Mind The MacGuffin
I’m usually not that happy with my own drawings – certainly not right after I’ve finished them – but the facial expressions in this episode turned out pretty nice, I think. After doing quite a bunch of these now, I’ve finally settled on a process I feel confident with. Basically, it goes something like this:
First, I type the text in a Photoshop document with the usual two-strip framework. After fiddling around with the different blocks of text, I get a sense of where I want the characters to be in the frame and how the page should look like. Then, whenever I feel like it (this is oddly enough at once the most delicate and the quickest part of the process), I grab a ballpoint and make little sketches in my Moleskine pocket notebook. These doodles are kinda rough and vary in size and detail, but they nail down the basic emotions and have the playfulness of a first draft. I scan these notebook pages in and, back in Photoshop, use them to compose the artwork. I’ll resize quite a bit, combine different parts of different sketches, or mirror a face. When that’s done, I’ll attach a Cintiq drawing tablet to my MacBook and digitally ink the panels. Finally, I’ll splash color in between the lines on a seperate layer and add film grain.
Strange process, I know… but it works for me.
Merry Christmas everybody! I’m leaving for Denmark tomorrow, but will be back before the next installment.
NEXT WEEK: Smithee will reveal what’s inside his suitcase (sort of), closing the year with a bang.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 am
Hi Peet!
The facial expressions are indeed very funny, good job! Curious what’s in the suitcase…
Have a nice X-mas in Denmark.
And drive carefully!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Thanks Syb. I will be careful, but only if you’ll be too!