Auto-Tailor - page 9 - Process (Patreon)

Since the colors and shading were done by my partner, Jade, I'm going to talk more about other aspects of my process in more detail.

1. I start with a rough thumbnail to plan out the page. The layout here is very straightforward, a quadrant of four panels followed by one large one. Keeping the first four panels close in size and shape, as well as keeping close to the same pose, gives them a sense of consistent sequence and timing, like a short animation. It also helps make it feels as if it is all happening too fast for the character to do anything about it.

2. Now I go in and work out the final poses and proportions. As you can see, I rethought the style of the hair for the final design, going with something less bimbo, more hime, but still plenty big. This also gave me room to zoom in more on the character for the final reveal panel. While the panels are still mostly squared, I added a little bit of disorder to the angles to give the scene a more active and tense feel.

3. Now I go back and work out all the fine details. Keeping the poses mostly the same, I still need to include some reaction, such as a shifting of the head or shoulders and changing expression.

4. Then I ink everything, using a couple of different pens (one with a blunt tip, for outer edges, and one with a fine tip, for fine detail). Variations in line width are especially important in a scene like this where there is a lot of fine detail in the robot arms.