How a Start Wreck episode
gets made:
I write and draw
Start Wreck myself; here are the first steps detailing how a typical
episode gets made. More will be added in due time.
Step 1 - writing the episode:
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I start by outlining an overall story, and then writing individual
episodes within that story. I do this using a simple text editor.
The overall story is kept vague enough to be able to fit a large
amount of possible scenarios into, but specific enough to not
feel like it's going nowhere.
- Each episode is written as a frame by frame description. I
descibe the scene's background, characters and actions that
are taking place, and then I write the dialogue, indicating
who is saying what.
- I keep several text files for the introduction, each storyline,
the characters and any ideas for jokes and possible plots.
- The stories are written long in advance of actually drawing
them, but sometimes I make last minute alterations if I can
think of an easier way to do something, or a way to make a joke
funnier... or even just to squeeze in an extra comic relevant
to the time.
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Step 2 -
from words to pictures:
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In order to get what I've written turned into pictures on the
screen, I use the following pieces of hardware and software:
1. A Wacom Graphire drawing tablet and pen, with USB connection.
2. A copy of Adobe Photoshop 5.5.
The pen allows me to draw directly into the computer, following
my movements and generating lines on the screen. It's accurate
and flexible, and it wasn't long before I was almost as comfortable
using it as I was a real pencil.
Photoshop is a program I have become very familar with over
the years. Since it uses layers and has a variety of built in
effects, it seemed the ideal program to use to create my comic.
It's not the latest version of the program, but then I'm not
made of money.
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Step 3 -
laying the foundations:
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Before the final artwork is drawn, I first draw out the guidelines.
- Each frame is created at 300 pixels by 400 pixels, and I usually
draw at that size, zoomed into about 500%. For the purposes
of the guides, however, I zoom out to either 100% or 200% so
I can see the whole frame and where everything needs to go.
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The guidelines are drawn on a layer named "guide_something"
(where "something" will be the name of the thing depicted
in the layer). Each element of the frame is drawn on a separate
layer, and the order of the layers represents how far forward/back
they are from the front of the scene; so characters would all
be drawn seperately and placed at the top (front), props and
closer background elements would be in the middle, and backgrounds
and scenery would be at the bottom of the list (most distant).
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The guides are very rough and not particularly detailed. They
are most useful for deciding on things like size, shape and
composition. For drawing characters, I simply draw stick figures,
whereas backgrounds are usually series of straight lines. Once
drawn, all guide layers are reduced to 25% opacity.
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I usually sketch out the backgrounds first so I can then draw
the characters to the correct size; however if I decide to draw
the characters first, I can later resize them to the correct
scale using the Free Transform tool. Because these are only
the guidelines, it doesn't matter if the pixel data is distorted
in this process.
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Step 4-
applying the second coat:
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Once the guidelines are drawn, I zoom in close and apply the
final lines. Backgrounds remain fairly easy to draw as they
consist of either simple patterns or straight lines (I use the
Line tool for most of these, especially interior scenes).
- The final lines are drawn on a layer named the same as the
guide layer, so that I don't get them confused.
- Because the guides are faded, I can see which bits are new
final lines and which bits are the old rough draft lines.
- 400% zoom or less is perfectly fine for background detail.
It's only the character detail that requires a closer view.
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