Plotting with Pencils

[Panda S. H.]

Starting sometime in the near future, (like tonight, probably...) I'm going to start fleshing out this short story idea that came to me at work yesterday. (Fear anything that spawns from fast food. Fear.)

Seeing as how I own no tablet and trying to learn Photoshop with a mouse or laptop will probably kill me, I'm going to invest in some color pencils and figure out how to use my mom's scanner.

At this point, the plan is to make a few pages before submitting to Direman (I like the idea of having a buffer between the present comic and the one I'm drawing).

The questions:

Is there anyone among us that can give suggestions for hand drawn comics?
What is the exact process for submitting a comic to Direman Press?
Be nice?

[MadCat]

First: Squee! More comics ftw! Panda-drawn comics doubly ftw!

My suggestion for hand-drawn comics: made sure the page you draw them on can fit in your scanner neatly. Drawing on large/long pieces of paper and then having to cut them up to fit?
It sucks. >< (I has learned from experience, lol.) I kind of miss doing hand-drawn stuff, but the ease and speed of the computer keeps me going back. Sigh.

Having a buffer when you start is definitely good, too. I've heard people say 'have a week/couple weeks of strips ready when you launch' to start off with a good consistent string of updates.

I remember having a buffer. It seems so long ago now... lol. Unfortunately, nowadays it seems if
I have a buffer and am working ahead, it messes up my brain a bit and I can't remember which strips I've already posted, which ones I need to post, and where I'm at in the story. Weird me. ><

[Panda S. H.]

That's when you use dates in your save file. Silly silly.

Well, it's a short story, so I'm not planning to have too many pages... Though... the setting leaves open the realm of further short stories. >_>

Oh... and I'm planning to use some cheap (rose art or crayola versus prisma) pencils and printer paper. >_> I think I'm safe, but thanks for the warning. That was a scary mental image.

[MadCat]

Hmm, I do like that idea, of doing serial short stories, rather than one large continuing narrative... that would be interesting! I look forward to hearing/seeing more!

[Dave]

From the main page:
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Contact Info

If you have any comments, or if you are an artist, writer, podcaster, etc. interested in developing content to be published by Direman Press, send a submission to contact@direman.com. Direman Press is committed to respecting creators’ rights, and is a web portal designed to retain internet traffic across the various content streams, earning ad revenue for everyone involved.
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I used to do the comics using paper, pencils, and inks, so I'd be happy to tell you about my own experiences. As for what you need to do to get something up with Direman, yeah, use the info I posted above and talk to Dee, the owner of Direman Press.


Good luck

[Panda S. H.]

=_= I was kind of hoping beyond hope that he would feel compelled to answer. But thanks, Dave.

As for your manual experience, did you ever use pencils and ink at the same time? How did that turn out?

[Yino]

Artist's tutorials and tips would indeed come quite in handy. I just started practicing with inking. (It turns out that digital inking with a mouse produces lame results)

[MadCat]

Yeah... digital inking with mouse seems very difficult. I'd suggest investing in a less-expensive tablet, possibly getting one used, etc., to try out, if you want to go for digital inking. Of course, even the 'less expensive' ones are about $100. (That's what I paid for my graphire3, back when I got it.)
Nowadays, I'd like to practice standard inking with real pens; I'm not very good at it yet. ><
I prefer using just pencils, but it's hard to make them reproduce well when scanned.
Also, Dave Tutorials ftw!

[Yino]

Also, Dave Tutorials ftw!

*Ahem* when I said Artists' tutorial I was somehow expecting for you to stand up too.
Also, I've been practicing traditional inking now, but I still lack lots of practice.

[MadCat]

Ohh, I thought someone was asking for Dave tutorials particularly. (I would love a Dave-style inking tutorial, myself.)

So what sorts of tutorials would people be wanting from me? (I'm not exactly the best judge of what I do well enough that people would want advice, lol.)