[dc]H[/dc]ere is a look at how I laid out yesterday’s comic, Bad. Regular readers should recall I started paneling comics on paper again, and I’ve been happy with the result so far.

behind the scenes bad

A strong foundation, yes.

Next week, you will see the first comic I laid out using graph paper. Graph paper makes figuring out panels a snap, and it cuts down on extra work I have to do in Manga Studio after importing a photo or scan.

I’m finding it less stressful/brain-crampy to layout comics this way than digitally in Manga Studio. It must be something about seeing the whole page at once and putting pen to paper. It’s very technical, I know. I want to get back to figuring out panels on my own and not rely on (very handy) pre-made panels (nothing against using these, of course. I just want to shake things up).

Not a lot changed between this first sketchy layout and the final comic, other than a bit of dialogue.

I fine-tuned the look of the bikers once I got into Manga Studio too. You can thank Google Image Search and Amazon for the final look of the bikers. Hooray for reference images! I’m trying to get better about using.

I’m hoping the illustration class I’m taking will get me into a good habit of using more reference photos, as the first two assignments relied on them. Using a reference photo instead of my memory makes a big difference.