FemFiciton Zine

I'm part of a ladies-only group that meets once a month to create a zine called FemFiciton.  Below is the artwork I've drawn for the first three issues:

This was my submission for Volume #1.  I drew my Tough Girl on a field of battle.  (BTW the original drawing has been sold, I do have prints available-email me if you want one!)

On the left is our first published issue!  I drew the cover for Volume #1!  On the right is my submission for V.2-dragons and roller derby...

Last but not least, this is my artwork for Volume #3.  I had an idea about an Mayan-inspired dragon I HAD to get out my head.  Luckily the idea turned into a nifty ink drawing!

Comic Book Thumbnails

This is the latest batch of comic book thumbnails from my sketchbook.  There's a plot twist in this chapter, that's why all the margins are crammed with tiny, tiny notes.

Harlem Shake the Comic

Drawn in my sketchbook with an 02 Micron...

In celebration of April Fools' I present my space pirate characters doing the Harlem Shake.  It looks like everyone is totally into the meme except for Jeff.  He's the one pouting in his chair in both panels.  I think he's still angry at me for giving him a gnarly-looking prom date.

Last Thumbnails of 2012

I'm too lazy scan in the thumbs so y'all will have to make do with grainy pics.  This is a project in progress, the thumbnails were drawn with an 02 Micron in my 5"x8" Moleskin.

Sketches From My Sketchbook

Sketches from my sketchbook... Drawn with an 02 Micron.

Thumbnail Mini Comic

This 2"x3" minicomic was made from thumbnails I drew in my sketchbook with an 02 Micron.  I photocopied the sketches at 125%, cut out each page with a blade, and then assembled the comic by gluing the thumbnails into a simple book I made out of Xerox paper and a staple.  The above pic shows the front and back covers (upper left) and 3 interior spreads.

Why did I do this?  I'm planning on self-publishing this comic in installments and I wanted to double-check layouts and page turns before I started inking issue #1.

Bonus sketch: This is Sibley, the star of the aforementioned comic drawn with an 05 Micron and red Tombo marker.  She is holding Tengu, her beloved pet and companion.

Comic Book Thumbnails

These are comic book page thumbnails that were drawn in my sketchbook.  Each thumbnailed page is 1-1/2" x 2-1/4".  Depending on the size of your screen these may appear smaller than actual size, Blogger sometimes likes to scale things rather than display them at the size I saved the file at.

To maintain a consistent thumbnail size I cut a template out of Bristol board that I keep in the back pocket of my Moleskin.  I can fit 10 thumbnails on a single page, but I prefer to only use 8 or 9.  Doing so leaves me room to write notes about action or dialogue.

I like to work this small because its fast, I can easily note characters and word bubbles with a few strokes, and can spot blacks without wasting ink scrubbing in large patches of dark areas.  The only drawback to working this small is that I tend not to use wide shots.  Its hard to draw in scenery when a panel could be less than a half an inch square.  I remedy this by double-checking my thumbs and correct any lack of shot variety as I ink in the finished page.

The thumbnails above were drawn for a project in-progress with an 02 Micron.

Discarded Thumbnails

As mentioned in yesterday's post I thumbnailed out the beginning of my cat comic only to discard that work once I did a major edit of the story.  There was a major overhaul to the number of characters and their personalities as well as a shift to where the drama/action/angst started.  Although I really like sections of the above (I've posted only one of the pages from my sketchbook) the edited version flows so much better now.

FK Color Test

*Click the pics to enlarge*

These are the color tests I've done for project FK.  I'm really happy with the way they've come out.  I think the "vibe" of this technique goes well with the story I want to tell.  I may adjust the palette a little bit, but other than that I'm going to start working on pages. :)

FK Thumbnails

More thumbnails.... This time its the first 7 pages of a project I'm calling FK.  I have most of the prep work done for this comic, the last big thing I have to do is research for the backgrounds and environments.  Part of that will be done at Anaheim Ice-I have plans to hang out there in the upcoming weeks taking reference photos and sketching.  Anything that gets me away from the drawing table and watching hockey is a welcome distraction.

SAR Color Test

This is a color test for the project I've been working on-codenamed: SAR.  See my last post for the thumbnails of the first 15 pages.

SAR Thumbnails

From my sketchbook.  Click to enlarge.
I've been MIA the last month working on character designs, plot, and pages for a new comic.  I'm excited about the story enough that I'm keeping it under wraps, but I thought I'd share the first 15 pages of the book anyway.  I think things are ambiguous enough that my thumbnails aren't giving away any spoilers.

I wanted to share this image too.  I was concerned my layouts were appearing repetitive so I quickly filled in the panels with the marquee and paint bucket tools in Photoshop.  Needless to say looking at the panels this way confirmed my layouts are okay.

UVTU Thumbnails

From my sketchbook.  Click to view at larger size.

These thumbnails will make zero sense to anyone without knowledge of my comic and the characters, but I wanted to show them off anyway.  I don't write a script in advance, I just draw thumbnails and write dialogue at the same time.  Occasionally little secrets the characters have come to light as I sketch and I absolutely love that serendipity.  Believe or not but these 10 pages solved a slight issue I had with the plot.  It totally made my day to have that last piece of the puzzle come into place.

Goalie

This is an inking/coloring experiment done in Photoshop for a new comic I'm working on. The story is currently being written so I can't go into details yet, but I can confirm it involves ice hockey. :)

Satellites & Spaceships

Both images are from my sketchbook:

Above are some doodles of satellites. I like the hamster-powered one at the very top. How come NASA hasn't thought of that design yet? Haha. :P

Spaceship designs for my space pirate comic.

Booger Burger

This was the first thing I drew in 2011. I heard once that whatever you do as the clock hits midnight affects what you do the rest of the year. I guess that means I'm going to draw comics about gross bodily functions. Hahahaha. I don't know if that's true or not but I did laugh as I sketched this out. Maybe drawing things that make me LOL is the true omen for 2011. Yeah I hope that's it.

P.S. For those new to my sketch blog, the above features my crew of totally inept space pirates. Its a work-in-progress I'm hoping to turn into a webcomic very, very soon.

Comic Book Thumbnails

I thought I'd share something I have been working on. I've been drawing thumbnails of comic books and manga pages to study the pacing of the stories, the layout of the panels, and the placement of B&W and color. Its been extremely helpful to look at a story as a whole and see the structure of it. Below are the thumbnails I drew from Sardine in Outer Space V.1 by Emmanuel Guibert and Johann Sfar, and Naruto V.28 by Masashi Kishimoto.

Sardine is very consistent when it comes to panel size, shots, placement of word bubbles, and color. The sketchy nature of the original artwork makes my thumbnails not as legible as Naruto's below, but you can still see the overall consistency of Sfar's work. (Note: My thumbnails are in B&W, the comic is in color. Also the size of the image is just a bit bigger than the actual sketchbook page. The pages read left-to-right, page turns are marked with a small star.)


I know that Naruto isn't really taken seriously online by some comic-reading folks. Its mainly written off as a silly manga about ninjas, but Kishimoto is SO good when it comes to character design (I should type up a post about just that topic at another time) and layouts.

In my thumbnails below the pages read right-to-left and page turns are noted at the bottom left with a star. Note how Kishimoto extends the panels away from the gutter, keeping it clear except for spreads. The shots vary widely from extreme close-ups to wide shots. Tone is used to separate a character from the background or to emphasize a past memory, I've only seen it used sparingly for rendering a shape. Scene changes are marked with a small panel of background imagery. Word bubbles are almost in every panel but the dialogue is kept short, plenty of space is left for the image. (That's something I need to work on, my panels can sometimes get crowded with dialogue) There is a great balance of black and white especially in the fight scenes of 246 (the top one).



Its been a learning experience working on these. I've done quite a few, these three are just a sampling. :) Right now I'm especially studying manga because they are printed in black and white, the same way I eventually plan publish my comic.

When my schedule clears back up I have plans to sketch out Yotsuba, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Blade of the Immortal. I also want to start looking at some American titles: Bone (how could I not?), later issues of Finder, Blankets, and B&W issues of classic Uncanny X-Men. If you want to draw comics I really recommend doing this. I have learned so much from the couple of titles I've already sketched from.

Page Sketches

From my sketchbook... This is a panel from a Halloween-themed comic.

Below are the thumbnails for the beginning of UVTU Ch. 2.

I see butt!

From my sketchbook...
Look what I did to poor Al. Drugged, radio collared, naked, and on display in an alien zoo. >:) Haha, the horrid things I do to my characters. Anywaaaaaaay, I don't have anymore pages for this, I just drew this one to get a funny idea out of my head.

Girl's Night Out

This was inspired by a recent hiking trip. I only have one page done now, hopefully more soon...