I’ve posted about the comic I’m making a few times before. I don’t really know what I’m going to do with it once I’m done with it, but it’s so much fun making it that I plan to worry about that later. I know I’ll probably have a print version and a digital version available in some form, but right now I’m focused on finishing it.

Making the comic has been a multi-step process I’ve learned through trial and error (by wasting lots of digital PDF ink – luckily it’s free). I don’t know all the ropes – I only know what works for me – but what works for me might work for you, too. So I thought I’d take a few minutes and explain my process:

The Script – Microsoft Word

Tune Comic Script page 20

The first thing I did, before anything else, was write the comic book. In my case, I adapted a script I’d written for a video game, since it was largely visual anyway, but I imagine that starting from scratch would be similar.

I wrote in a Word document, with each page in Word devoted to a page in the comic book. At the top of each page was a line telling me the page number and how many panels the page needed. Here is the actual top line from page 20 of my script:

20 Page – 6 Panels – 4 same sizes, 1 long bottom wide panel, one small shot at the bottom

I did it this way to make it easy to lay out later – because of my layout process, knowing how many panels I had on each page (before diving into the content) was easiest for me – it made the layout faster.

Next, I described each panel one by one, listing the description of picture first, and following that with the narrator dialogue or character dialogue for that panel. If I were working with an artist, I would have to be more exact about my panel descriptions, but since I planned to draw the whole thing myself, I was able to be pretty lax with the descriptions. I knew what I wanted for each panel in my head. Still, when I started this I knew that it was going to be a several month process, so I would need to describe what each panel should contain in case my memory faded as I worked on the comic.

The Layout – Adobe In Design

Tune Layout Page 19 and 20

Once the whole comic was written, I took the script and used Adobe In Design for the layout. I picked In Design because I wanted to use Adobe’s tools to draw the comic and Photoshop and illustrator blend seamlessly with In Design. Since In Design is the ideal layout tool, it was the only real choice, though I could have used Illustrator, I suppose.

I created two layers in the program, one for graphics and one for text. After that was done, I laid out all the pages using colored rectangles for the panels. I planned to place the drawings in later. Inside each panel I also included the panel descriptions in text so I could visualize it better.

After the panels were laid out, I inserted all the text into the text layer. I built rounded rectangles with a gradient for the narrator and voice-over text and I used a group of pen tool, text, and stroked ovals for the speech balloons. As a rule I didn’t lay out the speech balloons until after the drawings were inserted (because placement can be different once the drawings are there), but I wanted to text inside the comic right away so I could read it through like a comic book and get a sense of the thing. I’m big on each step giving me a rough picture of the final product.

Once that was all done, it gave me a better idea of how the comic would be completely laid out and read from beginning to end. This meant it was easier to see the problems, and it caused a round of revisions.

Now, most “real” comics are drawn and laid out at the same time by the artist, on a single page, on paper. But I’m not really an artist and I’ve never laid out a comic before. I wanted the ability to rearrange pages and panels on the fly, as well as easily resize my panels. Since I originally planned to do all my drawing in Illustrator (which outputs vector images), my panels would be infinitely resizable. Doing my pages one drawing at a time means I have to visualize the page beforehand in my head to make sure the drawings fit together and overlap correctly (unless I was going for that old panel/white space/ panel look), but in the end it made the drawing much, much easier.

Drawing – Adobe Illustrator

Drawing Tune Panel

Once the comic was all laid out, it was time to start the drawing. To do this, I picked Adobe Illustrator because I wanted vector incase I needed to resize panels. Later I started rasterizing in Photoshop so it didn’t matter, but I’m used to Illustrator now so I still use it for most of the drawing and coloring.

I start with three layers, a black and white outline top later, a panel layer, and a color layer. Usually, by the end of the drawing, the color is actually more like five to ten layers, but I always start with those three. The panel layer doesn’t make it into the final drawing, but it gives me a good idea of the boundaries of my panel before I start drawing. I usually just copy and paste the panel from In Design.

I use a Wacom Intuos 4 (the smallest one – I’m not loaded) to do the actual drawing, using a small stroke pressure sensitive brush. You can flip the drawing pen to automatically switch to the eraser tool, which helps tons. I erase a lot.

Since I’ve considered printing this thing some day, I’m using CMYK colors, including rich black (63, 52, 30, 100) for my lines. Even on the screen, Adobe’s algorithm makes standard black (0, 0, 0, 100) come out as a very dark gray, which I don’t like. Rich black looks better.

One more note about drawing: I’ve had a few friends ask me why I don’t draw on paper and scan in the drawings, instead of drawing on the screen. Well, first, drawing with the tablet is way better than drawing on paper once you get used to it. The lines are fluid, you can zoom in close for detail, and erasing is much easier. Plus, I tend to draw thick lines and erase a lot, which destroys all but the thickest, most expensive drawing paper. I don’t have cool physical artwork to keep, but the process is much more streamlined. The only thing I wish I could do was rotate the art board like I can rotate a piece of paper, but that’s not a huge deal.

Coloring A Comic Book

Once the drawing is done, I lock the layer and use a combination of the pen tool, multiple layers, and large brushes to color the drawing. Occasionally I use clipping masks, but half the time they take longer to set up than it would take to just color something manually or use the pen. Very rarely I use the Live Paint Group tool, but since my lines tend to not go all the way to the edges, it’s often more hassle than it’s worth to keep fixing them so the paintbucket works right. Also, to use the Live Paint Tool I either have to color in my black and white layer (big no no) or make a copy of my black and white layer and color that. It’s usually not worth it.

Drawing and coloring take a decent amount of time, depending on the drawing, but learning the shortcuts and workflow for the thing has sped up my drawing process quite a bit, from about four hours per panel to two hours per panel. I’m sure as I get better at drawing it will get faster.

Shading – Adobe Photoshop

Shading the Panel

After drawing and coloring in Illustrator, it’s time to move to Photoshop for the final stage: shading. It’s possible to shade in Illustrator, but it requires much more time, since Illustrator lacks the crucial Dodge and Burn tools. Maybe CS5 has them – I’ll have to check that out. But I’m using CS4 and that means moving to Photoshop to shade.

In Photoshop I dodge and burn and undo and dodge and burn some more. I use the tablet for this, too – it’s pretty easy to get the right area and the iPod-like wheel on the side can be set to change brush size and opacity on the fly with a click and a spin – worlds easier than using the hot keys, in-program menus, or a mouse. Shading takes about a half an hour or less, depending on the drawing.

More Layout – Adobe In Design

Tune Layout

Once the drawing is done, I go back to In Design and to place the drawing in the correct panel. I resize it, tweak it so it looks good, and move the panel a little to make sure it’s right. Next, I finalize the text that goes in or around that panel. If I haven’t added the speech balloons to the panel yet, I do that.

Then it on, on, on to the next one, ad infinitum until the job is done. Right now I’m done with fifteen pages of the 32 page comic book. After that, I still have four more comics to go to finish the whole story.

But hey, it’s damn fun.

Does anyone have any questions about something I didn’t cover? This was a broad overview, but I’ll be happy to go into more detail if you want it. Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you’re as excited as I am to check out Tune once it’s finished!