Have you ever wanted to draw a comic strip, graphic novel, children's book or some other kind of sequential art? Let me show you effectively move your drawings through a story.
Instructions
Thumbnail Comps
1. Before you start your finished piece, you will need to create thumbnail comps. These are very rough little drawings that you can edit, change, draw over and on top of, erase, etc. The first thing to do is to print out your story; I like to have mine double-spaced, to leave room for any edits or initial thumbnails. Go through your story and determine which parts you will illustrate. Don't select so many that you end up making duplicate images, or images so similar that you end up making four or five when only one would have sufficed. Thumbnail little images of various sequences on the side of your page to get a rough idea of how your story will move along. These first thumbnails do not need any elaborate rendering or composition. They're just to let you see how the story will move visually.
2. Get out some blank sheets of paper for your thumbnail compositions. Think of this process as rough storyboarding. Take the initial rough thumbnails from your story page and draw them just a little bit bigger, placing them next to each other chronologically. Also take into account the format your final piece will be in: If it is a children's book, draw in the same proportions as the pages. If it's a comic strip, remember that you will want to keep the panels relatively similar and simple. If you're planning a graphic novel, feel free to break panels, insert panels within panels, etc. If you are working on a graphic novel, have an example of a graphic novel (or a few of them) that you like out and open, to give you ideas for composition and panel breaks. You should also take into account the roomthat will be taken up by speech and thought bubbles when you are working on your composition. When you are done transferring your thumbnails into this format, take a look at them. Fix anything about the drawings that you need to, especially composition (make the pictures more interesting or less complicated) and lighting (dramatic lighting can definitely move the story, and make it much more intense). Do not stop editing until you are happy with your work and it starts to make the story come to life.
3. If your thumbnails are almost exactly the way you'd like to see them in final form, you can trace them out with tracing paper, then fix and polish them afterward. If you are following this method, scanning your thumbnails and enlarging them to your final size is the way to go. If you do not want to trace them, use them as a reference for your final drawings. Make sure that your format and size are correct, or at least proportionate, so that you can size them down to the final format. Follow the fundamentals of drawing, line variation, cross-hatching (if applicable), etc. Once you are happy with your drawing, you can decide to color them or paint them (in Photoshop or otherwise) and add text where needed. You are done! Because you worked out the kinks in the thumbnail stage, without the distraction of having to aim for perfection, your story should feel more alive and flow a lot better than if you were to have drawn it from scratch in its final format. Enjoy your work!
