Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. I figured I wasn’t the only artist on earth who’s completely uninterested in nuts-and-bolts process stuff, but it was nice to have my figuring verified. And I really appreciate all the suggestions.
I think regular exercise is probably the key here. I should just do the obvious thing and keep a sketchbook for practicing my “technique” on a more regular basis. The more you draw, the more you get your hand and brain used to drawing, the quicker you can blaze through all the tedious technical parts of the drawing process. Which is, y’know, sort of a “Duh” type of situation.
Some people suggested I hire an inker and/or colorist/toner to handle all the… unpleasantness. And yeah, I’d LOVE to do that, but foisting the gruntwork onto someone else is kind of just avoiding the problem. Also, people like to be paid in money, rather than the lovely rainbow personality charts I prefer to use as currency:
Look upon my elegance, ye mighty, and be afraid!
Thanks, everyone!
I would gladly ink things for you if I was paid in doodles. And if I wasn’t cursed with left-handedness what makes everything inky go all smudgy. D:
I would ink your artwork for free just to be apart of the process because I am such a fan of your work.
I’m another member of the “I’d totally do it for free” club. That’s what you need to do, find some fan living in your area (I’m sure you’d be surprised at how many turn up) and make them your slave. This is pretty much exactly what manga artists in Japan do. It’s like the graphic art equivalent of being an unpaid intern.
Hehe, sorry I wouldn’t do it. XD I’d be waaaaay too afraid to ink someone else’s art (i can’t even ink my own without having it come out wrong sometimes ^^;;)
Apparently my rainbow is violet colored….
Of course, the dangerous solution to this would be the Watterson Way: forget pencilling and die straight in with your brush. It takes guts of steel to do this though, and a willingness rip up a lot of paper with only two or three lines on it.
On a personal note, I’ve found that any sort of deadline helps me work, even arbitrary stupid ones like, “I must finish painting this guy’s hair before Michael Stipe finishes losing his religion or France will sink into the Atlantic ocean and I will be devoured by velociraptors.”
besides “unpaid intern” there’s also the “on spec” option, which would get even more takers.
I used to keep sketchbook next to bed to draw a bit before I go to sleep. Did made me draw a lot. But I stopped that because you tend to be a complete dumbass moments before you go to sleep. And then you wake up next morning and look at the horribel madness you have created last night that you must never show the world or you will feel it’s wrath.
Now I have sketchbook next to the computer…
Theoretical question: If you were to have someone ink your work, would the overall increase in productivity be enough to justify splitting whatever revenue any comic work generates?
For example, say you write and pencil a comic. Including layouts, character designs, research, inking is probably about a fifth of the overall process (Just an educated guess here); would removing this step from your process increase workload enough to justify a 80/20 split with the earnings?
Just an estimation, the figures might not be right, but it’s the idea I’m asking here — food for thought 😉
just a thought…… it occurs to me that the “inking” job is pretty similar to what Aaron did on Zim–besides designing a lot of the characters, he did most of the “design cleanup” in general. and after a not-entirely pleasant time being the lowly guy who’s pretty much responsible for most of it looking good, i can sure imagine reluctance to shove off a similar job to someone else. (i mean seriously, Aaron did like *everything* on that show. even Jhonen says so. just listen to the dvd commentary.)
but from another angle, that experience is a big part of what made Aaron into the artist he is today. as bad as one might feel about dumping the “scutwork” on some lowly peon, remember that you’re giving valuable experience at the same time as you take advantage of their talent. people shell out big bucks to art colleges and still don’t get the chance to learn like that.
personally, i can understant not wanting to let go of that important part of the creative process as well. as a fan, i *would* be mildly disappointed if those lovely details i’ve grown addicted to suffered in lesser hands. but letting someone else *start* the inking/finishing work could still leave the final details in the most capable hands, *and* give the assistant a chance to see how a real master changes what *they’ve* done to make it truly great.
now *i* of course am barely worthy to deliver Aaron’s mail, and i wouldn’t *dare* try anything as important as making his coffee. but there are some really really talented people here in the BGN forms, and i *know* a lot of them would love to help out in any way they can, with the possibility of actually getting some money someday after it’s published or something just icing the whole art-geek poundcake.
finding an assistant who doesn’t immediately have to worry much about money but who would love to make a name in the ever-so-lucrative sequential art world would really be more of a favor than a burden, if you think about it that way.
I think your solution of the problem was a good choice. Just drawing something everyday will make you draw things faster and sometimes even better. When the time comes to draw something you can just do it quickly since you’ve remembered how to do it since you’ve drawn it before. You’ve probably already known this though since you’ve been to art school heh. But I can totally understand where you’re coming from in your last post, it takes me FOREVER to finish something because I like it to look a certain way to the last detail. You can tell right away that your comics take a while to make just because they’re so beatifully set up and everything looks amazing down to the last detail (if you rushed any of your comics in anyway I wouldn’t have been able to tell haha). I’ve always wanted to develop a style that I could just put out a finished piece really quickly so I would have a lot more things to show, but unfortunately I get too caught up in the details. Good luck to you and all your projects! I know they’ll all be great. 🙂