Hunters: The Outsider Page 55! The Process Behind Colored Pages

Apologies for the late receiving on this. But because I wanted to go through the process a little bit, it's taken me a slight bit longer to get all the images and information together. But here it is now, so let's get started! 

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A while back I detailed how I put together a grayscale comic page when I was redoing a page of the prologue 8 years later. I had various images of the page to help me explain my methods of creating one of my comic pages in ways that I have not yet shared.

But the process of putting together a colored page is a little different from a black-and-white one......

The first major step for any page is simple: the panels. I start off by marking a rectangle with exactly 8 cm of space between each line and the edge of the page. It used to be 7.5 cm.....but I changed it to 8 some weeks ago. After the rectangle is gently marked with a ruler, I come up with a general idea in my head for what I want to occur in the panels. Normally for drawing a comic, it's a good idea to draw out a small rough sketch rather than winging it and imaging whatever comes to your head first. This is a method I honestly should have adopted a long time ago, but I am very good at imaging scenes and remembering them, especially since I have a very good idea where the story as a whole goes, along with specific varying scenes. With the images and perspectives imagined, I then mark specific points making sure there are 5 cm of space between each panel, and again gently draw the lines to form the panels, while also erasing unnecessary lines. 

The second major step is to create an initial outline for every panel. I can extend certain scenes outside the lines since it is only an outline and unnecessary ones will be erased later. I do my best not to press too hard with my pencil so I am creating as few stray lines as possible. Most of my initial outlines come with general perspective compositions and shapes to let me know how the certain panel could look.

For the third step, I focus more on the outlines and try to put something together that's a little more reminiscent of the final product. I will add definition to the bodies, ears, eyes, mouths, and specific character features. I still will not be pressing hard with my pencil and some lines that should be erased may still be present even as I continue specifying the outline more. I will also work on some faint outlines for backgrounds though I typically don't do much, or don't go into a lot of detail. One thing I will always do, however, is create little shapes that tell me where the sun is currently positioned in respect to the perspective and characters. This is hugely important for me to keep track of, particularly in consecutive panels when the backgrounds of different panels are set in the same location.

The fourth step is the deviation between colored pages and grayscale ones, and it starts with finalizing the outlines. I was done with nearly half of the prologue redo before switching to pen outlines for the colored pages, and to ensure consistency I did not use pen in any the prologue redo pages.

Nowadays I outline everything in pen comic-wise, panels and characters alike. I would often outline all the background pieces as well, though I switched up tactics recently so that only some of the background (typically that which was closest to the character(s) in the panel) would have a light pen outline, and everything else would not.

The outlines of the panels are drawn using a ruler and a 08 point drawing pen, whereas for the characters I will use outline them using a 01 point drawing pen.

Another thing I will generally not outline are certain features on characters, such as paws and stripes where the colors is different or gradually changes. If I do add an outline for this, it is often a small or faint one.

After the outline is more or less completed, I will then erase as many of the lines as I can. The panels generally will be covered up by pen easily, but the same is sometimes not said of the characters. I will erase their outlines replaced by pen, but carefully retain the marks of certain features and background piece I did not outline in pen. I will also not erase the little suns I penciled in; these will be important later.

The color is where things get interesting. I will always color in the foreground and/or the characters first. I typically have specific colors for every characters and their features and patterns (for example, I have a specific red, orange, and green for Diala, and a specific gray, black, and yellow for Laruk). I also have specific lighter versions of each color, and it's these lighter versions I start out with. Depending on the location of the sun, and the potential presence of cloud cover, I will use the lighter colored pencils on the characters, creating a solid coat of light colors on each character.

P.S. I actually managed to record a little bit of the process of myself coloring the characters where I can hopefully better show how I use lighter colors and then darker ones when it comes to light sources and the characters involved. Hope to edit and share this soon with Sea Otters and possibly Otterlings as well!

Only afterwards will I darken certain parts of their body with the original colors. I will darken depending on the light, shadow, and shade of the backgrounds; this is where I use the mini sun illustrations to let me know where the light is coming from so I know which parts of the characters are to be darkened, and which are to be left alone. There are certainly fur and pattern diagrams I could put together to yield better shading techniques, but this would take longer and I have seen enough dogs and wolves to give me a good idea of how light would hit certain body parts. That being said I am not an expert and still have a lot to learn, though I have gotten better about lighting and shading in recent months. I will sometimes use gray to help darken certain areas, though I try not to use this method as much.

Once I have the lighting and shading completed for the most part, I begin to work on the backgrounds of each panel. Normally this is an annoying task especially since I do my best to match backgrounds regarding perspective and distance. Since these panels contain scenes that are spread out over time, matching backgrounds is unnecessary. That said, since I have created a map detailing the territory of the wolf pack, I still do have to keep in mind the general location so I am aware of potential vegetation and terrain changes. I also have to remember the location of the sun in the backgrounds so I can use lighting and shading accordingly there as well.

With the backgrounds basically completed, I can then focus on the finishing details for all the characters present in the panels, rework certain outlines with a 03 point pen in the areas where shadow on a character is prevalent, and lighten and / or blend backgrounds where needed so that the characters become the focus.

And then I am done! The process of putting together a page even with only 6 panels is a complex one, especially considering many of these are kinetic scenes which I am still not always used to drawing. And this is the kind of process I put myself through for every page.

Naturally every page is different. More panels, fewer locations, nighttime, static and kinetic scenes........every page is different, but every page still tells a story and should be as consistent with previous pages as possible. But even after 140+ pages and a whole lot of nonsense to constantly deal with and consider.....damn if it still isn't entertaining and rewarding.