely unproductive day but not a great one either.
Hopefully I'll be feeling a little better tomorrow, I have the day off so should get a fair bit done with a bit of luck!

Until then, keep creative! 

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Five - Almost at a Halt, Slow News Day

Good Evening

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Not a great day for me, I did a little bit of inking for half an hour this morning, not really worth showing at this point though, and spent the day working outside whilst feeling very ill, so wasn't really in the right frame of mind to do much drawing this evening!

Hopefully things will be slightly more back to normal tomorrow and I'll have more progress to post.

Until then, keep creative! (If you can)

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Four - Sound Effects and Illness

Hi *Cough cough*

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

This is a super brief post today, feeling ill so...there.

Not a lot done today, made the "THUNK!" sound effect for panel 5, and a speech balloon for panel 6.

Also had a bit of a chat with the writer and added a title to page 3 (the last page I drew, page 1 is the front cover, page 2 is the inside cover which has other things on it other than sequential story.
It looks better with it!

And that's me done for today, food, water and chilling are in order tonight as i have to venture to work tomorrow illness or not, hopefully I'll get a bit done before work though.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Three - Detailing and Roughs

What's Up Webheads?!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on any Image to view larger.

As I said I would in yesterday's post I spent the morning before work adding in some more books to the bookcase, and various other details in the room. I still need to add a whole lot more but it's getting there, much like the room that was in the first panel of the page before it takes a while to get it looking a little more lived in and a little less like a bookshop!

I also did a couple of rough sketches lower down the page, ready for tighter pencils later on.

Panel 5 will change a bit, definitely have the sound effect (might change the word though...) but I'm not sure of the angle of the book yet, I'll decide when i get to it.

Panel 6 is pretty much how I want his face, and panel 8 is pretty much how I want the smile, so all good there. 

Panel 3 is a "watch this space" as i know what i want to draw but really don't know what way i want to draw it, again I'll decide when drawing it, just sketch a few variations and pick the one that suits it the best.

That's about it for today, I didn't do any drawing this evening as I had other things to do, but I'll be back to it in the morning before work as usual.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty Two - Drawing Children and even more Books!

Happy Sunday!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

I spent this morning drawing this child, over and over again. I don't think I've ever had to draw a child at an exact age, but that wasn't too bad, and two, and wasn't exactly sure how I wanted him to loo, I tried out several different poses and didn't like any of them until I finally settled on this one!

Then, of course, the bookcase I had already drawn didn't look quite right, the book he's reaching up to looked far too small compared to the one in the panel before, so.... redraw the bookcase.
Then i began the task of adding all of the books on said bookcase, which takes ages!

Anyhow, two shelves left to do in the morning before work and i can then get onto panel 3.

That's me done for the day, hope you've all had a great weekend.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty One - Hands and Books

Good Afternoon!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on the Image to view larger.

I got a little bit done this morning, I finished off panel ones pencils by adding the hand reaching up to the book, wait, you've done that before I hear you say! 

this hand is much younger than the first hand on the previous page, and at a slightly different angle, once coloured it will become apparent that we have changed scenes from one place and time to another!

I also added a lamp in panel 2 to break up the constant bookcases everywhere, and the same book as panels 1 and 4 was added to panel 7 (the two panels on top of the large ones count as panels 6 and 8), there will be some writing on the page that relates to the plot, so this will not be posted on the blog unfortunately.

There's still tons to do, the next step will be to finish inking the hand in panel 1, then finishing the pencils in panel 2 which will contain another million or so books (if you can't tell they're not really that fun to draw) and a human! 

Then onto the other panels which will be a lot quicker as they're all close ups, meaning slightly less detail and speedier drawing.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twenty - Panel Changes and More Bookcases!

Hello Internetters!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Click on the Image to view larger.

Almost didn't make this post today, just really want to sleep!

Spent a little while redoing the panel layout for this page as I wasn't really happy with the way it was looking. Also started on panel 2 (haven't quite finished panel 1 but hey) and drew panel 4 (no borders, woo!)

That's it for now, until tomorrow, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Nineteen - Research day!

G'evening...

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

I spent a little while this morning working on the cover mock up that I posted yesterday, instead of adding the image in this post I just updated yesterday's but below is a breakdown of the different stages of colouring, from basic line art to the finished image.

I also spent a little while this evening doing some research that was needed for various things I'll need to draw later on in the story. These things will no doubt be posted on the blog in the future in another post!

I'm off for now, I've got a few hours spare tomorrow throughout the day so hopefully tomorrows post should be quite a productive one.

Until then, keep creative!

 

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Eighteen - Cover Mock Up Version 2

Hi to Anyone still awake (on my side of the Globe) and to anyone else at all the other times of day!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.


I'm going to keep the writing brief today as it's late, I have work in the morning and I'm generally just wanting to sleep!
I did another mock up of a cover today, well, to be precise I added colour to a second cover mock up I did the other day.

Click on the image to view larger.

I like the results at this point, and I think this will be a general indicator as to how the comic will look coloured, which was the point of doing the mock up.

Hope you like it, that's me done for now.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Seventeen - Creative Meeting and Narration Boxes (No Image Update)

Good Evening!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

A very brief update today, and no images to show unfortunately, but a productive day was had!

I spent the morning working on a couple of cover mock ups for JAR, as I had a meeting with the writer of the comic this evening and wanted to show and explain my thoughts towards the cover layouts and how they would change from issue to issue but have an overall theme that was continuous through them.

Then this evening we had the meeting, talked about the progress made up to this point, and discussed various plot and visual ideas for the next stages and series as a whole and I then added in the narration text and boxes around them so we could look at how the page flowed from panel to panel in both illustration and text. It's looking good!
Unfortunately I can't post images with the text on them but tomorrow's update will be back with some new artwork on the go. That's about it for today, nothing new to look at but I can say it has definitely been a very productive day, tomorrow will hopefully be the same!


Until then, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Sixteen - Cover Mock Up

Hiya!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
Click on any image to view larger.

I did something a little different this morning and did a little mock up of the cover for the first issue of JAR, I'd started the illustration part but as I had the Logo ready I downloaded an Image Comics logo and a barcode and threw together this to see what it looked like, definitely like it, especially the font for the writer/artist credit so hopefully that'll get kept.

I will do a lot more detail to the room in the future, and maybe move things around a bit to see what they look like in different positions, but I'm liking where this is heading.

Tomorrow will be back to some morte panel work probably, so until then...

Keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Fourteen and Fifteen - Border Style Changes, and Logo Designing!

Word!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
Click on any image to view larger.

I got home last night and as it was late decided to merge yesterday's and today's posts into one mega double post! (That's not that long, so not all that mega...)

Day Fourteen -

I did a little bit of changing to the borders on the second page that I was working on, I know I want the lines to be different to the previous page as there's a time shift, so I've put some temporary different lines in as a sort of note to myself that I need to come up with a suitable look for it.

The lines I've put in are kind of random and faded, this isn't exactly how I want it but it's a good enough reference to remind me at a later date as to what I was thinking.
I also added books onto the shelves, different from the ones in the previous panel, on the previous page, as (as stated before) we're now in a different time.

That was it for day fourteen, I didn't do a whole lot as I had a busy day, driving lessons (that are going well, yay!) and an evening out.

Day Fifteen (Today, yay!) -

I decided to work a little on the Logo for the comic today, I'd had an idea in my head from first reading the script and thought it was a decent enough time to do some mock ups.

Here's the result so far, there will be a little something under the letters between them and the border, I just haven't decide on which of several ideas to do. I shall try them out and see.

The process was pretty simple to get to this stage, apart from going through a huge amount of fonts and styles before settling on this one (I played around with different versions for at least an hour and a half), then it was just some utilising some Photoshop magic to adapt the font to the shape and look I wanted.

Funtimes!

It's not far off how I first imagined it so all good for todays session! I'll finish off this mock version tomorrow morning or evening, and get some more work done on a page too.

I'm off to do some gaming before heading out for the afternoon, so until next time....

keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Thirteen - Little Details

How's it going?!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
Click on any image to view larger.

Another short one from me tonight, just been doing a little detailing on panel 7 of that page I've mostly finished pencilling, I did do some other detailing too, on the monster skull in panel 3, but tonight was mainly about aging books, as in making them look old, very old!
Below is a before and after of it, I still have a bit more to do but that's it for now.

I did also lay out the panels for the next page, less interesting but it still needs to be done.

Until next time, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Twelve - Arrows, Walls. Floorboards, Inking, A Good Days Work!

Huzzah!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
Click on any image to view larger.

A productive evening! I finally got onto doing panel 4!

So the page is laid out for the most part. I still have inking to do on it, and there's quite a few extra objects that I'd like to add here and there in a couple of the panels (quite a few in panel 1, and some in panel 5 next to the box mainly) and there's plenty of texturing/rendering to do in all of the close up panels, but it's getting there!
Of course I'm trying not to think about the colouring of it all yet, that I'm definitely not starting until all 32 pages are pencilled and inked.

I'm going to catch some z's as I have a busy day ahead tomorrow!

Until then, Keep Creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Eleven - Changing Pages

Alright, how'z it goin'?

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Another day where I didn't get a whole lot done comic wise, I did half an hour in the morning, getting the first panel to the next page set up, it's actually the same as panel 7 on the page prior but with some differences.
Click on any image to view larger.

Mainly, the main object of the panel, the big book, is newer looking without all of the tears,dents and scratches, the other books on the shelves (yet to be drawn) will be different too, the ones on the previous page are old, where as these will be also be newer.

The hand reaching up will also be different, but I'll leave explaining that until it's drawn.
The panel border that you can see in the right hand panel is a placeholder one too, I just needed to get the frame the same size as the previous page so used it as a guide.

Hopefully tomorrow morning and night I should get panel 4 done on the previous page, and get the pencil work on this new panel done too, then over Friday to Sunday get the first page finished pencil wise, and get the layout done and a good start to the pencilling on the new page too.

Until tomorrow, Keep Creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Ten - Productivity Back Up Again!

Good Tidings to you all,

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
Click on any image to view larger.

Productivity has indeed been on the up again today, thankfully!

I managed to get the drawing done for the hand reaching up to the book that I had planned for panel 7

And James, the writer of the story came round for a chat, we spent a couple of hours going through bits, discussing changes to the plot, and he helped me decide exactly what should be in panel 4 (I changed my mind from what I had originally thought) so I sketched it out very roughly, ready to draw out properly (which I'll do tomorrow morning, before work as usual).

All in all a far better and more productive day, making comics wise. I think in all I will have spent around 4 hours today on comic making related activities, so all good!

10 days down, 90 to go!

Until tomorrow, Keep Creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Nine - No Image Update!

Yo!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

As the title says there's no image in today's update, I have done more than half an hours worth of work on the comic today but as it was just thickening up lines, and not actually adding anything new, I thought I'd leave adding another image that looks pretty much the same as yesterdays.
Today was also another day where I didn't really feel like drawing at all and had to force myself to do something, anything, to the comic just to have not missed a day of the challenge. I spent the day outdoors in the rain and not really that up for physically exerting myself but having to, so all I wanted to do was get in and zone out to some mindless tv!

Anyhow, I'm done for today, will do some zoning out and get some sleep, and hope for a more productive day tomorrow. I'll try to get a good hour or so in before work so hopefully tomorrows update will include some better progress.

Until then, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Eight - Jumping ahead in the workflow

Happy Sunday!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

It's been a pretty productive morning, I got the basics of panel 7 in. I still need to add a huge amount of detail to the other books, and there will also be a persons hand reaching up to take the main, large book down, but it's getting there. I'll most likely do a fair bit more tomorrow morning before work, as usual.
Click on any image to view larger.

So just panel 4 to go and I can then either move on to the next page, or ink this one then move on, I'll decide when i get there.
It would be more sensible to pencil every page first, then go back and start at page 1 to ink but sometimes, like today, I get carried away and begin inking a random panel.
I wanted to see what panel 6 would look like with a bit of inking done, so I added in some wood texture, thickened up some of the lines and added a little shading to the cardboard box at the top of the image.

I'm liking it!

I'm done for the day, so until tomorrow, have fun and keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Seven - Panel 6 Funtimes and being ill!

Good Morning!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Hope everyone is feeling better than I am, I feel totally crap! Up until 4am feeling sick, not a lot of sleep, still feel sick.

Anyhow, whatever virus thing this is aside I managed to get a start on panel 6 this morning, and I've now got to go out and somehow drive, so I'll bid you all good day!

Click on the image to view larger.

Keep creative (and well)

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Six - Little bit of drawing, little bit of talking

Night night Internet....

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Bit of a late post today, and I'll keep it short as i really want to get some sleep...now!

I finished off the background to panel 5 this morning before work, there wasn't a lot to it at this stage so that was quick and easy. Just the crack in the wall, corner of the picture frame above and a slight texture on the table. I may be adding more to this panel in the future, further objects on said table, but not at this point.

Click on the image to view larger.

And this afternoon after work I spent a while on the phone with the wordsmith of this comic, Mr James Fletcher, we discussed various JAR related content, that I won't post here, did some research into and decided upon the contents for panel 6, which I shall begin adding in tomorrow morning, once I've gotten some sleep!

Sorry for the lack of visual updated content today but it's 100 days of making comics and that doesn't always mean actually drawing, but there should be some new pencil work tomorrow.

So until then, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Five - Tiredness, wasting time and mind changes

Good Eve.... zzzz...

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Today's post almost didn't happen, I did the required amount of time working on the comic, I did that this morning before work, I  was just so tired when I got home I nearly didn't bother to do any more, or post what I did do this morning.
The reason for nearly not posting was that everything I did this morning... I erased when I got in!
I just wasn't happy with the placement of the patterned box on the table, or the positioning of it on the page. So I spent a short while this evening redoing it, placing it now in 5 rather than 6, and giving it a more interesting angle too.
Click on the image to view larger.

I'm now officially too tired to continue now though, I'm at the stage where I'm bound to start making mistakes and wasting time, so as I am more alert and eager to create first thing I shall bid this farewell for the night and revisit again tomorrow to finish of this panel (cracks in the wall, some other items around the box that are lying on the desk itself) and start panel 6 and 7. Weirdly i know what's going in panel 4 but I'm kind of putting off doing it....

Until next time, keep creative!

   

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Four - Panel 3 Background and Contour Lines

Hey hey Internet!

Welcome to 100 Days of Making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Another quick one today, I spent around 45 minutes this morning finishing off the basic shape of the skull in panel 3 and tidying it up, then did some of the background to that panel. 

Click on any image to view larger.

Then when I got in from work I didn't have much time so decided to stick a contour line around the skull and the statue head in panel 2 to see how it looked, I like it! 

Might go a little fatter on the line once i get to the inking stage but we'll see later down the line. 

I'm not entirely sure how much extra detailing and rendering might get added when inking so at this point I'll just concentrate on getting all of the basic linework in there and worry about the rest later.

Will definitely get a fair bit more done tomorrow as I have an hour or so before work, and the whole evening after work to spend on it, minus dinner and a wee bit o gaming...maybe...


Keep creative people!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Three - Fantasy Creature Skulls!

Good Evening all!

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Just a quick one today, first day back at work today and I am very much looking forward to some sleep!

I didn't expect to get much done today, the first day back to work after the Christmas holidays is always a chore, and once back home I really only wanted to chill out and do some gaming/watch some Netflix/read. But that's the idea of the challenge, make yourself get at least a little done EVERY DAY, whether you feel like it or not. 

And what happened once I got started? I did half an hour of research, and an hours sketching, so I got 3 times as much done as I set myself!

Click on the image to view larger.

Just concentrated on starting panel 3 this evening, I did start panel 6 this morning but am undecided on how i want the patterned box to look so I left it for now and got on with some fun stuff, skulls! Or more specifically creature skulls!

I'll continue with this tomorrow morning before work, hopefully getting the skull finished and the background laid in.

I still haven't actually finished panel 1, but I'll get back to that once the last 3 blank panels have something in them.

So until tomorrow, keep creative!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day Two - Switching Panels and Shading a Statue Head

Happy bank Holiday! (If you're in the UK, if not happy Tuesday!)

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.

Today is day two, I managed to tear myself away from the Playstation for a while this morning to work on the current page I'm working on of JAR, yesterday I was working on panel one of this page, today I decided to do a bit of shading on panel two.
Click on any of the images to view larger.

If you looked at the images within yesterdays post you may have noticed that panel 2 and 3 were empty whilst panel 4 had some pencil work on it, although most of the details were in fact off screen. You may have also been thinking "why has he drawn panel 1, then panel 4, skipping two panels?" 
Well the explanation is quite simple really, the contents of panels 2 through 7 are each close ups of various objects that are within the room drawn in panel 1, this statue is on one of the bookcases that line the back wall, so which object I draw first isn't really that important! 
Actually that's not entirely true, although I know what all of the objects are that will be in the panels, I have yet to draw a couple of them in panel one, so it'd probably be best to do that first before drawing a close up. 
Anyhow, I picked the head to draw first as, originally, I'd planned on having it in panel 4, with the eyes looking slightly down to panel 5 on the bottom row, this being a method of leading the readers eyes down as they go from panel to panel. But after sketching him out I then wanted the eyes to be more of a fixed stare (the reason is plot related so I won't explain) so I flipped the image and now have him in his present position, eyes facing forward in a fixed stare looking directly to panel 3.   

I've then done some shading on him, not going overly into fine details as this will be coloured so a lot of the lighting effect will be done within that stage.

That's me done for today, I'm going to do a bit of research into the the objects contained in panel 3 and get sketching that out, then attempt to fit in a small amount of gaming before I go out for the day!


Hope you all have a good one!

100 Days of Making Comics - Day One - Denting Cardboard Boxes

Happy New Year to the each and every Internet User!
Apart from the bad ones, not to you, you go away and think about what you've done....

Welcome to 100 Days of making Comics, a challenge in which the goal is to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day working on or towards comic creation.
This is day one, and the first of a new year!

I may switch between which comic I'm working on depending on what goes on each day but the majority of posts will be work on the comic book series JAR, written by James Fletcher with art by myself. The amount done each day will depend on what day of the week it is, given day job work etc.
But each day I'll post an update of what I did, with an image or two and a brief explanation. I also might add in some non comic related news if anything vaguely interesting happens.
Click on any of the images to view larger.

So onwards with day one!

I'm actually posting this at the start of the day, I've got a busy one ahead but I've done around 40 minutes of pencilling this morning since I got up, currently working on a page of the comic, doing detailing on a panel, here's a pic...

For the pencils I work in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, mostly just because I like the feel, it does have it's limitations such as when you zoom out it becomes harder to see, with a lot of the pixels not being rendered, but for detail work that's not a problem. I'll most likely ink and colour in Photoshop as it has better inking tools and is definitely better for colouring.

Today I worked on the cardboard boxes that are lying around the floor, they start off as cubes with very straight lines and of course don't look very much like cardboard boxes at all at this point!
So that means going in and erasing the straight lines and re-drawing them by hand, making sure they actually look a little less precise and more interesting, adding dents and folds where they've been handled over time, giving it all a slightly more lifelike (hopefully) look.
I also added some patches of texture to the rug on the floor and the arm chair in the corner, to make them also look more aged and worn and a little less clean and flat.

When laying out the object in the room everything is done with rulers and guides tools to get it all in the right places, looking the way they should in perspective.

That's it for today, I've got some journeying to do by train so i'll take my notepad and sketchbook with me, where I'll be working on my own graphic novel series, mostly doing some story plotting and maybe a small amount of sketching if any visual ideas come to me that need to be made note of.

Have a great day one of 2017 and see you all tomorrow for day two!