Chapter Four Flatting is Done, Colour Prep is Done

This week, a timely little dive into how long it takes to make comics, in response to The Cartoonists Cooperative's industry survey. But first…

Flatting is done! Colour prep is done!

I had not previously separated these two tasks, so here's the difference.

This is what I call "flatting:"

 All the major objects in a scene are isolated from each other, making it easier to colour later. It's like making stencils for spraypainting. You can watch this page get "flatted" in this video, if you like.

And this is what I call "colour prep:"

All the characters are given their "local" colours, i.e., with skin tones, details, and costuming that's consistent from panel to panel and throughout the book.

That done, the page is ready for the fun/creative part of colouring. Background stuff is all painted "by hand," more or less, meaning if that brown door is made green by green light, I paint the door green. The characters, however (all the stuff I "colour prepped"), get treated with colour filters and adjustment layers to A) make them "sit in" the background and B) add lighting effects. I started using this method in DD2 and I've been doing it this way all throughout PDAP.

However, I hadn't formally separated flatting and colour prep until just recently, when I realized it made me feel like I was getting more done. A flatted page is a complete task. A prepped page is a complete task. Importantly, treated individually they're smaller tasks that I can complete while Kiddo is at preschool. If I have completed tasks under my belt, they don't weigh on my mind so much during the rest of the day.

A fun side benefit is that it helps me manage my time more easily. I know, for example, that I can flat three pages in three hours, on average. And I can prep three pages in three hours, too (again, on average). I am not confident, however, that flatting and prepping three pages will happen in six hours, which sounds crazy but there it is.

These Things Take How Long?

Speaking of which, the other day I saw The Cartoonist Cooperative's 2023 Comics Worker Survey going around. It's worth a read, here's the link.

The part which struck me with greatest force was this little chart showing how long the different parts of the comics-making process take, on average.

 I'm sorry, how long to people take — on average — to pencil and ink a page?

Eight and seven hours respectively?

Seriously?

FIRST OF ALL, I will say: great. Artists should get to spend that much time on artwork.

But I'm also over here thinking, "what would I even do with all that time?"

Here's how long each page of PRACTICAL DEFENCE takes, usually:

Script: ???
Pencils: 3 hours
Inks: 3 hours
Colours: 3 hours (flatting, prep, and "colouring")
Letters: <1 hour

I don't know whether their accounting of "pencils" include roughs and thumbnails. I honestly cannot account for my roughs and thumbnails. I don't have any numbers for how much time I spend on them in total, never mind per-page. But! Even if I chalk it up as three hours per page, that's still a total of six hours of pencilling. And even, even, even if the accounting comes out as eight hours per pencilled page, I still ink a page in three.

SECOND OF ALL, to be clear: I am not trying to brag. Ugh. There is nothing inherently good or bad about how long it takes a page to be drawn.

THIRD OF ALL, I would love to know if these averages mean there's a huge spread — some respondents pencil a page in an hour, some take twenty (!!!) — or whether most people are plus or minus an hour. When I commented on this on social medias, replies left me with the impression that most people were working at the survey's average pace (to each replier's dismay).

FOURTH OF ALL, style is of course an element of this. I don't have a very detailed line-art style, but the pages with more detail — more pencil miles — certainly drag the average up. Maybe James Stokoe takes twenty hours to pencil a page.

FIFTH OF ALL, maybe I do know what I would do with some extra time. During my flatting, I've corrected my share of wonky faces or pupils aimed in different directions, as well as inconsistent costume details. I wonder if I'd eliminate those if I just moved a little slower.

FINALLY, I once had an obnoxious boss who told me, "people will always take as long to complete a task as you give them." I didn't believe it at the time, and I don't believe it's universally true now, but I have come to believe that there is an element of truth to it. A page of PRACTICAL DEFENCE takes as long as it takes because of the way it looks, and it looks the way it does because of the time it takes (or the time I give it). I could make the pages faster, and they would look and feel different from the way they look now. However, if I gave myself an extra hour or two per page, I'm not sure it would look that much “better,” at least not at first. Maybe over time, if I got in the habit of taking five hours per page, and I built my muscles and instincts in that direction, you'd feel a subtle difference in the artwork. But would that be indistinguishable from the growth that would normally happen?

I don't know. We are crossing into the territory of Overthinking It.

But How Can I, An Artist, Draw Faster?

When I was in animation school, I asked that exact question of my favourite teacher. His response was, "why would you want to do that?"

I pushed him on it, but he stuck to his sphinx-like response. “Why do you want to draw faster?”

The answer seemed obvious to me then, as I’m sure it does to you now. His was a frustrating answer then and it's a frustrating answer now.

But it might also — frustratingly — be the right answer.

To frustrate you further I would ask, “what are you willing to give up to draw faster?”

I would also try to convince you that a counter-intuitive way to become a faster artist is to draw more slowly and carefully. I find that when I rush, I make more mistakes, end up with sloppier drawings, and reinforce bad habits. I remember a panel from Chapter Two of PRACTICAL DEFENCE that I drew twice and erased twice before giving in to my wiser instincts and taking the reference photo to I needed to be drawing from.

And as far as draftsmanship skills go, by teaching your arm and hand to make more well-considered marks (which will initially occur more slowly, or require more practice), you are building muscles that will be able to make similar marks more confidently (and more quickly) in the future.

Anyway, if you are a comics reader, I hope that survey provides interesting insight into a creative medium you enjoy. I'd love to know what sort of questions this topic inspires from someone outside of the industry.

If you are a fellow author or artist, I hope you are able to find a balance between the time you invest and the returns you get! I just want you to be happy!

I get to start proper colouring tomorrow, which means Patron Readers will be seeing the first finished pages of Chapter Four starting… next week? Could it be so? Can we have finally arrived at this point?

All signs are pointing to “indeed, my good fellow.”

… Unless I decide to experiment with some sort of new, very time-consuming colouring method. (Don't worry, I will not.)

Until next week,
I remain,
a careful steward of the finite minutes and hours with which we are all blessed,

TC