My Writing Gig Right Now (and some process talk)

I have one writing job at the moment, for a project that will be posted online soon. 

I'm not drawing it but I'm roughing out a storyboard with notes and some stabs at dummy dialog written along the sides of the page. I send these to my editor, if they're okayed then I type up a bare-bones script to lock in which character is saying what, add anything I didn't draw, provide any necessary clarity for the artist, etc. 

The layouts take the pressure off my scripting process, where I often run into trouble articulating my ideas and start to get stuck, or overwork a panel description like mad (or Cracked, or Crazy, or Sick, even). I think visually, and can convey what I'm going for more easily as sketches. I often do layouts for myself on scripts to get the ideas down on paper more quickly and then type them up afterward with more clarity and confidence..

Unless the artist is interested in seeing them, I don't attach them to a script, they're only for my use. I did a few layouts on index cards for Bill and Ted Are Doomed to work out pacing issues for certain pages. I sent Jill Thompson a few sketches of the skull and stone golems for Beasts of Burden because I felt like I was tongue-tied in the typing department on how to describe them. Her stone golem design was far better than mine but I did manage to get the idea across as far as some details were concerned (I think the sketches I did are included in the back of the first collection). probably a case of overcompensating. Hmm. I don't remember doing many layouts for the Wise Dogs series, I know I ended up drawing a very silly-looking map to help Ben follow the convoluted descriptions of the cult's mountain base and environs. That was a headache. I barely ever go outdoors, and even then it's city life. Describing nature is tough for me. If it's important enough I'll attach pictures I find online with a script or drop links to reference (in this case Pennsylvania mines, mountains, trees, etc. For Ben's issue of "The Presence of Others" I went through a lot of ugly pictures of deer that had been hit by cars, specifically deer that went through front windshields for a scene with Ace. I'd rather look at abandoned mines). 

On Blackwood Veronica and Andy Fish tend to like seeing any layouts I might have, sometimes they use them for a panel, usually they don't but they said they just like seeing the process. On the present gig, the editor and I asked the artist if they minded my doing layouts to speed things up. It wasn't a problem, and they often don't use my roughs for a scene or sequence, so it's not a chokehold on their storytelling input.

That's why I don't give artists layouts, I already tend to lead artists a bit much by my detailed scripts. I always tell them it's fine to step off and change things as long as the story remains intact. But if the artist is just following a set of instructions written in stone it's usually not much fun, which I know from experience. 

Then again, there are some folks that are happy to get layouts on a gig, it allows them to just basically draw and not worry about the storytelling. So things go faster, which is always nice. And I've done some jobs where I was asked to do layouts as well as script, most recently (before this project) I did layouts for a "Silver Age" Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy story that Ramona Fradon drew. I did the layouts on a few Fairly Oddparents stories for Nick Magazine that were basically used as pencils and inked over. I was nervous, I penciled a lot more detailed than I would have if I did it today. I under-overcompensate these days. Mostly.  

But when a "normal" writing job comes along, I never even ask if the artist would be okay with my working storyboard-style. If an artist was fine with me doing rough layouts with notes I'd be able to write faster, but, again, I wouldn't saddle anyone with that as a prerequisite. That's less of a collaboration in most people's eyes, and more of a mechanical drawing job. Most people enjoy the storytelling aspect as much as the drawing, some enjoy it more. 

I'm getting off topic again, aren't I? Where the hell was I? Oh, right, Staten Island. Fuck me.  

Oh, the layout up top! Up there. Way up there, now. I typed too much. 

I can't talk about it much beyond the "I'm doing something" stage, but it's been a fun project and hopefully it'll be out in the wild pretty soon. It's not drawn even close to the style of the finished comic. Some panels I try to keep it loose and energetic and simple -- Kurtzman-like in effect if not style (that's kind of an example up there). Some panels I draw blobs with one or two identifying details (a logo, a belt, an armband, a weapon) or the figures are barely there and I just identify them by their initials. Sometimes I realize I'm practically drawing a panel and have to make myself stop. Doing crosshatching on a background that won't even be drawn that way is just ding-dong time. 

Speaking of ding-dong time, I best be off to get some work done before the sun rises and it's harder to sleep. Vampire hours are back.