Legacy #4: Noob

HAHA! Darth Zoidberg! Your friend is definately my boy.

 

Suddenly Futurama makes all sorts of sense...

 

What interests me the most is that from the preview the story feels to have a little "Band of Brothers" (see action from the troops side) theme to it ... I hope. That got me

 

What's the difference bewteen inkers and colourers, Jan?

 

Ex - Inkers do the lines (over the pencils), colourers fill in between the lines

 

Lines over pencils? I don't understand that. Illustrators draw the page shapes, that much I know.

 

Usually, a comic-scene starts with pencil sketches. But since pencils are not so accurate, and not BLACK, the pencil lines are drawn again with inks (digital or traditional).

I'm on the search for an example, now...

EDIT:

[image=http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4630/inkingsamplebyragelionse5.jpg]

Pencils (blue), and inks (black). Usually, pencils are grey, of course^^

EDIT2:
Um, well, best ignore my try to explain it... timbolton did a way better job below...

 

The artist (like Jan) draws the page with pencils - eg, see Brian Ching's work here. The inker goes over this pencil work with ... well ... ink. The black stronger lines that makes the objects (edges and internal details) stand out from the colour. I think that may be done after the colourist has come in and done their work, I can't remember the exact order process.

So more often than not, the main artist ONLY does the pencils, not inking. That is a professional job in itself. You can see examples in Jan's art where some panels do not have ink on at all (but are coloured), so the edges of the objects appear "fainter".

That any clearer? Apologies for before, my explanation wasn't the best.

Edit: Sorry to use what is a "dumbed down" source - but this is a quick idea of the process - here

 

Interesting, Tim. Such effort for a single comic page. This forces me to reevaluate what I consider to be Best Blades "superiority" and Prelude to Rebellion "simplicity." So the hand choking the hardcover buyer is pencilled first, then sort of pencilled again under a better format. Arting comics must take ages. The coordination between parties must be challenging.

 

It's a long and challenging process, then the whole thing has to be sent off to be printed which is complicated too, and also time consuming and hence why I never complain if a comic gets delayed, these people put their heart and soul into publications, it's not so simple a process.

I see comics as a great art form, and the pencillers (and the rest of the team) should be given all the credit for their hardwork and creativity as much as any fine artist does when it's on display in a gallery.

 

I have a renewed respect for the artisans.

 

Excellent!
Can't wait to see #3 and #4, Legacy is shaping up to be one of my favourite DHC series.

 

Inkers = tracers (according to Chasing Amy)

 

If an inker were merely a tracer then anyone could ink a comic book. Not so. In a lot of ways inking is harder than penciling. The real trick is to take that hard line and make it flow, make the shadows work, the foreground and background objects not flatten into one another. Not an wasy task. Dan and I take this process one step further when we work with tones, ink washes and even combine pencils, inks and washes within the same panel. We started working this way on JEDIooku. As we live on separate coasts, we were on the phone every day discussing on how to make this work. As a result, that book is full of these gorgeous background washes and pencil and ink panels. It was a total jam session.

We still incorporate a lot of that kind of thinking into the art, though now it's become a lot more instinctual for both of us. I like this approach because it allows us to have hard and soft edges on the page instead of the totally hard edge of ink or the consistently softer look of pencils. It also allows us to play with shadows in interesting ways. Sometimes we take the approach of black shadows on the figure blending into the black shadows of the BG--but other times, we can use a wash to make the scene seem dark and broody and still allow light to play in the BG or in the shadows over the figures too. Real handy when it comes to cast shadow (ie shadows falling over faces or figures.)

The colorist does his work after us usually in Photoshop and adds color, effects and layers more mood into the scenes.

 

And now you know! And learning is half the battle.... G.I. JAAAAAN!




(sorry, couldn't resist the opportunity)

 

Since people are asking, I'll try to give a rundown of how a comic is put together. Or, at least, how LEGACY is put together. The same basic approach works across the board.

We start with a story overview. If a story goes more than one issue, then we cover all the issues, usually showing the intended issue breaks. If it's for a single issue, we still have to have a story overview. Jan and I work on the concepts and then I write a draft. Jan and I go over it until we're both happy -- and then it goes to DH and LFL for approvals. This approval process happens at EVERY stage of the story.

The next step is the script -- full script, things broken down into pages and panels, with all captions and dialogue put in. Again, Jan and i consult back and forth at this stage so that she feels easy about it from not only the art standpoint but our understanding of the characters et al. When complete, the script goes off for approval again.

Jan then does the pencils. She can speak more authortatively as to that process but it includes laying the story out first, getting any reference (or, in this case of LEGACY creating it or making sure its created) and then pencilling it all. VERY time consuming -- especially with the detail that Jan puts in. Off for approvals again.

The inker follows although he can be doing his work almost at the same time. Jan doesn't send the entire thing in at once. She sends in what she does and the inker gets to work on the pages Jan has finished while she works on other pages. The adding of ink over pencil was necessary up until pretty recently because the printing process couldn't pick up the pencil marks. These days, with use of computerized printing, that's not as true and more than a few comics are done with color right over the pencils. Hpwever, a good inker will also add texture to the art , among other things. A good inker who understands the pencillers intention and works in concert with them is a great asset; a bad inker can wreck the penciller's hard work. Approval process again.

The colorist then does their work and this has really advanced over the past few yars with computers. The range of color, the ability for detail and effects, has all increased dramatially in the past few years.

Then the lettering is applied, usually busing computers on an overlay. It all gets proofread and approved and sent to the printer -- who is usually outside the U.S. (So you figure in shipping time.) It then comes to Diamond Distribution who breaks the print run down to the orders of individual stores and ships them out. Actually, it usually goies to regional warehouses first and then shipped out from there.

Somewhere in all this (usually early on) a cover is created. Sketches have to be sent in and approved and then the cover itself has to be done and approved. It has to be done far enough is advance for ordering purposes. The cover artist can be the same as the interior artist or someone else entirely. In the latter case, you're working towards co-ordination between cover and interior artists. Ideally. In theory.

If there is a breakdown ANYWHERE in the process for ANY reason, the delay either has to be made up elsewhere (usually the inker, colorist and/or letterer) or the book misses shipping on time. If the transit time from printer to Diamond gets delayed or the printer has a problem -- delay.

And each month we begin again. Deadlines loom constantly. At a crunch, I've been known to go from concept to finished script for a fill-in over a weekend (not for DH and SW; elsewhere). While Jan is working on one issue, I'll be scripting another and starting to plot still others.

That may have been more than you wanted to know but -- there it is. Vacations and time off have to scheduled and planned for, emergencies and illnesses have to be coped with. I've been doing it professionally now for 20+ years. Hey, it beats working!<g>

-- John

 

Thanks so much, John and Jan!

 

Thank you Jan and John
I could only scratch the surface, a billion times better to hear it from the professional side

 

i thought putting out a yearbook was difficult. next time i feel like being pitied, i will suck it up.

 

Very interesting, Jon. Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

Oh! Thanks for that explanation. I had noticed starting with Jedi: Dooku there are those kick ass panels with soft lines. Those always look great, and make my favorite panels. Good job!

John: *bows down before the greatness*

 

Sheesh. So ignoring the shipping/mass printing/packing type people....just the writers and artists....how many man hours go into a single comic...say.....Legacy #2 (I'll assume #2 is always a little easier than #1 because you have a storyline to go with....)?

Carnage

 

Cheers, guys.

 

How many working hours go into a comic...For me it's usually a good month or more for one issue. (but I draw slow...) I generally work 8/9-5 take a couple hours off, then come back to the board about 7 or 8 and work as long as I can--maybe 11-11:30 depending on the night. So, huh!--lots of hours. Doesn't matter though--I'd be drawing as many hours possible anyway.