BACKGROUND // Ekhö t10

Hello there! Someone asked for some background tips :) so here I go showing you the construction of a background for a comic panel from EKHÖ volume 10 (the book I am currently working on).

I took pictures of every step.

We are in China, on a boat on Huangpu River. I started looking for references. I received some from my writer Christophe, and I googled myself some more. This is a little selection ( I think I have more then 50 pictures just for drawing three pages!).

I always start with a ultra-tiny sketch, where I decide where I place the camera and the volumes . Doing it so small allowes me to catch immediatly the composition, so I don't have to "suffer" too much on the real drawing: I already decided what to put in and where!

I start the real panel with perspective lines. As there's no architecture here, I can do it very basic , I don't need too many precision.

Then I put the masses: notice how I draw lines on the mountains to "feel" the masses. This will allow me to put decorative elements on them in the right places. Good masses add perspective and credibility to the image. It's important if we want the reader to "dive" into the image. And this image opens an entire sequence, so it's important to catch the reader's attention!

Then I start putting details: in this case I chose to draw the incredibles chinese rice-terraces. Graphically, they're pure fun! Some characters near the spectator (the men and buffle on the left) help putting life in the image, and deepness.

Now I can put the boats on the river. I used fog to separate the hills and the river from the mountains in the background (an old trick that always works ;)

Now I can finish with some birds; I love putting birds on the backgrounds! You can use them to underline perspective, add movement and give the sense of proportions (very small birds in front of an enormous mountain/building/whatever)

Now I can scan, correct a little digitally, print on a bigger scale and ink on my lightpad! I will add nature details as grass (on the terraces near us) or trees (on the mountains) directly with the ink brush.

byyyye!