I WANT to do less intensive shading… (Patreon)

Here’s how my brain works: for this panel, we, the viewer, are behind our subjects, rim lit by the sun. Behind them is Aayla holding the holocron. These are the subjects, Barriss and Ahsoka whispering to each other, Aayla, annoyed at their interrupting. Those are the subjects, anything else is just scenery, just background, just mood and setting.

Behind our subjects, I could do some gradients over a flat color and call it a day. But that would look a little weak. Maybe adding some definable shapes would take it from an empty spa less void to the interior room of the Jedi temple. Add the window. Add the blinds. Oh there’s specific architecture? Sure, those columns are nice. There are all of these other specific shapes that are time consuming, but if I’m defining the background elements, why would I do anything short of getting the set dressing factually accurate.

Then I got add shading to it so it’s not just flat boxes. Make the column curve. Make the sky outside have a gradient. Add shadows for those blinds? Cool! Every other shape on this panel needs shading, so let’s do that too. Next thing I know I’ve drawn a brilliant and beautiful background for a single panel. For a sex comic.

My point being, I don’t need to obsess this hard over the details of a Star Wars parody sex comic! It would save me time to find a way to do it quicker and easier and less labor intensive. But I don’t know what that technique is. I think the effect is beautiful. But do I need to make a painting for every damn panel? This is the dilemma of comics. The panela have to look good, sure. But at what point do you stop? What does mid level good look like? Ugh. Part of me wants to just say fuck it, lemme just do what I know and go all in on the beautiful lighting in every panel. And part of me knows I have deadlines.

The trick is, logically I move from one step to the next, from “there should be a background”, twenty steps in to “I should shade the other blocks so they don’t stick out.” There’s a version where you look at the image as a whole and come to your conclusion for how it should look at the beginning.

Golly I’m just rambling now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the mood and settings these backgrounds create. I know I rush through comics and rarely stop and smell the roses of the backgrounds. And you can’t have EVERY panel have a beautiful background or you never know what to stop and stare at. This is all about balance. In addition to a hundred other mediums you have to know to make a comic, you also must learn how to balance time and effort. It’s a whole dam thing.