Growth...It happens in tiny increments. It sometimes happens in small increments. The important thing is that it happens.
When I was a younger artist and I had to complete an assignment or a gig I never wanted to do the rough drafts for the work that was assigned to me. I felt that art was some divine talent bestowed upon me and any Idea of me sketching or doing a rough draft was a giant waste of time.
Now that I am much older, and more disciplined, whenever I am creating a comic page for Gnat, I am creating almost two other drafts and searching for feedback from my peers before it goes on that beautiful piece of Bristol. (the paper type I use.)
My first sketch is the doodler sketch I like to call it. This is where I am working out my positional ideas for bodies or characters in the panel. While I am creating this sketch I am asking myself "Does this look right?" "would this scene work in a movie for a shot type?" if my answer to that question is no... well you know I'm creating more doodles.
What you see above a is a bit of that. To the untrained eye it's a hot mess, but if you take a closer look you can see the foundations of what I am traying to do. Doodling. I usually am looking for references in comics or media I enjoy at this point.
The second sketch you see above is more of the rough draft of a page I intend to create. Poses have been worked out, an I am taking a really close look at what my great writer Jake has in store for me in each panel and looking for feedback for any changes he may want. When working at this stage you have to be willing to erase or start again if need be. IT HAPPENS. Listening to feedback is so important at this point because you want to make sure your page shows the story intended. The story should show even to those who don't normally ream comics. (It's always good to have a friend who is not into comics to test things on!)
The final sketch is the pencils that go on the page.
This is usually what you would ink over on the page and final tweaks and adjustments are usually made here. When I was younger, I would go right to this without doing the previous sketches. but now I love the process so much I can't live without it and I feel like this elevates my artwork so much. What do you think? What do you do when you create a piece of art? message or email us and let us know. Maybe I'll post it in our next issue. Keep making comics!
-Rockdashzero Out!