The Rip-Off Comic

I've been working on the "Rip-Off comic" - I have to combine the basic story line of the movie "Maze Runner" with my research on trailer parks. My main characters are Thomas, Brianna, Lucy, and Chuck, the cat. Here are my character sketches for a few of them...

I tend to think in sketches/thumbnails, rather than by writing out a script. I'll show you the progression for one page.

I started with really rough thumbnails...

Then I sketched out the tiers and panels for the page and figured out how the action would progress. I work in blue pencil for the very rough layouts, then purple pencil for more details. This page has no dialog, so I didn't leave any space for balloons...

I ink in the borders first - I like them a little wonky, so I don't use a ruler.

Then I ink over the pencil lines with a fine tip black pen, and erase the lines.

Finally, I use gray Marvy and Pitt markers to add shading and backgrounds...

I try to scan after each step. I'd love to learn to do the "inking" and grays in Photoshop. That would save a lot of time with cleanup, re-sizing, etc. But it's hard for me to learn something new when I'm pressed for time.

I hope to actually "DO" this comic! I'd hate for it to end up in that pile of unfinished books. We have another chunk of pages due next week, then we move on to a Non-fiction comic.

Also, this week, we presented our Pecha Kuchas. I did mine as a written presentation with a live Q&A. I'll email my written presentation to all of you who are Subscribers. I hope you find it interesting!

If you love all things "Kells" or tangle-y, be sure to get my ebook, "The Tangles of Kells"!