I thought I would share a step by step progression of a comic book panel. It’s a panel from the Bumps & Bruises of Big Ed issue #0.
The first step is in non-photo blue pencil (and somehow I made a copy of the image). The blue pencil is kind of a left over from the old days when you needed to use a camera and shoot the finished artwork… the blue pencil marks wouldn’t show up on the negative, hence non-photo blue! I use it in a similar fashion. I pencil the panels in blue pencil, then ink the panels using a mix of pens and brushes, and finally scan in the finished panels (after the ink has dried of course).
When I bring the image into Photoshop I can eliminate the blue pencil by going under Image/Adjustments and selecting Hue/Saturation. Then changing the drop down window from “Master” to “Cyans” and drag the Saturation to -100 and Lightness to +100. Presto! The pencils are gone. It’s a lot easier than trying to erase standard pencils and getting those little eraser nubbies everywhere.
The second step in the panel progression is the inked art. I like to use a mechanical pen for a lot of my backgrounds and mechanical/inanimate items …in this case the bike. The brush work is used largely on the characters. There are moments when one of the inking utensil will cross into the others terrain though.
Lastly is the finished panel. The gray tones are added in using Photoshop. For the Big Ed book I used a lot of flat tones with a few simple gradients thrown in. I wanted to stay away from an airbrushed style for this story. Rendering the artwork for Big Ed would have brought it closer to a realistic feel. I want Big Ed to be believeable, but retain some comedic and superhero values.
So, there it is. A little wordy, but I guarantee that most posts will not be so in depth. I’ll try to keep something new posted every week and continue to develop the rest of my site. See you soon!
?>