Process.

So anyway, sometimes people ask to meet me and discuss how to go about making comics. I’d like to help them but I spend most of my time drawing and am pretty beat after the day’s work. However I always felt guilty about politely declining offers for coffee (I prefer beer) To assuage my guilt I’ve put together a sort of basic beginners tutorial on how to make comics keeping in mind some of the problems that I’ve faced as a self taught artist in india. You can find much better tutorials online as well as dvds and of course books are an invaluable investment in the learning process. This is just a starting point with some random stuff thrown in. Just to start off with you have to read the following books. How to draw comics the marvel way http://www.flipkart.com/books/0671530771?_l=gWxQa0snNjHUHKJhnj_y0w--&_r=YCwPQNAEt_ej5sUdFxaDBw--&ref=a0f68480-7b43-4c87-b6f4-d87db980f6b4 and Will Eisners Theory of Sequential art. http://www.flipkart.com/books/0393331261?_l=pFlIm8T2HxANhwos7dMXmw--&_r=uVVDmqaOr4BgCoAhQo7bQQ--&ref=fad65f0c-ce3e-4514-9bab-0d841b04b254 There are hundreds of book suggestions that will pop up on amazon’s recommendation list. You’ll want to learn as much as possible after these two books.

After reading the script I make about three or more mini thumbnails per page. Here’s a zoomed in version of a few. These are literally as big as my thumb. Here I start fleshing out the idea for the page, the size of the panels, the placement of the figures and the flow of the dialogue balloons. This is the stage where you do most of your planning.

After I settle on a mini thumbnail I draw the bigger thumbnail on an a4 size paper roughly in the dimension of 18.5cm by 28 cm. I have tried various methods of drawing pages getting different results. After you have completed your final thumbnail you can Xerox or print it out to 11 x 17 inch or 13 x21 inch paper. Slap another paper on top of it and start the final pencils by using a lightbox. A light box is basically an a3 size box with a couple of bulbs in it and covered with a glass screen. I’m not sure where you can buy one in india but you can probably get one made by any carpenter. Sometimes if I find a better way to draw a page I abandon the thumbnail entirely. As you will notice with the following page. Another method you can use for final rendering is to scan the thumbnail and blow it up. Flesh out the pencils further in Photoshop or corel painter and start digitally inking it. I don’t really like either of these methods because it’s too constraining and feels like an assembly line procedure. But then again what doesn’t work for me might work for someone else. My advice is to experiment as much as possible until you find something that feels natural to you.

Now a little bit about paper. You can order comic art boards online but they are expensive when converted to rupees. I find the best paper locally available to be glossy ivory card paper. You can buy them as big as you want. Right now I use 12 x18 inch ivory card paper. The only drawback is that the paper is not acid free and will turn yellow over time. It takes pencil, ink and gouache paints without warping or wrinkling. To start off I mark out the 11 x 17 inch area and loosely sketch in the panels. As you can see the first two panels are nearly done in this scan. I currently use a 2mm staedler pencil holder with hb lead for sketching .5 mechanical pencil with Faber castell hb lead for detailing. and Faber castle kneaded eraser. You’ll also need French curves, a big triangle and a ruler. Some people recommend a t square too, I have one but I only use it as a pretend Thor’s hammer.

Over the course of 6 to 8 hours I finish the pencils. I used to keep my pencils pretty neat and tight until I realized there really was no point in that since I’m going to ink over it anyhow. If you are working with an inker you might want to keep it as neat as possible. You also might want to invest in a good scanner since quality of your image would depend on it. I currently use Epson perfection v300. It seems good enough. At least better than the god awful canon I had earlier. Drawing on larger 13 by 21 inch paper lets you add a lot of detail but most of it will be lost in the final printing. Also it takes a loooooootttttt of effort and keeping it up page after page day after day for months on end will make you insane or insanely late on deadlines. But I still recommend you try it at least once.

Everything in nature follows a rhythm or flow and you need to incorporate that into your pencils and inks. In fig 1 you’ll see a badly drawn leaf =P Notice the direction in which the lines are going. They flow outwards and for anything organic that you draw the same spiral principle will apply. Like for the head. And for everything else. I guess the only exception is mechanical stuff and buildings and such.

Finally a little intro on line weights. There are many different types of lines you can use to draw. 1 There’s the straight line without any shift in weight. 2 The thin to thick or thick to thin line. 3 The thick to thin to thick line. 4 And my personal fave. The chicken scratch line. I avoided using this for a long time because most books tell you it’s the worst kind of line but I actually love it =D Just observe how your favorite artists handle lineweights it’s pretty easy to pick up and fun to do.

Happy Holidays 2011.

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

other style

Ok. Here's some pages featuring my other style. I have two. I can't decide between them. This one is faster, dirtier and more energetic though. The story for this was written by my friend Saurav Mohapatra.

sigh...abandon ship.

Here's a pencilled page from my own project. I finished the entire first issue but now I'm having second thoughts about the story. You see it was my stubborn nature that made me write, rewrite and then draw and re draw the concept. and in the end i landed with a workable story (3 acts, complex characters. visual metaphors, ironic down ending, the whole nine yards) except I missed the first rule of writing sci fi. Which is; every sci fi story needs one technological invention or some futuristic event at the heart of it. This was just a noirish story set in a sci fi world. Looking back at it, the story could've been set in the real world and nothing much would've changed. I might go back and rework it later because I like the characters but after all the months I've already spent on it (nearly a year)I think I'm pretty sick of it. Working on something until its perfect is one thing but there's something to be said about letting go of lost causes. Also, I learned how to write stories from screen writing blogs and books. It helped me a lot but it kinda made the story 'decompressed'. that style of storytelling may have been in vogue some years ago but I'm personally pretty sick of it. I just want to make a fun comic book. The kind of comics that I used to read as a kid. Some magic, some action, places I have never seen before, cool villains, tragic heroes and gorgeous babes. I want to make the kind of comic book that I can pick up and enjoy for 15 mins and that's pretty much it. No earth shattering revelations, nothing about human nature or the bitter realities of the modern world. (Whats so great about reality anyway?) Funny enough, this was my intention all along but somewhere along the way I guess I went off track. To tell you the truth I don't like to write. every time I do, it feels like I'm literally switching from one side of my brain to the other. I can draw forever though :)

forgotten pages

My god, the later part of 2011 has been utter crap! Here are some pages I was going to send in to Heavy Metal but didn't. As usual, I thought it wasn't good enough. But looking at it now it doesn't seem half bad. But not really something HM would publish I guess. The latter pages could've been better. I'll probably post the whole story when I get it re-done. It was just four pages long. a gag rather than a real story. I worked on these around march of this year or something.

Dean.

R.I.P Dean Ruben Hyrapiet.
1981-2011.

Today I found out that my good friend Dean passed away in Bangalore due to health complications. It was a double whammy for me; Dean was not only one of my few friends during the torturous years I spent in Bangalore but also an amazing artist and visionary. But you wouldn't know that unless you knew him personally and that seems like a crime. So I'm going to tell you a little something about my friend who was taken off this earth far too young.

The first time I met Dean he was sitting in the waiting room of the studio, I had seen his portfolio earlier and told him that I liked his work: it looked like the bastard child of Bart Sears and Stephen Platt. That was the only time I remember a big guy like Dean blushing (or maybe he got mad, I asked him about it much later, he said he didn't remember). Well the only other time he really was blushing was when he talked about his long time love, Beth, whom he would eventually marry.

I think it was natural for Dean and me to be friends although it didn't happen right away; both of us were anti social as hell. Neither of us had an art background, we just loved comics with a fanatic passion. And as friends we argued and fought but it was always forgotten. We discussed art and geeked out over new comics and collaborated. We even shared the same views on humanity and the mystery of the universe.
I suppose I spoke to him the most in Bangalore. He lived up the road from me and we'd travel together to and fro from office. And in the 40 minute rickshaw ride we'd discuss high brow matters like, well, mysterious forces of the universe and low brow matters like mysterious promotions in office.

Like all geniuses Dean was eccentric. He was the worst drinker I have ever seen. He'd gulp down alcohol and then make twitchy eyes. He had a hell of a temper but he always listened to his mum. He was the smartest person I knew but just when you were in awe of his intellect, he'd tell you he has the ability to kill people by flicking his finger at them. He'd talk about peace and then tell you about the time he fought off 19 people with a switchblade. What can I say? The guy was a born storyteller and much like his artwork, he was a study in contrast.

Dean was the kinda artist you would love to hate if you were an artist yourself. You see, unlike normal artists who spend so much time studying, reading books, making notes, memorizing and so forth, Dean just drew naturally. He used to tell me that he'd close his eyes, imagine something and then draw. Most of the time he didn't bother with circles and cylinders, measurements and thumbnails, he'd just start off. It was that simple for him. And his art grew at a monstrous pace. If you don't believe me just check out his work on Dead Soldier which I think was his last book http://www.liquidcomics.com/digital_comics/deadsoldier.html Dean never was on DA or much on facebook. He didn't have a blog where he talked about his ideas and he didn't twitter. He just did his work. He is India's secret comic genius.

If you want to know the kind of story ideas Dean had I'd say it was like the stuff Jordowsky and Moebieus would do. I mean this dude loved epic space operas that had multiple levels of meaning. He was mad about the European sci fi comics and got me hooked onto them as well. He'd show me comics of Enki Bilal with a big smile on his face, recalling the time he met the artist. That was what he loved. Those were the kind of stories and art that he wanted to do. I would've loved to see him draw in his favorite genre. Hopefully collaborate like we did before. But I guess the both of us figured there was more than enough time to get to those crazy big ideas…

Its funny how sometimes time isn't enough. No…scratch that, there's nothing funny about it.

Dean was one of the few lucky people who ended up marrying their one true love. Beth and he were awesome together. And she made him happier than I had ever seen him. I remember when he talked about Beth his tough guy exterior would melt away and you could see he was actually a softie at heart.

Here's something that he told me that was typically the Dean I knew.

He said that sometimes he would close his eyes and concentrate real hard to send a telepathic message to Beth, willing her to call him. You see back when I met Dean they were apart and had not spoken for a long, long time. He didn't even have her number. And she was in a different part of the country altogether. You can believe this next part or not but as he tells it, pretty soon the telepathy paid off, because she tracked down his number and called him up out of the blue. Within a month they were together.

So, if you believe, send a telepathic message out to Beth, urging her to be strong through this tragedy. I'm sure Dean is doing the same thing right now from a far better place.



--Miss you, man.

Traditional inked spawn

Here is an earlier attempt. Also for fun. This was traditionally inked and I honestly don't see much difference between this and the digital one. I think its the technique that has to go. It's time I started experimenting again. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha!

Spawn

Just for fun. Writing is hell...another thing that's hell is monitor color. How do i know the color sickly green is the same sickly green that you see. These are the things that make comic artists go insane.

twilight guardian #4 pages

and here are some pages from the last issue of the twilight guardian mini.

Lanfear

Lanfear from Wheel of time. Tried traditional approach to drawing. Colored on ps. Couldn't join the page properly. Have to give this approach another try soon. Was a lot of fun. Like the composition.

twilight guardian #3

Here are some pages from twilight guardian #3. Its a mix of the parody pages as well as my regular style. I've finished the fourth issue last month. Currently just working on my own concept. Gotta keep busy :P some people like creating their own stories. I find it painful. I like drawing but the story bit of it drives me bonkers. However it does give me a chance to draw stuff I've never gotten to draw before. Really looking forward to that.

twilight guardian#2

Here are some pages from tg #2. One of the challenging (and fun) parts about working on this book are the insert pages done in different styles. I think at the heart of it Twilight Guardian is about celebrating the awesomeness of comics.

twilight guardian #1

Here are a few pages from twilight guardian #1. Written and created by Eisner award nominee Troy Hickman, colored by Bill Farmer. Bill's done an amazing job coloring these pages especially on issue #3. I just saw some of the pages :) It is awesome!

wb pinup

Here's a pin up I did for last years Witchblade annual. I think I prefer storytelling even if its in pinups. Iconic shots aren't my strong point and I get a little bored just posing people (and I think it shows). Didn't have a story to work off so I just threw in a lot of my fave topcow women :) When in doubt, overdo it!

long time no upload

Long time since I uploaded anything. Here's a sample pencil page I was working on earlier this year. Don't know when I can put up the new stuff I've been working on. Probably next year. Anyway, this was from a Witchblade script by Ron Marz.