When I originally took over drawing duties at 5ColorControl I drew all the comics on paper and then, using a mouse and Photoshop, pieced them together on my computer to form a comic.
This method was slow. It took days to put a comic together, especially because I was using a scanner at work.
Then I got a drawing tablet for christmas '09 and I started drawing all the comics on that exclusively. That cut the time it takes to produce a comic down drastically. Now, when I am "on" I can crank out a decent comic in an hour or two (longer if I am not drawing particularly well that day).
Recently, however, I have been less and less satisfied with my tablet drawing skills. So I have started sketching most of the panels on paper and scanning them in. Then I use the tablet and trace over the sketches, add background and color and the like. This adds more steps to the creation process, but yeilds better quality, in my opinion.
The problem with this method is that my skills on the tablet may stagnate. I was hoping that I would get better at drawing on the tablet the more I did it (Which has been the case... just slowly).
I guess I will continue in this fashion, as I think it produces the best quality comics that I can produce at the moment... I will continue to experiment as well, hopefully I can expound on this in future blog posts.
This made me think about a cool invention... An etch-a-sketch watch. The watch is a miniautre etch-a-sketch with little drawing knobs, but there is also a button you can push that sends a current through the hour and minute hand to align the iron particles on the inside, giving you the time.
ReplyDeleteI think that is one idea that could make us infinitely rich. I would buy six... million...
Also, there is a printer/scanner in your basement. I saw it. If not, I can give you my printer/scanner in July. I used it for composing documents in reverse. I painstakingly wrote in type-writer font with my pencil, then scanned it into the computer. It is a lost past-time.
Drawing by hand is probably better for your overall drawing skills, anyway. lol woot! ... it is a lot more enjoyable that way!