Andi Syrup 1
With Distressed Beeping now out I thought I'd draw back the curtain on the mystical process of making my one page strips. I will skip the messy, angsty bit of sitting with paper and pencil in hand regretting my life choices and stick to the nuts and bolts.
I open Procreate and the template I have for these strips and set up the drawing guides for the lettering.
I choose my lettering brush which is a slightly tweaked version of one that comes standard with Procreate.
I letter it by hand and also play around with the wording, sequence and size of the panels. It would save me a LOT of time if I used a font but I prefer the slightly wonky look of my lettering and it's a skill I try and keep fresh when I'm in writing mode.
I open up my drawing brush. Another slightly tweaked standard brush.
I open up a separate layer to draw on...not that it'll stop me drawing on the lettering layer at some point. I lower the opacity of the layer so it looks like pencil.
Put in the balloons. No complicated dialogue back-and-forth in this one so it's straightforward. Balloons lead the reader around the page so it's important they flow clearly.
Here's how the drawing layer looks. I draw the title image last.
Then I 'ink' over the top of the drawing layer. This is what the final black and white art looks like.
Then I send it over to Photoshop to invert caption boxes and add colour and save in various formats.
(Originally posted on my patreon.)
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Imagine doing all that 100 times and collecting the results in a handsome A5 hardback. Well, now you can! It's available from me and from Page 45. 108 pages, 120gsm uncoated paper. Matt laminated cover.
Punycorn!
My next middle grade books is coming out later this year. Please pre-order from anywhere you pre-order your books. They are the key to the success of any new release.
Out November 14th from HarperCollins
Blackwells/ WHSmith/ B&N/ BAM!/ Bookshop.org/ Hudson/ Target/ Walmart/ Amazon/ AmazonUK
Publisher : Clarion Books (November 14, 2023)
Language : English
Hardcover : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 0358571995
ISBN-13 : 978-0358571995
Reading age : 8 - 12 years
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I now have a bunch of my books on Kindle. Dumped, Breakfast After Noon, The City Never Sleeps (short story sampler), Super Hero Pink (previously Gum Girl...it's a long story), Glister and Princess Decomposia.
I have DRM-free PDF versions of more of my backlist on Ko-fi and Gumroad
I have a patreon which I update regularly. Tuesdays and Saturdays I post process and behind the scenes stuff such as Punycorn colour pages. Thursdays I post a one page comic story.
I still have books out in the world: Sunburn, Paris, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest & the awards nominated The Book Tour. Support my efforts through my store – digital comics – patreon or by leaving a positive review online.