This is an interesting slice of life; it's good to see April psyched about her trip. Too bad that there's a frowny-faced jerk wanting to be an obstacle but we all know that Elly will cave.
Which frowny-faced jerk? John or Michael? I'm betting it's Michael, but really, how could he prevent April from going?
Never mind, I forgot, it's Michael.
PS, "Africa" (Tanzania to be exact) was awesome! I strongly suggest that everyone should go to Africa at some point...it's so different, yet the same. Wish more people realized that.
I grew up in South Africa, which in my mind doesn't really count as being part of Africa somehow. Possibly it was because when I was living there, apartheid was still in effect. My parents figured that apartheid would be falling very soon (they were right about that) and there would be a bloody civil war (they were wrong about that, and Nelson Mandela deserves all of the praise that it's possible to give a man for that).
When things are going well, Africa is one of the best places in the world to be. When things are going badly, Africa is one of the worst places in the world to be.
Fortunately for April, Tanzania is a peaceful country right now. Now if she were headed to Zimbabwe (right next door to South Africa!), that would be an entirely different matter.
Bravewolf et al well, since I'm trying to avoid grading quizzes for just a little bit longer, I can tell some:
My drawing process is in flux, and largely dependent upon how much time I have for this kind of unwinding exercise. I typically have the words roughed out - maybe several at a time, which increases the chance I might tweak them a bit when I draw. I write this down on scratch paper just as character dialogue, and then figure out how many panels for a bit, or whether I need to break it up. So it can be natural to have a few blocked out ahead.
When I have more time I pencil out a block & panels, then use non-photo blue to rough out the characters, maybe erasing out starts of expressions or changing clothes. Then I use some regular pencils, then ink pens.
I have a grey brushpen, a black brushpen (mostly for hair, or already-outlined things I want to emphasize), and a .005 liner. I think I need a .01 liner. I've experimented with grey brushpen only, black liner *then* grey, and grey *then* thin liner. I also tried to go straight from non-photo blue to pen drawing.
When I have less time, the non-photo blue stage disappears, for a bit more erasing of the regular pencil drawing, and quick pen outlining of the pencils. Backgrounds can go AWOL, too :)
The first couple of times I draw a FOOB character, I would check the website or some newspaper clipping (I clipped a few of the wedding-o-rama for reference) to get something near the right appearance. But I got Mira's stockiness wrong, and have done things like deliberately change Candace's hairstyle after the wedding debacle. Backgrounds, furniture ... I just pull that out of thin air, pretty much.
For the dialogue, I do lines of non-photo blue to guide where to write words (with yet another pen), and usually put in the words after the drawing is done... which can lead to tangled word-balloons tails.
5 comments:
This is an interesting slice of life; it's good to see April psyched about her trip. Too bad that there's a frowny-faced jerk wanting to be an obstacle but we all know that Elly will cave.
Which frowny-faced jerk? John or Michael? I'm betting it's Michael, but really, how could he prevent April from going?
Never mind, I forgot, it's Michael.
PS, "Africa" (Tanzania to be exact) was awesome! I strongly suggest that everyone should go to Africa at some point...it's so different, yet the same. Wish more people realized that.
I grew up in South Africa, which in my mind doesn't really count as being part of Africa somehow. Possibly it was because when I was living there, apartheid was still in effect. My parents figured that apartheid would be falling very soon (they were right about that) and there would be a bloody civil war (they were wrong about that, and Nelson Mandela deserves all of the praise that it's possible to give a man for that).
When things are going well, Africa is one of the best places in the world to be. When things are going badly, Africa is one of the worst places in the world to be.
Fortunately for April, Tanzania is a peaceful country right now. Now if she were headed to Zimbabwe (right next door to South Africa!), that would be an entirely different matter.
I'd love to know more about your drawing process if you ever have the inclination to tell all! :)
Bravewolf et al well, since I'm trying to avoid grading quizzes for just a little bit longer, I can tell some:
My drawing process is in flux, and largely dependent upon how much time I have for this kind of unwinding exercise. I typically have the words roughed out - maybe several at a time, which increases the chance I might tweak them a bit when I draw. I write this down on scratch paper just as character dialogue, and then figure out how many panels for a bit, or whether I need to break it up. So it can be natural to have a few blocked out ahead.
When I have more time I pencil out a block & panels, then use non-photo blue to rough out the characters, maybe erasing out starts of expressions or changing clothes. Then I use some regular pencils, then ink pens.
I have a grey brushpen, a black brushpen (mostly for hair, or already-outlined things I want to emphasize), and a .005 liner. I think I need a .01 liner. I've experimented with grey brushpen only, black liner *then* grey, and grey *then* thin liner. I also tried to go straight from non-photo blue to pen drawing.
When I have less time, the non-photo blue stage disappears, for a bit more erasing of the regular pencil drawing, and quick pen outlining of the pencils. Backgrounds can go AWOL, too :)
The first couple of times I draw a FOOB character, I would check the website or some newspaper clipping (I clipped a few of the wedding-o-rama for reference) to get something near the right appearance. But I got Mira's stockiness wrong, and have done things like deliberately change Candace's hairstyle after the wedding debacle. Backgrounds, furniture ... I just pull that out of thin air, pretty much.
For the dialogue, I do lines of non-photo blue to guide where to write words (with yet another pen), and usually put in the words after the drawing is done... which can lead to tangled word-balloons tails.
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