The making of the "Need a Little Change" comic (Patreon)

Let me start off by saying that I'm not the ideal person for mimicking if you're looking to make your own comic. I'm not thorough, I cut corners, and I have no formal education. If you're looking to this as a teaching moment for how to make your OWN comic - well, sure, you CAN, but there are probably better people out there to imitate.

This is just meant to be a fun visual of the process I go through when I make my comics. It's actually rather simple compared to the 'official' methods, which are more thorough and do a lot more pre-work and refining.

Step 1: Thumbnails

Long gone are the days when I would sit down and just throw the entire draft down starting from an open digital file.

Reworking a digital file when you realize, 8 pages in, that you should have condensed page 2   in order to make room for the full spread on page 5, and then finished everything off by page 10, is .... annoying. 

Therefore, I now sit down with some post-its that are approximately the same dimensions as my comic pages and throw down very simplistic panel-arrangements to see how long my idea will actually take. 

Here's something fun - originally, this comic was supposed to be only 5 pages. I didn't want it to be longer, because I was running out of time to make it before going on break. But at the last moment, the "let's get Connie in here" idea happened. 

I didn't make thumbs for Connie's last 5 pages lmao. 

Anyway, as you can see, these postits are barely a framework. I literally am ust drawing squares for where the panels are and quickly seeing how long the idea will take.

(Ideally during this stage you don't even draw your characters. You just use stick figures as shortcuts, like in that left post-it where the gems warp out. See that triangle on a stick? That's supposed to be Pearl.)

Step 2: Rough Draft

This is the step at which I go in and do the rough drafts. These actually are pretty much exactly what I plan to draw later, only rougher. I try to go in and make all of these in one go. 

Step 3: Lineart

From what I understand, for other artists, this step is supposed to be 'refined draft' where they go over their rough drafts. For me, that's... not what happens. I just straight up sit down and lineart it all.

Because I draw in only black and white (with the occasional tone) it's not too terrible. It's also the most detached part of the comic, so during this I tend to actually listen to YouTube videos (usually SciShow or some other sciency teach-me-stuff type channel). I know a lot of people draw to music, but I personally detest white noise, so I can't focus if there's lyrics in the background.  

I have not been able to use a screen recorder, so here's the next best thing, I guess - a lineart GIF! Someday, I WILL get a process video out there.

Thanks for reading, and have a great New Year!

- Chekhov