I’m currently working on a new series of digital art pieces focusing on a golden age comic called “Western Adventures”, specifically featuring the character Cross-Draw Kid. I thought it would be cool to give some thoughts about my process. I wish I had stage-by-stage saved files to better demonstrate the process, but perhaps that’ll be something I do for a future blog! For now, I’ll keep it simple and treat it more like plain-ol’ commentary.

 I wanted to show a before and after shot of the page I used for the first piece. I started with a full-page opposed to only one panel which is usually the case. The particular challenge to using a full-page “base” for the digital manipulations is finding a way to modify what’s already there in order to add design elements that are unique to me. When starting with a panel, for example, there’s more opportunity to personalize it because it tends to leave a lot of negative space to play with.

Showing the side-by-side images below you can see that I zoomed in to crop out the title and covered most of the bottom scroll-text with two panels from later in the story. The reasons I do things are both intuitive and intentional.

The intuitive  part of the process exists at the start when I start layering things, cropping things, adding filters, using the airbrush tool, masking things, adding text, etc. For the most part during this stage, I trust gut feelings to stumble upon “happy accidents” that guide me to a path I want to take.

The intentional part is when I start applying basic elements and principles of art to re-affirm the aspects of the piece I want to highlight. I use colour to unify the piece and guide the eye around. I use patterns to both flatten layered elements on the same plane (the grunge artifacts) as well as add texture (the comic dots and shirt). I added two simple things to this piece to help frame the Cross-Draw Kid better (the dead tree and birds). I cropped and repeated the title “Cross-Draw Justice” and placed it on a highlight coming from the sun in order to re-enforce the vertical framing created with the lower scroll and panels and the original “Cross-Draw Kid” title bar.

The best thing about making these is discovering things as I go. Layers are my friend. Textures are my friend. Filters are my friend. Moving layers around, or changing filters, or duplicating elements after I get something I like sometimes create whole new opportunities for the piece. Some examples are below.

 If there are those out there who’ve always wanted to create digital art, I say go for it! There’s no better way to get better than to just create, create, create. Get comfortable with the tools and software you want to use slowly, then add new things to the process, experiment with it, and then create some more. The advice I’ll always stand by is: Don’t give up, don’t feel defeated, don’t stop creating. Enjoy!