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mleiv — The Process
Published: 2011-07-10 21:37:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 3563; Favourites: 167; Downloads: 68
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Sorry for the insanely large fullsize image (1.2Mb)This is, admittedly, only The Process right now. The Process changes a lot.
A typical page takes 30-40 hours to complete, with the bulk of that time (12-16 hours) being the "pencil" stage. That is also where the bulk of the cursing and misery lies. Each box takes me upwards of 2 hours to draw, regardless of size (and no, I don't really know why that is-!).
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Comments: 63
I actually found this ridiculously helpful, as I'm drawing a comic for a school project and trying to make the lineart look right was breaking my back until I found this.
I read the section about making the extra layer and blurring it to make the softer coloured lineart and was like ASDFGHJKL WHAT AM I DOING.
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Yeah, I didn't think of it myself. It just stewed in my head from watching someone else's tutorial and I found a different way to achieve the same end result. Like the Cherokee writing system( [link] ). Which was a pretty cool story, I guess, so I shouldn't be too ashamed of my idea-stealing.
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Haha, either way it works, and one should always go with whatever works
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Interesting! Thanks for taking your time to do this
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This is SO cool! I especially love how you changed the lines at the end. IT LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER!!! I'll never have solid black lines again! Hahaha. Thanks so much for sharing!
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thank you so much for sharing with us! I can understand the time needed, but clearly it is worth it! I spend a roughly equal amount of time on mine, but alas! It doesn't produce the same qaulity as yours. maybe one day!
keep it up! LM is so inspiring
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You're kidding, right? Your pages are so sharp and clean and nicely colored. I would kill for that look. My pages look the way they do because I CAN'T DRAW ANYTHING ELSE. It is not intentional in any way. X)
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That's a ton of work, but the results are awesome every time. Keep up the great work!
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whoa... that's a lot of work! But i'm sure it's like second nature to you by now though!
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Alas, no. Every page was pure torture of fear and uncertainty and like starting a whole new comic from scratch. I just don't internalize this stuff very well, I guess. Every week was a new and terrifying experiment. I'm surprised there is any continuity at all, when you come to think about it. I didn't even save palettes from week to week.
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Oh my...well this is how I see it (in the view that turns everything into good stuff 
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Thank you for sharing
May I ask how you can draw straight into the monitor without the wobbly lines? My tablet picks up all the shakiness
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Yeah, mine too! I zoom in and draw in short, quick, successive strokes, so each long curve is made from a few dozen little lines. This is why the sketch stage is so important: I have to have a really good line in place already that I can trace, because I am too zoomed in to really see where I am going during the inking. I know, I know, it would be so much easier just to draw in graphite pencil, but I hated the whole scanning thing and I do a lot of fine-tuning and rotation and scaling and all that during the sketching, so it's easier in the long run to do it with the tablet. :/ Someday there will be a perfect tablet that really does draw just like pencil and paper...
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So that's why your line-art appears so slick. It probably takes focused work to finish
Well, I'm still waiting for a less expensive prosumer Cintiq monitor with a rough surface that resembles drawing on paper, but one can dream
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I found that the pencil/graphite/whatever-its-called nib option for the pen helped a lot with trying to make the stylus seem more like a pencil. I got a sample pack of several nibs in addition to the default plastic one, so you might look for one of those packs to try.
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Yeap, I save those up because it's pretty hard to come by and they wear out quickly! But they are a joy to use
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Dude.... you go through a lot just to deliver this to us. I have a lot of new found respect for you (I had respect for you before, but it's just strengthened). I knew it was a lot, but not this much! Thanks a ton!
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So... how do you select the lines out of the blurred copy if it's all one flat layer?
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You have to paste it back into the non-flattened version first.
Complete steps (it sounds more complicated than it actually is):
Flatten file, copy+paste into a new file and blur it, undo flattening on original file, copy+paste blurred file back to original file as a new layer, CMD/CTRL-A on the lines layer and nudge 1 pixel so it selects just the lines, switch to blurred layer and inverse+delete (or copy+paste, either works).
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AHHHHHHhhhhhh.... okay. I thought it might be something like that, but I wasn't positive. Thanks muchly!
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I really love the trick you did to make the lines not so harsh (the blurring and cutting out). I may use that, it looks really good.
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Fascinating! I always enjoy seeing how people work. Thanks for sharing!
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Oi. Now THAT is a process. Just thinking about it makes my head spin and hurt. Love the trick to avoid the hard-line effect. The softness of the resulting image is wonderful. Me, I likes me big, fat, super-black ink lines, but your method is much easier on the eyes.
Being a vector guy, the whole process baffles me, but I do so love the results.
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I love your black lines. I love your old capitalized chunky text and custom word bubbles. Standard comic look-n-feel just bores and annoys me.
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Yeah, I did drop the old, capitalized chunky text - primarily for ease of reading. I could tell simply by reducing a bitmap down to tiny size. I could still read it with a slightly less bold font, and it became an unreadable mess with my old, chunky font, so I felt it was time for a change. My custom word bubbles are going to stay.
One thing that I do love about your comics, that I've never told you, is the flow of your speech bubbles. The arcs and bends of the connecting lines and the placement of the bubbles is both aesthetically beautiful and always so easy to read. (I've been slogging through some webcomics with problematic bubbles recently, so it's made me have a greater appreciation of the masters.)
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Thank you very much for sharing your process, and for taking the time to put this all together! It always interests me to see how digital artists do their effects work.
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Really great to see how you work! I've always been a big fan of your line work. It's like a cherry on a good sundae!
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Thank you very much to share your process with us, I think it'll be very helpful
But can you tell me what tablet you use, please?
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I use a first-generation modbook. It's a little cracked and it gets painfully hot to the touch after a few hours of use, but meh - gets the job done! I had a tiny intuos before that. I've never been able to afford a Cintiq, and I prefer something I can use while sitting on the couch anyway.
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Thank you for your answer ^^ I think I'll wait before buy one, it's a bit expensive (but it seems so convenient!)
The modbook is a Mac tablet, isn't it?
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Yes. It is outrageously expensive. Apparently Steve Jobs hates stylus input so much that this is the only way we artists will ever have a decent Mac tablet, though.
Fingers crossed that someday Wacom digs their heads from their respective asses and makes a Cintiq with an iPad-like form factor and less cluttered peripherals.
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Gah, THE TRICK! More details on the THE TRICK!
And wow, I would never have noticed your backgrounds were photos!
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Just the one background. I drew it twice and both times it looked stupid, so I just went to Google photos. I figured it was obscured enough that it wouldn't detract too much from the overall style. Trivia note: I won't even cut and paste characters in exactly the same position or facial expression because I am afraid the differences in line width will be too obvious. OBSESSSIVE!
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Your art went from "really good" to "jawdrop gorgeous" over the course of this comic, and I'm sure sweating the details is part of the reason why. Even if most people never consciously notice the little details you slave over, it does matter!
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Wow, now I see what makes this style truly yours, and it is quite remarkable.
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Thank you for this, I feel somewhat enlightened now. Such a complicated process o . o but with such a cool result, I am in awe <3 The line art part was ...wow, never seen anyone do it like that, it's very inventive
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Yeah, the hacker in me, always reinventing the wheel. XP I spent a few years in my 20s reading books on art, trying to learn tricks, with little actual help. I think people must learn this in art school or being around other professionals, cause damn those How To books sure are filled with useless crap!
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I am now going to take this and use it forever as help for my own comic. Thank you.
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Well, at least one side of my art is proving useful. Lord knows if I did one of these on my promotional or financial process, you'd all be shaking your heads and telling me to find a new hobby.
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Absolutely fantastic
I am so impressed with your comic, and with all the work you put into it, it can't be otherwise. It is really paying off. I think your comic is outstanding beautiful - AND the story is great
I'm really looking forward to the last pages. I hope you can get some time to relax afterwards.
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You are nuts. Paper texture at 7%? Inking such perfect lines? I bow in front of your determination and perfectionism. I love the way you deal with line color the most.
Speaking of which, why do your lines appear not black even before you get to that point in the tutorial? It's kind of confusing o_O
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