Size-Wise??

[Spacious Interior]

Cary:

I'm a painter/illustrator primarily. Always have been. So really, the smallest size I work at is 11x17 for a single image. I've become so comfortable doing it, that narative work has become kinduva nightmare.

Basically - I can't draw small anymore. My lines don't seem to come out right going from panel to panel. I do well as an illustrator, but suddenly I'm doing two seperate stories for Charnel House and I'm having to slow way down to make sure it looks good.

Ever run into this?

[rpace]

I'm not Cary, but I'll take a shot at answering your question.

Drawing on seperate pieces of paper would be a good alternative. I do most of my drawing on bond, working out anatomy, perspective and costuming prior to lightboxing onto the bristol.

In your specific case, until you get more comfortable working to the 11x17" page size there's another method you can approach it. After you've completed the layouts I'd suggest drawing the panels at a comfortable size then scale down to board size by photocopy or scan & print and then lightbox onto the board.

A long term solution for this would be to put more effort in drawing smaller at the start of the process; I usually do three thumbnails per page that are, at the largest, 2x3" before actually working out a reasonably tight layout at print size. AT the print size layout I do most of the perspective work since the vanishing points are easier to work with at that scale and you really end up focusing on what the reader sees -- larger shapes and visual movement through the page. If I'm working full script, planning balloon placement at this stage also saves a great deal of effort (and time) in areas that will be occluded by captions or dialogue.

Working much larger does have the risk of overloading too much detail and cluttering the panels and page flow, so be careful.

Best of luck,

~Richard Pace

[Spacious Interior]

So I guess just need to buy a lightbox.

The problem isn't getting comfortable with 11x17, just that that's the smallest I work. I usually try to push 18x20 or more.

[rpace]

I'm sorry, I guess I misunderstood that you were having a difficult time drawing the smaller panels on an 11x17 page.

~Richard

[carynord]

Cary:

I'm a painter/illustrator primarily. Always have been. So really, the smallest size I work at is 11x17 for a single image. I've become so comfortable doing it, that narative work has become kinduva nightmare.

Basically - I can't draw small anymore. My lines don't seem to come out right going from panel to panel. I do well as an illustrator, but suddenly I'm doing two seperate stories for Charnel House and I'm having to slow way down to make sure it looks good.

Ever run into this?


I've got the opposite problem; I can't draw big. I draw all my roughs out at quarter size and then enlarge to 11x17.

I can draw big, it just takes a bit of an adjustment period --like learning to draw with a tablet on the computer. Just hash it out for a bit, you'll get used to it eventually.

[Pencils_Tom]

So I guess just need to buy a lightbox.

The problem isn't getting comfortable with 11x17, just that that's the smallest I work. I usually try to push 18x20 or more.
I usually, work small in thumbnails, then I blew it up on an actual drawing scale with a lightbox. Can't work faster by drawing big :(

[Scribbly]

I erased mine above since you were adressing Cary,
though he should give you the first answer.
Now everybody did, I'll go with mine.

Feel comfortable, with the size you need for work.
It always can be downsized or magnified after.
You can do thumbnails, printing size or work direct in 11x17 size.

In time, you can change and try for something different.
All depends in how confident you feel with your work
and how crazy you are with your deadline.

Now, I'm working in 11x17 size.
Doing the sketckes in this size, but in copy paper.
If I don't like what I got, I can start againg.
Then, the construction over that in vellum paper.
After that, light boxing all in bristol paper for final rendering.

But before that, and for many years, I used to make my
very loose sketches directly in the final 11x17 bristol and
inking straight over these sketches.
For some reason, I can't do that anymore.
I'm a chicken now. :cry: