In the restaurant half of the pub...

Right off the bat: there's a new il-Logic strip up today, so if you haven't already done so, go to http://il-Logic.com RIGHT AWAY and check it out. Then come back here. (How long do you think I need to keep running these disclaimers on 'New Strip Day' before people get the idea?)

Anyway, this is going to be brief today, blog-fans, as I have a blinding headache and need to go and curl up in a dark corner for the rest of the evening. Sorry about that! I wouldn't leave you with nothing, though, so here we have the rough pencils for panel 1 of today's strip: As you can see, I'd also put in the background in chalk before I scanned it. I actually put another layer of chalk on after this scan. If you look down to the panel below, you'll probably be able to see the difference in the background:

The figures and the table are all painted in acrylics. I tried to make the colours subdued, as if they were in dim lighting (as most restaurants tend to have dim lighting... I suppose it saves you from getting too good a look at what you're eating). After I'd scanned this in, I actually played around in Photoshop to make the lighting look even lower... Looking at the finished strip, I now think I overdid it a bit. Oh, well... I never claimed to be perfect... or even particularly great at this stuff.

My sharp-eyed readers will notice, of course, that there's a blank space on the wall, in the picture frame. That's because I composited in a photograph of my painting 'One More Person', previously featured on this here blog, back in its pre-il-Logic days.

Hm. That wasn't that brief after all. I guess I just can't help but be a long-winded bugger...

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

The sordid truth...

Now the truth can be revealed! The last two panels of Thursday's il-Logic strip? I did them on the same page of my sketchbook!

Yes, that's right; as you can see below, panel 3 and panel 4 side-by-side on the same sheet of paper, with just a thin strip of smudged white keeping them apart! Actually, false sensationalism aside, this is the first time I've drawn (well, painted, in the case of panel 3) two panels together on the same sheet of paper. I did it to make sure that my little experiment with putting two tall, thin panels next to each other would work. I was feeling slightly restricted by the whole four panels one-on-top-of-the-other format I'd used for the first four il-Logic strips, so I decided to mix things up a bit. I hope you all approve and aren't leaving in droves in disgust because I dared switch from landscape to portrait!

As far as the technical side of things is concerned, panel three was painted entirely in acrylics. I didn't do any kind of preliminary pencil sketch for this one, I just went straight in with the paints. Panel four was drawn with brush and ink. I hope it's clear that Raj and Edan are those two silhouettes in the foreground...

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

Breaking it down again

Remember last week when I showed some 'more worked up' pencils for il-Logic strip 4? No? Well, anyway, I said at the time that I'd try and show you some of my more typical compositional sketching, that isn't quite as fully drawn out as the ones I showed you last week. True to my word, today, I have for you a breakdown of strip 5 panel 2, which includes a very loose, very rough pencil scribble: As you can see, it really is just a few, very faint, pencil marks to give me a general idea where I'm going with the composition for the panel. In this instance, I follow this with a couple of washes of coloured inks, roughly following my loose pencil sketch:
This should show you how little point there is in doing a more fully worked up pencil drawing when I'm using ink washes in this way. The ink pretty much obscures whatever I've drawn beneath it. In this panel, I then waited for the coloured ink washes to dry before going over them with a nice, thick brush and some black ink line work... finished off with some white ink highlights:

So there you have it: another il-Logic panel sans word balloons. I hope you got a kick out of it.

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

Another strip, another new character...

il-Logic strip 5 went live today so, if you haven't already, go to http://il-logic.com/ and check it out. I'll wait until you get back before I go any further.

O.K., well, you'll now have been introduced to Raj. He brings with him an evolution of the art style I'm using on the strip. There's a reason for this: as you've seen by all the talk of 'the hook', Raj is kind of a... strange guy. I wanted to create a sense of the surreal-o-metre going up a notch just by him entering the room, hence the fact that I've warped the walls of the room and brought in a greater level of mixed-media than I've used before. The colour in this panel is painted on in acrylic. I then drew over it with black and white ink.

Those four at the bar aren't painted, you say? Well, spotted. I drew in Edan, Lok, Michelle and Wid'L in chalk to (a) help increase the sense of the surreal as Raj walks in, and (b) put them into the mid-ground without losing them completely. Drawing them in chalk ensures that, while the focus of the panel is Raj's entrance, the others are still a very noticeable element of the panel.

While we have absolutely nothing against all the folks drawing their webcomics entirely digitally (Hell, we read and thoroughly enjoy most of 'em), Adam and I wanted to make it clear from the start that il-Logic was going to be a mixed-media webcomic. I sincerely hope there's enough people who enjoy our approach to create a market for it! On that note: if you're reading the comic, SPREAD THE WORD!

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

Koala spit

Welcome back, one and all, to another sneak peek at the process that goes into drawing the il-Logic webcomic every week.
Like the last panel (featured in yesterday's blog entry) I decided to work up the pencils a bit more than I usually do with this panel. I'm not sure why; it probably just boils down to the fact that I was enjoying drawing in pencil. Anyhoo, here's the pencils for this panel, in their unadorned form: And here we have the image with the ink washes and black and white line work added:

People probably don't pay too much attention to this sort of thing when they're reading the strip (which is exactly how it should be: the story is the thing), but I really enjoyed creating that textured effect on the wall behind the bar. I did it by putting on multiple layers of red ink wash until I was happy with the effect.

The inking on this one was done a bit differently, actually. I experimented with holding the brush differently and applying less pressure but loading more ink onto the brush. I quite like it, so you'll probably see more of this sort of inking (if you even noticed the difference, of course).

This is my absolute favourite drawing of the koala I've done to date (and I'm further ahead than you've seen yet, so I'm including koala drawings you haven't even seen yet). Maybe it's the dribble.

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

Breaking it down

Back again for more, eh? Well, you are most welcome! Today we're continuing our look behind the scenes of il-Logic strip 4. I'm not entirely sure why, but on this strip I decided to work up the pencils a bit more than I normally do (I must remember to scan in one of my more usual pencil layouts at some point so you folks have some basis of comparison). Because of this, I thought I'd show you the rough pencils for this panel as well as the inked version. Here 'tis: And now with inks:

As you can see, the majority of the work is still done in the inking stage. Also, I took a slightly different approach to inking Michelle's sweater in this panel, after the problems I had with it in the last one. Still not entirely happy, but this is what I get for putting characters in black clothing.

Hmm... I can only assume Lok has finished his drink, as his bottle is the same colour as his top. Yes, that's what's happened. I didn't make a mistake, nosirreebob. A-hem...

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010

A guy and a koala walk into a bar...

No, it's not the set up line for a joke (although, thinking about, perhaps Adam and I missed a trick with that one) but rather the opening scene of il-Logic strip 4. Needless to say, if you haven't read the strip yet, quickly dash over to http://il-logic.com/ and read it before you go any further here.

Back? O.K. Let's get on with it, then.

I knew that, if I'd done my job right with the initial establishing shot of the bar in the last strip, people would know where the characters were just from the funky arch around the door, the lamps and the painting. Failing that, Michelle has a glass in her hand (presumably a new one, as her last drink was spilled in the last strip) and Lok has a bottle next to him. My primary concern with this opening panel was whether or not Edan's facial injuries would be clear enough, considering his face was going to be pretty small in this panel. As a result, I think I've probably made his injuries a little worse than Adam originally intended when he wrote the script. (I could be wrong... for all I know Adam's sitting at his computer thinking 'Godsdamnit, Selman! Edan was supposed to be WAY more messed up than that! Where's all the blood?')

By the way, I'm aware that the top of the painting on the left of the panel is wonky. I knew that the word balloon would be going there in advance, so I just chucked those lines on a bit willy-nilly. Is that unprofessional? Eh, whatever... I really enjoyed putting Michelle and Lok in silhouette in the first panel, as it puts the emphasis on Edan entering the bar, despite the fact that the other two are in the foreground of the image. This did create a minor problem for me in the second panel, however, as Michelle has a black turtleneck sweater on and I didn't want it to look like she was still in silhouette for the rest of the panel as well. As a result, I used a bit more water in the black ink wash of her top this time around, to make it clear that it's a black top rather than any kind of artistic effect. In hindsight, I think I may have overdone it, as her top looks like it's been washed too many times now. Oh, well; you live and learn.
My sharp-eyed readers will no doubt have noticed that the starfish in the fish tank had the honour of actually being inked this time. (See blog entries from earlier in the week if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Shame about the word balloon being in the way on the final strip, but whaddaya gonna do? Adam WILL insist on having the characters talk!

My favourite part of this panel? The faint artexing on the wall in the background. I know, I know... seek psychiatric help immediately.

il-Logic and all associated imagery © Adam Di Stefano and Paul D. Selman 2010