| FEB | Mar 2008 | APR | |||||
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 1 | |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |
| 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Email the author at
qwanderer7+lgc@gmail.com
The Elves of LleuGarnock is Copyright
Irene Pitcairn<2008-2009. The Elves of
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March 20, '08
I believe this is the one remaining comic with a photograph as part of the backgrounds. It's also probably the one where everyone would be least likely to notice it if I hadn't pointed it out. Oops.
I was lazy that day. My work with crowds has gotten better. Except where it's deteriorated into extremely fuzzy green dots.
I thought I'd talk a bit about the steps I use to make a comic. Many details of this will make more professional artists cringe. But a lot of it has to do with not spending money on a hobby until the hobby has shown a return. This has proven to be a good policy for me, since there are so many expensive hobbies I'm interested in: photography, ceramics, painting, quilting, jewelry making, the construction of cosplay costumes (I would really like to dress as Temari of the Sand from Naruto but I have tried and failed to make an accurately enormous fan).
These are my current techniques: I have no drawing table or desk. I take a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, put it on a clipboard and sketch in the panels with a dull #2 writing pencil. This includes word bubbles; they are always part of the whole composition for me. Then I use a mechanical pencil to refine the sketches if needed. Then I ink everything with a felt-tip pen and a fineliner (this has changed several times). Then I take my fat pink eraser and create the smell of burning rubber. This stage is the reason I stuck with cardstock after I first tried it, even though some of my pens bleed horribly on it.
I scan this as a "black and white document," then open it in MS Paint and save it as a monochrome bitmap, then back to 24-bit color. This produces a wonderful point-and-click coloring book effect which is very fast, the reason I use MS Paint for my first layer of color. I know I could use the Threshold tool in the GIMP to create the same file, but the "color eraser" tool in Paint is the simple yet unique thing that makes it so much faster. The "color eraser" function in the GIMP is totally different and probably quite useful for some people. But I can set Paint to paint over only the pure white pixels with any color I want, which fills in any holes that destroy my point-and-click coloring page.
Then comes the second layer of color, in the GIMP. Interesting fact: I do all my drawing with my left hand. I do not own a tablet. I can only control a mouse comfortably with my right hand. So all coloring effects are done with my non-dominant hand. And the bottom of my mouse is sticky. (I just noticed this.) I am nearly ambidextrous, but it still takes a toll on the art.
Okay, I have to put this up, then go to bed. I fear it's too late to have it go up with the comic, and I will have to update manually. But this comes with good news: I drew two comics today, and colored one of them! Go me!