New King
Gorr Meets the Truggz Thumbnail Sketch
I got such a great response with my last strip thumbnail sketch, thought I’d share one today as well. Here is the rough for the final panel of today’s strip. You can see that I’m just blocking the shapes in for layout more than drawing anything detailed. Notice how in the finished version I made Gorr much smaller to emphasize the enormity of the Truggz. I highly recommend artists start with the strip as a whole, and get the design down before any individual panels are sketched out in pencil. It will save so much time later.
haha called it xD *builds nuke shelter and shivers in a cornor*
Just remember, Gorr is a rapacious ruler. First things first!
I’ve got a bad feeling about this 🙂
Heh, heh.
A very good tip.
All hail to King Gorr!
He will rule with an iron paw!
Hail to the king. 🙂
Now the world is his doghouse!
Thanks for the advice on design, you don’t see a lot of that on the webcomic pages. It tells me you love what you do and that shows through your work. Nice work Mark!
I’m curious to know how you work, Tim. You say you draw your layouts on a notepad? Tell me about your process.
Once I get an idea, I usually get the writing part down first, then I have a spiral notebook that I put my thumbnails in. I might sketch each strip 2 or 3 times until I get the layout right. Then it’s on to the bristol board (100 lb. smooth). I rule in my panels then I ink with brush tip markers and I fill large areas with art nibs and a bottle of black india ink. Then I scan and add spot color with a program called Photo Filtre, then I post! I hope this wasn’t too wordy.
Thanks for sharing your process, Tim. Using the thumbnail as a guide, I visually transfer the sketch to a larger sheet of paper the same size as my finished art and do a rough sketch to size. Once I’m happy with that stage, I drop a sheet of bristol over in on a light table and tighten up the pencil line for final inking. Dave Kellett has a piece of plexiglass with the panels cut out in the format he uses, and when he rules his panel lines, he uses that instead of T-squares and rulers. That sounds like a great idea, I hate ruling panels! Next I do my lettering. The inking is always the funniest part for me. I love that part!
Hail to the king, baby!
That’s a great tip about thumbnails there Mark.
Now he can pee on the world! Glad you liked the tip. How do you begin a strip, Brandon, I’m curious?
After it’s written, I sketch the whole strip on a layer in PS, then thicken the lines, then ink, then colour. The pre-staging thing is something I haven’t done since art class, but it always made a difference in the final work.
So now we’re going to try doing a pre-sketch each week before I start drawing. I’ll let you know how it works out 😉
For me it helps me keep track of my ideas. Especially for a continued storyline. Plus it gives you a way to try different panel layouts and character poses before you commit to the final art.
I’ve always heard the expression “having a pissing contest” but I never knew it would establish dominance so easily. 🙂 I wonder if this works for local politics as well. 🙂
You can certainly try, Todd! I’d be interested to hear what happens, lol!
It’s strange… it’s an interesting ownership concept, but peeing on stuff at the store doesn’t seem to work, and the restraining orders and court summonses keep piling up.
And don’t forget the indecent exposure bonus! Gorr keeps it simple. We humans are just too complicated.
Well that’s an unexpected turn of events. All hail King Gorr!!!
But will there be forthcoming retaliation from the old king???
Didn’t you see his tail between his legs?
God idea on the thumbnails. I usually have an idea in my head & draw it out full size straight away. Doing it that way causes lots of eraser use though when I think of alternate ways of drawing it.
It’s interesting to hear how other artists work. I guess as long as the job gets done, the sky’s the limit. The hardest part about redraws at the last stage is getting rid of all the erasor without tearing a hole in the paper, lol.
Does he need to pee on all of them now?
Naw, it’s like bullies. Take out the biggest and meanest one of them all and none of the rest will challenge you. At least in theory.
Being at the top of the pack always seems like fun until important decisions have to be made. Then it’s time to pass the crown off to somebody else. 🙂
I love the character designs for these guy, Mark!
And nobody wants to take the blame when something goes wrong. Passing the crown in the old days, passing the buck today! Thanks for the nice comments on designs, George.
Finally some respect for the dog. Great strip.
That kind of respect is a primal thing.
“Pee drops keep fallin’ on my head…”
And you won’t stop Gorr’s reign by complainin’!
It’s great seeing how other artists work. Thanks for posting your thumbnails!
Hey Justin. I love that stuff too. Cool to see how other people do their thing. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
So, the moral to the story is, if you mark it, you become its king?! ….. “Look out Botswana, I just drank a keggeh and I’m comin foh ya!” o.O [grin]
There’s just one catch. You have to be a dog. I mean a real one.
Let’s here if for Gorr. Puppy Power!
Today an underground civilization, tomorrow the World!
Even though I work digitally, I’ll do some basic sketches to block out the action & layout beforehand if I don’t have the action clearly in mind.
It’s nice to hear you keep the hand of the artist in your work. You put a lot of effort into your layouts, characters and color and it shows!
Thanks, Mark!
Thats actually an awesome tip! Mapping out the strip. I’m going to try that on my next couple of panels.
I love the use of color! That dark red is perfect for the beasts!
-Aaron
Thumbnails are quick and easy and get the concept down fast without a lot of detail. When I’ve got something I like I can take it to a more finished sketch. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Aaron. Looking forward to your strip.
Love your advice, Mark. I only recently started doing pencil sketches before putting them on my computer.
Thumbnail sketches let you experiment a bit before you commit to a final drawing. Plus I find it helps me remember a joke easier than if I just write it down in words.
Oh hey I do the exact same thing! I draw a (VERY) rough sketch of the comic and where the characters are going to be located. I do this on paper. But after that I draw the entire comic on my laptop! Of course I add a “scratch” layer that has a rough drawing of the characters and their body language and positions. Love your art!
I was telling Will Terrell SuperZeroes that working out storylines in thumbnails helps me tell a story easier than writing a script. Your work Ink on the Side is funny and smart and well drawn. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, I’ll do the same. Keep in touch!
I work with a friend on the art and dialog, and we do crazy amounts of storyboarding ahead of time. Maybe too much sometimes? I seriously agree with you about how important it is to know what you’re gonna do beforre you do it.
Also, ew, that monster’s head is covered with pee!!!
I can’t imagine working any other way. It’s all about the flow and making things easy to understand. I usually do several thumbnails before I even start roughing out the panels. I appreciate your insight, and comments!