AID4: Gag a Day

 

A desk full of chaos

 

Looking Back

I'm constantly trying to figure out a format that can work as a page and a scroll... and as something I personally find visually appealing. The previous installment wasn't able to stick the landing with the scroll IMO. It needed taller gutters and taller page breaks and the result was too dense for the scroll format.

It worked better as a "page". 

Dialog also remained a bugaboo. Too big. Too few words. Too 3rd grade reading level. I don't like it. It overpowers the art. I'm making a comic, not a visual novel.

But the world insists on looking at things on a tiny phone screen and they need giant text. What can be done besides giving in and drawing in a Webtoon format?

I'll keep chewing on that one. 

Looking Forward  

Plan 1. As you can see above the next few pages will be two by two. Newspaper style gag strips historically work well online so I'm going to borrow from that format. 

I decided to abandon the 4-koma approach to the next installment simply because it required changing the cadence of some of the story and I wasn't happy with the additional panels needed to keep that beat up. 

Having them scroll by one panel of a time creates far too much empty space. It's one of the reasons I don't draw in Webtoon style. I just don't think it's a pleasing reading experience seeing more gutter than comic.  

Plan 2. I'm still thinking of making the reading experience smoother for phone scrollers. I've started making the horizontal gutters and the page breaks taller.

Plan 3. As always: Hands. I find that my pencils for hands do look okay. It's when I ink them it all goes haywire. That's when I need to increase my vigilance.

Plan 4. I'm going to attempt some hand lettering. It'll be limited to emotes and sound effects first going on. But I will hand letter the dialog with blue line pencil to get a good gauge of how big I should be making the text in relation to the art.

Status

Layouts are mostly done as of this writing. Three pages left. 

Finished pencils are next.