As part of a recent assignment on my Multimedia & Web Development course at Cavan Institute, I had to create a 2 page comic layout, using Adobe Illustrator &Adobe In Design. It involved lots of research, ideas, sketches and much more, to really bring my idea to life. My college tutor Donna taught us how to use the software that was needed. We done many different tutorials and tasks in class. As the weeks progressed I became more confident in my abilities. Once I had my concept finalized, it became easier to get the ball rolling as they say. As I'm not great at drawing/sketching, I was worried my work wouldn't be good enough. But I was assured that once I showed my work progression it would be fine. The weeks leading up to the submission date really flew by, and each day I done more and more on my comic.Storyboards were a great help, as they really helped to visualise what way my comic would flow, and look to the reader.
One of the most important stages of planning out your projects is creating a storyboard. A storyboard is a graphic representation of how your story will unfold, shot by shot. It’s made up of a number of squares with illustrations or pictures representing each shot, with notes about what’s going on in the scene and what’s being said in the script during that scene. With the software illustrator, I used many of the different tools and techniques, we were taught in class. From creating shapes, filling with color, adding texture, adding text, resizing and more. At times it was stressful, as it was time-consuming and meticulous in parts. But piece by piece it slowly came together.
It was important for the story to have a start, middle and an end. Obviously like any story, film, book etc. I wanted mine to be funny and original. When I thought of comics originally, the first thing that popped into my head was superheros. It's kind of a stereotype in the industry. I used a leprechaun as my main character. It doesn't get much more Irish than that.
Overall it was a brilliant way to express creativity in a new way. I put many days work into it. I would keep coming back to it, try to fix this part, move that. But in the end I had to tell myself I have done enough to it. Some advice would be:
Start with an idea that you really believe in and want to share with others. This is important. It takes dedication see it through to the end. You need to love and believe in what you are trying to say or do.
Make a Model Sheet or Turnaround
See below for example of turnaround/model sheet
Write your story before you start drawing it.
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. I hope you have found it in some way informative and helpful. I'm looking forward to doing more illustration in the future, and I'm already thinking of new ideas. I already have a massive interest in photography & Videography, so this is another creative avenue for me to pursuit.
See below for my finished comic design.
Feel free to, leave a comment, share any of my past blog posts.
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