Sweaty Bullets, Drawing of

My techniques are mostly "borrowed" from Schlock Mercenary, adapted to fit my tastes. Check out Schlock to verify that these techniques can actually result in a good strip.


First, I get an idea for a strip. This step repeats until I have a good idea, or (more likely) an idea that I do not recognize as bad.
I storyboard any strip with any complexity so I don't surprise myself in the real thing. This is the stage where I scrawl a note to myself to remember to draw the chairs people are sitting in.
I draw the components of the strip on plain old drawing paper with a plain old pencil. I used to use a fancy green-painted artsy pencil that didn't even have an eraser on it, but I really prefer a plain #2 mechanical pencil. I rarely draw an entire frame at a time; usually each character or prop is seperate. This is the stage where I forget to draw the chairs people are sitting in.
Out of the multitude of scribbled pencil lines, I choose a set that aproximate what I want to portray and trace them with ink. It took a while, but I found a .5mm pen whose ink will surive vigorous erasing. I like that pen a lot. This is the stage where I remember the chairs, but then forget again because I have to concentrate very hard to draw a straight line.
I erase the pencil marks, leaving the ink. Many artists swear by kneaded erasers; I hate them. I use a big pink eraser; a decent quality one won't leave streaks on paper. This is the stage where I used to get little pieces of eraser stuck in my mouse, but I eventually got an optical mouse.
I scan each picture as line-art (black & white, to making filling easy) and fiddle with it. I often erase errant marks, make line thickness more consistent, or adjust sizes. This is the stage where I am glad I bought an optical mouse.
In the GIMP or Paint Shop Pro, I splice together the various pieces for each frame. This may mean putting figures on a background, or it may mean pasting a head with an open mouth on a body whose head previously had a closed mouth. This is all done with the image at its original, large, size so I don't lose detail. This is the stage where I feel guilty for reusing art.
I fill in the drawing with color, and maybe shade a little as needed. This is the stage where I finally draw the chairs people are sitting in.
I scale down the image to fit into your brain. This blends the line art with the coloring and basically makes it all look smooth.
I repeat the above steps for each frame and assemble them into a strip.
Add text-as-dialogue and a maybe an addendum to explain the obscure jokes, and the strip is done.



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