#and if i frame it as having to be a comic

[creaman]

Hi there! I apologize for taking up your time, I am just so curious: When you tackle a comic, what does the process behind it look like?

Asking because I found myself scrolling through your blog once again and couldn't help but marvel at all the beautiful effects you use, at how flawlessly the structure guides the viewer's eye across each page, how the graphic weight seems to always be in just the right places…, and wonder how you learned doing this. Everything you put out looks incredibly professional and I aspire to reach your level of skill 😌❤️

Thank you Finz!! You're no bother at all, I'm an open book. This is such high praise for a guy that really doesn't have a set process, I feel like a hack. Ha. Rest assured my style is still developing. Besides the referencing of the linework and composition of official comic books, (practicing by redrawing panels for fun), explaining the process makes me feel like a serial killer but I will do my best.

(WIP Riddler panel, scrapped Scarecrow composition)

My comics usually stem from a single panel or concept — I like to focus on/emphasise particular panels of my pages, the heavy hitters, the main piece that catches your eye. I know I'm not a profoundly technically proficient artist so I prefer visually interesting elements and formatting, i.e. drawing characters outside their frames, negative space, notation, perspectives etc.

(Kung Fu Panda 4 sketch god I hate Kung Fu Panda 4)

I like to establish 'main focus' panels, the bits of the comic that really, well. make people want to chew on it. This is where the technical effort is concentrated, really, and the rest of the comic is generally build around these concepts.

('Restaurant Balthazar' focus panels)

Textures and effects are done on individual panels first, then the entire page as a whole to even out the unity. Generally, blocking in shadows, hatching for visual interest + middle tones, then textures/half-tones, then highlights.

(Script excerpt WIP)

I'm not a writer per se, but having a vague 'script' in your pages helps with pacing and direction. Comics are a versatile story-telling medium. I only really do scripts for comics longer than 2 pages. An optional but recommended strat is to send your script to a friend for a second opinion.

(Script excerpt — 'Restaurant Balthazar', annotated by @vincepti0n I don't know why he drew a face in the middle)

With the script crudely slapped together, I rough out the thumbnails and composition with the text, prioritising coherence and clean integration of previously mentioned 'main focus' panels.

Settling on a composition sucks the hardest. Drawing is fun, thinking makes brain hurty. Variety is good! Close-ups, wide shots, visual metaphors. Every panel is its own artwork.

The text bubbles are usually added in post, yes, but I'm just one guy and I don't have a writer to call me a good boy for doing things correctly. Bite me.

(Early 'Restaurant Balthazar' drafts)

In addition, keeping the text graphics in mind help create a sounder composition wherein even if the panels don't read cleanly left to right + top to bottom, the text can stagger and create the same reading order effect.

Panels and concepts are constantly tweaked, and my comic process is still highly experimental. A lot of industry standard comics aren't illustrated to their full potential due to deadlines and such — I strive for visual epiphany by treating each panel as its own artwork, and every page as a a bit of a mural.

(Old art hurts the soul)

Constantly experimenting allows you the insight of looking at your current art in comparison to your older works. In more recent works, I've been blocking in more shadows wiht lineart with thinner lines and more line weight, and learned to integrate the subject characters with less plain, abstract backgrounds.

TLDR: I have no idea

[lilybug-02]

Dewi is so wholesome. I want to protect him with my soul, hope nothing bad happens to him while in hallownest. Please lily, have mercy on him I beg of you. Because I don't know what direction will this comic take.

Hehe I think that's my favorite frame as of yet. Dewi just looks so lively. Don't worry, he's safe with me :)

[moutainrusing]

netflix & chill

“Remus, mate!” James pulled him into a hug and clapped him on the back as he entered the café for their evening chat after work together. “So long since I last saw you. How’ve you been?”

“James, you literally saw me this time yesterday.”

“Yes, and twenty-four hours without you has been too long,” James replied mournfully.

Remus rolled his eyes.

“Now, don’t roll your eyes at me, young man,” James scolded, placing his hands on his hips and comically furrowing his brows.

“Sorry,” Remus patted his arm, and smiled while placing two fingers on James’s glabella and smoothing out the skin.

James grinned. “You’re lucky you’re my favourite son.”

Remus didn’t even bother questioning how he was the son of the best mate he was older than by seventeen days. “I’m the favourite? What about Harry?”

“Harry’s betrayed me! His favourite dad is Regulus. Can you believe it? Lily’s so lucky she doesn’t have to compete with any other mums, she’ll always be the favourite,” James grumbled.

“I’m sure Harry loves all his parents equally,” Remus nodded supportively. “And therefore you should love all your kids equally too.”

James looked up at him with wide, proud eyes, and pulled him into a hug, mumbling, “How did my little boy get so wise?”

“I was born like this. Inherited all the clever genes from Lily, you see.”

James gasped, and pushed him away. “So now Lily is your favourite parent?!”

“I love all my parents equally. Although I’m really not sure how I suddenly have so many.”

James winked. “Best not to question it.”

Remus grimaced. “This life is so weird.”

James punched his shoulder amiably. “Now, don’t be like that. Life is awesome! Like, what’re you doing tonight? Living it up, right?”

“Nah, Sirius and I are just gonna watch Netflix and chill.”

For some reason, James’s eyes went as big and round as his glasses’ frames at this. Remus raised a questioning brow. James stuttered, “Uh— what? What?! When did this— Why did no one tell me anything?! I have to call Sirius!” And James flew out of the café, leaving Remus leaning against a high table in confusion.

To be fair, James often did spontaneously up and jump without even buying anything, so Remus shrugged it off and began walking to his flat. He’d see James after work tomorrow evening, same time, and ask what possessed him this time. It was their routine, after all. Knowing James, he probably realised he hadn’t seen Sirius in over an hour, and desperately needed to rectify it. Remus smiled to himself: James and Sirius were the epitome of two people who couldn’t live without each other.

Anyway, he could also relate to desperately missing Sirius, even after seeing him only this morning, because whenever Remus was with Sirius, his skin buzzed and his eyes were alive, constantly seeking him out to trace over his laughing face, but when Sirius was gone, his eyes went back to looking dead and the feeling… vanished. Replaced with a strange twisting and tugging of his gut, like it was trying to pull Sirius back to him.

He thought maybe it was similar to how James felt when he would outright yell, ‘I MISSED YOU!!’ to people he saw just seconds ago. Previously, he thought James was exaggerating, but now… now he thought James was downplaying just how intense the longing and the missing hurt. He felt bad though, because it was only Sirius he felt this way for, while James felt this friendly towards all of them. James truly was the greatest friend ever, but Remus never missed him the way he missed Sirius.

Eventually, as he climbed the stairs to his and Sirius’s flat, he stopped feeling bad, instead getting caught up in the excitement of the mundane activity of slouching on the couch together and bingeing through ‘Friends’ while knowing 70% of the lines. (They obviously needed to learn 100%.)

He unlocked the door, entered, locked it, and was finally ready to fling himself into cushions, but he stopped, because Sirius was pacing the room shirtless, donning incredibly low slung joggers, biting his messily painted nails on one hand and rapidly typing on his phone with the other.

“Remus!” He cried, dropping the phone. He didn’t seem to notice, instead shuffling from foot to foot as he fidgeted with his hands.

“Are you okay?” Remus asked in concern.

“Great! It’s just, well James told me something…”

“Something?”

“Something,” Sirius nodded, biting his lip and looking at Remus searchingly. So Remus allowed him to look. He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for. But at least it also gave Remus time to look, because Sirius was stunning. His hair was spilling from his shoddily tied bun in small black rivulets, his cheeks were tinted pink, his lower lip was in his teeth, and he seemed so innocent and adorable, nervous yet so casual, not caring at all about how he looked, because he didn’t need to.

Although his joggers were really way too low. And he really needed a shirt. But those hips and that waist and that chest; Sirius was like a chiselled Greek sculpture.

“Remus?” Sirius whispered, moving closer. Remus hummed, and looked up to meet his eyes expectantly. Sirius sucked in a breath, and then he blurted, all in one breath, “James said that you said that we were gonna have sex tonight.”

Remus paused. “What?”

Sirius repeated again, much faster, if that were even possible, “James said that you said that we were gonna have sex tonight.”

Remus frowned, “I didn’t say that.”

“Oh,” Sirius bit his lip again, nodding slowly. “So, uh, why…”

“I don’t know. We were meeting in the café like usual, and, like almost-usual, he ran off to do something. Said he had to call you.”

Sirius raised his brows. “He did call me. And he said that you said something which you now say you didn’t say and neither of you are liars so what is going on?” Sirius had begun to raise his voice.

Remus blinked, thoroughly confused. “I don’t know! And why are you getting mad?!”

Sirius looked like he was about to yell, before he paused, and slowly said, “What, exactly, was the conversation you had with James?”

Remus threw his hands up. “I never said we’re gonna fuck!” Sirius’s eyes widened slightly.

“Sorry,” Remus toned it down. “I genuinely don’t know where James got that idea from, and I know he’s not a liar, but I also know I didn’t say that. I just told him you and I were gonna watch Netflix and chill, and then he ran off!”

For some reason, after processing the words, Sirius burst out laughing. He clutched a hand to his lower abdomen, where the muscles rippled beneath his skin as he doubled over in guffaws. Remus had the very sudden and disarming thought that actually, he wouldn’t be opposed at all to fucking Sirius. He coughed slightly, banishing the thought in embarrassment. He would check Sirius was okay, before locking himself in his bedroom and questioning his sanity.

“You good?” He muttered quickly.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just, Remus, oh my God, you’re so innocent.”

Remus thought that right now he wasn’t having innocent thoughts at all, but okay. He nodded hesitantly, as if to ask for more information.

Sirius finally sighed, leaned towards him, and whispered into his ear, “Netflix and chill stands for SEX.”

Sirius leant back, grinning devilishly as he took in Remus’s ‘o’ shaped mouth and flushing cheeks. “Sorry,” Remus stammered, because Sirius was still in his personal space and his chest was really, really bare, and he was still staring at Remus like he expected him to say something, or do something, and Remus had no clue what.

So he let Sirius stare at him. It allowed him time to stare at Sirius too. Finally, Sirius seemed to decide something. He brushed his lips against Remus’s ear lobe as he whispered, “So, do you wanna watch Netflix and chill with me?”

And Remus realised that he really, really wanted to do that.

Microfic Compilation by MountainRuse

[ornii]

Hello, how are you doing?

I was wondering if you would write a story with Enid x Wednesday x M!reader where the reader is a vortex, like from the Sandman series/comic, and after his and Wednesday's first date he goes to sleep and has a smutty dream before accidentally travels into Wednesday dream. Wednesday's dream was the reader eating her out with her wearing a blindfold while Enid is in the corner rubbing herself.

Due to his confusion and hornyness, the reader accidently travels to Enid's dream. Enid was dreaming that she was being double penetrated by both Y/n and Wednesday with a strap on. Seeing this caused the reader to accidentally break the barrier between their dreams so they all saw what the other was dreaming. This caused them all to wake up and the reader to go over to their shared room to apologize. However, when he arrived and explained what happened, they reached an agreement to make the others dreams a reality. After a full night of sex, the reader and Wednesday are spooning Enid and agree to let her into the relationship.

Take your time and sorry if this is too much.

Night Terrors, Indeed. (18+)

A Vortex, dreaming being beyond comprehension and understanding. Admittedly you attempted to sleep after your first date with Wednesday, turns out explaining to her the demons that the vortex attracts. Haunting a dream together was a first good date, which lead to an.. interesting night.

Lying in your bed your mind begins to fade into mist. Everything slowly solidifying into a bedroom, an old castle on the coast of England, you sat up and felt an unease about your body, as if you were.. sick. “H..hello?” You spoke into the dimly lit room, a few candles, a fireplace illuminated the front of the bed, candles along certain walls and frames. You could make out a door opening to your left and a figure calmly stepping out of it, Wednesday. She didn’t have a Nevermore uniform on her, it was a thin black lace nightgown, Carrying a single candle she approached.

“Mi querido..” her deep black eyes peered into yours, and she gently placed the candle on the bed rest and leaned into your face.

“You’ve had a long and strenuous battle… allow me to relive you.”

“Wednesday I…” her finger slowly pressed against your lips as she gently crawled into the bed and straddled you. Her cold pale plan gently pressed against your chest, this dream felt so.. real, you wanted it to be real, and her left hand slowly began to train down your abdomen, her fingers softly drag along your skin and the sensation felt so pure. But before you could feel he grasp it, your eyes awoke to the Hellway of Wednesday and Enids dorm. You were standing up, and a look of surprise was on your face. “Am I… no.. dreams must be interlocking.” You thought to yourself and walked along the hall. Nearing the door, you heard a gentle moan behind the door. Curiosity and arousal fill your mind and you twists the door knob and peer into the bedroom, and your eyes went to the right side to Wednesdays side and to the origin of the sounds.

Her hands were bound by handcuffs, though a rail of her bedframe, her eyes bound by a wrapping and her bottom lip was bitten, as she was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her neck to her back, bare chest with supple breasts softly shaking as her shaky moans echo though the room, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her, this was definitely Wednesday’s dream. You watched a pair of very familiar hands move upward and grip her waist, it was yours. You saw yourself right between her legs, using your tongue to lap against her walls and the warmth of your breath brush against her flesh. Her legs instinctively wrap around your neck, inching closer to an orgasm, the soft whimpers of Enid catch your ear and you lean in a bit further, your eyes caught Enid, her legs gently rubbing together as one hand was in between and the other gently massaging her own breast, her eyes so crazily focused on watching Wednesday and the dream version of you being so… intimate. You closed the door swiftly and tried to press those thoughts out of your mind, and turned left, and blinked somehow you were back at the same door, as if the world itself moved to be fixated on your eyes. You reached and gripped the handle again and opened the door, this time the positions changed, you watched yourself lie on Enid’s Bed, her on top, palms gripping your shoulders as she rides the dream version of you, Wednesday was also behind her, her arm grasping her neck as she was also behind Enid, using a strap on she also decided to plunder the Werewolf’s body. Enid was in bliss, a mix of pleasure and wolf like mating she was enjoying herself a lot more than most. And admittedly you wanted to put yourself in the mix, you gripped the handle harder, biting your lip you felt the arousal build up and take over, you closed the door once more, but hard, and with that slam you woke up from your invasion of dreams. Sweating and with a very abrupt form of morning wood. You took a deep breath to compose yourself. Sitting up you exhaled and felt a deep feeling, and you had to alleviate it.

Gently knocking on Wednesday’s door, you waited, it was a bit of shuffling and you watched it open to Wednesday in a gown, and Enid looked a bit, awkward. “Can I.. come in?” You asked, and Wednesday stepped back to let you in. You saw Enid in her bed, curled up slightly, not able to make eye contact with you. Wednesday stood in the room, a bit uncomfortable herself. You had a very good idea of why they looked like that.

“So… I’m sorry about, all of that.” You spoke up first, and Wednesday took a breath. “You upset Enid.” Wednesday frowned, she wasn’t angry about her dream being taken advantage of, she was upset that Enid was upset.

“Enid… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” You bit your lip to try not to say something dumb. Enid finally looked up at you, cute puppy dog eyes, “It’s okay.. I know you didn’t mean to.. I just, didn’t want you to see what I was—“

“Fantasizing?” Wednesday finished, “Yours was no better, you like me watching?” Enid replies, Wednesday for the first time was actually embarrassed. “Well.. no, your infectious personality just corrupted my dream.” Wednesday lies, but gets an idea. She turns to you, and looks you up and down.

“I have a way of you to repay us… help us make our dreams a reality.” She said, which piqued the interest of Enid. She walked over to Wednesday, a bit conflicted but when she met Wednesdays gaze, she accepted and also turned to you.

“I mean.. it’s only fair.” She said hiding a sly grin, and you were obviously stuck between a rock and.. two very hard places. You sighed and gently gripped your shirt. “Well.. we can all at least enjoy it.

And Enjoy you did.

Dawn began to crack though the glass windows and hit your eyes, they flickered opened and you looked to the roof off the room, Wednesday was already awake, just not particularly motivated in moving. Snuggled up with your left arm she tilted her head near yours.

“I half expected you to die during it, Enid gets insatiable during the mating season.” Wednesdays palm gently pressed against the center of your chest, feeling your heartbeat. “I’m… actually glad you’re alive.”

“Well of course, would he too much work getting rid of my body.” You said jokingly, you couldn’t see it, but she smiled slightly. “That too… but I’d be upset we might not be able to continue this… Polyamorous relationship more.”

“It’s not because I’m really good at working my tongue, is it?” You moved your hand down her backside. Wednesday bit her lip to avoid admitting that her moans were louder than she’d like to admit. “Your performance was.. sufficient.” Wednesday said, “Well I’m sure Enid loved yours, although you were a pain in her ass.” You smirked, looking at the roof.

“Was that an attempt at a joke?” She said.

“Yeah, funny wasn’t it?” You asked, moments pass, silence, until Wednesday uttered;

“No.”

[dreadintensifies]

i really love dead boy detectives from a creative standpoint

dont get me wrong, the characters are a delight to watch and the story is engaging and refreshing, but to me the creative visual choices are the real stand-out of the show.

theres so much detail and *love* put into every single frame. not to mention all of the interesting things they tried and risks they took, from unique angles that felt straight out of a comic book page to snappy pacing that feels like reading through panels, everything from the framing to the effects was deliberate and passionate and exciting, i hope its success allows for so much more creativity and experimentation.

another incredible visual aspect is the set design, oh boy the set design. so much love and attention to detail put into every single object placed. two particular stand outs are nikos room and esthers house (especially esthers house the love i have for that house)

nikos room because what an incredible way to tell you everything you need to know about a person at a glance. from the upbeat, if awkward decor to the lines of yaoi lined up perfectly across the wall. and esthers house, which just brings me so much joy. all throughout her house, in blink and you will miss it moments, are pieces of history. furniture that was made centuries ago, lamps that were in style decades ago, and so much more. old technology thats long outdated, styles from different eras clashing subtly in the background, things showing a life long lived. because of course she would collect things over the years, of course she would simply keep what she likes, and the amount of care that was put into who she is as a character and how that impacts her house is such a small but incredible detail to consider

anyways i really love the visually creative aspects of this show

and i truely just cant get past how much i enjoyed the way it feels like reading a comic. even moreso than the spiderverse trilogy, i truely felt like i was seeing panels come to life in the best possible way

man i sure hope there arent several dozen shows in our future that try to replicate that but without the heart that made it work in the first place

[sovonight]

I've been browsing your art, although I don't go there and I don't have much context, I'm consistently blown away by how you compose comics (plot aside, which is also amazing, the panelling is the one that really blew my mind). It's so creative and has a lot of variety, while remaining clear to read. If I may ask, but do you have any tips to keep oneself from being rather monotonous when panelling?

ahh thank you! i think the main tip i have is to know what you want each panel to show, and have a good handful of basic panel compositions at the ready to choose from

by "knowing what to show" i mean like, for each chunk of dialogue, i already have/had a visual in mind for the scene/characters when that line of dialogue is spoken. i know the emotion of the characters in the scene, and sometimes their pose/expression. when i sketch each panel out, i ask myself:

who/what should be visible here?

what's happening? what interaction is taking place? what poses are there?

what expressions are they wearing? should an expression be focused on, or hidden?

what is important for the viewer to see (or not see)?

where should i put everyone/everything in the scene, and what camera angle should i use, in order to ensure that all of the above is visible in the panel?

there's a lot of ways to answer those questions, but because i draw a lot of the same scenarios (often just 2 people talking), i have a go-to panel composition that i just modify slightly for each panel, which is "1 character closer to camera & 1 character further from camera"

i like to angle the camera like this just for a sense of depth because it's more dynamic than them being equidistant from the camera (although i do that too, if the pose calls for it or if i want the panel to feel flat/matter-of-fact on purpose). this angle also lets you swing the camera around during an exchange so that the conversation feels less static

you can extend this setup to 3 characters (or more):

and just within this basic setup, you can edit proportions & reframe to draw focus where you want it:

panels don't just live in a vacuum though, so where i can, i like to work with the page as a whole. with all of these elements (text, bubbles, art, panel frames) to arrange on a page, i kind of treat it as putting together a collage.

when i start a new page my first step is to add the dialogue to the page & split the text up into bite-sized chunks. then i move the text around the page, visualizing roughly how much space i want to allocate for each portion of text, and start to arrange the dialogue bubbles. i'll think about which text chunks are part of the same line of dialogue & how i want to connect them (should they stay near each other, or is there a panel change?), and about if there are any interruptions (where text bubbles need to overlap) or dialogue running off-page (where i'll need to find or create an edge to hide text runoff with). at this step i'm already thinking about composition of the page as a whole, bc the placement & portioning of the text affects the composition just as much as the art does

then i start doing rough sketches--like this rough, so that i can easily & quickly scrap and redo sketches if i change my mind. (this is kind of like my thumbnailing step, but i do them at full size bc i prefer to have the correct page proportions & text bubble sizes for the page before i start sketching)

for panel-first comics (like this or this) i set up my panels first according to my space estimates from earlier, then draw my sketches for those panels. tbh i've found that i don't really like going panel-first, bc i feel like it stifles my panel shapes & arrangements and keeps everything very rectangular and rigid, and i really have to think and make a conscious effort to make things more dynamic or organic

for art-first comics (like this or this) i'll do a sketch for each chunk of text, and let the sketch sprawl over as much space as it needs to (aka, not trying to confine it to a panel shape or anything; at this point i literally don't have any panel guides onscreen at all). i do each sketch on its own layer, and i generally keep my previous sketches up as i go so i remember my progression, but i'll also start to hide layers if i'm running out of room. after i finish all my sketches for the page, i unhide all my sketch layers, and move my sketches around the page to see how they flow & fit together. finding similar curves and tangents and natural cut-offs that i can use to connect 2 sketches is how i get the panel-less look, and for sketches that really need a clear line of demarcation to separate them from everything else, i'll draw a panel around them

after all that, i have my sketch for the page as a whole. if i feel a need to, i'll move the text around some more until i like how it looks & flows with my art, or i'll redo a sketch or two if a couple consecutive panels look repetitive. and that's pretty much it!

[wonderlandsakura]

I think I just gotta start writing the thing, so I'm gonna try to write a bit a day and we'll see how it goes:

Alice wakes up and looks out the window, and... That's weird, it's so much emptier.

Where's the port town facing the sea with their little red roofs and white walls that she can usually see in the distance?

Where are the smoking chimneys of big cargo boats out in the port, made small by the distance?

Where are the cranes, seemingly still ever time she looks, but somehow always hard at work, loading and unloading?

Where is the touch of modernisation?

Out in the distance, all she sees are trees that should not be there and rolling green hills with no roads with people and cars and trucks cutting through them, ever busy.

She opens the window, and the breeze blows in, but it's crisper, fresher, not carrying the smoky tang of vehicles and boats alike, something she never thought of, never noticed until now.

It's quieter too.

There isn't the sound of people and cars and boats in the distance, only the call of birds and the rustling of leaves, so much closer than before.

BANG!

The door startles her and she turns to see Marcus there, panting, anxious, his mouth gaping open, mouthing words he cannot find or voice.

She knows before he speaks what he's going to say.

They aren't in their world anymore.

[canisalbus]

[ohposhers]

troll who isnt allowed caffeine or she'll reenact the Hammy energy drink scene from over the hedge clay prefers tea anyway

[cozylittleartblog]

cringe is dead because rouxls is carrying the weight of it all madoka style

[rendevok]

“Take my hand” pages 12-15

1 - 2 - day 3 - 💙free day❤️ - 4

[hawkeye221b]

Genuinely this is one of the funniest fucking things to come out of a comic book that i own.

LAUNCH!! HIS!! KRYPTONIAN!! ASS!!!

[lilybug-02]

Bribed with Chocolate. The way it should be.

Part 22 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

More to come as this is a two-parter. But you know how I am with schedules.

Bonus:

I think this was an equally possible reaction from Chara.

[blackkatdraws2]

There are more things in the Parable than Stanley knows about. [Blank Scripts AU]

[rileyclaw]

i just think the idea that optometry in the boiling isles is magic-based is VERY funny

[ashdash2417]

So this is what’ll happen in one of the new episodes, right? /j

… This was much funnier in my head