Since you expressed interest in other people's thumbnail process, here's my Cliff's Notes version: 1. Write the script. 2. Break the script down into panels - as in, okay the script says this, I think I need two panels to illustrate that. One panel for this. This is four panels... etc. 3. Do a VERY rough, tiny thumbnail for each of those panels without any concern for page layout - I'm just trying to come up with the entire comic's list of panels in stick figure form. At this stage I'm also figuring out which panels are going to be "special": larger or smaller, full page, two-page spreads, or "page turn" panels (i.e., a panel I want first thing on a left side page, or the very last panel on a right side page). 4. Take what I decided in #3 and use that to assemble panels into pages, doing SLIGHTLY less rough thumbnails of each page. I mock up pages on 5x7 index cards. Then I go directly to "ink" from there, there isn't really a pencil stage. I use my stack of 5x7s and the script to figure out what I'm doing each week.
@@ScottSerkland yep I rarely pencil, typically only for really involved panels - but even then they are little more than nice thumbnails. Since I work digital and have the magical and wondrous power of Undo, I tend to skip the pencil stage and just go for it.
Awesome vid, Scott! When I was a kid I thought thumbnails were tedious and would always skip that part when I created comics. As a I got older I grew to appreciate thumbnails by studying storyboards of movies I loved, like Star Wars, and the Pixar movies. Doing thumbnails is one of the more liberating aspects of comic creation...trying to figure out camera angles, and letting my imagination run wild. I have so many ideas flying around my head that I have to get it down on paper quickly before I forget. When I draw that quickly, it's like catching lightning in a bottle. It's hard to get that energy back when I do my final drawing. I even do thumbnails when I just draw a single sketch. The importance of thumbnails can't be overstated.
I do my thumbnails small and in a hardcover sketchbook and lately, I've been scanning them in the computer blowing them up and using a light table and then tracing them to my boards to get the work done faster.
Ok ok you’ve convinced me Scott I’m going to do full thumbnails for my current projects lol great points man I’ve been resisting this stage for so long but I think your right it really shouldn’t be skipped 😎👍
I love how you are constantly grabbing a book to show as an example in this series! I didn't realize that it is so common for artists to skip thumbnailing. I typically start with a medium sized storyboard where I draw and write a rough draft, and almost always have to do major adjustments for composition and layout in the next stage.. I will do true thumbnails (much smaller than my storyboards, without text) in instances where I am unsure how many pages a longer story will be, or on a design for a cover or important scene where I can easily redraw something small a few times to get a good design composition. I feel like drawing comics without thumbnails or storyboards is comparable to doing a drawing without construction or some kind of underdrawing.. I guess skipping it could be more spontaneous and free, but to me it seems like you probably end up saving time and work by planning out a rough sketch so that you don't end up running out of space on a page or like forcing too much content into the last few pages of your comic since you have run out of space. Hard to imagine how an artist could create interesting panel layouts that all fit together pleasantly without planning it ahead... I guess guys like Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware commonly just draw straight ahead without planning, more like discovery writing.. I would like to try that method at some point just to see what difference it makes.
I totally agree Adam, and I was also surprised that so many artist skip thumb-nailing or don't even know about it. I hope I was able to change some minds.
Totally why you should thumbnail everything first. Granted I tried to without and I got stuck and lost what I was trying to convey. I did do thumbnails as small layouts, but later down the line in the comic I got confused. so I might have to make them a bit bigger than that I suppose. Thanks for clarifying on certain things. I have been interested in getting to make my own original comics I just need to thumbnail them out first.
I’m always surprised by how many people skip the thumbnail stage. I don’t think I could do a comic without them. I have been where you are where I can’t make out what’s going on in my thumbs. It’s a balance between keeping them loose but also readable.
@@ScottSerkland yeah. I started making them a bit bigger and now I can have 12 to a page of regular paper. Also thanks for giving me the inspiration I needed to try and make my original comics. Been watching a bit of your videos to help with keeping me motivated to try making a small comic book.
Disney once said, "We don't write stories, we draw them." Mad Max Fury Road doesn't have a script, instead it's made from just a storyboard. Is it a good idea as a creator to skip scripts altogether & jump straight to "drawing stories"?
Great quote and great question. It's really a matter of choice. I like to work from a full script, but the Marvel method is based on drawing from a rough outline and then adding the captions and dialog afterword's and you cant argue with their level of success. I'd like to go deeper into this question on the next Live episode.
I'm working that way on my first comic, it doesn't have a lot of dialogue so i was inspired by fury road sttategy. i have story and rough dialogue worked out but letting the art inform the final dialogue, I also wrote my script like a film script and divided it into pages, didnt do a panel list just went off the script sections in the thumbnail stage. I think having a script to base a panels list off could be a good way to go to prioritise actions and then determine the scale of panels after, I'm kind of doing it all at once and it has been a bit daunting doing layout and panel choices all at once
In regards to the free comic starter kit, I had no idea that Photoshop was a necessity. There was no guide as to how to install the brushes into Ibis, and my comic project got derailed for a good few hours. I have to finish an episode in seven days. I felt a little misled.
I'm sorry about that. I tried to be very clear about listing on my website what is included in the starter kit and and all of the formats contained therein. Just to be clear the only thing Photoshop is a necessity for are the brushes, everything else can be used cross platform in most drawing software and I have heard that some other apps similar to Photoshop can actually use the brushes. There are instructions on how to install the brushes into Photoshop, I'm not sure what lbis is and honestly there are so many apps out there I couldn't begin to offer instructions for all of them. That being said the brushes are just on small part of the starter kit. It's packed with a lot of useful tools and templates that can be be used in many art apps or even printed out and used traditionally. I do apricate your feedback, but I feel the info on the website clearly states what is included along with the available formats so I'm not sure what else I can do. Having said that I have distributed thousands of these kits and other then some confusion with how to open the zip file, honestly yours is the first complaint I have received. Typically if someone is not happy with one of my products I would be happy to issue a refund, however since you received the kit for free I don't know what to tell you other than I'm sorry that you felt misled.
@@ScottSerkland @Serkworks Art Labs Very clear about listing inside the website? I only heard the outro and looked for the link. It was a spontaneously leap on my end, because I was desperate and anxious of my deadline. A link led me to the download page of Google docs, so no I did not see this website. And thanks for making me feel special, and I'm glad to be your first. It was a vent, so you probably didn't know how grateful I initially was for the templates. I also don't hold you responsible for my bad day and ineptitude for this whole comic process.
Im starting my own mini comic called Poke. I wounld like to know if using any type of markers like for example sharpie is a good idea becuse im going to start printing it out soon. Also LOVE your videos.
The sharpies are okay for thumbnails, but the issue with Sharpies is they are not light fast which means they will fade and discolor over time so if you want your originals to last, Microns or Pitt pens might be a better choice. If you are just going to print the pages and don't care about the originals lasting then sharpies are okay.
Thanks for the advice. I’m on a break form UA-cam but when I come back the videos will be faster paced with zero fluff. Unfortunately they take about 20 times longer to create so they won’t be a frequent.
Since you expressed interest in other people's thumbnail process, here's my Cliff's Notes version:
1. Write the script.
2. Break the script down into panels - as in, okay the script says this, I think I need two panels to illustrate that. One panel for this. This is four panels... etc.
3. Do a VERY rough, tiny thumbnail for each of those panels without any concern for page layout - I'm just trying to come up with the entire comic's list of panels in stick figure form. At this stage I'm also figuring out which panels are going to be "special": larger or smaller, full page, two-page spreads, or "page turn" panels (i.e., a panel I want first thing on a left side page, or the very last panel on a right side page).
4. Take what I decided in #3 and use that to assemble panels into pages, doing SLIGHTLY less rough thumbnails of each page. I mock up pages on 5x7 index cards.
Then I go directly to "ink" from there, there isn't really a pencil stage. I use my stack of 5x7s and the script to figure out what I'm doing each week.
Interesting! No pencils? Aside from that and the note cards. It’s similar to how I do it up to the note card stage.
@@ScottSerkland yep I rarely pencil, typically only for really involved panels - but even then they are little more than nice thumbnails. Since I work digital and have the magical and wondrous power of Undo, I tend to skip the pencil stage and just go for it.
Just finished my thumbnails and excited for next step.
Awesome!!!!
Awesome vid, Scott! When I was a kid I thought thumbnails were tedious and would always skip that part when I created comics. As a I got older I grew to appreciate thumbnails by studying storyboards of movies I loved, like Star Wars, and the Pixar movies. Doing thumbnails is one of the more liberating aspects of comic creation...trying to figure out camera angles, and letting my imagination run wild. I have so many ideas flying around my head that I have to get it down on paper quickly before I forget. When I draw that quickly, it's like catching lightning in a bottle. It's hard to get that energy back when I do my final drawing. I even do thumbnails when I just draw a single sketch. The importance of thumbnails can't be overstated.
No need to convince you of the benefits of doing thumbnails. I can see you understand their power!
I do my thumbnails small and in a hardcover sketchbook and lately, I've been scanning them in the computer blowing them up and using a light table and then tracing them to my boards to get the work done faster.
I've done that before. I find that sometimes is hard to translate all the action and emotion from those quick thumbs into the finished art.
you got it. thumbnails.
Ok ok you’ve convinced me Scott I’m going to do full thumbnails for my current projects lol great points man I’ve been resisting this stage for so long but I think your right it really shouldn’t be skipped 😎👍
Really? I kinda figured you would already be doing this Marshall.
Yeah, I really need to do thumbnails
It's not hard Joe, You can do it!
I love how you are constantly grabbing a book to show as an example in this series! I didn't realize that it is so common for artists to skip thumbnailing. I typically start with a medium sized storyboard where I draw and write a rough draft, and almost always have to do major adjustments for composition and layout in the next stage.. I will do true thumbnails (much smaller than my storyboards, without text) in instances where I am unsure how many pages a longer story will be, or on a design for a cover or important scene where I can easily redraw something small a few times to get a good design composition. I feel like drawing comics without thumbnails or storyboards is comparable to doing a drawing without construction or some kind of underdrawing.. I guess skipping it could be more spontaneous and free, but to me it seems like you probably end up saving time and work by planning out a rough sketch so that you don't end up running out of space on a page or like forcing too much content into the last few pages of your comic since you have run out of space. Hard to imagine how an artist could create interesting panel layouts that all fit together pleasantly without planning it ahead... I guess guys like Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware commonly just draw straight ahead without planning, more like discovery writing.. I would like to try that method at some point just to see what difference it makes.
I totally agree Adam, and I was also surprised that so many artist skip thumb-nailing or don't even know about it. I hope I was able to change some minds.
Totally why you should thumbnail everything first. Granted I tried to without and I got stuck and lost what I was trying to convey. I did do thumbnails as small layouts, but later down the line in the comic I got confused. so I might have to make them a bit bigger than that I suppose. Thanks for clarifying on certain things. I have been interested in getting to make my own original comics I just need to thumbnail them out first.
I’m always surprised by how many people skip the thumbnail stage. I don’t think I could do a comic without them. I have been where you are where I can’t make out what’s going on in my thumbs. It’s a balance between keeping them loose but also readable.
@@ScottSerkland yeah. I started making them a bit bigger and now I can have 12 to a page of regular paper.
Also thanks for giving me the inspiration I needed to try and make my original comics. Been watching a bit of your videos to help with keeping me motivated to try making a small comic book.
Disney once said, "We don't write stories, we draw them."
Mad Max Fury Road doesn't have a script, instead it's made from just a storyboard.
Is it a good idea as a creator to skip scripts altogether & jump straight to "drawing stories"?
Great quote and great question. It's really a matter of choice. I like to work from a full script, but the Marvel method is based on drawing from a rough outline and then adding the captions and dialog afterword's and you cant argue with their level of success. I'd like to go deeper into this question on the next Live episode.
I'm working that way on my first comic, it doesn't have a lot of dialogue so i was inspired by fury road sttategy. i have story and rough dialogue worked out but letting the art inform the final dialogue, I also wrote my script like a film script and divided it into pages, didnt do a panel list just went off the script sections in the thumbnail stage. I think having a script to base a panels list off could be a good way to go to prioritise actions and then determine the scale of panels after, I'm kind of doing it all at once and it has been a bit daunting doing layout and panel choices all at once
I printed a few sheets of your thumbnail template. I like the size of them.
Cool, Good luck hope they help!
In regards to the free comic starter kit, I had no idea that Photoshop was a necessity. There was no guide as to how to install the brushes into Ibis, and my comic project got derailed for a good few hours. I have to finish an episode in seven days. I felt a little misled.
I'm sorry about that. I tried to be very clear about listing on my website what is included in the starter kit and and all of the formats contained therein. Just to be clear the only thing Photoshop is a necessity for are the brushes, everything else can be used cross platform in most drawing software and I have heard that some other apps similar to Photoshop can actually use the brushes. There are instructions on how to install the brushes into Photoshop, I'm not sure what lbis is and honestly there are so many apps out there I couldn't begin to offer instructions for all of them. That being said the brushes are just on small part of the starter kit. It's packed with a lot of useful tools and templates that can be be used in many art apps or even printed out and used traditionally.
I do apricate your feedback, but I feel the info on the website clearly states what is included along with the available formats so I'm not sure what else I can do. Having said that I have distributed thousands of these kits and other then some confusion with how to open the zip file, honestly yours is the first complaint I have received. Typically if someone is not happy with one of my products I would be happy to issue a refund, however since you received the kit for free I don't know what to tell you other than I'm sorry that you felt misled.
@@ScottSerkland @Serkworks Art Labs Very clear about listing inside the website? I only heard the outro and looked for the link. It was a spontaneously leap on my end, because I was desperate and anxious of my deadline. A link led me to the download page of Google docs, so no I did not see this website.
And thanks for making me feel special, and I'm glad to be your first. It was a vent, so you probably didn't know how grateful I initially was for the templates. I also don't hold you responsible for my bad day and ineptitude for this whole comic process.
Im starting my own mini comic called Poke. I wounld like to know if using any type of markers like for example sharpie is a good idea becuse im going to start printing it out soon. Also LOVE your videos.
The sharpies are okay for thumbnails, but the issue with Sharpies is they are not light fast which means they will fade and discolor over time so if you want your originals to last, Microns or Pitt pens might be a better choice. If you are just going to print the pages and don't care about the originals lasting then sharpies are okay.
Thanks for that. Hey just wondering to make the comic pocket size. On the printer how do you do it?
I felt this was more of a "why you should thumbnail" video instead of a hands-on "how-to thumbnail" video.
Sorry to disappoint you Christopher.
this amz
This is good content but you take toooooo long to say a simple thing. You get derailed all the time...
Thanks for the advice. I’m on a break form UA-cam but when I come back the videos will be faster paced with zero fluff. Unfortunately they take about 20 times longer to create so they won’t be a frequent.
@@ScottSerkland It could simply be that I can't concentrate for long. All in all you helped me very, very much! Thanks and I owe you!