Behind the Scenes: The Winding RiverAs mentioned in today’s comic, we are starting the final chapter of Gobo Gazette’s first year. It is also a great opportunity for a behind the scene spotlight. I’ll set up a section on the website if this becomes a (semi-)regular thing. The topic of this post will be the winding river that Hob and Nob see for the first time at the beginning of chapter 5.

Behind the Scenes: Tools of the Trade 2018First, let me define what tools I use to create the webcomic. Every artist uses what is the most comfortable for them and, for me, I have been using these for a very long time. After doing a pencil draft on 9″ x 12″, 50 lb recycled sketch paper, I ink with Picma pens. I use a Graphic 1 for the primary outlines and Microns of varying sizes for details. This is the first time I experimented with the Picma Brush pen on the comic. I found it worked well with the foreground branch and leaves. When it came to the crow overlooking the gobos and the winding river, I stopped after a few strokes. I felt more confident to ink the bird with the Graphic because of the details.

Behind the Scenes: Working on Strip 5.01I actually create the standard four-panel strips in a two-by-two layout, which I rearrange, edit and color in Photoshop. Usually this is not an issue, however it did pose a problem with the 3 x 4 layout of the winding river. I actually taped the four pages together, and then taped it to a wall to ink. I normally use and highly recommend a pencil board so that pencil marks or ink doesn’t transfer to the next page. To avoid issues with the wall texture, I used it here for a smooth surface to ink on. This tape method will likely be employed for all future large-scale images. Why not get an easel? My little boy! Right now he is a wrecking machine!

I have done 100% digital artwork and used larger sheets of paper in the past. It might be a bit of a hassle, but going analog and small does allow me to work on the comic anywhere I go.