Sibling Squabble

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 60.

Best of Times

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 59.

Frozen Frolic

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 58.

Caught Being Nice

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 57.

Arctic Animal Comic Competition Results!

I’m pleased to announce the winners for the 2012 ‘My Arctic Animal’ comic competition! I was amazed and moved by the creativity, passion and variety of the entries I received. They were incredibly varied, from dramatic, to funny, to heart-wrenching, utilizing every art medium from crayons to digital paint. In fact, there were so many fun and creative entries to choose from, it was difficult to narrow it down to just one for each age group (8 and under, 9 to 13, 14 to 18).

The overall winning entry “Zaenok the Collared Lemming” by Zefanya N Putri, age 16, USA.

What I love about Zefanya’s comic is her clever use of layout to take us on a guided tour of the Arctic through the eyes of the collared lemming, Zaenok. From sword-fighting narwhals to leopard seals used as platforms, the sequence of events packed into this single page makes it a joy to read. Congratulations Zefanya!

Click here to view the rest of the winning entries!

Last of the Polar Bears storyboards

Finished the storyboards for all of The Last of the Polar Bears! Check out that giant stack of paper! Now to scan and compile...

You can read more about my storyboarding process here.
Download my comic template to use on your own projects here.

(Curious about the adorable bear plushie sitting behind the polar ball in the photo? That's Mr. Bear from Tea Club, made by my friend PMBQ.  There's also a Big Butt Panda variety. <3)

The Last of the Polar Bears pgs 30-31

I updated www.lastpolarbears.com with pgs 30-31. Who might those mysterious paw prints belong to?

Other mini-announcement: I’m currently working on a short Fraggle Rock comic for Archaia. :)

The Last of the Polar Bears pgs 28-29

I updated www.lastpolarbears.com with pgs 28-29. Stella discovers the joy of leaving pawprints in the snow.

If you're relying on my blog for updates, pgs 26-27 will also be new to you. :)

The Last of the Polar Bears pgs 24-25

I updated www.lastpolarbears.com with pgs 24-25. Stella is ready for adventure. Nanook isn't.

If you're relying on this blog for updates, pgs 22-23 will also be new to you. :)

The Last of the Polar Bears - now up to page 21

I updated www.lastpolarbears.com with pgs 20-21. Mama Bear is awake, and she's not happy.

Enjoy, and please leave a comment on the site if you have a moment. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

-Lindsay

P.S. If you know anyone who might also enjoy the comic, please pass along the link to them! Thanks!

Creative Lettering in Comics

There has recently been a lot of scrutiny over the quality of lettering in the Twilight manga adaption. From what I've seen, I don't disagree. The lettering is lackluster, difficult to read and feels like an afterthought-- word balloons seem to be transparent and awkwardly placed for no other reason than simply because there wasn't any space allotted for them when the artist made the page. For example, the second panel of this sample page shows two hands touching over a microscope, but a word balloon has been plopped over top of it, covering the primary focus of the panel with dialogue.

I've read a number of blog posts listing lettering mistakes in the Twilight manga. But while there are basic guidelines for readability, lettering is not an exact science. As with other art forms, the art of lettering is subjective. Some of the techniques that have been identified by some bloggers as "wrong", such as word balloons bridging multiple panels, transparent word balloons, and overlapping word balloons, can actually be used to good effect under the right circumstances.

Here are some examples from various manga to show you what I mean:

Word balloons bridging between two panels - This can be an effective and interesting way to transition between scenes, or tie two panels together for a greater emphasis of their connection to each other.

In this scene from Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden by Watase Yuu, we see Takiko's change in reaction over two panels as another character gives her insight into the reasons behind an earlier event. The bridging word balloon makes the transition feel smoother and her reaction immediate, as the other character is speaking. Breaking up the dialogue into two separate balloons would have changed the timing of her reaction.

In the Suikoden III manga, Aki Shimizu raises the tension of an opposing army charging forward by connecting Lucia's word balloon to the adjacent panels. This gives us a sense that the enemy's war cry is ongoing (*and* getting louder - note the increasing size of the "aaaAAA" sound effect) as she instructs her son, Hugo, to make a critical choice.

Transparent word balloons - Used sparingly with thoughtful application, transparent word balloons can allow text to greater integrate with the imagery contained within the panel.

In these examples from Fate/stay Night, the transparent word balloons have a piercing effect, as if the words are going straight through the character as they are told something confusing, shocking, or unexpected.

Naoko Takeuchi uses transparent word balloons often in her Sailor Moon manga. I suspect that the effect is used more for aesthetic reasons, to integrate the balloons with the artwork in an attractive, non-intrusive way, like in this page featuring a full body illustration of Usagi. But it has the added effect of giving us a sense of being within Usagi's psyche as she reacts to information about a legend (the balloons contain voiceover dialogue from Rei).

In all of these examples, there's plenty of room where balloons could have been placed without obscuring the artwork, so I think it's safe to assume that they are intentionally transparent for effect.

Overlapping word balloons - Effective for indicating that a character is responding quickly, talking over, or interrupting another character.

Here's two examples from Nana by Ai Yazawa, one of my favorite mangaka. Showing the nuances of character interaction is one of her specialties.

In this panel, Yazawa uses the proximity of the word balloons to contrast between Nana's explosive outburst and Takumi's quick but cool-headed reaction.

In this panel, Junko's boyfriend Kyosuke adds detail to Junko's comment. The overlapping panels here give the impression that these romantically-involved characters are working together to build upon each other's thoughts.

Finally, here's an example from my own book, Peach Fuzz (volume 3, pg 56). This page utilizes all three techniques:

Edwin and Peach are ferrets that don't see eye-to-eye in their needs, so while Peach is concerned with status and entitlement, Edwin is quick to get distracted by the presence of food. As Peach explains the layout of her kingdom in the first panel, Edwin perks up at the mention of food and interrupts her with an overlapping word balloon. His word balloon flows uninterrupted into the second panel, as we close in on Edwin's drooling face. Peach's response bridges the gap between the second and third panels as she explosively wrestles control of the conversation again. Finally, in the fourth panel, Peach's assumptions that Edwin has a kingdom of his own blend seamlessly into the sparkly background through the use of a transparent word balloon, showing us that she's caught up in her own fantasy.

In all of these cases, the style of the word balloons helps express the tone and intent of the character without ever sacrificing readability -- that's important. These techniques should not be used on every page, only when there is a need for it. To use word balloons effectively, I find that it's essential to plan out the word balloons at the same time I'm composing the actions and layout of a page - during the roughing stage.

There's a *lot* more you can do with word balloons and lettering to enhance the story. I'll cover more of the basics and other creative techniques in a future post.

Comic Page Layout Template

Here is the page layout template (larger version here) I'm using for Last of the Polar Bears. You're welcome to download and print it out for use in your own comics.

The template is sized for printing on standard letter-sized paper. There's a space for you to draw your comic page, a place to keep track of the page number, and a place to indicate starting date. I find marking the date useful for keeping track of my daily page output. The empty space has a purpose as well. This is where you can break down panels, write notes, and try out different ideas for panels configurations, poses, and expressions before you commit to them in the actual layout. See my previous post for examples.

I originally created this layout for use on Peach Fuzz, so the trim and bleed sizes are suited for a standard 5"x7.5" "manga"-sized graphic novel. The black bars on the top and bottom are there as space fillers because the dimensions are intended for penciling on a traditional 11"x17" comic page.

Book sizes vary, as do individual publisher's designated trim and bleeds. For example, I use a different page template for penciling comic pages for Archie Comics. Think about your desired final output size and plan your rough layouts accordingly.

Making a Graphic Novel (Part 1)

My Creative Process

I've finished scanning and compiling the roughs for the first chapter of The Last of the Polar Bears! 67 pages total. The full story consists of seven dense chapters chronicling a polar bear family's journey and struggle to survive in the changing Arctic. I'm working from a detailed 40-page synopsis of the story Jared Hodges and I wrote together. So far the breakdown is working out to about 10 pages of comic pages per 1 page of synopsis, so I estimate that the complete story will end up being around 400-500 pages.

Because I am both the writer and the artist, I decided to bypass the step of writing a traditional script for The Last of the Polar Bears, and work straight from synopsis to rough thumbnail pages. This allows me to be very flexible with my roughs. I read over my synopsis, then visualize the look of the pages as thumbnail drawings while I'm breaking down the actions panel-by-panel. In this way, I can quickly discover whether scenes that are easily described in text work visually, and make necessary corrections.

Here's page 17 and 18 from synopsis to rough thumbnails, in which the twin polar bear cubs Stella and Nanook experience the outside of the den for the first time:

Synopsis:

Stella asks Nanook what's up there. The next panel is his point of view. Endless white snow, and arctic twilight. Frostbite (an arctic fox) is also in the shot, but she is well camouflaged. Her tail is wrapped around her face so that she looks unremarkable, like a lump of snow. "Nothing. Everything's white!" A cold breeze sets his teeth chattering. "It's cold up here!" Shivering, brother cub tumbles back into the den, and falls on top of Stella. Stella protests and goes into battle mode, but he just huddles against her for warmth. It's no fun to play with an unwilling partner, so she gives up and calls him a wimp . She asks him if he saw "it". He shakes his head no. "Just lots of snow."

I breakdown this description into a list of panels, each with a short description of what I want to bring to the attention of the reader. My thumbnail page layout (template here) measures 4"x6" on an 8.5".x11" page and contains pertinent information such as trim and bleed so that I can plan out the overall look of the page along with composition, actions, and word balloon placement.

Sometimes the pages come together in a very straightforward fashion. Sometimes I'll end up trying multiple panel configurations. On page 17, you can see that I've come up with alternate takes for panels 1, 3, and 5.

Once the thumbnails are drawn, I scan them into the computer and assemble the pieces. Here's how 17 and 18 currently look.

These thumbnails are my roadmap for the next step: penciling the pages at full size. With composition and content of the panels figured out, I'll be able to turn my focus to drawing the characters tighter, cleaner, on model, and anatomically correct (to name just a few of many things I'll be keeping in mind as I work through the pages).

I'll continue to delve further into aspects of my comic creation process (with more Last of the Polar Bear sneak peeks!) in upcoming blog posts, so stay tuned for more.

Domo: The Manga - out in stores tomorrow!

The Domo: The Manga book I worked on is coming out tomorrow. It should be available in bookstores nationwide in the manga/graphic novel section! It's a full-color graphic novel published by Tokyopop involving that lovable brown monster guy with the big mouth! All the stories are lighthearted and fun, perfect for kids and great for fans of Domo and/or funny animal stories.

Two chapters in the book were done by me and Jared Hodges (pencils = me, Jared = colors).

Domo!

Info about the no-longer-secret-comic-project. Over the last two months, Jared and I have been hard at work on the Domo manga, a full color graphic novel for publisher Tokyopop involving that lovable brown monster guy with the big mouth!

These are the first sketches I did of Domo-kun and friends to practice drawing them "on model".

Two chapters in the book were done by me and Jared (lineart and lettering = Lindsay, colors = Jared). According to Amazon, the Domo book should be coming out mid-September, so keep an eye out for it!