Anyway, I like how this illustration turning out, and frogs are one of my favorite creatures to draw!

Super fun step-by-step instructions on how to make your very own snow sculpture!

Click image to enlarge.

Mini comic detailing the working process of the Canadian Snow Scupture Team!

Click image to enlarge.

Zach recently commissioned me to illustrate a poster based on one of his brilliant SMBC strips (this one).  I had a great time working on the facial expressions and getting creative with the different notes.

This poster is now available to for purchase at the SMBC store. It’s a whopping 19×27″ and it looks really great at this large size – especially on your wall, that one, behind you.

Gigantic 19x27" poster

Home stretch post! In the other three parts, I’ve covered the process for creating a strip from sketch, to pencils, to inking and scanning. Now I will go over my process for colouring a strip.

When I colour a strip, I lay out all of the flat colours first, picking and adjusting the colour scheme as I go. This process usually takes anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on the complexity of the strip. Once I have all the colours flatted, I then start applying the shadows, highlights, miscellaneous details, etc. I do all of my colouring on the Wacom Cintiq 12WX. Below is an animated progression of the colouring process. This will give you a little bit of an idea how the colouring comes together:

This image may take a moment to load (1MB in size).

When I colour a strip, I like to set up my layers palette like this:

This is how I organize my layers in Photoshop

I keep all of the background colours on one layer, and all of the foreground colours (mainly the characters) on another layer. I also give the background and characters their own layers for shading. Separating them this way allows me to make adjustments easily. If, for example, I wanted to adjust the levels of the shadows on the characters, I could do so easily without affecting the colours on the characters or the background. Or, if I wanted to add some broad shadows or fades to the background, this is easily accomplished without affecting any of the foreground elements.

Separating the “shadow” layers for the foreground and background allows me to easily select the layer I want to shade. So, If I want to apply shading to the characters, I simply (Ctrl-click) on the “CLR-characters” layer to select it, basically creating a mask around the characters, then I move up to the shadow layer above it, and start shading. I set the blending mode on my shadow layers to “multiply”, and usually select a darker shade of the colour I will be shading on top of. For example, if I’m applying shadows to Enzo’s face, I would pick a darker brown or reddish tone, or maybe even a cool blue colour – depending on the lighting I’m trying to achieve, then set my brush opacity to anywhere between 15-30% depending on how strong I want the shadows. And, if I find that I need to make the shadows darker after I’m done – this is easily adjusted since they are on their own layer.

For the highlights, I set them up on a separate layer, and usually set the blending mode to “overlay”. The general layers in the screen shot above are my starting point, but I usually find myself adding extra layers as I go, mainly for certain highlights or other elements that I may want to adjust separatly later. For example, I used extra layers in this strip for the clouds, the fire, and some of the background texture.

In my blog post on inking and scanning, I went over the steps I take to prepare the ink lines so I am able to paint on them directly. The following is my process for painting the lines when I need to change their colour, etc. for atmospheric effect:

1. First, I select my “lines” layer, then I click on the little button in the layers palette to lock the transparent pixels

Here, I lock the transparent pixels on the lines layer

2. Now that the transparent pixels are locked, I choose the colour I want to paint the lines

Selecting the colour to paint the lines

3. Now I simply paint over the lines. I am free to colour without worrying about painting anything except the lines, because everything on the lines layer is lock, except the lines!

Painting the lines!

This technique is great for creating depth in your backgrounds, or background characters.

That’s the end of my 4-part series on creating a Snowflakes strip. I hope you enjoy it, and if there is anything you have a question about that I haven’t covered, I’d be more than happy to answer in the comments below.

I use Speedball india ink, a hunt 102 crow quill nib, and a brush.

My main tool for inking is the hunt #102 crow quill. I’ve used brushes in the past (all of my inking on WhiskySours was done with brushes), but once I started using the crow quill nib, I never went back. I find it easier to get nice variety in my line weight with the nib. (The line variance you can achieve is amazing – from hairline thin to nice and thick – just be careful not to overload it or you’ll get a nice big black blob of ink on your paper!) Using a brush, I had to think more consciously about varying my line. Everyone has their preferred tools, and for me, the crow quill fits with the way I like to ink. I do use brushes for some thicker lines and for blocking in darks.

To see more detail - click to enlarge

Pictured above are the final inks for this strip. An average strip takes me between 1-2 hours to ink. Once I’m finished inking I use a brush and some white gouache for touch ups and fixing mistakes.

Next, I scan the inks on my little 8.5×11″ scanner. A large strip like this one has to be scanned in four sections and then fitted together in Photoshop. This is a pain, but larger scanners are a fortune, and I prefer inking in the real world instead of digitally. Every process has trade offs. At least this way I have a lot of original art that I can sell later on!
Once I have the inks scanned, I adjust the levels so the lines are nice and dark:

Adjusting the levels

Once I have the lines nice and dark, I copy and paste the ink lines layer into my comic template. My comic template is basically just a blank Photoshop file set up with my layers palette as in the screen shot below. I ink strips larger than they will appear in screen or in print. It’s always a good idea to draw your originals larger than the actual intended size. I usually work about 20-25% larger than the actual final size. When I place the inks layer onto my comic template, I reduce my ink lines to 86% .

My inks scanned into Photoshop. On the right you'll see how I organize my layers palette.

Once I have the ink lines on a new layer in my template, I then apply a threshold adjustment on the lines. This makes the lines crisper by forcing each pixel to either black or white, eliminating any greys:

Applying the Threshold command gets rid of any grey pixels.

This next step is something that I do so that when I am colouring, I am able to colour the lines themselves. This is very handy if I want to create depth by colouring the lines of certain background elements lighter colours. I will go into more detail on how I do this in the next part on colouring, but for now, this is what I do:

1. I switch to the channels palette, and hold down the Ctrl key (on a PC) as I click on the Gray channel. This selects the Gray channel (ie: all the area around the ink lines)

Selecting the gray channel in the channels palette

2. On the main top menu, I go to “Select–>Inverse”. This inverts the selection, so that now the lines themselves are selected.

Inverting the selection

3. I go back to the layers palette and create a new blank layer. I then select black from the colours palette, and use the paint bucket tool to fill the selected area (ie: the lines) with black.

Creating a new layer for the lines

4. Once I have the lines filled on the new layer I created, I delete the original lines layer. I am now left with lines that appear exactly the same as the original lines, but I am able to paint them directly by locking the transparent pixels on this layer. I will show how I do this in the next part on colouring.

We’re almost there! The last thing left to do is to create a mask around the panels so I can colour without going outside the lines. To do this I use the Magic Wand tool and click on the lines layer somewhere in one of the panel gutters. This selects all the area around the panels.

Inverting the selection again - this time to create the mask for the panels

I then invert the selection, and save the selection to a new channel, which I call “mask” appropriately enough. I can now select this channel (Ctrl-click on the channel) any time I want to have my mask available when I’m colouring.

Saving the selection to a new channel

My final step is to convert the mode from Grayscale to RGB. I prefer to colour in RGB mode instead of CMYK mode if I can. Especially if the end result will be appearing on the web instead of print. The colours in RGB mode are brighter and more vibrant that what you can get when using CMYK mode.

Converting the mode to RGB

Next up: Colouring the strip!

I begin by scanning my original 2.5×7″ thumbnail sketch, and enlarging it to 5×14″ in Photoshop. I then print out this enlarged rough, and in the case of this double size strip, tape the pages together since it won’t fit on one page.

This is my original sketch scanned and enlarged. Being a double sized strip, this measures 10x14" instead of the usual 5x14".

Once I have the sketch at this size, I take one of my big sheets of Strathmore Bristol (1 ply, plate surface, 30×40″) and cut off a piece to size. The plate surface is excellent for pencil and ink work, especially when I’m using a nib pen – the ink just flows ever so nicely. I like the 2 ply bristol as well, but it’s a bit more difficult to see the artwork from underneath on my light table due to the extra thickness.

Once I have the paper cut, I trace around my full size strip template (similar to my thumbnail template, only bigger!) to create the exterior panel borders.

Using these size templates saves me the time and hassle of measuring out the exterior borders of the strip every time. Plus, it keeps my exterior strip borders perfectly square and consistent. Over the course of 300+ strips, I'm sure I've saved over an hour of measuring.

Next, I switch on my light table, slap down my paper, and begin redrawing the strip using my enlarged thumbnail as a guide. For the panel gutters, I use another custom template I made to ensure they are all consistent, and more importantly, to save me the time of measuring!

My panel gutter template. I simply trace inside the cut out area and voila! Instant panel gutter with no fuss.

While I’m redrawing the strip on my light table, I’m adjusting, reworking, and fixing certain elements. I’m not simply tracing the rough, I’m redrawing it, consciously keeping my drawing loose. If you simply trace the rough, your final drawing may end up looking stiff and lifeless. It’s best to use the rough sketch as a guide and to “redraw”. You’ll find yourself fixing small details, and the final drawing will look much better as a result.

Working on the pencils on my light table

Final pencils with the panel borders inked

As I pencil the strip, I’m not too concerned with getting every line just right or super tight.  I simply want to make sure that the characters are on model, and that everything looks correct proportionally. As the rough thumbnail was a guide for the full size pencils, the full size pencils are basically a guide for the final inks.

Next: I’ll go through my process of inking and scanning the strip.

This is actually a double-sized strip, so instead of drawing it at my usual 2.5x7", it's a whopping 5x7".

I draw all my roughs on tracing paper. A nice thick pad of tracing paper provides a really soft cushion for my pencil, and I find I sketch looser on a soft surface. Also – I can easily flip the paper to get a fresh view of my drawing and catch any mistakes. Sometimes I even draw certain elements, such as characters, on the other side of the paper if I’ve roughed in a nice background I don’t want to screw it up. This way, if the characters aren’t sitting right, I can easily erase them without destroying the background sketch on the other side.

I sketch the roughs for my strips relatively small (about 2.5×7″). It’s a lot easier to rough in basic shapes and compositions at this smaller scale without getting caught up in the details (which I am VERY prone to do). This helps me focus on overall flow, composition, and tonal values much easier. I find I produce better compositions when I work this way. If I start out large, I end up spending so much longer working out the composition, and it’s just not worth it. It’s a lot easier to try out different compositions without wasting too much time.

As a template for my 2×7″ strip storyboards, I use a handy little cardboard cutout that I created. This keeps all of the sketches at the same size, and in perfect proportion to the full size strips. I simply trace the outline on the the paper, and I’m ready to go.

The little cardboard template I use for all my Snowflakes storyboards. I've been using this baby since the very first strip! Perhaps I should sell it on E-Bay when Snowflakes wraps up? And yes, "SF" stands for Snowflakes - I have different templates at different sizes for other comics.

The pencils I use are the Staedtler Mars Micro (0.5mm and 0.9mm). I love using these mechanical pencils. They feel great, and no constant sharpening! Plus, having a consistent sharpness is less distracting and let’s me forget about the tool I’m using and focus on what I’m using it for.

Next: In Part 2, I’ll go through my process of drawing the strip full size on my light table.