JL8 #264 Production Journal, Update 04

Here we go: layouts!

If you recall from Update 03, I discussed how I produce thumbnails of panels as I work off the script, but don't really have an idea as to how I'll turn those individual panels into full comic pages. Well, here's how I do that.

As you may've seen in Update 03, each of the little thumbnail images had a corresponding number attached, indicating its panel number--which is to say, its place in the sequence of the story; panel 1 goes before panel 2 which goes before panel 3, etc.

During the next stage of production, as seen here, I print out a page of...page templates, and essentially start laying in the general shape of the panels like a jigsaw puzzle. 

"Panel one is kind of a quick establishing shot, and its composition works better as portrait than landscape, so I'll make it a smaller, taller panel. Panel two is a big wide-shot that acts as almost a second establishing shot, but it's more important, so I'll have that one be big and long, and I'll even forego panel borders to really push it," and so on.

Eventually, I make my way through the entire set of thumbnails, and in this case, ended up with eighteen individual pages: some with a ton of panels, some with only a couple.

Once this is done, I'll actually start getting out my sheets of bristol board and begin drawing the panel borders for each page. When I have a lot of pages like I do here, I prefer to get 4-5 pages all paneled out before I actually begin pencilling, so I can just sort of get on a roll. After that, it's on to actual pencilling.

I hope everyone is at least moderately enjoying this peak behind-the-scenes at the production of the next update. I'll be posting more as the days go by so that you have something to look at while I work towards getting the update finished. As always, feel free to leave questions or comments. Thanks!

-Yale