Creating a Comics Page from Pencils to Colours

Before I start with this instructable i just want to make it clear that I am by no means an expert or a professional in the comics industry. I have many years experience reading comics, but I've only been creating comic art for a short time. this is an instructable on how I do it, and by no means reflects industry standard. so with that out of the way, here's what you will need to create a comic page
.
What you will need:

Heavy paper or Bristol Board
pencils (I like the hardness of HB, but also use 2B)
ink (I kinda cheated with this page and used ink pens. Most artists would use indian ink and a brush).
a scanner
Adobe Photoshop (I'm using CS5)

Step 1 Planning the page

panel layout is a really important part of a comics page. the number of panels, their shape and the way they flow all have bearing on the pacing of the story. The page I'm doing for this instructable is a big character page with some smaller quick action panels. Most comic book writers have a basic plot that is writtten in script form. I'm working from my wifes fantasy novel, remnant. here's the text from the scene:
"As Jayde turned her attention back to the fight, Kasu stepped quickly to the side allowing an unobstructed view of his opponent. Almost quicker than the human eye she whipped out her dagger and flung it at the man. Jayde hit him squarely in the throat. While he gasped and gurgled on his own blood she stepped past her stunned leader and undid the man’s belt. She retrieved the keys and handed them to Kasuratu.

“What?” she asked coolly. He failed to reply. “You were taking too long.” She grabbed her knife and cleaned it on her unfortunate victim." Remnant, Chapter 10 by Lesley Barklay.

the best way to plan a page is to draw a small thumnail of the page, paying particular attention to how many panels you need, where they go and what size and shape they are. In this page I wanted to portray the character's agility and deadliness, so I went of a full page panel with 3 smaller, connected panels inserted at the bottom of the full page panel. hopefully the sense speed is conveyed, 'cause that's what I'm going for!

Top tips for panel layout:
1. don't try to convey too much information on a single page.
2. vary the 'camera' angles and point of view.
3. panels dictate pace, so plan the size and number of panels according to the pace at which the story is going.
4. make sure the panels flow in a way that can be easily followed and read.

Comments

[iminthebathroom]

Nice, one of the few in the comics contest that I voted for, due too quality and relevance. Good job!

[copilarim]

You did a really great job!! :)

[lollyamy]

great post, thank you