Working Methods -- Full Pencils

I do most of my work in Photoshop, rather, most of my time is spent in Photoshop (PS) finishing work that  usually starts as a quick-pencilled thumbnail (typically 4.25"x 5.5", somewhat large by some standards) and then is reinterpreted as a full size pencilled drawing (11"x17").  Although one can use pre-ruled and purpose formatted "comic book" paper, I largely ignore any particular form when I'm scaling up the pencils, so I use relatively cheap and pencil friendly printer paper in the 11"x17" tabloid size, readily available at most office supply stores. One of the most interesting graphic artists working today is Scott Hampton, who  relies heavily on computer tools to compose his final pages, but develops his story-telling panels individually on whatever size and type of paper suits the work. Thus,  he is not constrained by the relatively small working area provided by the 11x17 page I use. On the other hand, once I scan my work and go into PS for detailing, etc, I am pretty much working in an infinite space, but the temptation to overwork fine detail in images that may not be reproduced so generously has to be avoided. I am not sure how my graphic novel will ultimately be reproduced for distribution. It has so far been worked with something like the industry comic book standard 6.5"x10" page in mind, but electronic distribution is probably a game changer.

So here is the thumbnail of page 75 next to the full size pencilled page. Page 75 kicks off chapter four in a story that up until now was decidedly land-locked. So we expect the reader is excited by the change...

The thumbnail breaks the page down into six panels, the first three are displayed in a triptych whose theme is the restlessness caused by sleeping in a bed that is rocking, rolling with the restlessness of the sea.  The fourth panel clearly tells us we at sea, in a dazzle-camouflaged military naval transport, which the reader will have gathered to some degree from the opening triptych. Our  character is then seen out on deck, clapped on to the railing and looking out to sea. And as was established earlier in the novel, he is seen smoking as he "relaxes" under stress.

The full scale pencils (drawn some considerable time after the thumbnail) works and elaborates the storytelling ideas set down in the thumbnail. For some reason I can't actually recall, I re-oriented the  triptych horizontally, thus placing the character's head backwards to the direction of the ship's forward motion. (I suppose) this intensifies the feeling of restlessness, as does lifting the head in the first shot. I wanted to integrate the dazzle camo, the "classic" mattress stripe pattern and the stacks of the transport. The pencils show how this idea is shaping up, with the smoke of the boilers factored in. The finish -- we'll talk about that next installment -- further juggles and refines the idea, although the pencils may be the cleanest, least ambiguous statement of my intent. Doggone pencils often represent the high point of the artistic statement, but usually they must give way to the story telling requirements of the finish elements, which typically impose consistency (read "tone down") across the pages. My favorite elements of the process, however, are the early pencil work and the final composition. The final two panels in the thumbnail are pretty clear with respect to the story, but perhaps a tad too static; how do we make them move? My solution, not fully developed in the full pencils, is to show our guy clinging to the heaving railing, then camera in to show hair and smoke blowing in the wind. If you recall the finish from my first posting, I ultimately combined these images into a single panel, and integrated the blowing smoke into the wall of smoke rising to the right of the page from the restless panels...

Also, a final note, I am not inclined to fully flesh out the final details in the pencils, especially in the backgrounds. Frankly, some problems don't get solved till crunch time, and at the time this page was pencilled, I didn't know what I wanted to do in the finish. It often happens to me,  I don't really "see it" until I hack around some ideas and push the finish. As I said before, I work backwards! Details back to final composition. The professionals wince..