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Roza webcomic walk-through, 2009 edition

By Kelly | August 18, 2009

Here’s a quick look at how pages for my webcomicRoza are made. This tutorial is an update to the older Roza walk-through. Two years have passed since that tutorial was made, and some of my methods and materials have changed.

Tools used:
DokuWiki (story)
PaintTool SAI (sketch, inks)
Adobe Photoshop CS2 (cleanup, color, text)
Wacom Intuos 2 tablet (for digital drawing/painting)

For the first step, I grab the script for the next two pages and rough out the basic panels and flow. I like to work 2 at the same time in case the comic is printed, that way I know it’ll flow nicely with each pair of pages. Since I’m working digitally I can move, resize, and redraw each panel until I’m content.

Next, I use Photoshop to lay out the panel borders cleanly. Each page follows the same template to make sure proportions and line weight are consistent.

Using SAI, I start inking each individual panel. Characters and background lineart are on separate layers. The lineart is enclosed so that I can easily flood-fill it later.

With the inks completed on separate layers, I can use them to create a selection. All I need to do then is flood-fill the selection, giving me basic flats. This is also a good stage to check the values before adding any color.

Next I add correct colors to each layer of flats, using character model sheets and previous pages for reference.

Character shading is done on another layer, set to ‘multiply’. This example shows how the shade layer looks in normal mode instead of multiply.

As the last step, I add some bounce lighting, special effects like snow or fire, and a subtle texture effect that makes the final page feel more organic.

You can see the final version of this page here.

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Topics: Comic tutorials | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Roza webcomic walk-through, 2009 edition”

1. 5
   JoH Says:
   August 14th, 2010 at 5:58 pm

   So during the “inking” process, do you mean that you’re tracing the paper sketch in photoshop? Or are you saying that you have the physical paper inked, and you’re scanning it in and using that as lineart?

2. 4
   Denece-the-sylcoe Says:
   November 14th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

   Oh! Much more clear than the last sites!

3. 3
   silvermoon Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 12:23 pm

   how do you lay out panel borders? I have been trying to do this for a long time on photoshop and i can’t seem to figure it out.

4. 2
   Tamarichan su Says:
   August 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

   Thanks for the articles. I’m very tempted to start my on web-comic, but as with daily life
   i haven’t had time to write out anything. Keep the articles coming!

5. 1
   Jay Says:
   August 22nd, 2009 at 5:22 pm

   I love your articles! Will you be doing more soon? I am glad you did one again. It’s been too long.

   I’m a really bad artist. I’m bad at shading and getting my hand to do what I want. Any advice? Where should I start?