Roza and the Horse Prince 6.5"x10" full-color comic The first chapter of Roza now in comic size! 48 page paperback, now available from IndyPlanet.

Roza and the Sparrow Knight 6.5"x10" full-color comic Chapter 3 of Roza's adventures. 36 page paperback now available from IndyPlanet.

Tutorial

Here’s a quick look at how pages for Roza are made.

Tools used:

DokuWiki (story)

PaintTool SAI (sketch, inks)

Adobe Photoshop CS2 (cleanup, color, text)

Wacom Intuos 2 tablet (for digital drawing/painting)





For the first step, I grab the script for the next two pages and rough out the basic panels and flow. I like to work 2 at the same time in case the comic is printed, that way I know it’ll flow nicely with each pair of pages. Since I’m working digitally I can move, resize, and redraw each panel until I’m content.





Next, I use Photoshop to lay out the panel borders cleanly. Each page follows the same template to make sure proportions and line weight are consistent.





Using SAI, I start inking each individual panel. Characters and background lineart are on separate layers. The lineart is enclosed so that I can easily flood-fill it later.





With the inks completed on separate layers, I can use them to create a selection. All I need to do then is flood-fill the selection, giving me basic flats. This is also a good stage to check the values before adding any color.





Next I add correct colors to each layer of flats, using character model sheets and previous pages for reference.





Character shading is done on another layer, set to ‘multiply’. This example shows how the shade layer looks in normal mode instead of multiply.





As the last step, I add some bounce lighting, special effects like snow or fire, and a subtle texture effect that makes the final page feel more organic.

You can see the final version of this page here.