A rundown of steps i used to create the panels and pages of my graphic novel.
Front cover Art for my graphic novel project.
Poster for the back cover of the book.
Panel layout
I start by planning which shot will take how much space in the panel and then accordingly I carve out the layout. I refer to my visual descriptions and dialogues to identify the importance and intensity of each scene and plan my panel space.
Rough sketching
The next step is doing a rough sketch on the planned out panels and checking if it perfectly encapsulates the intensity of the scene and the dialogues. I do this in my notebook as well before, just in case it needs some changes while finally putting it down digitally.
Final sketch and inking
When the shots have been established, I start the final detailed sketch and then inking. As my graphic novel is monochromatic noir styled, so after I finish my initial sketch I plan out where the white and blacks will fit perfectly. I plan out the light and the dark spaces and then proceed with filling them out.
Captioning and dialogue bubbles; Fine tuning
After the page is ready, I proceed with the lettering and the dialogue bubbles. Keeping in mind that the caption boxes or the bubbles do not cover important visual details in the panel. So while initially drawing the scenes, I keep the script in mind and keep some spaces for the captions and dialogue bubbles to fit and blend in perfectly.
