It Is A Circle Blog

One of the things I was able to do whilst in America, was see the process of page creation through from almost the beginning, to the end.

What I missed was the stage where Tom sites down with the script and figures out how much of it is going on the next page and how to lay out the panels. I gather a fair few comics writists detailed descriptions to work from, but I don’t. I’m not a very visual person, and figured out a long time ago that Tom has a far better idea than I do how to lay out comics pages, and what to put on them. The scripts I give him are almost entirely dialogue, with occasional extra details where the plot calls for them. The look of the story is entirely his.

Once there’s a plan, the panels go onto the comic board, followed by some fairly basic outlines to get positioning clear. There may be research at this stage, to find objects, or details of interiors, building and landscape to add interest to the page. Tom is careful to make sure there’s plenty to look at. I’ve helped with the research stage from afar before now, and we’ve drawn on the landscapes of my childhood as well as Maine to create the look of the place.

I’d rather imagined a drawing process where you start with the first panel and work through, but Tom doesn’t do it that way. He’ll move about between panels, sometimes because he needs to reference the backgrounds between them, but often for reasons that I can’t fathom. Basic shapes become details, faces emerge, and then finally the detailed shading happens – a curious process in which graphite is applied, smeared, rubbed out and otherwise kicked into the shape of his choosing. All of the original artwork is done in graphite, which is why the pages take a while to create. Typically half a page a day, if there are no distractions.

Watching Tom figure out perspective is like seeing a magician performing arcane ritual. As a non-artist, I don’t understand it in the slightest, but the results are amazing, and seeing them emerge is quite some experience.

Once the artwork is done, Tom scans the page, and adds colour using a wacom tablet, and does the speech marks on the computer as well. (Having seen his handwriting, this is a decidedly good thing). This part of the process is a lot quicker. Then the computer tech stage happens, and the new page is released into the world.

Feel free to ask if you want more details about any of the above.