Picky Penciling: The Anatomy of a Rough Layout!

Here is how I am working at the moment, from blank piece of paper to penciled drawing ready to ink (I explain my even more Byzantine inking process here).

1. First I lay out the lettering on Borden & Riley #37 Boris Layout Bond...

2. After determining where the word balloons will fall, I work out a thumbnail (1 3/4" inch wide).

3. Then I pencil with light blue Col-Erase and graphite pencils on the layout bond (note: I added an additional word balloon) ...

4a. I proceed to blue-pencil the other panels in the tier. I often use scrap pieces of tracing paper to cover completed panels, to avoid smearing.

4b. A closer shot of the blue pencil rough taking shape.

5. Pencil refinements continue. I usually take 3-4 passes over a figure to arrive at a tight pencil drawing. The tools of the trade are shown here.

6. Here's the final rough layout. Sometimes I will tighten up further with a Pilot fine line pen (as on page 1A, posted earlier), but not on this one. I will scan and ink on an overlay of Clearprint Design Vellum in the coming weeks.

7. I thought I was done, but Clarissa's head was angled too low and Stella's expression wasn't working, so I redrew the heads the next morning...

8. Here is the final composite with the fixed heads. I think this will work better.

Lost Serials: New Sketches Unearthed!

Here are some more sketches for The Megaton Man Weekly Serial c. 1999 that instead became the beginning of Atomic Aftermath. More sketches here.

The top tier shows Megaton Man carrying his son Simon and his sidekick X-Ray Boy from the end of the previous adventure. The bottom tier shows Paul Nabisco gassing up the VW van, and Agent Jerry spotting Nikki Robertson still inside the comic book convention. Neither of these strips were ever drawn.

These sketches were translated fairly accurately in early installments of Atomic Aftermath.

Old Wine Skins: Inking More Vintage Megatropolis Quartet

Here is some inking in progress (done today, May 5, 2014) for an upcoming installment of Atomic Aftermath (essentially the post-9/11 storyline I am serializing on this blog). The rough layouts date from 2003 or 2004, and I probably lettered them on Clearprint a few years ago. One reason to ink them now is that if I wait any longer, the drafting tape might never come off! No kidding.

Two panels partially inked on Clearprint Design Vellum, with the layouts underneath. This gives a good idea of the translucent quality that the material affords. It greys out the original enough so that I can concentrate on the linework I'm lying down, and it eliminates erasing. I have to hold the vellum down to keep it in contact with the layout, which is a challenge (I usually use a burnisher), but generally I enjoy working with this method and am pleased with the results.

Update: Here are the other two panels in the scene, completely inked.

The layouts and inked finishes, side by side.

The two panels below occur between the two panels above, sequentially, to complete the scene:

Two tiers lettered some time ago but inked today, next to the rough layouts done in 2003-4 in marker. Note the lettering on the layouts, which was done using a computer font I designed in Fontographer based on my lettering. I was never really happy with it, and used it only on a few commercial freelance jobs. Here I've traced it using Rapidograph 2.5 and 3.5 pen points to give it more of a hand-lettered feel (in fact, exactly a hand-lettered feel). The layouts are actually photocopies of the originals, slightly blown up.

Megaton Man Meets Connie Carlyle

Here is the panel that precedes one already posted, in which Trent Phloog returns to his New York apartment only to find a tenant who is subletting. See previous posts for more the identity of this mystery roomie!

Left to right: Light blue Col-Erase and graphite pencil on layout bond, with lettering on canary yellow tracing paper, traced from a blown-up sketch (see below); ink on Clearprint 1000HP Design Vellum, April 29, 2014

Below is the original 2003 sketchbook page from which the original thumbnail derives:

2003 sketchbook sheet working out a couple of related scenes (Megaton Man discovering the Megatropolis Quartet headquarters is closing, and finding Connie at his old apartment). Note the loose fitting yoga pants Connie is wearing, replaced by the ubiquitous tights girls wear these days. Note also that I'm changing her name from Colleen to Connie!

From Thumbnail to Ink: Persistence Pays Off

Here is a look at a thumbnail sketch of Megaton Man, from a 2008 sketchbook, in light blue Col-Erase pencil and some graphite, approximately 5 inches across. I always like the energy of this pose, and my sketchbooks are filled with lots of quick, energetic sketches like this.

Below shows the scan, blown up to 8.5" x 11", with some tighter blue and graphite penciling over it, with some white out, and a corny gag lettered as well. Below that is a tighter tracing with a Uni-Ball on canary yellow tracing paper. Both of these are from 2012. On the bottom is the inked final on Clearprint vellum, done this afternoon.

It's still a corny gag, but it shows I finish what I start, and that persistence pays off. Never throw anything away, you still might be able to salvage it for something useful! An experiment like this not only proves that I can go back and retrieve something from the past and bring it to life again, and can extract some of the energy from what would otherwise be a throw-away little scribble, but it also helps fuel the new ideas I'm thinking up for the character. At this point, Megaton Man is 30 years old, and virtually all the ideas I have for him and his supporting cast have either been brewing in the back of my mind for some time, or are interpretations of older ideas that might have greater potential now than before. In other words, everything is to some extent an interpretation or reinterpretation, or reinvention.

Final drawing in color.

(I need to date it 2008/2014.)