Mana, PJ, Ali, and all their crazy antics have been running around in my head for forever. Almost no planning at all went into this first comic, except for writing out the script. I have learned so much about making a comic just from creating this one. I knew the process I wanted to use for creating the comic, so that wasn't hard to begin figuring out. I would draw each panel separately, then scan into photoshop and assemble. Drawing the panels ran relatively smoothly (I actually spent half a day drawing them- I hadn't sat and just drawn like that in years), but I ran into some major problems once I scanned them and started trying to assemble them into photoshop.
The square format. The problem with deciding to have a square format for my comic was that I didn't decide I wanted that until AFTER I had already scanned the comic. I wanted it so bad that I spent 2 hours trying to re-arrange and format each panel into a square. I tried my best not to cut things out, but things had to. It just wouldn't all fit. In Panel 3, for example, PJ gets blown away by Mana screaming. I think the only thing left is his hair on the right side. Yeah, that little 'fro? That's PJ. I'm now working on devising an easier way to stick to the square format. =]
Speech bubbles. These were my nemesis from the beginning. As soon as I scanned in the comic I realized I had made a grave mistake by hand-drawing my speech bubbles and assuming the letters would fit perfectly. To be honest, the speech bubbles I draw were far too large for the text. Sometimes I could make it work, but most of the time I had to erase the whole bubble and start over. Since I don't have a tablet, I had to mouse-draw in all the little bits that got erased or changed while I was changing speech bubbles. I found a great tutorial on making speech bubbles for photoshop users ([link]), and my speech bubbles got so much incredibly better.
Template. Making the comic template itself was another hour in and of itself. I'm not very skilled in photoshop, but I managed to pull it together. Once I learn my way around photoshop more I'll probably re-do the template.
Panel One: That sticker on the back of Mana's monitor says "I Love Hippo's".
Panel Two: I know how horribly drawn Mana's chair and desk are. Hush. I love PJ and his wall-climbing skills.
Panel Three: I actually had to draw the background, and then photoshop Mana and Ali in there later. There was just no way I could get all those lines straight with the girlies in the way.
Panel Four: I know Mana and Ali are a little shy of the bottom of the panel in this, buuuuutttt whatevs. That was another problem with the square format. I learned my lesson, at least.
YAY! Now I have a list of everything I need to improve on.
I like...
* Art!
* Comics!
* Reading!
* Sleeping!
* My new laptop!
* Being 17!
* Getting comments on my art!
* Pink and purple!
* Cats!
* Finishing my To Do Lists!
I dislike...
* The dark.
* Thunder storms.
* Ghosts and other scary stuff.
* Scary movies.
Hi! Welcome to SheezyART!
You've got a lovely gallery so far and I'd like to see more. If you don't mind, I'll add you to my watch list.
If you have any questions, please, fell free to ask. I'll be as much help as I can.
Laters!