Pencil Over Ink

My next edition of my diary and memoir comic is being done exclusively in pencil. There are 7 different pencils on this page. These 6 are Tombows: H, 3H, 2H, B, 2B F, and I use a Blackwing Matte as well (which is soft and dark--the lines for the top two frames above are an example). I love writing and drawing with Blackwings. Such a good pencil.

As you see the top two frames is how everything will be done and scanned and printed on the page--smudges, loose lines, etc. I experimented with removing the rough and smudgy stuff on a different comic over the past few days--using Photoshop to fill in those areas with digital white...just to see how it looked. It's ok...but I'm going with this untouched-up look.

Personally, I am able to draw out a little more nuance in my drawing. This is more of a reflection of my very limited skill level with ink. Not to say I am especially skilled with pencil, but ink just a completely different animal on paper. I like it. Will continue to work with it, but for the next couple of months as I work on Big Chooch #5, most of my work will be in pencil.

Roughing Out Big Chooch 5

So far I have penciled out 20 pages of my next comic in my journal. I supposed this constitutes a sneak peek.

For context, there were 24 total comics in Big Chooch 4 (covering 20 pages) but many took up more than one page. And there were photographs and a poem. So, I'm going to keep going until I get to 30 pages in my journal and then I will start inking and refining the comics I am going to use. Always draw more than what you need...the comic begins to take over and has a life of its when I start laying out the stories I want to use.

I remain absorbed by the finesse needed in composing a three-panel comic...they feel a little like poems. Maybe more than a little.

Too Many Rocks

from Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman