Comic Book Course

Just finished the last of six evening classes in Comic Book Drawing, at CityLit – London. Really useful course which really made me think, and a very good tutor in Matt Boyce. Drawing from imagination is quite a challenge, especially if you need to do figure work without reference. But somehow not having to dig around for ref photos (or worse, becoming a slave to Google searches) was liberating. We (the class) for our main project had to produce a four page comic book story to a standard US size, which is a lot more work than it sounds!

Although I've recently tried techniques such as inking with a fountain pen, using pencil on drafting film, or deleting the line work leaving just a fill, I ended up sticking to the traditional approved method! It sort of goes like this:–
1. Draw out the entire page of the book on a single sheet of A3 Bristol board within a 10 x 15 inch perimeter using a light blue pencil.
2. Ink over the pencil with indian ink using instrument of choice.
3. Scan greyscale or line art, and place image into final page layout at 60% of size (6 x 9 inch). The light blue pencil should not come out on the scan, leaving just pure black lineart.

It's a big advantage to plan everything on the page, rather than making separate illustrations and putting them together in a page layout software like InDesign. Not only is it quicker but you get an immediate feel for balance and composition on the page. The challenge is drawing straight onto the final illustration surface with confidence, it's not easy to relax into.

Pleased to say that the 1068A Gillot dip pen nib worked a treat with ordinary indian ink (see previous post 'Ink'). Also used a Gillot 303 for finer lines. I even found a use for my fountain pen loaded with Pelican Fount India ink, just to do the freehand rules around the story panels. So despite my doubts the ink didn't dry in the pen (needed some coaxing into life) and is black enough.

The story is a bit contrived, sort of mystery/action, but it starts with a drawing of a real disused hotel on the South Wales coastline, near to where I grew up. I took some digi photos of the blue pencil under drawing, in colour so the blue shows. Even so the lines don't show very well but the results are below. They are now inked in, so tomorrow I'll be doing the hires scans. I've not put the text in yet, I think I'll cheat and use a font and drop it in later.