Thumbnails, Red Pencils, and the Initial Lay In - Penciling a Comic Page Part 1
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About instructors
One of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies with more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media © 2023 MARVEL
Freelance Artist: Traditional & Digital Artist 🎨
#DCComics #Marvel #PlayStation & Much More
We're a hub for artists to improve their skills and connect with a community of like minded peers and talented mentors.
LESSON NOTES
Start learning from Marvel’s incredible comic artists now!
Join professional comic artist Ryan Benjamin as he shows you how to sketch like you've got a Super Hero inside you, itching to get out!
In this lesson, Ryan shares his workflow for drawing a comic page, from setting up his Bristol board and establishing page layout, to thumbnailing the action and roughing in perspective. He shows you how he draws black panther and captain marvel, shares tips on finding mistakes in your work and how to fix them, and why moving quickly helps avoid stiffness.
You'll learn how to rough in perspective, the optimal order for drawing panels, and why he finds it crucial to start with the eyes. Plus, get insights on how to communicate your vision effectively to your inker through your penciling, and don't miss out on essential tips for making it in the industry as a pro!
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Ryan Benjamin demos how he starts a comic page from scratch using Black Panther and Captain Marvel as the focal characters.
This discussion board is available for premium students.
There are a ton of little compositional elements he's not able to talk about. I kinda like that this isn't about all the things you need to already know or be aware of in order to make a good illustration to begin with. Layout is where the hardest work is, everything else is drawing. So I think this is a missed opportunity to do a lesson on principles of layout that he kinda runs through to start the pencilling.
So am I supposed to read it and come up with my own perspective, or copy him? I just need someone to help clarify this.
First follow along as he goes, and then try it from your own perspective. That's what I do.
The script on this page allows you to concentrate on and enjoy Ryan's artwork in large panels because there is no dialogue.
And it is insanely good.
By the way, if some dialogues or SFX are specified,
Does the penciller need to take into account the position of the callouts and SFXs when drawing?
This is because I have been writing Japanese manga,and have been taught to pay attention to the position of the speech bubbles and the amount of text before drawing on the panels.
This is awesome to see, just one question though. When it comes to perspective what are you thinking whilst you're creating the story?
I'm thinking black panther on the top of a building standing on a gargoyle with like a worm's eye view perspective.
https://blambot.com/pages/original-art-dimensions-for-american-standard-comics
More good info on paper, crops, bleeds, and safe areas.
What are the measurements for the Crop margin and the Safe Zone?
https://dw-wp.com/resources/cartooning-quickguides/layout-quickguides/quickguides-bleeds/
The safety zone, aka the live area is at least 1/4″ inside the trim size, and often more. The idea with live area in a full-bleed page is that, even though you can’t literally see it, it forms the margin of safety. You put all your main action, characters, and dialogue within that box, and you know it won’t get trimmed off by an overzealous or sloppy printer. Note that if you were to put panel borders on this line, they’d sit only 1/2″ from the final edge of the book, which, often, doesn’t look very good. Instead, you may want to lay out another, smaller box to bound your actual panels and dialogue.
• The trim size is just that: the line where the page will eventually be cut.
• The bleed line is at least 1/4″ and often more outside the trim line, for the same reason that the live area is at least 1/4″ inside: to make sure that the art is trimmed off within the drawn area, so that it runs off the page completely.
Often, if you know trim size, that means you know where the book will be printed. You can always ask a printer what their standard bleed size and safe margins are. Even if you don’t know their official measurements, though, you can make an educated guess. The only measurement you must know is trim size.
Marvel and DC paper is marked for this
Can we get files or images of the in progress work so we can practice? Its really difficult to follow along when you are skipping entire sections of the drawing process.
I can see what Ryan talks about when he mentions keeping your hand loose and your pencil active. You can see how he's able to capture a lot of energy. Really impressive drafting process, really highlights how important it is to understand the fundamentals of blocking and figure making
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2yr
Nice, this is great! You're really able to nail the sense of scale, and even though you're drawing static objects (buildings) they're still feeling dynamic and alive. Great work!
Wow. I absolutely, completely, ultimately take back what I wrote previously. Great lesson (ok, it could last triple time as it takes now, but that's just me - can't wait for the continuation!), especially that part about 'puzzles' when drawing Black Panther's leg - it has taken me some time to consciously make use of that technique and I still thought I'm a wierdo cuz nobody does that! (Apparently not.).
And I'm also interested in margins - as @Migue and @cesarcarlos asked below. Thanks in advance.
Regarding the matter of the margin of pages, I'd like to know more about it.
For example, in case you're doing an image that is shared by two pages, how can you control the crop line and be sure the bleed is right so the two sides match perfectly?
Regards
Hi, as a newbie in comic drawing but very interested in getting into it, I have some questions: How much should the crop margins measure? And how much the safe zone? Do the companies (like DC and Marvel) provide the Bristol boards or is that something the artist needs to cover? Is it the same for an independent artist? What happens when you design a double spread? Do you use a board that is double the size? Are all Bristol boards the same weight? Do you use just one size of the board or both?
The big two supply pre bordered paper. The paper is marked for two page spreads. I'm not sure about the other companies. Art pages are one sided. Companies will tell you what size drawing boards their printers can handle. You can draw on a single large sheet or two single sheets taped together. Weight refers to layers of thickness. Press refers to smoothness.
I really like Ryan’s drawings and his process for drawing pages. I have his intro to drawing course, I’m learning some great drawing techniques.
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2yr
Yeah he's a great teacher. We've worked with Ryan on other videos in the past and he always delivers!
The appetizers were excellent, now we're getting to the meat and potatoes!
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2yr
Glad you're enjoying the content. We wanted to be as thorough as possible when making this course and there was a lot we needed to cover before we could get to this point.
