Reading and Following Through - Part 2

Hi guys. Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s been awhile. Like I always say, ‘If I haven’t got nothing to say; I don’t say it.’ I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. This pandemic is not slowing down anytime soon. Wear your mask guys! It just might keep you from getting sick, while you go out there and vote. Hah! You see what I did there? I want to talk to you guys about your scripts and your artist; whomever they might be. My question is… “Is your artist considering the rest of your crew?”

Okay. Here’s my thing. You wrote your script that you sweated and scream over, cussed over to get the right dialogue and action in the scenes. You visualized what you wanted to go on the page, panel by panel. Once you have that final draft, you pass it to your artist. Now, you have to trust your artist’s creativity to get what you wrote on the page. But… “Is he really reading it?” Or is he glancing over the scenes to just get an idea of what to draw?

Your artist has to “follow” the story. Not just draw the pictures in action. He/she has to consider everyone after them. Meaning, the colorist and/or letterer. He/she must leave space for the letterer to put the dialogue and sound effects in. Also, the panels must also follow the story. If there are five panels in the script, at least draw five. The letterer is also reading and following the script.

Once you’re done writing, it’s a god idea to ask your artist to start with the layouts. They are very important. This way, you can check to see if the artist is paying attention of what’s going on in the story. It’s not has to just be visually beautiful, but also has to make since. Well, those are my thought for now. As always… Be creative!