2nd Walk-thru Process

Here is just another look at a second process I have for creating comic style art:

1. First, I sketched the character in pen. I used a Precise V5 extra fine roller ball pen. I always do this first step in pen because the lines are very fine and when I use this “doodle” style in pencil, it muddies the paper. I drew this on regular 8 ½ x 11 printer paper, since my scanner cannot accommodate paper larger than this.

At this point in the art, I'm only thinking about anatomy and structure for a powerful looking figure. It has to look solid and not bloopy. I focus only on contour and gesture lines and less about light-sourcing.

2. Now, I slap the sketch onto my light box. I throw a sheet of tracing paper on top and finalize my lines in pencil. My pencil of choice is a mechanical Zebra M-402; size 0.5mm HB lead.

My focus has now shifted to thinking about light sources. I prefer not to shade, as this muddies the drawing, so I draw the terminators of the shadows and how I want the light to hit the muscles. Terminators are the dividing edges of shadows that separate the dark areas from light areas. This is the most time consuming step. If I was just penciling, then this would be my last step. I would scan this as the finished pencils and give it to the inker. But I’ll ink it myself as an example for Step 3.

3. I pull out my trusty Pentel brush pen and just quickly fill in the blacks. I’m NOT an inker and this is just to give you an idea of how it will pretty much look. You can also do this step on the computer if you ink digitally.

4. Finally, I add in a bit of energy around the character's hands for good measure. I saved this for last to give the inker or colorist the chance to create the effect themselves in whichever medium they are most comfortable with.