How to draw a comic step by step

{In this picture you see the Scrap example I drew from the next project book "Sindrome Garudia" Drawings by Fabio Sanna, Story By Paolo Gherbassi}

- After you have your story done and you have an idea about the scene (Script, storyboard) you will define your area of work in the page
- Start drawing the scrap right away, no hesitation needed here
- You can warm up your hand on paper (drawing circles, lines, dots, trying your favorite texture model, getting the rhythm of it
- Find out what will go where in the space you will use
- No details here, you just need to get out of the area work the vibration of the forms
- Look for contrast here, if you use a big brush instead, you can get the idea of the shadow/light process before actually going into the pencil (detailing) process.

Useful Notes:
- The scrap should be immediately shown to the client (if there is one), to prevent a total change of scene afterwards, or to add important forgotten elements. A good idea would be to do it in front of him/her while you can get a direct visual description of the important elements.
- It should take you from 5 to 30 minutes to get the scrap done.
- If you keep trying not to hesitate you will learn how not to hesitate (go with the flow ;))

A good idea after an eventual correction of the scrap-idea, let's get down starting a new fresh page. It can be pencil, but in this case I'm using a Wacom tablet (Intous 4 -A4-) and I did thispencile-like using a software 'pencil' tool.

At this point you will probably burn with desire to get down to inking the drawing, but before doing that I suggest you have a clear idea in your mind about what you will do with the brush afterwards.

Now think about a texture (a good way to save time is by not finishing all the textures in this drawing now, but simply getting an idea of it. Sometimes you could try to leave the pencil lines as a structural draft and go free-styling with the brush. It all depends on what you are doing.

Personally, I took my laptop and Wacom tablet and went into a forest near where I live to get inspiration (and it was an awesome day). There I sat for about the whole battery life (1-2 hours) drawing nature, but not copying a landscape in particular, just getting the feeling of it, taking patterns here and there. A splendid afternoon. What you see up here is the result.

Feel free to drop a comment or question or to save this tutorial page into your favorite websites.

VIEW THE BIG IMAGE
Now you should have the most fun, finalizing your art piece, adding or subtracting white or black. Usually in this stage the real masterpiece comes alive.
Tips at this stage:
1. Have a break, then finalize.
2. Add light or shade (white/black)
3. Flip the image to see if it is balanced.
4. Let it breath, don't suffocate the image.
5. Give yourself a mental deadline. Learn to be on time.

(Illustration done with Wacom Tablet in 4-6 hours approximately)

Enjoy, and bookmark or leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
-More tutorials will be posted-

Illustration made for the new book "Sindrome Garudia" story by Paolo Gherbassi, drawing by Fabio Sanna. (4-5 hours and wacom tablet)
Enjoy!

Illustration made for the new book "Sindrome Garudia" story by Paolo Gherbassi, drawing by Fabio Sanna. (8-10 hours and wacom tablet).
Enjoy!

Illustration made for the new book "Sindrome Garudia" / story by Paolo Gherbassi, / drawings by Fabio Sanna / Wacom Intuos 3 tablet.
The time lapse video of the whole drawing will be available soon!