Behind the scenes
by Jonnie Allan
I don’t know about you, but I am always fascinated with the “Behind
the scenes” or “inside look” information provided
by creators; be it for movies, toys, model making, or comics. Whenever
creators provide for you an insight into their creative process,
in my opinion, their imaginary world takes on a whole new meaning. I
love seeing all the steps necessary to bring their creation to life.
For many years, creators were reluctant to reveal their
techniques regarding them as trade secrets. My feelings, the more people
who know how to produce the work, the more work gets produced. The
more work produced, the bigger the industry. The bigger the
industry, the better we all do. Everybody wins. Competition
is the backbone of a capitalist society. Besides, it’s
well known the most successful people are more than willing to share
their creative genius in hopes to influence the next generation. How
do you think I learned? I learned from those who do.
Therefore, I felt it only appropriate to take you step by step through
the process of creating a single page for the Miscellaneous Adventures
of STYKMAN.
Future additions of this column will include the steps
of taking the entire comic to press. A process I can assure
you is not for the weak stomached.
In the meantime, let’s focus on what it takes
to create a single page.
For the record, each creator has his or her own steps
they take to achieve the same goal. This is by no means the definitive
procedure for producing a page of a comic book. In fact, I’m
sure some of you might have a much more streamlined process. This
is simply the way I produce my work.
At the end of each section I will provide a list of
books that are fantastic reference material. If you have the
means, I recommend making a small investment in them (Some you should
be able to find at your local library.)
That said, let’s dive in, shall we?
Many people are unaware of just how many people there
are involved in the production of any one comic. Quite often
the job calls for:
Writer (i.e. words to paper)
Penciler (i.e. pencil to paper)
Inker (i.e. pen/brush to paper)
Colorist (i.e. scanned paper)
Letterer (i.e. readable paper)
Editor (i.e. approved paper)
(This list by no means includes everyone. We cannot forget:
The printers and their staff, the marketing and Ad people and their
staff, the ever so understanding and supportive spouses and families
of each, and of course… the fans.)
As you can see, there are quite a few hats to be
worn. To answer
your question, yes I am wearing all of them on this project. And
no, I am not crazy (Unless of course you ask my wife.)!
Books that are worth reading available @Amazon.com
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Although the second book listed
is a bit dated (©1994), there is still a wealth of information
inside.
Let's
begin by penciling, shall we?
