KiraShion
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[ Zhongzhu ] The God's Gifts MAKING OF / ANALYSIS
🕑 Added 2024-01-17 00:28:47 +0000 UTC⚠ You can easily browse the main images in this post in the gallery above!
I rarely talk about the comic process because it's rather simple, but after nearly one year from the latest comic making of post, I would like to show another recap! In 2023 I've worked on a remarkable amount and I've developed a fixed workflow, but it doesn't differ much from what I had shown in [ ZhongChizhu ] A Lantern for a Wish 🏮 HD (+ making of)
✧ Ideation and sketch
Before even starting the actual work, I spend some time imagining the whole scenario. I'm lucky enough that I can see things in my head so first I envision the story as if it's a movie, then I rethink of it in static comic panels... I set dialogues, which I repeat so many times I keep them in mind for as long as I need, and think about the angles I would like to view the characters as they say their lines - sometimes I have very clear ideas, some other times I leave it blank for when the sketch phase will come!
My first draft is always written, in a private channel Discord, so I can access and edit it both from my workstation (PC) and from mobile if I have a sudden inspiration and I feel like reworking some dialogues!
At this stage, I have a pretty clear vision of the images sequence in my head so what I do is writing fitting dialogues for what I'm envisioning - the preparatory imagination effort helps me figuring out how much text roughly fits a page and how long the comic is going to be. Because I have a clearer vision of the beginning but I'm never sure of the ending, I usually end up drawing 1 or 2 additional pages but this time I drew as much as in the draft: 8 pages!
⚠ Over time, I learned the importance of drafting the dialogues BEFORE sketching. I used to sketch going with the flow (without the preparatory imagination effort too), leaving dialogues for later, "later" meaning I ended up writing them even AFTER coloring and detailing the whole comic - sometimes, finding words which would go with the images and fit the space of the page made me go crazy!! Knowing the dialogues before allows me to create shots and cut panels accordingly, the end result flows much better!
As I sketch, I also write down dialogues to keep in check the amount of page space they take. You can always move around the speech bubbles later, but having a general idea of where they're going to go helps a lot!
I like sketching all the pages before moving on to the lineart, so I know how long the comic is going to be and I can schedule the rest of the work with a vague idea of when it'll be done and organize possible extra illustrations/sketches to do in the meantime. Not only that, but if there's a climax, I can manage it better. If there are details, I can make sure to include them in all the pages they're meant to be in (and yet sometimes I still forget hahah)
✧ Coloring
A quick overview on my coloring method, even thought it's different from comic to comic (I usually go with something like this: [ DainKae ] Video TUTORIAL (+ HD + PSD) / [ Ayato / Thoma / guards ] Step-by-step TUTORIAL (+HD + PSD))!
⚠ You can review each step's image in the gallery at the top of this post!
1️⃣ Sketch
2️⃣ Lineart
3️⃣ Blocked characters in grey
4️⃣ Color analysis from the background
5️⃣ Clean flat colors, increased contrast in the background
6️⃣ Shadows. Duplicate the flat colors, set to Multiply (freely set opacity), erase on a Layer Mask the light areas. If you wish to change the shadows color more or less subtly, create and clip down a Normal layer and paint it of the desired color! As final touch, add Inner Glow to create the subsurface scattering effect (*)
7️⃣ Highlights. Duplicate the flat colors, set to Linear Dodge (Add) (freely set opacity), erase the whole Layer Mask then paint the highlights! If you wish to color your lights, create and clip down a Normal layer and paint it!
8️⃣ Details! I paint over some details here and there, add some glow effects on a Color Dodge Layer, merge layers and fluidify when needed, add filters like Noise and/or Posterize...
👉 DOWNLOAD PAGE 1's PHOTOSHOP FILEto explore the layers! If you don't have Photoshop installed, you can open it in the online version （￣︶￣）↗ https://www.photopea.com
(*) If you're not familiar with the process or some terms, you can have a look at : [ Ayato / Thoma / guards ] Step-by-step TUTORIAL (+HD + PSD) AND [ DainKae ] Video TUTORIAL (+ HD + PSD), I've explained them there!!
✧ Page per page analysis
In the following paragraphs I'd like to talk about the differences you could spot between the sketch and the final version of each page. Despite the dialogues draft and the panels built around them, you can still find something to fix after coloring!
⚠ You can review each image in HD in the gallery at the top of this post!
PAGE 1 CHANGES:
1️⃣ Minor dialogues changes (mostly better English - I hope haha)
2️⃣ Last panel: the butt grab has been zoomed it for clarity
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PAGE 2 CHANGES:
1️⃣ Zhongli's shot made bigger to better balance the panels
Additional note: countless time spent on making Zhongli's face hotter
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PAGE 3 CHANGES:
1️⃣ Panel two: a couple speech bubbles moved
Additional note: I noticed too late but if I had to redraw the last panel, I would move the center of action with Zhongli's hand on Baizhu's butt all to the left so that you read the slap first and the "AH!" after
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PAGE 4 CHANGES:
1️⃣ First panel: dialogues added. It was an important panel and I felt it would've been overlooked without anything to read
Additional notes: same as the previous page for what concerns the slap and "AH". Also countless edits on Zhuzhu's face until he looked prettier even when desperate 💚 (it's all about proportions and distances among the elements of the face)
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PAGE 5 CHANGES:
1️⃣ First panel: complete change. In the following pages there are enough shots of Baizhu's hole, also I felt like I needed an more "gently" introductive panel rather than something straightforward
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PAGE 1 CHANGES:
1️⃣ Reworked some dialogues and their positions to improve the overall readability.
2️⃣ Last panel: changed perspective on Zhongli's face. I felt like it was pointless to draw him from the front, since it gives the impression he's looking straight into Baizhu's eyes but... he's clearly not haha
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Small note: in the fifth panel, I would've moved the plug to the left to better center the area free from Zhongli's head.
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The only thing to note here is that I didn't add the dialogues in the sketch because I wanted to think a little more about some options I had - I ended up kind of mixing them up!
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This is all from the analysis!
Here's an overview of the final product! 🤗✨
✧ FAQ
What do you use to draw?
I draw in Photoshop with a screenless tablet! My tablet is 13-yo and out of production, but the current equivalent would be a Wacom Intuos, size between S/M - if you're curious, it is a Wacom Bamboo Manga model and it came with the license for CSP's ancestor called Manga Studio haha
How long does a comic take?
If I decide to work on a comic exclusively, I can draw at the pace of 1 page per day. I sketch the whole comic first, then ink it all, then color, but in the end I notice it overall takes me 8 days for an 8 pages long comic, 4 days for 4 pages and so on...
It is not a healthy pace because it means it's all I do all day with few to no breaks so do not compare yourself to this. It's just that when I'm hyperfixating on something I can't argue with my urges 🙈 however, I do try to impose myself to slow down and interchange comic work and illustrations, sometimes I even succeed!!
Do you like working on comics or illustrations more?
I love both for different reasons! I love illustrations because I get to dedicate to my favorite things which are rendering and detailing, but if I had to do illustrations exclusively I would grow tired, because they takes a lot of constant focus. Comics allow me to enjoy storytelling rather than technique, they're perfect for when I'm in the mood for inking and I relax when coloring them because after setting up the first page it's a rather mechanical process - I can let my hands work while I enjoy some shows in the background!
Comics also hold little challenges like "fix this face" or "improve the page's readability" which are fun and rewarding to accomplish! Illustrations are often one, big challenge called "trust the process" and they can either give huge satisfaction at the end or leave me like "meh, I guess it's still good practice, next" haha
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You can let me know if you have any comment or curiosity on this process and I'll reply~ I may have not covered all the interesting aspect of comic making so let me know! 💜
I hope this can be helpful or at least an interesting insight!! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
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Comments
Mir Ventura
Gods, I love how thorough you are, having an insight to your workflow is such a treat and it's also very inspirinh, thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️
