First I scribble out a doodly layout. I scribble this out directly on my Cintiq. Layouts on this comic have been a breeze, probably because my writer used to support himself as an artist. Eagle-eyed readers will note that when I first drew Corey, the blonde guy in panel 5, I was working off my memory of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert.
Then I turn it blue in Photoshop and add lettering- some digital and some by hand. The digital font I’m using in Underground was designed by the great Tom Orzechowski, based on hand-lettering I did in Whiteout.
I print the lettered blueline out onto bristol board and ink it with traditional tools: Winsor Newton brush and India ink. I might be a dinosaur, but I still love dipping a brush into a bottle of fresh ink.
Then a miracle happens. Actually, it’s Ron Chan, who does beautiful things with color in Photoshop.
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Jeff, Steve, are either of you gonna be at Heroes?
Y’know, I grew up about a half hour from mammoth cave, and near a bunch of others. Glad to see my ol’ kentucky home getting so much comics play.
No Heroes for either of us, I’m afraid. Next show for me is San Diego. For Parker, it’s Baltimore, I think.
-Lieber
Are the word balloons hand drawn as well or done digitally with the lettering? Just curious.
The word balloons are drawn on the the boards, usually with help from an ellipse template or a small french curve.
[...] it even more exciting, they’re pulling back the curtain a bit to talk about how the comic was made (a.k.a., being good mentors). I highly recommend you check it [...]
Hey Steve,
The “How We Make…” article is much appreciated. Fascinating to see you guys at work and what goes into the art of the process. I am a writer and am in the process of working with an artist in creating a comic. I will definately keep up with “Underground.” I am also going to the San Diego Comicon. I’ll look out for you there.
Hi Guys, am a cartoonist in Kenya and also working on my own comic book.I got great insight from your process.
Steve, are you saying you don’t pencil, at all? You just go straight to inking over the blued-out roughs?
It varies, depending on how much I worked out in the thumbnails and blue-line phases. Sometimes I have enough information down at that stage that I can go straight to inks. Other times I need to break out the graphite.
[...] It’s a very informative piece on how pages are created and transformed as they go through various stages. For more information check out the process at [...]