As I mentioned in my previous post, the goal of the sequential narrative project is to produce a 12-panel comic strip. I chose to write my comic strip about crows. I’m the “hero” in this comic, and in this context, that means that I quite literally save the day of a fledgling crow who can’t fly away from an oncoming car.
Fledgling Frenzy
Date Completed: December 7th, 2022
Medium: Micron pen, ink wash, watercolor pencil, and Pan Pastels
This was an incredibly challenging project for me. My typical style of drawing is very thorough and detailed – exactly the opposite of what I needed to do for this project. Drawing the panels without accompanying sketches to trace underneath them was anxiety-inducing, so I definitely had to hone some of my skills with gestural drawing for this project.
To plan the layout of my comic strip, I first used sticky notes with rough drawings on them, so that I could flesh out a very rough plan for what I wanted in my 12 panels. Next, I made thumbnail sketches of each panel that I wanted to include. I cut out each one of my sketches and experimented with arranging them in different ways. This helped me plan out exactly where I needed to put the panels on my page, as well as how many pages I would need.
After figuring out the arrangement I wanted, I drew out the panels on three sheets of paper and filled them in with drawings. I used micron pen to draw everything out, and then went back over these drawings with ink wash, watercolor pencil, and then finally, Pan Pastels.
Overall, I’m happy with the way these turned out, and I feel like I was able to use this project to further develop some of my drawing skills.