PAGE ONE: COLOR

As I begin the fourth issue of "Johnny Space Commander!" , I thought I would post some of the pages as I worked on them to let people in on my process. Below is page one of issue 4, I haven't decided on a title yet.
The first image is just an inked page. Simple enough. I draw with pencil then ink with Sharpie marker. The image is then scanned and cleaned up, extended lines get erased, stuff like that.

After scanning, (I have to stitch the two or three pieces together) I create 3 layers to work with. To do that I have to get rid of the solid white areas, that can a real pain, so I can add color behind the inks. Sometimes I'll forget a mouth or an eye and have to go back to paste it on top. After that is done I can start laying in the backgrounds. I have a folder full of watercolor backgrounds that I have painted and scanned. The page now looks like I have done some kind of wash over the whole thing.

Now I can start to use the paint bucket to lay in big solid areas, shirts, pants, skin color, things like that. Finally I use my stylus to add some simple shadows and darken in areas to give the characters some form. I'm not painting the Mona Lisa here, so I really keep it simple. The KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid!) works just as well here as it does in the other parts of my life.

The last part is lettering. That means that I actually have to write the script now I suppose. Up until now I've been drawing from a basic page by page outline. Totally the MARVEL method, as performed by a normal guy like me on the weekends and after work, in between kids, taking the dogs out, running errands and basically living my life. 

-Sean