kradeelav

so one of the technical bits i challenged myself with this gunter/corrin doujin was to:

    (a) figure out an efficient process for professional multi-page artistic works in linux/true OSS programs - from ideation all the way to printer hand-off.
    (b) and a process that fit well with my brain and kept me from spinning my wheels endlessly redoing pages. it’s a common problem with longer projects (aka why you see reboots of webcomics all the time, and also why i haven’t been able to get “what greater sin” out for three years cuz i sucked at this lol).

why the focus on process though?
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after mastering a certian degree of technical proficiency. it’s what separates the hobbyist artists from the pros. not to toot my horn, but i’m quite good at project management process at work, and about two years ago it dawned on me to take some of that learned knowledge and actually apply it here if only to save eyestrain/wrist-strain time.

work lazier smarter, not harder etc.

before i get into the process outline, there’s two programs that are doing the heavy lifting since i gave them a trial run with the last anthology and they worked great in tandem. (both cost no money and are available on all major OS’s btw)

    krita - my main drawing program. sketching/inking/speech bubbles/coloring/vector stuff can all be done here.
    libreoffice writer - basically microsoft word for linux. i use it for arranging multiple pages, reordering, and exporting as .pdf to give to the printer (while amazing at rendering, krita can’t export as pdf or show multi-pages)

so!

process wise, it occurred to me not too long ago that i needed to consolidate my multi-page creative projects into 3 major gates.

    thumbnail sketches
    proof of concept layout
    “last 10” final

thumbnail sketches

thumbnails are a common concept in comics, but they’re great for print front/back matter too. thumbnails ain’t here to look pretty, their sole purpose to get the idea from your noggin to on the page.



here’s a completely unaltered spread from my journal with a ton of thumbs and notes for this doujin.

so what’s the kind of stuff i think about with thumbs?

    how panels in a comic fit together with the major emotional beats + line of action. does the eye follow the pages naturally? do you “feel” the emotional impact?
    does the compositions work with each other? negative/positive space, weight on top or bottom or diagonally, etc. do the pages feel claustrophobic or too empty? do they breathe?
    decorative framing elements that reflect the tone you want + how they generally lead the eye across the page
    random notes about overall tone or potential future pages
    etcetc

at this point i import that digitally, and start drawing a proper sketch off of it.

fast forward from that sketch to: “proof of concept” layout

i’m calling this proof of concept instead of a draft as they serve different purposes. a draft is a half-finished work you can just screenshot and show to anyone for feedback (like comms). proof of concept here is showing a certian level of completeness across draft pages to measure consistency.

lack of consistency is the mind killer killer of comics.

proof of concept is specifically meant to nip the ‘fizzled out halfway’ issues in the bud. it’s to show you how cool it looks altogether already, but also shed a light on problem areas that are potentially popping up on the earlier side, so there’s less time wasted.

this is a little premature in the process for a proof of concept screenshot, but you get the idea here in a later strip, shown here as screenshots imported into libreoffice writer:




another reason that made libreoffice writer essential is the accurate 2-page spread view. between that, being able to resize the page to whatever you need, and the very easy pdf exporter (with customizable compression), i don’t know if i could do this kind of project here.

now, backing up - what kinds of consistency are we checking for here?

    does the inking/coloring style change noticeably in a jarring way?
    is there one comic strip that the pacing/paneling sucks in comparison to the others? or feels awkwardly added in tone and perhaps better saved for a different project?
    is there one panel within a sequential series that’s torturing you? what’s the best way to throw it out and redo it even faster?
    do the front/back matter support the meat of the inside in a clever, on-tone way?
    did you accidentally change the font halfway through after you liked your new shiny toy? which one works better?
    etc

keep in mind we’re not just checking the consistency in one strip, it’s for the book as a whole.

and then lastly, “the last ten” final

“the last ten” is a mental concept i’ve used for the last ten years for single comic pages. it’s especially tempting to noodle over endlessly making one comic page perfect, when you could have done ten reasonably good ones in the same time, and so i made this my last step making IC pages.

once when you approach a level of reasonably done, but kinda hate the page and are procrastinating on getting it out, stop, rest your eyes overnight, and list the last ten minor things you’d change.

once when you’ve changed those? out the door it goes. now, i’m gonna switch to a different project but here’s a good example of a “last ten” stage applied to illustrations when i did fallen!gunter’s FEH mockups.



looks pretty complete, right? WRONG :D i can’t remember the exact last ten i used, but it was something like:

    too much of one specific glowy purple on both, i wanted more contrast with the red glow + “water” texture
    needed more effects on the first image to better match FEH’s aesthetic
    change Leigh’s credits after they got a chance to see it and give the thumbs up
    knee/shin on left looks unfinished painting wise, clean up
    missing chest plate silver decorations on left, clean up
    etc

this is the last hail mary check to hack your brain into being satisfied with the page. you’ve had your say, onwards to the next one. now, you can also have an additional 'last ten’ for the project as a whole. but it’s especially critical for comic pages to help keep the momentum/tempo/pace going.

anyway! we’ll see how all of this actually works in practice depending on how fast i can get this doujin out. :)
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