Pencilling Q&A with comic book pros
From http://www.figma.com/soca/soca_topic.mv?topic=PENCIL :
Describe your drawing procedure…
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Response:
I first read what’s on the script. If the writer has so much detail on a page then I have to focus on what was written. Then I directly layout a sketch [based on the script, wich I don't recommend to everybody] on the actual page [11"x17"] then fill out the muscles of every characters, then use a blue pencil over the original drawing and erase and leaves the blue pencil on the paper. then finish all things up using HB pencil.
Rafael Kayanan
Response:
I do small thumbnails with a marker pen. I then take a broad marker and distinguish the light source or make notes about the story alongside the panels. I blow the sketch up and lightbox on to the art board but sometimes I change alot of stuff around, like tilt a panel or add/remove something which may help tell the story clearer. I use a 3H pencil lead to rough out the outline on the board then go over it with a H lead. I use the turquoise lead holders you can pick up at the art supply store and I have had the same one for a while now.
Mike Wieringo
Response:
I work in this manner: I do my layouts on a template that fits 4 to an 8 1/2″x 11″ page– roughly twice the size of a trading card. When I get the layout how I want it, I blow it up on the copy machine at the studio and trace it up on my light table– that’s how I’m able to keep my art as clean as possible. [It�s damn clean!]
Brandon Peterson
The Official Brandon Peterson Homepage
Response:
I lay out an entire page loosely (usually doing a rough thumbnail first to determine how many panels, what size each panel should be, what elements per panel, etc.). I then do the individual panels after the whole page has been sketched in.
Any tips on composition drawing?
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Response:
If you watch too much movies, then you have the answer. You don’t need fancy layout on a page, the important thing is you tell the story very well using your drawings. I’m not saying fancy layouting is evil, but it is a plus for every artist if you know the flow of every panel.
John Byrne
Response:
Clarity, clarity, clarity. Pick your camera angles and your shots to convey the maximum amount of information in each picture (which is not the same as lots and lots of detail, by the way). Remember, as an artist, your main job is to make the writer unnecessary!
Walter Simonson
Response:
I try to keep rhythm and page composition in mind all the time. Remember that although you are drawing individual panels, they should all add up to a well designed page in the end. And at the same time, the story should be clearly told.
Dave Gibbons
Response:
Good composition is “unity within variety” and “variety within unity”. Use contrasts of size, color, shape etc for emphasis and always be aware of gradation.
Andy Smith
Response:
Try and lead the eye from panel to panel and always have a clear focus in the individual panels.
Brandon Peterson
The Official Brandon Peterson Homepage
Response:
Just practice and break the elements down into their simple shapes for ease of use, in both perspective and composition. I still break stuff down every page.
Could you tell me about pacing and any basic rules?
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Response:
Read the story well, put details if it is in the story, don’t change anything on what the writer say, and make sure your drawing is good enough for publishing.
Joe Quesada
Response:
I rely on instinct, but I feel it like music, every scene has a certain beat and rhythm.
Andy Smith
Response:
I think you need to tailor the pacing to the individual story. Each story can have it’s own pacing.
Brandon Peterson
The Official Brandon Peterson Homepage
Response:
Basically, you have 22 pages to tell a story in, hopefully one with a beginning, middle, and end. You have a certain amount of plot you need to put in these pages, and you need to break those pages into panels. Pacing is how you figure out how your story will flow through the entire issue, right down to each panel. For example, a big action scene could require lots of pages of multiple panels to show exactly what’s going on, or maybe just a big pin-up with captions explaining. I can show a man walking through a door in one panel, or show many panels with him walking up to the door, then grabbing the handle, then opening the door, then walking through, etc. Things can move quickly or slowly, depending on what you want, thus the different ‘paces’.
Give me some examples of bad storytelling…
Scott McDaniel
The Official Scott McDaniel Homepage
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Response:
Mostly, it’s not defining the action line in the scene, and keeping the “camera” on the right side of the line. Figures that are interrelating often switch sides, face opposite directions, and the like. The action line prevents all that. [For more info on 'action-line', see Scott Mcdaniel's homepage http://members.aol.com/ScottAMcD/]. Also, nondescript backgrounds are rampant with novices. I consider the environment the characters to be in to be a character in and of itself. When preparing to draw a scene, try to fill in all the detail on all sides. This really helps to ground the action, to make it much more believable. Also, characters tend to look alike, some almost identical! I prepare “turn-arounds” for each character in the story – designing new ones using a reference photo to start with – so that each character is consistently portrayed as having a unique likeness. Also, the penciller should be able to communicate the main story idea without any words. A lot of times that means sacrificing cool pinup style pages for more purposeful ones. Novices sometimes aren’t willing to do that. But, the story is the first priority.
Richard Pace
Response:
This is something much easier discussed on an example by example basis. Good storytelling should establish the characters, their environment, their place within the environment and clearly show what is happening from one panel to the next.
John Byrne
Response:
Cropping is always a problem — lopping off bits and pieces of figures. Going for a “cool shot” instead of an informative shot. A big figure instead of a big background. Leaving out the establishing shots, the informational shots.
Walter Simonson
Response:
There are a lot of comics out there that aren’t especially well done. If you read one and wonder what the heck’s going on, it probably isn’t you. It’s the storytelling.
Dave Gibbons
Response:
Just think where you can go wrong telling someone a story in words. Not enough information, information at the wrong time, boring repetition, giving away the ending etc.
Joe Quesada
Response:
Just think of examples where artist break panels for no reason, or use splash pages for no other reason than it’s easier to draw. Good storytelling involves pacing, rhythm, and like comedy…timing.
Andy Smith
Response:
Drawing a page with say four characters in the same room but never drawing all four of them in the same panel on the page. This is bad because it never establishes where the characters are in relation to each other. That’s one example.
Erik Larsen
Response:
Confusing pages! Make your pages easy to follow! It should be clear which panel should be read in which order. Arrows look idiotic–don’t use them. Sideways pages! Enough with the SIDEWAYS PAGES! I know that some big name talents have used them but as a reader, having to physically turn the books around takes away from the reading experience. It’s also annoying. Please stop.
What’s the correct way to break borders?
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Response:
You don’t need fancy boarders that has lots of thing going on around it. You need is to align everything to create a sequence. Something like storyboard, but in a comic format. And make it square or rectangle.
Erik Larsen
Response:
When you break the borders–you’re establishing the border as a plane. Think of it as a window–the border should only be broken by the object that is the closest to the viewer. If a background element is breaking the border, you’re essentially saying that it is in front of the other things in the panel. If a person in the background is breaking the border but somebody closer to the reader ISN’T, you’re throwing off the illusion of depth and making the background character look like the Wasp buzzing around. DON’T have characters from one panel overlapping on to a figure from another panel–the characters shouldn’t interfere in a separate reality. DON’T have a character have a character bleed off into a panel which isn’t directly before or after that panel– a reader may follow that extended limb to the wrong panel and read the page out of its proper sequence.
How do you keep your art clean?
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Response:
We sometimes mess our artworks. But it can’t be seen with the use of technology. In pencils, we avoid smudging any shaded area, that’s why sometimes we use “X” to tell inkers it is black or needed to be shaded.
Brandon Peterson
The Official Brandon Peterson Homepage
Response:
I pencil very light with harder leads (2H). As I work, I dab darker areas with a kneaded rubber eraser to keep the underdrawing as light as possible. It’s all relative, so that when I final pencils, my page is so clean that the underdrawing is very visible even if it’s light. Also, as I do the final pencils, I tape over areas that my hand may rub against, or that I’ve completed or am not working on.
Mike Wieringo
Response:
I work in this manner: I do my layouts on a template that fits 4 to an 8 1/2″x 11″ page– roughly twice the size of a trading card. When I get the layout how I want it, I blow it up on the copy machine at the studio and trace it up on my light table– that’s how I’m able to keep my art as clean as possible. [It�s damn clean!]
Joe Quesada
Response:
I use a 4H lead.
Andy Smith
Response:
I use a 2H pencil lead and don’t really worry about smudges.
What’s the deal with pencil hardness/softness, anyway?
Edgar Tadeo
Edgar Tadeo – How to Draw Comics
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Cynosure ARTs
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Response:
OK, other artist use both. Pencilers sketch with H pencil and finish everything with B or 2B pencils. As long as you can make your art readable to any inkers.
Jason Pearson
Response:
You don’t want a soft pencil cuz it will smudge and you don’t want too hard of a pencil cuz it will be too light on the paper to see.
