cranking out a comic for kawacon
After I read the zines in my backlog I got inspired to crunch out a new comic zine for Kawacon (July 4th weekend). AHH!!!
I think it’s funny that the comic zine I am cranking out is nothing that I mentioned in my previous zine post.
I’m working a fun R18 (aiming for 24-ish pages) comic featuring Caelan and Nyv. It’s a short story that happens pre-main story or it might even be the prologue/first scene of the story (who knows lol).
I don’t think I’m very good at comics/panelling but I really just want to push through with it because I get better with practice etc etc etc.
Something that I reaffirmed is that I love seeing a comedic twist on BL or even serious!funny things. I also finally read BLTease (love love hill anthology) and was laughing at the comedic takes on tropes.
I’m planning to old-skool DIY zine it aka print it at home at staple it myself.
Process
I think it’s been like 10 years since I’ve tried to do an actual comic story. I really love long, slow-burn plotty plot plot stories for my on OCs, so trying to make a single comic with a short contained story is tricky.
Anyways I decided to base my plot on this pic of Nyv and Caelan where they are in a random inn and Nyv is “disguised” as a traveller.
I started with a quick summary:
After that I started out fleshing out with thumbnail sketches. I like working this on on paper since it feels quickest? Using random green paper that I hate the color of (LMAO) to use as scratch paper.
I like thumbnailing as 2 page spreads so I can see how the pages flow together. Also there were some transitions that I wanted to hit and pages I wanted to leave for the R18 scenes.
While the thumbnails were fresh in my mind I worked on doing a digital sketch version on procreate. Procreate has a page assist feature where I’m able to keep the layers organized. I also added in some more firm/readable notes/dialogue I wanted to hit.
I’ve been working on the R18 scenes too and it’s funny how my mind starts to go very technical when trying to draw everyone and figure out what makes sense. It's so funny when you become so desensitized to drawing nsfw things that you're like oh I really want to showcase the butt here. Also things like… what I personally want to see.
You could argue that I could do a fade to black but I don't want to!!!
I realized I might actually be able to add spreads here + workshop the pacing where panels are more spread out?
The next step (and current step I'm on) is to get this set up on Clip Studio where I’ll be doing the main drawing/dialogue bubbles/lineart/toning, etc. After reading other people’s comic/doujins I’ve realized I don’t want the tones to look TOO dark especially since Nyv has darker skin so I need to fully halftone him.
Some print testing where I was testing brush sizes and bitmap settings. I also finally replaced my toner after like 5 years of a low toner alert.
Can I finish this in time to print by June 29/30??? GOOD LUCK TO ME!!