Step # 3

The “thumbnailing” stage is probably the most fun part of the whole process for me. This is where I get to solve the whole story to myself and marvel at all the narrative options I come up with and which I’ll come to regret some time after the story’s done and (hopefully) printed.

As you can see, these are pretty hieroglyphic, but they determine the shots I want to use on the pages perfectly, since I’m focusing on cadence and page composition. 

On this story, I’m working on A4 pages (21x29,7 cm, roughly half the size of a comic book drawing page). This was a thing I wanted to experiment with for a long time and the choice has many reasons.

First, it’s a very portable way of working, I can draw on them practically anywhere, and I don’t need one of those cumbersome artist’s folders to carry everything around.

Second, I want to experiment with a specific kind of storytelling language, a low panel count per page and playing with the pace of the story.

Third, it’s the size that fits my brand new light table, with which I can ink pages anywhere. I have to be practical, I’m on a deadline and this helps a lot. More on this beautiful instrument later.

So, here’re the thumbnails for the first pages. The rest of it is in progress. You’ll have to buy the book to see it.   

1:25 AM - 12/2/2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Step # 2

Well, I know a couple of methods of going about this next step, in my studio I have a couple of examples from workmates. You have those who have the action written page by page, setting the breaks already on the script, so that you can dive into the storyboard without a care in the world, then there are those who just flesh out the story a sequence at a time, feeling their way through the work’s progress. There’s even the option of going page by page without net, having everything in your head and just making (and probably remaking) a lot of the decisions on the spot.

I’m going with the way I feel is the most effective, or at least the one that’s working for me. Writing the story, I give myself some degree of leverage on some decisions and plot points that sometimes don’t come out on the first draft. Since I’m a one man team on this one, I know where to leave appropriate blanks to fill on the actual pages or even in post-production, so after writing the gross of the story and the action, I set up the sequences with a number of pages attributed to each one, within the total number allotted to this first chapter.

I’m keeping these numbers flexible, leaving a couple of pages out again for leverage.

Having each sequence set, I then write one line summaries of the action on each page, which will guide me through the storyboard stage.

With the action all thought out, I then map out the whole thing in storyboard thumbnails.

That’s the next step.

9:55 PM - 11/22/2008 - comments {0} - post comment