Much the Miller's Son (Xeric winner!)

[Steve LeCouilliard]

Alright, so here's the thumbnail for this page. I usually try to work further ahead than this in order to get the flow of the story, but this week I'm a little behind.

[Steve LeCouilliard]

Here's the rough version of the page. You'll notice I resized the thumbnail to match the page dimensions then adjusted the color to black and lowered the opacity. I then drew over it in red on a new layer. The translucent yellow and red layer is the print template. It shows the safe zone and bleed area for when I print the page. I try to keep all important art and the dialogue within the safe area so it won't get cut off. I also have guides set up on the page which you can't see, but all they do is divide the page into 6 panels.

[Steve LeCouilliard]

And here we are with the finished inks. I use a custom brush with a rough texture and heavily modified the tilt and pressure sensitivity to mimic my real-world brush. I also scanned in a favorite traditionally inked page and matched my brush size to the line-width. That way my lines stay consistent throughout the page. The other thing I did is adjust the flow and opacity of the brush to give it lifelike variation.

[Steve LeCouilliard]

And finally, the speech balloons. I like to leave this step until the end because it gives me time to focus on the dialogue while adding some spontaneity to the process. In a sense, it's an opportunity to 'improvise'.

Spontaneity is important to me. I like to keep the process as lively as possible. There have been times where I have plotted out a sequence months in advance only to discard it and start fresh when I sit down to draw the page. I find it's good to let the story find it's own way, even if I have an ending in mind.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial. Click on the link to read the final page.


If anyone has questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for reading!

Steve

[Steve LeCouilliard]

heh heh... I understand loosing oneself while finishin up a video game. Just finished Toy Story 3 the game myself... and now all I want to do is comics again... I'm so glad to see new stoof dude! You rule!!!

Thanks matt! Do you have a thread for your comics?

[Steve LeCouilliard]

[pH]

Hey Steve! I'm luvin seeing your process. I didn't know you work digital! I guess that means your doing it right. Good work!

You going to comicon again this year?

[Steve LeCouilliard]

Thanks man! Yeah, I'll be at Comic-Con again, still no table though.

[Steve LeCouilliard]

[Steve LeCouilliard]

[Steve LeCouilliard]

Hey Everybody!

As a way of celebrating three years of Much, I'm giving away free original pages from book 2!

Just for fun, I'm setting up a contest. The winner will get first choice of the available pages and runners up can choose in descending order. I'll also post the winning entry.

Here's the contest. If Much the Miller's Son was ever made into a feature film, who would you cast? Please specify if you're thinking of a live action or animated film and provide links to IMDB in case I don't recognize the names.

Your Cast:

-Robin Hood

-Maid Marion

-The Sheriff of Nottingham

-Little John

-Will Scarlett

-Friar Tuck

-Alan a-Dale

-Much the Miller's Son

Deadline is June 1st. I'm interested to see what you guys come up with, because it will give me an insight into how you perceive the characters.

Looking forward to it!

Steve

[Steve LeCouilliard]

[Steve LeCouilliard]

[Steve LeCouilliard]

This week, a guest strip from Becky and Frank over at http://www.tinykittenteeth.com

[Steve LeCouilliard]