Lettering
After you draw your three rectangles on the page , you start with lettering . Use a ruler to mark your lines or a handy drafting tool : the Ames lettering guide .
They say that brevity is the soul of wit — in comics , brevity helps with space constraints . Since word balloons take up space in comic panels , shorten the lines to allow more room for the drawings .
● Sorry , I was pulled over by the police for speeding .
● That ’ s your fault ! You should have left earlier .
● I only had my driver ’ s licence was reinstated 30 minutes ago . You can cut out words while lettering or during the scripting phase .
For Example
Drawing
Comic drawings don ’ t have to be complex . The simpler the drawing , the more iconic . A tip for character design is to make characters with simple silhouettes , with different shapes and sizes to differentiate them . Let ’ s make the main character ’ s head a triangle and the boss ’ s head a square .
Depending on how complete you want to make the comic , drawing involves the following steps :
● Rough pencils : Draw with a black pencil or a non-photo blue pencil that won ’ t be perceived by a scanner or photocopier .
● Inking : Trace over your rough pencils with a pen or ink brush to clean up the linework . If you ink over blue pencils , you may not have to erase your pencil lines as the blue shouldn ’ t be picked up by a scanner or copier . If you ink over black pencils , use a soft white eraser to clean up the page before scanning .
● Colouring ( optional ): Give your artwork a final polish with colours and texture .
Repeat
Practice makes perfect — or so I hear . Keep coming up with ideas , fleshing out scripts , and doodling those main characters . With persistence , drawing is an ability that only gets better as you age .
Tony is in his sixth year with ARTA , beginning his third year as lead designer for news & views . When he ’ s not drawing comics or working , you ’ ll find him watching one of countless comic book movies .
news & views AUTUMN 2022 | 49