I’ve been asked on numerous occasions what the best method is for keeping an organized schedule and remaining committed to producing and releasing comics in a timely fashion. You have all heard the common reasons as to why things go off schedule – now its time to understand the method on how to make a successful schedule and how to stick to it.

Before we begin, you will need to take your personal schedule into consideration – if this is NOT your full-time line of work, it will be much easier to manage. But for many of you, this is a starting point or a hobby, and often you will find your ‘free-time’ taken up by things you may consider more important. The key to making this work is to remain focused and committed – if you are finding that you have too many other personal obligations, perhaps the comic book schedule is not right for you.

For those willing to dedicate the time, here are a number of methods that will keep you on track and in a routine of regular updates, with ample time for life and its other time consuming pursuits.

Step 1: Create a Spreadsheet for Tracking Purposes

In order to determine how much time you really put into producing your comics, you will need to make a personal log that tallies the number of hours spent. This tracking summary of your work will show you where your time is spent, and allow you to analyze which parts of the day you are most productive, and how to improve upon the times when you are NOT productive at all.

Take into account the amount of time used doing the following:
Writing (if you also write your comics)
Producing (this includes pencils, inking, coloring, typesetting, etc)
Research (any time spent looking up research material)
Administrative (any work related tasks that do not involve actual production or writing – e-mails/phone calls/meetings)
Down-Time (this includes all interruptions during your dedicated work time)

From this list, you will be able to determine what is taking up your valuable time if you are unable to make deadlines – perhaps you are working too hard on administrative tasks, or are spending too much time goofing off on the internet. By tracking your hours (honestly) you will make better use of your time when the facts and figures are laid out in front of you. Your production depends on it.

Step 2: Create a Monthly Schedule

Once you have created your time-sheet, now you have to decide how you are going to break out your production cycle. Given that the average issue is approximately 20-22 pages in length, and you need time to plan/lay out each page, then pencil/ink/colour/typeset, you will have to organize your time accordingly. You do not want to over-exert yourself and risk burn-out, nor do you want to give yourself TOO MUCH time to procrastinate. Find the optimal working environment, and plan around that. Most artists have a month to crank out an issue – create a schedule that works around your life. Here’s an example schedule using a full month:

Week One
Day 1 – Review Script & Gather Reference
Day 2 – Layout pages 1-5 (thumbnails and rough layouts)
Day 3 – Layout pages 6-10
Day 4 – On Call (use this day if you haven’t completed your work from the previous 3 days, otherwise, it is a day off)
Day 5 -  OFF
Day 6 – Layout pages 11-13, Pencil / Ink pages 1-2
Day 7 – Layout Pages 13-15, Pencil / Ink pages 3-4

Week Two:
Day 8 – Layout Pages 16-18, Pencil / Ink pages 5-6
Day 9 – On Call
Day 10 – OFF
Day 11 – Layout Pages 19-22, Pencil / Ink pages 7-8
Day 12 – Ink Pages 9-10 / Color pages 1-2
Day 13 – Ink Pages 11-12 / Color Pages 3-4
Day 14 – On Call

Week Three:
Day 15 – OFF
Day 16 – Ink Pages 13-14 / Color Pages 5-6
Day 17 – Ink Pages 15-16 / Color Pages 7-8
Day 18 – Ink Pages 17-18 / Color Pages 9-10
Day 19 – On Call
Day 20 – OFF
Day 21 – Ink Pages 19-20 / Color Pages 11-12

Week Four:
Day 22 – Ink Pages 21-22 / Color Pages 13-14
Day 23 – Color Pages 15-19
Day 24 – On Call
Day 25 – OFF
Day 26 – Color Pages 20-22
Day 27 – Review and Refine (last minute edits)
Day 28 – Package Pages

Day 29 – On Call
Day 30 – OFF

Now this works if you’re committed to an issue per month schedule. If you are producing a web-comic or a weekly, this schedule won’t exactly work for you. This is the 30 day cycle you could follow if you had a webcomic you were trying to update weekly.

Week One:
Day 1 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 2 – Ink & Color Page
Day 3 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 4 – On Call
Day 5 – OFF
Day 6 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 7 – Ink & Color Page

Week Two:
Day 8 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 9 – On Call
Day 10 – OFF
Day 11 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 12 – Ink & Color Page
Day 13 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 14 – On Call

… and you see the pattern emerging. One day to review script, plan and layout, one day to ink and color, and one day to refine, followed by a floating spare day and a full off day. This will earn you one update a week, and in some cases, two. For webcomic artists and daily comic producers, this is a manageable timeline if you’re dedicated to just your comic. You could push for a 4 day cycle which eliminates the ‘on call’ day and pushes you straight into the next update. This only allows you one full day off from production, where the standard cycle allows you 2 – one flexible day and one mandatory day. You will have to find the schedule that is the best for you.

Step 3: Setting Deadlines and Keeping Them

Now that you have established a schedule, and you are tracking your hours, it is time to establish some firm deadlines for ensuring your comics are completed in a timely manner. You have already created a foundation for this through your schedule, but there may be some days where you can not physically produce (due to illness, vacation, unexpected occurrence). Your schedule may be completely useless at this point – unless you set an absolute deadline with a goal attached. Decide on a reasonable deadline date for achieving your goal (30 days is perfect) and aim to surpass or equal the goal every month.

When you have decided on a deadline date, it is time to decide on an attainable goal. For example, if you are a weekly creator who updates on a 5 day cycle – aim for 6 updates in your deadline time. When you attain your goal, count it as a point. Once you’ve accumulated 10 points, you have earned yourself a week’s vacation from your production cycle. This banked time can be used at anytime to ‘buy’ you some extra time in the event that you cannot do any work on your comic. It is similar to receiving vacation at work. These mental goals give you an added incentive to get your work done in a timely manner, and reward you for hard work later on.

If you find that you are not meeting your goals from month to month, lower the standards for the goal until you are producing at a comfortable level. Once you consistently surpass your goals with ease and time to spare,  you can elevate your production and make loftier goals to achieve.

Conclusion:

To recap, in order to get yourself into a ‘work-ready’ mode, you need to be prepared and organized so you will always work at an optimal level. Spending time back-tracking or trying to play ‘catch-up’ will land you in some serious production troubles later on. Iron out your poor work schedules with something more concrete – follow them for an extended period of time until they become habit. Remember the guidelines – take account of your working time, create a schedule dependent on your comic style (monthly issue or weekly page/strip) and set a deadline with some achievable goals.

Following this workflow method will make you extremely productive, and your results plentiful.

Creating a comic/graphic novel is not as easy as it looks. In fact, a comic book is basically a set of components that work together in harmony to create a bigger picture. You need visuals to help drive the narrative and you need a story with some depth in order to keep your reader entertained. Today’s tutorial will focus on the writing and story development aspect of comics and how to achieve better results during the process.

First step, get yourself a notebook or a notepad of some sort and carry it with you everywhere you go. I highly suggest picking up a Moleskine notebook which is a durable and handy pocket notebook that is ideal for keeping track of those loose thoughts and ideas rattling around in that big brain of yours. They look like this:

…and they’re about as long as a dollar bill – easy enough to fit in your pocket. Don’t let the price fool you – these things are quality.

If you prefer to go the cheap route, any old notepad will do if you’re not worried about archiving or making sure your written thoughts don’t deteriorate over time. I endorse the Moleskine as its a tried and tested journal companion.

Daydreams and Doodles

Anytime you receive a transmission into your imagination – or if you happen to view something and it may serve as a backdrop for a story, an interesting aside, or element in your plot, make a note of it. Collect it all and archive it. These daydreams and doodles are perfect for developing new story arcs or adding spice to current ones. Draw your inspiration from anything and everything.

Categories

Once you’ve collected a wide array of people, places and things, its time to categorize them. The best way to do this is to split your ideas into the following categories:

1) Characters
2) Locations
3) Items
4) Stories

Each of these categories may have subcategories below such as:
1) Characters
1-1) Protagonists
1-2) Antagonists
1-3) Comic Relief

2) Locations
2-1) Paris
2-2) Made up Middle Eastern Country
2-3) Australian Outback

…and so on. You can also subcategorize your subcategories and get even more technical. The point is, you are keeping a record and an archive for all of your elements. With time, this archive will be so huge that you will have a character and a location and an idea you can grab at a moment’s notice without suffering from the pains of trying to recall that great character idea you had the other day when you were riding the bus and wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper which you think you may have left on your parent’s kitchen counter.

Be organized. It pays off.

Development – Outline

You have your characters, location and basic plot. Now it is time to start fleshing out the details. The easiest way to get your ideas set up and ready to be molded for drawn comics is to create a rough planner or outline for your story. Some of the best moments I’ve had in the process of creating comics has been at this stage. I recall spending evenings with writers over coffee, coming up with ideas and developing a story outline and the logistics for certain parts of the story itself.

Jot down the rough outline of your story in point-form. Be sure to include visual cues, dialogue cues, dramatic events, etc. These ‘notes’ will help you when you are crafting the actual script for your comics.

If your story is set to run over several issues or in some cases, several books – you will need to set up blocks where each issue will stop and start, and determine how much information/visuals you are capable of showing in those frames of story time you’ve created. For example, your outline calls for 7 events to happen in this issue. You will have to determine if there is too much happening or not enough to warrant the issue ending at that point. Issues are roughly 20-22 pages in length, so keep that in mind when you are making your issue breaks in your outline.

Within each issue, you will then need to take that information and elaborate even further. You will need your plots and sub=plots, character introduction and development, location establishment and then your course of action. You can follow the typical dramatic structure for each issue (classic American style) where the story begins on a low point, the protagonist rises to the challenge, there is a large point of action at the climax, and then there is a positive (or negative) resolution at the end. OR you can extend this basic structure and add in more complex plot twists and macguffins as you see fit over the course of your entire run. The possibilities are endless – but you have to pay close attention to where and how you use these devices. A carefully planned outline will make script writing MUCH easier.

Development – Script

Finally the most detailed part of all – the scripted portion of the story.

Once you have your issues plotted, your characters developed and your story roughed into shape, it is now time to think about visualizing each scene frame by frame. This part of the writing process requires you to elaborate and provide details about the characters, their surroundings and some insight as to what is occurring in each panel. A script should have the entire comic book page detailed with background information, characters, dialogue and visual cues.

For example,

Page 1

Panel One
- The scene opens in a dimly lit pool hall. In the background, dark silhouettes of downtrodden men hang around by a bar amidst a haze of cigarette smoke. In the foreground, a solitary overhead lamp lights up a table with a set of billiards balls racked up and waiting to be broken up.

Narrative: One last game. This time, for ALL the marbles.

Panel Two
- The balls are broken apart by the fierce crack of a cue ball (insert sound effect) and intense action lines surrounding the table and balls to indicate the power of the break.

Narrative: I guess I had better make this one count.

…you get the picture. Basically, you are painting a verbal picture of the events you are going to have turned into a storyboard. This is the planner for the thumbnail planner which we will discuss in greater detail in another tutorial. If you have a vision of how the scene is going to play out in your head, THIS is where you need to be precise in order to conjure that physical image from the mental one you’ve seen.

Scripts for moves and comics are quite similar. If the script is well planned, the rest of the feature will be executed well.

There’s the basics of writing for comics. I will create a more in-depth tutorial on writing techniques and plot ideas in subsequent writing tutorials, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, start collecting your ideas and organizing them properly. Develop and grow a diverse collection and stockpile that arsenal of creative ideas.

Webcomics can be the easiest and most cost effective method of spreading your stories to a large audience. The benefits are quite extensive – you have extremely low costs for operation, you have instant publishing features and a broader reach for potential readers. Producing comics online can prove to be a very successful endeavor, which pays off in nice dividends once you have established yourself as an artist/writer with a catalog of work in your portfolio.

But you have to start from somewhere, right? Here are a few tips to get you started on how to make a webcomic.

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Step One: Translate your ideas into a story, character, place or theme

You’ve come up with a great idea for a webcomic. Your first order of business should be to fire up your word processing software or grab a pen and a notepad and start jotting down al the scenes that are playing out in your head. It doesn’t matter if the scenes are out of sequence or brief flashes or if it is just an idea for some attire a character is wearing – make a note of it. If you spend too much time trying to establish the image and committing it to memory, you may lose the thought.

Once you have taken down the idea, you can arrange it into categories – scenes, characters, plot, theme. From there, you can mix and match components to create a bigger story or add depth to your current story idea. The most important thing to note is you MUST get it down on paper or in a file for reference.

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Step Two: Organize your elements and add details

Now that you have established a setting, some characters and a rough story or theme, organize your material to fill in the blanks. You should have a main character (or characters), a main setting, and a main theme established. You can develop more as you go along – but to begin, you should have all of your details worked out for your main elements first before you move on to the next step to make a webcomic.

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Step Three: Character Sketches

Before you jump into drawing your webcomic, you should familiarize yourself with your main character(s). Create numerous character sketches from all sorts of angles and actions. If you consistently draw your character numerous times, your character drawings will develop into repetitive action and you will draw your characters in the same consistent manner.

Many webcomic artists often struggle with a consistent look to their characters due to the lack of practice sketching and development of repetitive action. Of course, you can draw your figures and continue refining them, but the key is to make sure they are always consistent when drawn.

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Step Four: Write a script

A number of artists tend to jump right into their pages/strips without having a clear idea of where their comic may be headed. This works fine if you are simply doing random webcomics here and there, but it is difficult to establish any continuity for the future. You should have a plan.

The easiest and most efficient method of developing a script is through the use of point form. You don’t need an elaborate movie style script to develop your webcomics, but it does help. If you’re a one-man show, you may want to stick to 15-20 brief point form notes for each page as your guide. If you are anxious to get into drawing your webcomics, make sure that point form plan is in place.

If you have more time, consider extending the details in your script, and include dialog, pacing, and various visual cues/effects. A detailed script will help the artist visualize and render the artwork for the story properly.

Another tip – try to hammer out a script for at least 20 pages worth of your story. Once you have that many pages established, you can make edits ahead of time, rather than writing one page, drawing one page then repeating the process and trying to make it flow. You spend more time figuring out problems than producing the webcomic. Plan ahead, and you can modify things if they do not work to your satisfaction.

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Step Five:  Render your pages.

Another pitfall most webcomic artists encounter is a lack of updates once their site is up and running. If you have already generated a script for a story arc, try and render as many pages as you can prior to launching your website. Once the site is live and operational, you will already give yourself a bit of a head start if some unforeseen circumstance appears and you are unable to do your regular update.

My suggestion is to render a complete issue (roughly 20 pages) prior to launching your site. If you plan on doing weekly updates, this gives you 20 weeks of leeway and ample opportunity for script and drawing refinements. By having your pages in a ready-to-go status, you will also create the illusion of being dedicated (which you are) and a prolific artist (which you will become!)

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Step Six: Set up your website.

If you do not have a website or domain name, you should decide on creating a site that is easy to navigate and memorable for your readers. This step requires an yearly investment, but now that hosting packages and domain names are abundant, the prices are a mere fraction of what they were years ago.

For domain names, visit NameCheap: http://www.namecheap.com – You can obtain a domain name for less than $9 a year. With coupon codes, it could be even less.

For hosting, you can’t beat Host Gator: http://www.hostgator.com – Hosting packages start as low as $4.95 a month, and they offer great technical support and loads of features.

If you can afford a yearly investment of $70 to $100, you will have full control over your site and its development. There are a number of options you can pursue in building your site – WordPress allows for blog styled setups, or you could create a Flash-enhanced site, or a simple HTML setup. The possibilities are endless.

For those on a tighter budget, you can try free alternatives for webcomics hosting such as:

SmackJeeves

Comic Fury

The Webcomic List

Drunk Duck

Comic Genesis (KeenSpot)

Comic Dish

Some of these hosting services require memberships and linkbacks to the main site, and ad banners placed in prominent areas of your pages. The upside is the support you receive from other contributors, as well as some pre-made templates to get you up and running quickly.

Your site can also double as your portfolio!

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Step Seven: Launch and Promote

Many artists worry about readers and statistics right off the bat. With any new website that appears, it takes time before the masses stumble upon it and pass it on to their friends. Therefore, it is very important during your quest to make a webcomic to continually update and provide new content to your readers. Over time the content you have produced will continue to draw in newer visitors passively.

In order to get readers interested in your site, you will need to do some active promotion.  The easiest way is to make allies and friends within like-minded communities on the web. If you are producing a sci-fi webcomic, then target the fans of sci-fi webcomics. Seek out communities and online forums, and contribute in their discussions and be a part of their community – once they see that you have valuable input and commentary to add, you can ask for their feedback on your project and have them visit your site.

A large portion of startup traffic comes from the cultivation of relationships with groups. If you do not have the benefit of a group to get you started, you will have to do some work in order to gain the respect of your peers. Be engaged in your targets interests and discussions. Support their projects and in time, they will reciprocate. Comment on blogs, give positive encouragement, jump into discussions and make friends – its the equivalent of networking in the first person. This activity is absolutely vital to expanding your reader base when you are just starting out.

Once people come to your site and experience what you have to offer, their word of mouth advertising will work for you and offer huge returns.

The key is to be patient, and not rush headlong into it. Avoid the common mistakes when you’re learning how to make webcomics, and you will become successful and ‘internet famous.’ Popular webcomics such as Penny Arcade, the Order of the Stick, xkcd, Applegeeks and countless others all started with a handful of readers. As the years passed, and based on the creators involvement with their readers, the comics and the site grew in popularity and referrals. Some of the artists have been able to make an honest living through their site, as well as additional side projects related to the webcomic.

You too can achieve that success with some careful planning and passion. Don’t ever quit when you feel it is hopeless – it’s a labour of love that pays off with perseverance. During your journey to become a successful webcomic artist, always remember this phrase: Those who quit following their dreams will never know how close they came to success.

Good luck!

In my previous tutorial on Digital Inking, I demonstrated the simplest method to inking your comics after they have been scanned into your computer and ways of developing your page layout for print or on screen. The next step is to begin coloring our work with a few simple steps.

This tutorial was created using Adobe Photoshop. You can use the program of your choice, but in order to achieve the same result(or as close as possible to the tutorial,) make sure your software supports layers, as it is extremely important in maintaining an organized file.

There are several tutorials out there on coloring comics, but in this method I will show you the quickest and easiest way that works for most software.

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1. Establish your Color Mode

Color mode selection is important because it will affect your color swatch selections and viewing application. If you are planning on creating your artwork for use online or displayed on a monitor / screen, work within the RGB color mode. If you are creating comics for print, your file should be set up in the CMYK color mode. Professional printers output files using the CMYK model because it is the most common method for achieving all printed colors using blends of 4 colors of ink – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

Start off in one of the color modes dependent on your application. There are some ranges of colors that can not be physically printed in the CMYK model but are visible in the RGB model. This is known as a color gamut. You can learn more about it here. If your comics are  in RGB and you convert them to CMYK afterwards, many of your subtle shades and tints will disappear and your colors will become dull because they are not reproducible in 4 color printing.

* There is a method used by Pantone called Hexachrome which offers 6 color printing by adding Green and Orange ink to the CMYK mix to expand the printed gamut. This extra set of inks becomes more expensive to print and requires the use of a specific color profile native to Hexachrome printing.

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2. You should have Four (4) Layers in your file

Linework – this is your previously inked work
Flats – This is for the use flat colors and for building up your tones and values
Highlights – This layer is for the use of shine/ light effects etc
Effects – This layer is for other environmental effects – fog, mist, light rays, snow, rain, darkness etc.

The order should be Effects as the top layer, followed by Linework, Highlights and Flats at the bottom.

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3. Working on your Flats Layer(s)

The Flats layer is for exactly that – flat colors. Use a paintbrush or lasso + paint bucket/fill tool for filling in your areas with the colors you want. After you have laid down your first level of flats, on each section, use a slightly darker tone of the same color, and using your brush, paint in areas that would have some subtle shadows.

Do the same thing with a slightly lighter tone of your base flat color in order to create subtle highlights. You can repeat these steps as many times as you like in order to build levels of depth within your flat colors. If you want to smooth out the lines between each layered tone, you can do so with a blur tool or a smudge type tool to blend all the tones for a softer, smoother effect.

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As you can see in this comparison between Cyclops of the X-Men and Archie from the newsprint based comic books, traditional comics coloring does not have blending, so it is acceptable to have hard lines in between each color tone. You still achieve the same element of depth, just on a flatter scale.

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4. Creating your Highlights

Once your foreground and background coloring has been done, it is time to add additional highlights for extra depth. Start with a small brush, and then paint blots of white in the ‘hottest’ areas of the lighter tones you’ve painted in the flat layer. Do not overdo the highlights, otherwise your figures will appear metallic or glossy (unless they ARE metallic or glossy – then its absolutely fine!)

Once the blots are done, blur the white patches and blend those into your colors underneath by feathering the edges. You could also leave the painted blots with harder edges if you wish to have a flatter appearance. For additional control, create a few more highlight layers and adjust the opacity of each layer (if your software allows it) for more dynamic effects on each panel.

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5. Details through Effects

For additional depth and detail, use your effects layer to really make your images ‘pop’. Perhaps your character has energy spheres that glow brightly or there is an eerie mist in the surrounding environment.

.This layer(s) is where you would place these rendered effects to provide more visual impact, refine and put the finishing touches on your colored work. The reason the Effects layer sits above the Linework layer is to create more of a sense of form and shape. If these effects are oulined in heavy black, the effect is flattened and will lack the depth and shape you want to establish. Only pure black and white comics use outlined effects in order to create a visual idea, since color isn’t an option.

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6. Final Touches and Refinements

Once your colors have been laid down, your highlights added, and your effects finalized, you can do your tweaks and adjustments to all of these layers if you’re not completely satisfied with your rendering. Sometimes its worth taking a few hours off and coming back to the page to see if there are any changes you’ll want to make – or if its fine just the way it is.

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7. Save your Layered working file

ALWAYS make sure you save a working version of your layered file. You may have to make further adjustments later, and without the original working file you’ll have to start over from scratch to mimic the work you’ve already done. That is not efficient.

You have passed the Digital Coloring tutorial. Now that the color work is done, we’ll move on to rendering your type and dialogue if you haven’t done so already. Check out different styles of comics and study how each colorist renders their effects, builds their flat colors and create shape and form. Keep trying new coloring techniques until you find one you are comfortable with.  There are plenty of samples on the internet to learn from. Practice and develop your style, and eventually you’ll be making stunning masterpieces of comic book art.

In the previous workflow technique, I explained how using keyboard shortcuts would dramatically improve your efficiency and speed while working. This subconscious action is a valuable skill to have when you work in a pressure cooker environment, or for your own personal benefit if you’re looking to get your jobs done faster. In this post, I am going to expand upon the basic shortcut list with a list of more advanced controls that you will find in Illustrator CS4.

(Commands in brackets indicate the shortcuts for Mac)

Selection Tools

Control (Cmd “command”)
This will access your Selection or Direction Selection tool at any time

Ctrl + Alt + Tab (Cmd + Option + Tab)
This switches between Selection and Direct Selection tools

Alt + Mouse click tool (Option-click tool)
This cycles through the tools behind column tool

Alt (Option)
You can make a copy of your item while dragging 

Shift
Adds to your selection

Arrow keys in any direction
Moves your selection

Shift + Arrow key in a direction
Moves your selection 10 pts in the chosen direction

Ctrl + 2 (Cmd + 2)
This locks your selected artwork so you cannot accidentally select and edit it (good for complex layering)

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2 (Cmd + Option + Shift + 2)
This locks all your unselected artwork (reverse of prior function)

Ctrl + Alt + 2 (Cmd + Option +2)
This command unlocks all artwork

Ctrl + 3 (Cmd + 3)
This hides your selected artwork

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 3 (Cmd + Option + Shift + 3)
This hides all your unselected artwork

Ctrl + Alt + 3 (Cmd + Option + 3)
This shows all your hidden artwork

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Paths

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + J (Cmd + Option + Shift + J)
This command executes the Join and Average functions at same time (for paths)

Alt (Option)
This converts your Pen Tool to the Anchor Point tool while hovering over anchor points

Alt (Option)
By pressing this key, you will switch between the Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools

Alt (Option)
With the Scissors tool, you can access the Add Anchor Point tool

Spacebar
This moves the anchor point while you are drawing with the Pen tool

Hold Alt + Release Mouse (Hold Option + Release Mouse)
This one is a bit trickier, but it will create a closed path when you’re using the Pencil or Paintbrush tool

Ctrl + Drag Mouse (Cmd + Drag Mouse)
This will connect to an open (selected) path with the Pencil Tool

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Paint Tools and Transformations

Alt (Option)
This accesses the Eyedropper tool from Live Paint Bucket tool

Shift
This takes an intermediate sample color from a gradient, picture, etc. with the eyedropper

Alt + Mouse click with Tool (Option + Mouse click with Tool)
This sets a center point and shows dialog

Alt + Drag Mouse (Option + Drag Mouse)
This makes a duplicate and allows you to transform your selection

~ (tilde) + Drag Mouse
This transforms  your pattern without transforming object

Shift + Drag object bounding box
This allows you to proportionally scale your object with the selection tool

Alt + Drag object bounding box (Option + Drag object bounding box)
This allows you to scale your object from the center using the selection tool

Shift + Drag Mouse
This will move a mesh point along path when using the Mesh tool

Shift + Click Mouse Button
This will add a mesh point when using the Mesh tool and does so without changing the color

Alt + Click Mouse Button (Option + Click Mouse Button)
This will remove a mesh point when using the Mesh tool

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Drawing Shapes

Alt (Option)
This will draw your shape from center

Alt + Click Mouse Button (Option + Click Mouse Button)
This will draw your shape from center with a dialog

Shift + Draw/Drag Mouse
This will constrain (maintain) the proportion of your drawn item

Shift + Draw/Drag Mouse
This will constrain (maintain) the orientation of your polygons, stars, spirals from the shape tool 

Spacebar
Allows you to move your object while drawing

Up/Down Arrow
This will add or subtract the number of sides, points, spiral segments

Ctrl (Cmd)
This will decrease the inner radius of your shapes

~ (tilde) + Drag Mouse
This will create numerous duplicates following your mouse movement

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Viewing & Guides

Spacebar
This activates the Hand Tool so you can pull and drag yourself around your viewing area. 

To activate the Hand Tool when you are editing type (this one requires timing and practice:
Ctrl + Spacebar, then release Ctrl once the Hand appears and drag your mouse
(Cmd+ Spacebar, then release Cmd once the Hand appears and drag your mouse)

Ctrl + Spacebar (Cmd + Spacebar)
This activates the Zoom In Tool

Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar (Cmd + Option + Spacebar)
This activates the Zoom Out Tool

Ctrl + Spacebar + Drag Mouse (Cmd + Spacebar + Drag Mouse)
This will Zoom In to exact size of your artwork

Tab
This quickly hides or shows all your tools and panels 

Shift + Tab
This quickly hides or shows all your panels except the toolbox

Alt + Drag out New Guide (Option + Drag out New Guide)
This will switch between a horizontal and a vertical guide

Shift + Ctrl + Double-Mouse click (Shift + Cmd + Double-Mouse click)
This will release your guide and turn it into a regular path

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Type Tool Shortcuts

Ctrl + Shift +< (or > to increase) (Cmd + Shift +< (or > to increase))
This will decrease or increase type size

Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)
(Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)) -This will decrease or increase leading

Alt + Arrow Left (or Right to increase) (Option + Arrow Left (or Right to increase))
This will decrease or increase kerning/tracking

Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Left (or Right to increase) (Cmd + Option + Arrow Left (or Right to increase))
This will decrease or increase kerning/tracking by 5

Shift + Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)(Shift + Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase))
This will decrease or increase your baseline shift

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase) (Cmd + Shift + Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase))
This will decrease or increase baseline shift by 5

Ctrl + Shift + (L or R or C or J) (Cmd + Shift + (L or R or C or J))
This aligns your type- L = left, R = right, C = center, J = Justify

Ctrl + Shift + F (Cmd + Shift + F)
This will Justify your last line

Ctrl + Shift + X (Cmd + Shift + X)
This will reset horizontal or vertical scale to 100%

Ctrl + Alt + Q (Cmd + Shift + Q)
This will reset your kerning or tracking to zero (0)

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Palettes and Function Keys

F5
Shows or hides your Brushes Palette

F6
Shows or hides your Color Palette

F7
Shows or hides your Layers Palette

Ctrl + F8 (Cmd + F8)
Shows or hides your Info Palette

Ctrl + F9 (Cmd + F9)
Shows or hides your Gradient Palette

Ctrl + F10 (Cmd + F10)
Shows or hides your Stroke Palette

Ctrl + F11 (Cmd + F11)
Shows or hides your Attributes Palette

F12
This will Revert the file to your last saved state 

Shift + F5
Shows or hides your Graphic Styles Palette

Shift + F6
Shows or hides your Appearance Palette

Shift + F7
Shows or hides your Align Palette

Shift + F8
Shows or hides your Transform Palette

Shift + Ctrl + F9 (Shift + Cmd + F9)
Shows or hides your Pathfinder Palette

Shift + Ctrl + F10 (Shift + Cmd + F10)
Shows or hides your Transparency Palette

Shift + Ctrl + F11 (Shift + Cmd + F11)
Shows or hides your Symbols Palette

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Layers Palette Shortcuts

Ctrl + Mouse click on Eye (Cmd + Mouse click on Eye)
This will toggle your layer between Preview & Outline mode (filled in eye/ outlined eye)

Alt + Mouse click on Eye (Option + Mouse click on Eye)
This will show current layer while turning off all others

Alt + Mouse click on Layer Name
(Option + Mouse click on Layer Name)
This will select all the items on your layer

Alt + Mouse Drag selection square in Layers panel
(Option + Mouse Drag selection square in Layers panel)
This will copy your selected item to a different layer

Ctrl + Mouse click (Cmd + Mouse click)
This creates a new layer at the top of list

Ctrl + Alt + Mouse click (Cmd + Option + Mouse click)
This create a new layer below the selected layer

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Color Palette Shortcuts

Shift + Drag color slider left or right
This will saturate or desaturate the current color 

Shift + Mouse click color bar
This will change your color mode 

Ctrl + Mouse click color bar (Cmd + Mouse click color bar)
This will select the complimentary of your current color

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Swatches Palette Shortcuts

Ctrl + Shift while creating new color
(Cmd + Shift while creating new color)
This will create a your new swatch as a global color

Alt + Mouse drag new swatch over old
(Option + Mouse drag new swatch over old)
This will replace a swatch with another

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Now most of these shortcuts can be altered in your options to whatever you prefer. If you have graduated from these advanced ones or just want to set up your working area with custom keyboard shortcuts, you can easily modify them in your preferences/options to suit your particular needs. they can be saved as separate profiles as well.

I don’t even use all of these commands as some of them do not benefit me and the work I do, but there are several here which are absolutely necessary in order to complement the basic shortcuts and make me more efficient during my illustration work. If you need a refresher on the basic commands, check out this blog post and familiarize yourself with them. Or just check it out if you’re new and looking to speed up your working time and turn yourself into a power-user.

With this series on workflow techniques, you’ll be well on your way to efficiently completing tasks and projects in almost half the time. Practice and use each function repeatedly until you commit it to memory – its the best way to learn!

I haven’t given you a tutorial in a long time, so I felt it was high time to get on that and give you some tips from my own expertise. I draw a lot of comics, and I have a typical flat style when it comes to inking which makes it very easy to learn and adapt to your own work environment. I’m going to attempt to keep this tutorial as basic as possible for those who:

1) Have never digitally inked before
2) Don’t have the necessary software
3) Want to learn an easy workflow technique

So let’s get started.

The Planner & Preparations

The easiest way to get organized for inking is making sure you have your pencil roughs set up to your satisfaction. You can always go back and refine your forms while you’re inking, but its really difficult to redraw entire frames. So make sure that when you’re ready to ink, you’re happy with what you’re filling in. Generally I will start with a thumbnail sketch for my pencils, then move into a full size rough with very minimal detail. If you’re a beginner, you may want to add more details to your work to ensure consistency and have a solid guide when it comes time to inking your final work.

Here is a sample page from a webcomic I’m producing.

You’ll notice that it is VERY rough. I tend to work quickly for the sake of efficiency, so I’ll hammer out the details more at this inking stage rather than before. I may change my mind about a pose or facial angle etc (all MINOR details, remember). With enough practice, you’ll be able to do the same if you feel comfortable working like that.

In this sketch by comic illustrator Alex Ross, you can see the enormous amount of detail he has with his pencils. Generally, the pencils are then handed off to an inker who is given some instruction on fills and flourishes – you can see that Ross has filled in most of the blanks for his inker so that person can stay within the confines of what Ross has imagined the final piece will look like with the inks.

You can see there’s little room for interpretation on the inker’s part. I don’t work that way since I’m a one-man-army so I can take those liberties for now. Chances are, you’re in the same position. So here’s the next step!

Scan your linework (if you did it manually like a majority of people) and save it at a relatively high dpi setting (300-600 at full size). If you’re doing a traditional comic page which is roughly 6.75 inches wide by 10.25 long (including artwork that bleeds off the page), and you are not working at that size when you do your pencils, you will want to scan at a higher resolution to ensure your details remain nice and sharp. Scan your artwork as a greyscale photo in order to keep all the subtle tones intact – some scanners scan B+W based on bright white and dark black so your greys tend to disappear.

Personally, I do everything digitally so I will open up my program of choice for artwork (generally Photoshop or Illustrator) and set all my canvas settings ahead of time. This tutorial is based off a 6×9 format.

Set up your Workspace

Now that you’ve completed the prep portion of your artwork, I recommend you set up your working file with the following layers. Photoshop, Sketchbook, Gimp, etc all have layer options. If you’re using a program that does not, I’d suggest finding one that does, as it makes the process of inking much easier.

Here’s the set up:

The first layer should be your canvas/pencil layer. Since I drew my comics digitally on the same file, I had a separate layer specifically for pencils. If you scanned your work and placed it into your new file, you can use that as your base layer. It would be a good idea to reduce the opacity of that layer so your pencil work doesn’t appear as dark (for tracing purposes.) The reason for the additional layer below is to have a solid white color below the transparent pencil layer.The top layer is your working layer – that is labelled ‘ink’ and you will be placing your solid blacks here.

The ink method

There’s no right or wrong way to ink your drawn work. Some people prefer using a calligraphic brush for varied line weights (it looks like a ( / ) in your brushes palette most of the time) while others prefer a round brush with custom brush settings applied. Each program has a variety of different features that allow the pressure control/sensitivity or the brush shape you want to use for your inking. In this tutorial, we are going to use simple round default brushes because my style is relatively flat and clinical.

To begin, select a thick/large brush to create your main outline work. In the example above, you can see the outline of a character’s head with a thick round brush. I did not outline the hair – instead I chose to use the flat filled shape act as its own border since it is dense enough for the definition I want. In this example, I used a Round 7 pixel brush for the outline.

Complete the outline and make whatever necessary alterations to the pencil work as you see fit (within reason.) In this case, I didn’t like the proportions of my sketched figure so I fixed it during the ink phase (most of the time you would have done this already). Fill in your solid shadow areas with black – there’s two ways you can do this: make a selection around the area you wish to fill (using a lasso tool or a point/pen selection tool) and use your fill tool to fill the area with a solid black. Alternatively, you could use brushes and fill it in by hand. It all depends on your comfort level when it comes to efficiency. Find out what works best for you.

Next, select a smaller brush to fill in the details from your pencil work. Generally, I will use a brush that is approximately half the size of my outline brush for varied line type – here’s an example of it in action below:

Note the thinner line weight in the details. You could use a different brush for additional line weight variation WITHIN your thick outline for additional depth and contrast. But again, thats up to you and the style you want to achieve.

Continue filling in the details with the smaller brush. Feel free to use more brush styles and shapes as you like, and other ink/shading techniques like cross-hatching. This example uses fills and outlines (since the rendered product is in tones of grey.)

Eventually your page will begin to fill out with dynamic contrasts and begin to have a life of its own. Here’s a half finished product from the other day. Typically, I take a few hours to do a page since I do revisions on the fly. If you have a tighter pencil sketch, it may take less time (or more time depending on the complexity of the detail.)

A few other things to note – I rarely use my Wacom/pen tablet for inking, since my line weight is even throughout. I will use the mouse + Shift Clicking in order to get the “connected line” between the gap from the points I’ve placed on the canvas. This gives me more precise control over the direction of the line. It is definitely not very organic, and essentially eliminates the pressure options that you have with a digital pen. You may want to have that variable line width and prefer the use of the pen for control. I suggest you use whatever works best for your style. In this tutorial, the figures are flat and 2D cel like, since that is the effect I prefer for this comic.

Experiment. Find your style and learn from others. I hope this tutorial gives you some insight on how to digitally ink your pencil work and gets you on the path to creating comic books or webcomics of your own. The next tutorial focuses on coloring your comics after you’ve completed your inking.

Good luck!

It’s great to see the results of hours worth of painting/drawing work – the final rendered piece often draws a lot of praise and in a lot of cases, serves as inspiration for other artists to go off and do something similar. But what is equally as interesting as the finished piece is the method and workflow artists use to achieve these results.

I know we all don’t have the luxury of sitting for hours at a time while the artists makes their forms come to life – but with the help of time-lapse video, you can get the feeling of the artists method in a shorter period of time. With these video clips, you can see a blank canvas appear magically when these time-lapsed hours turn into minutes.

Absolutely incredible work – I hope some of these inspired you. I know I’m tempted to try some of this myself – I’ve always thought about it, but after seeing all this great work, I know I should do a few of these while I work on my comic book!

If you can draw figures and forms easily, the next step in creating a complete composition is to draw/paint an engaging, interesting and believable background for your subject(s). One of the most common ways to do this is through the use of a landscape. I’ve gathered a few tutorials together on how to create stunning landscapes with beautiful colours, details, dramatic lighting and depth. You can apply these techniques to your process to enhance your landscape work and increase the visual interest and quality of your work.

Skyships

Patrick Keith shows us his workflow method for creating a landscape for this commissioned piece. This tutorial is great since it contains techniques that are not software specific.

Depth by colour – Ground Rocks

Mahesh Bhat over at KalaaLog has a variety of interesting tutorials on digital painting techniques. Here is a tutorial on creating a simple landscape with rock formations – there are some basic color theory tips and light/shadow techniques as well.

Cloudy Sky Tutorial

Dan LuVisi (commonly known as Adonihs) has created a cloudy sky landscape tutorial for an article in 2D Magazine – his use of painting techniques, blending and muted colour palettes produce a soft painterly effect for his concept work.

Painting a Landscape

Alain Descamps beautiful concept renderings have earned him some huge accolades in the Digital Art world. This tutorial is a simple landscape that can be rendered with such precision and ease. The results are astonishingly realistic. His portfolio can be found at www.adesconcept.com If you can read French, check out his tutorials (tutoriaux) section for some excellent methods on creating visually stunning landscapes and backgrounds.

Matte Painting Tutorial

Shantanu Jahagirdar creates a mystic landscape scene with moody, dramatic lighting using a mixture of painted and photographic pieces. The finished piece is srtiking and intense. Here’s a tutorial on the full process.

Desirable Thirst

Niklas Forsberg has created a painterly waterscape with rich vibrant colors and thick brushstrokes. He has produced a step-by-step walkthrough on his method. This tutorial also includes some efficient workflow techniques (shortcuts, controls) to help you speed up your own work.

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And there you have it – a number of tutorials on creating interesting landscape/backgrounds which should help you maximize your compositions. Try a few of them out and then develop your own techniques in your own style!

We’ve focused on some drawing techniques and tutorials - now we’re going to have a look at some digital painting tutorials so you can simulate the feeling of live painting with your tablet. Here’s some online & video tutorials that show you different methods used to achieve some wonderful looking works of art.

Ron Lemen’s Skin Tones Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to layer your colours and build up your forms and create realistic looking skin tones from a reference portrait. Its one of the easiest tutorials I’ve seen, and its very effective with a some practice.

Painting a Monster Cutie

Jami Noguchi of Angry Zen Master and Monster Cutie fame delivers a video tutorial on the process involved in creating a fat little monster (but he’s so cute!)

Jim Zubkavich’s Pin-Up Tutorial

Jim Zubkavich goes through a step-by-step process from loose line art to a finished digitally painted piece.

The Red Assassin

Here’s another tutorial on how to draw a lovely Asian assassin – from rodnymella.com courtesy of Pixel2Life.

How to Paint a Portrait From Reference

Here’s a handy potrait painting tutorial from TutorialQuest.com. Pay close attention to the tips given, as they are key fundamental things you should know when venturing out into the world of portraiture (Digital or other media).

Digital Landscape Painting Tutorial

Alain DesCamps explains the process involved in creating a landscape using a digital painting method. Courtesy of CGArena.com.

Illustration Workflow using Sketchbook Pro

A majority of tutorials on the ‘net are usually focused on the Adobe suite of products (Photoshop and Illustrator mainly) so here is a lovely walkthrough of Nick Harris’ process for creating a digital painting of a Steampunk Watch-mender Mender (Once you see the image, you’ll know what I’m talking about) using Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro software.

In a later post, I’ll be showcasing a number of speed-painting videos so you can marvel at the artistry of some of the best digital artists out there. Perhaps you could learn a few new techniques on how to layer and build your digital artworks!

We live in a world of beautiful, vibrant color. As artists, we try to replicate what we see and feel using color – but in order to do so effectively, you must understand the science behind it. I’ve put together a list with a number of techniques and lessons that will help you better understand color theory.

Color Theory Basics

Here is a starter tutorial on Color Theory from a contributor over at Amateur Illustrator.

Color Matters

Jill Morton at Color Matters discusses the concepts of color.

Introduction to Color Theory + Exercises

Laurie Garo provides a technical lesson and exercises based on color theory. (University lesson)

Electronic Colors, Models, Mixing and Application

Starting with the basics of electronic color, this information site offers comprehensive coverage of color theory, the history and science behind it and its applications.

Worqx.com Resources

Worqx.com has a large resource of information on color, theory, practices and applications. There is enough information here to guide you further along in your use of color after you’ve understood the basics. I’ve used the information from Worqx time and time again. Make sure you bookmark this site for sure!

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And there you go – learn from these resources and enjoy your new-found knowledge of color as you apply it to your next projects!